What in the world is a lore trick or treat episode?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

You see, every October I try to help lore listeners experience Halloween all month long.

And so, only in October I release extra episodes in between the full, regularly scheduled

ones. That means that every Monday this month is going to have something fun for you to

hear. Today, you'll hear two different stories. In between them is a brief sponsor break.

And there you go. Now, pull up that blanket just a little bit higher and keep your eyes

on the door. I have some dark tails I want to tell you.

I'm Aaron Manky and this is lore. Just to the north of Boston is a city nearly as old.

The Maldon, Massachusetts was settled just a decade after Boston was all the way back

in 1640. Thanks to the Mystic River that separates it from Somerville and Boston to the south,

Maldon locals referred to it for a very long time as simply the Mystic side.

The Sandy Bank burial ground right there next to the Maldon River welcomed its first long

term resident around 1648 and many followed after that. People were dying to get in, I guess

you could say. But if you try to picture the graveyard in your mind, don't arrange it

in neat and tidy rows like the cemeteries of our modern world. It's a little bit crooked,

a little bit ancient and a little bit creepy. And maybe that's to be expected for a graveyard

situated on the Mystic side. According to local legend, at least one of the burial grounds

occupants had trouble staying put. In the 1700s, there was apparently a man in town who

loved to experiment with chemicals in his home laboratory. Neighbors often complained of

a noxious steam that drifted out of his windows and more than a few passers-by choked

on the fumes. As neighbors are so very good at doing, they complained about the chemist.

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