Burrillville Historical & Preservation Society

Sometimes histories about people from the past become distorted due to overactive imaginations and just the passing of time itself. Like the childhood game of “telephone,” after so many retellings, it is hard to find where the facts of a story stop and where the fantasy begins. Take the story of Bathsheba Sherman as one example. No one knew her name or her history besides maybe a local historian or two, prior to being mentioned in the film titled, The Conjuring. In fact, most people nationally, and globally, had never heard of her until the movie came out in 2013.

 

The movie was said to be based on the files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who had visited the home of the Perron family in the 1970s. The family claimed to have been tormented by evil spirits in their home in Burrillville, Rhode Island. Let me make this perfectly clear from the beginning, there was a real person named Bathsheba Sherman who lived in Burrillville, but she was not the person that the movie portrayed her to be. Bathsheba lived in another part of Burrillville. She neither lived nor worked on the old Arnold Estate, which was the property the Perron family purchased in 1971.

 

It was not until the 1970's that mysterious rumors sprang up out of thin air, ruining Bathsheba’s reputation posthumously. No one in town had ever heard of any questionable events regarding Bathsheba, but all of a sudden, stories were spreading like wildfire in this small community. Older folks who respected history became agitated by the false accusations, while the younger more superstitious ones wondered about the possibilities of this spine-chilling folklore actually being real.

 

In the movie, it was stated that Bathsheba Sherman was a witch who worshiped the Devil, sacrificed her baby to Satan and then hung herself from the tree in the back yard. This is false.

 

None of the so-called history that was told in the film, "The Conjuring", has anything to do with the real Bathsheba Sherman or the true history of the house on Round Top Road. It is a disservice to the memory of both Bathsheba Sherman’s family and that of the Arnold family that these horrific fabrications have been spread, whether it was done purposely or not. The facts are not hard to find with thorough research and diligent investigating by truth seekers.

 

The real Bathsheba Sherman was born on March 10, 1812, to parents, Ephraim Thayer and Hannah Taft. Ephraim's first wife was named Bathsheba Pain. It is safe to assume that his daughter was named after his first wife or a relative in the family, as that was quite common given that time period. Another point to mention is that Bathsheba never worked on the property of the Old Arnold Estate, nor did she care for a child that died on the property. She was never accused of being a witch, nor was there any accusations of any accidental death or murder involving either Bathsheba or any other persons or infants.

 

By the age of 32, Bathsheba married Judson Sherman, and soon after the couple started a family. Judson Sherman passed away on October 1, 1881, at the age of 68 years. Bathsheba remarried, this time to Benjamin Greene. Bathsheba eventually succumbed to old age, dying from a stroke of paralysis in her bed at home, on May 25, 1885. She was buried with her first husband. All of the Sherman’s children are interred at the Cemetery in Harrisville with Bathsheba, Judson and Bathsheba’s family. None of the children died of any suspicious or questionable circumstances. As you can see by the documented records, Bathsheba Sherman died an old woman in her bed at home. She did not hang herself as the movie would have you believe. ----- (From the book, Stories of the Forgotten: Infamous, Famous & Unremembered, by J'aime Rubio, Copyright 2016.)

 

Over the years Bathsheba's grave has succumbed to the effects of time and the elements, but it has also been a target for vandalism due to the slanderous lies that have been spread about her courtesy of Hollywood and the film "The Conjuring", as well as other paranormal programs which choose to continue to recite a false narrative rather than spending the time to do the research, like I did, to set the story straight once and for all.

 

Thankfully with the work from local historian and friend Kent Spottswood (R.I.P.), Norma Sutcliffe, Shannon Bradley-Byers, Kenny Biddle and myself, there are some people out there willing to search the archives to tell the true story about Bathsheba so that her name is no longer sullied.

 

Now, we need help in restoring her headstone back to the way it once was, before people started vandalizing it due to the erroneous belief that she was some sort of evil witch, as told by various authors and of course, the film, "The Conjuring." Please help me to help Bathsheba.

 

Want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money to benefit Burrillville Historical & Preservation Society, and any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me. ---

 

If you are questioning the validity of this Go Fund Me, please contact Betty at the Burrillville Historical and Preservation Society at: 16 Laurel Hill Ave, Pascoag, RI 02859, or call them at (401) 568 - 8534.

 

(All research cited in this post was done by J'aime Rubio, Author)