home > articles > The Legend of Isabella 'Mary' Rutherford

The Legend of Isabella 'Mary' Rutherford
Bentinck Township, Ontario
by Stephanie Lechniak

The legend of Mary Rutherford has always been vague and ambiguous. It tells of an old maid who was finally betrothed to be married, only to be duped at the alter by her husband-to-be. Left shameful and heartbroken, she committed suicide by hanging herself in her wedding dress. If this wasn't enough, she has since been accused of being a witch, having her head buried separate from her body and her grave placed far from the rest in the cemetery where she now rests.

Upon first hearing about this infamous, yet illogical legend, something didn't seem to fit. The facts didn't add up so the deeper I dug, the more things began to make sense. The purpose of this article is to help shed some light on the often talked about, yet rarely accurate legend based on a woman who has come to be known as Mary Rutherford.

The History
________________________________________

Bentinck Township, just outside of Hanover, Ontario in the West Grey area was one of the former townships that made up the original city. (the other's being the Townships of Glenelg and Normanby, the former Village of Neustadt, and the former Town of Durham). During the early 1900's, the Hanover area became a popular area for immigrants because of its wealth of farm land and hardwood bushes. Many of these immigrants came from Scotland, but for this story, one family stood out in particular.

Robert Laidlaw, a farmer from the village of Bedrule in Roxburghshire, Scotland, married a woman from the same town named Isabella Rutherford (born 1800) on May 21 in 1826. Decades later in 1855 their son Walter left Scotland in his late teens with his fiancee Maryanne, and was the first of the clan to come over and settle in Canada, in the Bentinck Township. Sometime in 1860, Robert and Isabella joined them, and the family lived in a 2-storey log home that had just been built in 1859.

Walter and Maryanne married in 1870 and had five children. Walter became quite a prominent man within the Bentinck Township and was elected the deputy reeve¹. He died in 1895 and Maryanne in 1910. The family's log home was sold and taken apart, log by log and moved to Lake Rosalind in Hanover to be used as a cottage in 1958.

Isabella Rutherford died in 1872 on Christmas day at the age of 72. A few years later her husband Robert Laidlaw passed away in March of 1874. They were both buried in the now abandoned West Bentinck Presbyterian Cemetery (also known to be the Lamlash Cemetery) and Isabella was the very first, or one of the first, to be buried in the 1872 graveyard. According to the burial records in the Bentinck Township book, the last recorded burial was another Mr. Laidlaw in 1939. However, a stone at the graveyard contradicts this saying that the last burial was in 1922.

The Haunted Legend
________________________________________

The West Bentinck Cemetery has always been the meeting place to share ghostly stories and haunting legends over a case of beer. For the past 40 years, a visit to Isabella 'Mary' Rutherford's grave has become more of a "right of passage" for local teenagers. Venturing out into the dark, gloomy night to see and touch the infamous grave, and to perhaps catch a glimpse of her spectral being gliding through the trees surrounding the yard.

According to the bogus legend, 'Mary' Rutherford was considered to be an old maid in her 30's when she finally became engaged. Through all her years, she had kept the one thing that remained the most sacred of all - her virginity, yet on the night before her wedding, she hesitantly gave herself to her husband-to-be. Her wedding day arrived yet her husband didn't. He stood her up at the altar and skipped town. Distraught and overcome with heartbroken emotions, she committed suicide that same day by hanging herself in her wedding dress. It is said that she was buried face down (still wearing the wedding dress) in the cemetery in an unmarked plot.

Another rumour furthers the above mentioned legend by stating that 'Mary' Rutherford was a witch, and for the townspeople to stop her mystical and evil ways, they chopped her head off and buried it separately from her body. According to the curse of Mary Rutherford, it is said that anyone who touches her tombstone will break the bone they used to touch it with. The bone may not break until some time later, but it is supposed to happen in some mysterious and freak accident. (The pic above is of Dan bravely placing his hand on the gravestone of Isabella Rutherford)

At the stroke of midnight, the ghost of 'Mary Rutherford' is said to appear. Some have seen the apparition of a "glowing essence" and a female figure can be seen near the gravesite. Several young men have reportedly gone missing during field parties held at the cemetery.

Similar to the Hermitage ruins in Ancaster, the Bentinck Cemetery is a popular location for cults and satanic rituals involving forms of animal sacrifice.

Where Fact Meets Fiction
________________________________________

The rumour of Isabella 'Mary' Rutherford being jilted at the altar cannot possibly be true. Basic research nulls this theory. All you have to do is look at Isabella's grave to see that she lived a long life as it is marked that she died in 1872 at the age of 72 years. The rumour that she committed suicide in her 30's just doesn't add up.

You may have also noticed, whether in person, or through our pictures here, that Isabella's grave is placed high atop a hill, far away from the other graves in the Bentinck Cemetery. Local legend says that this is because she was a witch and wasn't allowed to be buried with the rest of the bodies.

Want to know the real reason the cemetery is laid out like this? In recent years, it has been a popular practice in older cemeteries to move all of the gravestones and place them in one area of the cemetery so that they can more easily be preserved and maintained. You can usually find them either still standing with their bases stuck in the cement, or the entire grave put down on it's side and placed into the cement. The Bentinck Cemetery features both of these styles. Drive around small towns in Ontario and you'll see that this is quite common.

(Click HERE to see a perfect example of this in a nearby Ghost Town called Ponsonby that we have visited several times).

You can also see that there used to be a matching gravestone that used to stand beside Isabella's. This was most likely the spot of where her husband, Robert Laidlaw's grave stood (which has since been moved to the bottom of the cemetery with the rest of the stones).

