The Green Lady of Burlington, Connecticut

The Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery is commonly referred to as the Burlington Cemetery and more recently nicknamed "The Green Lady Cemetery" because of it's history.  After to moving to Connecticut from Rhode Island, a church was built by the Sabbatarians and they began burying people there since 1780.  However, it did not become the official cemetery until 1796.  Today there is not much left of the cemetery due to vandalism.  Many tombstones have been destroyed and others out right taken.

Entrance to Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery in Burlington, Connecticut

In April 1800 Benjamin Palmiter a nearby resident, went into town to get some supplies when a severe snow storm hit the area unexpectedly.  When he did not return when expected, his wife Elisabeth went out into the storm looking for him.  She became lost and confused in the blinding snow and wandered into a swamp were she became trapped in the muck and froze to death.  Her husband returned the next day and went out looking for her and found her frozen body.  She was wearing one of her favorite green dresses.  She was buried in the Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery.

There are some who believe that Benjamin Palmiter actually murdered Elisabeth and gave the story as a cover up since it seemed so unbelievable.  Others say he was with her and purposely watched her drowned in the swamp.  Some say that the Sabbatarians were not welcome in the area by the locals. Fatal accidents begin happening to many of them.  While these may have been strictly coincidental or not, eventually it drove the Baptists to leave for Brookfield, New York in 1820. Whatever may be the case, when Elisabeth died, she was not settled and did not rest in peace.

One of the few remaining intact tombstones

Over the years many have seen a green fog in the cemetery and surrounding area.  They say that it then sometimes forms into the apparition of a woman wearing a green dress surrounded by a green misty aura which wanders around aimlessly.  Then as quickly as she materialized, the mist dissipates and she is no longer there.  Many thought she returned from the dead still looking for her lost husband.  However, when Benjamin passed away she continued to appear over a span of 30 years or more.  There are those that have seen lights or a lamp light moving through the woods near the area where Elisabeth died.  Many believe that this is the spirit of Benjamin Palmiter searching for his long lost wife through eternity.