New Hampshire Book of the Dead

A historical journey through the headstones and hauntings of the Granite State—includes photos.

New Hampshire’s historic graveyards, from Portsmouth to North Conway, have bizarre and eerie stories to offer their visitors. Graveyards often invoke fear and superstition among the living, but the dead who rest within them may have more to communicate to the world they left behind.

The sands of Pine Grove Cemetery in Hampton once concealed the tombstone of Susanna Smith, but now its message—which reads simply “Slaine with thunder”—and her story have risen from beneath the soil. The Point of Graves Cemetery in Portsmouth is home to the spirit of Elizabeth Pierce, who beckons departing guests back to her grave. Along the state’s southern border in Jaffrey, tombstones at Philips-Heil Cemetery caution the living to cherish life. Here, Roxie Zwicker tours the Granite State’s oldest burial grounds, exploring the stones, stories, and folklore of these hallowed places.