Parish Deaths

These are the kinds of things I find while ghost hunting....
In 1705 Sarah Wallis - of Taunton slain by her horse. What? !! Did her horse draw down on her with a musket? Strangle her with a lead rope? Brandish a sword and run her through? Was she trampled to death while in the stall? Did she fall from the horse? Is the horse guilty of some malicious intent? Manslughter? Did they put the animal down?



All of these I found in a parish register in some forlorn hamlet in a country far far away....

Again in 1705 I find... children Balch - three children of George Balch. Did these children not have names? Was there an outbreak of something that swept through the village? Influenza, typhoyd, plague or did something more sinister happen here?

In 1701 I found this...stranger - out of Samuel Perry's home. Did Samuel not know the name of the stranger in his home? Did he walk over three villages away, pick up a prostitute drag her home and kill her when he was done? Claiming it was a stranger? Did some vagabond burgal him and he killed the villain? But then, as I was looking further into the past I found this in 1700...

Child P..... - child of Samuel of .... Now as we have seen with the Balch incident earlier, children whose names were not given were listed by their father's surname. So, child P could be child Perry. There are .... after the name indicating that there are letters in the book but they are not legible. The man with the stranger was named Samuel Perry so this Samuel P.... could be the same man. Which could mean this Samuel is having a bad year or two.

Young man - of Mr Moores House ..... Mr Moore??? what have you been up too that there is a dead young man in your home that you apparently do not know the name of? Are you and Mr. Morses competing for young men?? Because just days later this shows up ... young man - out of Mr Morses? - the presbyterian preacher. You had to specify that this was the Presbyterian preacher not to be confused with Mr. Morse the Baptist preacher, Father Morse and Rabbi Morse??

Oh and don't forget George Fowler - a Quaker. There was also one man notated as Welsh and a Scottish woman along with the several who were listed as Quaker or as having been buried in the Quaker cemetary.

John Ash - held by the stroake of ..... 1698. What?? Finish the sentence, stroake of what? This one had me on pins and needles.

Also in 1698 we find Child Witch - Witches of Worsneale is this a movie? a novel? This one is fascinating. Who are these withces of Worsneale?

This one was bit sad to me. Child Brice - Child of Robert Brice 1696

Child Brice - Another child of Robert Brice 1696. Not only are they dead but they are nameless.

Then in 1695 I have this....Joseph Verrier - buried out of the Noahs Ark Uh.... I was wondering where that pesky Ark had gotten to. I do not recall though a Joseph Verrier being listed on the manifest. Did one of Noah's kids sneak him on board?

In 1689 an entire Hip Hop Band perishes or maybe just one Rapper. Sopho... Holla... alias Peller.

In 1683 this incident happens and apparently there was was not much mourning over her. Mary Gough - a prating impertinant presbyterian - drowned. Was this an accidental drowing? Unlikely!! Was she murdered by some overbearing, obnoxious Lutheran? Did the Witches of Worseneal tire of her accusations of withcraft and dump her down a well?

Also in 1683 we find Margaret Herne alias Booby. Did the disgruntled Presbyterian and her Lutheran attacker kill Booby for being the object of their husbands desire and then those two turn on each other with the Lutheran Dame coming out the clear winner?

George Jenkins - Who was drowned by misfortune 1673. Stunned silence! Did they mean Miss Fortune killed him? Drowning is unfortunate. Would he do it on purpose? Did he jump into the lake to see how deep it was and forget to breathe. I suppose this was clearly NOT a suicide.

Guilielmus Roberson - Torn apart by a water wheel? 1668 This just begs for answers. Where is Horatio when you need him?

Elizabeth Hazzell - w John died falling from horse 1670. Well at least this was an accident and not murder by horse like with poor Sarah Wallis. Or did her husand push her off?

Epaminondas Roberts - Buried without honour/ceremony 1667. I have no idea. One of the Witches? There were two listed like this. Different last names.

Here is another one for Horatio and his team. George Baker - Torn to pieces? 1665 Torn to peices? By what? An animal? Barbarian from Mongolia? Viking invasion? Werewolf? That psycho water wheel?

Has the whole county been enchanted by an evil spell? Now we have fires that are starving for human flesh. Anna Long - Consumed by a devouring fire 1664 Are there other types of fires? Devouring fire, sculpting fire, painting fire, singing fire.

This one is perfect. Nicholas Hooper - Sailor who sank in sea 1664

Somone needs to check in on the widow here. parish child - out of the Widow Thomas's house 1697. My guess this is an orphan she agreed to take in but it had a name, didn't it? This is so disturbing. This child had a mom, maybe a dad but it definately had a name. We shall call this child Robin.

Phillip Gennard - An old soldier of Ireland died at Black Boy 1673 I am hoping that Black Boy was a tavern and he died with a pint of ale and a whiskey.

Last is this one that had me giggling....Thomas Cartwright - Quack doctor 1661. I assume they meant he was a Quaker and a Dr. or was he really a quack doctor. Maybe he was a duck doctor. Maybe he is the fore-father of the Duck Dynasty people.



I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did.