A Grave Without a Name
South Cemetery is a peaceful place now, a spread of old stones and trees on the south side of Portsmouth. People walk dogs here. Joggers pass through. It is easy to forget what this ground was before it was a cemetery.
It was a hill, and on that hill the colony of New Hampshire hanged people. The most famous of them was a young woman named Ruth Blay. She was buried somewhere at the base of the hill, in a grave without a stone or a name. Nobody knows exactly where.
Many people in Portsmouth believe she has never quite left.
The Trial of Ruth Blay
A Schoolteacher in Trouble
Ruth Blay was a schoolteacher, a young unmarried woman originally from Haverhill, Massachusetts, who taught school in South Hampton, New Hampshire. In 1768 she was charged with concealing the death of her newborn child, an infant born out of wedlock whose body had been hidden. Under the law of the time, concealing the death of an illegitimate child was itself a capital crime. She was not convicted of murder.
She was found guilty in Portsmouth in September 1768 and sentenced to hang.
Four Reprieves
Her execution was first set for November 24, 1768. The colonial governor granted her a series of reprieves, four in all, that pushed the date back again and again. Each one must have brought a desperate kind of hope. None of them saved her.
December 30, 1768
On December 30, 1768, Ruth Blay was taken by cart from the town jail to a hill overlooking a stretch of parish land. The execution was carried out by Thomas Packer, Portsmouth's high sheriff. Hundreds of people, possibly more than a thousand, gathered to watch.
After her death she was buried in an unmarked grave at the base of what became known as Gallows Hill. Over time the land around it became four separate graveyards, known today together as South Cemetery. Her exact resting place has never been identified.
The Pardon That Came Too Late
A story has been told in Portsmouth for generations: that the crowd begged the sheriff to wait, that he refused, and that a final pardon arrived just minutes after she died. In some versions he even hurried the hanging so he would not be late for his dinner. It is a powerful legend, and it has shaped how Ruth Blay is remembered. However, a historian who has studied the court records has pointed out that the records show the sheriff carried out the sentence at the appointed time and that no final reprieve arrived. The legend endures anyway, perhaps because it captures how cruel her fate felt to the people of Portsmouth.
The Ghost Stories of Gallows Hill
A Restless Spirit
According to local tradition, many people in Portsmouth believe the site of Ruth Blay's execution and burial is haunted. The stories that circulate around South Cemetery speak of a young woman's presence near the place where she is thought to lie, and of an infant's presence with her.
Strange Things Near the Grave
Ghost hunters who have visited the cemetery describe cameras malfunctioning near the area associated with her grave, and some have reported two nearby graves appearing to glow at night. These are the kinds of accounts that are passed from investigator to investigator and guide to guide, and they have made South Cemetery one of the most talked-about burial grounds in Portsmouth.
Why She Stays
Ruth Blay's story has everything that tends to keep a ghost story alive: youth, injustice, a public death, and a grave nobody can find. Whether her spirit truly lingers or her memory simply refuses to fade, she has become one of Portsmouth's most enduring figures.
Remembering Ruth Blay
Ruth Blay died more than two and a half centuries ago, but she has not been forgotten. Her story is still told in Portsmouth, in books, in classrooms, and on the city's ghost tours.
If you walk through South Cemetery, do it quietly. Somewhere beneath that ground is a grave without a name. The people who believe she still walks here say the least anyone can do is remember her.
