Legends and Monsters of Atlantic Canada


Book Description

Atlantic Canada is home to a unique blend of multicultural folktales, legends and mysteries. Perhaps nowhere else is the richness of belief in the supernatural, long a staple of our founding peoples, such an important part of our history and culture.Long-time ghost hunter and author Darryll Walsh documents the many stories and legends from around the Atlantic region. He provides startling new information about Oak Island, site of one of the longest running treasure hunts in history, where many believe a fortune in stolen booty buried by pirates still exists. Walsh delves into the magical world of fairies and recounts the tales of a terrifying assortment of creatures that forestry workers have encountered in our woods. He charts the course of phantom ships that travel along our coasts and inland seas, doomed to sail on forever.Discover how our own version of Bigfoot once terrorized Viking settlers in Newfoundland, and may still be shocking unwary hikers to this day. There are tales of the Devil himself, who has travelled this region luring men into mortal games of cards where the stakes are unreasonably high. Moreover, there are stories about demons, banshees, hairy bipeds, goblins, devil hounds, splinter cats, gumberoo, shagamaw, glawackus, loup-garu, werewolves, sea serpents, will-o-the-wisp, and jack-o-lanterns.Legends and Monsters of Atlantic Canada is an exciting assortment of historical and contemporary legends with creatures that will chill the bones of even the most jaded reader. Parapsychologist Darryll Walsh has brought together for the first time a wide range of Atlantic Canada's mysterious beings, creatures of the night, historical mysteries, and urban legends, many not seen before in print.




Folklore of Nova Scotia


Book Description

Mary Fraser was a pioneer in researching and recording the folklore of Cape Breton and eastern Nova Scotia, and this book is an invaluable source for the legends of rural Nova Scotians. Scottish, Acadian and Mi'qmaq traditions are all included. Writes Ian Brodie in the introduction: "Folklore of Nova Scotia is a flawed, wonderful book -- or a wonderfully flawed book. As I read, I alternate between exasperation and delight: exasperation from its romanticism, delight from its embrace of the contemporary; exasperation from its prejudices, delight from its efforts at multiculturalism ... It is a documentary snapshot of a part of Nova Scotia's cultural history that was changing before the author's eyes."




Forgotten Stories From Atlantic Canada's Past


Book Description

Backyard History unearths the often hilarious, mostly mysterious, always surprising untold tales of Canada’s East Coast, as only a Maritimer can spin them. This extraordinary collection gathers the very best from Andrew MacLean’s popular newspaper columns, podcast, and television show, now enhanced and extended with fresh insights and discoveries. Running the gamut from lost cities to rodent invasions; from rum runners to teenage heroines; from monstrous sea creatures to circus riots these true forgotten stories from Atlantic Canada will astound readers of all ages. Combining meticulous research with vivid storytelling, captivating anecdotes, and a human touch, Backyard History takes readers on an entertaining and exhilarating ride detailing the rich, undiscovered past of a region which has long been renowned for its storytelling.




North American Monsters


Book Description

Mining a mountain of folklore publications, North American Monsters unearths decades of notable monster research. Nineteen folkloristic case studies from the last half-century examine legendary monsters in their native habitats, focusing on ostensibly living creatures bound to specific geographic locales. A diverse cast of scholars contemplate these alluring creatures, feared and beloved by the communities that host them—the Jersey Devil gliding over the Pine Barrens, Lieby wriggling through Lake Lieberman, Char-Man stalking the Ojai Valley, and many, many more. Embracing local stories, beliefs, and traditions while neither promoting nor debunking, North American Monsters aspires to revive scholarly interest in local legendary monsters and creatures and to encourage folkloristic monster legend sleuthing.




Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore


Book Description

Drawing on historical sources, myth and folklore, Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore explores the roles of fantastical beasts - particularly the unicorn, the mermaid, and the dragon - in a series of thematic chapters organised according to their legendary dwelling place, be this land, sea, or air. Through this original approach, Juliette Wood provides the first study of mythical beasts in history from the medieval period to the present day, providing new insights into the ways these creatures continue to define our constantly changing relationship to both real and imagined worlds. It places particular emphasis on the role of the internet, computer games, and the cyberspace community, and in doing so, demonstrates that the core medieval myth surrounding these creatures remains static within the ever-increasing arena of mass marketing and the internet. This is a vital resource for undergraduates studying fantastic creatures in history, literature and media studies.







History's Mysteries: Legends and Lore


Book Description

"Interesting and curious historical legends and their background, for children"--




Mythical Monsters


Book Description

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Mythical Monsters" by Charles Gould. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.




Fossil Legends of the First Americans


Book Description

The burnt-red badlands of Montana's Hell Creek are a vast graveyard of the Cretaceous dinosaurs that lived 68 million years ago. Those hills were, much later, also home to the Sioux, the Crows, and the Blackfeet, the first people to encounter the dinosaur fossils exposed by the elements. What did Native Americans make of these stone skeletons, and how did they explain the teeth and claws of gargantuan animals no one had seen alive? Did they speculate about their deaths? Did they collect fossils? Beginning in the East, with its Ice Age monsters, and ending in the West, where dinosaurs lived and died, this richly illustrated and elegantly written book examines the discoveries of enormous bones and uses of fossils for medicine, hunting magic, and spells. Well before Columbus, Native Americans observed the mysterious petrified remains of extinct creatures and sought to understand their transformation to stone. In perceptive creation stories, they visualized the remains of extinct mammoths, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine creatures as Monster Bears, Giant Lizards, Thunder Birds, and Water Monsters. Their insights, some so sophisticated that they anticipate modern scientific theories, were passed down in oral histories over many centuries. Drawing on historical sources, archaeology, traditional accounts, and extensive personal interviews, Adrienne Mayor takes us from Aztec and Inca fossil tales to the traditions of the Iroquois, Navajos, Apaches, Cheyennes, and Pawnees. Fossil Legends of the First Americans represents a major step forward in our understanding of how humans made sense of fossils before evolutionary theory developed.




The United States of Cryptids


Book Description

Meet the monsters in our midst, from bigfoot to Mothman and beyond! Welcome to the United States of Cryptids, where mysterious monsters lurk in the dark forests, deep lakes, and sticky swamps of all fifty states. From the infamous Jersey Devil to the obscure Snallygaster, travel writer and chronicler of the strange J. W. Ocker uncovers the bizarre stories of these creatures and investigates the ways in which communities embrace and celebrate their local cryptids. Readers will learn about: • Batsquatch of Washington, a winged bigfoot that is said to have emerged from the eruption of Mount Saint Helens • Nain Rouge of Michigan, a fierce red goblin that has been spotted before every major city disaster in Detroit • Flatwoods Monster of West Virginia, a robotic extraterrestrial that crash-landed in rural Appalachia • Lizard Man of South Carolina, a reptilian mutant that attacked a teenager in the summer of 1988 • Glocester Ghoul of Rhode Island, a fire-breathing dragon that guards a hoard of pirate treasure • And many more! Whether you believe in bigfoot or not, this fully illustrated compendium is a fun, frightening, fascinating tour through American folklore and history, exploring the stories we tell about monsters and what those stories say about us.