2010 Maine Crime round-up

Fans of weird crime coverage will be pleased to find that the Maine Edge has done a bang-up job of compiling the cream of the crop from 2010's Maine crime blotters for our enjoyment. My favorite?

Catfight? Not exactly

OLD TOWN - Police responded to a 911 hang-up call that turned out to be quite innocuous.

On Feb. 17, around 8:30 a.m., dispatch received a hang-up call that also sounded like someone struggling. When the officer arrived at the address, he saw a woman talking on the cell phone. She was speaking with another officer on the phone and police learned that she had called dispatch in order to contact the fire department because three cats were stuck in a tree. While she was on the phone, one of the felines jumped on her head, causing her to drop the phone.

Source: http://www.themaineedge.com/content/19610/2010_Crimees/

Halloween 2010 events - Round III!

Here are a few last additions to the roster for this year! And, in case you missed them, here are Round I and II as well:
Round I: http://strangemaine.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-2010-events-round-1.html
Round II:
http://strangemaine.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-2010-events-round-ii.html
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October Moon Red Cloak Haunted History Event with The Maine Ghost Hunters Society
Saturday, October 23, 9:00 p.m.

The Maine Ghost Hunters Society joins The Lady in the Red Cloak at the Winter Street Center in Bath for a 4 hour paranormal investigation. You can join in, too, and learn all about the equipment, possibly have a chance to use some, and be involved with the investigative team as they demonstrate "ghost hunting." We'll explore every possible nook and cranny of this haunted site!

This full moon special event is by reservation only, $35.00 Please call FMI, 207-380-3806, www.redcloakhauntedhistorytours.com.

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WHAT: Dark and Stormy Night, the premiere Maine showing!
WHEN: Monday, October 25, 2010, 9:00pm showtime
WHERE: Geno's, 625 Congress Street, Portland
COST: $6 admission
FMI: (207)329-5385

Larry Blamire's epic old dark house meets locked room mystery spoof, "Dark and Stormy Night" will be premiering at Geno's with a guest appearance and Q&A with star, Robert Deveau. Did you love "Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" and "The Lost Skeleton Returns Again"? This is by the same folks! Did you love the movie "Clue"? Alright, we're on the same page -- make sure to put this on your calendar!!! Besides, Robert Deveau is so charming how could you possibly miss a chance to meet him again?


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Mayo Street Arts Haunted House and Costume Ball
Saturday, October 31st, 2010
Haunted House 6:00-8:00pm...Live Music and Dancing 'til 10:00pm!

A haunted church on Mayo Street - two floors of hauntings and dancing, with tricks, treats, and performances! Live music features those spooky fellows, Hobgoblin, plus Blue Lobster Troupe and Violent Femmes Cover Band. (Super awesome poster too!!) $5 kids, $10 adults
FMI: http://mayostreetarts.org/

Portland Halloween event treats!

WHAT: House on Haunted Hill screening
WHEN: 9:00pm showtime, Monday, October 18, 2010
WHERE: Geno's, 625 Congress Street, Portland
COST: $3 suggested donation
FMI: (207)329-5385

MONDAY NIGHT! Come see the famous William Castle film, "House on Haunted Hill" (the original starring Vincent Price, NOT the crummy remake), presented by Fun Box at the Movies! With Skeletorama action!!!

...and if that wasn't enough...the following Monday there's another exciting Fun Box at the Movies event!

WHAT: Dark and Stormy Night, the premiere Maine showing!
WHEN: 9:00pm showtime, Monday, October 25, 2010
WHERE: Geno's, 625 Congress Street, Portland
COST: $6 admission
FMI: (207)329-5385

Larry Blamire's epic old dark house meets locked room mystery spoof, "Dark and Stormy Night" will be premiering at Geno's with a guest appearance and Q&A with star, Robert Deveau. Did you love "Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" and "The Lost Skeleton Returns Again"? This is by the same folks! Did you love the movie "Clue"? Alright, we're on the same page -- make sure to put this on your calendar!!! Besides, Robert Deveau is so charming how could you possibly miss a chance to meet him again?


