Moll Dyer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Moll Dyer is the name of a legendary 18th-century resident of Leonardtown, Maryland, who was accused of witchcraft and chased out of her home by the local townsfolk in the dead of a winter night. A road, a stream and a large rock all bear her name, and her story has inspired ghostly sightings and even a movie plot.

[edit] The Legend

No historical record has ever been found of Moll Dyer's existence, and not all stories agree on her origins. A popular story says she was a noblewoman who came to the Maryland colony alone to escape a mysterious past. She then settled in a cottage outside of what was then Seymortown. Her isolated way of living and shadowed past, along with her reputation as an herbal healer, drew suspicion among the locals, who labeled her as a witch. They began blaming all misfortunes and hardships in the town on this "witch."

The winter of 1697 was harsh. Food was scarce and many people died. The townspeople suspected Dyer of cursing the town, and after an epidemic swept through the area, killing many locals, a vigilante group of townsfolk decided to get rid of her. They descended on her cottage in the middle of the coldest night of the winter and set it on fire. Moll Dyer fled the fire into the nearby woods. Exhausted and freezing, she knelt down near a large rock, placed one hand on it and raised her other hand to call down a curse upon the land and her persecutors.

She was found frozen to death days later by a boy who was searching for cattle. When her body was removed, her frozen hand and knee left permanent impressions in the rock as an everlasting reminder of the woman’s fate and curse.

[edit] Moll Dyer's Rock and Ghost Sightings

In 1975, historians located the site of what they claimed to be Moll Dyer's hut. A short distance away, they found an 875-pound boulder in a wooded ravine which they said bore the marks of Dyer's hand and two knees.

The rock was transported to the courthouse lawn in front of the old 1848 jailhouse, which now serves as the St. Mary's County Historical Society building. The boulder is still there today. Although the handprint is no longer clearly visible on the large, igneous stone, people have reported feeling profoundly uncomfortable around it. Cameras have reportedly malfunctioned while trying to take pictures at the stone and many others have reported feeling terrible aches and pains when standing by the rock.

On the coldest nights of the year, often in February, people have reported seeing a woman with long white hair in a white dress walking through the fields and woods near Moll Dyer Run with a white dog, south of the town. Motorists have reported seeing a fleeing figure running across Moll Dyer Road with a terrifying face.

[edit] Cultural Influences

The legend of Moll Dyer has inspired a film, ballet, and a novel . The film The Blair Witch Project borrowed a part of the legend for its backstory. Like Dyer, the fictional Blair Witch, Elly Kedward, was banished to the woods in the middle of a winter night after being accused of witchcraft.

The story also inspired a ballet production, choreographed by St. Mary's Ballet founder Jane Caputo and set to the music of Loreena McKennitt. The ballet is produced at the College of Southern Maryland's Leonardtown campus as part of the county's yearly Halloween celebration of its rich supernatural folklore. The ballet recasts the legend in the mold of a morality tale of feminism and tolerance. According to ballet company's literature, "The ballet is a poignant and beautiful look at the unfortunate results of intolerance in societies and is relevant to our own time."

The novel "Jonathan's Tears - The Moll Dyer Story" by R. Greg Nepini offers another possibility for how the legend came to be. The story is told from the perspective of Jonathan Morris, the author's version of the little boy who supposedly found Moll Dyer frozen to death in the woods.