Gravesite and Ghost: Eunice Williams - Deerfield, MA

Eunice Williams

Gravesite

Deerfield, MA

N 42° 32.707 W 072° 36.596

Short Description: 

Eunice Williams was murdered in the aftermath of an attack on Deefield, MA by the French and Indians. She is buried in the Old Deerfield Burying Ground in Deerfield, MA.

Long Description:

On February 28-29 Deerfield Village were overrun by 200-300 French soldiers and Abenaki and Mohawk warriors. Eunice Williams survived the attack but was captured. She was is a weakened condition since she had given birth a week or two before the attack. During a forced march to Canada she stumbled in the Green River, an Indian killed her with his tomahawk.

In the attack two of her children were killed: John (6) and Jerusha  (6 weeks)  old. Five of her children were taken captive: Samuel (15), Esther (13), Stephen (9), Eunice (8), and Warham (4)

Her body was recovered from the Green River and buried in the Old Deerfield Burying Ground. Her gravestone has the image of a winged death head and is inscribed:

Here lyeth the body of Mrs. Eunice
Williams, the vertuous & desirable
consort of the Revrd. Mr. John
Williams, & daughter to ye Revrd.
Mr. Eleazer & Mrs. Esther Mather
of Northampton. She was born
Augt. 2, 1664, and fell by the
rage of ye barbarous
Enemy March 1, 1703/4

Prov. 31. 28. Her children rise
up and call her Blessed.

1703 = old style (Julian) year - 1704 = new style (Gregorian) year.

According to the haunted house website: http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/ma/deerfield_cemetery.htm
the spirit of Eunice Williams haunts the cemetery and the Deerfield (Green) River.

Female Entity of Eunice Williams:

Though the remains of Eunice were rescued from the Deerfield (actually the Green) River, and buried properly, she is a restless spirit, still upset at her sudden, untimely death in the river, unable to help her husband comfort their 5 surviving children. Eunice perhaps is looking for her other two children, missing with the maid.

She perhaps looks around the graveyard, trying to find the graves of her two youngest children.

People crossing the bridge over Deerfield (Green) River, see a woman, almost see-through, standing in the water. When they approach her and ask if she is alright, she disappears.

A fisherman was standing on the bank of the river, when he saw a woman standing on the opposite bank. He looked down and then up again, and she was gone. As he continued to fish, she suddenly appeared right next to him, in a solid, human-like state, before fading away. Perhaps she wanted to ask him if he had seen her children?