Lafayette Ax Murder and Fire Curse
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Dates Active: November 1, 1886 to Present
Category: Curses, Strange Crimes
Cause: Curses, Murder
Status: Possibly Ongoing
Entry ID: 010924A-00019
Summery:
A small town is cursed to suffer massive fires when an ax murderer is hanged. Several fives have happened through the town's history, but is another major fire imminent?
In Depth:
On November 1, 1886, long-time criminal Richard Marple, along with his wife and mother, conspire to rob a local business man D. I. Corker. Richard's mother, Anna, befriends and drugs Corker in hopes that he would be too out of it to catch them in the act. However, before the drug could take full affect, Richard (or in some versions of the story his mother) decides to kill Corker with an ax.
Richard is caught, tried, convicted of the crime, and sentenced to be hanged while his accomplices get off free due to a lack of evidence. During the hanging, which occurred on November 11, 1887, a distraught Anna Marple supposedly curses the town of Lafayette to burn down three times, with the final fire to be the worst.
From 1892 onward, Lafayette suffered a number of fires, but never seemed to have a fire so big it destroyed the town. So is the city really cursed? Did the fires already happen? Or is there still one more giant fire looming in the future of the city?
External Links (Last Checked January 29, 2024):
- Offbeat Oregon History: Brutal 1886 Lafayette ax murder couldn't have been much more sordid - Finn J. D. John
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Last Updated: March 23, 2024
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