Genuine Zombie Press Release

It's official!

What? Filming of mass zombie scenes for "2"
Where? 24 Pearl St. Biddeford Maine
When? 6am-9pm Saturday, February 17th, 2007
Who? Everyone who has ever wanted to be a zombie.
How?No need to do your makeup, they'll be ready for you. Wear clothes you don't mind getting gory.
For more information: Contact Andy Davis emptyhousefilm[at]gmail.com

ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! "2" brings zombies to Biddeford!

On Saturday, February 17th over 100 zombies will attack the Riverdam Millyard in Biddeford for the shooting of the zombie horror film "2", a new feature film by Motion Media/John Lane Films/Emptyhouse Film.

The film is being co-produced by Olin Smith (Mud, I'm Sorry) and John Lane, who is currently in the pre-production on "The Novice" starring Chuck Norris. "We've been amazed by the response from the public, it really seems like we have tapped into a zombie pipeline of sorts. We've had people come from 3 hours north and south, just to be a zombie in the film. It's been a great experience." said Executive Producer John Lane.

"2" is a zombie survivalist film co written by published author Al Lamanda (Dunstan Falls) and Andy Davis (Mud, I'm Sorry). "We are a week away from production on 2. Everything has come together nicely and in many cases better than we expected. We have a great cast and crew and the locations are just mind blowing…and did we mention there will be blood?" said writer/director Andy Davis.

"2" tells the story of two survivors of a biological attack that has turned the world upside down and how they deal with their situation. "2" stars C. James Roberts (Mr.Barrington) and Molly Roberts (The Dark). "There is something about zombies that really attracts people to our film. For most of us involved, creating a zombie film is a dream come true. We're pulling out all the stops for this film, from the story and cast, to the locations and effects," said Producer Olin Smith.

The Portland based band "Covered in Bees" is creating soundtrack music. The band was featured on the "Poultrygeist" soundtrack by Troma Films last year. A music video will be shot for the release of "2". The band can be found on the web at www.coveredinbees.net

Zombie extras were pulled from all over New England. On Saturday, they will go through a major transformation under the makeup brush of Robert Dipietrantonio and other talented makeup artists, then will appear in many scenes being shot that day. "2" will be shooting from February 16th-26th in Biddeford at the Riverdam Millyard (http://www.riverdammillyard.com).

More information on "2" including cast/crew bios, a "Zombie Hunting" flash game, "Zombie Contests", pictures and video can be found at: http://emptyhouse.sabatos.net/2-index.php

All interested members of the press should email a letter of interest to: jessica.davis718[at]gmail.com

You can also find new "2" related videos at:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=emptyhousefilmbyandy

More Zombies... More, I Tell You!!

If you like zombies - and who doesn't - then you will want to keep on top of the news from local filmmakers Emptyhouse Film. Their new movie, "Two", begins shooting at the end of the week.

There was a good turn out for the open call for zombies in January. If you missed the well lit zombie head shots - as in photos, not bullet wounds - or you want to check out some photos of the zombies in attack mode, you can check out both sets of photos at this zombie friendly site.

Where's My Suit?

This item appeared in the Dallas Morning News of Feb. 23, 1938:

Corpse Dolls Up in His Sunday Best
BARRE, Vt., Feb. 22 (AP).—Victor Olson was back home Tuesday with his wife and children—wondering who will replace his new suit.

Last October, a headless body was found in the East Barre flood dam. Investigators concluded it was Olson's and his family agreed. The body was buried after services Oct. 12—in Olson's best suit.

Later Olson was located working in a lumber camp in Bethel, Maine. No one has been able to identify the headless body.

Numbskull nods off, now nabbed

Well, this is one way to get rid of the dumber drug dealers coming into Maine from out of state...

Bus snoozer gets rude awakening
Friday, February 9, 2007
MACHIAS (AP) - A weary traveler who had 80 bags of suspected heroin with him learned the hard way that "You snooze, you lose."

Brian Nowick, 38, of Springfield, Mass., was awakened from his slumber on a bus to find himself in the presence of a police officer.

Police said they searched him and found heroin and a substance believed to be cocaine after realizing he was wanted for a warrant out of Cumberland County. Nowick, who was arrested Monday, remained in Washington County Jail on Thursday.

It's not a crime to sleep on a bus, but Nowick was unresponsive when the bus rolled into Machias. "He wouldn't wake up," said Assistant District Attorney Joelle Pratt. "A woman beside him couldn't get out of her seat."

When he did wake up, he gave a false name, police said. He told police he had planned to visit a friend in Machiasport.

[Source]

Yep. Brilliant, I tell ya.

Reward offered in 2006 lynx slaying

Last year a lynx was discovered dead in late December. New information has come to public light in an announcement about the killing and its heinous circumstances. You can find this article on the Lewiston Sun Journal's website here.

Authorities probe killing of lynx
Thursday, February 8, 2007
PORTLAND (AP) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the shooting death of a Canada lynx in northwest Maine last year.

