Copp's Hill Burying Ground is one of the oldest cemeteries in Boston, located just north of the Old North Church. While not as famous as its Cambridge neighbor, the Old Burying Ground, Copp's Hill holds just as much American history and paranormal lore within its grounds. To walk among the graves is to walk among the ghosts of the early 1600s. But what draws all of these poltergeists to Copp's Hill? Let's investigate.
Did You Know?
- Opened in 1659
- Named after a Colonial Shoemaker
- Sits on a Hill Overlooking Boston Harbor
A Hill of Shoes
Burials at Copp's Hill began in 1659, on a small plot in the North End of the city that's also known as "Snowhill." It's the second-oldest burying ground in Boston and the final resting place of over 10,000 souls, including thousands of early colonists and Freedmen. Merchant, Robert Keayne willed the cemetery a gift of £10 to help cover burial costs.
William Copp (also Copps) was a successful colonial shoemaker whose house overlooked the hill and the harbor beyond. While he had no hand in the cemetery's development, the local government named it after him when the settlement required a burial site on the north end of the peninsula.
William Copp didn't know his name would last for centuries, immortalizing the morbid history within the North End's haunted, Copp's Hill Burying Ground.
The British Occupation
During the Revolutionary War, the British occupied all of Boston and Copp's Hill was no exception. The British Army used Copp's Hill as a camp, desecrating graves and using tombstones for target practice. In fact, you can still see the bullet holes in the headstones.
The British even used Copp's Hill as the staging area for the Battle of Bunker Hill. From the highest point of Copp's Hill, General Burgoyne ordered his men to launch explosives across the Charles River to Charlestown in an attempt to flush out the American soldiers. This worked at first, but after American marksmen took out the British artillery crews, Burgoyne had to order his troops to march across the river into battle.
Just off Copp's Hill, Prince Hall built the first African American Masonic Lodge. At the time, there were over 1,000 free Black people living in the North End. Hall is buried at Copp's Hill along with other notable Black Bostonians.
Puritan Minister Cotton Mather
Copp's Hill is also the final resting place of the Mather family, including the well-known Puritan minister Cotton Mather and his son, Increase. Cotton Mather is sometimes credited as the mastermind of the Salem Witch Trials, even though he had very little to do with them in practice.
However, Cotton Mather did write extensively about witchcraft. He detailed his interactions with the possessed daughter of a Boston mason and published his notes. During a smallpox epidemic in 1721, Mather had a brilliant idea: inoculation. He tried to get Boston doctors to buy into the idea, but only one doctor, Zabdiel Boylston, was willing to try it out. His method worked wonderfully.
Cotton Mather died in 1728 and was laid to rest at Copp's Hill. Today, his crypt is marked with a simple plaque noting the crypt's location. A tall obelisk marks the Mather family crypt, a beautiful monument where witnesses have reported frightening apparitions appearing and disappearing around.
Hauntings at Copp's Hill
Copp's Hill is one of the most haunted locations in Boston. For centuries, visitors have reported anything from shadow figures peering around tombstones to full-body apparitions vanishing through the cemetery gates.
Rumors of secret graves and other haunting burial practices have only perpetuated the paranormal fervor permeating the property. Many believe that there are far more than 10,000 individuals buried beneath the graveyard.
Some paranormal experts claim that the Mather crypt is home to a terrifying presence. Others have spotted a frightening specter appearing at the head of the cemetery. Witnesses claim that this ominous figure floats around the cemetery, checking behind tombstones and inspecting the grounds, perhaps making sure intruders are properly respectful.
Visiting Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Copp's Hill Burying Ground is open to visitors from 9 am to 5 pm every day. Do you think you'll see something paranormal?
Bullet-scarred headstones bear witness to Revolutionary War desecration
The cemetery overlooks the harbor where phantom lights appear
