Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Witch’s curse or a stain? You judge | DownEast.com

I did not grow up near Bucksport, but I heard of this legend, very probably from my high school history teacher Ron Stevens.

Like most teachers, he occasionally strayed off the lesson plan and talked about fun things he liked.

And he had a strange sense of humor back then so he sometimes talked about Maine horror lore. And the DownEast.com trivia question covers one of them.

What stone memorial has a stain shaped like a woman’s foot and leg?

Answer:

A stone memorial to Bucksport founder and Revolutionary War hero Jonathan Buck. The mark has prompted various legends explaining its origins, most concerning a witch’s curse, but the most plausible explanation is that the stain was caused by iron oxides in the stone.

The way I heard it – and this comes from Ron Stevens, I believe – locals took efforts to grind it down or otherwise remove the foot from the monument. … And it always came back. (Insert scary organ music.)

No comments:

Post a Comment