Morbid - Episode 291: The Purrington Massacre

Episode Date: January 16, 2022

The story of the Purrington murders is so horrific it sounds like something out of a movie. James Purrington seemed to have plans of killing himself after suffering from what was likely undiagnosed mental illness. When one of his children brought this to the attention of their mother and his wife, he said he had no intention of killing himself at all, just typical worries about his family after a long grueling summer and a bad drought. His wife seemed to be settled for the time being, but soon almost the entire family would be found axed to death in their home, and James Purrington would be discovered lying dead on the kitchen floor. Sources to check out: A Midwife's Tale by Laura Thatcher Ulrich Return to Smuttynose Island and other Maine Axe Murders by Emeric Spooner As always, thank you to our sponsors: Liquid IV: Get 25% off when you go to LIQUIDIV.COM and use code MORBID at checkout. Noom: Start building better habits today. Sign up for your trial at Noom.com/MORBID Best Fiends: ​​Download Best Fiends FREE today on the App Store or Google Play. Simplisafe: Take 20% off your SimpliSafe System AND your first month is free when you sign up for the interactive monitoring service. Visit SIMPLISAFE.com/morbid See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wonderypod or text wonderypod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. Angie's list is now Angie, and we've heard a lot of theories about why. I thought it was an eco-move. For your worst, guess paper. It was so you could say it faster. No way. It's to be more iconic.

Must be a tech thing. But those aren't quite right. It's because now you can compare up front prices, book a service instantly, and even get your project handled from start to finish. Sounds easy. It is. And it makes us so much more than just a list. Get started at Angie.com.

That's ANGI, or download the app today. Hey, weirdo, Zynash. And I'm Alena. And this is morbid. What ever happened to predictability? The milkman, the paperboy, the evening TV, you miss your old familiar friends. Warning just around the bend. Everywhere you look, everywhere is a heart, there's a heart. I hate to hold on to you. Everywhere you look everywhere there's a place of somebody who needs you wake up San Francisco. Alright P Bob Sagitt dude daddy Tanner was my fucking dad.

Danny Tanner was everyone's dad like Bob Sagitt was my dad for a whole last time. He really was and what's even sadder is he was somebody, people's actual dad. And that's really sad and horrific. In case you're like, what the fuck just happened and what are you talking about? If you haven't seen full house. What have you not heard?

Bob Saga was found dead in an Orlando hotel room the other night after a show, a comedy show. He was only 65 years old. I know. And I had come over here the other night after a show, a comedy show. He was only 65 years old. I know, and I had come over here the other night when you told me, and I was literally like, no, that's not true. Yeah, that was like, I'm very sorry. You were like, why would I lie about that?

I would lie about Bob's second. It's like really shocking. I mean, this is like a lot of people's childhoods and a lot of people, I mean, especially now, are coming out with these stories of how kind and wonderful and just like attentive and just a nice guy he was, which, like, it's so cool to see now, but I'm also like, I think we need to all start

doing this more, because I keep seeing this, like, you see it, obviously, Betty White, I feel like it's just like a totally different scenario where everybody was always telling great stories about her. Exactly. Because I think that was just like the theme of her life. But in most cases, we hear about these wonderful things that people did or these really nice things or these nice moments after they die. Yeah. And it's like, can we start sharing like in light? Like just being like, hey, I had this awesome experience with this person and they were so cool.

Instead of like always sharing negative stuff and then keeping the good stuff till after they're already gone. And nobody can tell. Yeah, I saw this on like, thing the other day and it was like, we should tell these stories at birthday parties instead of funerals. Exactly, we really should.

I feel like that's like a thing we've all fallen into is we just only tell the negative shit and only want to share the negative shit. And it's like, especially this year, I just like with how shitty the end of last year was, I'm just going into this year being like positivity, man. Positivity is key. If everybody, like, you know,

if we all just like, it feels better. I can tell you so much better. It feels better not to be mad and not to be angry and responding to angry people and all that. It's just like just, you know, share good stuff, share what you love, share what you think needs to be shared with the world. And just ignore the rest of them.

But when it comes to Bob's Saga, it really sounds like he was Danny Tanner. Because he's totally known for like the now for like the Ron she do. Like he loved dirty jokes. Which is hilarious. I think of Danny Tanner being like like like telling like a such joke. Like I remember my best friend Debbie. Hi Debbie. Hi Deb Deb. I know you're listening. Love you.

Love you. I remember that he came. I almost said Danny Tanner came. Danny Tanner came over. Essentially Bob Sagitt went to her college for a show once when we were like freshmens or sophomores and I remember she went to it. And when she came out of it, she was like, that was the dirt. Like I was not prepared. Like you're not prepared. Yeah, no.

You see Bob Saget coming. And so I just love that he was Danny Tanner in the sense that he was like apparently this really great human. Right. And like did things for people would call people when they needed it. We're always there to like share advice.

And like lift people up, excuse me. I think like Randy Rainbow was showing like tweets and stuff between the two of them, or excuse me, texts between the two of them, where they were like coming up with ideas together and Bob Sagitt would just like shoot him an idea for a song. And he was like, at one point he was like, well, I don't know if this is a good idea.

My daughter's left in the car when I told them, So I thought I had to share it. I was like, that's so wholesome. And I just love that. And I just like, I think we just need more like positivity going on. I feel like with everything else going on in the world, I feel like it's just some dark and gloomy and shitty all the time. I got a shed light on the dress. Let's try to make this year a better year that way, but it's really sad. This one like hit because, you know, I grew up with Full House, like that, and I grew up with it like on every week,

like waiting for the new ones. And so it was like that was my show and like that was everybody's show and then the next generation got to enjoy it and the next generation, like everyone is discovering. Oh yeah, because it was funny, like I remember like you showed me Full House, when I was like way little and I grew up with it.

And then my little sister grew up with it. Yeah, like it's so funny to see it go through generations. I feel like everybody did. So it's I mean Danny Tanner was everybody's, you know, dad at one point and it's just really sad and I feel bad for his family. And you know, I'm glad to see all the really sweet and kind things. He did, hopefully, we're done for a long time. Yeah, you know, please. And thank you. I think we've had to sing too many cherished theme songs

to you at the beginning of episodes. And you probably don't want to hear us sing. I think for some reason, my mic comes up louder when we sing too. So sorry. I'm so sorry. It's funny because I took vocal louder when we sing too. Yeah. So, sorry about that. So sorry. It's funny because I took vocal lessons when I was younger and they clearly did not pay off. You can tell.

Oh yeah, fucking Christina would be here. Oh, I have a terrible voice, so I'm, hello. No, I think you have a great voice. You know what, I think you're great. I think you're awesome. I think you're great in every way. You can be great. I think that you are the cats pajamas.

I think you're the bees, knees. I think that you're the avocado on the toast. The vacudu, I love that. Fresh vacuduce. So speaking of like really cool vintage bees knees. Fresh vacuduce. You know cats pajamas kind of things, we're on old timey today.

Oh, I mean, you're on old timey. We're on old timey. We're going old timey because I just found one. So I was going for a more modern case and I still have that in my arsenal. So it's gonna come at you next week. Next week. It's sitting there because it's all done and ready to go. But this one, I found while I was researching that one.

And I was like, I literally can't wait to do this one because it's just like wild. That's been happening to me more and more lately. Like I'm starting one and then I'm like, oh shit, what about this one? Yeah, I'd have like double doses. And sometimes at least the way that we, like I always see things and I think Asher is the same like sentiments. Let's find out.

