newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: Is The Scarlet Letter A True Story?
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2015/08/is-scarlet-letter-true-story.html
August 09, 2015. Is The Scarlet Letter A True Story? I was on vacation last week, and what book is better for beach reading than Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter. Secret sins, illegitimate children, adultery, repressive Puritans, and possible supernatural shenanigans - it has everything you want in a summer book. I hadn't read The Scarlet Letter. Demi Moore in The Scarlet Letter. In short, he claims The Scarlet Letter. Is a true story:. It should be borne carefully in mind, that the ma...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: More Weird New Haven: Grove Street Cemetery
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2015/07/more-weird-new-haven-grove-street.html
July 12, 2015. More Weird New Haven: Grove Street Cemetery. Here's my second post about some strange and wonderful things I saw a few weeks ago in charming and historic New Haven, Connecticut. In addition to visiting Midnight Mary's grave at the Evergreen Cemetery. Mound) style vault and Grecian sphinx. One of the original settlers' graves relocated to Grove Street Cemetery. Our tour guide did not tell us any ghost stories, but did address a couple urban legends that surround the cemetery. First, she...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: November 2014
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2014_11_01_archive.html
November 30, 2014. Conjuring by Sieve and Scissors. On September 8, 1692, Rebecca Johnson testified before the magistrates at Salem court. Like so many others, this Andover widow had been accused of witchcraft. Rebecca Johnson pleaded innocent to the crime of witchcraft, but she did confess that in the winter of 1691 her daughter-in-law had used magic. She had conjured using a sieve and scissors. By Saint Peter and Saint Paul. If Hagget be dead. Let this sieve turn around. Although it has been around for...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: June 2015
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2015_06_01_archive.html
June 28, 2015. The Ghost of Midnight Mary. I was recently in New Haven, Connecticut for a work conference. I was excited not only to attend the conference, but also for the chance to visit the infamous grave of Midnight Mary. It's located in the Evergreen Cemetery, a large Victorian-era burying ground. Even if Mary's grave weren't in it this would be a cemetery worth visiting. There are many creepy legends about Midnight Mary (aka Mary Hart), and they are all inspired by her strange epitaph:. The ominous...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: Celebrate H.P. Lovecraft's 125th Birthday This August
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2015/07/celebrate-hp-lovecrafts-125th-birthday.html
July 20, 2015. Celebrate H.P. Lovecraft's 125th Birthday This August. Cancel that clambake and skip the trip to the beach. This August you need to celebrate the 125th birthday of Howard Phillips Lovecraft! Lovecraft was quite intelligent. He never finished high school due to those nervous disorders but did read widely in his grandfather's extensive library. (It even included an original copy of Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana. Which makes me jealous! The Call of Cthulhu. There are two big cele...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: December 2014
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2014_12_01_archive.html
December 30, 2014. Weeping Turtles and Flying Souls: John Josselyn's World of Wonders. Sometimes when I read some weird old text or strange witchcraft narrative, I think, "Did the world operate by different rules in the past? This doesn't sound like the one I live in.". I first read about the concept of the past having different rules in John Crowley's book The Solitudes. The first in his fantasy fiction quartet Aegypt. He also wrote New-England's Rarities Discovered. I do believe that animals feel emoti...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: September 2014
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html
September 30, 2014. I Hope To See You This Week: Legends and Lore of the North Shore Book Tour! My Massachusetts "world tour" happens this week, with three readings and book signings. The first one is tonight in Harvard Square! Please stop by and say hello. Here are the dates and times:. 1 Harvard Coop, Cambridge, Tuesday, September 30th at 7:00 pm. 3 Barnes and Noble, Peabody, Saturday, October 4th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm. I hope to see you this week! It would be great to meet you in person. One of those pe...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: February 2015
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2015_02_01_archive.html
February 20, 2015. Matinicus Rock Light: A Ghost Behind Closed Doors. I'll be busy this weekend so I'm publishing my blog post a little early. Enjoy! Here's a nice little ghost story from Horace Beck's 1957 book The Folklore of Maine. While researching the book Beck visited various locales around Maine, including the lighthouse on Matinicus Rock, which is located about five miles from Matinicus Island in Penobscot Bay. Beck couldn't find any record of a suicide at that lighthouse, but the Coast Guard cre...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: The Ghost of Midnight Mary
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-ghost-of-midnight-mary.html
June 28, 2015. The Ghost of Midnight Mary. I was recently in New Haven, Connecticut for a work conference. I was excited not only to attend the conference, but also for the chance to visit the infamous grave of Midnight Mary. It's located in the Evergreen Cemetery, a large Victorian-era burying ground. Even if Mary's grave weren't in it this would be a cemetery worth visiting. There are many creepy legends about Midnight Mary (aka Mary Hart), and they are all inspired by her strange epitaph:. The ominous...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: May 2015
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2015_05_01_archive.html
May 30, 2015. The Moodus Noises: Part II. This is my second post about the mysterious Moodus noises. You can read part one here. Once the English settled in Connecticut they developed their own theories to explain the mysterious subterranean noises. They of course didn't believe in the Algonquin god Hobomok, although some thought he might really be a demon of some kind or perhaps just the Devil under another name. It was finally understood that Haddam witches, who practised black magic, met the Moodus wi...