Slightly Odd Fitchburg

  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the world is full of assholes. I know, it's a tough pill to swallow, but here we are. You get assholes who just can't stand it when someone else does something they don't understand and you get assholes that can't bear someone being happy and keeping to themselves. Luckily, there are occasional heroes who stand up for the God given right to exist without having to answer to these drooling buffoons. One of those heroes was Joseph Palmer, who hailed from an olde timey village just outside of Leominster. He had the courage to live life the way he wanted and he never made a single excuse for it. This was a man who knew the glory of a luxurious full face beard and suffered in its name. That's right; our hero Joseph Palmer was... Gasp! The History Joseph's story began in 1798 when he was born in Massachusetts. He grew up and turned into a farmer living is Notown, MA. Although it's now just a bunch of sweet loo...

This is something that happened last year. I was really looking forward to going again this year, but what are you gonna do? Viruses be virusin', yo. It's called the Forge-In Blacksmith Art & Renaissance Festival and it's been going on for over a decade and a half in Fitchburg. It's cancelled for COVID reasons, so I figured I'd finally get around to sharing it and remembering the good, old days of late September 2019. Look, no masks! It's your typical looking festival from the outside. You get your barricades, your crowd of people, and your smell of burning coal in the air. It's when you get inside that you see what sets this festival apart: Nerds. Seriously, there's every kind of nerd here. There are horse nerds: Neigh-ERDS! Blacksmith nerds: The guy on the left is either ripping a bong looking at a knife. I honestly don't remember. Jousting nerds: "That's Lady Nerd of The Seven ...

Nestled deep within Fitchburg, and far away from the consciousness of anyone outside Worcester County, you'll find Dean Hill Cemetery. It's a decently sized open field with far fewer headstones than you're used to seeing in a graveyard. It was established in 1791 as a resting place for the soldiers of the Revolutionary War and their families. Colloquially known  as "The Rev," it's also home to more than its fair share of ghost stories. Join us, if you will, on our search for the... Ghosts of "The Rev!" JUMP SCARE! There's really no way to overstate just how out of the way this place is. To give you an idea, here's the road leading up to it: If you squint, you can find the serial killer. It's on Ashburnham Road and was once close to the Dean Hill Tavern, which was built around 1777. The tavern is no more, but the cemetery still stands and gets all sorts of visitors, however unwelcome they may be. The cemetery i...

Okay, so this is a story told to me by my neighbor. I have no way to prove any of it, but he has no reason to lie about it. Wasn't going to post it, but I got this last night. Credit: Rick Harris If it IS a lie, it's a damn good one and deserves a read. It turns out that his home was broken into a number of years ago. That's never fun, but this was definitely a fun loving criminal. As opposed to a Smooth Criminal Credit: CelebrtiyABC He didn't mention any stolen money or expensive property going missing, although you could say that this guy stole his spirit(s)! *Hold for applause* Credit: Kristarella Rather than ransack the place, this guy just sat his criminal ass down in the kitchen and helped himself to the entire liquor cabinet. To be clear, my neighbor was fast asleep upstairs while someone was getting drunk in his house. He also took some time to explore and left every single door open like he was raised in some sort of felonious b...