The carcass was recovered Dec. 20 near Third Musquacook Lake in Township 11, Range 11, but wildlife agents believe the animal was shot several days or weeks earlier and traveled some distance before dying, officials said Wednesday.

The shot amputated one of the lynx's rear legs and the animal eventually starved to death, said Special Agent Robert Rothe.

The male lynx was equipped in 2000 with a radio collar as part of a Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife study.

The lynx is listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. The federal penalty for killing a lynx is a jail sentence of up to six months and a fine of up to $25,000.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the shooting.

[Source]

The lynx has been a bone of contention in Maine. Just last September, the Animal Protection Institute filed a lawsuit against the state of Maine in an attempt to end trapping practices that they view as violations of the Endangered Species Act, which protects the lynx. Read the API press release here.

It's the fishies that'll get ya

See full article on the Lewiston Sun Journal site here, including photos.

Fish-stocking penalty bigger than fine for pot
By Terry Karkos , Staff Writer
Friday, February 9, 2007

OTISFIELD - Marijuana plants found growing last fall on an Otisfield man's property landed him in hot water with police. But it was the incidental discovery of illegally stocked bass in his ponds that netted the bigger penalty.

On Dec. 14 in 11th District Court, Nicholas Palmer, 23, pleaded guilty to cultivating marijuana and illegally stocking fish in a private pond. Judge John McElwee fined Palmer $250 for growing 52 pot plants, and $1,000 on the fish crime.
...
"I can understand why they'd fine him stiffly for the fish, because bass are aggressive and would go after trout if the ponds flooded into other waters, but $250 for the pot?" Oxford County Sheriff's Cpl. Chancey Libby asked Thursday afternoon by phone in Paris.

It also didn't come close to covering the amount of time and effort that Libby and other officers put into the cannabis case after being tipped off to plants growing on both Palmer's Ahonen Road property and his neighbor and uncle, Stephen Holden's property, Libby said.

On Sept. 22, Libby had a certified drug spotter in a Maine Army National Guard helicopter fly over both properties looking for pot plants, while he drove into Palmer's yard to question the man. But before he reached the front door, Libby said he saw pot plants growing beside the house.

He then sought and served a search warrant for both properties, finding 52 well developed marijuana plants at Palmer's house and 47 pot plants in and around Holden's house. Holden's case is pending because he's contesting the cultivation charge, Libby added.

[Source]

Catalyst for Crime

Cranky Yankee over at the New England Anomaly caught this Maine crime story, which shows up in today's Lewiston Sun Journal (click link to read full story).

Thieves targeting catalytic converters from cars, trucks
By David Sharp, Associated Press Writer |
February 6, 2007
Associated Press

BANGOR, Maine --Thieves have long targeted stereos, radar detectors, air bags, compact discs and even pocket change from
cars.

The latest item being snatched from cars and trucks has unsuspecting motorists scratching their heads. The targeted vehicle may look just fine but the exhaust lets out a NASCAR-like roar when the operator turns the key.

It turns out thieves are crawling under vehicles and cutting away catalytic converters, making them a hot commodity in more ways than one at scrap yards.
...
In Bangor, medical secretary Karen Thompson found out the hard way when she was summoned by hospital security to the parking lot, where someone had cut away the converters from several vehicles including her 2006 Toyota Tundra pickup truck. The telltale evidence came when she started it. Because someone had sawed through the exhaust pipe, the truck rumbled as if there was no muffler.

"It was really, really loud. The rearview mirror shook," Thompson recounted. The cost of replacement and repairs at her local Toyota dealership was $2,100.
...
Thieves tend to target sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks because they don't have to be jacked up. They can simply slither under the vehicle and saw away the catalytic converter within minutes, investigators said.

In Bangor, the thefts from a busy hospital parking lot that's patrolled by security staff illustrate the ease with which converters can be stolen. Thompson remains incredulous that someone managed to crawl under her truck and cut away part of her exhaust system without attracting attention. "It was pretty gutsy to do it in broad daylight," she said.

Police say it's hard to nail a thief unless they're caught in the act, and that's what happened last week across the river in Brewer. Police received a report of a theft behind an auto repair shop. The thieves were gone by the time police arrived but the getaway car had backed into a snowbank and left an imprint of the licence plate, said Brewer Police Detective Sgt. Jay Munson.

Brewer police used the license plate number and tire impressions in the snow to track down the car and secure a search warrant. Inside, investigators found two battery-powered saws, a portable jack and three catalytic converters, Munson said.
...
[Source]

I guess we can't count on all of them to leave their license plates imprinted on snowbanks. Good job by the Brewer Police, catching that well-hidden clue! So keep an eye out... those puppies are expensive to replace, and all the jerks who are stealing them are paying for them with an easily fixable wet rear end from shimmying in and out from underneath your vehicle.

KABLOOIE!!! Deer in the face!

As usual, thanks to the New England Anomaly mailing list for this little beauty. Apparently deer aren't content with wrestling, now they're trying to horn in on some skiing action too!

