Spirits of The King’s Chapel Burying Grounds
On the corner of Beacon and Tremont streets, near the center of the Shawmut Peninsula, sits a relic older than its host city. In fact, it’s more than just one relic. It’s rows of stone antiquities, jutting from the ground as carved markers for the deceased said to be buried beneath them. As history dictates, though, the bodies aren’t necessarily there, and the grounds on which King’s Chapel Burying Grounds have all been at the mercy of the city’s wishes and the church’s needs.
Established around the same time Boston was settled, King’s Chapel Burying Ground is the final resting place for thousands — though the number of headstones would never suggest such a high number. A lifetime fixture of the city, King’s Chapel Burying Grounds hosts many who once called Boston home and some who still rise from the grave to watch over the grounds.
Why is King’s Chapel Burying Grounds Famous?
As the first cemetery in Boston, King’s Chapel Burying Grounds holds a lot of prestige within the city. Famous names like John Winthrop, Mary Chilton, and Francis Brinley are scribed on stones scattered around the land in King’s Chapel’s shadow. At the behest of several land acquisitions that shrunk the overall cemetery, headstones were moved haphazardly while the bodies remained in place, stirring once restful spirits.
Like the King’s Chapel Burying Grounds, Boston comes to life with apparitions and poltergeists. Book a Boston ghost tour to hear more of the city’s haunting tales and meet its historic specters.
Isaac Johnson, the Father of the Burying Grounds
The New World seemed a place ripe for religious freedoms, far from the relentless grip of the oppressive Church of England. During the 1630s, England’s Puritan population dwindled as John Winthrop led an expedition across the Atlantic to settle in the Americas. Aboard one of the many ships making the long and dangerous journey were Isaac Johnson and his wife, the sister to the Earl of Lincoln, Lady Arbella. A man of great wealth, Johnson had the makings of a good life in his new home, but his arrival in Salem was met with anything but the promise of a bright future.
During the trek from England, Lady Arbella fell ill with scurvy, dying shortly after the couple’s arrival. Johnson’s fortunes weren’t much better, but before his passing in September of the same year, he’s said to have contributed something significant to the development of the colonies.
Establishing the Burying Grounds
Years earlier, a Puritan and long-time friend of Johnson, William Blaxton (known also as Blackstone), arrived in New England among the first English immigrants. He eventually came to settle on the Shawmut Peninsula. Known for its water supply, Blaxton envisioned a sizable colony along the waterway and invited two key figures in Boston’s formation: Puritan John Winthrop and Johnson.
On September 7, 1630, Winthrop declared that the Shawmut Peninsula would be named after Boston, Lincolnshire, in England. Within 23 days, after playing a role in the founding of the Massachusetts city, Johnson passed away and joined his wife in the hereafter. Some, like Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, credit Johnson for naming Boston and significantly influencing its formation.
Prior to his death, Johnson indicated that he wanted to be buried on land he owned on the peninsula. With the ground broken and his body at peace in the earth, Johnson became the first to take up eternal residence in what was known simply as the Burying Place.
The Salem Witch Trial Connection
After Johnson’s internment in the first cemetery in Boston, many others followed suit, taking up spots in a haphazard formation that would later become a problem. Long before the grave sites were moved to make more uniform rows, witchcraft hysteria spread across Salem. More than 20 miles north of Boston, the settlers of Salem were battling against the forces of Satan — or so they thought.
One man, Thomas Brattle, brought a level head to the chaos of Salem, pitting him opposite the Court of Oyer and Terminer that presided over the trials. Little is known about Winthrop’s position on the court. Still, as one of nine magistrates responsible for freeing or condemning the spiritually innocent, he served against Brattle’s practical approach, which called upon the cessation of spectral evidence presented as evidence.
Brattle and Winthrop passed away within four years of each other, but both ended up with burial sites at the Burying Grounds in Boston. Many notable names were added to the grounds, including Ralph Waldo Emerson’s father, William; Winthrop’s grandfather, John; and Elizabeth Pain, whose headstone, scribed with a lone letter “A,” is believed to have inspired The Scarlett Letter.
Becoming King’s Chapel Burying Ground
If the Puritans ever needed to justify their move across the Atlantic, they could point to 1668 and the actions of Royal Governor Andros. Though Johnson’s estate was filling up with bodies, Andros decided to seize a portion of the land in the name of the Anglican church. King’s Chapel became the first of its kind in Boston, a simple wooden structure for followers to gather and pray together.
Though it started off small, as the congregation grew, so did the need for a larger structure. With the town more deeply ingrained in the church, in 1710, it granted King’s Chapel more of the cemetery’s land to build a bigger chapel. In another 38 years, even more land was given to the chapel, though some townfolk were concerned that the markers to be sacrificed for the expansion would ultimately hide the graves of Boston’s earliest settlers.
The cemetery underwent another transformation in 1810 as the headstones were arranged in a more orderly fashion. Bodies were no longer aligned with their markers, making it impossible for anyone who wished to pay their respects to an ancestor or loved one to know exactly where to stand.
The Haunted Legends of King’s Chapel Burying Grounds
The transformations at King’s Chapel Burying Grounds separated the dearly departed from their markers. Was it enough of an atrocity imposed on Boston’s earliest settlers to cause some to arise from their tombs and become a manifestation of the ill effects of the church’s presence?
As if that weren’t enough to spur ghostly tales of restless souls, locals have their own legends tied to the oldest cemetery in Boston. One spirit visitors may encounter is that of a headless African-American woman; her body was desecrated post-mortem when her coffin was made too small for her body. To make her fit, her head was removed from her body. She still roams the grounds today, seeking vengeance for the cruel act.
Though vile in its own right, the beheading of the headless madam may pale in comparison to the 19th-century man who was buried alive. Who the man is and why he may have been put in the ground while still warm is unknown, but there’s no denying the horror and trauma that he must have gone through as he slowly ran out of air.
More than 1,000 bodies call King’s Chapel Burying Grounds their eternal resting place, though only hundreds are properly marked. A disorganized cemetery is the makings of a consecrated ground full of ghosts and hauntings.
Historical and haunted spots like King’s Chapel Burying Grounds tell a piece of Boston’s past. A Boston ghost tour can help you piece together the city’s fascinating history, as told through the eyes of those who lived it. For even more Boston haunts, check out our blog and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Sources:
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-great-puritan-migration/
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/kings-chapel-burying-ground/
https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/kings-chapel-burying-ground/
