Lore Alive 4: Peg & Button

Welcome to Lore Alive, a special Halloween bonus series that brings dark tales from history to life with immersive sound design and voice actors. For today's spooky tale, we meet a group of mischievous young men who pick on the wrong woman before heading off to war in the far north. Their decision, it turns out, became something that haunted them forevermore. Lore Alive was created by Aaron Mahnke, with writing and direction by Nicolas Tecosky, audio production and sound design by Brandon Grugle. This week's episode starred Nicholas Tecosky as Jack, J. Garrett Mitchell as Tom, and Amanda Cucher as Peg. ——————————————————————————— Series Sponsor: Warby Parker: Right now, buy one pair and get additional pairs for 20%. Go to WarbyParker.com/LORE https://www.warbyparker.com/lore to try on any pair virtually! ——————————————————————————— Lore Resources: Get Ad-Free Lore: lorepodcast.com/support https://www.lorepodcast.com/support Official Lore Merchandise: lorepodcast.com/shop https://www.lorepodcast.com/shop ©2026 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Aaron Mahnke?

  Every Friday this October, we're bringing one story from history to life with immersive sound design and talented actors to create an atmosphere that fits the tale. It's the style that you know from other shows I've made, like Thirteen Days of Halloween, just apply to true tales from history's darkest corners. This is Lore Alive. From the very beginning, lore always had a New England slant. Maybe it's due to the fact that I call the Boston area a home, or that Salem, that place of the infamous tragic witchcraft panic, is right around the corner. But I tend to believe that it's bigger than one place or story, because New England is

• 0:41Aaron Mahnke?

  filled with all manner of strange and unusual tales. And the story of Peg is one of my favorites. By the way, this entire Halloween bonus series was made possible by the generous support of Warby Parker, my absolute favorite maker of prescription glasses. I've been a loyal customer of theirs for over a decade, and it means so much to have their support. More on that after the show. For today's spooky tale, we meet a group of mischievous young men who pick on the wrong woman before heading off to help wage war against the French in the far north. But if the legend is true, their decision to torment an old woman led to an event that haunted them forevermore.

• 1:23Aaron Mahnke?

  And we've gathered it all up, all the drama and pain and terror of their ordeal, and put it into an audio format that will leave you with chills. So if you're ready, let's begin.

• 1:41Speaker 01

  There were five of us then, when the war began. Tom Ayers, Jim Parsons, me and the Stanwood boys, Davy and Job. We'd come up together as schoolboys, shooting rabbits in the forest and climbing down to the ocean on hot days to cool ourselves. Fires and bugs and mumblety peg. The map of childhood. We were more than friends. We were co-conspirators, confidants, brothers. We swore it would always be so. We sliced our hands and made blood oaths over it. It had been Tom's idea to mingle our blood.

• 2:23Speaker 01

  If our small group had anything approaching a leader, it'd be Tom. We all worshipped him. He was slightly older and was less stronger and braver than any of the rest of us. Tall, handsome and charming, even as a young boy. He was able to move with more impunity than other, perhaps, less likable lads. Which was good, as he was also something of a wild man, the first to pick a fight or jump from the barn roof. I myself was always the more bookish of the lot. I preferred observation to action, and frequently found myself at odds with Tom, if only because I seemed at times to be the only voice of reason.

• 3:08Speaker 01

  I like to believe that my rational intervention saved more than a few bones from breaking before a dead tree was climbed over or a well were jumped into. But, again, Tom was extraordinarily charismatic, and even I was not immune to his charms. In the end, we had to admit that any one of us would follow him into hell. And that is what we eventually did. We were young men when the war with the French colonists broke out. They were at first vastly outnumbered by us, but clever alliances with the native population

• 3:53Speaker 01

  had lent them something of an edge. There was a campaign to volunteer for the war efforts, and Tom was, of course, among the first of us to sign up. The Stanwoods fell in right behind him. Jim was slightly more dubious of the prospect. He was a farmer's son and knew that his father would struggle without him. But in the end, duty to country and merciless needling from Tom won him over to the cause. I would not go so far as to call myself a coward, but neither have I relished the thought of violence. I was of a more tender constitution.

• 4:38Speaker 01

  I do not feel ashamed today of not slavering over the thought of killing, though I suppose back then, with all of my friends signing up to fight and Tom beating the drum in my ear, there was more than enough pressure to allow me to look beyond my own better nature. And so I myself volunteered. It was the night before we were to join forty other men under Captain Biles in a march north. Though we were to move out at dawn, we decided that we would make good use of our last night of freedom. And so we marched first down to the plow pub to fortify our souls with ale.

