Mary’s Grave

There are countless urban legends associated with Long Island, but none more pervasive nor frightening as the place called Mary’s Grave. Every 1970s kid has heard the gruesome stories from friends and siblings, and many a brave teenager has even paid a visit to Mary’s supposed final resting place … wherever that might be.

The story of Mary’s Grave is not a simple one. In fact, about the only thing that locals are able to agree upon is her name. There are at least seven towns scattered around Long Island where Mary is claimed to reside. The three most popular locations are Head of the Harbor, Mt. Sinai or Mt. Misery/Sweet Hollow Road in West Hills. That hasn’t stopped towns as far as Amityville, St. James Harbor and Sayville from also claiming Mary as their own.

No less complex is the subject of Mary herself. Some say she was a mental patient. Others say she was an abused little girl, or a witch who was hanged, even a vengeful ex-lover. Suffice to say, Mary didn’t have a pleasant life. It seems she also has a troublesome habit of stalking anyone who dare visit her grave(s), or so the legends say.

 

Some claim she jumps out of the thick forest that lines Sweet Hollow Road, right in front of your car and thereby causing you to crash. Mary also likes to tinker with cars, making their lights flash or their engines knock, or just stop working completely. Another variation states that if you flash your headlights (or a flashlight) three times, Mary appears, purportedly as a “lady dressed in white.” Near Head of the Harbor, there is supposedly a statue of Mary that appears to cry. It seems this legendary female apparition haunts just about every eerie shack, deserted road, and patch of thick woods on the island.

If you read this hoping for a definitive answer as to where Mary’s Grave is located, I can’t help. Every cemetery on Long Island has the name “Mary” on a few old tombstones. In that regard, she isn’t hard to “find”. Considering the wide variety of established legends, it’s impossible to guess which is the real one, if there ever was such a thing.

Besides, it never really was about Mary anyway, was it? It was about being young and adventurous, about packing as many people into a vehicle as we could stuff, and finding a great way to scare our friends half to death. That’s all, just harmless teenage fun.

Either that, or Mary is real.

Sleep well.

Surely some of you have adventures to share about a visit with friends to Mary’s Grave? We hope you will take a moment to share them in our comments section below, so we can all reminisce about poor Mary and her wicked ways.

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13 Responses

  1. JMS says:

    I thought Mary was one of the nuns buried behind the old Queen of the Rosary Academy in Amityville.

    • Dorothy Counts says:

      been there when I was a child (1967) and the image of the Blessed Mother appeared- there were five family members and it was seen by all

  2. Franie says:

    I remember this story, but I forgot where I was told the grave was. There was supposed to be a big tree at the grave. And if you said her name 3 times, she would come out & haunt you.

  3. Charlene says:

    I knew her as Hatchet Mary!

  4. Tracey says:

    I knew her as Mary Hatchett and the pic at the beginning was where her grave supposedly was, the pic shows old stairs leaving down to a long since gone house. I thought it was in Hewlett or somewhere by the water.

  5. Deb Owsley says:

    I lived at the corner of Chichester and Mt Misery. The house was old and definitely haunted. I was there in the 70’s. Someone had been killed in that house.

  6. John says:

    Me and my friends have been to this supposed Mary’s Grave in Stony Brook, with pictures and even her spirit possessing people who were there all the way to their home. The grave site we found near a bridge n the middle of the woods that had a boarded up well underneath the dirt,and even though you move the dirt you cant get to the wood slats you can see the outline of in the dirt under this stone bridge.Then there is the cave near this bridge that had plants with white “night” bugs that only hang out near grave sites. I was there myself and saw with our own eyes, its was like a time warp cause we walked in only one direction and did not turn and we ended up at the same gate entrance we entered from.

  7. Alex says:

    Yeah, if you dont atch Loey Lane or Hailey Reese on YouTube they went to Stony Brook and the ground sounded very hollow and Loey was sitting on what some people think is Mary’s Grave and started apologizing to Mary

  8. Anonymous says:

    Been to the house in Stony Brook a few times. I was always the driver and my car would just turn off! The lights flickered, music would go dead silent, and then scratching static would come through. We were only brave enough to walk back to the gravesite once, and didn’t get far. We heard voices, there was a distinct smell of death, and just had this overall feeling that we were being followed.

  9. Naomi says:

    Where is mary’s house located?

  10. Paul says:

    Mary’s grave in Stony Brook was a legend. As a teen in early 80’s, a group of friends and I attempted to find the grave, but also deliberately flashed the lights and and mess with the radio, to only be scared off by someone in a truck chasing us off the property. It was the first and last time!

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