Josie Langmaid Mystery Cache
Hidden : 7/7/2008
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:



The tragedy
On Monday morning, October 4, 1875, popular and attractive Josie Langmaid was on her way to Pembroke Academy. A month shy of her eighteenth birthday and a fine student, Josie lived a mile and a half from the school but had less than a quarter of a mile left to walk when she was ambushed on the most secluded portion of what is now Academy Road.


What happened next was nothing short of atrocity. Josie was dragged into the woods, violated, mutilated, clubbed, and decapitated alive. The killer then fled with two pieces of her jewelry and her severed head.

When she didn't return home from school a search was formed and Josie’s body was discovered 150 feet off the road by her father and brother at 8:30 pm. The next morning the search resumed and the murder weapon was found: a red oak club, modified to provide a better grip, broken in three pieces from the severity of the blows. Her head was also finally discovered under some small trees...over a quarter mile away.

The aftermath
The murder outraged the community in and around Pembroke. Selectmen, local police, and Boston detectives worked tirelessly to find the murderer, but it took the public, and the similarity to an unsolved murder in Vermont the year before, to end the manhunt.

On October 13, Joseph LaPage, a French wood-chopper, was arrested for the crime. He eventually confessed to both murders and was later hung. Sadly, facts indicate LaPage's real target was Josie’s best friend, who had received a carriage ride to school that morning leaving Josie to walk alone. A horrifying example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The case became the subject of a small book, published in 1878 and now difficult to find, entitled The Murdered Maiden Student: A Tribute to the Memory of Miss Josie A. Langmaid.

The cache
This terrible story has affected me over the years and I wanted to pay my respects in some small way by showing you a place where the town has done the same. The posted coordinates will bring you to the area where Josie Langmaid met her end. Near the spot stands a fifteen foot tall granite monument, “Erected by the citizens of Pembroke and vicinity to commemorate the place of the tragic death and memory of Josie A. Langmaid.”

The cache is not at the monument, but within 10 feet of a second stone marker slightly less than a hundred feet away; the east side of the monument will direct you to the location of the marker.

And please treat the area with respect, treading lightly around the ferns. Take a moment to reflect on Josie Langmaid, a promising life which ended far too suddenly.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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