A community consultation was convened and it was decided to exhume the bodies of the dead children. Gathering their picks and spades, the Wilcoxes, Reynoldses, Whitfords, Mooneys, Gardners and other neighbors proceeded to the family cemetery and began to unearth the Tillinghast children. One by one, they found the bodies in advanced stages of decomposition, until they got to Sarah, the first to die, whom they found in a "remarkable condition." According to historian Sidney Rider, "The eyes were opened and fixed. The hair and nails had grown, and the heart and the arteries were filled with fresh red blood." Knowing what they had to do, they removed her heart and burned it on a rock in front of the family home. After the bodies were returned to their graves, "peace then came to this afflicted family, but not, however, until a seventh victim had been demanded. Thus was the dream of Stukeley fulfilled."

Text © Dr. Michael Bell