The Inquest Into the Death of John Joyce

Hi everyone! Thanks for bearing with me over the short summer break! It's good to be back and I've got a cracking episode to launch into the second half of the season. This one has it all, ghosts, murder... well alright, it's got ghosts and murder, but that's not bad! It is a darker one and has some fairly brutal murdery bits, but I don't think it's especially worse than what we've seen before. Little heads up though. I hope you enjoy! In the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, lies a 281 acre wooded parkland area known as Arnold’s Arboretum. A beautiful botanical garden and research institution planted in naturalistic style, its serene park walks bely a history before its life as the arboretum, where dark events in its past stained the ground and transformed a popular picnic spot into an ugly memorial that few wished to visit. Several years later, these events in Boston found themselves tied into a story of a murderer that the contemporary press called “The most monstrous and inhuman criminal of modern times - or indeed any time,” though despite their shocking nature, they have somehow become largely forgotten, if not for a bizarre report of a ghost sighting that keeps the linked cases alive, sparking the public imagination.

-------
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month.

------- SOURCES   Brent, Henry Johnson (1868) Was it a Ghost? The murders in Bussey's wood. An extraordinary narrative. Loring, USA.   Bangor Daily Whig & Courier (1865) A Terrible Tragedy In Roxbury. Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Tuesday, 20 June 1865, p.3. USA   New York Daily Herald (1865) Horrible Tragedy In Roxbury. New York Daily Herald, Tuesday, 20 June 1865, p.8. USA   Hartford Courant (1865) Horrible Murder And Outrage. Hartford Courant, Tuesday, 20 June 1865, p.2. USA   The Burlington Free Press (1865) Tragedy In Roxbury. The Burlington Free Press, Wednesday, 21 June 1865, p.2. USA   The Enterprise & Vermonter (1865) Horrid Murder At West Roxbury, Mass. The Enterprise & Vermonter, Friday, 23 June 1865, p.2. USA   The Indianapolis Star (1865) The Roxbury Tragedy. The Indianapolis Star, Monday, 26 June 1865, p.2. USA   Boston Evening Transcript (1865) Coroner’s Inquest In The Case Of The Murdered Children. Boston Evening Transcript, Tuesday, 27 June 1865, p.4. USA   Boston Evening Transcript (1865) Reward. Boston Evening Transcript, Wednesday, 28 June 1865, p.3. USA   The Buffalo Commercial (1865) Arrest Of The Supposed Murderer Of The Joyce Children. The Buffalo Commercial, Wednesday, 12 July 1865, p.2. USA   The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1865) AIsabella Joyce - The Late Boston Tragedy. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Friday, 14 July 1865, p.1. USA   Boston Evening Transcript (1865) The Recent Tragedy In West Roxbury. Boston Evening Transcript, Wednesday, 19 July 1865, p.4. USA   New York Daily Herald (1865) The Roxbury Tragedy. New York Daily Herald, Friday, 21 July 1865, p.8. USA   Boston Evening Transcript (1865) The West Roxbury Tragedy. Boston Evening Transcript, Monday, 24 July 1865, p.3. USA   DeWolfe, Byron (1872) Georgiana Lovering, Or The Northwood Tragedy. New Hampshire, USA.   Spirit of the Age (1874) Franklin B. Evans. Spirit of the Age, Thursday 26 February 1874, p.3, USA.   Brown, Janice (2004) Early History of Town of Strafford, Strafford County, New Hampshire. USA.   St Johnsbury Caledonian (1873) The New Hampshire Murder. St Johnsbury Caledonian, Friday 14 February 1843, p.2. USA.   Lewis, John B. (1896) Stratagems and conspiracies to defraud life insurance companies. J. H. McLellan, USA.   Schecter, Harold (2012) Psycho USA, Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of. Ballantine Books, USA.   Boston Evening Transcript (1872) A Young Girl Outraged And Murdered By Her Uncle. Boston Evening Transcript, Monday, 04 November 1872, p.1. USA   The Boston Globe (1872) The Northwood Tragedy. The Boston Globe, Friday, 08 November 1872, p.5. USA   The Argus & Patriot (1872) Summary Of News. The Argus & Patriot, Thursday, 14 November 1872, p.5. USA   North Star (1872) The Northwood Murder. North Star, Friday 29 November 1872, p.2. USA.   Boston Evening Transcript (1873) The Northwood, N.H, Murder. Monday 03 February 1873, p.4. USA.   Boston Evening Transcript (1873) The Murder Trial At Exeter, N.H.. Tuesday 04 February 1873, p.4. USA.   Boston Evening Transcript (1873) The Murder Trial At Exeter, N.H.. Wednesday 05 February 1873, p.4. USA.   Rutland Independent (1873) Confessions Of Evans. Rutland Independent, Saturday 08 February 1873. P.8. USA  

For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com

Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories

The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories

Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9

Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast

Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories

& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/

Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf

The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

 

aa4541908247c2084f5dc715198cf917ef95e812

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices