Morbid - 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 Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is morbid. Never happen to predictability. The milkman, the paperboy, the evening TV. You miss your old familiar friends, waiting just around the bend. Everywhere you look, everywhere there's a heart, there's a heart, a head to hold on to. everywhere you look everywhere there's a place of somebody who needs you wake up san francisco

r-i-p bob saget dude danny tanner was my fucking dad danny tanner was everyone's dad like bob saget was my dad for a whole ass time he really was and what's even sadder is he was somebody people's actual dad and that's really sad. Horrific. In case you're like, what the fuck just happened and what are you talking about? Yeah. If you haven't seen Full House. What have you not? Have you not heard? Bob Saget 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 when you told me and I was literally like, no, that's not true. Yeah. And I was like, I'm very sorry. Why would I lie about that? Why would I lie about Bob Saget? 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 like 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 life. 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. Yeah, I saw this like thing the other day and it was like we should tell these stories at birthday parties instead of funeral. Exactly. We really should. I feel like that's like a thing we've all fallen into is we just like 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. Positivity is key. If everybody like, you know, if we all just like it's it feels better. I can tell you that. It feels so much better. It feels better. It feels better. It feels better. It feels better. It feels better. 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 Sagitt, it really sounds like he was Danny Tanner. Because he's totally known for like the now for like the raunchy jokes. Like he loved dirty jokes. Which is hilarious to think of Danny Tanner being like like telling like a sex joke. Like I remember my best friend Debbie. Hi Debbie. Hi Deb, 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. Bob Sagget went to her college for a show once when we were like freshmen's or sophomores. And I remember she went to it.

When she came out of it, she was like, that was the dirt. Like, I was not prepared. Like, you're not prepared when 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, was always, was always there to like share advice and like lift people up up excuse me i think like randy rainbow was showing like uh tweets and stuff between the two of them or um excuse me texts between the two of them

where they were like coming up with ideas together and bob sagot 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 daughters laughed in the car when i told them so i thought i had to share it and i was like that's so wholesome and i know 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 so dark and gloomy and shitty all the time. I got a shed light on the good stuff.

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. Oh yeah. 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's 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. 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 the really sweet and kind things he did.

You know, hopefully we're done for a long time. Yeah. You know, please and thank you. I think we've, we've, you know, I had to sing too many, like, 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. 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. 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 great in every way you can be great. I think that you are the cat's pajamas.

I think you're the bees knees. I think that you're the avocado on the toast. The vacadoo. I love that. Fresh avocadoos. So speaking of like really cool vintage bees knees. Speaking of fresh avocados. You know, cats, pajamas kind of things.

We're going old timey today. Oh, I mean, it's your episode so duh. 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 going to come at you next week. In my arsenal, she says. 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? And then I'd have like double doses. And sometimes, at least the way that we, like I always see things, and I think Ash shares 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, like, horrific things. And sometimes you get to the point where you're like, yeah, I got to get this away from me for a little while. Like, it's starting to, like, bum 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, this was the one. I end up, like, writing my, like, narration a little bit better. It just feels better. So, you know, that's just a little sneaky peek into our brains for a little while.

That's my brood. But today I am going to be talking about the Parrington Massacre in Maine. Oh, I haven't heard of that. And Maine is not far. We got a New England massacre. I used to go to Maine all the time. You know, Maine. We have family in Maine.

Yeah. Yeah, we do. Hi, Maine family. Hey. So this is taking place in 1806. none of our family was there. Where you were in 1806. In the galaxy.

When I was in stardust in 1806. My mom used to say, you weren't even a star in the sky yet. Or like a twinkle in my eye. Yeah. Yeah. No, we were just stardust. Yeah. We literally were.

So there we were. So this is July 9th, 1806 at around 2 or 3 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 Purrington, had attacked him with an axe when he had awoken to the screams of his own mother. Jesus. Yes.

