With a Stake in the Heart: Suicides or 'Self-Murder' and a Peculiar Custom

During the Civil War in September of 1863, one Margaret Tinney, age 23, a native of New Jersey residing on Trout Street in Philadelphia, committed suicide by taking a large "horse pistol," which she promptly placed within her mouth, then "pulled the trigger," after which the "upper part of her head was almost entirely blown off." A few days later she would be buried in Lafayette Cemetery, with her 'official' cause of death being listed as: "suicide by shooting."

Why Ms. Tinney did what she did is unknown. Perhaps she had a lover who'd been killed in a battle prior to that time, and thus felt alone without him, or she could simply have suffered from emotional distress, depression or some hormonal imbalance. The science of medicine or knowledge of disorders was not as advanced as it is today, but the fate of her body after death, would have been carried out much differently, if she had died previous to the American Civil War.

As late as November 29, 1908, the Philadelphia Public Ledger carried an account entitled, "Two Girls Who Tried to Die Are Repentant," individuals who were "arraigned" before a magistrate or judge, and "charged with attempting suicide," or 'self-murder.' The act of suicide for many centuries, was considered a felony or capital crime in many parts of the world.

The famed English writer, Charles Dickens, in his work, The Old Curiosity Shop, first published in 1841, has a character named Quilp, whose body was found washed ashore, after which an inquest was held on the spot, where it was determined that the man had committed suicide. However, the verdict did not end here. As we're told in Dickens literary tale, Quilp "was left to be buried with a stake through his heart in the centre of four lonely roads."

Lest we think such actions are limited only to the British Isles, fiction or literature, it is recorded in the records of Westmoreland County, Virginia, how on August 25th, 1661, "a man servant of Mr. William Frekes who was Drowned in the Creek neare to his master's plantacon {plantation}...hath wilfully cast himself away..." Thus according to local custom, he was "to be buried at the next cross path as the Law Requires with a stake driven through the middle of him in his grave, hee having wilfully Cast himself away."

The above was not an isolated case, since one Thomas Moverly, "a well known and highly esteemed citizen of the County of Westmoreland," had also committed felo de se, or suicide, considered a 'felony' at that time in 1726. Moverly's corpse was "buried in the fork of a lonely cross-roads," in Westmoreland, with a sign posted stating, "Thou has cast thyself away, wilfully." Such a posting was made as a 'warning' to others who would attempt such rash actions.

It was common practice for many centuries, that those who committed suicide, could not be interred in 'holy ground,' within a church cemetery or graveyard, a similar restriction being also reserved for such malefactors as murderers and thieves. Thus, in 1660 in Massachusetts, the Colonial legislature considered suicide to be 'wicked & unnatural' and thus enacted a law that every suicide victim "shall be denied the privilege of being buried in the common burying place of Christians, but shall be buried in some common highway...and a cartload of stones laid upon the grave, as a brand of infamy, and as a warning to others to beware of the like damnable practices."

As the result of an Act of King George IV, for July 8, 1823, at least in England, such practices as those mentioned above, were finally "put an end to," and considered to be a "barbarous mode of interring suicides," though another would transpire as late as 1825. Prior to that time, an individual committing suicide also prevented his spouse or family from inheriting any properties left by the deceased, but all was automatically "forfeited to the King."

It is interesting as well, when 'Duels' were such a prevalent custom in the United States, particularly during the 18th & 19th centuries, in such places as Massachusetts, that in order to dissuade individuals from engaging in such practices, those who were killed in a conflict were denied, "the right to be buried in a coffin," plus their bodies were "interred near the place of execution, or in the public highway, with a stake driven through them."

Just recently, the well-presevered skeleton of a middle-aged man, uncovered in a Turkish cemetery, at Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, was disinterred and found to have been "nailed to his coffin with eight-inch iron spikes," through his neck, pelvis, and ankle.

Many societies feared that the 'soul' or 'spirit' of the deceased, would rise up and haunt the living, thus the reason for placing stones upon the corpse, or the custom of impalement and internment at a 'crossroads,' in order to prevent the spirit from leaving the grave. A 'crossroad' was also in the 'shape of a cross,' thus the inherent 'power' of the holy icon or symbol would hopefully prevent the ghost of the deceased from leaving his or her grave, in order to harass those left behind. A 'crossroad' would also purportedly 'confuse' the restless spirit as to which direction it should go, in order to inact its spiteful revenge.

