Paranormal record / 1799
January 2, 1800. In a house on Taunton Bay, in Sullivan, Maine, Abner Blaisdel and his daughter heard a woman's voice in the cellar. It named itself. Nelly Butler, the dead wife of Captain George Butler. By August, there was a figure too. A small light that grew into a woman, white as snow, moving without stepping. Dozens of neighbours gathered to watch. Some saw a man's hand pass straight through her. The Reverend Abraham Cummings collected their sworn testimonies and published them as proof of immortality. Two centuries on, the case is billed as America's first documented haunting.
Sullivan, Maine. 1797. Nelly Butler, born Nelly Hooper, died in childbirth, and her baby died with her. Two years later, faint knocking began in the cellar of the Blaisdel house on the shore of Taunton Bay. Abner Blaisdel headed the household. His daughter Lydia, about 15, heard it most often. The knocks could go on for several minutes. Then a voice would call the family down.