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WHAT: Wicked Walking Tours
WHEN: through October, Wednesday to Saturday @ 8:00pm, Sundays @ 7:00pm
WHERE: Tours meet in the small park next to Flatbread Pizza and Ri Ra at 72 Commercial Street, Portland.
COST: $15 ($13 for seniors & children under 12)
FMI: http://www.wickedwalkingtours.com/ or call (207)730-0490

Another thing we missed in our Round I and Round II event listings was the wicked fun Wicked Walking Tours here in Portland, run by the one and only Gordon Tweedie. Reservations are required, but Gordon puts on a great tour. If you're a fan of ghosts and local history, then this is the event for you.

You can read our review of the tour below, as published in the Bollard back in 2007, when they first started:

A Wicked Treat for October Wanderers
By Michelle Souliere

The fog came curling in off Portland Harbor as I waited by the ferry terminal to meet the guide for Portland’s new Wicked Walking Tours. It was the perfect night for a tour of old Portland’s haunted waterfront streets. Ships moved in and out of the pier slips with their lights glowing softly as I sat on a wooden bench. Across the water came the mournful sound of fog horns.

Raising high a lantern, Gordon Tweedie introduced himself. His resume is impressive. Tweedie is an accomplished baritone, and has toured extensively in both Europe and the U.S. He currently teaches at the Portland Conservatory of Music. He created Wicked Walking Tours with a tiny start-up budget, spent entirely on printing full-color flyers and posters, which he has sown around Portland at hotels and other public spots. Like a spell cast wide, his colorful lures draw people in a few at a time. Like me, they are enticed by a unique chance to hear about a side of Portland’s history few among the living know about.

Tweedie's tale-telling is woven from a variety of sources. In addition to poking around at the Maine Historical Society, he has painstakingly collected scores of ghost stories from people who live and work downtown. The stories are many and varied, from office workers who have seen the Jolly Roger sailing past their third floor conference room windows, to spectral traces of escapees from one of Portland’s great fires, doomed to repeat their hurried exits over and over again.

Other tales are woven from documented historic events, or are retellings of lore about past Portland personalities. The flyer advertises such eerie delicacies as a disembodied diva, a ghostly pirate ship, a cursed society lady, and a minister who escaped Indian attacks only to be subsequently burned as a witch. (While no witches were actually burned down in Salem, it is true that in the late 1600s, during the witchcraft craze, onetime Portland resident and minister George Burroughs was hanged as one of the accused after being roughly hauled away from his Wells dinner table. These are the kind of facts you don’t find on plaques commemorating local history.)

The tour is well worth the hour-and-a-quarter spent in Tweedie’s company. He is an inventive entertainer who can pick up and drop an accent with ease, and he tells his tales with obvious enthusiasm. The walking tour provided good opportunities to check out the backsides of buildings one seldom sees in the course of everyday travels. It wends its way around the Old Port, focusing on the wharves, Commercial Street, Fore Street, Exchange Street, and their connecting lanes, stopping here and there for a little storytelling along the way.

Sunny side up in Portland

Well, the topless march we posted about earlier definitely went down today as planned, and attracted a lot of spectators (no surprise there), in spite of some who thought it was just an April Fool's Day joke.

You can read the original post here:
http://strangemaine.blogspot.com/2010/03/half-nude-in-portland.html

Overall, the crowd was happy and ebullient, and there was a lot of cheering as the small group of shirtless men and women marched from Longfellow Square down Congress Street, heading for Monument Square.  It also attracted a LOT of men with cameras.

The most obvious response?  The guys with cameras were not NEARLY as interested in the half-naked men.

But I think everyone had fun, and it definitely made folks really think about what the heck makes barebreasted females unacceptable.  Think it's illegal in Portland?  Guess again!  Here's an interesting article by the ever-well-spoken Bill Nemitz, over at the Portland Press Herald:
http://www.pressherald.com/news/full-exposure-of-their-___-principles_2010-03-28.html

To quote:

Calls last week to Portland City Hall and the Cumberland County District Attorney's office confirmed that while it is illegal for men and women to expose their genitals in public, local and state laws contain no such prohibition on uncovered breasts – male or female. (Although, considering some of the men who insist on parading around topless, one could argue that there should be.)

Maine, in fact, is one of a handful of "top-free" states that have no laws banning breast exposure, according to the national organization gotopless.org. The group lists the others as Hawaii, New York, Ohio, Texas and the "coast of California."
[Source]