Wicked Strange: Your Guide to Ghosts, Monsters, Oddities, and Urban Legends from New England

(Paperback)

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Go legend hunting with explorer of the unexplained Jeff Belanger, visiting haunted places, where monsters lurk, and other roadside oddities.

"Legends have always run deep in New England-thankfully, Jeff Belanger is here to uncover them and bring them to life. This collection of mysteries, secrets, and folklore from America's birthplace is as illuminating as it is fascinating." -Josh Gates, explorer, host of Discovery's Expedition Unknown

Wicked Strange is a journey and a celebration of all the things that make New England like no other place on earth. In a time when so much of the world is becoming homogenized-as big-box stores and chain restaurants move in and so many communities lose their identity-we still have these legends. They belong to specific towns and streets. These are stories locals will share with you . . . if they trust you.

This travel guide takes readers on a journey to the strange and frequently unseen world that is often right under their noses. Covering numerous haunted places, environs where mysterious creatures have been spotted, areas where unusual events have happened, eccentric locals, and roadside oddities to explore, noted expert of the strange Jeff Belanger is your guide to all that's local and strange. Haunted locations from all over New England are covered:

• The Haunting of Conimicut Lighthouse-Warwick, Rhode Island
• Maine's Sistine Chapel-South Solon, Maine
• Edith Wharton's Haunted Mansion, The Mount-Lenox, Massachusetts
• Emily's Haunted Bridge-Stowe, Vermont
• The Sleeping Giant-Hamden, Connecticut
• The Haunted Mt. Washington Hotel-Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

New England is also full of monsters and devils that lurk in the woods, lakes, and seas. Explored are some of the best known and most obscure, including Lake Champlain's Champ; the Cumberland Vampire of Rhode Island; Gloucester's Sea Serpent; the Black Dog of West Peak in Meriden, Connecticut; and the Flying Moose of Maine.

Also covered are unusual events, such as UFO sightings (Connecticut's UFO crash at Bantam Lake / Betty and Barney Hill's UFO experience), and roadside oddities, such as the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet (Burlington, VT), Boston's Big Steaming Tea Kettle, and the literal Fork in the Road of Westport, MA. Wicked Strange takes you off the beaten path, revealing a hidden world right under your nose. Come journey through the towns, hamlets, and hillsthat hide the strangest of history. Uncover the wickedly strange.

Author Bio

Jeff Belanger is one of the most visible and prolific researchers of legends and lore today. A natural storyteller, he's the award-winning, Emmy-nominated host, writer, and producer of the New England Legends series on PBS and Amazon Prime and is the author of over a dozen books (published in six languages). He also hosts the award-winning New England Legends weekly podcast, which has garnered over four million downloads since its launch and ranks in the top half percent of all podcasts for popularity, according to Listen Notes. Belanger's books include the bestsellersThe Fright Before Christmas, The World's Most Haunted Places, Weird Massachusetts, Our Haunted Lives, The Call of Kilimanjaro, and Who's Haunting the White House He founded Ghostvillage.com in 1999-one of the web's most popular paranormal destinations-and he's a noted speaker and media personality. He was featured in theone hundredth episode of Stories from the Stage on PBS, he's given a TEDx talk in New York City, and he spoke at MENSA's national conference. Belanger has written for newspapers such as the Boston Globe and USA Today and has served as the writer and researcher on numerous television series, including every single episode of Ghost Adventures (twenty-five seasons and counting), Paranormal Challenge, and Aftershocks on Travel Channel, and Amish Haunting on Destination America.

Frank Grace (www.trigphotography.com) utilizes a special technique called Trig photography that turns renowned locations into stylized, yet creepy, works of art. Frank has been photographing weird and wonderful New England for the last thirteen years. He combines his camera and eye with Photoshop manipulation to bring out the surreal aspects of his subjects. He's been a finalist for Ron Howard's "Project Imagination" for the last two consecutive years, his work has been shown in galleries in both New England and New York, his photography is featured in New England Legends and the stage show An Evening of Ghost Stories, and he loves all things ghostly and haunted.