Episode 19: The Buckner Witch of Standing Stone

Today, we’ll discuss a local legend from Putnam County, Tennessee about the ghost of a jealous woman dressed in all black that haunted Margaret Buckner until the day she died. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Polly Brewington, the Buckner Witch of Standing Stone.

Transcript

Welcome to the Tennessee Ghosts and Legends Podcast. My name is Lyle Russell. I am your host, and I love a good ghost story. Today, we’ll discuss a local legend from Putnam County, Tennessee about the ghost of a jealous woman dressed in all black that haunted Margaret Buckner until the day she died. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Polly Brewington, the Buckner Witch of Standing Stone.

The Story:

To the east of Cookeville, Tennessee on the south side of Interstate 40 in Putnam County, there is a grave in the James Bohannon Cemetery with a mysterious past. The gravestone is marked, “To the  memory of Marv Bruinton,” who died on December 23, 1882. The problem is, no one is really sure who Marv is. Some believe he may have been a stillborn child of James and Blessery Brewington, however, online genealogical records show James and Blessery did not have a child named Marv. It was not uncommon at that time to have nicknames and pet names for children, but those names were usually a common derivative of their given name, and usually given to children who were living. In any case, none of James and Blessery’s fifteen children had the name Marv, but they did have a daughter named Mary. 

Mary “Polly” Brewington was born around 1830 in Jackson, Tennessee. Due to multiple historical record conflicts, it is unclear if she married and had children, was unmarried and had children, or remained single with no children. Perhaps that ambiguity is what has led Polly Brewington to be remembered by another name, the Buckner Witch. This strange tale starts in Standing Stone, the early name for the modern-day Monterey, Tennessee. The original site of the town had a large stone monolith at its center erected by local native Indian tribes that was later removed by railroad builders around 1895. Six years later in 1901, the town was incorporated and renamed Monterey.

It is said that Polly arrived in Standing Stone with two of her brothers, whose names are unknown, sometime shortly after the Civil War ended in 1865. They were strangers to the people of Standing Stone. No one knew where they came from or why they came there. Before and during the Reconstruction period, it was not uncommon for displaced people in the former Confederate territories to seek out better places to restart their lives in the war-ravaged south. The three odd siblings moved into a modest house near an old abandoned sawmill on the edge of town and set out to make their way in the post-Civil War landscape.

Polly Brewington was a noticeably small woman, peculiarly dark-skinned, dark-haired and dark- eyed like the native Americans. She was between 35 and 40 years old and unmarried. Perhaps her lack of nuptials left her in some odd state of mourning, as it is said that she always dressed from head to toe in black. Occasionally she would break the pattern with a white collared blouse or frilly cuffs, but even her bonnets and handbags were always solid black.

The Brewington siblings were desperately poor. The brothers worked as day laborers, carpenters, or at the local sawmill, and Polly hired out as a maid to several families in town doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning duties. One day, she answered a post for maid services for the family of Alex and Margaret Buckner.

The stories vary greatly in this part. Some versions say Polly and Alex Buckner knew each other before she came to work in his household. Some theorize they were childhood friends that grew up together in the nearby town of Dry Valley. Others say they were former neighbors in another town, and she may have followed him to Standing Stone. In any case, she came to work for the Buckners in their home as a house maid later in life. By the time she came into their employ, the Buckners had already had six of their eventual nine children and by all accounts were an established, happy, and growing family. These seemed to be things that Polly did not have, and before long, it is said that jealousy overtook her.

Polly was a few years older than Alex, but that did not matter to her. She secretly fell in love with him, imagining herself in Margaret Buckner’s place as his wife instead of their lowly housemaid. The Brewington house was about a mile away from the Buckners, somewhere near the modern-day  area around the bluffs off North Holly Street. She somehow convinced Alex that she could be more readily available to serve his household if she were closer, so he had a small cabin built nearby so she would not have to walk as far. Being closer to the family meant she had more access to Alex and could watch Margaret’s comings and goings.

Over time, Polly is said to have tried everything she could to interfere with the Buckner’s marriage, and by whatever means necessary, including threats of violence. Polly’s behavior became erratic. It is said at night she would make her way into the house and slip into bed next to Alex. Sometimes in a rage, she would barge in their room and yank all their bed coverings off of them, shouting and cursing Margaret for being in her place next to him. Polly even had her two brothers corner Margaret in an alley near the town market one day, threatening violence on her and her children if she didn’t leave her husband. Some stories say Polly started down a darker path and may have tried casting spells to ensnare Alex for herself. None of it worked.

