Macabre Memorials Part #2 - Spooner Well

What could be worse than having your wife hire three guys to beat you to death and throw your body down a well? How about having your wife hire three guys to beat you to death and throw your body down a well, then have the townspeople put up a memorial at the location of the well forever describing to the world the humiliating and horrific way your life ended.

Meet Joshua Spooner, a wealthy farmer from Brookfield Massachusetts, who in the year 1766 entered into an arranged marriage with twenty year old Bathsheba Ruggles. The couple had four children together, but over their 11-year marriage Joshua became more controlling and abusive toward his wife, to the point she despised her older husband and wanted him gone. That was the motive, now Bathsheba just needed the means and opportunity.

Both these came in the form of a young soldier named Ezra Ross. In 1777 Ross was making the long walk home from an army camp in New Jersey to Linebrook Massachusetts, which is apparently something people just did 200 years ago. He became sick along the way and Bathsheba took the stranger in and nursed him back to health, another thing people apparently just did back then. Ross became friendly with the couple, Bathsheba more so than Joshua, and began having an affair with the young mother. Eventually she became pregnant.

An adulteress pregnancy in the 1700's could be dealt with by such level-headed responses such as public flogging or exile, so in a move that would have made Pamela Smart proud Bathsheba enlisted her young lover to kill her husband. Ross chickened out on the first attempt, so Bathsheba brought in two other soldiers and the three men carried out the grizzly murder, beating Joshua to death and stuffing his body down a well that once sat on this patch of earth.

Things unraveled quickly for the masterminds and all 4 were arrested within 24 hours. This was before the days of decades long trials and appeals, and four months to the day of their arrest Bathsheba and the 3 men were publicly hung in the nearby city of Worcester. She tried to stay her execution on the grounds that she was pregnant, but an exam by several housewives disputed this claim. A postmortem inspection showed she actually did have a fetus in her stomach, however, and left her with this unique footnote in our country's history books.

Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner, the first woman put to death in the United States following the Declaration of Independence, was pregnant during her execution.

Spooner Well can be found on East Main St., Brookfield Massachusetts, east of downtown

Transcript:

SPOONER WELL

JOSHUA SPOONER, MURDERED

AND THROWN DOWN THIS WELL

MARCH 1, 1778 BY THREE

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS

AT THE URGING OF HIS

WIFE BATHSHEBA

ALL FOUR WERE

EXECUTED AT

WORCESTER JULY 2, 1778

Related Links:
Macabre Memorials Part #1 - Josie Langmaid

Twenty Five Years Later - A Return to Sugar Hill Cave

Nearly twenty-five years after I last climbed out from beneath the ground of Sugar Hill, four of us donned our climbing gear and made the two-hour drive to my once favorite place to explore. This was a trip back in time for two of us in the group, and for the other two they weren't even born when last I made this journey.

It was somewhat a leap of faith to make the return without really knowing what we'd find. Our only reassurance was that, at least since Google Earth had last been updated, they hadn't plopped a Wal-Mart where the cave used to be. But in order to find the entrance we'd be relying on my memory from over half a lifetime ago, and I'm a guy who most days can't make it out the door without help from my wife. One morning she even had to help me track down my missing hat which I had hidden on top of my head.

Sure enough, we arrived at Sugar Hill without any trouble but then spent the next two hours bushwhacking up and down the mountain in a scavenger hunt for the cave. My daughter Madison got the worst of it as she trampled over a nest of angry bees. I tried to convince her how lucky she was to have been able to outrun all but five of them, but she wasn't in a "glass half full" mood at that moment.

After meeting back at the truck to retrace our steps my memory clicked - we should have turned left and the bottom, not gone straight - and ten minutes later we stood at the cave's entrance, recreating a picture from my youth.

It's not the easiest cave to get into, and for our first challenge we had to scoot down and off this ledge. Here is Madison using the same technique my wife uses to exit our Jeep.

Once moving Madison quickly went from hiding between the grownups to leading the pack, and with her unique ability to squeeze into places that would make a field mouse claustrophobic, she led us into the depths of the earth.

As far as caves in New Hampshire go, I don't know of a better one than this. There were tight areas we had to crawl through, but there were also large cavities like this one where we could stand around in a group, chatting. Most times the conversation ended with us saying how much cooler of a way to spend a Sunday this was, as opposed to all those poor people wandering around a mall somewhere.

