I Am Waiting and Watching For You

 

            Many Rhode Islanders may be familiar with the legends surrounding a tombstone in rural West Greenwich, RI.  This grave belongs to Nellie Vaughn and has a very cryptic epitaph that reads, “I am waiting and watching for you”.  In addition to having an ominous epitaph, this grave is strange, as nothing will grow on or around the burial site. Stories abound of Nellie’s ghost haunting the area and I have heard many stories of this nature. Many believe that Nellie was a vampire, however I do not believe she was, as no supporting information on that claim have been found. For a more in depth look at Rhode Island Vampirism, click here.

 

            More often than not this haunting of the gravesite is probably due to people seeing what they want to see. If there is any ghost at all of Nellie, she is probably trying to vindicate herself. As many of the experiences have been auditory, where witnesses state they heard a voice saying, “I am perfectly pleasant”. There are also stories of sightings of a young girl in the cemetery, while other tales refer to a conversation with her ghost.

 

            “Devil’s Road”, is a road that passes the graveyard. At one time, if you drove down this road you would see two red eyes looking at you from the graveyard. Two chips of mica on one of the graveyard monuments caused this phenomenon. These two chips would reflect the parking lights of the car and looked like eyes. Vandals have toppled the gravestone with the mica chips and have stolen Nellie Vaughn’s gravestone.

 

            This cemetery is one of the saddest examples of vandalism I have seen in Rhode Island; the other is the North Burial Ground in Providence. Decades of teenage partygoers have toppled most of the stones and Nellie’s stone has been stolen. Only the patch of dead grass and half empty beer bottles mark the site of her grave.

 

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