Doctor, Deer Collide On Ski Trail
Man Says He's Never Heard Of Deer-Skier Collisions
CARRABASSETT, Maine -- Dr. Ray Stone had no warning before he was knocked off his feet last month while skiing down the Haulback Trail at Sugarloaf/USA.

"My first thought was, 'What hit me? ... a (snow) boarder? drunk skier? linebacker?'" Stone wrote in a letter to The Irregular, a weekly newspaper in Kingfield.

It was none of the above. A whitetail deer attempting to cross the trail crossed paths with Stone as he was making a turn.

"I just never saw this deer coming," Stone said Friday. "I was going pretty quick down the top half of Haulback, arcing from left to right and all of the sudden I just got knocked right off my feet and I was falling."

The deer also went down.

"Its legs were just pumping away really fast, they never stopped moving," said Stone, a family practice doctor who lives in New Gloucester and works at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

The collision was witnessed by skiers riding in a chairlift, said longtime Maine skier and ski writer Dan Cassidy, whose story about the incident eventually prompted Stone to write in that he was the skier who hit the deer.

Cassidy, who has been skiing in Maine for 45 years, said he had never before heard of a deer-skier collision.

"Never, never, never," Cassidy said. "I've never even heard of anybody encountering a deer on a ski trail, especially an alpine trail. I've seen an animal, like a fox, come out on occasion but never a deer."

Stone recalled people hollering at him from the lift, which prompted him to raise his fist and pump it in the air to let them know he was OK.

He then skied down to meet his wife, Diane, at the chairlift. She was skiing ahead of him and hadn't seen the collision.

When he told her he had just run into a deer on the slope her first question was, "Is the deer all right?"

Stone said the deer quickly bounced back to its feet and continued across the trail and into the woods.

"It never stopped running even though it was down," Stone said. "Luckily we just glanced off each other. I'm just glad the deer wasn't hurt."
[Source]

Ghostly Dinner Guests in Cape Elizabeth

New England Curiosities Walking Tours is heading indoors for a winter event in nearby Cape Elizabeth. The event is a little pricey compared with most ghost tours, but the ticket includes a "five star dinner" which is uncommon in this trade. "Investigation" might be a strong word to use, judging from the description of the evening, but it sounds like a pleasant way to spend a few hours on a wintry February evening for any ghost story lovers out there.

Dining With The Ghost Bride Tour and Investigation

We are now accepting reservations for "Dinner With the Ghost Bride and Investigation With The Ghost Project." This three hour paranormal investigation and dinner will stir your imagination and send shivers down your spine.

Join us for a haunted evening at the beautiful and elegant Inn By The Sea in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. A delicious three course dinner is included along with a fascinating tour of the grounds where bride-to-be Lydia Carver is buried in a quaint cemetery. The fate and final hours of Lydia's ship and bridal party will come to life in the location of the shipwreck.

Our costumed guide will also take you on a walk along the beach (weather permitting) where Lydia's lost soul is said to wander. Her tragic tale, along with numerous stories of her ghostly presence at the Inn will captivate you over dinner.

$52.95 (plus gratuities) per person including a 5 star dinner. New stories of Lydia's haunting presence turn up on a weekly basis at the Inn. Photographs we've taken on this tour often turn out to have mysterious unexplained anomolies, will yours? Experience an event that may make you a believer in the paranormal...

February 23 at 7:00 pm. Email us to purchase tickets and to place your reservation, space limited.

A Quiet Evening of Deer Wrestling

I caught this at From Belfast Common:

CAMBRIDGE — One minute Matthew Cunningham was watching his wife clean the family’s large fish tank in their home on Route 150 in this small Somerset County town Thursday evening. The next minute he was wrestling with a deer.

An approximately 100-pound doe jumped through the family’s parlor window, trotted through the dining room and entered the office where Cunningham, 26, his wife, Lori, 30, and their son, Zeke, 4, were standing.

"I heard a large amount of breaking glass and I was trying to figure out what did that, and the next thing I know, he [Matthew] has a deer in his arms," Lori Cunningham said, recalling the incident that happened around 5:30 p.m.

It all happened so fast that Matthew Cunningham didn’t have time to think. "I just kind of muckled onto him and pushed him into the bathroom," he said.

Zeke, who was excited, couldn’t understand why Santa would send a "reindeer" to his house, Lori Cunningham said. "Why did he come in our house? It’s not Christmas," he said to her while the deer was in the bathroom. [Source]

The Urine Doctor of Warren, Maine

Dr. Lambricht of Warren was either utterly brilliant or utterly insane.

Urine Doctor.—As the inhabitants have sometimes consulted physicians in the neighboring towns, it may perhaps be excusable to insert two extracts from letters respecting a doctor who in his day probably was as much celebrated as any man ever was in the vicinity. The first extract is dated Nov. 18, 1819:

"A German urine-doctor has lately come from Virginia to Warren. The people flock to him by hundreds; his house has been so thronged that some days he could not attend to half the applicants. It has been reported, that he had an hundred people under his care at the same time. Samuel Bennet died at his house. The body was brought to this town, and opened by Drs. Sibley and Harding, to find a great worm which the learned doctor said was in him; but none was to be found. The fellow says Micajah Gleason has a worm as many feet long as Gleason is years old, and that the worm adds one foot to its length every year. He says Gleason has not got asthma. He says he shall certainly cure Mr. Gleason, if he can obtain the aid of a seventh son."