So Mr. Wyman at first was like, because remember, it's 1806, this wily 17-year-old is waking you up at two or three in the morning with crazy tales. So Mr. Wyman at first is like, dude, what? That's insane. James Purrington is a good guy. He would not do that. What are you talking about? I'm 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's screams from her bedroom. When he went to investigate, because he's being a good son. Yeah. He just walks right out of his room because he's like, I don't 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. Uh-huh. But he said it was just like a scary silence. Like there was no, nobody said anything to each other. He wasn't like scrowling or screaming or making any kind of noise. It was just silent, like cold, callous, silent murder. Yeah, silence and Augusta, Maine is not for me.

No, definitely not. Especially not with an axe. So he comes out. 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. 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. 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 failed to dodge, the axe buried itself and James Jr.'s back.

Oh, and that's the thing about an axe, too, like, the way you just said that, like, not only does it go in and then imagine it coming out. Yes. I just made me, like, grab my back. I know. Now, obviously, this is a lot of chaos and chaos. Chaos. This is a lot of chaos. I don't know why. I'm not going to sit in a lot of chaos. A lot of chaos as well. It's chaos and chaos. Both. A lot of 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 going to get into this whole family still where you'll know everybody. 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. Right. 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 he was. 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. So 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 Purringtons. 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 axe 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 you, kid.

Love your family. But like, I'm going to need help. I like where his head's up 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 oh we love a town gossip even when she's like not even gossiping she's just writing exactly and just a quick little sidetrack into martha because she's no worthy martha martha's great uh 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. It's so wild to think about that. It is because it's such a personal, private thing. It's supposed to be just this thing that you only see. Right. And then it's like the world sees it. I used to keep diaries all the time when I was younger.

Yeah, I used to too when I was younger. 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 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. 20 out of 816. Yeah. 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. Yeah. No modern medicine. No modern medicine. Are you all right? Yeah, I don't really know what's happening. Caroshin medicine. Carrash and medicine.

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. Because she's just Marcia. That was until 1991 when Laurel Thatcher Ulrich published a midwife's tale. any relation to escape 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 and 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 look at you you're coming I swear Bailey's just like hey hey hey hey Mama. I'm in 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. Yeah. She actually worked with a lot of male physicians at the time, obviously. And she was not afraid to criticize their sometimes callous and aggressive treatment of patients. Good. She would write about rookie doctors and say that they needed to be gentler and they needed to hear their patient's wishes and needs better instead of just steamrolling over them. And she also felt a lot of them were prescribing too many intense medications before trying

less invasive solutions, which I'm like, wow. It 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. Like what couldn't she do? What couldn't she do?

And she eventually became the town mortician and was allowed to attend autopsies, which was unheard of for women, especially at this time. 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 any. 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, can we barter? Like, she was like, do you have a cow? Can we do anything? You got a cow on you? I don't know. Like, 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 thing? That has to be notable. Well, that exactly. Yeah.

It's like, but like, thank goodness. 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 going to leave this poor woman to like deal with this and possibly die and her infant because of your racism. Like, what the fuck?

Literally were 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.

She, like sitting down at night. She, like, sitting down at night. She is. But so they grabbed Martha. Yeah. Back to, like, the crazy tale. Yes, yes. They grabbed Martha.

They grabbed her husband, Ephraim Ballard, and their son, who I saw as either Jonah or or Jonathan in several sources. Maybe Jonah was a nickname. 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 Purrington 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. It's either spelled P-U-R-R-I-N-G-T-O-N like Purrington, P-R-I-N-G-T-O-N, so. just one R. Or Purrington, 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 Parrington residents. What they found inside is one of the worst crime scenes in Maine history. Were there any photos? In 1806. Yeah, one more cameras developed? I don't think there was any real. I think the 1806 was when you had to like sit for 16 hours to take one photo.

kind of thing. Gotcha. Gotcha. So there's no photos of this. So this is also one of those cases. You can get information about stuff from 1806. Yeah. This is just a weird case that like, I don't know why, but there's just not a ton.

