𝓑𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓰𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭
As most small towns are, Blue Hill is the home of many secrets. Some minuscule in size, some much much larger, almost long forgotten, destined to die once the rest of Blue Hill’s oldest members eventually lost their sad and sorry battles to dementia, or cancer - or even just time. One of those, which could be found if looked for, or if stumbled upon by someone scouring a dusty shelf in the historical section of Blue Hill Community Library was known now -by few- as the Twelve Day Murders. A gruesome string of serial murders supposedly suspected to be committed by a singular unknown homicidal stain on the town’s otherwise pristine history. The details of these crimes are not for the faint of heart, so if you’re naturally repulsed by the grisly retelling of terrible crimes against both man and god, I’d advise you stop reading now. If by chance you don’t possess a weak stomach, and decided to continue on with our dive into a moment in the rich history of Blue Hills that is arguably as important as the old tavern the founding fathers built the skeleton of what is now this very town around I applaud you for your somewhat morbid curiosity. Before we get into the nitty gritty details of The Twelve Day Murders, some backstory is needed to fully comprehend the severity of the situation.
Let’s paint the scene, shall we? Sunday December second, 1951. A light snow blanketed the picturesque town of Blue Hills that morning, making it look more like a postcard you’d get from a family member on holiday rather than the chilling opening scene of a horror flick. It’s stark similarities to the latter would later throw it’s citizens into somewhat of widespread panic. Children could be seen forming fresh snow in the palms of their hands, preparing an attack on their friends or siblings of the icy white variety. Mr. Norton’s Candy Shoppe sales of hot chocolates were high, an expected occurrence considering the weather. Most teens were home before the streetlights went off, besides the few rebellious ones who could be found making out or drinking cheap beers inside of their parked cars on Lurry Lane.
Everything was as it should be, or so it seemed. Only it wasn’t. The events of the first of the twenty-four murders go as follows. Martha Mae Tanner left bible study at New Faith Church at two o’clock in the afternoon, after that she stopped at Macey’s Market to pick up a dozen eggs per her mother’s request. Her whereabouts during the remainder of her last hour alive after that are hazy to say the least. Several witnesses claim they seen her in multiple places following her trip to Macey’s, yet she was found dead and dismembered not even an hour after leaving the grocery store. At three fifteen, her body was found mangled.
Chuck Clamen walked down the stairs of his two story home to find a shocking and horrific scene displayed before him. An Eighteen year old Martha Mae was laying on the floor of his family room, or what remained of her at least. Her limbs were severed from her torso, and shredded at the ends. As if they’d been put through a meat grinder. Her hands and feet were also missing. Tell me, what would you do if you were Chuck Clamen? Perhaps scream? Call the police? Run out of your house terrified? Most would do one if not all of those things. Which makes these murders all the more confusing. Not only for the detectives who were charged with solving them, but for anyone who happened to read more into the case. As reports go, Chuck Clamen didn’t scream, nor did he run out of his house terrified, he didn’t even call the police. He took a seat on the love chair, and watched the body.
That’s what Susan Clamens found when she arrived home from her sister’s house a whole four hours later. The trance-like state in which Chuck was in would last almost twelve hours after he found the body. A fact that is chilling all on it’s own, but even more so when you discover that the second murder also happened to take place twelve hours later. The drastic similarities between all twenty-four of the murders are what set them apart from any other serial killings ever reported. All twenty four victims were found some time within three o’clock in the morning or three o’clock in the afternoon. All were found within random homes throughout the town. All were seen in various places in town in the minutes leading up to their murders. Everyone who discovered the bodies were stuck in that same trance as Chuck Clamen had been in.
Fear isn’t something that was bred into the close to perfect citizens of Blue Hill. Some may say that is why the murders were handled in such a bizarre way. Only Martha Mae’s murder was ever written about in the Blue Hill Post, not only that but, it was never once referred to as a murder in the three paragraph article. Instead It was called, and I quote “An Accident most tragic”. There’s not many explanations for the lack of accurate information or even just the lack of information altogether on the cases. Though even without proper documentation on the murders, whispers were heard. That’s the downside of small towns after all. People talk. People also wrote back in those simpler days.
You may remember how I mentioned the historical section of Blue Hill Community library early, and if your thoughts wandered back to that as you read what I’ve just written, I’d be impressed. Letters between mother and daughter, or friend and friend, or sister and sister is what you’d find if you were daring enough to go dust off the binders that line the shelves. Just a warning, before you go though. The words written on those pages will stay with you until as long as you walk amongst the living. The Twelve Day Murders wasn’t just the work of a mad man, or a psychopath, I’m sure even our most skeptical readers can spot the very unnerving and unexplained circumstances that surround this mystery. I believe that whole-heartedly, and if you’re still unmoved by my account of what transpired, I urge you to open those binders and read what was written all those years ago.
One more thing, before I finish. The events that followed the Twelve Day Murder’s are peculiar as well. Even as I write this, the names of all the murder victims haven’t been released in a public manner. Their graves all reside within New Faith Church, all simply marked; “In death you do rest.” Followed by the day and time they passed.