Colonel Jonathan Buck (1719–1795) was a United States Army colonel and founder of the town of Bucksport, Maine. He is also said to have been the victim of a vengeful witch’s ghoulish curse. Buck is buried in Buck Cemetery, and his tomb is said to bear the image of an extended human leg with a flexed foot attached. However, others suggest that the image is a mere imperfection in the stone from which the memorial was fashioned. Buck’s tomb, a large stone obelisk, has become something of a tourist attraction as people visit to decide for themselves whether the memorial does indeed bear testimony to a witch’s wrath.
As in most folklore there are a number of variations of Buck’s tale. According to the most often-repeated version, Buck was in charge of administering local justice as a sort of magistrate. The antiwitchcraft fervor stirred up by events in nearby Salem eventually reached Bucksport, and the local population began to wonder if there were witches in their midst. So when it came about one day that an old lady accused of witchcraft was brought before Buck, the magistrate dutifully found the woman guilty and sentenced her to death. The tale goes on to say that just before she was about to be hanged, the woman raised one of her hands to the heavens, and staring at Buck, declared the colonel would soon die. The woman then went on to warn that in time people would erect a stone over Buck’s grave but that the grave marker would forever bear the imprint of a woman’s feet so that Buck would be remembered by generations for murdering an innocent woman.
According to some versions of the tale, the woman in question was Ida Black, Buck’s mistress, of whom he had grown tired, having found himself a new, younger girlfriend. The way other versions tell the story, Black was burned at the stake rather than hanged, and as she burned she vowed to dance upon Buck’s grave. In a yet more gruesome version of the tale, as she burned, the witch’s foot fell into the flames, separated from the rest of her body. This is what left the imprint upon Buck’s tomb.
Most versions of the tale agree that after a tomb was erected in commemoration of Buck, a mark did appear on the stone tomb that resembled the bloody imprint of a leg and foot. This prompted the townsfolk to remember the executed woman’s promise to leave her mark on Buck’s grave. Over the years there have been many attempts to remove the mark from Buck’s memorial, but a permanent solution is yet to be found. Indeed, some people swear that the mark is more pronounced on the anniversary of Buck’s death. It has also been said that Buck’s descendants have scrubbed and replaced the memorial several times but to no avail, as the image of the ghostly leg and foot always reappears.
Some people also say that Buck’s curse goes further than just the ghostly imprint on his tomb. They suggest that the curse extends to the demise of the lumber mills at Bucksport and also Bucksville, South Carolina, which was founded in 1825 by a relative of Buck, Captain Henry Buck. The lumber mills in these towns went into decline after less than a hundred years of success, and with their demise the towns of Bucksville and Bucksport entered times of economic hardship. Indeed, the settlements entered into such a spiral of decline that the town of Bucksville all but disappeared.
Victoria Williams
See also Bell Witch; Boo Hag; DeGrow, Moll; Old Betty Booker; Old Granny Tucker
Further Reading
Citro, Joseph A., and Diane E. Foulds. 2004. Curious New England: The Unconventional Traveler’s Guide to Eccentric Destinations. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England.
Lamkin, Virginia. 2012. “Maine: The Witch’s Curse.” Seeks Ghosts website. May 28. http://seeksghosts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/maine-witches-curse.html. Accessed July 3, 2015.
Robertson Huntsinger, Elizabeth. 1998. More Ghosts of Georgetown. Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair.
Stansfield, Charles A., Jr. 2007. Haunted Maine: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Pine Tree State. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.