Huh. But I guess. I can't imagine if there was photos of this. Yeah. 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 in... Damn, Massachusetts must have 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 Bodoonham, Maine.

And the reason we're laughing. Now, the reason I'm laughing is because I'm... I knew how to say that, Bodoenham, Maine. Bodenham, Maine. I'm not really sure. You were like, I knew how to say it. I don't anymore. 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 it 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. Bodoon. So. A great place to visit.

Bodoim, Maine. Oh, my God. So that's your new, that's your new, what is it, city anthem, I suppose. Your new place to this. Town anthem. But, uh, Boidonham. I also saw Boidenham, Mane. So I assume it's Buydenham.

I'm going to go with Boydenham, but. Oh, stop saying it now. Boydenham. Uh, Boidenham. No. So. We're going to go with Boydenham because I believe that's what I heard the first time, but I had to share that crazy, crazy thing with you.

That was the funniest. I'm 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 Boisdoyne. Bodenham. Bordenham. Bordenham. Biodenham, Maine.

The robot took your soul. It did. So the Purringtons were a big brood. They were a big brood. They consisted of Captain James Purrington and his wife, Elizabeth, known as Betsy, Purrington. 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 Purrington was born in Bowdenham, Maine. It took me a second.

That thing threw me off, so I keep thinking that's how you say it. Maybe it is. Bowdenham, Maine in 1760. He was actually voted as head of the Maloney. militia in Boydenham 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 Boydenham, had died recently. And he had inherited a ton of money from this. So being a man who is 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 the home. 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. Lou, you know? So the Purringtons were one of six homes in the neighborhood. It was a very small, tight-knit community.

Yeah. 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, you know, super sweet one moment. and then 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, for sure. Obviously, at the time, every mental illness was undiagnosed. Exactly.

Unfortunately, but when you look at it through fresh eyes now, you're like, damn, if only they could have 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 doting father. by all accounts. They said his main concerns were always to provide for his family and for their safety, which is very scary in contrast to what he later did to them. So he must have had some kind of like mental break. He did. Now he was, 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 that 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, you everything like basically every sin was washed away and there was no hell. Like you went to this special almost not like a purgatory, I guess, but like somewhere

in between. And everybody's happy and everything's fine. No matter what you did in life. It's one of those like that's what he specifically believed. That does play into what possibly could be. Yeah. The, a little bit of a past here. Now, in July of that year, there was a drought in the area.

And the drought made it highly stressful for everybody. Especially with farmland. And 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 it's 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 Purrington 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 away. And it's weather shit fest.

He's thinking he's going to 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 byproduct 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 he was writing a letter. So she was just curious. She's probably bored as fuck being like 18-06. In Massachusetts, Maine.

So she must have been fucking bored as hell. So she's like, what are you doing? I have nothing else to do. Can you just tell me what your letter is? Yeah. So she asked him, 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.

And she was like, well, that was, you should have said like something because like obviously something. 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're just going to sharpen the knives.

What the fuck else are we going to do? Right. Nothing's on TV. Yeah, here's the knife. So she wandered back to his room, gives him 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're like, what, you're sharpening a knife? Like, they had to. Yeah. But for a long time is weird. 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. and he mimed several times dragging it across his own neck. What the fuck. And he wasn't saying anything. He's just looking in that old dusty mirror. Just that would be.

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, Deta, what are you doing?

Which I was like, oh. And he was like startled. And he said nothing again. You don't want to startle somebody. with a knife close to their neck, Martha. You don't want to be like, pst. She'd 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 knows. Hell yeah. So when mom Betsy and Polly returned,

