newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: Is The Scarlet Letter A True Story?
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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: July 2015
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July 26, 2015. Finding Bigfoot At the Flea Market: An Encounter from 1977. When I was a kid my parents often took my brother and me to flea markets and yard sales. It was the 1970s and I guess this was the thing to do. Quite often we didn't find anything good, but every now and then we'd get some great stuff. I still have a large teak Buddha I found, and we definitely found plenty of old paperbacks about weird occult and paranormal topics. Was it just a bear? I have no idea, but someone else had a simila...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: More Weird New Haven: Grove Street Cemetery
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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: Halloween Suprise Unearthed by Hurricane Sandy
http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2012/10/halloween-suprise-unearthed-by.html
October 31, 2012. Halloween Suprise Unearthed by Hurricane Sandy. When hurricane Sandy tore through New England it caused quite a bit of damage, knocking out power, flooding coastal communities, and uprooting trees. But when a tree on New Haven's historic town green blew over, it revealed a special surprise. Photo from the New Haven Register. Don't let your dog dig around in that park. Special thanks to Leigh Marble. For emailing me about this story! I found the details in the New Haven Register. Avid fo...
newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: November 2014
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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
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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
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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: March 2015
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March 29, 2015. The Witch's Grave of York Maine: Is The Story True? A while ago someone who reads this blog asked me to post about an alleged witch's grave in York, Maine. What a great idea! I love old graveyards, and I love New England witches. So here's a post that brings those two great tastes together like a Reese's peanut butter cup of the uncanny. Photo from The Journal Inquirer. I think the stone succeeded in keeping the animals away, but it hasn't kept Mary's ghost from coming up to the surface&#...
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NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: December 2014
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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...
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NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: August 2015
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August 30, 2015. Is There A Ghost In This Photo? More specifically, is there the ghost of a witch in this photo? A few months ago I wrote about Mary Nasson of York, Maine. According to legend, Mary was an herbalist accused of witchcraft and her ghost is said to haunt York's Old Burying Ground. The legend about Mary Nasson's ghost has been around since at least the middle of the 19th century. Please note, I have blurred out Steve's daughter's face for privacy reasons. As you can see, and as Steve mentione...