After a stern confrontation with Polly, she finally confessed her feelings for Alex and admitted to all of the harassment of Margaret in a desperate plea for mercy. He immediately dismissed her in a rage, calling her “unbalanced” and “insane.” He banished her from the property, and he never saw her again. Margaret was relieved to be rid of Polly from their lives, but it would not be the last time she and Polly would meet.

A few years later, in 1881, Alex and Margaret Buckner welcomed a son into the world. It is unclear if the birth was difficult or if she fell ill afterward, but Margaret, for some time after the birth, was not well. Somewhere around the celebration of the child’s second birthday, Margaret made a strange statement in the company of their family and friends. In the middle of the celebration, Margaret stood with a strange stare into the distance. Everyone stopped to look at her, thinking maybe the excitement of the day was getting to her. Instead, she exclaimed, “Well, the old witch is dead!” The guests didn’t know what to make of this strange announcement. A friend stood to comfort her, asking her to sit down and explain what she meant. Margaret looked around the room and said, “Polly Brewington is dead, and now she comes to torment me.”

She never told anyone, nor could anyone ever figure out how Margaret knew that Polly had died at that moment, but Polly actually had died shortly before the time of Margaret’s strange announcement, and under mysterious circumstances. A deep search of death records barely even recount Polly’s existence, much less her death so the details are difficult to ascertain. All the accounts I have found on this story say in different ways that she may have died of unnatural causes. It was obvious that Polly’s torments in life changed Margaret and affected her in ways that never went away even after Polly’s death. Margaret would continue to dwell on Polly’s threats to her marriage and family long after Polly’s death, even though the Brewington siblings had been out of their lives for years. Margaret’s strange obsession with Polly Brewington caused many to believe that perhaps Margaret Buckner had something to do with her demise. Did Margaret have Polly killed? She was in the company of others when Polly died, so she did not do the deed herself. Or is it possible there is a supernatural force at work here? Did Margaret Buckner use witchcraft to kill her rival?

In his book “Strange Tales of the Dark and Bloody Ground,” author Christopher Coleman states there are multiple cases of suspected witches in Tennessee, which included around 1840, a couple named Hiram and Marsha Milsap from Fentress County were accused of witchcraft. They were accused of shape-shifting into animals and killing livestock and stalking the townsfolk. One accusation is as recent as 1976, when a farmer in East Tennessee accused his neighbors of performing ritual sacrifices on his livestock, which persisted almost until 1990. The man claimed to find dead or disfigured mules and cattle with strange cuts, markings, and missing body parts. Coleman also states that accusations and suspicions of witchcraft in colonial America were not limited to just Salem, Massachusetts. Tennessee has had multiple accusations of witchcraft in that time, and even one documented almost-witch trial. For a moment, let’s divert from Polly Brewington and Margaret Buckner, and talk briefly about the 1835 trial of Joseph Stout of Jamestown, Tennessee for witchcraft.

In Jamestown, Tennessee, an elderly man named Joseph Stout was accused by his neighbors of being a witch. Old Joe Stout was a studious hermit, spending his days and nights poring over any books he could find on philosophy and religion in his meager cabin along the Obed River. His crime? Everyone in the town knew he did not attend church yet was obsessed with reading religious texts. Rumors began that the quiet old man was a witch, a sorcerer, or possessed by the devil and was reading on how to subvert the good people of Jamestown to his dark ways. This gave way to further rumors about him having powers to morph into smoke or a mist and get through keyholes or loose boards in his neighbor’s houses, and that he could turn into animals that would stalk children.

The official accusation came from a wealthy family in town whose teenage daughter fell suddenly and seriously ill with symptoms that no doctor for miles around could diagnose. The desperate family obtained a warrant from the town squire, Joshua Owens, that accused Joseph of casting an evil spell on her. Armed men served the warrant at Joseph’s cabin armed with muskets loaded with silver bullets. They stormed the house and dragged Joseph roughly to Squire Owens’ office, where Joseph proclaimed his innocence. However, suspicious townsfolk had already lined up to deliver testimony about evil spells Joseph had cast on their crops, their livestock, and their children. Convinced by their testimonies, Squire Owens sent the case to the local circuit court for trial, and put Stout in the town stocks. There, he was beaten and ridiculed by his accusers.