Although this has the look and feel of a wild cave, after reading some old maps I've pretty much determined that it's actually what remains of a section of the old mine. This part was described as an open, sixty-foot deep trench carved into the mountain. I believe the cave formed when the trench either collapsed or was buried. Sections of the mine still exist farther down in the form of a separate open trench, and beyond that a shaft which we were able to enter by climbing through the backside.

This is an area that requires extreme caution when exploring, although looking at this sign I'm not sure what the bigger threat is, mineshafts or bears.

We left the woods that afternoon tired and muddy, but more than either of those, happy. Fellow adventurer Alex asked his father, my friend Dave, how he and I knew of this place to begin with, and we told him the story about researching abandoned mines many years ago and lucking into this spot. Taking it a step further he wondered why we had been looking this stuff up to begin with, and Dave answered in a much better way than I ever would have. To paraphrase, he said that we all start off with a sense of wonder in life, but too many of us lose it along the way. Never let that happen. Each of us should have an insatiable sense of curiosity for our world, and we should always be exploring the things that interest us.

And as Madison will tell you, an afternoon spent spelunking is a wonderful way to satisfy that sense of curiosity and adventure!

Links:
Sugar Hill Mines - Part One

God's 10 Acres & the Deed Rock

Trudging up a mountainside in central Massachusetts one drizzly Sunday, if I'd have stopped to contemplate my mission I would have put my odds of success at about a coin flip. Dusk would soon be settling in, roots hiding under a layer of wet leaves threatened my ankles with every step, and my only directions were an X marks the spot hand drawn map I squinted to read on my phone. Besides all this, I really had no idea how big this thing was I was looking for - I could picture it being both as small as my laptop and as large as my television.

But when I finally spotted it from a distance I had no doubt this was the rock I was searching for, even though nothing in the woods indicated this was a special place.

Can you spot the treasure in this picture?

This adventure began in the year 1800 with the birth of Solomon Parsons Jr in Leicester, Massachusetts. The grandson of a reverend, Solomon himself was a religious man who in 1840 purchased a 10 acre plot of land on a hillside in Worcester with the intent of building a temple on it. He paid $125 for the property, which Google tells me in today's currency is nearly $3,500.

But here's where things get weird. Rather than recording the purchase into his own name through the city's registry, Solomon bypassed that processes and instead had the man he purchased it from, William Hall, give the 10 acres of land directly to God. How exactly did he do this? By having a 200 word deed carved into this boulder which sits within the woods of the property, where in consideration of the money received Hall is said to give the land "Unto God" through "the laws of Jesus Christ."

These weren't just some scratchings on a rock, either. The man Solomon hired to perform this task, Sylvester Ellis, carved these words so deep and meticulously that "Deed Rock" remains as clear and readable today as it was 176 years ago.

Not so enduring were the boundary markers he used to define the land, which included such mainstays as a chestnut tree, a pile of stones, and the corner of a fence.

Just in case Deed Rock wasn't a big enough clue, Solomon was a kind and gentle man but also had a touch of the crazy. Caught up in a religious sect called the Millerites (led by head crazy William Miller), this group believed the world was facing a cataclysmic end in the year 1844. To survive this rapture Solomon built his temple on top of the ten acres, but unfortunately he was a better worshipper than builder and legend says the temple was leveled by a windstorm.

Other structures have come and gone in these woods as well, and in my search for Deed Rock I found the remains of two other building, including this large foundation.

After the world didn't end in 1844 as the Millerites predicted, Solomon began selling off chunks of the property. When he passed away at the age of 93 the remaining land was scooped up by a real estate mogul who simply claimed it as his own. And although houses and apartments now surround the hill, Deed Rock and the patch of woods that hide it remain as secluded and peaceful as I imagine they were when memorialized in 1840.

This rock is a work of art that I almost feel should be in a museum. Almost. Because although putting it on display would allow it to be shared with the public, I worry that something would be lost by making it so easily accessible. Anyone could go see it simply by standing in a line.

But having to climb a mountain in the rain, not quite sure what I was looking for or even if I'd find it, then the joy I experienced when finally locating this treasure? That's a memory that will stay with me forever.

