CAN ALSO CHECK OUT SOME CLASSIC CARS.
TED: EVER WONDER WHY ANYONE WOULD BUILD A STONEWALL IN THE
MIDDLE OF THE WOODS?
WELL, THEY DID NOT THESE OLD WALLS WERE DEVELOPED
TO WIN MOST OF THIS WAS FARMLAND, AND THAT IS WHY IT IS
NOT UNUSUAL TO HAPPEN UPON SHEET-METAL DEEP IN OUR FORESTS.
BUT OUT IN NORTHBOROUGH, THERE IS ONE PATCH OF WOODS THAT LOOKS
MORE LIKE AN OLD PARKING LOT.
HIKERS ALONG THE OLD FARM TRAIL IN NORTHBOROUGH MIGHT WONDER IF
THEY HAVE STUMBLED UPON AN AUTOMOBILE’S ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD.
IT MAK THESE STRETCH OF WOODS AND JURASSC PARKING LOT.
IT IS UNEXPECTED.
[LAUGHTER] TED: IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS, WE
FIND AL WHO GREW UP NEARBY.
AL: ALL OF THE KIDS WERE DRIVING WAY BEFORE THEY WERE 16, BEFORE
THEY GOT A LICENSE BECAUSE THERE IS PLENTY OF FARMLAND TO DRIVE
AROUND.
TED: NOW 85 YEARS OLD, AL RECALLS TEARING IT UP IN THE
BACKFIELD AS A TEENAGER.
AL: I DO NOT KNOW HOW MANY BEAUTIFUL CARS I DESTROYED.
WE RACED AROUN AND BETWEEN THE TREES AND WE INVENTED OUR OWN
DEMOLITION DERBIES.
WHEN THE CARS WOULD FINALLY QUIT RUNNING ALTOGETHER, WE WOULD
DRIVE THEM WITH THE TRACTOR, TIPPED THEM OVER, SET THEM ON
FIRE, CUT THEM UP FOR SCRAP, AND TOOK IT TO WORCESTER TO THE
JUNKYARD.
TED: 70 YEARS LATER, THE FOREST HAS CLOSED IN ON THESE RELICS.
WITNES THE SNUG PARKING SPACE.
AL: THEY DON’T BUILD THEM LIKE THAT ANYMORE.
TE THEY WERE NOTORIOUS FOR FAULTY TRANSMISSIONS AND HE
TELLS US THAT THIS CAR WHICH BELONGED TO HIS BROTHER HAD NO
REVERSE GEAR.
AL IT CAME TO A POINT THAT HE JUST SAID TO HECK WITH IT AND
LEFT IT HERE.
TE STIRRUP BROOK FARM WAS SOLD MANY YEARS AGO AND THERE’S A
PART OF THE REGIONAL 30 MILES BURROUGHS LOOP TRAIL.
A POPULAR DESTINATION.
AL: THEY MAY NOT TO BE HAPPY ABOUT ITS BEING HERE, BUT IT IS
A MUSEUM.
IT IS INTERESTING.
TED: MEANWHILE, BACK IN STURBRIDGE, FINDING THE
PANDORA’S B GEOCACHE WAS NOT DIFFICULT.
WE JUST PLUGGED GP COORDINATES INTO OUR PHONE, AND THE HUNT WAS
ON.
BUT SOLVING THE PUZZLES TO GET THE THING OPEN IS A WHOLE OTHER
MATTER.
A MAGNET OPENS A HIDDEN LATCH.
MESSAGES SCRAMBLED ON STICKS OF WOOD AND COLORED DICE, AND OUR
GUIDE, ERIK, SAYS MOST GEOCACHES ARE SIMPLER AFFAIRS.
HIDDEN CONTAINERS WITH A LOGBOOK TO SIG THE SEARCH, ITS OWN
REWARD, THE PERFECT PANDEMIC PASTIME.
ERIK: MORE PEOPLE WANT TO SOCIALLY DISTANCE, WHICH IS
GEOCACHE IS GREAT FOR.
YOU COULD NOT SEE A SOUL.
TE WHILE WE CONTINUE TO PUZZLE OUT PANDORA’S BOX, ANOTHER
MYSTERY AWAITS IN THE WOODS OF CENTRAL MASS.
JEFF HAS ASKED US TO MEET HIM OUT ON LONELY ROAD IN
LEICESTER.
>> WE HAVE A LOT OF WEIRD STUFF IN THE WOODS AND THIS IS
PROBABLY THE EPICENTER OF THE WHOLE STATE WHEN IT COMES TO SO
MANY WEIRD THINGS AND ONE TINY LITTLE PLACE.
TED: WHEN IT COMES TO WEIRD, HE WROTE THE BOOK, LITERALLY.
AUTHR OF "WEIRD MASSACHUSETTS," HE ALSO HOSTS OF
THE NEW ENGLAND LEGENDS PODCAST AND ONE OF HIS TOP SPOTS IS A
VERITABLE VORTEX OF WEIRD.
TE EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT SPIDER GATES.
IF YOU ARE INTO WEIRD STORIES, YOU HAVE HEARD ABOUT SPIDER
GATES.
TED: SPIDE GATES.
AN OLD QUAKER CEMETER SET DEEP IN THE WOODS.
THE EXPANSION OF THE NEARBY WORCESTER AIRPORT IN T 1950’S
MEANT THAT EVERYTHING HAD TO GO, EXCEPT THE OLD BONEYARD.
KIDS IN THE 1970’S AND 1980’S ARE HAVING PARTIES OUT HERE AND
ALL OF THESE LEGENDS START TO GET BIGGER AND BIGGER.
TE THERE ARE NINE "GATES OF HELL" ONE HAS TO PASS TO FIND
ONE WAY IN.
THE HANGING TREE, SITE OF AN ALLEGED SUICIDE, AND BLACK ROBED
FIGURES CONDUCTING CEREMONIES IN THE DARK OF NIGHT.
>> THIS IS WHERE THE GROUP COMES AND HAS THE RITUALS, WHERE THEY
ARE PAYING HOMAGE.
TED: A SECRETIVE GROUP OF UNDERGRADS CALLED THE SKULL FROM
WORCEST POLYTECH, GOES TO HONOR THEIR FOUNDER,
ADMIRALL RALPH EARL.
WE HAVE GHOSTS AND ALLEGED CU ACTIVITY, AND EVERYTHING
YOU POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
SHAYNA: I AM FREAKED OUT.
TH BITE -- DESPITE THE SPOOKY LORE, SPIDER GATES IS IN FACT A
WELL-KEPT CEMETERY THAT IS OWNED AND CARED FOR BY A LOCAL QUAKER
GROUP IN WORCESTER.
THE GROUNDS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC BUT VISITORS ARE ASKED TO
PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL OF THE SURROUNDINGS.