BREAKING: Discovery Near Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island Mansion Unearths a Chilling New England Mystery — The Skeleton in the Garden May Be Just the Beginning

By [Your Name], Senior Investigative Reporter | Watch Hill, Rhode Island

WATCH HILL, RI — Under the veil of crashing waves and timeless coastal elegance, New England has long been a region where beauty and darkness coexist. But now, a haunting discovery in one of its most elite corners has shaken both local law enforcement and cultural imagination. Just miles from Taylor Swift’s storied seaside mansion in Watch Hill, landscapers clearing overgrowth on a neglected estate have uncovered skeletal human remains — and what began as a quiet forensic investigation has quickly ballooned into a potentially historic unearthing of secrets long buried beneath the soil of America’s oldest shadows.

According to law enforcement officials, the remains — found partially wrapped in weathered cloth and nestled beneath the crumbling perimeter of an old stone boundary wall — are believed to have been underground for more than 70 years. What makes the discovery explosive is not just its location, but its proximity to a forgotten estate owned by a once-powerful family whose legacy was mired in rumors of rituals, madness, and disappearance.

And now, that family — and perhaps their secrets — are back in the spotlight.

The Delacroix Enigma: Gilded Wealth, Disgrace, and Vanishing Acts

Only a stone’s throw from Taylor Swift’s impeccably restored Georgian mansion lies the overgrown remnants of Black Briar Estate, once home to the Delacroix family, 20th-century shipping magnates whose wealth evaporated almost as quickly as their social standing. The Delacroixs, descendants of French aristocrats and industrial tycoons, built their empire on transatlantic freight and textile production — but by 1947, the family had receded from society under a cloud of scandal, bankruptcy, and personal tragedy.

The youngest daughter, Annabelle Delacroix, was reported to have “moved to Europe for education” in 1941. But private letters recovered from regional archives paint a different story. In one, dated September 17, 1940, her mother writes:

“Annabelle’s dreams disturb her sleep. She whispers names none of us know. I fear she sees things we cannot. Her nursemaid has resigned. There is something wrong here, something in the stones. If she disappears, it will not be of her own accord.”

That letter was never sent.

Annabelle was never heard from again.

Until now — perhaps.

The Discovery: Bone, Cloth, and a Porcelain Clue

The remains were discovered by a landscaping crew contracted to rehabilitate the grounds of a privately owned parcel near Westerly, previously belonging to Black Briar Estate but subdivided in the 1980s and left undeveloped since. The crew found a bundle of skeletal remains bound in what appears to be antique linen, some sections still faintly embroidered with fleur-de-lis patterns — the Delacroix family crest.

Nearby, half-buried in the soil, were shards of a porcelain doll, a silver locket engraved with the initials “A.D.,” and what appeared to be a burnt journal page, now being analyzed for legible content. Early reports suggest the page contains phrases consistent with religious incantation or ritualistic writing, but the State Crime Lab has not confirmed this publicly.

Forensic anthropologists estimate the remains belong to a female, aged 15 to 25, most likely interred in the early 1940s.

If DNA confirms this is Annabelle Delacroix, the implications are staggering: a presumed missing person case that was never filed, a possible homicide, and a powerful family whose prestige might have shielded them from scrutiny.

The Occult Underpinnings: Rumors or Reality?

The Delacroix family’s decline coincided with waves of societal paranoia about the occult — but the whispers surrounding Black Briar were particularly persistent.

“They were known for throwing lavish garden parties that went until dawn,” said Dr. Henry Madoc, a Yale historian specializing in New England esoterica. “But what made people uneasy were the reports of robed figures in the woods, strange symbols carved into trees, and household staff who disappeared without explanation.”

One of the most curious details comes from a 1939 letter written by a schoolteacher in Westerly:

“Children say they hear music from the trees near Black Briar — not violin or piano, but flutes, like Pan’s pipe. And they say a pale girl in white beckons from behind the garden wall.”

At the time, it was dismissed as rural superstition.

Now, with a body recovered from behind that very wall, those whispers feel less like folklore and more like foreshadowing.

Taylor Swift and the Unintentional Spotlight

Taylor Swift’s mansion, purchased in 2013 for a reported $17 million, has long been a symbol of reclaimed Americana — wealth, power, and glamour with a dose of romantic nostalgia. The singer’s public image, often built around themes of betrayal, vengeance, hidden truths, and female agency, has lent an eerie synchronicity to the discovery.

Her song “No Body, No Crime” — a murder ballad wrapped in betrayal — has seen a resurgence on streaming platforms in the wake of the news. Fans are drawing poetic parallels between the ghosts of Taylor’s lyrical universe and the very real specter emerging next door.

A Swift insider told Variety (on condition of anonymity), “She’s aware of the story, but is not involved in any way. She’s focused on her European tour prep. But she also knows the house has history — that was part of the appeal.”

Land, Legacy, and Legal Shadows

The land where the remains were found was sold in the 1990s through a Delaware shell corporation registered to a now-defunct real estate investment trust. Legal experts now suggest that this corporate shield may have been used to obscure ownership by surviving Delacroix descendants or even private collectors interested in maintaining the site’s silence.

“This wasn’t just land,” said property law analyst Caroline Steele. “It was a vault. And someone wanted it sealed.”

Local government has placed a moratorium on any development of the area until the investigation concludes. Already, petitions are forming to declare the location a historical crime site — and perhaps even a state-monitored excavation zone.

What Remains Unsaid — And What May Still Remain Buried

If this discovery is the first fracture in the ground, what else lies beneath?

Historians are calling for a full-scale archaeological survey of the surrounding land, citing reports from the 1930s that claim the Delacroix estate included a “family mausoleum” and “ritualistic garden shrines”, none of which have been located.

There are also rumors of a lost ledger, said to contain the names of guests at the estate’s private gatherings — possibly including politicians, artists, and foreign dignitaries — and perhaps containing clues to the young woman’s death.

So far, that ledger hasn’t surfaced.

But with renewed attention — and pressure from both historians and journalists — more relics may begin to rise from the soil, as secrets long suppressed awaken to the light.

Conclusion: A Tale Only New England Could Tell

New England has always held its history like a secret — polite, elegant, and withheld behind closed doors. But this discovery near Taylor Swift’s mansion has pierced that decorum like a dagger through velvet.

We may never know the full truth about what happened at Black Briar. But this much is clear:

Some stories refuse to stay buried.
Some ghosts demand to be heard.
And sometimes, in the most beautiful places, the darkest truths wait patiently — for someone to dig just deep enough.