On May 6, 1848, fifteen-year-old Sarah Wrench died at her home in Peldon, near Colchester, Essex, England. Her death certificate listed the cause as tuberculosis, and her father Robert Wrench was present at her death. Sarah was the second daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Wrench.
Sarah was buried on the north side of St. Edmund's Church in East Mersea, in unconsecrated ground typically reserved for suicides, criminals, or those considered social outcasts. Local legend suggested she may have had a child out of wedlock, which would have been a severe social stigma in Victorian England. Other theories claimed she was considered a witch.
Her grave is unusual because it is covered by an iron cage known as a mortsafe. While such cages were commonly used in Scotland to protect graves from body snatchers who sold corpses to medical schools, they were rare in England. The 1832 Anatomy Act had already eliminated the need for grave-robbing by allowing medical schools to obtain cadavers legally.
Local folklore claimed the cage was placed to prevent Sarah, allegedly a witch, from escaping the grave and troubling the living.
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