Ten miles off the mainland and just a square mile in area, outlined by the highest ocean cliffs on the Maine coastline and crashing white waves of the Atlantic, you’ll find the quaint little village of Monhegan Island.
Monhegan feels indescribable at times — a beauty you just have to see to fully grasp. It’s no wonder that the island has become a haven for painters; perhaps the beauty is better described with colors on canvas than words alone.
And so artists bring their easels and paint brushes, tourists bring their cameras, adventurers lace up their hiking boots to explore the untouched forest paths leading to unobstructed ocean sightlines atop towering seaside cliffs. The cliffs that leave your legs tingling should you stand too close to the sharp edge.
It’s among those cliffs this story unfolds. Was it a truly tragic accident? Was it a choice? Or could it have possibly been murder? This is the story of Sally Maynard Moran.
Episode Source Material
- Woman vanishes at summer home of Rockwell Kent, The Gazette, 12 July 1953
- Search is futile; divorcee missing on isle off Maine, Cincinnati Enquirer, 13 Jul 1953
- Body found in ocean, Hartford Courant, 31 Jul 1953
- Fishing dragger finds body of woman at sea, Bangor Daily News, 31 Jul 1953
- Body recovered at sea identified as socialite, Bangor Daily News, 01 Aug 1953
- Suspect murder Maine Death of Mrs. Moran, Boston Globe, 04 Oct 1953
- Divorcee feared slain in Maine; 2 men sought, Boston Globe, 05 Oct 1953, page 2
- Two sought in death of Kent cottage guest, Philadelphia Inquirer, 05 Oct 1953
- Mrs. Moran believed victim of hired killer by James McGlincy, Daily News, 05 Oct 1953
- Was it Murder on Solitary Monhegan Island? by Jerome Sullivan, Boston Globe, 13 Oct 1953
- No foul play seen in socialite death, Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 Nov 1953, page 2
- Bill Nemitz: Monhegan cold case heats up 60 years later, Portland Press Herald, 01 Dec 2013
- Exhibit connects shared passions of two painters by Kathleen Brady Shea, 17 Jun 2013
- Monhegan Murder Mystery: What Did Rockwell Kent Know? by New England Historical Society
- Maine’s Monhegan Island, a haven and inspiration for artists by Diane Bair and Pamela Wright, Boston Globe, 19 Aug 2012
- Winter, Monhegan Island, The Met
- Rockwell Kent’s life & legacy on Monhegan Island, Mountain Lake PBS YouTube Channel
- EXECUTIVE SESSIONS OF THE SENATE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, VOLUME 2, 1953