Killer in the Crypt

The Grim is opening the gate and entering Pine Grove Cemetery located in Truro, it might seem just another quiet New England burial ground—modest in size, overlooked by tourists, and far from the summer crowds drawn to nearby beaches. But appearances deceive. Since its establishment in 1799, this two-acre plot has become a repository for some of Massachusetts' darkest mysteries and most gruesome crimes.

We begin with the haunting tale of the Commerce, a fishing vessel that drifted into Truro harbor one September Sunday in 1844, perfectly intact but eerily empty. Captain Solomon Lombard and his nine crew members had vanished without explanation, only to wash ashore days later along a 30-mile stretch of coastline. These experienced sailors, strong swimmers all, somehow drowned on a calm sea within sight of land. Seven now rest in Pine Grove, their broken headstones still whispering "drowned in Cape Cod Bay" to those who know where to look. What happened to these men in their final moments? The sea has kept this secret for nearly two centuries.

More than a hundred years later, Pine Grove Cemetery became the backdrop for unimaginable horror when the woods behind its granite-posted fence became the hunting ground of Anton "Tony" Costa. Behind his clean-cut appearance and helpful demeanor lurked a monster who lured young women to their deaths. The 1969 discovery of four victims—Patricia Walsh, Marianne Wysocki, Sydney Monzon, and Susan Perry—buried behind the cemetery shocked the Cape Cod community to its core. Costa's connections to other disappearances and deaths across multiple states, combined with his interest in the occult, transformed Pine Grove from a place of peaceful rest to a site of nightmares.

Whether you're fascinated by maritime mysteries, true crime, or the paranormal phenomena reported within Pine Grove's boundaries, this episode unearths the secrets that lie just beneath the surface of this seemingly ordinary place. Listen now and discover why some say the woods beyond the headstones still feel heavy with unresolved tragedy—and why Pine Grove Cemetery continues to be a place where the past refuses to rest in peace.

Support The Grim by buying a cup of our next Grave Grind!
https://buymeacoffee.com/kristinlopes

Find All of The Grim's Social Links At:
https://linktr.ee/kristinlopes

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Grim.
Morning and welcome to theGrimm.
I'm your host, kristen.
On today's episode we'll beopening the gate and entering
Pine Grove Cemetery, located inTerrell, massachusetts.
So grab your favorite mug, cozyup and let's take a dig into
history.
This is the Grimm's 50thepisode and, whether you've been
here since the first hauntingor just crossed the gate, thank

(00:39):
you for joining me among theheadstones and histories buried
beneath them.
But today we're leaving thewell-trodden path behind.
We're stepping into Pine GroveCemetery, a quiet patch of Cape
Cod earth with stories farlouder than they seem.
And that, dear listeners, iswhy you're really here.
I have a soft spot forcemeteries like Pine Grove.

(01:00):
They're modest, overlooked,quiet places, tucked away from
tourist brochures and weekendhikers.
But don't let its size fool you.
These grounds are steeped inmurder, mystery and legend.
Locals might argue Pinegrove'sname carries more weight than I
give it credit for, but for most, I'd wager, you haven't heard
of it until now.

(01:21):
Located in Tororo, massachusetts, a town we've brushed past
before, on the Grimm, theseaside, cape Cod Sanctuary
might seem like the furthestthing from Grimm Sun-soaked
beaches, family vacations.
But dig a little deeper and theshadows are waiting.
Established in 1799, pine Grovebegan as a burial ground
besides Tororo's MethodistChurch, which has long since

(01:44):
vanished.
Today, it spans two acresenclosed by granite posts and
iron rails that feel moresymbolic than secure neither
keeping visitors out or anythingelse in Surrounded by forests,
in the distant home of the sea,a gravel path splits the
cemetery from east to west, areminder that you're no longer
on the beaten path.

(02:05):
Burials began here in 1799 andcontinue to this day, and while
the cemetery was only just addedto the National Register of
Historic Places in 2013, don'tbe deceived by its late
recognition.
This place is layered in time,from weathered Puritan slate to
polished modern granite.
The gravestones here form aneclectic gallery of funeral art,

(02:28):
each marker a quiet monument tolives lived, secrets kept and
stories waiting to be unearthed.
Truro is a town steeped inseafaring history, but, as any
coastal community knows, such alegacy comes with a price.
In 1841, a fierce gale claimedseven vessels and 57 men,

(02:49):
delivering a devastating blow tothe heart of the town.
Truro would recover, as coastaltowns do, but just a few years
later the sea came to collectagain.
The story of the commerce is astrange and sorrowful one
because, unlike other maritimetragedies, the ship did return
to the harbor, but her crew didnot.
There were no dramaticdisappearances over the horizon,

(03:11):
no vessels.
Swallowed whole by a storm, theComras drifted, sat silent,
abandoned and bearing no answers.
Of her ten crew members, eightwere born in Truro.
Seven now rest within thebounds of Pine Grove Cemetery.
What happened in those finalhours remains one of the Cape's
most enduring mysteries.
The ship came home.

