The Witch Of Edison: The Legend of Mary Moore

I am a straight-up Jersey guy; born and bred in the great state of New Jersey, I've lived here all my life and will probably be here until I die. If there's one thing that I know about New Jersey, it's that it's steeped in urban legends and stories of the supernatural. Everybody has heard of the Jersey Devil, a topic that my friend, Jay, likes to cover over on his site The Sexy Armpit.

The Jersey Devil is a creature with the head of a goat, the body of a deer, giant horns and wings. It is said that the Jersey Devil was the 13th child of Mother Leeds back in 1735 and was born a demon through a curse. There have been a number of sightings of the Devil since then, one of them even being reported by the brother of Napoleon, Joseph Bonaparte. In 1909, there were a string of reported sightings of and attacks by the Jersey Devil all over the state. It's been the focus of the movie Jeepers Creepers and has been explored on television on shows like Paranormal State, Mysteries of the Museum and even fictionalized on The X-Files. Knowledge of the Jersey Devil permeates the citizens of the state and has been a topic we've always been aware of.

We even have warning signs about the Jersey Devil.

But there is a legend that predates the existence of the Jersey Devil, one that has been almost literally in my backyard for nearly my entire life. The Witch of Edison, Mary Moore.

On Woodbridge Avenue in Edison, there is an old white church which sits in front of one of the oldest graveyards in New Jersey. This graveyard is the Piscatawaytown Burial Ground and is the final resting place to soldiers from the Revolutionary war. The grounds were also used at one time as the training grounds for the British Army as they moved through the state. Right next to the commons yard was a tavern where both George Washington and Alexander Hamilton visited. This area has a deep, rich history.

One of the oldest gravemarkers still legible today is dates back to 1693 and lies upon a pair of brothers. The brothers died after eating poisonous mushrooms and were buried together. Below I've included an image of the marker and transcribed the inscription.

SPATATER. UNDERNEATH
THIS TOMB
LIES 2 BOYES THAT
LAY IN ONE WOMB
THE ELDEST WAS FULL 13
YEARS OLD
THE YONGEST WAS
V TWICE TOLD
BY EATING MUSHROMS
FOR FOOD RARE
IN A DAYs TIME THEY
POYSEOND WERE
RICHARD HOOPAR
AND CHARLES HOOPAR
DESESED AUGUST ANNO
DOM 1693




But that's not all that resides in the graveyard.

In 1731, a woman named Mary Moore was buried here. Mary was accused of being a witch and put to death for her "crimes". However that may not be the full truth as reports on her death vary greatly; one source I found on-line claims that she was hung while another said she poisoned herself after she murdered her husband. Despite that, the claim that Mary Moore was a witch, that she grew strange plants in her yard, caused animals to do strange things and even dressed as a witch, remains the same across the board.

There are even some accounts that Mary Moore was the inspiration of the legend of "Bloody Mary". For the three people that don't know what Bloody Mary is, it's basically a game of Dare that pre-pubescent girls play at sleepovers. One girl stands in front of the mirror at midnight in the dark and says "Bloody Mary" three times. At that point, the ghost of Mary is supposed to appear and either scare the shit out of you or rip you to shreds. Though no one is really sure what the actual source of Bloody Mary is, some people think it has to do with Queen Mary I, who was nicknamed "Bloody Mary" in life, while others think it has to do with a girl named Mary Worth who was once beautiful until an accident tore her face to shreds. At that point she vowed that no one else would be beautiful. But even with those others to consider, if you ask someone from Jersey where Bloody Mary comes from, they'll tell you Mary Moore.

So what does this have to do with anything, you ask? Well, the legend goes that the Piscatawaytown Burial Ground is haunted by the ghost of Mary Moore. At night, it is told that if you walk around Mary's grave three times and spit, you will come face to face with Mary's ghost. I don't necessarily believe that, being a skeptic when it comes to ghosts, but it's a fun story to tell when I only live two blocks away from the graveyard.

Feel free to test that theory but good luck trying to find her grave. You see, there's another story that tells about two boys, either friends or brothers, the details are unclear, that stole her headstone in the 1980s, or 1950s. After stealing the headstone, one of the boys was trying to cross Route 1, a busy, major highway that runs through Edison, and was killed instantly. After that, the second boy smashed the headstone, fearing that it had been cursed. OR another way the story goes is that the boy was hit by the car on the way home from stealing the headstone and it fell into a sewer.

You'll notice that information about Mary Moore is not cohesive. While many people will say that all the inconsistencies means that the story is crap, I feel differently. See, urban legends have to start somewhere and they always seem to happen to "the brother of a friend of my cousin who knows a guy that heard that it happened". From that one vague starting point, a tale of terror springs to life. Even though the information regarding Mary Moore is scarce (or "nonexistent" would be a better way to describe it), the idea that she was accused of being a witch is pretty much the same from everyone.

Now I'm not saying the ghost of Mary Moore will rise from the grave if you spit on the burial ground. But it is the great origin for a local urban legend. Jersey always seems to get a bad rap from people all around the country but truth be told, it's a pretty great place, especially if you happen to be a fan of the supernatural.