The Chase Burial Vault: The Coffins That Wouldn’t Stay Still

The mystery of the Chase Burial Vault started with the eerie movements of the coffins inside the sealed tomb. A 12-feet-deep and six-foot-wide vault in the cemetery of the Christ Church Parish, Barbados, was built in 1724 by James Elliot, an official who has been resting in the premises since the 18^th Century. The story as we know it found its way from fiction to reality, through the written accounts of Thomas H. Orderson, the acting Rector of Christ Church when the strange incident unfolded.

Apparently, each time when the vault was reopened to bury a family member, all coffins would be rearranged. After this happened a number of times, the members of the town decided that enough was enough, and removed the coffins from the cemetery. But the story isn’t as simple as it seems. Well, I’ll leave it up to you.

The Chase Burial Vault

In the 1800s, Colonel Thomas Chase, a well-off man, bought a mammoth vault built in 1724, for his family’s perpetual rest. It is believed that the patriarch of the family, Thomas Chase, was one of the most hated men on the island. The tomb was located at the Christ Church Parish Church in Church Hill of Barbados. However, disaster struck him early and by February 1808, the tomb welcomed its first permanent tenant—Mary Chase—a baby.

Not awfully long after, in July 1812, the Colonel’s adolescent daughter, Dorcas Chase, was found dead. Some accounts say that she had been discovered to have starved to death. She was interred next to her baby sister. A month later, on the 9th, Colonel Chase himself, committed suicide out of anguish. The poor man was never the same after his eldest daughter’s demise, and according to his will, he was buried next to his children. However, the scene inside the vault was different than when it was last closed. The coffins of the children were lying around in a disorderly manner, and there the tomb was extremely cold. Though spooked, the men rearranged the coffins and added Mr. Chase into the ranks. Written accounts from the church state that, Mary Chase’s coffin had been thrown from the northeast corner of the chamber to the opposite corner with such force that it was standing on end, head downward. It was assumed the disturbance was the result of trespassers or thieves. As such, the caskets were reordered and the large marble slab covering the entrance was put back in place.

The Positions of the Coffins Before and After

The chamber was reopened on 25 September 1816 to inter the body of another infant, Samuel Brewster Jr. It was immediately discovered that the coffins were disturbed. Thomas Chase’s coffin had been so heavy, that it took eight men to move it. However, inside the vault, it had been tossed around as though it was a wooden toy.

The graveyard keepers quickly rearranged the three coffins, added the new coffin, and ensured that there were no other entrances into the vault that can be opened by miscreants to engage in mischief. Once they verified that there were no secret pathways, they swiftly fled the scene. That same evening, another woman who had been visiting the graveyard, ran into the town square, shrieking and maintaining that there had been unearthly screams and howls coming from the Vault chamber. By this new update, the worst fears of the townsfolk were confirmed — The dead doesn’t know they’re dead yet.

The Dance of the Dead

On 17 November 1816, the vault was opened for the burial of Samuel Brewster Sr. Once again, the coffins were found to be in disorder, and strewn across the vault. Again, the coffins were rearranged, but the graveyard workers started talking of curses, and soon, refused to enter the vault. They had to be coaxed into reentering the vault for the next burial.

The vault was opened again on 17 July 1819, to accept the body of Thomasina Clark. To nobody’s surprise, the coffins were all over the tomb. By this time, however, the enigmatic incidents attracted the attention of local administrators. Lord Combermere, Governor of Barbados, attended Clark’s burial and decided to end the paranormal movements for good. The Chase Vault was carefully examined by the Governor and the officials of the town. After careful scrutiny, sand was scattered across the vault, to detect further footprints and to catch the mischief maker: Man, or the Devil.

Interior of the Vault Today

The coffins were reorganized and Clark’s casket was laid to rest in the chamber. It was recorded that Goddard’s wooden casket was in very bad shape; it was deteriorating and falling into pieces, either through natural decay or because of the vigorous activity in the vault. The remains of her coffin were bound together and placed against a wall. Finally, the vault was sealed shut and the marble slab was cemented in place. To notch up security, the Governor and his staff placed their official seals in the cement. This was done to ensure the integrity of the seal and for credibility.

Finally, on 18 April 1820, some odd eight months after the burial of Ms. Clark, the vault was ordered to be reopened, to see if there had been any movements. The seals were found to be intact, but when the entrance slab of the vault was moved, the coffins, with the exception of Goddard’s coffin (which had deteriorated further), were in complete disarray. The account in the local newspaper includes the grisly detail that “a bony arm, that of Dorcas Chase, was sticking out a hole in the side of the coffin.”

The sand on the floor did not show any kind of human movement within the vault. There was no indication of earthquakes or other natural anomalies either. In fact, it seemed that the coffins had been reshuffling themselves at night, in the same way, people sometimes turn the pillow over to the cold side.

A Different Shot of the Chase Burial Vault

The official investigation of the vault proved to be the final straw, however, and the vault was abandoned, and the coffins were buried elsewhere. The vault still exists today at Christ Church Parish Church and is still vacant.

General James Edward Alexander wrote the first official account of the events in 1833 in his book “Transatlantic Sketches”. This popularized the incident and propelled it into popular culture.

Who (or what) Moved the Coffins of Chase Vault?

The mystery of the Chase Vault remains controversial and people ranging from professional exorcists to renowned skeptics, have proposed different causes for the strange happening. The earliest explanation has been earthquakes, but this was refuted because no other vault had faced these disturbances. Other skeptics assert floods, but the seal was unsoiled when it was opened in 1820. This has led many to come up with the paranormal: they blame the souls of the dead slaves. When he was alive, Colonel Chase had a reputation for having severely abused his servants and slaves, and there were many deaths attributed to him. As death is a great leveler, it is believed that the souls of the dead pestered on, unrelenting, and refusing to let Chase, nor his family, rest.

Interior of the Vault Today

Soon enough, celebrities started coming up with their own theories. Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, speculated that the strange movements were influenced by animal magnetism. Animal magnetism, also known as, mesmerism, was a theory suggested by Franz Mesmer, a German doctor, who alleged that all living things contain an invisible natural force—Lebensmagnetismus—akin to the soul which he thought of as having magnetic and healing properties.

Today, Christ Church retains a modest flock and the cemetery and the Chase Vault have become something of a tourist attraction. Though we may never know the truth behind what really happened at the Chase Vault, things are at peace in the decades since. The dead has stayed dead, and the Vault has been abandoned. But even the most reasonable, cogent doubts won’t put the Barbados coffins to everlasting rest, though it is abundantly clear that whatever it was that haunted the vault two centuries ago, has gone for good.

If you like paranormal, you’ll love The True Story Behind The Conjuring and The Beast That Haunted An Entire Port