The second extract is from a letter dated March 12, 1820:—

"Dr. Lambricht, of Warren, has buried his wife and both his children. Some of the people think he poisoned them. A jury of inquest was had on one of the bodies; but no discoveries were made. His house is continually thronged with people, some with bottles of urine, some with lame legs, and others with diseased livers, rotten lungs, and crazy brains. His practice extends more than fifty miles, and I think I might say more than an hundred. Many of his patients have died, and several at his own house. He is so much engaged in business that many people have to call several times before they can have their urine inspected. I hear he has a box or barrel, in which he keeps salts and brimstone pounded together, and feeds all his patients from the same mess. Some are directed to take it in brandy, and some in rum, and others in different ways; but those who have diseased livers must swallow it dry, so that it may adhere to the liver and heal it. He called Dr. Brown [of Waldoborough] a fool, and says the physicians in this country ought to be hung for their ignorance. He says in Germany there were several hundred men appointed to translate the Bible; and, after they had finished the work, they submitted it to him to see if it had been correctly done. Public opinion seems to be divided concerning him: while some call him a great physician, others say he kills a great many and cures none." [A History of the Town of Union, p. 324]

Bagel Brouhaha Ends in Arrest

The Lewiston Sun Journal reported that a pair of 19-year-old twins were hauled off to the clinker after hucking bagels at eachother in a school foodfight in Hiram, Maine.

Food fight ends in arrests
By Jessica Alaimo , Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Twin brothers charged after Sacopee Valley fracas
HIRAM - School food fights usually don't end in arrests, but Friday was an exception when twin brothers were taken to the Oxford County Jail after a school cafeteria incident.

Darin and Daniel Hoyt, who turned 19 on Saturday, were arrested around 11 a.m. Friday at Sacopee Valley High School on charges of disorderly conduct and criminal threatening.

Oxford County Sheriff's Office Deputy Joshua Wyman, the interim school resource officer, said the two were throwing bagels at each other when a teacher told them to stop.
...
Wyman said the twins "acted belligerent" toward him and threatened his life. They were arrested and later released from the jail on an unsecured bond.

"They were threatening everybody and anybody," Wyman said.

According to the Hoyt family, however, the incident was blown out of proportion.
...
Darin admitted to throwing a bagel at his brother during a food fight involving other students. After a disagreement with the teacher, he said Wyman grabbed him by the wrist to the point where it hurt.

"I told him I'd punch him in the face," Darin said.

Daniel said he tried to stick up for his brother, and Wyman grabbed him too.

"I didn't even threaten him at all," Daniel said.
...
[Source]

The best foodfights I ever saw were in the Deering High cafeteria. The gigantic plate glass windows made for some terrific visuals. I was coming down the stairs past the windows when one was going on back in the late 80s, and have very vivid impressions of a number of ballistic foodstuffs. A half pint carton of chocolate milk exploded against the window, and also visible was a stalwart assailant swirling an apple overhead in a makeshift sling made of a plastic produce bag, ready for launching. Ahh, food fights.

You Missed National Kazoo Day!!!

But the Bangor Daily News didn't.

Kids delight in National Kazoo Day
By Toni-Lynn Robbins
Monday, January 29, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

BANGOR - The Anderson family had a long drive ahead of them Sunday night, gearing up for the three-hour journey back home to Van Buren.

The family of five, however, will not be listening to hard rock on the radio for the return trip, much to Ralph E. Anderson’s dismay.

At 3 p.m. his three children, Tyler, 12, Makayla, 10, and Nicholas, 3, were performing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on their homemade kazoos made during the Maine Discovery Museum’s celebration of National Kazoo Day.

Tyler and Makayla tirelessly hummed into the paper towel rolls decorated with feathers and stickers, each attempting to outdo the rendition of the other.

"That’s what you call premature gray," said Ralph V. Anderson, the children’s grandfather, as he pointed to his son’s hair. The eldest Anderson enjoyed poking fun at his son about the impending drive that inevitably placed three kazoo-armed children in the back seat of the vehicle.

All joking aside, the father of three said he did not mind the tunes, and was happy to see all his children enjoying the same activity.

"This is something we don’t have up there [in Van Buren]," he said. "We come from a family of music, and this is an instrument they didn’t have around."

Early Sunday afternoon, about 10 to 15 children showed up to construct the paper towel masterpieces, with wax paper affixed to one end, which kept smiles on the faces of parents and children alike.

"When I look at the calendar I look for fun opportunities for kids to learn something," said Trudi Plummer, director of education at the museum. "National Kazoo Day is just one of those weird days that people don’t know about."
...
[Source]

Please also note that at some time in the past, the King of Kazoo, Rick Hubbard, who travels the country forming kazoo orchestras, came in touch with Maine. According to his website, "one town in Maine got sponsors to provide kazoos to everyone in town - all 8000 of them." Hmmm... wonder what town that was???