I have to like when I am interested in feeling a case, I feel like I deliver it better. Oh, absolutely. If I'm not in the mood to share that case, because I mean, sometimes you will research these horrific things. Yeah. And sometimes you get to the point where you're like, yeah, I got to get this away from me for a little while. I'll start to like, bump me out. And if I have to share that in that mode, it's not going to come out as good. Yeah. But if I feel like I've got what I wanted to get, and I was in a mind frame

of it, it just comes out better. Yeah. So I feel like, and like, I wanted to get and I was in a mind frame of it, it just comes out better. So I feel like, guys. I end up writing my like, narration a little bit better. Yeah, it just feels better. So, you know, that's just a little sneaky peek into our brains, so a little while. But today, I am going to be talking about

the Parrington Massacre in Maine. Oh, I haven't heard of that in Maine is not far. We got a New England massacre. He's still going to Maine all the time. We say, you know, Maine. We have family in Maine. Yeah, yeah. I'm Maine family.

Hey. So this is taking place in 1806. Do you remember where family was there? Where you were in 1806 in the galaxy. Yes. When I was in St Where you were in 1806 in the galaxy. But I was in Stardust in 1806. What I was little, my mom used to say, you weren't even a star in the sky. Yeah, that's a, or like a twinkle in my eye. Yeah.

No, we were just Stardust. Yeah. We literally were. So, there we were. So this is July 9th, 1806 at around two or three in the morning. Now this is 1806. So where we are in Maine is very rural. Dark. It's scary. There is not a light to be seen. This is not like the main of today. Now it's two or three in the morning in a small

neighborhood in Augusta Maine and it was rocked by the sounds of a 17-year-old boy running for his life in the darkness. Oh, God. He tore down Belgrade Road, bleeding and in complete shock at what he had just been a part of. Oh, dear Lord! He ran upon one of his neighbor's homes, occupied by Mr. Dean Wyman, and his wife, I believe, was in there. I don't know if they had any kids, but he woke Mr. Wyman up and told him a horrific story. One where his own father, James Perrington, had attacked him with an axe when he had awoken to the screams of his own mother. Jesus.

Yes. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history. Presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. had cast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers and often for committing

only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines. The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children, and force a heated debate about punishment, an America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App.

What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? Or are they made to kill? I'm Candice DeLong and on my podcast, Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent, and a criminal

profiler. On Killer Ciky Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Vallow, aka Mommy Doomstays Motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder. I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine. Hey Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. So Mr. Wyman at first was like,

because remember it's 1806, this widely 17-year-old is waking you up at two or three in the morning with crazy tails. So Mr. Wyman at first is like, dude, what? That's insane. James Parrington is a good guy. He would not do that. What are you talking about? I'd be like, well, I am covered in blood.

So why don't we use our context clues here, Mr. Sir? Well, we can see why he didn't see that immediately because the blood was on his back. Okay. Now, so he's like, are you sleepwalking or something? What is going on? But that's when James Jr. turned around and revealed a massive gash on his back and shoulder where his father's axe had narrowly missed his neck.

Oh, what James Jr. believed to be its intended target. Oh, he had woken to the sounds of his mother screams from her bedroom when he went to investigate because he's being a good son, yeah, he's just walks right out of his room because he's like, I have to help my mom. He was met with his father wielding a very sharp axe and he tried to escape because he said his father looked like a madman in that moment.

I would assume so. He also said that there was just like nothing, like no, the only screams were what he heard from his mother at the time. But he said it was just like a scary silence. Like there was nobody said anything to each other. He wasn't like a just scrolling or screaming or making any kind of noise. It was just silent.

Like cold-calus silent murder. Yeah, silence and a gust of mean is not for me. No, definitely not, especially not with an axe. So he comes out, he's trying to look for his mom, he finds his father wielding that sharpened axe, and he tried to escape, but he was attacked by his father. They fought, like, he tried to get the axe out of his hands, he was trying to run by him, maybe to help his mom.

They were wrestling. tried to get the axe out of his hands. He was trying to run by him, maybe to help his mom. They were wrestling. And at one point, his father swung the axe at least twice, missing him as he ducked and dodged. But one of the times that he failed to dodge, the axe buried itself in James Jr's back. Oh, and that's the thing about an axe too, like the way you just said that.

Not only does it go in and then imagine it coming out I just maybe like grab my back. I know now Obviously this is a lot of chaos and chaos. There's just a lot of cars I realize it's a lot of chaos a lot of chaos as well a lot of chaos as well, which carosh and chaos. A lot of chaos, a lot of commotion for two or three in the morning. So one of James Jr.'s younger brothers had woken up when this happened as well.

No sweet baby. It was his younger brother Benjamin. And we're gonna get into this whole family so don't worry, you'll know it. Of course, I know. It was his younger brother Benjamin who was 12. And he was the one that actually shared a room with James Jr.

So he heard him get up and run out the door. So when he saw this scene, he himself ran for the front door, the 12 year olds. He was stopped by the axe. No. And this is when James Jr. had to take that second to flee from the home. Yeah.

Because you could see he wasn't going to be able to stop his father. Right. He was like, I just have to get help to hopefully help save the rest of my family before he gets to them. Right. So that's when he ran down the street to Mr. Wyman's home.

Now, after hearing this detail and seeing the wound, Mr. Wyman knew he needed to check the scene out at the Purrington. He's like, holy shit. Very much so. But also he's like, it is two or three in the morning. And you're telling me that this man has just woken up to try to ax murder his entire family. I should probably get some backup.

Yes. Because he's like, I don't know if I should just run into this house. Like, love your kid, love your family. But I'm gonna need help. I like where his head's at, because yes. So off they went to another neighbor's home, the ballards. Now, Martha Ballard was a local midwife,

and she actually was a diarist, it was called. So she kept very significant diaries, and it's very significant to this case and of the time period. Being a midwife, she was privy to a lot of information, and she wrote it all down. Ooh, we love the town gossip. Yeah, even when she's not even gossiping, she's just writing.

Exactly, and just a quick little sidetrack in to Martha because she's not worthy. Martha. Martha's great. She recorded the last 27 years of her life. So her diary is so significant to history, which is crazy to think about that her diary. Something she was just keep it like your diary might be significant to history someday. I mean, yeah, look at Anne Frank's diary. That's a so wild to think about that. It is because it's such a personal private thing and it's supposed to be Just this thing that you only see right and then it's like the world season. I used to keep diaries all the time when I was younger

Yeah, I used to too when I was younger, but I feel like we should do that again now according to Historic Hallowell, this website that you'll link, her diaries included 10,000 entries. Wow. Over a period of 9,965 days. Oh, just that many? Yeah, that's all. Now between 1785 and 1812, she aided in the births of 816 children. That is a lot of fucking kids. Of those 816 births in this era,

where infant and mother death rates were very high. Oh yeah. She only had five mothers die and 20 infants. Wow, but if you had of 816 and five mothers out of 816. So she was an amazing midwife, clearly. I know that number would preferably be zero at all times. Of course.

