8 replies to this topic

[Jeff Belanger]

Dear Ghostvillagers:

In my life I've had the opportunity to travel a pretty good distance from home. I've seen other countries, I've been all over the United States, and I've explored my own back yard. One thing I've discovered for certain is that we live on a very weird planet. To truly capture the odd folktales, ghostly legends, UFO sightings, and understand the cryptids lurking in a given area, you need to be local for a good deal of time. I was born in Massachusetts. I've lived in a few other states, but I came back. I know the locals and the locales. If I don't know the history or the witnesses, I know who to ask.

I spent most of last year exploring a bizarre place called Massachusetts. In my research I learned that life here in the Bay State was perfectly normal... right up until about 10,000 years ago. And then things started to get weird. Massachusetts has more than its share of ghosts; I knew that years ago. We're old New England, we embrace our history, and we're more apt to talk about our ghosts than some other parts of the country. But we also have our monsters: Pukwudgies, Bigfoot, the Dover Demon, Big Hairy, and the Thunderbird just to name a few. We have Salem -- arguably the world capital of all things witchy. We have Cape Cod, full of sea tales, giant serpents, and Wampanoag creation legends. Every corner of the state has something unusual to share. Sometimes you just need to scratch the surface a bit.

My year of research leads me to my latest book, Weird Massachusetts: Your Travel Guide to Massachusetts's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (published by Sterling). This was the most fun I've had writing a book. I crawled through caves, I trekked through swamps looking for cryptids, and I pored through history books discovering the oddities our forefathers believed in. I hope you'll pick up a copy of the new book, whether you live in Massachusetts or some other wonderfully weird place. This month we're going to dive into the weird state of Massachusetts a little deeper. You might just find a few legends that sound similar to those in your town.

So let's discuss the oddities of not only Massachusetts, but your town as well!

Supernaturally yours,

-Jeff Belanger
Ghostvillage.com

[ICY]

Hi Jeff
I will definitely be getting a copy of your book. I live in MA near places like Hangtown" in charlton, MA and some really wierd roads in Spencer. Blood cemetery in Charlton, there is plenty in the l;ittle out of the way towns too. My apartment in Charlton had something evil in it that was only eradicated when the apartment it liked was burnt down..... I am an eclectic withch and take a little of everything into consideration in life, the house we are in now is haunted, i think it is more impressions of long ago than a haunting, they cause no problems except for the occaisional missing keys, something pushed over to make noise, the last thing was when "someone" pushed my dvd player out the back of the entertainment center ( it has a glass front no way a person did it) my dogs see people now and then, my dad comes by but that is a feeling not a sighting, he visits with my grandchildren who talk to him and they know who he is and they never knew him in life. my grandson shares the same birthday with my dad. Many things in this State of ours! I am looking forward to your book!
Lin










[quote name='Jeff Belanger' date='Apr 17 2008, 08:52 AM' post='460877']
Dear Ghostvillagers:

In my life I've had the opportunity to travel a pretty good distance from home. I've seen other countries, I've been all over the United States, and I've explored my own back yard. One thing I've discovered for certain is that we live on a very weird planet. To truly capture the odd folktales, ghostly legends, UFO sightings, and understand the cryptids lurking in a given area, you need to be local for a good deal of time. I was born in Massachusetts. I've lived in a few other states, but I came back. I know the locals and the locales. If I don't know the history or the witnesses, I know who to ask.

[Harmony1215]

Thanks Jeff!!!
I can't wait to read this book! I live in MA, in fact many towns in MA and always seem to find ghost stories about places and have experienced a few things too. I grew up on the south shore (in a supposed haunted house) near the Bridgewater triangle, went to college on the north shore and heard about the stories around there including Sale, and even southern NH, and now live in north central MA in a haunted house (we only have things go missing for a little bit or unexplained noises nothing big but it's still interesting). i can't wait to read about all the places that i haven't heard about!
Thanks!

[Caesar]

WOW sounds like a great book I'll have to get. I hope you have something on the Bridgewater triangle and the Lizzie Borden house. those are the two locations that I lived in or very close to.

[GhostCat]

Weird Massachusetts is great!! Let me tell you this funny story.. I teach Special Education and in April the grade I am working with goes away for a week to a camp in Maine. The kids that don't go for certain reasons stay behind, and the boy I work with did not go and instead stayed behind in school with a group of about 12 kids. We knew that the kids at camp were going to be telling "ghost stories", so I did some modified ghost stories for this group... The next day, a girl brought in Jeff's book "Weird Massachusetts" for everyone to see. Lol, I grabbed it first, and the boy I work with could not take his eyes off of it the whole week... Anyway, in June it was his birthday and I bought him a copy of Weird Massachusetts, his face lit up and he gave me a big hug.... He is 13 years old and really into ghost stories and his favorite from the book was about the "Gloucester Serpent".. He told me to pass along the word to Jeff that it "is the best book ever".. He also wrote about the book the last month of school in a reading log journal he had to write in for Language Arts class..

[darklie]

I bought both "Weird New England" and "Weird US" I will definatly consider buying your book. Those books have been a big inspiration for me in so many ways.

The most solid, no nonsense ghost I have ever scene was in Amherst, Massachusetts. I was taking a shortcut home on my bike through a school driveway, when I saw I was biking toward the transparent form of a man. I stopped my bike and looked back; he was gone. (Okay, so you had to be there, lol! It was just very real to me. )

What other projects do you have going?

Edited by darklie, 24 July 2009 - 08:13 PM.

[ALKins]

I bought this book long ago and still have yet to read it. I will be surely moving it up on my list of book to read. I also have Weird New York (as I'm originally from there).

[JennyC]

I absolutely love this book. My husband and I have date day every Sunday and we always choose something from the book to do. We've been to Sleepy Hollow, The Floating Island, Spider Gates, Johnny Appleseed birthplace, The Big Chair, the Wall of Bones, and a few more that I can't think of right now. But, we're planning on going somewhere again this Sunday, were not sure where though... any suggestions??

p.s. I love old cemeteries =)

[Ravus Aranea]

I have Weird Virginia and loved it. My husband and I have decided to use it as  travel guide to check out some of the places mentioned.