Maine Green Burial Update

Hi all, here's an update on the Orrington "green cemetery" I've been mentioning. The town meeting has occurred, and it looks like everything is going ahead for later this year. Plots will be priced at $300. Nok-Noi Hauger reports for the Bangor Daily News:

"It’s an environmentally friendly cemetery where everything that goes in [the ground] is biodegradable," said Richard Harriman, Orrington code enforcement officer. "That means [biodegradable] wooden caskets, and if you don’t want a wooden casket, you can go in wrapped in Grandma’s rug or as ashes."

A "green" cemetery requires that bodies not be embalmed or be embalmed with nontoxic fluid, caskets be biodegradable, and graves be marked only by simple, flat native stones, with or without engravings.

Native vegetation also could be used to replace conventional gravestones.

Some green cemeteries have plotted lots and others have randomly placed graves, which would be the case in Orrington.

"Some people prefer a [traditional] burial, and some people prefer a natural burial, and some people prefer a burial at sea," said Peter Neal, spokesman for the Brunswick-based Maine Funeral Directors Association. "This is another option."

As a cemetery, the green space would be protected forever from economic development.

The land in Orrington is owned by retired nurse and schoolteacher Ellen Hills, 86, of Solon. She came up with the idea after reading an AARP article in July 2004.
Read more: [Source]

Odd Things & Luminous Women in Winterport

This is an article that appeared in the Bangor Daily News back in December. Thanks to the Haunted Maine mailing list for pointing it out! Here's an excerpt from the article; click on the "Source" link below to read it in its entirety.

New venue's goal: to be a favorite haunt
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Bangor Daily News

When Rick Glencross and Jenny Murphy tell you they serve fine food and spirits at The Fountain House, their restaurant on Main Street in Winterport, they bring a whole new meaning to the word spirits. The restaurant is housed in an old funeral home, which is creepy in its own right. But it’s also one of the oldest houses in Winterport, dating back to the mid-1800s. Capt. John Atwood, a seaman, lived there for many years with his family before James Foley opened a prominent funeral home there in the 1920s.

The mortuary closed in 1992, and the place had fallen into disrepair by the time Murphy noticed it and peeked through its windows. "I fell in love with it," she said. "Initially, we were not going to mention the funeral home history, but then, when we got into the place and odd things happened, it became a thing."

Odd things?

"Yeah, you know, like objects moving in the kitchen, lights going on and off, footsteps in an empty room, voices talking. You name it," Murphy said.

And then there was the luminescent woman who walked by Rick Glencross one night when he was upstairs eating dinner on a TV table near the restaurant kitchen, which is on the second floor.

"You mean Mehetabel?" said Glencross, using the name he has given the vaporous form that walked past, looking neither left nor right. "I’m 54 years old, and I’ve never seen anything like that. I knocked my TV table over to go take a look."

It’s not as if Glencross and Murphy are trying to play down the spooky angle either. The restaurant décor includes posters of pop culture’s most nefarious and in some cases lovable characters, such as the team from "Ghostbusters," Elvira, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Herman Munster of the 1960s TV comedy "The Munsters" and Barnabas Collins, the vampire from another 1960s classic, "Dark Shadows." Black roses, Ouija boards — ghoulish kitsch of all sorts humorously ornament the walls.
...
Every night but Monday, when the restaurant is closed, Glencross either performs — he’s a guitarist and singer — or presents musicians in an adjoining room called the "haunted pub." Its centerpiece is a glass coffee table containing a Victorian wicker viewing casket.

One elderly diner approached Glencross one night and pointed to a parquet section of the wooden floor where caskets were once displayed during visitation hours. According to Glencross, the diner had a rush of memories. "My mother and father were both laid out right here," he said, pointing to the floor. "This was a sad place then, and I want to thank you for making it into a happy place now."[Source]

The Fountain House, which is open at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, is located at 44 Main St. in Winterport. Dinner is served until 9 p.m. weeknights, 10 p.m. weekends. The haunted pub serves bar food beginning at 4:30 p.m. and stays open until after midnight on weekends. Dining reservations are recommended. FMI, call (207)223-4051.

Zombies Ahoy!

As if I didn't have enough stuff to post already today, Chris Wallace finally put up her zombie casting call photos from Emptyhouse Films' new zombie movie, "2".

Click here to see 'em all!

A few of my favorites:
No.2 -- With a moustache!
No.30 -- Do not make the zombies angry!
No. 57 -- It'll cost you an arm and a leg.
No. 72 -- If you're going to be killed by a zombie, it might as well be an impressive zombie! Ouch!
No. 81 -- I heard cleaning your ears was bad for you, but this is ridiculous...

Damariscove Headless Wonder

Thanks to Tracy on the Haunted Maine mailing list for catching this neat item! The Boothbay Register recently printed an article about the "Damariscove Remembered" event. Around 150 people met to tell their stories about Damariscove Island the other weekend. The island was home to one of the earliest American colonies (1605).

