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Moncton-area ghost story about young 19th-century witch debunked

James Upham of Resurgo Place tells the true story of Rebecca Lutes, who died as a teenager just outside Moncton in the 1800s and was not a "crazy-spooky-witch-vampire-poltergeist."

Rebecca's grave is real, but the legend is not, says local history buff and museum worker

CBC News ·
James Upham, heritage development officer at Resurgo Place in Monton, says Rebecca Lutes was a real teenager who died in the late 1800s, but was not, as legend has it, put to death for witchcraft. (CBC)

"Out the Gorge Road near Moncton, stopping just before the old quarry and cement factory will bring you to the spot where Rebecca is claimed to rest."

So say the directions to Rebecca's Concrete Grave in the folklore section of the popular My New Brunswick website. 

The little patch of concrete near the roadside has long been a source of fascination for thrill seekers and ghost hunters.

Some dare to visit it and report mysterious car trouble or strange lights in the nearby forest.

It even inspired a horror movie a couple of years ago.

We love a good ghost story, but give our ancestors some credit.- James Upham, Resurgo Place

According to legend, Rebecca was a young witch, who lived in the area in the 1800s.

She was hanged after a spate of crop losses and animal mutilations, and her grave was covered in concrete to ensure she couldn't claw her way back out.

She is said to still haunt the road on moonless nights.

"Ludicrous," says James Upham, heritage development officer at Resurgo Place, home of the Moncton Museum.

"We love a good ghost story, but give our ancestors some credit."  

"Moncton in 1876 is not some crazy backwater podunk, where people are walking around scared of their shadows and practising voodoo. Nobody in the town of Moncton in 1876 would have run around screaming, 'A witch!'"

If it had happened, there would surely have been a record, Upham said during an interview on Information Morning Moncton. The town, after all, did have a daily newspaper at the time.

What has likely fuelled the invented accounts is that there is actually a grave at the site.

Upham said the property once belonged to the Lutes family, among the earliest European settlers in the Moncton area.

Girl probably had TB

A 16-year-old girl named Rebecca Lutes died, probably of tuberculosis, he said, and was buried there in the family plot.

So were three other family members, said Upham.

"When the Lutes family sold the property, they worried whoever bought the property was going to end up accidentally mowing over or plowing up the graves, so they put a concrete cap over it to protect the place," he said. 

Their idea worked until recent decades, he said, when vandals damaged the gravestones.

That's the main reason Upham isn't keen on perpetuating this particular local legend.

Visitors urged to be gentle

"We don't know a ton about her because nobody knew when she was alive that she was going to end up the subject of this generations-long story about some crazy-spooky-witch-vampire-poltergeist," he said.

"But for me, this was a real person, an actual kid."  

And she likely died of a dreadful disease, he said.

Upham asked anyone who plans to visit the grave to treat it gently.

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