A Bangor Filmmaker Visits Al Brady’s Grave At Mount Hope Cemetery
One of Bangor's most iconic events gets an in-depth look
Avery Joan Faust, is an actor, screenwriter and filmmaker from right here in Bangor, She takes her inspiration from horror movies, thriller movies, classical literature, and history. Her debut short film is called “The Book of Fear”
Faust recently paid a visit to the resting place of notorious gangster, Al Brady, at Mount Hope Cemetery, to ponder his iconic demise in the streets of Dowtown Bangor, in 1937.
Al Brady was an Indiana-born armed robber and murderer who became one of the FBI's "Public Enemies" in the 1930s. He and an accomplice were shot dead in an ambush by FBI agents in Downtown Bangor in 1937. The spectacular public gun-battle that led to the demise of "The Brady Gang" is an essential part of Maine history, and was even the subject of a re-enactment in 2007.
On October 12, 1937, FBI agents were waiting in ambush, at Dakin’s in Downtown Bangor. Brady and a companion drew their weapons in the street and were shot down in a now legendary encounter. Photographs of the shootout in the middle of Central Street became iconic local images, and for years were hung behind the counter at Dakin's
Al, Brady's body went unclaimed, so he was buried in an unmarked grave at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, the grave went unmarked until 2007.
Fictional gangster Al Bradley in Stephen King's novel It is a based on the Bangor shooting in 1937.
If you are fascinated by this infamous story, Avery does a fantastic job of digging deep to investigate.