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 miming, 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're supposed to be 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're, 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. Okay. 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 Purrington 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 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 that as anything else. And you put it along with him miming, you know, cutting his own throat. It doesn't look great. Right. So when Bets, 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. Oh. And he said he was just looking to make sure that everything was buttoned up. All his ducks were in a row. He said, I just, 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, I'm still concerned about that miming, cutting your own throat. Yeah. And he just kind of brushed that. office like I don't know what Martha saw like you know trying to like make it seem like Martha was like crazy imagination he was just kind of like yeah you know she's a girl she's 15 it's 1806

that's nothing 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 just a little little spoiler alert i was going to say said later she recalled seeing him in bed reading his Bible before they put out the lights. Now this is all going to bring us to the early morning hours of July 9th, 1806. Yes. When 2 or 3 a.m., James Purrington 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 Purrington house and it was pitch black and still. Because remember, it's just no lights. It's like a veliska. It reminded me of valisca. 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. And going into this situation, you have no idea 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 light one little sliver in front of you. And also walking around with one candle too. Think about like walking a fucking birthday cake to someone and how many times you have to stop and relight that shit. Yeah. So when they went in with only that one candle, they immediately found Captain James Perrington, Sr. 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 going to say that's like very slow. Oh, yeah. It's choking and suffocating. It's oh. 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 chilling. They also found his pants beneath him like under his arm. Oh yeah. 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. I was literally just going to say like, Like, what a sad little. And just like to think of him like, oh, should, I got to 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 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 a little baby 10 year old being like, I'm going to go help mom. I'm going to 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 says so much about this family. It really does and it makes it even sadder. Especially because, um, what was the oldest son's name? James.

James. James ran to help and so did Benjamin. 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, oh, it just killed me. What a haunting scene to stumble upon a largely pregnant woman and her little baby 10 year old lying dead next to her. Exactly. I can't imagine. And everybody else. I'm assuming. everything else. Now the next room consisted of the oldest child, Polly, who was 19 years old. Yeah. She had been axed to death in her bed. Martha, 15 years old, was still alive. Okay, I had a feeling. Yep. 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. Yeah. And when they found her, was she like... 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 Ezekiel, and it reads, He cried also into mine ears with a loud voice, saying cause them that they have charge over the city to draw near. Even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.

Let not your eye spare. Neither have you pity. Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women. But come not near any man upon whom is the mark. Okay. Now to me, that is not a feel-good passage. No. I'm not light reading before.

bed. Like confession time, I've never read the Bible, so I don't know what this refers to. I don't know the context of it. I'm not going to claim I do. Doesn't sound awesome. Like, I don't know other ways to interpret that maybe, but like that, when put, like kill women and children. Well, put it against the backdrop of this. Yeah. It doesn't give me feel good vibes. I mean, put anywhere. Kill women and children is not usually a feel good vibe. It's really not an immaculate vibe to this passage. If anything, what's like the opposite of immaculate? You know, this passage really harshes the mellow.

Yes. Of anything, really. But, yeah, that's not great. I also remember that Slay Utterly statement. That is from Velisca, too. Someone used that in Velisca. And, of course, I can't remember it now. I'm going to try to go back and see.

Actually, you know what, but you know what guys? Stay here real quick. Just stay with me, everyone. 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, sometimes saying things out loud, like if 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 Velisca. 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, a real character. Let me tell you. And he had confessed, actually, but, you know, like there's all kinds of controversy.

But again, listen to any episode. 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. Oh. So that is from that passage. I wonder if he had like read the Bible and then it'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. You don't know. Right.

But like how weird that Slay utterly is mentioned in the Velisca axe murders and another axe murder. Yeah, that's like a lot. Like that's weird. I feel like we should put that on the, on the base. band books list. Yeah, like the band Bible passage list. Yeah. That specific passage.

Don't read this because things are not great coming out of it. Like cue it next to Catcher in the Rye. Yeah. It's just no good. It's just a good book. 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. 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 hit in 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. I don't know what they believed necessarily. I don't know if like you just like, you just come back together. Well, maybe it's just your soul that moves up. on to get really deep with it. It's not Beetlejuice, like the waiting room in Beetle Juice, where you just, where it, like,

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

Yeah. You know? And then, you know, in that one, you have, uh, what's her name? Shit. What? I bet it's not shit. yell at me. That's not her name. The social worker.

