Horrid Murder! The James Purrington Family Massacre

Murder, She Told

Kristen Seavey

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2018

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1806 - Bowdoinham, Maine. On a hot July night in 1806, in a frontier town near Augusta, Maine (before the state had its name), Captain James Scales Purrington took an axe and a straight edge razor, and murdered his wife and 7 of their children before killing himself. This horrifying act shocked the town. What kind of man would slaughter his children? Did James Purrington have a psychotic break? Or did something more sinister happen? This is the story of the original family annihilator, James Purrington, and the Purrington family massacre. Detailed sources can be found on murdershetold.com Connect on Instagram @murdershetoldpodcast and on Facebook. Support the show here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is murder she told.
0:04.0	True crime. This is Murder She Told. True Crime Stories from Maine, New England, and small town
0:17.6	USA. I am your host Kristen Sevy. You can connect with me and suggest your
0:22.4	hometown crime at Murder She Told.com and
0:25.2	follow me on Instagram at Murder She Told Podcast.
0:29.7	This episode contains violent descriptions and themes of suicide.
0:35.0	Please listen with care.
0:37.0	If you or someone you know are having suicidal thoughts, help us available 24-7.
0:42.0	Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
0:46.0	It's never too late to get help. Your life matters.
0:51.0	This is a story about a hardworking frontier man, his wife, and their eight children.
0:58.0	A man who felt deep responsibility to serve his family and his God. a man who suffered from mental illness and fought internal
1:06.8	demons, a man who made one fateful decision that changed the lives of everyone around him in the small town of Augusta, Maine,
1:17.2	a man who we still talk about today 215 years later.
1:23.0	This is the story of the Purington Family Massacre.
1:30.0	It was July of 1805, and the Purrington family had just moved into town from nearby
1:36.0	Bodingham, 25 miles to the south.
1:39.3	The father, Captain James Scales-Perrington, had come into a substantial inheritance from his father
1:45.3	and was able to purchase a fully operational farm that was for sale in Augusta in the
1:50.0	well-to-do Ballard neighborhood.
1:52.3	I used the term neighborhood as a historical
1:54.7	reference in a context much different than what you might think today. This
	...

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