A Ghostly Cry for Justice in Dixmont
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Hey, so welcome to downtown Dixmont, Maine, Ray. Where? I mean, all I see is a few houses, an antique store, and a barn. Yeah, no, Dixmont is a small town. Okay. But right here at the intersection of Route 202 and Moosehead Trail Highway is pretty much all you're going to get for a downtown. Yeah, there's not much here. And the closest city is Bangor, about 20 miles to the northeast. This is the kind of small town where people hear when something big happens. I can imagine not much slips by the locals here. So true. So true.

So when something as big as a murder occurs in a town this small, you can bet folks will talk about it for years to come. But then you add in a ghost crying out for justice, and you've got a haunt Dixmont will never forget.

Hello, I'm Jeff Belanger. Welcome to episode 375 of the New England Legends podcast. And I'm Ray Ogier. Thank you for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England one story at a time. We couldn't do it without you, so please reach out to us anytime through our website. And our website's also the place where you'll find a link to buy my holiday book, The Fright Before Christmas, Surviving Krampus and Other Yuletide Monsters, and our website,

plus dates to see my live holiday show of the same name, dates to see Ray's band, the Pub Kings. And speaking of Ray, you have a big announcement this week. I do. This week I launched a new kind of radio station called Radio. Radio. We decided that's how you're going to say it. Right, Radio with a Y. Localradio.com. It's a community-oriented station.

online radio station. It sounds just like a radio station you'd find on the dial, but you find it online. You can listen anywhere, listen through your phone, listen online. And if you're looking for something fresh to listen to, you got to check out radio. It's your local soundtrack to great music and even better vibes. We're all about upbeat tunes, local happenings, and keeping you entertained 24-7. And it is 24-7. Listen anytime, whether you're at work, on the go, just hanging out,

Radio has something for you. Click, listen, smile. It's that easy. Tune in today right after you're done with our episode. Local radio, that's ray, R-A-Y-D-I-O dot com, and let radio bring a little something, a little extra joy to your day. We'll have a link to listen to radio in our episode description. All right, so like we said, Dixmont, Maine is a small town. It is, and nothing like a murder is going to slip by unnoticed here. All right, here's a little more background on Dixmont.

This central Maine town is located in Penobscot County. The earliest settlement here was 1799, back when this was still part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Sure. They originally called the place College Town because Boyden College was first granted the land. The college then sold off parcels. One of the largest purchasers of the land was Dr. Elijah Dix of Boston. When the town incorporated in 1807, they named it after him, Dix and Mott, because the town sits on a hilltop.

Dixmont. Got it. And you could say the town was born under a bad sign because in the year they incorporated, a strange fever broke out in the community and killed many of those early settlers. But Dixmont survived and grew, likely because it's located on the stagecoach route between Bangor and Augusta. Since Dixmont is the top of the hill, the town became a natural place to rest the horses for the night. Today, the population is just over 1,200 people.

So yeah, everyone knows when something like a murder and a haunting graces their town. So we're going to head back to 1854 and see what happened. It's a late afternoon, June day in 1854 here in Dixmont, Maine. It's a quiet day, almost too quiet. Folks are tending to their farms and homes and going about their business. And we're standing at the farm of George Smith. A traveling peddler's just rolled up to the farm. The peddler's asking the farmer for lodging for the evening.

The farmer nods. And the two go inside the smithere home. The peddler looks a little nervous. Yeah, I see that. And he seems to be holding his satchel pretty close to his body. Upstairs, the farmer shows the traveling peddler to his room. Oh, no. The farmer just clubbed the peddler over the head. This is terrible. I mean, there's blood spilling out all over the floor. Oh, look. It's dripping through the floorboards. The smithere is going through the peddler's satchel. There's quite a bit of money in there.

Now he's dragging the peddler's lifeless body back toward the stairs. That was the most cold-blooded murder I've ever witnessed. The poor peddler didn't know it, but Smithers has a reputation for being greedy, money-driven, but no neighbor could have guessed he was capable of murder. Now from here, we're going to jump ahead just over 50 years.

It's now June of 1905. George Smithers died a long time ago. His home and farm were sold and resold. And though there were rumors that he might have killed a man, and that maybe there were some witnesses, no one could ever prove anything. Dead men don't tell tales. But sometimes, haunted houses do. And it seems like everyone in town has heard of this home's haunted reputation.

Word has spread enough that a reporter from the Bangor Daily News has come to investigate the house. Now I just heard from one of the neighbors that he's been in the house late at night, sitting by the bedside of a sick family member. He said he's heard all kinds of unnatural things he can't explain. He doesn't like being in there, and he warned us to chase another story. Now I really want to go inside and experience this. It's just after dark when the reporter approaches the door of the house. Let's follow him inside.

All right, I'll admit, I'm a little creeped out right now. Something just feels off here. No, I get it. I guess we should just get comfortable and see what we experience. I'll take a seat in the couch over there. All right, I'll grab this chair. We've been sitting here for a while, but I don't... Oh, what was that? I hear it too. It sounds like something dripping. But it's not raining outside. Could there be a plumbing leak? I'm not sure. It seems a little louder over here.