Oh, fuck. Oh, no. Everyone's yelling. I can feel you. I can feel you and I get it. Hold on, okay. I'm going to look it up while you freak out. Oh, shit. But she has the slice in her throat where like the smoke is coming out. I love that. Yeah.

That's a crazy movie and I love it. Juno. Juno. I almost said Jonah. Jonah. Because there's Jonah. Juno. 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 and the coroner's report also show that the

oldest children fought back hard I'm sure like Polly you know Martha Benjamin and uh they all really fought back and as a result they were dealt a lot more blows than the rest of them because yeah there was clearly fight like a fight that happened now a man named Peter Edies who was a Boston newspaper reporter, 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 that's not. I know. I guess it's probably a little better. But he, also, Peter Eadies 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 it too. Broad city. He wrote it about this case, and on the top of it, it's so creepy. And we're going to have to post a picture of it because it's so ominous. I want to look it up now. On the top of it, there's a drawing of eight coffins that start from a big coffin and end at like a little one, like eight bodies. What is this like the singular bars? Like, just eight children. Like just, it's just. It's just. It's like. It's like a little one. It's like. It's children, a 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 eight would be the parents as well. Oh, wow. Yeah. And at the top of this was a headline that said, horrid murder.

I just always like how, like, they don't bury the lead in these old-timey newspapers. They're like, horrid murder. 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 was 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, she could. could feel her skull had 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

murder is 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 mean, in hell. Like that is true. But I mean like, true. But I mean like. dreaming like i wonder if she was like is this like i'm is this 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 yes like you lucid dream all of a sudden and 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 let's speak i can hear you uh do you guys ever have dreams where like if you lucid 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 want to be stabbed. Yeah. Like, I wake yourself up. Like, I literally say like, oh, that sounds terrible. Yeah. I got to wake up. And like, if I can't wake up right away, I'm like, oh, no, I don't want to 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 know that I'm dreaming, but I can't. Oh, really? Get out of it anymore. I have a pretty good lucid, lucid dream. Yeah.

Control. I also lately just like, I don't know. 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 is pregnant you have that to look forward to yeah because i was gonna say that happens a lot uh but yeah i my only uh recurring dream like nightmare that i have all the fucking times several times a week oh is i watch a plane crash you have that several times a week I didn't know you had that several times a week.

I cannot get away from this stream. 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. Yeah. A place near us actually like a 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. Dreams. Crazy dreams, man.

So I imagine that Martha probably thought it was a dream that she was having a nightmare. Yeah, nightmare, nightmare, nightmare. Yeah, nightmare, nightmare. But to take from Martha Ballard's diary, because again, Martha Ballard, she was here. Quote, they went, they, oh, excuse me, they too went to the house where the horrid seems. was perpetrated. My son went in and found a candle, which he lit into his great surprise, saw Purrington, 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. Axe blows. You said three ax blows. At least three axpoles. And at least two to her head. And they were really.

to keep her alive. Like what a healer. And then like as she's being kept alive somewhere, other Martha is just like, I got to jot this down. I got to 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 account. But 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 realer. Now, according to her diary entry for this time, she said that Martha Purrington 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 comas 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 perrington is near the close of life july 30th martha perrington expired at 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 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. May an 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 gawk at them. Not shocking. Like we know that that's the truth. We've heard in a million other cases, but to hear her just reiterate it in 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 yeah she literally wrote like i hope you learn i mean like you would hope that you're hearing this you're reading this you hear about this thing you better take

something from it also yeah martha the thought of washing nearly decapitated bodies and like an 18 month old It is 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 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 all of a sudden traffic is like dead stopped and then it just starts right back up. Everybody does the rubbernecking.

