Slightly Odd Fitchburg

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. We share them weekly and you can get in on the fun by liking us at  Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg  and following us at  Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now on to the odd story! DID YOU KNOW that six pirates were all hanged, on the same day in Boston, back in 1717? The whole thing revolves around the Whydah. That was the pirate ship captained by a feller named Black Bellamy. He and his crew of around 110 were transporting a stolen cargo of 20,000 LBS of gold which is, you know, a lot. Anyway, legend has it that Black B. had it bad for a woman named Maria Hallett of Cape Cod. He was supposedly stopping by to get his doubloons polished when a fierce storm rose up and sank the ship, along with its gold and crew. Black Bellamy, along with over 100 of his pirates were swept into the ocean and drowned. How do we know that? Well because the bodies washed up on the shores of Cap

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. We share them weekly and you can get in on the fun by liking us at  Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg  and following us at  Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now onto the odd story!   Fitch Bits: Boston's First Recorded UFO DID YOU KNOW that the first recorded (by the Western world) UFO sighting in the Americas happened in what would become Boston?   It happened all the way back in 1639 when, on March 1st, John Winthrop (yes, of the Winthrop Winthrops) wrote: "earlier in the year James Everell, 'a sober, discreet man,' and two others had been rowing a boat in the Muddy River, which flowed through swampland and emptied into a tidal basin in the Charles River, when they saw a great light in the night sky. When it stood still, it flamed up, and was about three yards square,” the governor reported, “when it ran, it was contracted into the figure of a swine.”   That's not

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. We share them weekly and you can get in on the fun by liking us at  Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg  and following us at  Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now onto the odd story! Fitch Bits: Boston's Murder of the (19th) Century DID YOU KNOW that Boston was home to the murder of the century? Oh, yeah! As PBS puts it: "The Parkman murder has been called the O. J. Simpson trial of the nineteenth century. It had everything a good murder story needs: a rich, well-known victim; a well-respected suspect; gruesome evidence; and a possible underdog hero." So, basically, it all began in November of 1849 when Dr. George Parkman, a scion of one of Boston's richest families, suddenly vanished. One week later, the janitor of the Harvard Medical College discovered body parts hidden in the laboratory of a mild-mannered professor of chemistry named John Webster. Though his influenti

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. We share them weekly and you can get in on the fun by liking us at  Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg  and following us at  Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now onto the haunting story! Fitch Bits: Ghostly Inhabitants of the Central Burying Ground! DID YOU KNOW that the Central Burying Ground in the Boston Common is rife with spectral activity? There's no way to miss this cemetery, if you've ever been to the Common, and it might just be the best place to meet a ghost! This spot was "established to alleviate overcrowding at King's Chapel, Copp's Hill and Granary Burying Grounds." It was also considered "least desirable because it was the farthest from the market center of the town." It's filled with British soldiers, revolutionaries who fought at Bunker Hill, and foreigners who died while visiting Boston. It's essentially a paupers' field f

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. We share them weekly and you can get in on the fun by liking us at  Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg  and following us at  Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now onto the odd story! Fitch Bits: The Witch of the Common DID YOU KNOW that there's a Witch of the Common? Mary Dyer is her name and getting unjustly executed is her game! This woman was hanged on the Gallows Tree on Boston Common in 1660. If you don't know what the Gallows Tree is, it doesn't exist anymore. It was used to hang many a folk, back in the day, but it fell over 1876. Anyway, Mary was a Quaker in Puritan run Boston and liked to preach her religion on the streets. That ruffled more than a few Puritan feathers and there was nothing they enjoyed more than a good hangin'! There's a lot to this fascinating story, but I'm limited in space with these posts, so I'd like to write a real story about h

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. We share them weekly and you can get in on the fun by liking us at  Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg  and following us at  Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now onto the odd story! Well, the weather is certainly changing and it makes me miss walking around Boston Common and being assaulted by entitled squirrels looking for a handout. As such: DID YOU KNOW that Boylston Station is haunted? Yeah, so not only is it the very first subway station in the United States, it's also the location of a mass burial site! Workers uncovered between 900 and 1,100 bodies when they dug out the tunnel, and they were all British soldiers! Most people don't realize the entire Common was a British encampment during the war. The only good Redcoat is a dead Redcoat and they all had to get buried somewhere! Early trolley drivers used to report seeing apparitions of men in red coats in the tunnels around

"Where there's a witch, there's a way, you know." - Aunt Clara – Bewitched Atlas of the Odd: The Bewitching History of the Hawthorne Hotel Welcome to Atlas of the Odd! This is an October series focusing on haunted locations throughout New England that you can visit right now. They’re open to the public and have histories of happenings that will make your spooky season one to remember, so get out there and explore them! You never know what you might find! Standing nice and stately at 10 Washington Square West in Salem, Massachusetts is the storied and illustrious Hawthorne Hotel. This imposing structure has been home to television studio sets, presidents, military dignitaries, and Bradly Cooper. Ladies. Even more impressive than the guy from the Hangover movies is the fact that it’s also been called the 4 th most haunted hotel in America by Travelocity. If it comes from a gnome, then it has to be true. This hotel has stood for over two centuries in the

Redemption Rock is a glacial stone outcropping, made out of granite, and in the shape of a flat topped ledge, on a ¼ acre reservation in Princeton, Massachusetts. It’s mere feet from the main road but still eerily quiet. If it’s not obvious yet, it’s also where teenagers go to make out and drink. Damn kids. Anyway, it also happens to be historically significant and a very important setting in the world’s very first bestselling book. Check it out for yourself and you’re going to see this inscription: Don’t touch it, though. You never know what some gross teenagers did to it. That inscription tells the story of the ransom of Mary White Rowlandson. This is really her story. Fitch Bits: Redemption Rock In order to fully understand the story of Redemption Rock, you really have to understand the cast of characters. It’s nothing without them and how they interacted during the long and brutal King Philip’s War and it all starts with the man himself. King Philip "'Sup&

“The Pukwudgie is also native to America: a short, grey-faced, large-eared creature distantly related to the European goblin. Fiercely independent, tricky and not over-fond of humankind (whether magical or mundane), it possesses its own powerful magic. Pukwudgies hunt with deadly, poisonous arrows and enjoy playing tricks on humans.” – Excerpt from Wizarding World – J.K. Rowling The Ultimate Guide to Pukwudgies! – Part 3 – Pukwudgies Okay, so here we are! This is the end of the Pukwudgie series and we’re going to talk all about these little guys! Now, first off, you’re probably wondering how we went from part 1 to part 3. Well, it’s simple, actually. The Ultimate Guide to Pukwudgies! – Part 2 – Freetown Forest is a Patreon exclusive! It’s a deep dive on all things Freetown State Forest and the insanity that goes on there. We go into detail about ghosts, its connection to King Philip’s War and the Wampanoag, lots of murders, and satanic cults! Oh, and there’s some light swearing.