Yeah, you're right. And we're currently right below the guest bedroom upstairs. Okay, I just gotta chill. Well, the sound is gone. Is someone else here with us? I don't think so. It's just you, me, and the reporter in this room, but I hear someone on the stairs. I'm looking up the stairs. There's no one there. You're kidding. I'm not. Okay, you heard that, right? It sounds like someone being dragged down the stairs. But there's no one there.

I'm completely freaked out now. Yeah, something's really off in here for sure. But look, there's one more place I want to check out. All right, where? Down there. The basement? Are you kidding me? Okay, look, I've heard a story about the basement. We have to look.

Bring the candle over here. What are you looking for? You see this brick wall? Yeah, it's part of the foundation, right? That's the thing. It's too far out from the wall. I mean, the house continues sort of past it. Hey, you're right. This seems to have been added on after the original house was built. So I've heard this is a vault and that the old farmer took the body of that murdered peddler and he could be found right on the other side of those bricks. I think we should get out of here. I've seen and heard enough.

Locals will tell you that there were at least two witnesses to the murder of the peddler 50 years ago. They say that one of the witnesses was found mysteriously drowned in a pond over a thousand miles away from this house. He was found dead just a few weeks after the murder occurred. The other was a man in a neighboring town who heard someone calling him from outside of his house in the early morning hours.

So he walked outside and was shot dead right by his front door. The killer was never caught. Which leaves us with this very haunted and mysterious house. And that brings us back to today.

So everything we know about this story was pulled from a June 5th, 1905 Bangor Daily News article. Though the exact location of the house in Dixmont wasn't identified in the article, there is a photo of the home that you can see on our website. I don't know what it is about small towns that make these stories all the more frightening. Maybe it's because we think we know our neighbors. You know, we trust them. And to find out something like a brutal murder took place...

makes us question everything, including our very way of life. Like, how could that happen here? Now, we know all too well it can happen anywhere, including right here in Dixmont. So I love the idea that a ghost or spirit calls out for justice. Or maybe it's like a movie that plays over and over again, even though years have passed. There's an old expression, if these walls could talk, sometimes they do.

That they do. And that brings us to After the Legend, where we take a deeper dive into this week's story and sometimes veer off course. After the Legend is brought to you by our Patreon patrons. If you enjoy our show each week, please thank a patron because they're the backbone of everything we do. They financially support us. They help us with our hosting costs, marketing, website travel, everything else it takes to bring you two shows each week. All we're asking for is three bucks per month.

think of it as a holiday gift for your old pals, Jeff and Ray. And for that, you'll get early ad-free access to new episodes, plus bonus episodes and content that no one else gets to hear. To sign up, head over to patreon.com slash newenglandlegends. And to see some pictures of that haunted house in Dixmont, click on the link in our episode description or go to our website and click on episode 375. I also feel like we should say one other thing. We should mention that the original farmer's name, the guy who committed the murders...

It was never mentioned in the article, so we pretty much made up a name for the sake of the story. I don't want anyone looking and saying, oh, it wasn't that guy or whatever. Yeah, and we don't want to throw anybody under the bus, too, so we didn't even look into it. That part alone was a made-up name. That's the only piece that was not...

in the article. - A good old fashioned ghost story though. We haven't done those in a while. - I know, always a hit, always a classic. And the trope of unfinished business, right? Crying out for justice, walled up. I mean, telltale heart, it's all there. - Right, right, right. - So there's the picture and you can see it on our website.

It is a very grainy photo. There's not much. So if you were born and raised in Dixmont, I don't even know if the house is still standing. But if you were born and raised there, maybe, maybe you might recognize it. If you do...

Let us know. Yeah. Or knock on the door and be like, hey, is that your house? Pretty sure it is. 1,200 people in Dixmont. You think any of them are listening? There's a chance. Yeah. You never know. You know, because also— You think they have a Facebook group with 1,200 people that I can join? Right. Well, I'll say this. You know, it's amazing sometimes the comments we get on some of our episodes from two years ago. Mm-hmm.

Because they're on our website. They're out there. They've got words like Dixmont, Maine. And someone might be like, oh, is there any haunted houses in Dixmont? And then they Google that and then they find our podcast and they go, oh. And they listen to it and they say, oh my goodness, I didn't know about this.

There's been a few stories where I know I've reached out to like local historical societies for help or whatever. And it's been fun to, I'm like, Hey, do you know anything about this? Like I've never heard of it. And then I'll send them an old newspaper article or something. And they'll be like, this is blowing my mind right now. Like I, I,

I thought I knew everything about this town and you just sent us a little nugget. Or they know they just don't want to promote it. They don't want it out there. Could be. They ignore it. Hey, whatever. You know, that's your choice. And also, too, even if I knew the address of this house, we wouldn't have said it.

