Moll Dyer is the name of a legendary 17th-century resident of Leonardtown, Maryland, who was said to have been accused of witchcraft and chased out of her home by the local townsfolk on a winter night. Her body was found a few days later, partially frozen to a large stone.
History
Stories say her spirit haunts the land, looking for the men who forced her from her home. The land near her cabin is said to be cursed, never again growing good crops, and an unusual number of lightning strikes have been recorded there. A white dog is mentioned as causing accidents on Moll Dyer road. One interviewer reported that while hunting along Moll Dyer's Run around 1970 he saw a "very dense fog patch, cylindrical in shape, with the light emanating about eight inches down from the top.... It crossed the stream and went east... moving across the wind instead of with the wind... then turned and went south.... But what made it really strange was that it did it twice!... I'm not saying that it was the spirit of Moll Dyer. I just don't know what it was." The story has survived for generations, though no historical record has been found of Moll Dyer's existence. Records from the colonial period are often incomplete and the county courthouse burned in 1831 so early documents were lost. In addition, many smaller ships did not maintain passenger lists. Historical evidence includes:
Several immigration records show that Mary Dyer, Marg. Dyer, and Malligo Dyers were transported to Maryland in October 1677 on a ship commanded by Capt. Thomas Taylor.
In the 18 August 1892 edition of The St. Mary's Beacon, Joseph F. Morgan wrote that Moll lived in the area for many years, and that her cottage was burned while "Cotton Mather held sway in the land of the Puritans." This story has been reprinted in the "Chronicles of St. Mary's," which are available from the St. Mary's County Historical Society.
There were several witchcraft trials in Maryland, starting in 1654 and continuing until 1712. Rebecca Fowler of neighboring Calvert County was hanged as a witch on 9 October 1685.
The Washington Times has called her "perhaps Maryland's best-known bit of witch lore". Local newspapers occasionally reprint the story.
Moll Dyer's Rock
According to legend, Moll Dyer rested on a large stone before she died, leaving indentations behind. In 1972, an 875-pound boulder was moved from a wooded ravine near Moll Dyer Road to the Leonardtown courthouse lawn in front of the old 1876 jailhouse, which now serves as the St. Mary's County Historical Society building. The rock remains there to this day. Local legend has it that the rock itself is cursed, and that people who go near it will experience dizziness eventually leading to fainting.
Impact
The Weather Channel aired an episode about Moll Dyer in their series American Supernatural on 5 October 2014. Sister Witch, The Life of Moll Dyer was written by local novelist David W. Thompson and published by Solstice Publishing on October 31, 2017. Inspired by Moll Dyer's life, it pulls together the historical record and local oral traditions surrounding her legend. Moll Dyer's Revenge, written by St. Mary's County native and author Mike Marcus, was published in the anthology in February 2020 from War Monkey Publications LLC. The Legend of the Witch, Moll Dyer was choreographed by St. Mary's Ballet founder Jane Caputo and set to the music of Loreena McKennittin 1999. The ballet was performed at St. Mary's Ryken High School and at the College of Southern Maryland's Leonardtown campus as part of the county's yearly Halloween celebration from 1999 to 2003 and again in 2006. The ballet recasts the legend in the mold of a morality tale of feminism and tolerance. The song "Fire and Snow" by folk/rock duo Hobbyhorse of San Francisco is about Moll Dyer. Moll Dyer Road, 3.4 miles south of Leonardtown, is named after her, as is the creek, Moll Dyer's Run, which parallels the road then crosses Route 5, goes past Our Lady's Chapel on Medley's Neck Road, and eventually flows into Breton Bay.
Variations
As with all folktales, the story has been passed down through the generations and changes with the telling. In 1994 Thomas Jarboe conducted a series of interviews with ten local residents, including a member of the Dyer family, a local historian, and several people from families that have lived in the county since the 1600s. According to these interviews, Moll Dyer is said to have come from Ireland, Virginia, Kentucky, New England, or Connecticut. She is said to have been a widow, a woman disappointed in love, or the mother of two sons. She may have born a Dyer or married a man named Dyer. Two people said they had heard her name as "Moldy Dyer" and that she was a Native American maid abandoned by her white lover after the birth of their child. The date of her death varied from the mid-1600s to the late 1700s. Several people said they thought Moll Dyer was Catholic or that she had come to Maryland because it was more religiously tolerant than other colonies.
