Halloween is a time of year when ghost stories, folklores, and other scary tales begin to surface. In and around Lawrence County, one story seems to never lose its fascination.
Mary Black, an alleged witch in Lawrence County during the 1800s, has been the antagonist of countless folklores since the 1950s. Her life, and the stories that accompany it, is constantly debated – but, is it fact, fiction, or perhaps a little of both.
The answer is a little of both.
Mary Johnson Black was born in 1801 in Ireland, married Andrew Black, and immigrated to western Pa. around 1832. She lived in the Shenango and Taylor Township area and had nine children, according to the Lawrence County Historical Society.
Mary Black died in 1888 at the age of 87. She was buried with other members of her family in the Tindall Cemetery. This cemetery, although overgrown and situated in a now wooded area, is located in Chewton, just off Turkey Hill Road.
But, walking the quarter-mile path to the cemetery would be a waste of time, since many of the gravestones are overgrown, and Mary Black’s stone has been long removed.
Her tombstone currently resides safely at the Lawrence County Historical Society. Mary Black’s stone was allegedly found, not at the cemetery, but instead at the bottom of the West Pittsburg swamp. It was turned into the historical society for safe keeping.
According to records, Mary Black was married to Andrew Black, had a grandson named Abe Baldwin, a great-granddaughter named Jennie B. Allen, and a great-great-granddaughter named Delores Allen Lockley.
That’s the fact, but what about the fiction?
The ghost story involving Mary Black is similar to the much more notable Bloody Mary folklore around the country. Yet, the most accepted Mary Black story does not involve a mirror at all.
If you repeat the name “Mary Black” three times and then go to sleep, during the night she’ll rise and, depending on which variation of the tale you hear, claw your face viciously with her long, dead-woman’s nails.
However, other stories are more consistent with the Bloody Mary tales. According to many, this tale with Mary Black is nothing but a fun, creepy activity for kids to scare each other in the bathroom, thinking that a ghost will appear in the mirror.
The Bloody Mary folklore is popular world-wide, and it says that when you call her name numerous times to a dark mirror, her corpse will appear screaming at them, cursing them, or even stealing their soul.
Regardless of whether you believe in the folklore of the Mary Black haunting, one thing is for sure, it makes a good Halloween tale.
(photos courtesy of the Lawrence County Historical Society)