Spooky New England: Tales Of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, And Other Local Lore

by S. E. Schlosser, Paul G. Hoffman (Illustrator)

Overview

A collection of folktales highlighting famous and not-so-famous New England ghosts, mysterious happenings, powers of darkness, and wonders of the invisible world.

Pull up a chair or gather round the campfire and get ready for 35 creepy tails of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange occurrences in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Set in New England's historic towns, charming old islands, and sparsely populated backwoods, the stories in this entertaining and compelling collection will have you looking over your shoulder again and again.

Yankee folklore is kept alive in these expert retellings by master storyteller S.E. Schlosser, and in artist Paul Hoffman's evocative illustrations. You'll meet seaweed-covered phantom sailors and a ghostly black dog, hear otherworldly voices and things that go bump in the night, and feel an icy wind on the back of your neck on a warm summer evening. Whether read around the campfire on a dark and stormy night or from the backseat of the family van on the way to grandma’s, this is a collection to treasure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493027125
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/01/2017
Series:	Spooky
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	186,106
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Author S.E. Schlosser has been telling stories since she was a child, when games of "let's pretend" quickly built themselves into full-length stories. A graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature and Rutgers University, she also created and maintains the website AmericanFolklore.net, where she shares a wealth of stories from all 50 states, some dating back to the origins of America. Artist Paul Hoffman trained in painting and printmaking, with his first extensive illustration work on assignment in Egypt, drawing ancient wall reliefs for the University of Chicago. His work graces books of many genres - children's titles, textbooks, short story collections, natural history volumes, and numerous cookbooks. For Spooky New England, he employed a scratchboard technique and an active imagination.

Read an Excerpt

"Did you have a nice hike?" asked the innkeeper, coming over to refill his cup.
"Yes indeed. I had some unexpected company," Justin said with a smile.
"Really? I thought you were the only one crazy enough to go hiking in the rain," she teased.
"It was a black dog," he said. "Cute fellow. Followed me all the way up the mountain and down again." He looked up from his coffee to see the innkeeper's face had gone pale.
"A black dog?" she asked. "That's not good."
"Why not?"
"We have a saying around here," she replied. "'And if a man shall meet the Black Dog once, it shall be for joy; and if twice, it shall be for sorrow; and the third time, he shall die.'"
He laughed. "That's just superstition."
She did not laugh with him... .

From The Black Dog of Hanging Hills

Table of Contents

Introduction viii

Part 1 Ghost Stories

1 The Telltale Seaweed: Provincetown, Massachusetts 2

2 The Lady in Black: Georges Island, Massachusetts 11

3 The Blue Rock: Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts 17

4 The Voyage of the Palatine: Block Island, Rhode Island 22

5 The Ghost of Elvira Blood: Black Rock Harbor, Connecticut 27

6 The Watcher of the Isles of Shoals: Star Island, New Hampshire, and Appledore, Maine 33

7 The Ghosts of Georges Bank: Gloucester, Massachusetts 38

8 Ocean-born Mary: Henniker, New Hampshire 47

9 The Wraith in the Storm: Boston, Massachusetts 54

10 Emily's Bridge: Stowe, Vermont 59

11 The White Deer: Lake Onota, Massachusetts 67

12 The Blank Signboard: Granville, Massachusetts 71

13 The Image of Saint Francis: Swanton, Vermont 79

14 The Whaling Boat in the Sky: Orleans, Massachusetts 85

15 The Dancing Mortar: Block Island, Rhode Island 92

16 You Can't Get Out: Hartford, Connecticut 97

17 Playin' Piano: Phippsburg, Maine 103

18 Root Beer: Waterford, Vermont 109

19 The French Paymaster: Canton, Connecticut 117

20 The Séance: Chittenden, Vermont 124

Part 2 Powers of Darkness and Light

21 The Man Who Made Weather: Hallowell, Maine 136

22 The Bridge: Montpelier, Vermont 142

23 The Witch-Sheep: Narragansett, Rhode Island 147

24 The Black Dog of Hanging Hills: Meriden, Connecticut 155

25 Old Trickey: Kittery, Maine 161

26 Mary's Flower: Provincetown, Massachusetts 166

27 The Fatal Glass Eye: Salem, Massachusetts 170

28 The Man Who Could Send Rats: New Hampshire 176

29 Old Betty Booker: Kittery, Maine 182

30 Black Magic: Springfield, Massachusetts 187

31 The Devil and Jonathan Moulton: Hampton, New Hampshire 196

32 The Frogs of Windham: Windham, Connecticut 204

33 Tom Dunn's Dance: Woburn, Massachusetts 209

34 The Loup-Garou: Woonsocket, Rhode Island 215

35 Captain Paddock and Crookjaw: Yarmouth, Massachusetts 218

36 The Brick Wall: Boston Harbor, Massachusetts 222

37 Elixir of Life: Benton, New Hampshire 227

38 The Devil's Hole: Woonsocket, Rhode Island 236

39 Death Light: Cape Elizabeth, Maine 244

40 Madness: Salem, Massachusetts 251

Resources 262

About the Author 269

About the Illustrator 270

Editorial Reviews

"If you have ever felt a chill as you walked past a Vermont graveyard, or stopped by a small New Hampshire country inn for the night and knew there was something watching you, or felt an unseen hand brush against you on a mountain in Maine, you will love Spooky New England. And if you don't believe in ghosts—you will."—Michael Carlton, Editor, Yankee Magazine

From the Publisher