But we don't. I mean, but if we did, I don't want to mess up anyone's private residence. We're pretty good about that, right? Totally. Yeah. We're not directing you right there. Go find it yourself. If it's public information, if it's a public building, you can go visit or whatever. We always put the address. Right. We've got the pins on the maps. Yeah. But for something like this, if it's a residential house. Right. And plus, we truly don't know if it's still standing. Right. It could be long gone. 1905 was the article. But the ghosts remain. The ghosts remain. Right.

You think they're annoyed by that? Like, you just knocked the house... You knocked my house down. I was living here. What is up with that? Now I got to deal with the weather and I can't leave the property. Yeah.

Yeah, no, it's something. And also, too, the article, it was very spookily written. It was written like, you know, horror. Oh, it's like a Halloween ghost story type thing. But it was in June. Okay. So I'm always, I'm very conscious when I look at like old articles. I'm like, is it October 30th? Right. You know, and are they trying to be, play it up the Halloween thing? They could be embellishing at that point. But June, I mean, there's more fact in that, I would think. June's a news story.

Right. Like June means, hey, everybody, so Bangor, 20 miles away, which in 1905 is a pretty good distance. Right. Right? I mean, that's a day trip. Hours of travel. Yeah. Right? Because you're not doing the highway. You know? I mean, you're taking a horse or something. Right. And so maybe...

Maybe a car, but... That'd be like heading up to Bangor from here. Yeah. You know, you gotta say it's a whole day thing. It's a whole day thing. So enough that a reporter at the big Metro newspaper heard about this and said, I'm gonna go check it out. And then talked to a bunch of locals who all knew about it and said, I'm gonna cover this story.

That's always interesting to me. Yeah. Right? Because I know how the media works. Right. Forget ghosts, anything. They're like, hey, this small town, people are talking about this thing. Yeah. And it's enough that everybody's talking about it. And now I heard about it. Right. We got to go look. Yeah. And no more. Yeah. And that's what they did. So yeah, the murder, no record of it, no record of the death of the peddler or anything, but...

you know, there were times where people could disappear. We talk about that all the time. A lot, yeah. Which includes... There's no cameras anywhere back then. Which includes victims. Right. Like, we usually talk about it like, hey, if you wanted to just take a new name and start a new life in another state, you could sort of do that. Just grow a mustache. Yeah. And that's it. We forget about the really dark flip side of that. If you wanted to off somebody who maybe didn't know anyone in the area... Yeah. ...

No one would mention it. Traveling salesman. Why would you be a traveling salesman back then? You can't trust anybody. Think of the dangers. And it's all very plausible. I've had a good run. I got a lot of money on me right now. I haven't been home. I haven't been able to squirrel it away or hide it or whatever.

And now I'm seeking lodging, which is what you did. That was not unusual to knock on a stranger's door and say, can I stay the night? Danger all around. Yeah. You know. You got to have something to protect yourself. You could be an ax murderer. What are the chances there's two of us? You know? Yeah.

Uh, so yeah, danger all around. You're inviting a stranger into your home and who might be up to no good. Right. It's tricky stuff. Yeah. Nowadays you risk a satellite taking a picture of you doing something. Absolutely. Uh, which on the one hand, I mean, all right, so maybe we're, I'm sure we're safer today than, than we ever have been in the past.

I think so. Well, just that fact alone that there's cameras everywhere, there's listening devices. Yeah. You know, the Alexas that we have in our home are listening all the time. I look over to see a she. I hate saying that. And then she, what, what can I do for you? They're always listening. Yeah. And your smart TVs, from what I understand, are listening. Your phone knows where you are. Your phone is listening. Like, yeah. If you did something bad, you're like, oh, let's just track your phone. Oh, look. Yeah.

Crime scene. Yeah. You were there an hour ago. That's right. Oops. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot that goes into planning a murder these days. Oh, it's exhausting. I stopped doing it. I stopped doing it. Exactly. Not even worth it anymore. Forget it. It's just too much trouble. Yeah. So, yeah. No, you're right. You'll always get caught. And with all the cop procedure shows on, you know, you think you can get away with it, but if you watch closely with the cops, you can learn a thing or two about catching a killer. Chewing gum, spit it out. Ugh.

You're caught. That's right. Someone got caught doing exactly that. Yeah. Someone played for the Patriots. That's right. That's right. Just saying. That little thing. Yeah. It's like when I left, I cleaned the house so well in high school when I threw a party, but I left a cup of vodka on the back of my parents' toilet. Just a little cup sitting right there. The whole house is clean. Any trace of the party gone. And then I hear, Ray! Ray!

Oh, what's this? Yeah. Yeah. Or a bottle cap under the couch. NCIS Osher house. It didn't run a lot of seasons, but it was good. Yeah. It was compelling. Just those two stories right there. He's dusting the prints. He's like, these aren't even your prints. You weren't alone. Right. Starts to piece it all together. Yeah. Oh, that house of cards falls. Yeah, that's it. And you know, the, the, the ghost of that party I hear still rings through the Osher home.

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