I would like to think I know a little bit more about New England history having done all these travels but thatâs not to say I am not still routinely surprised or deeply disturbed. Nine Menâs Misery was on of those delightful WTF moments. It was something I had never heard of and neither had my travel companion until he spent one too many hours in Barnes and Noble and came home with yet another book on local oddities. It peeked his interest so we went.
So what is Nine Menâs Misery? And whatâs up with the super dramatic title? WELL⌠it is yet another little gem we donât teach our school children even though itâs historically significant (serving as the USâs oldest monument to veterans.) Legend says it marks the spot were nine men were skinned alive. So now that Iâve got your interest the story goes thusly:
In the beginning the colonists and local Wampanoag indigenous people got along as good as you could have expected from two completely separate cultures. The first settlers in the area actually got a lot of help surviving from the locals but tensions built over several generations when we just kept bringing over more white people. And taking more land. And trying to convert the âsavages.â You know, being the worldâs worst fucking neighbors. ANYWAY⌠Despite all this the colonists actually were on good standing with some of the indigenous peoples still (âpraying Indiansâ who had been converted) and really this was a year-long war in which those indigenous allies and the English were pitted against the larger population that had enough of our shit. A lot of shady and crazy things happened in this year (1675-76) to spurn legends, ghost stories, and an unending trauma to the area. Nine Menâs Misery is just but one.
The story starts when colonialist Captain Michael Pierce brought sixty of his men and thirty âpraying Indiansâ into the area in search of the tribe responsible for burning several Rhode Island towns to the ground as well as attacking Plymouth Massachusetts. They found the guilty party but were led straight into a trap. They were greatly outnumbered and almost everyone was slaughtered â fifty of Pierceâs men and all thirty of the âpraying Indians.â Only ten colonialists survived the battle and fled into the swampy woods. Eventually theyâd also be tracked down, cornered, ritualistically tortured, and finally killed, leaving only one survivor. It was a complete victory for the natives. The bodies of the nine colonist soldiers were eventually found skinned like deer and chopped up into many pieces â hence the name Nine Menâs Misery.
The monument marks a mass grave where the remains were buried. It was erected by monks who ran a local monastery in the early 1900âs. A plaque was additionally added in the 1927 and the bones of the fallen were eventually returned after being found within the old monastery in the 60âs where theyâd been apparently stored after an early archeological dig. WHOOPS. Guess these men canât get any peace, even in death.
With this all being said these blood soaked grounds are eerily peaceful, maybe because of the paths so tenderly created by the monastery (which is now a beautiful library.) Even so itâs supposed to be haunted with the sounds of screaming and the quick hoofbeats of horses echoing through the hollow. Even a small girl is supposed to be found here â although thereâs no real explanation as to why. She may have died at a mill that once stood near the site but there doesnât appear to be any specific legends around her. The nearby library also suffices as a unearthly home for one of the monks who died so many generations ago.
Now that the history is out of the way Iâll tell you where this monument is and what I thought of it. First you must find the town library, still called the Monastery, and drive around it. On a one way street towards the back of the property youâll find parking spots near a trail. The trails are obvious but unmarked. There are maps at the library if you ask politely. We however just stumbled blindly until we came to a path diverging off and onto hill that just didnât look right. Sure enough it led right to Nine Menâs Misery.
The spot where the monument sits is eerily quiet⌠but itâs also in these gorgeous lush woods and wetlands. So itâs hard to imagine something so horrible happening here. In fact had I not known about it I would have found this whole little nature walk to be quite a pleasant adventure.