Murder at Harvard
60 minutes, 2003
(Dramatized Documentary)
Directed by Eric Stange ’71; Co-produced
by Eric Stange ’71 and Melissa Banta
Screening:
Sunday, 2:00 p.m.
A MURDER MOST FOUL... Edmund Pearson, the
historian of homicide, called it "America's most celebrated murder."
Edward Everett, a president of Harvard, said it was "the most painful
event in our domestic history." When Charles Dickens visited Boston one of his
first requests was to see "the room where Dr. Parkman was murdered."
Even by today's numbingly sensationalist standards, the grisly tale is disturbing.
It happened in November 1849 when Dr. George Parkman, a physician and scion of
one of Boston's richest families, was allegedly beaten to death and dismembered
by a Harvard professor of chemistry named John Webster. A week after Parkman's
disappearance, the janitor of the Harvard Medical School discovered body parts
dispersed about Webster's laboratory. Webster was put on trial in a spectacle
that drew tens of thousands of on-lookers, as well as journalists from as far
away as Europe. Webster was convicted and hanged. But his guilt is one of many
uncertain details, which have confounded those attempting to tell the story of
the Parkman case for the past 150 years. MURDER AT HARVARD, a one-hour TV
documentary and Web site, examines different accounts of this infamous crime as
an entertaining vehicle through which to analyze varieties of historical
presentation.
Filmmaker Bio:
Eric Stange '71, executive producer and founder of Spy Pond Productions, is an
award-winning independent documentary film producer, director and
writer who specializes in history and science subjects. His work has
been broadcast on PBS, The Discovery Channel, and the BBC. Before
becoming a filmmaker he wrote about art and culture for The New York
Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic Monthly and other publications.
Eric has been the recipient of a Harvard University Charles Warren
Fellowship in American History. He’s on the board of Common-Place, a
web site devoted to early American history, and writes a column about
media and history for American Heritage magazine.
