MUSIC, CONCEPT, QUILT BY LESLIE ROGERS
DANCING BY EMMY BRIGHT

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Angela DiVeglia & the Providence Public Library (research)
AS220 (time in Rhode Island)
Margaret Hull (stitching)
Elspeth Schulze (stitching)
Rich Main (stitching)
Scott Murphy (music lessons)
Stamps School of Art & Design (support)
Michigan Society of Fellows (support)

MERCY BROWN WAS A TALENTED QUILTER. She died of consumption at the age of 19 in Exeter, RI in 1892, following her mother and sister. Because the ground is frozen in January, she was kept in an above-ground tomb until the ground thawed in spring, when she was buried. Because the temperature is lower above ground in the winter than underground, she was frozen solid, preserved without decomposition. As her brother Edwin struggled with the same disease (tuberculosis), which was much feared and poorly understood, three men from town pressured their father to exhume the three women's bodies and have them examined for evidence of vampirism. They believed that the family was plagued by a moral disease manifesting as a physical ailment, and that one of the three women was the source. Though their father didn't believe in vampirism, he went along with the plan, believing their suspicion would be proven wrong. The three men had decided before the bodies were examined that if there were blood in one of the women's hearts, she was the vampire. They hired a medical examiner, who explained before exhuming the body that blood in the heart was a common occurrence in the recently deceased, and to be expected. Because Mercy's body had been frozen above ground and preserved without decomposition until her recent burial, predictably, there was still blood in her heart. Despite the expert advice that they paid for, the three men took the blood and lack of decomposition as confirmation that Mercy was a vampire, burned her heart on a rock in the graveyard, mixed the ashes with water, and forced Edwin to drink them in order to kill the vampire and save him. He died two months later. Mercy's quilt survives them all. The quilt featured here is a recreation of Mercy's finest work.