(03:32):
Her men did not.
The commerce was no stranger tothe waters off of Truro.
Commanded by the well-regardedSolomon Hopkins Lombard, the
vessel had long been a part ofthe town's coastal lifeblood,
sharing both its prosperity andits perils.
But a year before its finalfateful voyage, the Comras found
itself entangled ininternational suspicion.

(03:54):
The ship was seized by HerMajesty's Revenue Cotter's
sisters at Port Hood, capeBreton, under suspicion of
violating a treaty between theUnited States and Great Britain.
The crew was detained for threetense weeks.
They remained in custody untilit was determined that the
commerce had entered the harborin distress, having lost both a

(04:16):
dory and a sail.
Only then did Halifaxauthorities release the vessel.
The ship returned home fromArachat, weathered but intact.
Then came that quiet Sunday inSeptember 1844, the kind of day
where the Atlantic takes on adeeper hue and the golden rod
along the cape glows like fire.

(04:36):
Captain Lobbard, 29 at the time, prepared his crew launching
the longboat to come ashore.
Eight of the ten crew membersaboard the commerce were sons of
Truro.
So when the ship was spottedfloating in the bay that Sunday,
townsfolk assumed the men hadreturned safely from sea.
But by Monday morning uneasecrept in.

(04:56):
None of the crew had appearedat Sunday service, a ritual they
rarely missed after a voyageConcert.
Friends and family rode out tomeet the vessel.
What they found was chilling.
The commerce was properlysecured, sails flared and gears
stowed, but the deck was empty.
No signs of struggle, no criesfor help.
The crew had vanished.

(05:18):
It was a ghost ship.
Over the next three weeks thesea gave up the dead, one by one
.
The bodies of all ten menwashed ashore along a 30-mile
stretch of coastline.
Each had drowned.
But here's what haunts the townto this day.
The waters on that day werecalm, serene even.
How could ten experiencedfishermen, strong swimmers even,

(05:41):
have drowned in a longboat soclose to shore?
The commerce's longboat waslater discovered on a beach in
Brewster, one of its planks tornloose.
Had it taken on water, capsizedor something else?
Something darker driven thecrew into panic and peril.
Newspapers across New Englandcarried the story under solemn
headlines.

(06:01):
Another melancholy loss of lifeof Toruro fishermen, the lost
crew, the lake disaster atToruro.
What really happened that quietSeptember day remains a mystery
.
What really happened that quietSeptember day remains a mystery
.
Only the sea and the men itclaimed will ever truly know.
Sadly, time has not been kind tothe many headstones.
In Pine Grove, the marker forCaptain Solomon H Lombard now

(06:23):
lies shattered.
His brother's stone, james HLombard, rests in fragments,
propped against the headstone ofReverend Benjamin Keith and his
wife, deliverance Atwood.
According to the old cemeterymap, this spot is known as the
parish lot, just off of CentralDrive.
Reverend Keith, a circuitminister from Vermont, played a
vital role in bringing Methodismto Truro, settling as pasture

(06:47):
in 1831.
Nine years later his daughter,amanda, married James H Lombard.
Their names now rest side byside in broken stone and if the
light hits James' headstone,just right, you can still make
out the words drowned.
In Cape Cod Bay.
Nearby, the headstones ofSolomon P Rich and his son
Charles, father and child losttogether, stand in quiet

(07:10):
testament to how the sea's reachextended beyond the shoreline,
cutting deep into families andleaving generations marked by
grief.
Years after the loss of commerce, pine Grove made headlines once
again.
But this time the tragedydidn't come from the sea.
It came from something far morehuman, something far more
horrifying.

(07:30):
Many cemeteries, unsettledvisitors, instilling that eerie
sense of being watched, ofstarring in the opening scene of
a horror film.
A chill in the air, a shadowthat lingers too long, mostly
with nothing more thangoosebumps.
But for four young women, pineGrove wasn't a setting for dread
.
It became the scene of theirfinal moments.

(07:51):
In the summer of 1969, patriciaWalsh and Marianne Wasaki, both
23, from Rhode Island, checkedinto a Providence Town rooming
house to escape their everydayroutines.
Their landlady introduced themto another boarder, 24-year-old
Anton or Tony Costa, clean-cut,well-mannered and eager to help.
He even carried their bagsinside.

(08:12):
And then suddenly, just as theyhad arrived, patricia and
Marianne vanished.
Their families raised alarm.
The first clue surfaced whentheir car was spotted near a
marijuana patch behind PineGrove Cemetery.
Strangely, before the policecould investigate, the car
disappeared.
But when officers begansearching the wooded area behind
the burial ground, they didn'tjust find evidence or clues,

(08:35):
they found bodies.
Patricia and Marianne werethere, buried beneath the soil.
But they weren't alone.
Four and Susan Perry, just 17,from Providence Town, who had
vanished only months afterSydney.
At the time, their families hadfeared the girls had simply run

(09:01):
off, swept up in thecounterculture of the era.
No one had expected to find thegirls buried behind the quiet
headstones of Pine Grove, but itwas their missing car that
ultimately cracked the case.
The vehicle resurfaced inBurlington, vermont, stored away
in a rental facility under afalse name.
The man who had paid for thestorage was Anton Tony Costa.
That connection gave the policeexactly what they needed.