One of the stories shared was about the island's legendary headless ghost.

Nobody in Saturday's audience said they had actually seen the headless ghost, but plenty of people referred to the "spookiness" felt at night when overnight camping was still allowed.

June Peabody Elderkin, who grew up on the island while her father served in the Coast Guard, said her dad always called Damariscove "the spookiest place."

According to legend, the ghost is that of Richard Pattishall, owner of the island in the late 1600s, who was beheaded by Indians and thrown, with his dog, into the water, their bodies washing up on Damariscove. Through the years some have said they could hear the dog barking.

There is a beautiful reproduction of an original article about Damariscove from The New England Magazine's September 1874 issue on Cornell University's site. Be sure to look at the illustrations!

Specter Moose Walks Again

Loren Coleman has been hard at work, and in his rounds he has picked up a new gig-- he's going to be writing a regular column for the TAPS Paramagazine. Those of you familiar with the Ghost Hunters series that features TAPS on the Scifi Network with know how exciting this is!

Loren is kicking off his column with a nod to his home state, Maine:

In the January 2007 issue, I write of my investigations of the historical and recent sightings of Maine’s “Mystery Moose,” gigantic reported examples of Alces alces, which look like the animals we call “moose” in Maine. (Of course, for my international readers, it should be noted that the known species are termed “elk” in Europe as well as in almost every other location other than North America and New Zealand.) The cryptid moose of Maine have come down through the decades in the shadowy folklore of the “Specter Moose,” which Michelle Souliere of Strange Maine has highlighted in recent years.

Yippee! Click here to read the rest of Loren's post about this new venture.

If you missed my original post about the moose, you can still read it here.

Maine has its own members of the TAPS Network: North East Paranormal Society, and Maine Paranormal Research Association, now defunct but during its tenure a longstanding group with a great reputation (see interview with founder Bill Washell here). The Central Maine Paranormal Investigations group appears to have taken over from MPRA. Their website is being updated and not all of its links are working yet.

Naked as a Jay Bird... in JANUARY?!

Yep. Maine nudists don't let the cold weather stop them. Back several months ago, we posted about Maine nudist pursuits, but this group has had a great idea for winter fun.

'Bare Nekkid Mainers' enjoy bowling in the raw
January 30, 2007
Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

OLD TOWN, Maine --When members of the Bare Nekkid Mainers rent the Old Town Bowling Center, all they really need are the shoes.

"Hey, you can't go skinny-dipping at this time of year," Hessa, who organizes the gatherings and wanted to be identified only by her first name, told the Bangor Daily News.

Self-described naturist nudists, the Bare Nekkid Mainers belong to an international organization and participate in nudist events throughout the year.

The group used to bowl in Albion, but their venue there closed.

During the three events held at the Old Town center since September, the one-story building was closed with its windows and doors covered. Signs announced that a private party was in progress.

"I have absolutely no problem with it, and I hope nobody else does," Charles "Chip" Carson, the center's owner, said Monday. "They just happen to like having a good time without their clothes on."

Still, on one occasion earlier this month, a man apparently ignored the signs and entered the center with his 8-year-old son.

"I tried to stop him," Hessa said Monday. "He walked through two doors that were covered in paper and had signs."

He apparently saw a nude male playing pool and went to police.

"One of our officers went over there to check," Old Town police Capt. Kyle Smart said Monday.

Police found no violations, and after checking with the city attorney and municipal officials, concluded there has been no wrongdoing.

"We're not doing anything sexually explicit, and we're not out there doing it on Main Street," Hessa said.

About 60 households belong to Bare Nekkid Mainers, and several dozen people have participated in each bowling event in Old Town, the newspaper said.

Carson turns the thermostat up to make his patrons more comfortable and says the events are handled like any private
party.

"Everybody's laughed at it, to be honest with you," he said.
[Source]

Maine nudists have had a devil of the time when they butt up against the general populace, particularly in Maine's larger towns.

BodyFreedom.org [WARNING: Do not click on link if you are offended by images of the nude human body] reports on a 2001 incident in which two Maine women were arrested and then acquitted:

Kathryn Mann and Debra Ballou were arrested in Orono, Maine on November 2, 2001 for merely going jogging. They were arrested and they went to the police station for the usual humiliating routine. They were acquitted in court on January 30, 2002. [source: Paul Rapoport]

"I think everyone should be able to run around naked. I don't think I did anything wrong". (quote from Deb Ballou appeared in Going Natural, Volume 17, Number 1)

Photo: Mike Ritcheson, a truck driver from Southern Maine, bowls at a Bare Nekkid Mainers event at the Old Town Bowling Center in September. (Photo courtesy of Bare Nekkid Mainers and Bangor Daily News)

Brunswick Bigfoot (Smallfooted Variety)

The BFRO (Bigfoot Research Organization) site has a particularly enjoyable post on a mystery simian seen in Maine during the seventies. I remember the first time I read this, I had to giggle, especially when one of the young witnesses says, "I fell right down in front of him and all he did was look at me. I would have known if it were a hippie or something. But it had a regular monkey face. You have seen a monkey before, haven't you?"

