You Never Forget Her Voice

In 1799, the coastal town of Sullivan, Maine became the site of what may be the first documented haunting in American history. There were no séances. No mediums. Only a voice. It called itself Nelly Butler—and it spoke with purpose. Witnesses swore it came from nowhere, that it answered questions no one else could, and that it made a chilling demand: a marriage must take place. What followed was a series of events that would blur the line between testimony and belief, between the natural and the supernatural—and leave behind a silence that still resonates more than two centuries later.