Longfellow Parents’ Tomb Found Vacant; Officials Mystified

PORTLAND, Me. — A tomb presumed to contain poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s parents and four other relatives is empty and officials are at a loss to explain where the bodies are.

Cemetery workers planning to replace an old iron door with a permanent brick wall opened the tomb and found it empty, officials said Wednesday.

They had expected to find the remains of Longfellow’s mother and father, Stephen and Zilpah Longfellow, two brothers, an aunt and a grandniece.

The tidiness of the tomb and the fact the padlock on the door was intact indicated the remains were transferred to another burial spot, even though it apparently was not recorded, said William B. Jordan Jr., a Westbrook College historian.