October 13, 2014

Emmeline Bachelder, Fate, and the Fayette Factor

October is our national month of monsters, ghosts and witches. It's the time when America allows itself to be scared by horror movies and haunted houses, and even your nicest neighbor covers their house with giant spiders and puts skeletons on their front lawn.

Every month is a scary month on this blog - witches and monsters are de rigeur. So for this pre-Halloween post I am going to write about something really scary. It's so scary I'm not even sure what to call it.

Let's start with the story of Emmeline Bachelder. Emmeline was born in 1816 to a farm family living in the small town of Fayette, Maine. Life can still be difficult in rural Maine today, but in the early 19th century people endured a level of poverty we can't quite fathom. At the age of 13 Emmeline's parents sent her to Massachusetts to work in one of the mill towns. She was supposed to send home her pay to help support her parents.

It was Emmeline's first time in a large city. She found work in a mill, but was soon seduced by one of the foremen and became pregnant at the age of 14. One of her aunts lived nearby and helped Emmeline deliver the baby, which was sold to a well-off local couple. According to legend, the aunt never even showed Emmeline the baby or told her who it was sold to. Emmeline returned to Fayette. She never told anyone what happened.

When she was 28 she married a Maine man named George Chambers and had a son with him. But after 20 years he left her and she found herself single once again.

I imagine at this point Emmeline was resolved to being single for the rest of her life. She was middle-aged and Fayette was a small place. There just weren't that many eligible men in town. The years passed by and she remained alone. So I also imagine she was quite happy when Leonard Gurney moved to Fayette from southern New England. He was at least ten years younger than Emmeline and handsome. He was also instantly attracted to her, a feeling which was mutual.

You might see where this is going.

Emmeline and Leonard were married. Emmeline was 62; Leonard was 48. They lived happily together until her aunt, now quite elderly, came to visit. When she saw Leonard she was horrified. He was the baby that Emmeline had sold. Emmeline had unknowingly married her own son. She had broken one of society's biggest taboos.

When the truth was revealed Leonard immediately left Emmeline. Gossip spread through Fayette and Emmeline's reputation was ruined. She became a pariah - even her legitimate son abandoned here - and she died alone and penniless at the age of 81. It's believed that her body is buried outside the walls of the Moose Hill Cemetery in Sagamore Falls, Maine.

Is this story true? It seems too archetypal, just too "Oedipus in Maine" to be real. But apparently it is true. After doing extensive research the PBS show The American Experience produced a documentary about Emmeline in 1989 called "Sins of Our Mothers." Her life has also been the source of a novel (Emmeline by Judith Rossner) and an opera of the same name by Tobias Picker.

I think the sheer awfulness of Emmeline's situation makes people doubt the truth of her story. Was it just bad luck on her part? Maybe it was just her fate, the result of some random occurrences. But maybe she fell victim to something called the Fayette Factor.

Can one man's name cause a lot of problems? A portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette.
The Fayette Factor was first proposed (discovered? invented?) by paranormal investigator Jim Brandon in the 1970s. According to Brandon, and later writers like Loren Coleman, places in the United States that have the word "Fayette" in their name are more likely to experience strange phenomena.

For example:

  • People in Fayatteville, Arkansas have reported water monsters, UFOs, and assorted humanoid creatures.
  • In North Carolina, the town of Fayatteville has a haunted mansion, the Slocumb House, which is connected to the Cape Fear River Channel by a tunnel. The river has been the location of multiple Bigfoot sightings. 
  • Fayette County near Pittsburgh experienced a wave of Bigfoot sightings in the 1970s. Some of the creatures were seen in conjunction with UFOs. 
  • La Fayette County, Ohio was haunted by a mysterious, giant black cat, as was Lafayette, Wisconsin. 
  • Places with the word 'fayette' in their name appear in connection with many famous crimes, including the Son of Sam murders and JFK's assassination. 

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Emmeline's home town of Fayette, Maine was the sight of witchcraft in the 18th century (according to the journals of minister Paul Coffin) and was also home to the "Moving Arm Ghost" which haunted a nearby spring. The ghost would offer a copper pot of water to travelers, but when irritated would throw water at them. Loren Coleman also claims there is a cave called the Devil's Den located nearby.

Why would the name Fayette be linked to paranormal phenomena? Most American locations with Fayette in their name were named after the Marquis de Lafayette, the French military strategist who helped the colonists during the Revolutionary War. Perhaps the strange phenomena occur because the Marquis was involved with the Freemasons and other vaguely occultish groups. Or maybe it's not the Marquis himself but just his name, Lafayette, which may mean "little enchantment" or "small fairy." The related English word 'fey' can mean unlucky or doomed. Incorporating the word into your town's name might just be an invitation for those tricky fey forces to come pay a visit...

Logically, I don't think this makes any sense. There are many places in New England, like the Bridgewater Triangle or even Gloucester, with more paranormal phenomena than Fayette, Maine. How do you even decide what counts as strange phenomena? Some things are obviously unusual (Bigfoot, UFOs, ghosts), but unfortunately murders are an everyday occurrence. Jim Brandon also includes strange weather events when discussing the Fayette Factor, but let's face it, strange weather occurs all across America and is only increasing.

Emotionally, though, the Fayette factor resonates with me. As an explanatory theory it is creepy and a little paranoid, but despite it's logical flaws at least it's an explanation of why things, particularly weird and scary things, happen. It's a paranormal form of theodicy, telling us why bad things happen to good people. It's reassuring to think we aren't just in the wrong place at the wrong time when something terrible occurs to us.

