For Years, Salem Man Picked Through Updike's Trash in Beverly Farms

A Salem man has admitted to taking trash from Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike during the final years of his life in Beverly Farms.

The revelation from Paul Moran, 48, comes in an article published Thursday in “The Atlantic” where he calls it “the other John Updike archive.” He tells the magazine he has thousands of pieces of Updike’s trash, including everything from honorary college degrees to cancelled checks. Updike’s official archive is at the Houghton Library at Harvard University, where Updike graduated in 1954.

Updike lived in Beverly Farms for 27 years and in Ipswich before that. His window still lives on the North Shore, in Wenham.

The 3,500 word article by Adrienne LaFrance, who said she met Updike once while working at WBUR in Boston, goes on to describe the regular stops that Moran said he made at the end of Updike’s driveway off Hale Street, starting in 2006 - three years before Updike died.

Moran first became curious when he saw Updike taking out his trash during one of his regular rides up Route 127 from Salem to Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea, according to LaFrance.

Adam Begley, Updike’s official biographer, tells The Atlantic that he considers Moran’s collection “completely worthless” and an “outrageous violation of privacy.”

Go to The Atlantic website to read the entire story, including details about what Updike knew about Moran’s activities before his death and see what Beverly police had to say about people’s right to pick through trash.

Image: Wolf Gang on Flickr