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Spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry episode 3 follow.

Greetings Popversians, and welcome to Lore Corner! Each week, video producer Ashley V. Robinson and Popverse's writing staff are going to take you deep into the pre-existing lore behind some of pop culture's most exciting adaptations, such as HBO's frightful IT: Welcome to Derry. Enjoy! 

Three episodes into IT: Welcome to Derry, and we've already had quite a bit of a history lesson when it comes to Stephen King's most haunted town in Maine. In particular, we've just started learning about a scene of shocking violence (as shocking as any violence in the damned domain of Derry, Maine, can be) that reads like something out of a Martin Scorsese film. But if you finished episode 3 of the IT prequel series and don't know anything about this shootout, you might come away scratching your head about why this particular gang shootout matters to the story of Pennywise and his victims.

Well, don't worry, Popverse is here to explain everything you need to know about the Bradley Gang Massacre before we get into that, though - a quick word of warning. What we're about to explore not only contains explicit spoilers from every episode of IT: Welcome to Derry so far, but may even ruin a clownish surprise or two for episodes in the future.

Read on at your own risk.

What did the army find in episode 2 of Welcome to Derry?

Before we start talking about IT: Welcome to Derry episode 3, let's rewind just a bit to the end of episode 2, which is one of the first references (albeit oblique) that we get to the Bradley Gang Massacre. In the final moments of that episode, the US military (who we learned are investigating the Entity below Derry) has discovered something they feel is connected to the strange magic of the place. Digging through the night into the cursed ground, they uncover a 1930s car, riddled with bullets and filled with at least three skeletons.

Now let's fast forward to episode three, in which we learn that the car (and the dead folks inside) were at the heart of a violent event in Derry town history - that is, the Bradley Gang Massacre. But just what was the Bradley Gang Massacre, who caused it, and who died as a result? Allow us to explain.

What was the Bradley Gang in IT, Stephen King's 1987 novel?

In Stephen King's novel IT, the Massacre takes place in the year 1929, when outlaw brothers George and Al Bradley attempt to rob a corner store in Derry's town center. When they try to, however, they are confronted by a legion of armed Derry citizens, who brutally and excessively gun them down for all to see. Already a bloody and horrifying moment, the town chapter takes an extra dark turn when one witness to the event reveals that they saw someone dressed as a clown very close to the shooting.

The Bradley Gang Massacre is one of the darkest moments of Derry's history, and like so many of the community's worst chapters, it coincides with the feeding cycle of the Entity called IT. Every 27 years, the Entity that will eventually take the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown appears to the people of Derry, bringing with it a particularly tragic event (like the Massacre or, later, the burning of The Black Spot) and a slew of missing children cases.

It's almost certain that IT: Welcome to Derry will put us in the passenger seat for the Bradley Gang Massacre at some point in the show, even if it's not in this first season. But even before that, we already have something of an idea of what the Bradley Gang Massacre looked like - all we have to do is watch the show's credits.

Take a closer look at the IT: Welcome to Derry opening credits

In case you haven't already seen it, what's embedded above is the opening credits of HBO Max's IT prequel, and I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone familiar with the IT story that some of Derry's worst moments are pictured in the postcard-like illustrations that make it up. But in particular, watch the opening credits to about the 1:03 mark, and then see what shakes out. Now we're not claiming to be the creators of IT: Welcome to Derry, but we're almost certain that the bullet-riddled car and bloodied up gangsters make up the very Massacre at the heart of today's edition of Lore Corner.

Especially considering Pennywise himself is the first shooter we see.

IT: Welcome to Derry airs new episodes every Sunday night on HBO Max. 

Another Pennywise feeding cycle is upon us as HBO drops new episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry every week. Make sure you're prepared for the horror with:

• How to watch the It movies & TV series in order
• Popverse's Stephen King Must Reads
• Popverse's latest issue of Lore Corner - Welcome to Derry edition!