In an odd twist, also attributed to witchcraft, Attorney General John McCormick and Judge Abraham Carruthers declined the case. They stated that English law concerning witchcraft was not enforceable after the American Revolution in Tennessee, and at that time, no other laws against witchcraft were on the books. To the dismay of many, the judge declared there would be no trial. Just as they did in Jamestown, rumors began again that Joseph had corrupted the court proceedings with another evil spell, which cemented his reputation as a sorcerer who could influence the minds of even the most powerful men in the land. 

A short time later, Joseph hired his own attorney. He brought an assault and libel case back to the same court against Squire Owens and the men of the mob who stormed his home. Once again accused of bewitching the judge and jury, they ruled in favor of Joseph and forced the men to pay a large sum in damages. Joseph surprisingly returned to Jamestown after the counter suit and lived out his days in seclusion in the same cabin. He rarely ever came out in public again. However, when he did go to town for sundries, rumors followed him everywhere. Store owners claimed when he would conclude business with them, he would exit by turning into a cloud of smoke and disappear.

I mention this case because it set a legal precedent only 35 years before Polly Brewington went to work for the Buckners concerning non-enforcement of English law concerning witchcraft in Tennessee, and the large amount of monetary damages awarded to the accused in the Stout case, that may have been a deterrent to others making claims against neighbors or friends of using witchcraft. However, that did not stop rumors, and there were plenty swirling around Polly Brewington and Margaret Buckner.

 A few days after Polly’s death, Polly’s brothers took her body and their few belongings on a wagon headed south and were never seen in Standing Stone again. That is, except for Margaret Buckner.

From that day up into modern times, the ghost of Polly Brewington has haunted the City of Monterey. The apparition of a ghostly woman in black was reported from places and people all over town for years. Those who knew her said there was little doubt it was the spirit of Polly Brewington. The person who claimed to see her the most was, of course, Margaret Buckner. For years, Margaret would claim to see Polly’s ghost approach their house from the cabin across the street, come to the front door, and then vanish. Polly would also appear to Maragret while doing the same household chores Polly used to do. It is said that after her experience with Polly while she was alive, she would never allow another hired maid in the house again. During these “visits” from Polly, Margaret was said to swing mops and brooms wildly at where she saw Polly. Margaret would also check hers and Alec’s entire bedroom at night to ensure Polly was not there, taking a broom and swipe it angrily under their bed to clear out Polly’s ghost. Margaret would also claim Polly would show up at night and appear in their bed next to Alec. 

After Alex’s death in 1913, Margaret sold the family home and moved in with one of her sons. However, a change of venue did not change Polly’s appearances to Margaret. The ghost seemed to follow her no matter where she went, appearing in random places and tormenting Margaret well into her later years. As she grew older, she required a cane which she used regularly to swat at Polly when she appeared.

It is said that after Margaret passed away in 1915, Polly did not go away. For years after it was sold, different owners of the old Buckner home claimed to see Polly just as Margaret did, especially when household chores were being done. After the house sold again and sat empty, neighbors claimed to see lights through the windows moving from room to room late at night when no one was in the home. In 1976, in a collection of personal stories of the Buckner family in Putnam County, many recounted stories of the little woman in black that would appear randomly to members of their family for years after Margaret died. A granddaughter of Margaret, named Flora Cates, claims to have seen Polly looking through the funeral parlor window as they were setting up with her grandmother’s body, just before she was buried at Whittaker Cemetery.

Polly also did not stay attached to the Buckners or their home. It is said she would appear in the bedrooms of other couples around town. They complained of a small and gaunt figure of a woman in black standing over them, giving them a cold stare. Others have claimed to be followed while walking in town by the woman in black, especially near North Holly Street.

This is an odd tale in that being a ghost does not necessarily make one also a witch. Some think that perhaps Margaret Buckner may have been the witch of this story and that Polly Brewington may be a victim of witchcraft. To add to the mystery, Author Christopher Coleman’s book “Ghosts and Haunts of Tennessee” offers another theory that the ghostly woman in black is actually a member of the Buckner family, not Polly, and that she is guarding a secret Buckner family treasure trove that was hidden during the Civil War. Some members of the family became so convinced about the treasure story that they dug through the kitchen floor claiming it was buried under the house.

