Worcester County Wonders: The werewolf who summered in Southborough

SOUTHBOROUGH ― As the leaves change from green to orange, jack-o'-lanterns are placed with care on the doorsteps and horror movies creep their way onto our streaming services.

From vampires to ghosts, witches to werewolves, this time of year is all about monsters. In Massachusetts, many head to Salem for the haunted-holiday season, but did you know Southborough is home to Hollywood's original werewolf?

Buried in the Southborough Rural Cemetery lies actor Warner Oland, the first to ever wear the infamous werewolf prosthetics and widow's peak hairstyle, and to deliver a bite to an unsuspecting victim on the silver screen.

In 1935, the public saw the first ever feature-length werewolf movie, forever changing the notion of a full moon. " Werewolf of London ," not to be confused with the 1981 film "An American Werewolf in London," tells the story of a botanist who goes in search of a mysterious flower in Tibet.

While on his journey, the botanist, played by Henry Hull, is bitten by a creature, later to be revealed as a werewolf, played by Oland. Once back in London, the botanist slowly transforms into a monster and wreaks havoc on those closest to him.

"It's definitely an underrated film," said Freddie Poe, horror film connoisseur and former writer for Movie Collectors World Magazine. "When people think of a werewolf, a lot of people think of Lon Chaney's version, but 'Werewolf of London ' was first."

Oland's werewolf was created with the help of Jack Pierce , who would later utilize the same design and costume for Lon Chaney Jr.'s version in "The Wolf Man " (1941). Pierce also created the makeup behind Frankenstein's monster in "Frankenstein" (1931), and worked on films like " Dracula" and "The Mummy ."

"You only see him (Oland) for a few moments as he pops his head up from behind a rock; I don't even think you see his entire face. But I was way more scared of 'Werewolf of London' than I was of movies like 'The Wolfman' when I was a kid," he said.

Despite bringing a new monster to the silver screen, the film was considered a flop, but it inspired several now-iconic titles including "An American Werewolf in London" (1981), "An American Werewolf in Paris " (1997) and the 1987 video game "Werewolves of London ."

Before Oland howled at the moon, he and his wife, Edith Gardener Shearn, bought a large farmhouse on Gilmore Road in Southborough in 1921 as a summer home. The home was already considered "historic" at that time, built more than 100 years earlier in 1815 by Charles Ripley Burnett Jr., a descendent of the earliest settlers of the area.

Burnett had a son shortly after the home was completed named Joseph Burnett, who went on to found St. Mark's School of Southborough and had a heavy hand in vanilla extract production in the United States.

Tina Hyland currently owns the home. She and her family moved in nearly 50 years ago.

"Over the years we've had so many visitors to the house," she said, adding people come not just for the history surrounding Oland, but also Burnett. "One time, my husband and I were sitting on the deck when two people showed up. They turned out to be Oland's cousins. They drove all the way here from New Jersey and we gave them a tour of the house. They ended up giving us all his movies on VHS."

One of the most memorable visits came from a Swedish documentary film crew, who were making a piece about Oland, filming both at the house and at Oland's grave just a couple miles away.

When Hyland and her family first moved into the house in 1977, they were given a letter from the previous owners, detailing Oland's time at the property.

"He wasn't pretentious. He drove a white Cadillac and was friendly to the neighbors," she said. "He also planted an apple orchard and a pine grove. He really loved nature. This was their summer home, so it was really a great place for him to unwind."

After his role as a werewolf, Oland's career took off. He often played characters of Asian descent and was cast as detective Charlie Chan in a series of extremely successful movies. Oland would play the role of Chan in 16 films before his death in his native Sweden in 1938. His ashes were sent back across the Atlantic to his remaining family in Southborough.

Walking through the cemetery, right between the family plots of Pinehurst, Sharp and Newton is a large misshapen stone marking Oland's final resting place.

"It's a giant stone," Hyland said. "It came right from the front steps of the house!"

While the stone has no mention of his career, he'll forever be known as the werewolf who once summered in Southborough.

T&G engagement editor Sarah Barnacle is getting to know Central Mass. by exploring some of the best places to go and things to do in Worcester County. If you have an idea or suggestion, please email sbarnacle@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester County Wonders: The werewolf who summered in Southborough