But truly astonishing for that time period. No modern medicine. No modern medicine. Yeah, I don't really know what's happening. Carotion. But that's a really crazy number. She was wild. Yeah. Now her diaries were not really paid attention to after she died at first, obviously, because they're just diaries. She just marcia that was until 1991 when Laurel thatcher all rich published a midwife's tale any relation to life of Martha Ballard based on her diary 1785 to 1812 whoa now there's also a film that was made from this book and her life in diaries and it's called a midwife's tale as well I think I've heard of that you probably have because when I saw it I was like, oh my god, I didn't even know that.

Oh shit. Yeah, so she was actually born in Oxford, Massachusetts and that's where we got Bailey. So that's a really fun little connection. Yeah, when I saw it I was like, oh you're coming, I swear, Bailey's just like, hey mama. Oh, man, here. Hey mama.

She was super respected as a midwife as an herbalist and a healer. People literally needed her around the area and her healing abilities and her commitment to her neighbors was very clear in her writings. She actually worked with a lot of male physicians at the time, obviously, and she was not afraid to criticize there sometimes callous and aggressive treatment of patients. She would write about rookie doctors and say that they needed to be gentler, and they needed to hear their patients' wishes and needs better instead of just steam rolling over them. And she also felt a lot of them were prescribing too many intense medications before trying less invasive solutions.

Which still happens today. Look at that. Now, apparently at this time period, many women could only read the Bible. Like they were only taught to read the Bible and that's all they were able to read. But Martha was completely literate enough to read and write quite a bit. And she taught herself. She also made her own ink and made quills from geese that she kept as pets. I feel like if you continue to tell us all the things that she could do, we're going

to be here for like 92 years. What couldn't she do? What couldn't she do? And she eventually became the town mortician and was allowed to attend autopsy, which was unheard of for women, especially as I could only imagine. Now she was vital to everyone and would offer her services regardless of a family's ability to pay or offer anything in return. She would barter with them if they had nothing. She was like, all right, you have nothing. I'll still do it.

Yeah, but if they could, they didn't have money, she was like, ah, can we barter like? She's like, do you have a cow? Do you have a cow? Anything got a cow on you? I don't know. Do you have some oil? Yeah, anything. Do you have a quill? And she notably was one of the only midwives in the area to offer her services of midwifery and healing to freed black families who would otherwise have been left to fend for themselves because racism.

But she was like, good for her. Like you are my neighbors, that's it. Isn't it sad that that's like a fad? That has to be notable. Well, that's exactly. Yeah, it's like fun. But like, like, thank goodness. Thank goodness there was some people that but like, like, thank goodness. But thank goodness there was some people that were like, oh, that part I was like,

are you kidding me? Like, and in midwifery, like bringing a child into the world. Right. You're just gonna leave this poor woman to like deal with this and possibly die and her infant. Yeah. Because of your racism, like what the fuck?

Literally, we're horrific. But either way, she was amazing. I just had to take a quick side track. Oh yeah. Because a lot of the information that we get about this case comes from her and her, like, talking about this family. It gives me, like, weird murder she wrote vibes. It does, kind of, she like sitting down at night.

She's like sitting down at night. The end of the whole landspare of her time. She is. But so they grabbed Martha. Yeah. Back to, like, the crazy tales. Yes, yes. They grabbed Martha.

They grabbed her husband, Ephraim Ballard, and their son, who I saw as either Jonah or Jonathan in several sources. Maybe Jonah was in a name. I think it may have been, so we'll just go with Jonah for now. Yeah. And a couple of other neighbors they grabbed along the way and they made their way into the Parrington residence.

Now, if you are going to look up this case too, yourself, because it's from 1806, there's not a lot, but also the last name is spelled in a few different ways. So I just recommend looking all of them up. You'd see they're spelled P-U-R-R-I-N-G-T-O-N, like Perrington, P-U-R-I-N-G-T-O-N, so just one R, or Perrington, P-U-R-I-N-T-O-N, like Perrington. P-U-R-I-N-G-T-O-N, so just one R.

Or Perrington. P-U-R-I-N-T-O-N. Oh. So just so you know there's like several, if you try a few, you'll get different sources for each. Yeah. So they went to the Perrington residence. What they found inside is one of the worst crime scenes

in main history. Were there any photos? In 1806? Yeah, one more camera's developed. I don't think there was any real. I think the 1806 was when you had to sit for 16 hours to take one photo. Got you.

Got you. So there's no photos of this. This is also one of those cases. You can get information about stuff from 1806. This is just a weird case that I don't know why, but this is just not a ton. But I guess, I can't imagine if there was photos of this. Now let's take this back to the beginning before we go into this crime scene. Before I explain what was found inside the house,

this was 1806 and Maine has not even yet become a state. Oh shit. So at this time, it was actually still part of Massachusetts. Oh, that's so funny. So technically, this could be a Massachusetts family annihilation case, but it wasn't a Massachusetts- It's must've been fucking huge. Right. And it wasn't until 1820 that Maine became the place Stephen

King would later call home. Yes, I'll be. But in 1805, so the year before this murder, a family moved to Augusta from Bo-Doinham, Maine. The reason we're laughing. Now the reason I'm laughing is because I knew how to say that Bo-Doinham, Maine, Bo-Doinham, Maine. I'm not really sure.

You were like, I knew how to say it. I don't know how to. I've completely lost it. I think I've heard it too many times in different ways But while I was looking up this way While I was looking up I just happened to find this Pronunciation guide and I feel like you all need to be part of this with me you very much do because it's pretty So great plays Bo-Doyne, Ham-Man.

So that's your new city anthem. I sure new place to the town anthem. what is it? City Anthem. I'm sorry. I was supposed to put it down Anthem. But I also saw Boyd and Ham main. So I assume it's Boyd and Ham. I'm gonna go with Boyd and Ham, but you'll stop saying it now. Boyd and Ham. Boyd and Ham. No!

So we're gonna go with Boyd and Ham because I believe that's what I heard the first time, but I had to share that crazy thing with you. That was the funniest. So sorry, we just laughed for like 10 minutes about that. So yeah, like I said in 1805, a new family moved into Augusta from Boideon, Boideon him.

Boideon him. Boideon him. Boideon Ham. Boide and Ham. Boide and Ham. Boide and Ham. So the robot took your soul. It did. So the Purringtons were a big brood. They were a big brood. They consisted of Captain James Parrington and his wife Elizabeth, known as Betsy Parrington. They brought along with them their eight children, Polly, who was 19, James, Jr. 17, Martha, aged 15, Benjamin was 12, Anna was 10, Nathaniel was 8, Nathan was 6, and Louisa was 18 months. They originally had 12 children, but four of them had died very early in infancy, which again, very common, unfortunately.

But doesn't take away the fact that it was clearly a very tragic event. Now Captain Parrington was born in Baudinham, Maine, and took me a second. It's that thing threw me off, so I keep thinking that's how you say it. Maybe it is. Baudinham, Maine, in 1760. He was actually voted as head of the militia in Boyd and Ham by his neighbors, so that's why he earned the rank of Captain. That doesn't seem like it was such a great idea looking back.

No, probably not. So he recently came into some money when they were moving. His father, who was the first constable of Boyd and Ham, had died recently, and he had inherited a ton of money from this. So being a man who was known to want to do everything he could to provide a wonderful life for his family, he used that money to purchase farmland in the Ballard neighborhood of Augusta.

