Legend has it that the quiet, picturesque village of Dryden, N.Y., inspired Frank Capra’s vision of Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life. But contrary to that image, Dryden became the setting for a strange string of tragedies and murders between 1989 and 1999 that left residents wondering why death stalked their beloved town. To them it was a tragic coincidence, but outsiders gossiped about a curse, labeling Dryden as a real-life “Village of the Damned.” Residents have maintained a code of silence… until now.

Nearly two decades after Dryden’s dark years ended, America’s leading true-crime network, Investigation Discovery (ID), brings the mystery to life in a serialized format that features the town itself as the central character, as well as a Greek chorus of residents that lived through this tragic time. Each episode pries open one chapter from that era, starting with the cold-blooded execution of an entire family, followed by the murder of a beloved football coach, the untimely deaths of two beloved cheerleaders, and the tragic ripple effects that touched all corners of the community.