The Stymwood Cemetery

 Well, we're halfway through summer, MMers. A lot of you are on vacation, traveling, checking out all the myriad sites Maine has to show off. Here's one more for you to go see! The Stymwood Cemetery in Elliot, almost all the way at the southern tip of the state.

The Stymwood Cemetery

Long time friend of the blog, Rachael Burgess (or RBSmoothe as she's known on the blog) turned us on to this little graveyard and its owner, Brenda Howard. Located just off the Brixham Road, Howard lives on a five acre piece of property that has been in her family for many generations, going all the way back to 1816. 

"My father was Bernie Lynch," Howard told us. "His father was William Lynch, and so on and so forth all the way back to Robert P. Lynch, who came here from Boston. This land has always been in our family, and all of the male Lynch's are buried here."

The plot of land was farm at one point, but a lot of it has grown over with woods now. The original house burned down in 1901. It lies on the far end of the property. The new house was built soon after, though it was demolished in the 1950s and a new home rebuilt on its site. This house, the house Brenda Howard grew up in and still currently resides has been remodeled a few times so though it's still clearly an older home, there's still a modern feel to it. 

The family cemetery, inexplicably called Stymwood is closer to the filled in stone foundation of the original house than the current one. There's a dirt road that leads almost directly to it, apart from where Brenda Howard lives. She has made a small parking area nearby where people can park for a bit and stroll through the graves, the earliest of which dates back to 1850. 

"People like to come by and look," Howard says. "It's a bit of local history. The Lynchs have always been here in Elliot and a lot of old timers still remember some of them. Plus, the legend doesn't hurt."

The legend Howard is referring to concerns now just who is buried in the Stymwood Cemetery but how they're buried.

Sometimes they come back

See, since Robert P. Lynch was buried in 1850, all of the Lynch men have been buried with the coffins upside down. This odd tradition dates back to the original Lynch's death. Brenda Howard's ancestor was fifty-four when he died. A horse kicked Lynch in the head. He lingered in a coma for three days before dying. He was buried on a Saturday.

They found Robert P. Lynch sitting on the porch of his house two days later, still in the clothes he had been buried in. At first his family thought they had made a mistake, but no, Lynch was still dead. They assumed someone was playing a nasty trick on them and reburied him. Again, two days later he was back. This time, quite by accident they buried the coffin upside down, so the lid was facing downward.

After that Lynch stayed buried. 

The strange incident was largely forgotten until Lynch's eldest son, Robert W. Lynch died of typhoid. He was buried in the family cemetery next to his father. Again, two days after his burial, the younger Lynch was back, this time in the barn. He was promptly buried with the coffin upside down.

Since that time all of the Lynch men have been buried in the Stymwood cemetery, all with their coffins facing downward. Not the women, however. A few of the early Lynch women, notably Robert P. Lynch's wife, Eustis, and the daughter of Robert W. Lynch, Elizabeth, are buried in the Stymwood Cemetery. None of them ever returned.

"See, they thought the Lynch men came back on their own," Howard tells. "For whatever reason, they thought that the Lynches has some unfinished business and kept returning. So they buried them with the coffin facing down, so they couldn't get out. That seemed to work."

Since then, twenty-nine Lynch men have been buried lid side down in the Stymwood Cemetery, including Brenda Howard's father, Bernie who died in 2011.

"Yeah, we buried dad upside down," Howard told us. "We had to."

Twenty-Nine Lynch Men are buried in Stymwood.
All upside down.

And it doesn't end there. Brenda Howard's husband died in 2015, though he isn't buried on site. Their eldest son, Brian, however is. He was killed while serving oversees in the Middle East. He too, is buried lid side down.

"It's just become a tradition, you know?" Howard told us. "Do I really think they'll come back if we don't bury them the right way? No, of course not. It's just what we do. What we've always done."

Feel free to visit the Stymwood Cemetery. Take pictures with the large sign that explains its history. Howard tells us that no one in the cemetery is dangerous. At least not now that they're buried properly.

Stay safe out there, Maine!