Now, this farm didn't have a home on it. The property was just farmland, but he was going to build one. And he actually had bought this farmland in 1803, so a couple years earlier, but he took some time between then and when they officially moved in 1805 to actually build the home himself. And he would literally stay in a tent on the property while building. Oh, he was dedicated. He was. He built a strong home and with the aid of neighbors and new friends, they turned the farm

into a working farm with land ready to grow crops and raise cattle and shit. You know what you do on a farm. Moo. Moo, you know. So the Purring Tins were one of six homes in the neighborhood. It was a very small tight-knit community. Every neighbor said he was a little moody at times, but not like angry. He wasn't like mean.

Just moody in the sense that he would be super nice and super sweet one moment and they're very sad and depressed the next. Okay, so the more you read about this case, the more it becomes very clear that he has undiagnosed mental illness. Sure. Obviously at the time,

every mental illness was undiagnosed. Exactly, unfortunately unfortunately but when you look at it through fresh eyes now you're like damn if only they could have could have gotten help given him a little help. Now so but each of them described him as someone who really loved his wife and kids and was a doding father by all accounts. They said his main concerns were always to provide for his family and for their safety, which is very scary and contrast to what he later did to them. So he must have had some kind of like mental break. He did. Now, he was a very religious man, and I think we'll talk about it later.

I don't get too far into it because I think there's certain sources to say they started out as Baptists before they moved to Augusta, and then they changed to Universalists at the time. But what he believed was that when you died, everything, like basically every sin was washed away and there was no hell. Like you went to hell. You went to this special, almost not like a purgatory, I guess, but like somewhere, it is neither and everybody's happy and everything's fine. No matter what you did. Oh, in life. It's one of those like, that's what he specifically believed.

That does play into what possibly could be. Yeah. The little bit of. A little bit of past year. Now, in July of that year, there was a drought in the area. And the drought made it highly stressful for everybody, especially the farmland. The farm was having issues, it was killing the crops, there was a real danger that they wouldn't be able to eat through the winter.

Oh gosh. And you know, the cattle is kind of starving, it's just really bad. Now, the thing that they did have on their side was they weren't going to be able to eat from the farm for the winter, but they did have some money. So they had a little more money than everybody else. They were going to be okay. Yeah. But still a stressful time.

And they really, you know, they did rely on this farm. Other people relied on this farm like they sold their... It's a lot of stress. You know, it's a lot. And you know, James Parrington had moved his family there to provide for them and to seemingly give them a good life. Right. Now this unexpected weather shit fest is threatening to take that all the way. And it's weather shit, you know.

He's thinking he's gonna be branded a failure. Like I didn't do my job. Oh gosh. Now he wasn't handling that well. No. His moods were a little more erratic. He was starting to have a few more episodes of being down, you know, just being kind of distant, but he was holding it together as best as he could. So Sunday, July 6th was when the family started to notice that maybe these erratic moods were not so much a passing by product

of the drought and the stress, but maybe something a little more worrisome. That day, Betsy, the mother, and the oldest daughter, Polly, were at church, and the rest of the children were home with James Sr. Now Martha, the 15-year-old daughter, just happened to walk by her father's bedroom, and she saw him like hunched over his desk, writing something. And she could see who was writing a letter. So she was just curious. She's probably bored as fuck being like 1806. 1806. 1806. And Massachusetts, Maine. So she must have been probably bored as fuck being like 1806 and Massachusetts main. So she must have been fucking bored as hell.

So she's like, what do you do? And I have nothing else to do. Can you just tell me what your letter is? So she asked some, you know, what are you writing? And he seemed a little flustered and went to great lengths to hide the letter and told her nothing. Okay. She was like, well, that was just something. Because like, obviously, literally anything else her nothing. She was like, well, that was suspicious. She said something.

Because obviously, literally anything else except nothing. He then asked her, he said, can you go get the butcher's knife for me? It needs sharpening. No. And she was like, okay. And it's like seemingly for no fucking reason,

but she's like, you know, we're all bored. You just gonna sharpen the knife? What the fuck else are we gonna do? Nothing's on TV. I can't hear something on TV. So she wandered back to his room, give some of the knife, he's sharpening it. I guess he sharpened it for a long time. That's not even good for your knife.

Which like everybody, you know, this is common shit. It's not like we were like, what you're sharpening a knife like they had to. Yeah. But for a long time, it's a weird thing. Yeah. So then she kind of wanders by his room again and she looks in and she sees him standing in front of a mirror and he had the knife in his hand and he brought it up to his throat

and without touching his skin, he mimed several times dragging it across his own neck. What the fuck? And he wasn't saying anything, he's looking in that old dusty mirror just that would be the new- Pretending to drag a sharpened knife across his neck. So creepy. So she was frightened by this. I feel like they could already make this a movie. Right. And she said, what are you doing?

And I guess in every thing says like, Dada, what are you doing? Oh. Which I was like, oh, and he was like startled. And he said nothing again. You don't want to startled somebody with a knife close to their neck, Martha. You don't want to startle somebody with a knife close to their neck. Martha. You want to be like, excuse me, father, okay.

Now Martha was not having this bullshit. She was like, clearly that was not nothing. I want to know what was in that letter. Like, shit is going down. She's 15. I'm worried about it. She's on it. She knows.

Hell yeah. So when mom and mom Betsy and Polly return, she told them everything she had witnessed, including the fact that he was definitely writing a strange letter and was hiding it from her. So they're like, what? And then she further explains the whole mime-ing, dragging a knife across his throat. And they're like, okay, now we're very concerned.

Yeah. And imagine hearing that about your husband. Yeah, you'd be like, and I just left you at home with all my six kids. Yeah, well, like, yeah, that's what you were doing while you were supposed to watching the six kids and I'm at fucking church. And you're doing that, like, sir, what?

I'm like, what, there's an 18 month old in the house. You should be busy. Yeah. So they're concerned at this point. So they search, once he had left for the day, just to like get some stuff done, they searched the home and they ended up finding that letter. Now the letter was to his brother.

His brother's name was Hezekiah. And it said, dear brother, these lines is to let you know that I'm going on a long journey. And I would have you sell what I have and put it out to interest and put out my boys to trades or send them to see. I cannot see the distress of my family. God only knows my distress. I would have you put Nathaniel to Uncle Parrington to a Tanner's trade.

I want James to go to school, until sufficient to attend to a store. Benjamin to a blacksmith's trade, or to whatever you think is best. But to be short, but be sure to give them learning if it takes all. Divide what is left, but to be short, but be sure to give them learning if it takes all. Divide what is left for I am no more. Oh, that's so sad.

Now, that was clearly a suicide note. Yes. It's like hard to interpret it. That is anything else. And you put it along with him miming, you know, cutting his own throat. It doesn't look great. Right. So when Betsy found this, she lost it.

So she immediately confronted him with it and was like, oh my god, you were about to kill yourself. Right. Like, that's what this says. And she was literally sobbing, completely unable to comprehend that he may be planning to leave her, their kids, and hurt himself. Yeah. And he was very startled by this and didn't really know how to react.

But when he composed himself, he said, he was not suicidal. He said, I'm just nervous about the future of the family. And he said, I had this horrible nightmare that included my own untimely death. And he said, he was just looking to make sure that everything was buttoned up. All his ducks were in a row.

He said, once I shuffle off this mortal coil, I don't want you guys left with nothing. And I just felt like it was a sign to tell me, get your shit together, basically. Okay, so I'm sure that made her feel better. So she was like, okay. But still concerned about that mimeing cutting your own throat.