An article in the Livingston Enterprise newspaper features and article by the Putnam County Historian with a bold claim. He states that Polly and Alex kept a secret from the people of Standing Stone and that there is DNA evidence they had a child, and hints there may have been more than one. He says on Nov. 1, 1869, Polly gave birth to a baby boy named Porter, who she gave to her older daughter to keep secret. The baby was given the daughter’s married name of Owens. This theory would infer that Polly had children before coming to Standing Stone. Does that also mean that if Alex and Polly were acquainted earlier in life, could the older daughter also be Alex’s? The more I dove into this story and the history around it, the more confusing and overlapping it became.

To add one more twist at the close of this strange tale, you may remember at the beginning of this story I mentioned that Polly was a noticeably small woman. While researching parts of this story, a record found on the Find-a-Grave website offers other points to consider about Polly Brewington. The writer, whose name is Cliff, believes that Polly is his ancestor and offers a mixture of facts found while researching his genealogy and his own conjecture on the mystery surrounding the grave of Marv Bruinton. 

According to Cliff, Marv Bruinton’s grave measures exactly 84 inches from head to foot. A grave that long would not be dug for the coffin of a stillborn child, nor for a woman reported to be short in stature like Polly Brewington. As the grave was dug during winter in December, the ground would likely be hard or frozen, making digging difficult. It is unlikely a grave digger would expend the extra effort for a grave of seven feet. That would not be an accurate size for a child’s grave, which many usually measure three or four feet in length. So, if Polly was known to be a small person, why would this grave be dug so long?
 
 Cliff believes the grave to be a ruse to confuse others or disguise the grave of a person who was not well-liked. Rumor has it that Polly Brewington’s two brothers were ruffians that were not friendly to people in Standing Stone, and Polly may have been lumped in with their lot. Her antics with the Buckner family may have earned her the ire of others in town and given a reason to disguise her grave to keep it from being desecrated. In his theory, Cliff believes his Great Grandmother’s name, Mary, was changed on the headstone to Marv to hide her grave site.
 
 To support this theory, Clif believed the absence if a birth date would mean those who purchased the head stone either did not recall the date or intentionally omitted it. In small southern towns, gossip and scandal can last for years, even after a person’s death. He believes the omission could have been intentional to allow memories to fade and her name to be forgotten around town, then go back and correct the headstone to the correct name spelling and add the birth date. As those memories faded, it is possible the corrections were forgotten, or, as we can see by the longevity of this story and Polly Brewington’s legend as the Buckner Witch, maybe the memories of what happened to her will never fade away. Maurine Ensor Patton's Cemeteries of Putnam County Tennessee book, on page 48 she lists this grave as Mary Bruinton, not Marv. Oh, and unless you’ve seen the headstone, there is one more twist you should be aware of.

The headstone features an upside down star engraved above Marv’s name. If you know anything about symbolism, this could have multiple meanings, many of which are not witchcraft. The pentagram and upside down star’s exact origin is unknown, and its meaning has changed throughout the ages. One of the first known users of a pentagram is the philosopher Pythagoras in ancient Greece. Pre-Christian Celtic priests called it the witch’s foot, and in the Middle Ages it was known as the goblin’s cross, and sometimes associated with magic use, sorcerers, and alchemy, all of which could be where the association with evil and with witchcraft began. 

However, it can be used as a Christian symbol representing the star in the east that led the wise men to Bethlehem, and as representative of the five wounds of Christ at the crucifixion. It was also once called Solomon’s Seal. The Freemasons organization for women, the Order of the Eastern Star, also uses this as their seal. The pentagram is also a Pagan symbol to represent infinity, the elements, and protection. To Wiccans, it represents protection against demons and a symbol of safety. Judaism sees it as representing the five mosaic books. Hollywood cemented the idea that made it synonymous with evil witchcraft or as a satanic symbol, which have now adopted it as part of their symbology. With so many possibilities, it is hard to determine the purpose of this particular carving. However, in comparison with other graves in the Cookeville area that have this pentagram carved into it around the same time, it is likely the Christian symbol for the Star of Bethlehem. However, its presence adds to the aura of mystery surrounding the accusations of witchcraft against Polly and her name being remembered as the Buckner Witch. 

END

Thank you for listening to today’s Tennessee Ghosts and Legends Podcast episode. I invite you visit my website at www.lylerussell.net if you’d like to learn more about this and other stories I’m working on. If you have had a paranormal experience or an encounter with the supernatural, know of a Tennessee legend, or want to recommend a haunted Tennessee location for me to research, I would love to hear about it. Send me a message through my website and tell me about your brushes with the spirit world. I am your host, Lyle Russell, and remember, the dead may seem scary, but it’s the living you should be wary of. Until next time.