• 5:22Speaker 01

  No matter how I wished the course of our evening had gone otherwise, those last moments at the heavy oak table by the pub's roaring hearth are still precious to me. Jim's jokes, always twice as clever as the boys gave him credit for, the knowing looks between Davy and Job even, no, especially, especially Tom's drunken oaths shouted loudly over the din. Raise your glass. Here's to cheating, stealing, fighting and drinking. If you cheat, may you cheat death. If you steal, may you steal a woman's heart.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  And if you fight, may you fight for a brother. Tomorrow, we march, boys. And I cannot imagine a better party of men to go with into battle. Now, if you drink, drink with me! After the last drop had been drunk, we stormed back out into the chilly night, still burning with the strong ale and flush of anticipation for the next day's march. And as young men, drunk and excited as we were, it was decided that we necessarily go in search of trouble.

• 6:50Speaker 01

  And so we wandered about town, laughing and shouting and making buffoons of ourselves. Alas, Gloucester by night does not offer much in the way of trouble. But Tom found some, sure enough, when we came upon the house of the widow Peg Wesson. Peg was old, older than any in the village and very, very small. Between that and her foul temper with other townspeople, she had grown something of a reputation for being a witch. As children, we'd all generally stayed clear, but not Tom. Follow my lead, lads.

• 7:33Speaker 01

  What are you going to do? Truly, I do not know. And so we marched up to Peg's door and began pounding on it. Old Peg! Old mumblety fumblety Peg! The time is nigh! She whipped the heavy door open with the sort of speed and strength you'd expect from a much younger woman. Even Tom had to step back in surprise, though he recovered himself quickly enough.

• 8:11Speaker 02

  What is it, Tom Ayers?

• 8:13Speaker 01

  Hello, madam. We are here from the Massachusetts Society of Witchcraft. We are here to inspect your premises.

• 8:21Speaker 02

  What are you on about, you nattering fool?

• 8:24Speaker 01

  Peg's insult did little to stop Tom's foolery. If it had any effect, it only redoubled his commitment. He barged past Peg into the darkened house and set to rifling. Come on in, men. It's imperative that we find and inspect Mrs. Wesson's potions, familiars and broom.

• 8:45Speaker 02

  Get out of my house!

• 8:47Speaker 01

  Now, now, Peg, old Peg, you and I both know that an improperly weighted broom could be the death of you. By this point, the others had crowded her house and taken part in the sacking of Peg's home, all but I, who stood outside the door and waited for it to end. It didn't take long. Peg suddenly shouted. It was a bellow, and incredibly loud, enough to freeze the boys in action.

• 9:17Speaker 02

  Thomas Ayers! I have watched from afar as you have stomped about this village as if you owned its very deed. You dare to cross my threshold unbidden? Then to you I give this curse. I see now the time and place of your death, Tom Ayers. And yours too, lads. You will die in battle, three months hence, at the gates of the fort.

• 9:55Speaker 02

  You shall enter Nova Scotia on your feet and return in a box. Now flee, fools!

• 10:06Speaker 01

  The twins and Jim were out the door before the echoes of her voice dissipated. But Tom, Tom walked up to her slowly. He towered over the old woman, who stood her ground glaring up at him, eyes filled with a wrathful fire. I believe that Tom had more that he wished to say, but thought better of it. Instead, he grunted and walked out the door and past us, continuing down the road. The boys followed. I remained a moment longer, standing stock still feet from her door.

• 10:45Speaker 01

  She turned her gaze on me, patiently waiting for me to speak. Mrs. Wesson, I, I apologize for Tom and the others. I, I did not know their intent. She considered me for a moment.

• 11:08Speaker 02

  You're of a different sort, young man. Be careful who you follow.

• 11:17Speaker 01

  And that was that. It would be the last time that any of us met Peg Wesson.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  In the morning, we marched, and for a number of weeks, that is all that we did. We marched, and set up camp, and tore down camp, and marched. By the second month, we'd lost what was left of our baby weight, roping muscles and sinew taking its place. The skirmishes were few and far between at first, though we did also have to contend with the occasional late-night raid from local tribes. Our numbers thinned as well. An illness swept through our camp in the second month, taking one of every four men. The Gloucester boys, however, remained alive and hearty.

• 12:12Speaker 01

  We had all quite forgotten Peg's curse.

• 12:17Speaker 01

  Until one morning in camp, the captain informed us that we had reached Nova Scotia, and that scouts had been sent to reconnoitre the trail leading toward the landing at Fort Lewisburg, as we would be joining a siege already in progress.