Yeah. And he just kind of brushed that off. It's like, I don't know what Martha saw, like, you know, trying to like, it seemed like Martha was like, got a crazy imagination. He was just kind of like that off. It's like, I don't know what Martha saw like, you know, Trying to like make it seem like Martha was like crazy imagination. Like yeah, you know, she's a girl. What's 15? It's 1806. That's not on TV. She's bored. So The next day things were strange though and James senior was definitely distant and that evening his daughter Martha said later was definitely distant. And that evening his daughter Martha said later, just a little spoiler alert, I was gonna say later. She recalled seeing him in bed reading his Bible before they put out the lights. Now this is all gonna bring us the early morning hours of July 9th, 1806.

Yes. When two or three AM, James Parrington, Jr. frightened and bleeding gathered his neighbors to the scene of his family's mass murder. Yeah. So the Ballard family, the Wyman's, and another neighbor ran to the Parrington house and it was pitch black and still. Because remember, it's just no lights. It's like, like, um, Valiska.

It reminded me of Valiska. It really did. No sounds are coming from inside the house. Which is not good. No, thank you. Not a good thing. And no one could see even an inch in front of their faces. Now, when they went in, they only had one candle to light their way. And think about how creepy one candle light is.

No. Going into this situation, you have no idea what you're walking into. It's dead silent. You know. He could be crouching in a corner with what you're walking into. It's dead silent. He could be crouching in a corner with an axe waiting to attack you at any given moment. Why would you say that? And you can only like one little candle. Sliver in front of you.

And also walking around with one candle too. Like, think about like walking a fucking birthday cake to someone in how many times you have to stop and really like the way that shit. Yeah. So when they went in with only that one candle, they immediately found Captain James Parrington, senior. He was lying face down in a pool of his own blood in the front room.

Oh, no. Now next to him on the table was a straight razor, which had been used to slice open his own throat. Oh, God. What a terrible way. Oh, I was gonna say that. Yeah, that's a terrible way. Oh, I was gonna say that's like very slow. Oh yeah. It's choking and suffocating and so. Yeah. Now on the other side of him, there was an axe lying completely bloody covered in flesh and hair had clearly just been used. Now next,

they saw a victim lying on the bottom of the fireplace. This victim was 12-year-old Benjamin, who had run out of the room he shared with James Jr. and had been struck down by his father while trying to escape the house. He had stumbled backwards after the first blow from his father's axe, and he had tried to steady himself on the fireplace. So, there was a bloody handprint, a bloody child's handprint on the top of the fireplace. So ominous and so jealous. They also found his pants beneath him, like under his arm.

And they think he had grabbed his pants to try to throw on as he ran out of the house and he just fell on top of them. That's exactly what I was literally just gonna say. But like what a sad little. And just like to think of him like, oh, should I just get out of here? Should I just get out of here yeah now the mother

and wife Betsy was in bed likely the first killed she was nearly decapitated by an ax blow wow she was pregnant she was pregnant yep she was pregnant largely pregnant so he so he knew that she was oh wow now on the floor next to her was Anna, who was only 10 years old, and had run into that room to try to help her mother, but was murdered by her father with an axe as well. Like this little baby 10-year-old being like, I'm gonna go help Mom. I'm gonna save her.

I don't know what I'm about to run into, but that's my mom. That's exactly what it was. She had no, she heard her mother screaming. She heard a commotion, and she just ran into her parents' room to help without even a thought. And that says so much about, I feel like it's so much about this family.

It really does and it makes it even sadder. Especially because, what was that old dissonst named James? Yeah, James ran to help and so did Benjamin. Like they all ran as soon as they heard commotion. Of course and it's like, it makes it even worse. And like what a little hero that she ran in there with no concern for her own safety, just to help her mom.

Like what a, it just killed me. What a haunting scene. It really is. A largely pregnant woman in her little baby 10-year-old wife and dad next to her. Exactly. Like I can't imagine. And everybody else. Yeah, on top of everything else. Now the next room consisted of the oldest child, Polly, who was 19 years old.

She had been axed enough in her bed. Martha, 15 years old, was still alive. Okay, I had a feeling. That's why she's able to tell the tales. Now she had been hit three times with an axe but had rolled away on her side and pretended to be dead. Oh smart girl. Yes. Her head was resting on another one of her dead siblings. 18 month old Louisa. Oh god. And when they found her, she liked 18 month old Louisa. Like basically unconscious. She was unconscious. Well, she was in and out of consciousness, I should say.

They also found the family Bible open to a specific page and sitting on James's desk. Now remember Martha had recalled later that she remembers him reading it in bed that night, right? The passage said it was from the book of a Zekeel and it reads, he cried also into mine ears with a loud voice saying cause them that they have charged over the city to draw near. Even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand let not your eyes spare neither have you pity. Slay utterly old and young both maids and little children and women become not near any man upon whom is the mark. Okay. Now to me, that is not a feel good passage.

No, that's not like I'm like, I'm not like I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like maybe, but like that when when when when I kill women and children will put in against the backdrop of this. Yeah. It doesn't

give me feel good vibes. I mean put anywhere. Yeah. Women and children is not usually it's really good. Five really not an immaculate vibe to this passage. If anything. What's like the I would like what's the opposite of immaculate? You know, but this passage really harshes the mellow of the... Yes. Yes. ...of anything really immaculate. But, yeah, that's not great.

I also remember that sleigh, utterly, statement. That is from Veliska, too. Someone used that in Veliska, and of course I can't remember it now. Ooh. I'm gonna try to go back and see. you know what but you know what guys stay here real quick just stay with me. Just don't go anywhere. All right I'm back and you know what I don't know why this didn't ring a bell until right

now while I'm saying it out loud I was like slightly utterly. Well something things out loud like it does ring a bell and it was in the middle of that Bible passage so I think it just didn't ring as like connected to anything else. Sure. But it was in Veliska. One of the, and go listen to those, those are crazy. But one of the suspects in that case was a reverend Kelly.

And he was like, he was a real character. Let me tell you. Yeah. And he had confessed actually, but you know, like there's all kind of a controversy, but again, listen to me out of that. And when he confessed, he said that God told him, he said he was standing outside of the Velisca House, and he said that he was hearing God speak to him and God told him to go in there and slay utterly. So that is from that passage. I wonder if he had like read the Bible and that's wild.

Like later on, like stuck with him. Yeah, and I mean, he was a reverend, so he definitely read the Bible. Yeah, I'm like, I wonder if he was reading the Bible. Well, who knows if he had read it right before? Right. Like you don't know. Right. But like how weird that slay utterly is mentioned in a list, the list gags, murderers and another

ax murder. Yeah, that's like a lot. Like that's a weird. I feel like we should put that on the on the band books list. Yeah, like the band Bible, the passage list. Yeah, like that specific message. Don't read this because things are not great coming out of it. We'll cue it next to catcher in the ride. Yeah, it's just no good. But yeah, that's so that's weird. That's a weird connection. Yeah, I'm glad we all just went through that together. What a journey we all just took. I appreciate it. Yeah, that was an interesting journey to make. Thanks for hanging in there while I went and looked that up real quick to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Oh!

From reports I saw, people speculated that the real goal in this whole thing was definitely to remove the heads from the bodies because they said it was very brutal and they were all hitting the head and neck. That's interesting because I would think that that would affect you in your afterlife. You would think, but I don't know what they believe. I don't know what you just like, you just come back together. Well maybe it's just your soul that moves on to get really deep with it. It's not Beetlejuice like the waiting room in Beetlejuice where you just like come as

you are. That's just, yeah, that always bothered me in Beetlejuice. I'm like you don't get to like a fresh start. You just, I kind of love it because, especially like the Magicians Assistant who was like cut in half. She just like gets to be like, that's cool. I wouldn't want to scare the shit out of people. Damn.