* My transcript of Deed Rock, complete with errors. Solomon was many things, but a good proofreader was not one of them:

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS THAT I WILLIAM G HALL OF WORCESTER IN THE OUNTY OF WORCESTER AND COMMONWELTH OF MASS IN CONSIDERATION OF 125 DOL PAID BY THE HAND OF SOLOMON PARSONS OF THE SAME WORCESTER THE RECEIPT WHERE OF I DO HEAREBY ACKNOWLEDGE DO HEAREBY GIVE GRANT SELL AND CONVAY UNTO GOD THROUGH THE LAWS OF JESUS CHRIST WHICH ARE MADE KNOWN TO MAN BY THE RECKORD OF THE TESTAMENT RECORDED BY MATHEW MARK LUKE JOHN THE EVANGELIST THIS LAND TO GOVERND BY THE ABOVE MENTIONED LAWS AND TOGATHER WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD THE SAID TRACT OF LAND IS SITUATED IN WORCESTER ABOVE MENTIONED THE SOUTH WESTERLY PART CONTAINING TEN ACRES MORE OR LESS BOUNDED AS FOLLOWS VIZ BEGINNING AT THE SOUTHWEST OF THE LOT AT A STAKE AND STONES BY LAND OF E DANIELS THENSE EASTERLY BY LAND OF S PERRY ABOUT 97 1/2 RODS TO A CORNER OF THE FENCE THENCE NORTHERLY BY LAND OF ABOUT 54 RODS TO A CORNER OF I FOWLER ABOUT 24 RODS A CHESTNUT TREE IN THE WALL AT THE CORNER THE LAND OF SAID DANIELS AND A HEAP OF STONES BY THE SIDE OF THENCE SOUTHERLY TO THE BOUNDS FIRST MENTIONED

War Bunkers of Fort Dearborn

Of all the places I have written or plan to write about, the one I have visited more often than any other is Fort Dearborn at Odiorne Point in Rye. I've been coming here as far back as elementary school field trips in the 1980's, and I've been here as recently as the fall of 2016.

Driving into Odiorne Point, you know you're in for a good time the moment the first bunker comes into view. Like other bunkers within the park this one is a series of underground rooms and tunnels masquerading as a hill, complete with a covering of bushes and trees. The giveaways are the entrances, one of which is flanked by these impressive looking bombs.

As  much as I've wanted to see inside this first bunker, I've never found a time when it was accessible. But although it's remained tight, there's a second and larger one in the woods we've generally have better luck with thanks to those mischievous young kids. Most recently a hole had been punched through the wall near this entrance.

I almost had Logan convinced to come inside with me, but it's dark and creepy in there and he got no further than one leg through the opening before wishing me luck. Maybe next year. So in I went alone, and because I'm always so well prepared I began my journey down this long hallway with nothing other than my cell phone flashlight. The dot of light you're seeing in the distance is me looking back at the hole I crawled through.

Perhaps a dozen rooms line one entire side of the hallway, and I wandered through most of them while Tina periodically called out in her best whisper-yell to ask if I was alright.

Getting into this bunker already made that day a successful trip, so after climbing back out I was happy just to wander the trails a bit before heading home. Our wanderings eventually led us to the third bunker. This one never excited me much because not only were its entrances barred over, but giant rocks had been piled over the bars to double the protection from getting inside.

Exploring this one had always been a dead end, but here's where this day went from being good to being great. Me being curious and poking around the rocks, I found a spot that - when I lay down and sucked in my gut - I was able to slither through the rocks, around the gate, and into the bunker. Just like that I found myself standing inside bunker number three, taking selfies.

Rather than a long, straight tunnel like the previous one, this bunker sits inside in a round hill and has several twists and turns.

In the corner of one room I found this rotting, unidentifiable corpse. I concluded it was either a very large bird or the mythical chupacabra.

I also found the limits of what I was willing to do that day. This crawlspace was big enough for me to enter, but after seeing the creatures that wandered around on the upper levels of this place, that hole remained unexplored.

Looking at the graffiti it became apparent that, somehow or another, people have been getting in and out of this bunker for decades. Finally, I could add myself to that exclusive club.

Our last place to explore that day was this building in the woods. Much tamer that the war bunkers but perfect for the younger adventurers in our group.

If you live anywhere near the Seacoast and have not visited Odiorne Point yet, I suggest moving this to the top of your to-do list. It doesn't matter what your interests are because Odiorne Point has something for everyone; a playground for the younger kids, a science center for all ages, miles of trails, long stretches of sand to sunbath in, the ocean to wade through ...

... and of course my personal favorite, war bunkers.

Links:
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