About this episode
The story of the Purrington murders is so horrific it sounds like something out of a movie. James Purrington seemed to have plans of killing himself after suffering from what was likely undiagnosed mental illness. When one of his children brought this to the attention of their mother and his wife, he said he had no intention of killing himself at all, just typical worries about his family after a long grueling summer and a bad drought. His wife seemed to be settled for the time being, but soon almost the entire family would be found axed to death in their home, and James Purrington would be discovered lying dead on the kitchen floor. Sources to check out: A Midwife's Tale by Laura Thatcher Ulrich Return to Smuttynose Island and other Maine Axe Murders by Emeric Spooner As always, thank you to our sponsors: Liquid IV: Get 25% off when you go to LIQUIDIV.COM and use code MORBID at checkout. Noom: Start building better habits today. Sign up for your trial at Noom.com/MORBID Best Fiends: Download Best Fiends FREE today on the App Store or Google Play. Simplisafe: Take 20% off your SimpliSafe System AND your first month is free when you sign up for the interactive monitoring service. Visit SIMPLISAFE.com/morbid Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022) Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023) Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.