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"Close by the road on the
outskirts of the old seaport of Bucksport, on the Penobscot River, is a
small family cemetery. Within its enclosure sleep the Bucks, the blue-blooded
folk which first settled the town and bequeathed it their home, and a
legend.
The largest and most
conspicuous monument in the cemetery is a tall granite shaft which is in
plain sight of the highway. On one side is the inscription, 'Col John Buck,
founder of Bucksport, A D 1762. Born in Haverhill, Mass. 1718. Died
March 13, 1795.'
On the other side is the single word
'Buck,' and also something not wrought by the marble worker. On the smooth
surface of the pedestal is a curious outline, which can be easily imagined
to be a foot of normal size. The people who say that it is a foot believe in
the legend which has oft been told in Bucksport.
The story is told that Col Jonathan
Buck was a very harsh man, and the leading spirit in the day and generation.
He was the highest in civil authority, and his word was law in the community
in which he resided. He was an out and out puritan, and to him witchcraft
was the incarnation of blasphemy. Thus, so the story goes, when a certain
woman was accused of witchcraft, at the first clamorings of the populace Col
Buck ordered that she be imprisoned, and later she was sentenced to be
executed as a witch.
The execution day came and the woman
went to the gallows, cursing her judge with such terrible words that people
shuddered, but the magistrate stood unmoved. All was ready and the hangman
was about to perform his duty when the woman turned to Col Buck, and raising
one hand toward heaven, she said:
'Jonathan Buck, listen to these
words, the last my tongue shall utter. It is the spirit of the only living
God which bids me speak to you. You will soon die, and over your grave they
will erect a stone, that all may know the spot where your bones lay and
crumple to dust.
'Upon that stone the imprint of my
feet shall appear, and for all time, after your accursed race has vanished
from the face of the earth, will the people from far and near know that you
murdered a woman.'
She then turned to her executioners,
and another act transpired to make a part of American colonial history. The
'witch's curse' had been almost forgotten, until the monument was erected to
the founder of Bucksport.
It had been in position hardly a
month when a faint outline was discovered on it. It grew more and more
distinct until some person made the discovery that it was an outline of a
foot. The old legend was revived.
They said that the 'witch's curse'
had been fulfilled. An attempt was made to remove the stain, but every
effort only tended to make it plainer. The imprint of the foot is there
today as plain as ever. Amateur photographers have taken pictures of
it and a visit to the Buck cemetery to see the 'witch's foot' is one of the
pastimes of every summer visitor to the pretty little town."
The strange outline—a side view of a
boot as if stomping down—is still visible on the monument to this
day. |