(09:23):
He was arrested immediately.
Costa's arrest sent shockwavesacross Cape Cod.
In the days that followed,several local women stepped
forward with chillingrecollections.
Each had been invited, oftenalone, to Costa's marijuana
patch behind Pine Grove Cemetery.
Most declined and in doing sounknowingly stepped away from a

(09:44):
fate that had already claimedothers.
One of those women was thedaughter of famed author Kurt
Vonnegut Jr.
She too had been approached byCosta and narrowly escaped by
saying no.
Her father later drew a grimcomparison in his essay
collection, while Peters, famaand Granfalunes placing Costa
alongside Charles Manson in thepantheon of charismatic

(10:07):
predators who masked evil withcharm.
It was a brush with death.
She survived, but for othersthe invitation was a one-way
trip into the shadows.
What followed was an unravelingof a truly horrific story.
Listener, is a word of cautionIf you're squeamish or sensitive
to graphic content, you maywant to skip ahead.

(10:27):
The next few minutes delve intodetails that are unsettling and
not for the faint of heart.
The murders weren't just tragic, they were grotesque.
Victims were dismembered, theirremains scattered and buried in
pieces.
The crime scenes were sodisturbing.
Investigators initiallybelieved Costa had engaged in
cannibalism, though that theorywas later recanted.

(10:49):
As the investigation widened,more disturbing threads began to
unravel.
Tony Costa had driven toPennsylvania with two young
women who were never seen again.
A woman he once lived with inSan Francisco vanished without a
trace.
Another former girlfriend wasfound around in her bathtub.
Beneath the clean-cutappearance and polite demeanor,

(11:11):
costa had been something farmore darker a predator cloaked
in charm.
In 1969, evelyn Lawson wrote achilling reflection in the
Providence Town Register.
As the DAs, or districtattorneys, talked, I felt my
skin prickle in dread anddisgust.
The place where the bodies hadbeen found near an old cemetery

(11:32):
not far back from a dirtcrossroad, the typical
traditional site for the witch'ssabbath.
It wasn't just the brutality ofthe murders that disturbed the
community.
It was the setting the bodiesburied near Pine Grove.
The isolation of folklore.
Rumors spread quickly.
Costa had shown interest in theoccult.
After his arrest, books onritual magic and dirt practices

(11:56):
were found among his possessionsat Walpole State Prison.
Whether this was a trueobsession or twisted curiosity,
it added a sinister layer to analready horrifying legacy, and
with that, whispers of satanicactivity in the woods behind
Pine Grove began to grow.
Whether born from fact or fear,these stories still linger like

(12:16):
smoke, refusing to fade.
Costa was ultimately suspectedof murdering eight women, but he
was only convicted of killingPatricia Walsh and Marianne
Wysocki.
Two women were rumored to havebeen found eventually, decades
later, but facts are vague abouttheir reappearances, if they
did indeed happen.
He received a life sentence forhis trial, fitting for the

(12:39):
horrors he had committed in theCape.
In 1974, at just 30 years old,tony Costa took his own life
inside his cell at Walpole StatePrison, hunting the terror he
had caused so many families.
The legend of the murders madethe receiving crypt within Pine
Grove infamous.
As it's told, costa used thebuilding to dismember the bodies

(13:01):
of the girls, so he wasundisturbed.
Whether this was true or not,the legend gives visitors pause
at the crypt and wondering if itwas the scene of the girls'
last moments.
In 2007, the New EnglandSociety of Paranormal
Investigators conducted researchat Pine Grove Cemetery, armed
with a K2 meter.
They reported responses toseveral questions, captured not

(13:24):
in whispers but through thedisembodied replies of
electronic voice phenomenon, orEVP.
Their equipment didn't behavenormally either.
A sudden or unexplained powerdrain affected both their camera
, batteries and microphone,coinciding with a sharp drop in
temperature and what theydescribed as a cold spot
drifting silently through thearea.

(13:46):
It was as if something unseenhad passed through, brief,
chilling and impossible toignore, leaving many to say.
The grounds of Pine Grove areindeed haunted, possibly by the
girls whose lives endedtragically so long ago.
Pine Grove may appear to bequiet, just another small
cemetery tucked along the cape,but beneath its windswept grass

(14:09):
and leaning stones lies a legacyof sorrow, shipwreck, sickness
and souls taken far too soon.
From the mystery of thecommerce to the horrors of Tony
Costa, this ground has knowntragedy in many forms.
The woods beyond leave alasting impression, void of
sound, heavy and stillness.

(14:29):
There's something unsettlingabout the roughed, makeshift
roads and the crossroads justpast the headstones, where the
real horrors once unfolded.
And whether it's the weight ofhistory or something far older
that refuses to rest.
Something lingers in Pine GroveCemetery.
The grave grind for Pine GroveCemetery was an iced mocha from

(14:53):
snowy owl coffee roasters.
For more honorary grinds in thearea, please visit the-grimcom.
For now we're closing the gateon Pine Grove Cemetery.
We hope you enjoyed our diginto history.
If you did subscribe today tojoin us next time when we open
the gate on the Grimm.