Knock, Knock…..Knock, Knock…A sound is coming from the basement.

It’s the classic beginning for most ghost stories with one exception, this one is true. In fact, the story of Nelly Butler is considered the first documented ghost story in the United States. It all began in Sullivan, Maine on a warm August evening in 1799 in the home of Abner Blaisdel. After finishing a family meal Abner began to hear knocking coming from the basement. He went downstairs to check but found nothing, just random banging coming from empty space. Each day around the same time, the man and his family would continue to hear the sounds. The sounds continued through autumn and into the winter until Abner had decided that enough was enough. One day in early January he ran down to the basement and yelled, “What do you want!?”

That is when the ghost of Nelly Butler answered and told him that she, the ghost of the dead wife of Captain George Butler, had returned. Abner was star-struck, as he had just received an answer out of thin air. As the ghost continued speaking, Abners’ grew fearful and rushed up the stairs and slammed the door behind him. He must be dreaming. There was no way he just spoke with a spirit; this all must be just some horrible dream. Yet it wasn’t, and the spirit of Nelly continued to speak to the family until they reached out to David Hopper, Nelly’s father who lived a few miles north.

Mr. Hopper was very skeptical about the whole situation but traveled five miles through the snow and met with Abner. Not soon after, Nelly spoke with her father, mentioning many details that were only known by the two of them. He had been turned into a believer; his daughter Nelly Butler had returned.

Over the next month, word continued to spread among of the town, many of which came to visit the spirit. Popularity grew, especially because Nelly began to physically appear. A female witness described her appearance: “At first the apparition was a mere mass of light. Then it grew into a personal form, about as tall as myself…then the personal form became shapeless, expanded every way, and then vanished in a moment.”

The reasoning behind the spirit appearing in the Blaisdel home was very fascinating. Captain George Butler himself, Nelly’s widower, was dating Abners daughter, Lydia Blaisdell. According to documentation written by Rev. Abraham Cummings, Nelly had reappeared to orchestrate the marriage of George and Lydia. George remained in shock during many of the early events. The last time George had seen Nelly she passed away in childbirth (the child also did not survive). Although the death was deemed natural, there were those who believed George had murdered his wife. He had been found innocent during a trial which was performed, but Abner remained hesitant to allow the marriage of George to Lydia, who was only 15 at the time.

However, Abner began to change his mind as Nelly continued to speak about the inevitable marriage between George and Lydia. When asked how Nelly knew all of this, she spoke that she, “knew all that was and would come to be.” Abner put this to the test by requesting Nelly to check on his father. Nelly replied, “Your father is in heaven, praising God with the angels.” Three days later Abner received a letter that his father, who was two hundred miles away, had died a few days ago.

Nelly performed many other actions as well including traveling to and confronting a doubtful neighbor in front of 48 spectators as well a preaching to large groups of people outside the Blaisdell home. Rev. Abraham Cummings, mentioned above, was a traveling preacher who documented the hauntings and believed that the spirit of Nelly had come from heaven. He wrote about it in a future book titled, “Immortality Proved by the Testimony of Science”.

Nelly made one last appearance between she disappeared forever. It was ten days after the marriage of George and Lydia. Nelly appeared to the couple when they were walking home one evening. She warned the newlyweds that they would soon be expecting a child, but that it would lead to the death of the Lydia. As terrible as this news was, it did come true as Lydia died during childbirth in May of 1802. From then on the ghost of Nelly Butler was never seen again.

The location of this legend is the cemetery where George Butler is buried. According to accounts, the home where Nelly appeared frequently was closer to Taunton Bay and is now overgrown.

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The Ghost of Nelly Butler : Sullivan, Maine

The Ghost of Nelly Butler : Sullivan, Maine

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