On June 13, 1797, Nelly Butler and her child died during childbirth. Her husband, George Butler, buried them on their property. On January 2, 1800, Nelly Butler appeared in the cellar of the Blaisdell home in the next town, almost three years after her death. What transpired over the next several years was not only the first documented case of a haunting in America, but one of the most well documented hauntings in history. Several hundred people would see and document in their journals and letters their experiences with the apparition.