So there you go... some of the so-called mysteries of Mary Rutherford, easily explained by simple research! But, the question still remains... why is Isabella's gravestone the only one to remain at the top of the hill, all by itself?

The Bloody Resurrection Mary Syndrome!
________________________________________

So you may be asking, just why is she called "Mary Rutherford" and not by her real name of Isabella? This is where fact meets fiction and my personal attempt to explain a possible reasoning for calling her 'Mary'.

One of the rumours spreading around, both verbally and on the internet, for many years now, is that Mary and Isabella were sisters.

"Her sister Isabella however, was quite beautiful and young and happily married. Everyone loved Isabella. Isabella was buried beside her sister on the little hill in Lamlash Cemetery, some say in an attempt to ease Mary's restless spirit, but instead the act only infuriated Mary." (Charles Moffat from The Gothic Unity Webring HQ)

Unfortunately, two things don't match up with the above statement. First of all, there are no records of Isabella having a sister named Mary, and second, there was never any grave belonging to this supposed sister 'Mary Rutherford' beside Isabella's. Recall above when i mentioned that Isabella's husband's grave used to stand beside hers? This is probably where this rumour started now that there is a stump of a once-standing grave there. (notice in the above picture the stump leftover from Robert Laidlaw's grave on the right)

My personal theory why Isabella Rutherford eventually became to be known as "Mary" Rutherford is largely due to a paranormal reference that has become popular to use in the past 100 years or so...

Have you ever heard of 'Resurrection Mary'? Perhaps 'Bloody Mary' or 'Mary Worth'? There are about 100 different variations of ghosts with the name Mary. Why you may ask? Well, it was popular to coin a female ghost "Mary" back in the day. You may recall the story of Resurrection Mary, which has become the most widely circulated urban legend of our time. The legend tells of people who began to see a girl in a long white dress and blond hair hitchhiking for rides, asking to be dropped off at a cemetery, or a remote house. The driver later finds out that the woman had in fact been dead for several years. To learn more about this story, click HERE.

Remember back in school, when you'd shut all the lights off in the bathroom and chant out "Bloody Mary" five or ten times in hopes of seeing her gruesome face appear to you! The name Bloody Mary was linked to a number of different people, including Queen Mary Tudor of England, Mary Queen of Scots, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, a witch burned at the stake, an axe murderer, a child killer and "the crazy woman who lived down the street," among others. Click HERE for more information.

A Concluding Personal Experience
________________________________________

Upon visiting the cemetery, we couldn't help but notice the bulldozers clearing the trees in the forest across from the cemetery. Logs and branches lined the side of the road and lay piled up in mounds.

The one-laned road leading to the cemetery is a very bumpy and rough ride. Furthermore, it is not maintained in winter months, so it can be very dangerous to venture out in, especially considering it's in a remote, secluded area with very little traffic.

It was a cold, fall day when Daniel and I visited the West Bentinck Presbyterian Cemetery. We had actually made a weekend trip out of it, visiting Chesley (my mother's childhood vacation spot), Paisley, Neustadt and other small towns. We were driving along Concession 8, looking for Sideroad 10, the road that the cemetery is located. We were driving at a slow speed to read the sign name as the road approached. As we passed, Dan was reading the sign as I was looking down the road (we didn't realize it ended up being Sideroad 10!!) I noticed a silvery-blue car parked some ways down the road. It was completely shut off and nobody was in it. I mentioned to Dan that this must be the right place because those folks were probably there to see the grave just like we were!

Dan quickly made a 3-point turn on the road, taking no more than 20 seconds perhaps. When we arrived at the entrance to Sideroad 10, the car was gone! We thought this was extremely weird because the road ended being so bumpy and filled with potholes that it would have been near impossible for them to get back to the car, start it up and speed away that fast! Not to mention, you can't really continue on the road as I think it turns into a dead-end. You have to get out the same way you came in.

So where did this car vanish to? And do you want to hear something even stranger? The entire ride after this, I kept pointing out cars to Dan as they passed by because they looked EXACTLY like the one I had seen! (keeping in mind that this is an older car that I rarely ever see!)

If you ever get the chance to drive out to the Hanover area in the West Grey area, a visit to see the infamous Isabella 'Mary' Rutherford grave is must. Just having the chance to view the amazing gravestones and reveling in the history of the land and the people buried there is a reward in itself. Due to all of the recent vandalism and drunken party-fests out there, all we ask is that you respect the site, keeping in mind that it is still a cemetery and you're walking on sacred ground.

Stephanie Lechniak

reeve¹ "The elected president of a town council in some parts of Canada"

Resources
________________________________________

The Walkerton Herold-Times, "A legend of a witch who wasn't: Who is Mary Rutherford?" by Tracey Doerr. Tuesday, August 4, 1992. Vol.5 No.31

Marcy Italiano's Mary Rutherford Page: http://members.rogers.com/marcyiscool/mary_rutherford.htm

Bob Milne's Haunted Ontario: http://www.darksites.com/souls/horror/hauntedont/57.html

Township of West Grey County, Ontario
http://www.township.westgrey.on.ca/
http://www.bmts.com/~rdc/

Geneaology.com's Genforum on Isabella Laidlaw Neil
http://genforum.genealogy.com/laidlaw/messages/122.html

The rumoured (yet innacurate!) legend of Mary Rutherford and her supposed sister Isabella
http://www.geocities.com/voirey/MaryRutherford.html

Ghosttownpix.com: http://www.ghosttownpix.com/ontario/img/ponsoimg.shtml

ElectricScotland.com: Section on Laidlaw Canadian History:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/laidlaw_adam.htm

Bloody Mary information - http://www.mythology.com

top