Strange Tales of Davis Square

9 ECHOES

Location: Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

Brian Rust

Take this unique tour of Davis Square and learn of weird beasts and odd occurrences! You never know who--or WHAT--walked the spots you're standing in.

This is a special production by the Post-Meridian Radio Players, to help celebrate ArtBeat and all that is unique and wonderful about Somerville. For more information you can visit us at pmrp.org .

Strange Tale of Davis Square: Glover Circle

Not every neighborhood has its own superhero! Who--or WHAT--was The Glover?

1 sound

Strange Tale of Davis Square: The Bikeway Community Garden

Every garden is a little magical. This one, more than most.

Written and voice acted by Brian Rust

1 sound

Strange Tale of Davis Square: The Powderhouse Ghost

A message from beyond the grave. Listen, if you dare.

Performed by Jeremy Holstein Written by Heather Albano Sound design by Jeremy Holstein

1 sound

Strange Tale of Davis Square: The Kenney Park Critter

Performed by Cari Keebaugh, Heather Myers, Emmy Serviss and Brian Rust Written by Brian Rust

Bigfoot? Boring. Loch Ness? More like Lost Ness. When it comes to strange beasts, nothing beats The Kenney Park Critter.

1 sound

Strange Tale of Davis Square: Our Oldest Inhabitant Tells All

And now, a view of Davis Square from a very different perspective.

Performed by Joye Thaller Written by Brian Rust

1 sound

Strange Tale of Davis Square: The 8th Hill of Somerville

This park celebrates the Seven Hills of Somerville. But is there something they're not telling you?

Narrator: Heather Myers Artemus Boot: George Courage Written by Brian Rust

1 sound

Strange Tale of Davis Square: Day Street Through the Years

A look at how this quiet corner has changed over time. A LOT of time.

Performed by Joye Thaller Written by Brian Rust

1 sound

Strange Tale of Davis Square: The Droll

What happened here 350 years ago? And why were the Puritans so scared of it?

1 sound

Strange Tale of Davis Square: Downtown Wine and Beer

A tale of Prohibition and a sinister cellar...

Written and Performed by Jay Sekora and Mare Freed

1 sound

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Sound on Mystic

Sound on Mystic

Sound on Mystic is an outdoor audio installation combining music, spoken word, sound art and ambience into an immersive experience. It is located along a two-mile stretch of the Mystic River in Medford and Arlington, Massachusetts, and is accessed through ECHOES, a free mobile app that uses GPS data to cue different sounds at various sites. Once you download the app, just put on a pair of headphones, take a walk within the installation’s extensive boundaries, and you'll hear a diverse set of sound works that are all united by the river itself, and its complex legacy as a place of history and nature, community and conflict, labor and recreation. Access Instructions: Install the ECHOES app (the link is below, skip to step 3 if you've already found the walk in ECHOES) Search for "Sound on Mystic" inside the app Download the walk (this will function better than streaming the walk) Close out other apps on your phone that access your location and may interfere with ECHOES Go to the river and open the walk. You will see a map with areas highlighted in blue. As soon as you enter a highlighted area, sound will automatically begin to play. Depending on how fast you walk, some pieces will overlap with each other, or some pieces will play completely leaving a period of silence. Don't worry, that's all just part of the experience -- enjoy! Sound on Mystic is created by Ian Coss, Dwayne A Johnson, and Gary Roberts, with funding from the Medford Arts Council and Arlington Cultural Council, and support from the Mystic River Watershed Association. Contact us at soundonmystic@gmail.com.

Where's My Wallet

Where's My Wallet

Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex, Roxbury Crossing, Massachusetts 02120, United States

You realize you've lost your wallet at some point between last night and now. You were at a party last night, so you start your search at the host's, Claire's, apartment, on Columbus next to Ruggles Station.

¡Hola Hipopótamo!

¡Hola Hipopótamo!

Soundwalk based on sound ethnographies from the Magdalena River Basin in Colombia, by Carlos G. Román (LSU) and Alejandra Osejo (Rice University).