Darn hippies.

At any rate, the sighting report is actually a list of consecutive sightings of the creature, all near the Brunswick/Durham area in Maine, during the summer of 1973. Most of the sightings centered around the Jones Cemetery. Witnesses include a variety of people, ranging from age 10 up well into the adult register.

The repetitive nature of the sightings provoked a full scale days-long manhunt, including helicopter scans, and resulted in a cast of a 5-inch or so footprint, which Androscoggin Deputy Sheriff Footman commented on thusly: "Whatever made it weighs 300 or 350 pounds and I can't tell you much more. It's definitely not a bear track. I don't know what's going on here and I'd rather not express an opinion."

Thanks to Nicole Duennebier for reminding me about this fantastic report, and to Loren Coleman for originally posting it on the site back in 1998.

Illustration by yours truly.

Chadbourne: Maine Is the Transylvania of America

Monday's Lewiston Sun Journal had an interview with artist Glenn Chadbourne about his murals in Lewiston (here's one) and collaborations with Stephen King.

Has horror always been your thing?
Horror has been my thing since I was a carpet crawler. I've grown up on a steady diet of EC comics (reads like "Tales from the Crypt") and the old Warren magazines (reads like "Vampirella.") It probably makes me a sick bird.

I'm curious how much Maine has influenced your art.
Again, these stories are like old friends - you know, the horror stuff. I don't know if anybody's ever coined this phrase, but, because we do have Steve, I have always sort of considered Maine (as) ... the Transylvania of America.

Do you notice any theme among your fans; you must have a lot of teenage boys as fans?
You know, you'd think so. You would stereotype (his fans) as young sort of gorehound boys who like to go to the splatter movies. Not so, not so. I get a lot of women my age, housewives. I've had people on their walkers in their 80s come up to me. It's a guilty pleasure to a lot of people. There's a certain level of horror snobbery in my mind in the literary world. A lot of people won't admit to truly liking this stuff. Believe me, they do. [Source]

"Grisly Discovery" in Lyman

What would I do without the New England Anomaly? Especially now that I'm not in front of a computer all day, things like this escape me. But they do not escape the keen eye of the deadly duo of Cranky Yankee and Amos Quito!

Man Accidentally Digs Up 1812 Soldier's Body
Family To Rebury Remains
POSTED: 11:38 am EST January 29, 2007

LYMAN, Maine -- A man who was digging with a backhoe on his property in southern Maine unearthed a War of 1812 soldier's family plot.

"Somehow or another I wound up with a body. It was quite a shock," said Roland Nadeau, who made the grisly discovery last summer.

Nadeau's wife, Pauline, said the family had owned the York County property for 10 years. They had heard rumors that a soldier's grave was in the area, but no one knew exactly where it was or what war he had fought in.

Nadeau's backhoe found the site when it pulled up what turned out to be a man's leg bone.

The Nadeaus notified the local police, who in turn called Maine State Police and the Medical Examiner's Office.

They excavated the rest of the body and found an oval medallion in mint condition, about 3 by 6 inches, inscribed with the name Charles Kimball and his birth date. A few days later, another body turned up, along with part of a casket and some lead lining.

The Medical Examiner's Office returned and removed the additional remains, covered the area with a tarp and some soil and told Nadeau to stop digging.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.
[Source]

The rest of the story can be found here.

An Ignominious Burial in Brunswick

From the History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine:

Some time, probably between 1752 and 1770, one Ann Conner committed suicide by hanging herself from a pine-tree. The magistrate ordered (old Roman law) that she be buried where four roads met, and a stake be driven through her body. It was done on the Harpswell road a little way south of the college. It is said that, although it was in force at that time, this was probably the only instance when the law was put into execution in this country. [Source]

In legal terms, this was called an "ignominious burial." Later in the same book, we learn of a possible motive for Ann's rash action:

[1764.] This year an individual who desired baptism for his two children was obliged to make a public confession of his criminal intimacy with Ann Conner, who subsequently committed suicide. [Source]

New Hampshire "Death Car" Sold

Well, okay, every now and then our neighbors over in New Hampshire get weird too. Thanks as usual to Cranky Yankee over at the New England Anomaly's mailing list for catching this juicy tidbit:

Infamous Nashua Death Car sold for $165,000
January 26, 2007
The Telegraph, http://www.nashuatelegraph.com

NASHUA, N.H. --A 1959 Cadillac known in Nashua (New Hampshire) as the Death Car was a big draw at an auto auction this month.

The car, which experts say is the lowest-mileage '59 Cadillac in the world, sold for 165 thousand dollars at last week's Barrett-Jackson Auction Companys car auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. The winning bidder was a collector from Newport Beach, California.

The blue and white Caddy made news in 1959 when it was found in a parking lot, with the murdered body of its owner, Maurice Gagnon, inside. The car was parked in a police impound garage for nearly 15 years before being released to Gagnon's family.