Maybe it would have comforted Emmeline Bachelder Gurney to know about the Fayette Factor. She would have had some reason for the strange turn her life took. Otherwise, Emmeline just encountered really bad luck. There was no reason for what happened to her, it was just a roll of the cosmic dice. Which is probably the scariest explanation there is.

*********

Most of my information about Emmeline Bachelder is from this article in the New York Times. You can read more about the Fayette Factor in Loren Coleman's book Mysterious America, or Jim Brandon's book The Rebirth of Pan. Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit. The book's title indicates the wonderful depths of craziness inside its covers.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

The cemetery is in Livermore Falls,Maine. I'm native ftom this town and know the story well

Unknown said...

The cemetery is in Livermore Falls,Maine. I'm native ftom this town and know the story well

Ashley Gochenour said...

I was about to say the same thing...

Anonymous said...

did this woman really exsist ?

Anonymous said...

One thing that confuses me, is that in the real census records ect, both of her husbands are older than her, including the one that was allegedly her son.

Roder51 said...

Just watched the documentary of Emmeline on Youtube. How sad that such ignorance and misfortune took this poor lady down the road it did. The wise man speaks because he has something to say, the fool because he has to say something.

Unknown said...

Her name is spelled "Emeline".

Unknown said...

Interesting. Where did you find the census records?

Anonymous said...

A friend's mother taught us that bad things only happen to good people, because when the happen to bad peopeople they're good things. That's how we learn about bad things and why we are working on them. It's the inevitable roll of the dice.

Anonymous said...

A friend's mother taught us that bad things only happen to good people, because when the happen to bad peopeople they're good things. That's how we learn about bad things and why we are working on them. It's the inevitable roll of the dice.

Anonymous said...

So basically she was molested and raped, then shunned for it. Doesn't seem any different from today.

Unknown said...

Impressionante a historia dessa mulher eu imagino o quanto não sofreu o restante de sua vida depois de tudo revelado mas acredito que morreu em paz porque Deus a perdôo e lhe deu Consolo

Mary said...

Searching Ancestry.com Emeline Bachelder was born 30 Jan 1816 and died 9 Oct 1897 both in Fayette, Kennebec, Maine. She married George Chamberlain August of 1843. George was born in 1806. Together they had a son Gustavus Chamberlain born 21 Sept 1844. In the 1850 Census Emeline is living with George and Gustavus in Fayette. By 1860 she is living with Gustavus in the home of her younger sister without George. She then marries Leonard Gurney who was born in 1804 (older than Emeline). They were married April 1878. In the 1880 census she is living only with Leonard and is listed as his wife. He is listed as being 76 yrs old and she is 64 yrs old. So it appears to be that this story is folklore in part and she NEVER married her natural born child. Of course at that time in history children born out of wedlock usually did not have a clear birth record, especially if the child was immediately given to another family. DNA would be the only way to determine a connect at this point.

Anonymous said...

I'm related to Emeline, I'm Bachelder , it,s quite interesting. I have never heard this story

Anonymous said...

Something happened in Fayette Maine in the 1800s concerning a woman named Emeline Batchelder Gurnsey, but at the moment the documentation doesn't line up with the legend. The PBS documentary seems to imply that she married her son when she was in her thirties and he lied about his age, saying he was in his late twenties. Then the truth came out and she spent the majority of her adult life alone and shunned. According to the records, she married him when she was in her sixties, he was in his seventies and she died less than ten years later of dysentery.

Of course people could have lied and forged documents to save face which has happened,but I doubt that we will ever know the whole truth.

Robbie said...

What about Nettie Mitchel's story?. She knew Emmaline and swears its a true story

Anonymous said...

Where is her actual grave? Is it marked?

Anonymous said...

Hello- do you know where her actual gravesite is?

Anonymous said...

People did lie back then and forge documents. My Husbands great grandfather married a 14 year old when he was 36yrs. Old and left his 1st wife for her. He was able to marry the 14 year old because he changed the spelling of his last name in the documents. He never divorced his first wife. It was a family secret for years, until the first wife’s children came to visit.

Anonymous said...

What I think happened is that this older lady remembers a lady who lived by herself and died one winter. There also may have been a dramatic funeral at some point in her childhood. But I think she somehow blended it all in her mind since she was so little and as the years have gone by she’s invested herself in this story.

Anonymous said...

I think the person who commented on June 13, 2022 is absolutely right. The recorded facts just don't add up to the story. It is either misremembered, or someone began a rumor about the "crazy old woman who lived down the road" and the legend grew from there.

Mel said...

Have you ever thought of doing your DNA? There is a FB group called DNA detectives. A woman named CeCe Moore runs the group. It woukd be fascinating for her to take on this DNA mystery. I'd anyone can solve it she can.

Anonymous said...

Is there anything about where or what happened to her first son Leonard?

crazymainer1965 said...

i lived in fayette maine grew up there and i knew nettie as well as her grandson butch good people butch was one of my dearest friends back in school days ... i never heard of the story Emeline story .. besides a story like that the town folk really probly didnt talk much about anyways but i never heard of it ... some asked where she buried all ik when i went looking for the gave way back in the day she was buried at moose hill cem its right across from the church ... we never found it .. as it ays its unmarked grave i have no clue if it still is since the story has come to light ... but ya thats about all ik ... nettie was such a wonderful woman when ik her i was just a child and my librarian and i remember her pintching her hand and saying abcd ouch and so on ... she would call my mom for any gossipe and my mom really wasnt a gossiper so she didnt get much of storys out of my family anyways ... but nettie was a story teller for sure ... is the story of emeline true maybe to nettie it was true but clearly it wasnt as true as nettie had clamed ... but dont hold that againest nettie ... she was ok woman in my book....