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Mary’s Grave – Long Island’s Most Legendary Final Resting Place

To say the phrase “Mary’s Grave” on Long Island is to bring forth an array of tales about tragedy, death, and loss. Over the years, dozens of variations of the story of Mary’s Grave have been told. The truth has been lost to time—now only stories remain. Some people say that it is in Head of the Harbor, but others insist it is to be found in other towns such as Saint James, Huntington, Port Jefferson, Sayville, Amityville, and Stony Brook.

One story says that Mary was tried as a witch for killing local children. She was convicted and hanged in front of her home. She was buried nearby. The legend says that if children go to her grave at night, Mary will appear and kill them.

Another story says that Mary's husband was a

sailor. While he was away, Mary would light a candle in the upstairs window to guide him home. At some point, her husband died while at sea and never returned. Mary never got over the loss and committed suicide. Legend says that on some nights if you look to the house where she lived, you will see a light in the upstairs window. Interestingly enough, one night while at Head of the Harbor, there was a light in the window. This happened once, and we couldn’t confirm if it was from people or "Mary."

Another story says that Mary was locked in her room and abused as a child by her mother. She eventually snapped and murdered her mom with an axe. She then disappeared and roams to this day.

It is said in another tale that Mary had broken up with her controlling boyfriend. She started seeing a new guy, but the ex didn't like it and wanted her back. He had Mary get in his car and started driving. They got into an argument and he pushed her out of the moving car. Mary, while injured, was still alive after the tumble. As she lay in the street trying to get up, another car came down the road. The driver didn’t see Mary until it was too late and ran her over. Mary died at the scene. However, Mary is said to haunt the area and appear in front of cars driving down the road and then disappear.

At the Head of the Harbor site, there are a couple of additional legends. One says that if you go to the concrete-bunker like object, make the sign of the cross and say the "magic words," you can wake the dead. The other tale is if you pass another car while driving down the dark, tree-encased road and then stop and turn off your engine, your car will not start when you try to make it.

My group hasn't really found anything there. One day we spoke to two residents of the area—a father and his daughter. When we asked if they had heard any stories about the area, they had fearful expressions on their face and the girl ran inside. The father said there was nothing there and that was all.

Another alleged location for Mary’s Grave is none other than a cemetery found along Sweet Hollow Road, one of Long Island’s most legendary Roads Less Traveled. –John Leita

Looking For Mary’s Grave in Sweet Hollow Road Cemetery

I live on Long Island not far from Sweet Hollow Road, and I have been going there since I was about 15. It's pretty spooky! There are no lights on the road at all, it's surrounded by woods, and it’s EXTREMELY windy. Also, there's only enough room for one car at a time, so if another car is coming towards you, you have to pull all the way over to let them pass. There is a creepy old cemetery at the entrance and I had heard rumors that bloody Mary's grave was somewhere in the small cemetery. So, my friends and I decided to see if we could find it.

One night we piled into my friends station wagon and drove down there. When we got there I was so afraid to get out of the car, I just had a bad feeling. But my friends somehow convinced me and we pulled the car over and got out. We had flashlights and bats just in case we ran into any cult members (I know, we were young and there were tons of rumors about cult activity in the woods around Sweet Hollow Road) and we started looking at all the grave markers. We started getting discouraged when we didn't see Mary's name on any of them and we were about to go back to the car. I have to admit, I was relieved. But then, I can't really explain it, but there was a horribly scary noise coming from the woods right behind us! It was kind of like a scratchy voice saying “ahhhh.”

We shined our flashlights into the woods but couldn't see anything. So we started running, and as we were running to the car from the back of the cemetery, my friend tripped and landed right in front of a grave that said MARY in big capital letters! We screamed and ran as fast as possible back to the car, practically falling over each other. When we finally made it to the car, instead of continuing down the road we turned our huge station wagon around on the tiny, windy, one lane road and sped outta there. The whole time I felt like there was something behind us watching.

To this day, I haven't gone back into the cemetery and I have no idea what really happened that night as far as what made that horrible noise, but it was PRETTY DAMN SCARY! So, for all of you who live on Long Island, if you haven't seen Sweet Hollow Road Cemetery yet, check it out! I have had a lot of creepy experiences in the woods surrounding the place and on the road itself. –KoRnGirL

You can read more about Mary’s Grave and all of New York’s other strange cemetery stories in Weird New York.

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