The President has a pachyderm's feet!

In a recent orgy of historical research in the Portland Room at the library, I uncovered volumes of bound manuscripts of Sketches Written for the Daily Eastern Argus 1912 - 1913 by one Nathan Goold. There was a very curious anecdote related by the author about the poet J.G. Whittier:

The poet Whittier is said to have related the story that when President Monroe visited the town, in 1817, where he [Whittier] then lived, a caravan exhibited there the same day. He said he saw the tracks of the elephant in the sand, and being but a small boy at the time thought they must be those of the President.

I need to do a little more biographical research on Whittier to see how likely this story is, but either way, it is an intriguing local legend that I've never heard of before. Whittier was born in 1807, so he would have been ten years old at the time of this story.

Illustration by Michelle Souliere.

Hiram Haunted Road Legend

I was in the Strange Maine store the other day, interviewing Brendan Evans, the owner, for Angioplasty Media's upcoming re-launch, when a very pleasant older man came up to the counter. He was very happy to have found yet another classic horror film on Brendan's shelves, and proceeded to tell us a rural legend from his younger days.

He told us about a road that runs between Hiram and Cornish, Maine, that is partially unpaved, near the old Durgintown area. He swore that the locals from either town avoid that road when they are alone late at night. He claimed it ran through a bog, and that strange things would happen on the road from time to time, including the sensation that something was holding down the back of your car as you drove along in the dark, and that you were not alone.

Two of his younger coworkers had taken him up on his stories and had driven down the road very late one night (or early in the morning, as I believe it was after midnight). They thought they saw something in the bog coming out at them, and took off without a second look, terrified.

Heck, sounds good to me!!!

Anyone else out there with any information about this location?