And then, you know, in that one, you have, what's her name? Shit. Oh, no, it's not. It's not your name. That's not her name. The social worker. Oh, fuck. Oh, no, it's not. She's gonna yell at me, that's not her name. The social worker. Oh, fuck.

No, no, everyone's yelling. I can feel you. I can feel you and I get it. I would be young. Hold on, okay. I'm gonna look it up while you freak out. Oh, shit. But she has the slice in her throat where the smoke is coming out.

I love that. Yeah. That's a crazy movie and I love it. Jo-no. Jo-no. I almost said Jo-no. Because of this Jo-no. Jo-no.

Jo-no. Thank you. Okay. We're all, we're all okay. But yeah. So there's that. So, you know, I don't know what his thought process was with that whole thing. But neighbors in the Corners report also show that the oldest children thought back hard.

I'm sure. Like, Paulie, you know, Martha Benjamin, and they all really fought back. And as a result, they were dealt a lot more blows than the rest of them. Because they, yeah. There was clearly fight, like a fight that happened. Now, a man named Peter E.D.s,

who was a Boston newspaper reporter, who was also very well known at the time. He said that Martha, who was also very well known at the time. He said that Martha, who was, you know, one of only two, including James Jr., who survived. He said that she was able to tell people what had happened at least partially because she was very wounded. Like so we're not getting, I mean, yeah, we're getting whatever she can give us. At the time, you know, she didn't even know it was her dad that had come in the room. She was so out of it. Oh, that's sad. Well, actually, I guess, I don't know. I guess it's probably

a little better, but he also, Peter Edy's also wrote an infamous broadside, which is like a pamphlet back then, but they called it a broadside. I like that better. I kind of like a two. A broad city. He wrote it about this case, and on the top of it, it's so creepy, and we're gonna have to post a picture of it, because it's so ominous. I want to look it up and on the top of it, it's so creepy and we're gonna have to post a picture of it It's so ominous. I want to look it up on the top of it. There's a drawing of eight coffins. Oh That's start from a big coffin and then that a like a little one like eight bodies. What is this like this singular bars? Like no thing children like just children a wife and eight children. Oh god Yeah, did they add one for the baby?

children, wife and eight children. Oh, God. Did they add one for the baby, do you know? Yeah, because technically there was eight children, but only six of them were killed, because Martha and James survived. And so, yeah. It would be the parents as well. Oh, wow.

Yeah. And at the top of this was a headline that said, horrid mud. I just always like how like, they don't bury the lead in these, like old-timey newspapers. They're like horrid mud

Yeah, and I love it. So she said Martha She said I can tell you what I know. I can tell you what I can remember She said she woke up because she actually heard and felt Polly her older sister being killed next to her Oh god, so in her defense She wrapped her blankets around her very tightly and felt as her father, who she didn't even know as him, brought down the axe onto her head and her arms. She said when she went to feel how bad the head wound was, she could feel, she could feel her skull head shattered partially. Oh my God. She was then hit one more time on the skull,

and she could feel it. So now her skull is shattered in multiple places. Yep. And he wrote, quote, her father then left her, though at this time she did not know or suspect who it was. She remembers laying her head over the edge of the bed and hearing to use her own expression, the blood run like a brook onto the floor.

That she felt the blood from her sister's wounds and was convinced she was dead. Then she heard Jonah Ballard come in, and she cried out, and he said this later. She heard Martha cry out, glory to God, do you kill me again? So she was literally like thinking the murderers back. Yeah.

Now after she had been hit several times, she had to listen to everyone else in the house be killed after her. She must have thought that she was like in a nightmare. Oh, I didn't hell. Like that is true. But I mean like dreaming, like I wonder if she was like, is this like, I might be able to.

You know when you're in like the most horrifying dream and you're like, you have to wake up, you have to wake up. Like you lose a like the most horrifying dream and you're like you have to wake up You have to wake up you lose like you lose a dream all of a sudden you're like dude wake the fuck up Like this is bad that freaks me out like do you guys ever have dreams like you can let me know later because you can't let me know now But guys do you guys speak? You have to hear you. Do you guys ever have dreams where like if you lose a dream for a second But I always have dreams where like someone's chasing me and they have like a knife or something.

And in my dream, I always am like, oh, I don't wanna be stabbed. Yeah, like I literally- You wait yourself up. Like I literally say like, oh, that sounds terrible. Yeah, I gotta wake up. And like if I can't wake up right away, I'm like, oh no, I don't wanna deal with this.

Like, no, like I'll just like be like, ah, like start yelling. You know what's weird is I used to have those more when I was younger, but now I will like be like, ah, like start yelling. You know what's weird is I used to have those more when I was younger But now I will know that I'm dreaming, but I can't oh really get out of it anymore It's like my super pretty good-go-sid lucid dream. Yeah control I also lately just like I don't have like really like night that many nightmares knock on wood But yeah, I have like crazy vivid dreams all the time. I do too, I get those.

Yeah. You also, I also got crazy vivid dreams when I was pregnant, so if anybody else, there's pregnant, you have that to look forward to. Yeah, because I was gonna say that happens a lot. I guess crazy. But yeah, my only recurring dream, like nightmare that I have all the fucking time,

several times a week, is I watch a plane crash. You have that several times a week. I knew you had that several times a week. I didn't know You have that several times a week. I didn't know you had that several times a week. I cannot get away from this dream. That's weird. And I'm not on the plane. I'm just watching it crash into my yard or in front of me. That sounds like a premonition that I don't want you to have. I hope it's not a premonition. I don't want to watch a plane crash because it's a terrifying experience. Yeah.

Because I feel very helpless and very terrified. Remember when that happened? It happened, yeah. Like a place near us, actually, if like long time ago. Yeah. But yeah, that's a little detour. Maybe that's like maybe your brain remembers, like because you know how your body remembers things.

I don't know, I think I had them before then. Oh. Yeah. But, and dreams. Yes. Crazy dreams, man. So I imagine that Martha Prowley thought it was a dream that you would have in your nightmare. Yeah, nightmare. But to take from Martha Ballard's diary, because again, Martha Ballard, she was here. Quote. They went, they, excuse me, they too went to the house where the Hrid scene was perpetrated. My son went in and found a candle, which he lit into his great surprise, saw Perrington, his wife, and six children's corpses. Martha, he perceived, had life

remaining, who was removed to his house. Surgical aid was immediately called and she remains alive as of yet. That is so crazy that she survived that attack. Survived. Ax blows. You said three ax blows. It means three ax blows. And at least two to her head. Yep.

And they were able to keep her alive. Like what a healer. And then like as she's being kept alive somewhere, other Martha is just like, I gotta drop this down. I gotta write this shit down. Like, and that's crazy. When you read that, you read in like a, you know, newspaper or something, you're like, I gotta jump. I gotta write this shit down. And that's what's crazy. When you read that, you read it in like a, you know, a newspaper or something, you're like, wow,

this is a crazy kind of. This is what was reading someone who literally just walked into that scene and then walked home and immediately wrote down what she just fucking saw. I just came out of a house where a father woke up and massacred his entire family with an axe and then killed himself.

