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Moll Dyer

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Moll Dyer (died c. 1697?) is the name of a legendary 17th-century resident of Leonardtown, Maryland, who was said to have been accused of witchcraft and chased out of her home by the local townsfolk on a winter night. Her body was found a few days later, partially frozen to a large stone.

History

Stories say her spirit haunts the land, looking for the men who forced her from her home. The land near her cabin is said to be cursed, never again growing good crops, and an unusual number of lightning strikes have been recorded there. A white dog is mentioned as causing accidents on Moll Dyer road.

One interviewer reported that while hunting along Moll Dyer's Run around 1970 he saw a "very dense fog patch, cylindrical in shape, with the light emanating about eight inches down from the top.... It crossed the stream and went east ... moving across the wind instead of with the wind ... then turned and went south.... But what made it really strange was that it did it twice! ... I'm not saying that it was the spirit of Moll Dyer. I just don't know what it was."[1]

The story has survived for generations, though no historical record has been found of Moll Dyer's existence. Records from the colonial period are often incomplete and the county courthouse burned in 1831 so early documents were lost. In addition, many (if not most) smaller ships did not maintain passenger lists. Historical evidence includes:

  • Several immigration records show that Mary Dyer, Marg. Dyer, and Malligo Dyers (along with many other immigration possibilities from neighboring states) were transported to Maryland in October 1677 on a ship commanded by Capt. Thomas Taylor.[2] (Moll is a nickname for Mary and in the late 1600s- any female name beginning with the letter "M".)
  • A "great epidemic" occurred in Southern Maryland in 1697/98. (Archives of MD, V23, p. 396)
  • In the 18 August 1892 edition of The St. Mary's Beacon (Edition 604, Volume LII), Joseph F. Morgan wrote that Moll lived in the area for many years, and that her cottage was burned while "Cotton Mather held sway in the land of the Puritans." (Mather was born in 1663 and died in 1728.) This story has been reprinted in the "Chronicles of St. Mary's," which are available from the St. Mary's County Historical Society.
  • There were several witchcraft trials in Maryland, starting in 1654 and continuing until 1712. Rebecca Fowler of neighboring Calvert County was hanged as a witch on 9 October 1685.[3]

The Washington Times has called her "perhaps Maryland's best-known bit of witch lore".[4] Local newspapers occasionally reprint the story.[5]

Moll Dyer's Rock

Moll Dyer's Rock on the Leonardtown courthouse lawn, May 2012.

According to legend, Moll Dyer rested on a large stone before she died, leaving indentations (either hands or knees or both) behind. The rock was lost for centuries until 1968, when a writer for the Washington Evening Star, Philip H. Love, read about the legend in a local historical journal and sought to locate the rock. A grocer who lived nearby claimed to have known about the rock since he was a young boy, leading Love to the location. In 1972, the 875-pound boulder was moved by the National Guard from a wooded ravine near Moll Dyer Road to the Leonardtown courthouse lawn in front of the old 1876 jailhouse, which now serves as the St. Mary's County Historical Society building. In early 2021, the Historical Society relocated the Rock to the grounds of Tudor Hall where the Historical Society has its headquarters.[6]

Local legend has it that the rock itself is cursed, and that people who go near it or touch it will experience misfortune, including dizziness, fainting, and illness.[7]

Impact

The Weather Channel aired an episode about Moll Dyer in their series American Supernatural on 5 October 2014.

Sister Witch, The Life of Moll Dyer was written by local novelist David W. Thompson and published by Solstice Publishing on October 31, 2017. Inspired by Moll Dyer's life, it pulls together the historical record and local oral traditions surrounding her legend.

Moll Dyer's Revenge, written by St. Mary's County native and author Mike Marcus, was published in the anthology From The Yonder: A Collection of Horror from Around the World in February 2020 from War Monkey Publications LLC.

The Legend of the Witch, Moll Dyer was choreographed by St. Mary's Ballet founder Jane Caputo and set to the music of Loreena McKennitt in 1999. The ballet was performed at St. Mary's Ryken High School and at the College of Southern Maryland's Leonardtown campus as part of the county's yearly Halloween celebration from 1999 to 2003 and again in 2006.[8] The ballet recasts the legend in the mold of a morality tale of feminism and tolerance.

Moll Dyer was one of the historical figures that inspired the titular character in The Blair Witch Project.[9][10]

The song "Fire and Snow" (2007) by folk/rock duo Hobbyhorse of San Francisco is about Moll Dyer.

Moll Dyer Road, 3.4 miles south of Leonardtown, is named after her,[11] as is the creek, Moll Dyer's Run, which parallels the road then crosses Route 5, goes past Our Lady's Chapel[12] on Medley's Neck Road, and eventually flows into Breton Bay.

Variations

As with all folktales, the story has been passed down through the generations and changes with the telling. In 1994 Thomas Jarboe conducted a series of interviews with ten local residents, including a member of the Dyer family, a local historian, and several people from families that have lived in the county since the 1600s.[citation needed] According to these interviews, Moll Dyer is said to have come from Ireland, Virginia, Kentucky, New England, or Connecticut. She is said to have been a widow, a woman disappointed in love, or the mother of two sons. She may have born[clarification needed] a Dyer or married a man named Dyer. Two people said they had heard her name as "Moldy Dyer" and that she was a Native American maid abandoned by her white lover after the birth of their child. The date of her death varied from the mid-1600s to the late 1700s. Several people said they thought Moll Dyer was Catholic or that she had come to Maryland because it was more religiously tolerant than other colonies.

References

  1. ^ Durham, Robert B. (2015). Modern Folklore. lulu.com. ISBN 978-1312909694.
  2. ^ Maryland Hall of Records Land Books, Liber 15, Folio 438.
  3. ^ Maryland Historical Magazine XXXL pP. 271–298
  4. ^ "Witchcraft a part of Maryland's past". Washington Times. October 10, 2004. Retrieved May 21, 2009.
  5. ^ "Witch or not, Moll Dyer legend lives on". The Enterprise. 30 October 2009.
  6. ^ "In Leonardtown, Md., final recognition for a 'witch' who died 300 years ago". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  7. ^ "The Legend of Moll Dyer lives on at Tudor Hall!". St. Mary's County Historical Society. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  8. ^ Brice Davis, Ellynne (October 11, 2006). "Ballet recalls witch legend". Southern Maryland News. Charles County, Maryland: Southern Maryland Newspapers. Retrieved May 21, 2009.
  9. ^ McCormack, Olivia (October 31, 2020). "What the Blair Witch fable reveals about 17th-century women". The Tempest. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  10. ^ Rosenthal, Nicole (August 2, 2020). "THE STORY THAT INSPIRED THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT". Grunge. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  11. ^ "Spooktacular Wreck: Crack-up at Moll Dyer Road Sends 2 on Fly-out LEONARDTOWN". St. Mary's Today. 27 October 2005. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
  12. ^ Our Lady's Chapel

Bibliography

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