• 12:36Speaker 01

  We all met eyes, the curse suddenly fresh in our minds. Tom, however, would not make eye contact, instead staring very intently at the captain as he spoke. But it was written on his titan's jaw. He remembered Peg's words as well as any of us.

• 12:58Speaker 01

  We struck camp very early in the morning to join the siege. The march was grueling. In each of our minds, Peg's voice repeated itself. We heard the sound of cannons first. The British Navy had been doing its part in blockading the French from sending reinforcements, and had been battering the fort for days. The French were dwindling, their supply line running dry. But there is no more dangerous animal than a beast which has been cornered, and they still picked off enough of us to keep the rest of us pinned down.

• 13:37Speaker 01

  The boys and I had found a place behind a berm at the edge of the forest. It was just enough to cover the five of us, and we hunkered down, waiting for the charge to be called.

• 13:51Speaker 01

  We were dead men walking, and we knew it.

• 13:55Speaker 01

  Peg had given us the time and place of our death, and we'd reached it as scheduled. I could feel fate tapping at my sternum, causing my pulse to race. We were so involved in our thoughts that we didn't notice the crow until it loudly cawed from a low branch mere feet away.

• 14:17Speaker 01

  It watched us intently, studying each man in turn. And then, without further ado, dove toward us with frightening speed. It was a massive bird, and struck first at Tom, who attempted to bat it off, but not before its talons had left a nasty gash above his brow. Blood poured from it and down his face as he swung his rifle at it. It managed to evade him, but he caught Job Stanwood on the cheek below his eye. Unlike Tom, he tried to scatter, kicking his legs outward from the berm and into sight of the French on the wall of the fort in front of us.

• 15:01Speaker 01

  The French took their opportunity to put a bullet in his thigh before he could regain full cover. His brother got to work immediately, staunching the flow of blood with a quick tourniquet. The bleeding was stopped, but poor Joe passed out there on the ground. The crow was not done with us. It swung down, clawing at our faces and hands. Once, twice, three times did we try to fire upon it, but our position on the ground made it near impossible to shoot accurately. In a brief pause in the corvine attack, Tom turned to me.

• 15:40Speaker 03

  It's her!

• 15:41Speaker 01

  What? Who?

• 15:43Speaker 03

  The crow. It's Peg Wesson, I swear it. I could hear her voice in my head, cackling.

• 15:49Speaker 01

  I studied his face. He was half-mad with terror.

• 15:53Speaker 03

  I hit her, I swear it. A shot, right in the chest, but she kept coming. She cannot be killed. I know it's you, witch!

• 16:03Speaker 01

  But before Tom could speak another word, the crow swung down into his face, its beak stabbing painfully into Tom's right eye, which burst, sending horrible pink fluid down his cheek. Without thinking, Tom recoiled, swatting madly at his face. He fell backward, fully exposing himself, and... He was hit thrice, twice in his heart and once through his right hand. He died before his head hit the ground. But the crow was not yet done with us. It began attacking the others with renewed ferocity. Was this indeed Peg's familiar?

• 16:45Speaker 01

  It had withstood at least one bullet and more than a few blows. It did seem to have a supernatural strength. My mind worked furiously, normally rational thoughts overtaken by panic and superstition. If this thing was Peg's familiar, she must have given it some sort of magical protection, right? That would explain its seeming invulnerability. So what could fight magic? I searched my mind for anything, the teachings of my grandmother, whose deep religious convictions led to an obsession with the supernatural and how to fight it.

• 17:23Speaker 01

  Across, I hadn't won on my person. And then I remembered something, that had somehow lodged itself in the back of my mind, from campfire stories and childhood of vampires and witches. Silver.

• 17:42Speaker 01

  It was silver that could kill them.

• 17:46Speaker 01

  My hand had been clutched to my chest, and there, between two fingers, was the button of my uniform. I giggled with a mad glee, recognizing my luck, silver buttons. I pulled at it, and with some effort, tore it from its place. And while the others screamed and swatted, I carefully packed my musket with powder and dropped the small button into the barrel. I waited until the crow flew upward, hastily aimed, and fired.

• 18:20Speaker 01

  A palpable hit in its thigh. Feathers and blood sprayed out from it as the bird flew into the branches of the trees and out of sight.

• 18:35Speaker 01

  The British took Fort Lewisburg, the only thing stopping the massive army from taking Quebec. We took New France the following year.

• 18:47Speaker 01

  It was a marvelous success for Britain, but it came at a steep cost.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  Tom was buried where he'd fallen.