It's fucked. People are wild. But it's like it's morbid curiosity. It is. We are fascinated. It's a great podcast, I think. 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, 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 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. Yeah, I mean, think about the movies 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 all were, you know, like my age group, we definitely, I'm sure, stumbled upon that. But it's that kind of thing. You're looking at stuff because you're scared of it. Yeah. Absolutely. 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 and see 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. would 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 oh because meeting houses at the time were everything uh like if you in the salem witch trials if you go really deep into it uh 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. Right. 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. No, I couldn't imagine why. The family, minus James Sr., was buried inside of Mount Vernon Cemetery. I almost said vermin like the rat. That's not good.

Mount Vernon Cemetery, which was known. Yeah, not to be confused with Berman. It was known as Burnt Hill Burying Ground, and sometimes it's now called Mount Hope or Burnt Hill Cemetery. I was going to 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. Because they were placed in just a little mass grave together. Yeah. And then nothing was put. No marker. They knew that that's where they were, but they didn't know where. It's a big cemetery.

When you said to look up like the one of the, one of the. They call it the broad. Oh, the broad side. I looked that up, and then I saw that they had a new thing. Yeah. Yeah, and they place this big stone marker to indicate where they are now. And on it, it says, sacred to the memory of Betsy Perrington, mother, and her children, Polly, Benjamin, Anna, Nathaniel, Nathan, Louisa, and Margaret, Martha,

who were the victims of the Purrington tragedy. On July 9th, 1806, they were murdered by their husband and father, Captain James Purrington, on their farm, on the old Belgrade Road. Also seriously wounded and survived was 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 their recently discovered burial place. Wow. It's amazing that they were able to find them.

I'm so glad. Right. I wonder how much like went into that. I know. Obviously so much, but do you know what I mean? I would love to see the. Yeah. I would love to see the.

process of finding them. Like what kind of, did they use, like, ground radar or 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. I'd be so happy that I discovered this family to finally give them a marker. So weird. Because when you talk about it, like it sounds like just a story. But then somebody was tasked with the job of finding what was a family, like a living family. A living family. that existed for a family that was butchered in the middle of the night 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 tail yeah of this and then you see this family for your own eyes and you're like wow this is literally like

this is betsy yes this is polly this is louisa this is nathan like it's crazy that we have the technology to do things like they're real they're real people now in case you're wondering james senior was not in that marked grave uh he was not allowed to be buried a lot 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 Nathaniel, they were found in bed with their throat slipped by the razor. So he had used the razor on a couple of the kids as well.

Do you have any clue why he would do that? I don't know. Nathaniel and Nason were eight and six. They were young, but I don't know if he 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 was. 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 so 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 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 ones 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 throat. And like who would he get into contact? Like who would this like man get into contact with? He's a murderous person. That's the thing. There's nothing to go alongside that. Like it's 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 the 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 and he did commit murder. and those are two big no-noes in most religions. So I think he, it could have been, especially back then, like 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.

Yeah. And that's, if this was all for not. Because in his belief, he would. Right. So I wonder if there, because there was several religions at the time in the 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. Yeah. Or if 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 it's there's a lot that's just like what yeah there is but so it's a very yeah it's a wild tale so we mentioned earlier that betsy was pregnant um was james senior thinking i'm not going to be able to provide for this extra child's right 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 of everything else, you know, like, did that play a factor in it? Like, felt guilty for bringing more life that he couldn't take care of.

Yeah, he's thinking, like, I'll be with this child too. Right. Well, 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 there obviously is undiagnosed mental illness here. Obviously all mental illness was undiagnosed at that time. There was nothing they were really going to do. It's kind of like, you know, the whole, like, 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. I knew you were going to say that. And it's like, 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, you know, the drought, everything. going on was probably not helping. Right. He was 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. He, 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. Mm-hmm. Which is fine, like experience religions. Absolutely.

Like that's what you should. 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 going to 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 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 of 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, oh, man. It's a lot. It's so avoidable now. And back then it just, just they couldn't do anything about it. Right. But Edie's, Peter Edie'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 in 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 loved his 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 religious 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 Purrington massacre. It certainly was. It certainly was. Wow.

So we hope you keep listening after that. Yeah. And we hope you. Keep it weird. But not so whether 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 don't want that. Thank you.