Strange New Hampshire


Book Description

In Manchester Ghosts of Portsmouth New Hampshire, Renee Mallett took you on a tour of some of the Granite State's most haunted cities. Now let her show you the other strange people, places, and points in history that New Hampshire has to offer. Covers every region of New Hampshire with more than 50 different locations and stories. Tales of lost treasure, hauntings, abandoned tourist attractions, off-beat travel spots, unusual world records and other oddities. Has both historical and modern-day people, places, and legends. More than 40 photographs. Whether you are on the trail of Marie Antoinette's lost diamond necklace, looking for the strange Blue Lady specter haunting one of Wilton's cemeteries, curious to find out what New Hampshire has to do with Saturday Night Live, or in the mood to visit strange tourist attractions like America's Stonehenge and the haunted High Hut of the state's tallest mountain, Strange New Hampshire is the guide for you.




The Hotel New Hampshire


Book Description

“The first of my father’s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.” So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they “dream on” in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Son of the Circus and A Prayer for Owen Meany.




A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear


Book Description

A tiny American town's plans for radical self-government overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears. Once upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched the Free Town Project, a plan to take over an American town and completely eliminate its government. In 2004, they set their sights on Grafton, NH, a barely populated settlement with one paved road. When they descended on Grafton, public funding for pretty much everything shrank: the fire department, the library, the schoolhouse. State and federal laws became meek suggestions, scarcely heard in the town's thick wilderness. The anything-goes atmosphere soon caught the attention of Grafton's neighbors: the bears. Freedom-loving citizens ignored hunting laws and regulations on food disposal. They built a tent city in an effort to get off the grid. The bears smelled food and opportunity. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is the sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying tale of what happens when a government disappears into the woods. Complete with gunplay, adventure, and backstabbing politicians, this is the ultimate story of a quintessential American experiment -- to live free or die, perhaps from a bear.




Strange New England


Book Description

New England boasts some of the strangest characters and stories that ever graced a region. From ghosts blessing a marriage to a clairvoyant who raised the dead, mysterious happenings abound. There is the simple grave of the mysterious and anonymous "XYZ" and the extravagant monument built for a pauper. One man may have actually found the elixir of immortality, while another woman left her whole fortune to a spirit she met via a Ouija board. Stories of the Melon Heads, the Leather Man and the Old Coot of Mount Greylock have fascinated New Englanders for years. Join Tom D'Agostino and Arlene Nicholson as they unveil the mysteries and oddities of this unique region.




Outtastatahs


Book Description

WHEN WE FIRST MOVED TO NEW HAMPSHIRE, my wife and I were in for a surprise. Some states have little sense of their identities. That isn't true of New Hampshire, which knows full well that it is a libertarian state and dares anyone to change it. Lord knows, we newcomers sometimes, even inadvertently, tried to budge it in a new direction, but we bumped into the attitude that Granite Staters don't mind being different. As a matter of fact, they thoroughly enjoy it. The phrase "That's not the New Hampshire Way" is heard here not infrequently. Newcomers to New Hampshire are known variously as "outtastatahs," "people from away," or "flatlanders." As new-comers, we had a lot to learn about our newly-adopted home. If you move to the Granite State, you, not the state, will have to change. Granite doesn't chip easily. This book reflects some of the lessons we learned.




Strange New Land


Book Description

Strange New Land explores the history of slavery and the black struggle for freedom before the U.S. became a nation. Beginning with the colonization of North America, this book documents the transformation of slavery from a more brutal form of indentured servitude to a full blown system ofracial domination. It focuses on how Africans survived the process and how they shaped the contours of American racial slavery.







Spooky Texas


Book Description

Suitably, hauntings and paranormal happenings in the Lone Star state are larger than life. Included in this must-read collection are tales of the ghost lights of Marfa, the werewolf of Elroy, and the Devil’s brand in the eternal roundup of El Paso. Your hair will stand on end as you read about the mysteries and lore in Spooky Texas.




Colonel Edward E. Cross, New Hampshire Fighting Fifth


Book Description

Edward Ephraim Cross (1832-1863) accomplished more in his short lifetime years than most men who live to be 100. By the eve of the Civil War, he had traveled from Cincinnati to Arizona working as a political reporter, travel writer, editor, trail hand, silver mine supervisor, and Indian fighter. In the summer of 1861, he became colonel of the Fighting Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers and gained fame as a fearless battlefield commander during action at Fair Oaks, Antietam, Fredricksburg, and Chancellorsville before being mortally wounded at Gettysburg. However, behind this great soldier lay a flawed man, an alcoholic with a short temper who fought a constant battle with words against immigrants, abolitionists, and others with whom he disagreed. This detailed biography presents a full portrait of this controversial and little-known figure, filling a critical gap in the literature of the northern Civil War experience.




Cursed Objects


Book Description

Beware...this book is cursed! These strange but true stories of the world’s most infamous items will appeal to true believers as well as history buffs, horror fans, and anyone who loves a good spine-tingling tale. They’re lurking in museums, graveyards, and private homes. Their often tragic and always bizarre stories have inspired countless horror movies, reality TV shows, novels, and campfire tales. They’re cursed objects, and all they need to unleash a wave of misfortune is . . . you. Many of these unfortunate items have intersected with some of the most notable events and people in history, leaving death and destruction in their wake. But never before have the true stories of these eerie oddities been compiled into a fascinating and chilling volume. Inside, readers will learn about: • Annabelle the Doll, a Raggedy Ann doll that featured in the horror franchise The Conjuring • The Unlucky Mummy, which is rumored to have sunk the Titanic and kick-started World War I • The Dybbuk box, which was sold on eBay and spawned the horror film The Possession • The Conjured Chest, which has been blamed for fifteen deaths within a single family • The Ring of Silvianus, a Roman artifact believed to have inspired J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit • And many more!