• 18:58Speaker 01

  Jim and I and the one capable Stanwood made sure of it. We fashioned a crude cross where he lay.

• 19:07Speaker 01

  Job survived his own battle with the crow long enough for his leg to be amputated, though the wound would eventually fester and kill him as well.

• 19:18Speaker 01

  Depleted in numbers, we joined on with a company heading further into French territories. We fought for two more years. And then, the war ended, and we did what all soldiers do when the job is done. We returned home to force ourselves into lives that no longer felt real. Davy took over the farm from his father. Jim, chastened by battle, joined the clergy and headed south.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  I ended up a schoolteacher.

• 19:55Speaker 01

  I believed myself fit for it. My war record was impressive enough to command the attention of the local boys. Life has been quiet ever since, though one thing has haunted me all of these years.

• 20:12Speaker 01

  It happened on our first night home from war. There'd been a celebration for Gloucesters returning heroes, which had begun at the church and ended, as often happens, at the pub.

• 20:26Speaker 01

  There, we regaled our neighbors with stories of the war. The close calls, the bravery in battle. Jim was in the midst of the tale of a bear hunt conducted under the duress of starvation in our first winter, when one of the young men in attendance asked, "What became of Tom?"

• 20:50Speaker 01

  And so I told the tale. The siege, the horror of the musket fire, the ringing of the cannons, and then the crow. I had long since decided that it was foolish to believe in magic, that the corvid had merely been agitated by the chaos of battle. But still, I joked about believing it to be of supernatural origin. I described the decision to load my musket with the silver button.

• 21:21Speaker 01

  It was with that detail that the pub grew suddenly silent. It was then that I first heard the other side of my story.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  You see, the very day that we had arrived at Fort Lewisburg, the day that Job was first injured and Tom shot down in battle,

• 21:45Speaker 01

  Peg Wesson had been found on the side of the road by her front door.

• 21:51Speaker 01

  She had collapsed, and it seemed as though her leg had broken in the fall. It wasn't until she was on the doctor's table later that he was able to fully examine her to determine the cause of death. He carefully lifted her skirts to look at the leg.

• 22:10Speaker 01

  There, halfway up her bloodied thigh, was what looked like a gunshot wound.

• 22:18Speaker 01

  The doctor probed it until he found what he believed to be a bullet, until rinsing it off.

• 22:28Speaker 01

  It was a silver button.

• 22:31Speaker 01

  The type that was sewn onto the coat of any soldier going off to war.

• 22:40Aaron Mahnke?

  Lore Alive was made possible by Warby Parker. Before Warby Parker, I had to do that thing that we all hate: standing in front of a wall of frames and finding the needle in the haystack. Just trying to buy a pair of glasses shouldn't require a spreadsheet, should it? And that's why I'm obsessed with Warby Parker. Nothing else comes close on quality, price selection, and customer service. Once you buy from Warby Parker, you'll realize how much easier they've made the entire process. Their virtual try-on has made it possible for me to skip those eye doctor showrooms entirely, since I can literally try on glasses from my phone before I buy them. I've tried other virtual try-ons that feel pretty janky, but with Warby Parker, you can genuinely tell how the frames are going to look and fit.

• 23:24Aaron Mahnke?

  Warby Parker glasses start at $95 and include prescription lenses with anti-reflective, scratch-resistant coatings. They use premium materials in each frame, design every frame in-house, and have a collection of silhouettes, colors, and fits for every face. I've mentioned this before, but I wear progressive lenses, which are more complicated to get just right. But Warby Parker nailed it, and these glasses are absolutely amazing. They look and fit so great. Right now, buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at warbyparker.com/lor. That's 20% off any additional pairs when you purchase one pair at W A R B Y Parker dot com slash lore.

• 24:06Aaron Mahnke?

  An audio project like this is obviously a team effort, and there are a lot of humans to give credit to. For starters, Lore Alive was created by me, Aaron Manke, and it was written and directed by Nicholas Takowski of 13 Days of Halloween and Haviktown fame. This week's episode starred Nicholas Takowski as Jack, Jay Garrett Mitchell as Tom, and Amanda Kuchar as Peg. This episode was recorded by Blake Long, with post-production and sound design by the amazingly talented Brandon Gruggel from Atypical Artists. Our show was produced by Nicholas Takowski and myself, Aaron Manke, with special thanks to Lauren Chippin from Atypical Artists. And if you've enjoyed this Halloween bonus episode,

• 24:47Aaron Mahnke?

  I promise, no tricks, that you'll get one final treat next Friday. And until then, stay spooky.