Ephemerospherical walk: Bats of the Public Garden

Ephemerospherical walk: Bats of the Public Garden

This roughly 1/3-mile sound walk should last around 15 minutes, but can be longer as desired, and listeners may pause at any point of the walk, as all sound events are looped (except the last one). Listeners will start at the Ether Monument, following a path from there east towards the pond and then south along its bank. Listeners are invited to take this path as slowly as they like. The action picks up a bit on the bridge over the lagoon, then walk east to finish the walk at the Bagheera Fountain. Bat walking is by necessity an active form of listening: When I’ve participated in bat walks, using my bat detector to make the animals’ calls audible, the other participants - often including young children - looked up in wonder whenever they heard a call, knowing a bat was about to flit by and would only be visible for a few moments. Bats don’t creep into, or come crashing into, your auditory attention. This sound walk is designed to suggest the feeling of a bat survey on foot. Normally a nighttime activity done with ultrasonic detectors, Bats of the Public Garden can be experienced any time of day. Rather than an attempting to be “realistic,” the soundscape is layered, shifted, and processed to communicate the urgency, mystery, and musical rhythm that arises from the joint improvisation of animal and human rhythms. At various points, the sounds of the bats will be combined with sounds from other ephemeral occupants of the garden - frogs, crepuscular birds, amphibians, and fish - along with voices of mythical, imagined, and other-than-nonhuman beings.

Hydrophonic Discoveries: Sonic Ecologies of Global Rivers

Hydrophonic Discoveries: Sonic Ecologies of Global Rivers

River Listening is an interdisciplinary project that invites participants to explore the hidden acoustic ecologies of waterways through an immersive, technologically mediated listening experience. Drawing from a decade of hydrophone recordings and scientific research, this soundwalk transforms the site into a dynamic sonic environment that reveals the rich life beneath the water’s surface. Hydrophonic Discoveries is an immersive soundwalk that reflects on the project’s last decade of work and unveils the hidden acoustic ecologies of river ecosystems through cutting-edge underwater sound recording technologies. This interdisciplinary project transforms scientific research into an artistic experience, inviting participants to explore the soundscapes of global river systems. Drawing from over 300 hours of hydrophone recordings collected from global river systems, the soundwalk bridges art, science, and environmental awareness. The artistic outcomes from River Listening are central to our public engagement efforts, which include soundwalks and live-streaming hydrophone arrays. These artistic projects have contributed to the advancement of scientific recording techniques and ecoacoustic methods. The River Listening project has presented over 35 soundwalk projects on the Echoes platform since 2014 and was an early adopter of this platform. Created by Dr Leah Barclay and Dr Toby Gifford for ICMC Boston 2025 www.riverlistening.com \#RiverListening

Huntington Ave and Newbury St walking

Huntington Ave and Newbury St walking

This soundwalk traces a path from resonance to routine. Church bells emerge first at a distance, blurred by space, then become increasingly present as the listener moves closer. The walk continues into MUJI and Lady M on Newbury Street, where curated indoor sounds replace reverberation with intimacy and control. Moving between these spaces, the piece explores how sound shapes our perception of distance, atmosphere, and daily movement through the city.

Awake and lift their heads in all their prismatic glories

Awake and lift their heads in all their prismatic glories

MATTHEW AZEVEDO, University of Massachusetts, Lowell USA INGA CHINILINA, Brown University, Providence USA "Awake and lift their heads in all their prismatic glories" merges the invisible worlds of electromagnetic fields and seismic vibration with the auditory environment of the Boston Public Garden and composed score to create an immersive sound experience structured by the listener’s unique path through the work, evoking the yearly blossoming and renewal of the garden. The contours and title of the piece have been drawn from Charles W. Stevens’ article "The Boston Public Garden," published in the 1901 edition of New England Magazine, which provides the reader with a tour of the garden and history of the transformation of the “waste land” left when fire destroyed a series of rope walks into “a public exhibition of horticultural beauty such as can be seen in perhaps no other city of the Union.” Additional Performers: John Popham, Cello T.J. Borden, Cello

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