Mysteries And Legends Of New England

Thirteen Mind-Boggling Tales from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island * Dressed in leather scraps, the Leather Man walked the same 365-mile-long route through Connecticut for more than twenty years, and his identity remained a mystery--or did it? * Dr. Timothy Clark Smith feared being buried alive, so when he dropped dead in Middlebury, Vermont, in 1893, his crypt included a window to his open casket, so passersby could raise the alarm if his worst nightmare came true! * For more than a century, people have reported seeing something they can neither identify nor explain in the waters of Lake Champlain--exactly what that something is, is the mystery. From vampires to an angel, a ghost rapper to a phantom ship, Mysteries and Legends of New England pulls back the curtain on some of the region's most fascinating and compelling stories.

Mysteries and Legends of New England explores unusual phenomena, strange events, and mysteries in the region's history—evenly divided between the New England States (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island).

New EnglandMyths and Legends explores unusual phenomena, strange events, and mysteries in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. From vampires to an angel, a ghost rapper to a phantom ship, New EnglandMyths and Legends pulls back the curtain on some of the region’s most fascinating and compelling stories.

New Englanders are always cursing. But a colorful profanity uttered by some stero-typically taciturn old Yankee is usually more humorous than menacing. Yet, true maledictions (the opposite of benedictions) have frequently been spoken on New England soil, curses intended to invoke evil, injury, or total destruction against other people. Stories about preternatural revenge are numerous in Yankee lore, with each New England state providing its favorites. You’ll read about curses that were followed by the strange disappearance of a father and daughter in Rhode Island, mysterious afflictions in Massachusetts, a river of death in Maine, an unaccountable blight in New Hampshire, unexplained madness in Connecticut, and other eerie happenings from New England’s colorful history. Some are well known, at least regionally. Others are nearly forgotten. Within these pages, storyteller Joseph A. Citro vividly brings these tales to life, letting us decide if these tales of woe were bad luck or . . . something else.

New England's history is marked with witch executions, curses and an untold number of cemeteries hiding mysteries beneath their stones. In this sometimes harsh landscape, the truth is often stranger than fiction. Examine the footprints burned into the ledge of Devil's Foot Rock in Rhode Island. Spend a night at the Kennebunk Inn in Maine, where the mischievous specter of Silas Perkins still resides. Traverse an old dirt road near Sterling, Connecticut, where the Darn Man's frozen body was uncovered in 1863. Authors Thomas D'Agostino and Arlene Nicholson uncover the history behind the region's best-kept secrets and lore. As you flip through these pages of New England's legends, tread lightly--you just might find a story that will follow you home.

*Includes pictures *Profiles the Salem Witch Trials and other historic phenomena in New England *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "I think one of the reasons Stephen King's stories work so well is that he places his stories in spooky old New England, where a lot of American folk legends came from." - Ted Naifeh New England has always had a special place in the national memory. The states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont have a long history as some of the earliest colonies in the New World. Their rich folklore and colorful history is woven into the national identity, and destinations such as Plymouth Rock, the lighthouses of Maine, and Vermont's autumn leaves are quintessential symbols of the United States. But New England has always had a dark side, a strange side. Monsters and ghosts lurk in its woods and old houses, and strange monuments that may be from a forgotten civilization puzzle local investigators. All the while, the early inhabitants themselves were always superstitious, as evidenced by history's most famous witch trials. Today the Salem Witch Trials are often remembered as being a relic of a superstitious past, and Salem has transformed itself into a tourist haven and Halloween destination by capitalizing off the Salem Witch trials, but it was deadly serious in 1692, when 19 men and women found themselves taken to "Gallows Hill" and hanged for being witches. Another man who was over 80 years old was pressed to death for refusing to be tried for witchcraft, and from February 1692-May 1693, hundreds of others were accused of witchcraft. Dozens of them were imprisoned for months until the mass hysteria finally died down. Mysterious New England: A History of the Region's Mysteries, Hauntings, and Strange Creatures profiles a sampling of strange, unexplained, and just plain odd stories of New England that have fascinated people in and around the region for centuries. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about mysterious New England like never before, in no time at all.