Hello Internet - and welcome back to the most inquisitive channel on YouTube - Life’s
Biggest Questions - the place where we can’t help ourselves when it comes to dreaming up
an imagined world where demonic entities are as common as a garden gnome.
What’s going on guys - as per usual, I’ll be your spirit guide Jack Finch - as we scramble
around the basement - hope to high heaven that our exorcism classes have paid off - and
curiously ask the question - What If Bathsheba Was Real?
Roll the clip.
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On with the show.
Bathsheba Sherman, the evil spectre of the devil worshipping witch who reigned throughout
the 1800s - is tied vicariously through local legend, horror cinema and factual historical
evidence to the Haunting in Harrisville, Rhode Island.
She makes an absolutely terrifying antagonist for the 2013 horror film The Conjuring - written
by Chad and Carey Hayes and directed by James Wan - which left audiences lingering with
a prominent sense of dread, and a reignited curiosity for the macabre world of New England
folklore.
Witches - both through legend and modern interpretation - can be spooky, right?
Take the Salem Witch Trials - a mirror between two worlds, the factual study of mass hysteria
- and a peculiar insight into the Occult.
Two separate entities divided.
We sleep soundly at night with the cold, hard cap of logic - for the most part, we can rest
our laurels on witchcraft and demonic apparitions being the stuff of fiction, a story to scare
children into behaving.
But - what if Bathsheba was real?
Well, I hate to break it to you - but she was.
To segway - the name Bathsheba is interesting enough in itself, and while it may sound like
a Demonic utterance - it’s actually badass - and rooted in some pretty heavy history.
The name consists of two elements - the first being bat, meaning daughter in Hebrew.
And the second being sheba - meaning seven.
As a whole it means to make an oath.
An oath to who, you may ask?
Well - in this case, perhaps the Devil.
But I’m avoiding that correlation and saying nothing.
Or am I?
According to historical records, Bathsheba was born Bathsheba Thayer in Rhode Island
in 1812 - she married fellow Rhode Islander Judson Sherman at a small ceremony in Thompson,
Connecticut on March 10th 1844, adjudicated by Vernon Stiles, a local Justice of the Peace.
In actual fact - Bathsheba and Judson were a fairly well off couple - where Bathsheba
filled the role of housewife and Judson worked as a farmer on their land.
The two of them eventually had a child in March of 1849 - where Bathsheba was 37 years
of age.
There is an allusion to the couple having three other children as well - but none of
them survived past the age of seven.
A red flag?
Perhaps we’ll see.
If we take New England folklore as gospel - then Bathsheba Sherman lived an incredibly
nefarious life.
But this is the point where historical lines are blurred, and a demonstration that sometimes
- a society chooses to fill in the gaps themselves.
The tale has varying degrees of severity, but we’ll try and fill in all the holes
as best we can.
Suspicion initially grew when an infant child mysteriously died while in Bathsheba’s care.
After the baby’s death was examined - it was found that the mortal wound was caused
by a large sewing needle that had been impaled at the base of the child’s skull.
Eventually - a court found that Bathsheba was innocent of any wrongdoing, and was in
no way related to the infant's death.
Although she was legally cleared of any misdeeds, the public however were not so convinced.
As the legend goes - Bathsheba was actually related to a woman named Mary Towne Eastey
- one of the many witches who were controversially executed in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692
- and this bloody ancestral tie was never forgotten by Bathsheba.
A week after she had given birth to her baby son - her husband Judson caught her in a twisted
and vile form, a spectre of the woman that he’d married - while attempting to sacrifice
their baby to the Devil himself.
Exposed - Bathsheba climbed to the top of a tree outside the family home - cried into
the night sky, proclaiming her love for Satan - and cursed all those who would ever step
foot on her desecrated land.
She then hung herself from the tree - but supposedly, her spirit lingered on.
On that point - it is interesting, because historical records show that the Sherman’s
farm - known as the Old Arnold Estate - actually had a very bloody and mysteriously murderous
past.
According to Andrea Perron - of the family that later lived in the house, eight generations
had lived and died in the Old Arnold Estate prior to their arrival.
As The Black Book of Burrillville shows - the towns public records book - over the span
of the property’s history - there were two suicides by hanging, one suicide by poison,
the rape and murder of eleven-year-old Prudence Arnold, two drownings, and the death of four
men who froze to death.
Is this bloody history down to Bathsheba’s curse, or just mere unfortunate circumstance?
As with all things old and mysterious - it’s hard to tell.
So what happened with the Haunting in Harrisville?
The Perron family, plagued by a perturbed spirit - allegedly punctured repeatedly with
a sewing needle from an unknown force, and fell victim to over ten years of violent paranormal
activity.
But - ten years?
That’s a long time to live under the threat of a malevolent demonic witch, right?
The Perron family, Roger Perron and his wife Carolyn - purchased the property in the winter
of 1970 - a place to raise their five daughters: Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cynthia and April.
Eventually - they moved out in June of 1980 - after paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine
Warren advised them that the property was plagued by demons.
Bathsheba.
A folk tale that was responsible for the grave misdeeds of the past.
Perhaps they were wrong.
Perhaps Lorraine had struck lucky with her investigation, and found a local legend that
fit neatly as an explanation to the unexplainable.
It’s comforting to have reason - isn’t it - even if it is a demonic spirit.
Well unfortunately - that’s all we’ve got time for today folks - what are your thoughts
on the Bathsheba legend?
Speak your mind in the comment box down below.
Cheers for sticking around to the end - if you’ve enjoyed this video go ahead and leave
us a thumbs up.
As per usual, I’ve been your host Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Life’s Biggest
Questions - and until next time, you take it easy.