Such laws, beliefs, customs, or superstitions as those mentioned above, and other peculiar accounts from historical records, may be found in abundance here, at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Supernatural or Insanity? Dark Voices & Visitations from an Unseen World?

In June of 2004, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, a man decapitated & 'dismembered' his grandmother and girl friend, purportedly "acting on orders from God," though he referred to the home where the heinous acts transpired, as "the gateway to Hell," while a mother of five in 2001, drowned her five children in a bathtub in Texas, stating later that "Satan was talking to her. ..She had seen images of Satan in the walls, in the cinder blocks of her cell."

Such horrific accounts as the above, be they truthful or fictional in origin, have been the subject for numerous monographs, cinematic movies & documentaries, or prime-time episodes of crime & forensic T.V., dramas for many years, but especially during the period of 'Halloween,' or 'All Hallow's Eve' in October. However, they are in reality, nothing new.

In July of 1823, Mr. William Hood, a man of forty-five years of age and father of ten, forced three of his children to assist him in erecting a pen of fodder and rails, of which he then forced one son, "being threatened with death," to go to their home and obtain "a chunk of fire." Sitting himself down within the structure, Hood then had himself set on fire while he sang, "Drink about boys and drown away sorrow," as the flames were about to consume him. A neighbor atttempted to extricate the man from his self-imposed death-trap, but upon seizing Hood, "he found him so much burnt that the skin left the flesh...the enfuriated maniac in a rage, seized a club, and swore by his maker he would kill him for interfering."

The good-intentioned neighbor twice attempted to drag Mr. Hood from the flames, even though by the second time, the man's "nose & one of his ears were burnt off, the wind-pipe exposed..." He was taken to his home and medical aid was sent for, but he emphatically declared to his pregnant wife, that " his Master had come for him the day before, but he was not ready for him--that he would be for him again that night, but he was not yet prepared, but that next day, at 11 0'clock, when he came again, he should be ready and would go."

Mr. William Hood stated that, "his object was to have burnt up soul & body, so as to deprive the devil of his expectation." To his last breath he bitterly denounced those who had attempted to keep him from his goal, and is described as having been a man "of singular manners and intemperate habits."(Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, DC, July 26, 1823)

Thomas Goss of Barkhampstead in Connecticut, in February of 1785, "murdered his wife in a most shocking manner, as she lay in bed with three children. He perpetrated his crime with an axe, which he plunged into her forehead even to her brains...He confessed the atrocious deed, and said he expected to be commended for it, as he had, for some time, thought his wife was possessed with a familiar spirit." Goss was described as being "regular and rational," and "even to religious duties," but was executed in November of 1785 for the murder of his wife. (The Providence Rhode Island Gazette & Country Journal, March 5, 1785)

In that same year of 1785, Mrs. M'Comb, of Princeton, New Jersey, described as the "wife of a gentleman of that place," locked herself in her chamber, refused to open the door, which was broke open, only to find that she had "cut off both her ears, and scarished her throat in attempting to cut that." When asked the reason for such a "rash act," she replied, "that an Angel appeared to her, and threatened her with the horrors of perdition, unless she performed the aforesaid operation." (The Pennsylvania Gazette, November 23, 1785).

The Reverend Josiah or Joshua Upson, a Universalist minister of Ohio in 1856, had repeatedly starved himself for many days, into becoming "an almost human skeleton," under the orders of "the Spirit," which promised him that through such "discipline,' he would become "a more extraordinary 'medium' than has hitherto been known."

According to Upson, he believed "that hundreds of disembodied spirits were constantly talking with him, prescribing what he should eat, what he should say...and punishing him severely when he refused to act in accordance with their directions." These same 'spirits,' informed the clergyman that through "his mission," he would thus become "a wonderful specimen of a spiritually developed man." (Lebanon (PA) Courier, September 19, 1856).

The above are only a VERY FEW accounts which exist, in published and manuscript collections here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, testifying to the fact such macabre & terrifying acts of cruelty to others or to one's self (and often attributed to 'voices' or 'visitations' of some sinister force), are not events peculiar only to the present, because of drug abuse, and/or mental disorders, but are a phenomenon that has plagued society and mankind for many years.