Mercy Brown, Exeter Vampire LbNA #2580 (ARCHIVED)

(With the spring like weather yesterday I took the oppurtunity to finally plant the Mercy Brown, Exeter Vampire box. This is actually a set of two boxes, one being a hitch hiker. The directions to the Permanent box will follow, but first I must give credit where credit is due. Thanks to three wonderful girls, my daughter, Renee, and from Virginia, Boop and Katybug. It was their interest in this RI legend that inspired me to do the boxes. These boxes are dedicated to the three of them. Thanks girls. Secondly, to Boop and Bug's mom, Ladybug. It's her poetry you've all been enjoying, and hopefully you'll enjoy her stamp if you're lucky enough to find the hitch hiker. Lastly, over the last month or so, I've enjoyed hunting her boxes, and working with her on some local letterboxing projects. Thanks to Trish Kurdziel and her family. She carves a great stamp, and her work on this project can be seen in the permanent box. Thanks again, to all of you. About the planting of the box; None of the above mentioned knew anything about where the box was to be planted, outside of discussing different places. It was I alone who decided on the hiding place and I alone who planted the box. I wanted to keep it on a local level to start, and therefore planted the box in a cemetery. To anyone this might offend, my apologies.)

First of all, thanks to Laurette Vitello and family for doing a little extra searching after finding Mercy's original spot had been excavated and tossed over the stonewall. They sent Mercy back to me, unscathed, so I could relocate her. I do hope that some of you who
would like to visit her will still take the time to check out the old Historical, 1838, Chestnut Hill Baptist Church and the actual Brown Family burial site, but before heading out I suggest you also grab the Kurdziel families Knight at Dawn and Mummies in the Morning and their Crossing Over cluesheets for an afternoon of letterboxing fun.

You'll take them and head to the Fisherville Brook Wildlife Refuge. Take Rt. 102 in Exeter, R.I., to Widow sweets Road, (4 miles east of Rt. 3, 3.2 miles west of Rt. 2) Follow Widow Sweets to Pardon Joslin Road, bear left and continue to the refuge. The trails here are all clearly marked and easy to follow. Depending on how many boxes you'll
be hunting, your hike will be anywhere from 1 mile to perhaps 5 miles if you choose to do both sides. At this time a total of 5 boxes are hidden on this property.

To find Mercy, from the parking lot you'll cross Pardon Joslin Road and look for the trail heading west.(left) Continuing on this trail, eventually you will come to a bench that marks the separation of the trail. You'll want to continue straight ahead, on the outer loop trail. After crossing a footbridge, begin looking on your right through the woods for a stone wall. A little farther up the path you'll find an unmarked trail on your right. Take the unmarked trail until you locate a rock outcropping just to the right of the trail.

From there, note another waist high outcropping at 110*. From just in front of this second rock pile, you'll notice a break in the wall to your right. Cross over to the eastern side of the wall and find Mercy, nestled low in the rocks about 8 paces north. After stamping
in, continue north to the largest of the glacial erratics on the property, and past that, to the red outer loop, your original trail. From here a left will have you backtracking to the parking lot, a right will get you headed in the direction of the Kurdziel's two letterboxes on this side of the refuge. Use the Crossing Over clue sheet, and thanks for coming.

For those not familiar with the story, see; Http://members.tripod.com/~DominiquePerot/index.htm Http://www.endofline.com/Art/Exeter.html Http://www.velocitychannel.com/stories/vampire.html

Placed by The Wiz