And now, and you're just writing it down. This is how this girl is recovering. It's somehow even more just like real. It makes it real. Now, according to her diary entry for this time, she said that Martha Parrington was taken to Jonah Ballard's home, so her son, where she helped, she did some healing,

like she was taking care of her there, and they basically just tried to keep her alive. They kept her at the Ballard Residence for at least three weeks, and she was critically injured. Like, critically injured. She would go in and out of coma, as essentially, as she was there. Unfortunately, things did begin to take a turn

for the worst, like, pretty shortly after. In her diary, she writes, quote, July 28th, we hear that Martha is no better. July 29th, we hear that Martha Parrington is near the close of life. July 30th, Martha Parrington expired a three hour this morning. July 31st. Oh, how creepy too, that it was like around the same time that this all started. Yes. At three in the morning, it's like a witching hour.

Now more Martha Ballard diary about this whole thing, because it's fascinating. Yeah. She said, quote, my husband went and returned before sunrise, when after taking a little food, he and I went on to the house there to behold the most shocking scene that was even, that was ever seen in this part of the world. I mean, infinitely good God grant that we may all take suitable notice of this horrid deed, learn wisdom therefrom. The corpses were removed to his barn, where they were washed and laid outside by side. A horrid spectacle which many hundred

persons came to behold. I was there till near midnight when Son Jonah conducted me to his house and gave me refreshment. Now, what's crazy, there's several things that are crazy about that. Again, hearing her first hand account of we just took all the corpses into a barn, laid them out and washed them, then to hear her say that hundreds of people came to just gok at them, not chalking. Like we know that that's the truth. We've heard in a million other cases, but to hear her just reiterate it, and her diary is like, oh. It's real.

And then also, I like that she is like, you know what, I hope everybody who takes a note of this fucking horrible thing that happened learns some fucking wisdom from it. But she literally wrote, I hope you learn. I mean, you would hope that. If you're hearing this, you're reading this, you hear about this thing,

you better take something from it. And I'm like, yeah, Martha. The thought of washing nearly decapitated bodies in like an 18 month old. It's so, so, so, so bleak. In a barn, while people just walk by and like, gawk at them. In a home where they were just murdered. Yeah.

It's really wild. So they just laid out these bodies that were horrifically mutilated in the barn and people just came by to look at them because that's what happened back then, man. Yeah, it's just that the way it was. And it would happen, honestly, now I believe if we hadn't evolved somewhat as a society, I feel like people are so curious about that shit. Think about like people, like, you know when you're passing a car accident on the highway and introphic is like dead stopped and then it just starts to run back up when you go down. But it does the rubber necking.

It's fucked. People are wild. But it's like, it's morbid curiosity. It is. We are fascinated. It's amazing. It's true. And we are fascinated by what happens after death.

It's something we can't, nobody can come back and tell us exactly, you know, it have, or maybe they do, but they're not sharing it. And so like, we want to look for ourselves, even though we don't want to look. It's like kind of one of those things where it's like you want to know what you're in for. Yeah. And you want to see the worst of humanity.

Yeah. Like thinking that a father can do that to his entire family, you're going to stop and look and be like, holy shit. I mean, think about them. Just do that people consume. Yeah, just to behold. Right, like the worst thing that you can possibly behold.

Yeah, it's fucked. I mean, it's like rotten.com. We've mentioned that before. We over, you know, like my age group, we definitely, I'm sure, stumbled upon that. Sorry. But it's that kind of thing. You're looking at stuff because you're scared of it.

Yeah, basically. Now, people are crazy. But James Sr. was not laid alongside his family in the barn. I'm sure. He was actually laid on the porch alongside his murder weapon, which people could also look at as well. So people could walk by that porch, see him dead, and his murder weapon next to him. And then continue to walk like, damn, what happened? That's intense. That's real intense. I mean, the victims are one thing. That's a different kind of intense.

Now, coffins were made out of wood immediately. And according to Martha's diary, quote, the coffins were brought and the corpses carried in a wagon and deposited in the Augusta meeting house. Because meeting houses at the time, where everything, like if you in the Salem Witch Trials, if you go really deep into it, I mean, meeting houses were taverns,

meeting houses were restaurants, they were town halls, they were courtrooms, they were temporary jails sometimes, they were everything. So meeting house, sure, why not a mortuary as well? Makes me think of like Gilmore girls with like Taylor holding court. Yeah, you just think of that like, wherever the town meeting happens in that barn.

It's just like we can also make that a temporary morgue. Yeah. If we need to. Oh, thank you. So the next day there was a massive funeral for the family. And there was a huge procession and people hand carried the coffins through town. Friends and neighbors actually took pride to walk them through the streets because they were like a well-loved family. But James Sr.'s casket was in a cart to make sure to distinguish him as the murderer and not part of his family's

procession. No one wanted to carry his. The family minus James Sr. was buried inside of Mount Vernon, Vernon Cemetery, I almost said, Vernon, like the rat. That's not. Mount Vernon Cemetery, which was known. Not known. Yeah, not to be confused with the Verman. It was known as Burt Hill Barrier Ground.

And sometimes it's now called Mount Hope or Burt Hill Cemetery. I was gonna say I've heard Mount Hope. Yeah, so that's where the family is buried. Oh, shit. Now, in 2006, Augusta Historic Preservation Commission got some archaeologists together, and they found the unmarked graves of the family. That's crazy.

Which they were placed in just a little mass grave together. Yeah. And then nothing was put, like, no marker, nothing. They knew that that's where they were, but they didn't know where. It's a big cemetery. Would you said to look up like the what do they call it the broad, the, oh the broad side. I looked that up and then I saw that they had a new thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they placed this big stone marker to indicate where they are now. And on it, it says sacred to the memory of Betsy Parrington mother and her children, Polly Benjamin Anna Nathaniel, Nathan, Luisa, and Margaret Martha, who were the

victims of the Parrington tragedy. On July 9th, 1806, they were murdered by their husband and father, Captain James Parrington, on their farm, on the old Belgrade Road. Also seriously wounded and survived, with eldest son James. After a solemn funeral at the South Paris Church, the victims were buried in an unmarked mass grave. This monument memorializes this sad episode in Augusta history, and they're recently discovered burial place.

Wow. It's amazing that they were able to find them. That's, I'm so glad. Right, I wonder how much, like, went into that, you know. I know, obviously, so much, but you know what I mean. Like, I would love to see the process of finding them, like, what kind of, did they use, like, ground radar, anything like that, what did they use?

But they used archaeologists, so they did, like, a full dig, which is really fascinating. Yeah. What a job to have and to discover this family. Yeah. I'd be so happy that I discovered this family to finally give them a marker. So we are resting place.

When you talk about it, it sounds like just a story. But that somebody was tasked with the job of finding what was a family, a living family that existed for a family that was butchered in the middle of the process. And it must be that kind of thing where if you're a person tasked with that job, it's like you're thinking almost like of a tale.

Yeah, of this. And then you see this family for your own eyes. And you're like, wow, this is littered, like this is Betsy. Yes. This is Paulie. This is Paulie. This is Nathen.

It's crazy that we have the technology to do things real. Like they're real people. Now, in case you're wondering, James Sr. was not in that on marked grave. He was not allowed to be buried alongside his family. He was buried actually under a road outside of the cemetery at the intersection of Winthrop and High Street.

