A sheriff noticed a late model car parked at a turnout in Tolland, Massachusetts, on Saturday, August 10, 1963. On Monday, the sheriff saw that the car had not moved, so he took the vehicle's registration and notified town officials. Selectman George Wolford checked the car at dusk. In the glove compartment, he found two suicide notes. Massachusetts State Police, Tolland residents, and members of the Tunxis Club searched the area. Joseph Clark of Burnt Hill Road found the body of a man in the woods about 50 feet from Route 57 near New Boston Road. Papers on the man identified him as 30-year-old Robert C. Ford of 157 Marshall Street, Torrington, Connecticut. He shot himself with a .45, believed to be a Colt. Robert's family, more than likely his wife, the former Dorothy Evelyn Webb, reported him missing on August 9. Robert was a salesman for Prudential Life Insurance Company. He was also a musician performing as part of The Four Specs. Robert served in the United States Navy be...

Calvin Fuller and Edward Cooley arrived at Jesse Hall Jr.'s house in Tolland, Massachusetts, around 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, July 2, 1837.  Jesse was sitting inside his house reading from a bible; a bottle of rum sat on the table next to him. He invited his visitors to partake in the drink. Drinking alcohol was frowned upon in certain circles, especially on the Lord's Day. About an hour of drinking had passed, and not wanting to be known for keeping an ill house, Jesse would later claim that he asked both men to leave, which Edward did. Before Calvin could go, the pair, at least according to Jesse, started conversing about Jesse's second wife, Lucy, whose whereabouts were unknown.  The topic of Lucy appeared to have started (again, according to Jesse) after Calvin mentioned that he was heading to Granville in the morning. Jesse requested that Calvin stop at Noah Cooley's store to inform the clerk that Lucy had deserted him and that he would not be paying any debts she may t...

When elderly Henry Jordan of Otis, Massachusetts, went to the Gilmore home in nearby Tolland on Friday, September 29, 1916, to see about retrieving a borrowed gun, he found the bodies of the Widow Gilmore, her son Edward, and her daughter Anna, in a small bedroom on the first floor, along with three empty shells from a double-barrel shotgun. Mr. Martin had lent the gun to Edward, but his frequent knocks at the Gilmore door for its return went unanswered, so he enlisted the help of Mr. Jordan, who had known the Gilmores for quite some time. Authorities believed that the twenty-seven-year-old Edward went temporarily insane and shot and killed his mother and sister on Thursday, September 28, before taking his own life. Edward shot his mother, the Widow Gilmore, in the head and shot his sister Anna through her left eye. Because authorities found Edward's mother and sister undressed and in bed, they concluded they were asleep when he came home.  Clad only in trousers, Edward, on the flo...

 Twenty-seven-year-old James Van Wert of Winsted, Connecticut, was arrested in Southwick, Massachusetts, at about 11:00 pm, Friday, February 3, 1860. Authorities reportedly found him in bed with a woman believed to be his wife's younger sister. If, in fact, true, adultery was the least of his worries. Earlier that Friday, Van Wert and his female companion had breakfast at Day's, a hotel in Otis, Massachusetts, before riding in a one-horse sleigh to nearby West Becket, where they had a second breakfast at Kendall Baird's Tavern. Van Wert paid for their breakfast at each place using a $3 bill, for which he received $2.50 back in change.  As the couple was leaving Baird's, they were recognized by hotel proprietor Mr. Day, who happened to be in town. Finding it rather odd that they had had breakfast a second time, he compared the $3 bill his establishment received to that of Baird's. Meanwhile, the pair arrived at Chester Factories Village, where they stopped ...