Town file
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield, Massachusetts (Berkshire County, Massachusetts) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 413, "Judging The Devil By His Horns" (10 August 2023). Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a town of about 43,900 people in Berkshire County, in the north-western corner of the state, roughly two and a half hours from Boston.
- Town
- Pittsfield
- County
- Berkshire County
- State
- Massachusetts
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 413
- Approximate location
- 42.452, -73.261
Episode 413 / 10 August 2023 / 176 min / full
Judging The Devil By His Horns
"Pittsfield here it's in western Massachusetts, north western Massachusetts... So this is in Berkshire County, area code 413." about 0:06:15
The case: Murders of David er, Edward Frampton and Robert Chadwell (August 27th to 28th, 2011); Beating of Kevin Ryser (1997); Assault of a 16-year-old girl in Maine (1999). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2023
- Population
- 43,890
- Median age
- 44 and a half
- Median household income
- $43,489
- Median home value
- $263,800
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,480
- Cost of living
- 88
- Religious
- about 50-50
- Property crime
- ▲ slightly above average
- Violent crime
- ▲ a little bit high
History, in brief
- The city motto is 'Benigno Lumine', which James says is Latin for benign power. about 0:06:19
- The city website calls Pittsfield 'the heart of the Berkshires'. about 0:06:39
- On September 3rd, 1902, at 10.15 a.m., a congressman campaigning with President Theodore Roosevelt collided head-on with a trolley while travelling from downtown Pittsfield to the Pittsfield Country Club. about 0:07:02
- Roosevelt's bodyguard William Craig was killed, the first Secret Service agent killed while on a presidential protection detail. about 0:08:45
- The trolley driver, Euclid Madden, was charged with manslaughter, pleaded guilty and served six months in jail. about 0:08:52
- A historian found a 1791 law prohibiting anyone from playing baseball within eighty yards of the new meeting house in Pittsfield, which James calls the earliest reference to baseball in the United States. about 0:10:16
- Elizabeth Banks is from Pittsfield. about 0:11:01
- Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks is from Pittsfield. about 0:11:09
- Brian Piccolo, the Chicago Bear of Brian's Song, is from Pittsfield. about 0:11:30
- Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick while he was living in Pittsfield. about 0:11:43
- Robin Williams had a summer house in Pittsfield. about 0:11:57
The reviews read out
4 stars
"Your typical town has everything your childhood town should, with schools all the way to high school and good out-of-district transport."about 0:12:31
4 stars
"Low crime incidents, I feel safe."about 0:13:16
3 stars
"Pittsfield is a weird place, like the weird aunt no one wants to bring to Thanksgiving but who is still part of the Berkshire family."about 0:13:37
2 stars
"The police department is having to buff itself up after a recent rise in shootings, and there is too much crime for the number of officers, including a gunman who entered the local hospital."about 0:14:03
2 stars
"All that is left are retail jobs for someone who will have a degree for an essentially academic job, such as anthropology."about 0:15:49
1 star
"Don't listen to fake statistics; the crime per capita is well above the state average and it is not a good place to raise a family, it is a good place to leave."about 0:16:30
1 star
"Some nice bars, but the people who tend to go to those bars are not so nice."about 0:17:12
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- North Adams, Massachusetts17 miles
- Hillsdale, New York20 miles
- Northampton, Massachusetts31 miles
- Delmar, New York32 miles
- Greenfield, Massachusetts36 miles
- Barkhamsted, Connecticut39 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.