And he was buried with the razor and the axe. Oh! Yes. And also, if you just drive over that street, like he's just like right there? Yes. Why? I don't think I, I don't know if I mentioned it earlier,

that Nathan, I think it was Nathan and Nathaniel. They were found in bed with their throat slip by the razor. So he had used the razor on a couple of the kids as well. Do you have any like clue he'd would do that? I don't know. Nathaniel and Nathan were eight and six. Yeah.

They were young, but there was an 18 just. I know there was an 18 month old. Do you think he may have gotten tired from wielding an axe? Possibly. Yeah. Possibly. Or maybe he started out that way.

It didn't work as well as he wanted it to, or it was not as quick as he wanted it to, and he switched to the axe again. Or absolutely horrific to say, but maybe the axe was getting dull. Yeah, it's a very, yeah, I mean, honestly, that's a very real possibility with all he did that night. It's interesting though, he used both.

Well, and maybe in his mind, like think of him sharpening the knife before, it's like maybe in his mind, he wanted it to be quick, exactly. And that's a very real possibility. And I mean, there were people who questioned whether there was a second person involved here because there was two murder

weapons. But I think it just happened that that razor was another weapon in the house, because it's not like it's a weapon that was brought into the house. Right. That razor was something they used to shave and shit. Like, it's not a weird thing to have. And he used it on his own throw. And like, who would he get into contact? Like, who would this like man get into contact with? There's a murderous person. That's the thing. There's nothing to go

alongside. That like, there's no reason that he would get someone else to do this. It's the same as Velisca. It's kind of like you can think of any way to think about it, but it's definitely he did it. Yeah, that's for sure. Right. So we mentioned also that, or excuse me, the fact that he's outside of cemetery too is interesting because I'm sure it is partially because he murdered his entire family and right they should not be resting together, right but also I think it might have a religious kind of connotation to it because He did kill himself mm-hmm, and he did commit murder Mm-hmm, and those are two big no-nose and most religions. Yeah, so I think he it could have it's

Especially back then like the the notion of suicide was looked at so differently. Absolutely. That I think he was probably cast out because he wasn't allowed to be in the hallowed ground of a cemetery, you know. I wonder like for people that share his beliefs, not in murdering his family, but in the afterlife. I wonder if he would have ended up with them. Yeah. And that's if this was all for naught.

Because in his belief, he would. Right. So I wonder if there, because there was several religions at the time in this area. So I wonder if different religions looked at it differently and how that, I haven't looked into all of them. Or I mean, like even him being buried separately. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Like if they thought by burying him separately, that I would change. They wouldn't end up together. Or he thought that, or if he even had that notion that that could happen. Yeah. Like if they thought by burying him separately, that I would change. They wouldn't end up together. Yeah. Or he thought that, or if he even had that notion that that could happen. Right. Like, did he ever think maybe they'll put me outside the walls and I won't be with them?

I feel like he must have probably known that that was going to be something that would happen. Yeah, I don't know. It's, there's a lot that's just like what? Yeah, there is. But it's a very, yeah. Wild. It's a very wild fail. So we mentioned earlier that Betsy was pregnant.

Was James senior thinking, I'm not going to be able to provide for this extra child for this drought when we're already struggling, when things are not looking great? And I already have all the stress. Like was that part of it on top of everything else? You know, like did that like a factor for bringing more life that you could take care of?

He's thinking like, I'll be with this child too. Right. We'll just everything, they won't have to face whatever is out here. We'll just be together later. Or he was very clearly mentally ill. That is, I don't know how anybody could read the case and not see that they're obviously is on

Diagnosed mental illness here. Obviously all mental and this was undiagnosed at that time. There was nothing they were really gonna do It's kind of like, you know, the whole the whole Medical that meme that you see where it's like old-timey doctors were just like, oh you have ghost in your blood Let's do some cocaine about it like This is it's like that's I feel like that's all they would be able to do for him. No, absolutely. So I think he was definitely struggling

with mental illness. Yeah, I think completely agree. I'm sure the situation outside of him with the farm and financial stuff and the drought, everything going on was probably not helping. Right, it's probably triggering it. And I don't know. He seemed like he had these depressive moods.

Yeah. But he also was everybody said he was a doting father. He loved his family. And there's also the religious stuff. Like that other thing said, he was known to kind of like switch religious beliefs a lot. Like he would go to different religions a lot, which is fine, like experience religions. Absolutely. Like that's what you should do.

But he would really cling to the ideas and then switch to another one and cling to another one. And this new one, this universalist idea that he had was that, you know, he would be purified no matter what in death, and that he would be with his family. Okay. Well, so yeah, then I guess that answers my previous question of, did he really think he was still gonna end up with that? Yeah, he thought he would be purified in death.

That was one of the thoughts. And I wonder, this feels like a, some kind of psychosis with, like a religious psychosis almost. It does. It has a lot to do with it. That's for sure. Well, it seems like the motive was religion. Yeah, it was religion and it was mental illness. I think it was a combo platter of just like,

not things that came together horribly. Yeah, the worst storm. Because I think this whole thing is just, if he didn't believe that his family was going to be together afterwards, I don't know if it would have gone this way. Right. Well, because it seems like he would have just, he was planning to kill together afterwards. I don't know if it would have gone this way. Right. Because it seems like he would have just...

He was planning to kill himself. That seemed to be what was happening here. And he had plans for his children. He had plans for his children. He wanted it. But when he saw how everyone reacted, when he was the one who was possibly going to not be there anymore, he switched gears and he said, well, we're all going to be together anyways. Exactly. I'll be purified.

So I'll be with them. Right. Which it's like, oh my god, what a dangerous, like just a dangerous mashup of things and like a whole man. So it's so avoidable now. In fact, then it just they couldn't do anything about it. Right. But E.D.'s Peter E.D.'s, that reporter from Boston actually said, quote, he was ostinately

tenacious of his opinion, and it was very difficult to convince him that he was an error. This is talking about James Sr. He was frequently, however, voluntarily changed his religious sentiments, and he died a firm believer in the doctrine of universal salvation. When surrounded by his family, he has been often heard to express his fond anticipation of the moment when they would all be happy and has sometimes added how greatly it would enhance his happiness if they could all die at once. So to me, that tells you right there what the thought process was. Obviously it's not a clear or logical or anything thought process, but it puts a little bit of insight into.

Right. Because everybody who knew him was like, this doesn't make sense. Right. That he just snapped out of nowhere. He wasn't having a great family. He wasn't having a great family. He loved his family.

Why would he kill them? Like, he loved his wife. And so that puts a little bit more perspective onto like, there was a lot of shit going on in that head of his. A lot of undiagnosed mental illness and a lot of like, religiousness. Paranoia, yeah, exactly. And just a lot of darkness.

Yeah, it's very sad. So to me, it's a really sad case of mental illness mixed with some really intense religious beliefs that, you know, just met in a storm of shitty circumstances, but that is the story of the Perington massacre. It certainly was. It certainly was. Wow, so we hope you keep listening after that. Yeah, and we hope you keep it. We're, but not somewhere that you think that you can murder your whole family and end up in an eternal paradise because it just doesn't seem like a good idea at all. It doesn't. It's bad for everybody involved. Thank you think that you can murder your whole family and end up in an eternal paradise because it just doesn't seem like a good idea at all.

It doesn't. It's bad for everybody involved. Thank you. And you'll end up on the outside of the cemetery. Yeah, you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon Music. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. Flash Survey.