The family sold it to John Pfanstiehl of Florida a decade later, and he sold it last week. He had kept the Caddy in an
environmentally controlled garage in Florida.

Pfanstiehl said people were fascinated by the car's history, and also because of its low mileage -- 22 hundred 24 miles.

There is an interesting entry about the car at 1959cadillac.com, with extensive information and photos from newspapers at the time of the murder trial, as well as a photo of the car in its restored state.

Brain Harvesting Okay in Maine

I didn't stop to read what this article was about, but I did like the headline. This could open the way for Maine to become the brain harvesting capital of the world!

Green Burial Getting Closer

It's been almost a year since my original post on the potential placement of a "green" burial ground here in Maine. I thought I'd e-mail Ernie Marriner, of the Funeral Consumer Alliance, who was one of the people working on the project, and find out what progress, if any, had been made towards it.

The news is good, and progress is being made, slowly but surely. The current step is working with the Orrington Planning Board to hold a "Pre-Application Conference" for the project at their January 2007 meeting. According to Mr. Marriner, if that goes well, the next step is to submit a formal application for Site Plan Approval in February or March.

Myriad other tasks must also be gotten under way, from completion of soil testing, to surveying, to navigation and execution of a complex pile of legal documents. In closing, Mr. Marriner stated, "An optimistic opening date for the cemetery is July, 2007." Sounds pretty exciting, all 'round. As one of the greenest states around, Maine could sure use a green burial ground for itself.

The Deadly Mist...

Thanks to the New England Anomaly's mailing list for the tipoff about the lastest film to emerge from the crucible of Stephen King's short fiction. This time it's The Mist, found in the book Skeleton Crew . The film is being put together in partnership with Darkwood Productions. Sounds very exciting, all except the part about them NOT FILMING IN MAINE.

Horror movie based on King story to be made in Shreveport
January 18, 2007

SHREVEPORT, La. --A horror movie based on a Stephen King short story will begin shooting in Shreveport late next month.

"The Mist" will be directed by Frank Darabont for Dimension Films, a motion picture unit of The Weinstein Co.

The plans for the movie were confirmed by a company spokesman and are noted on King's Web site.

Kings novella is about a town in Maine that gets enveloped by a supernatural mist. Mysterious creatures of the mist begin attacking humans. A small group of people get trapped in a supermarket and fight to defend themselves and their sanity.

[Source]

Darabont himself was so excited that he released a statement, which was allegedly set to run in Variety magazine. It gives us a little history of the collaboration, which has apparently been in the works for a couple of decades now.

Doing THE MIST is a delight for me on a number of levels. For starters, I've always loved horror as a genre. Not so much the slasher thing, that got tired very quickly in my view, but from my earliest recollection I grew up loving movies that sought to scare the crap out of me, starting with the classic Universal monsters. Well, of course, that love of the genre is what led me to Stephen King's works in the first place, isn't it? So it's time to repay that debt and try to scare the crap out of an audience myself. With Steve's great story, and a little luck, I'm hoping to do just that.

Another reason is, it's a project Stephen King and I have been talking about doing for almost twenty years now, since I first got to know and become friends with the man. In fact, it almost was my first directing project many years ago, but I went classy and did THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION instead. But THE MIST never went away; it's been lurking out there calling my name for a long, long time...and it's time to answer the call; it's time to get down and dirty and make a nasty little character-driven gut-punch horror movie. [...] In a very real sense, I have to thank Danny Boyle, a man I've never met, but whose example in making 28 DAYS LATER really encouraged me. I saw that film, loved it, and thought: Well, why the hell not? Why not go make your scary little movie, shoot it fast, have some fun?
[...]
I can always go back to being the elegant guy later.
[Source]

For more on the story of the production, you may want to also check out an excerpt from a 2004 Fangoria article written when Darabont was typing away at the script.

I wish they would re-release the textbased videogame version of The Mist for Mac...

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?

Legally Adopting Your Lover

Girl loves girl. Girl adopts girl legally. What?!

The Lewiston Sun Journal reported last week on perhaps the strangest case of adoption since Woody Allen's ill-fated romance with his adopted daughter. However, the reasoning behind this episode is more practical, and deals with an issue that all too many people are struggling with these days: how do you establish financial security for your non-traditional partner? Click here to read the full article.

Adult adoption raises complex issues

Monday, January 15, 2007
PORTLAND (AP) - A legal case in which the daughter of an IBM executive who built the company into a computer giant adopted her same-sex partner to ensure her financial security is playing out in a complex legal dispute that is taking place in Maine courtrooms.

Olive F. Watson legally adopted her longtime partner, Patricia A. Spado, in 1991 in probate court in Rockland. Watson is the daughter of the late Thomas J. Watson Jr., who was the CEO of IBM from 1956 to 1971.

At stake is a multimillion-dollar trust fund, the Maine Sunday Telegram reported. At the same time, the case raises questions about whether same-sex couples can use Maine's adoption laws to establish legal rights, including inheritance, denied them because they can't marry.

The relationship between Spado and Watson ended in 1992, and their adoption resurfaced in Maine in 2005 when a lawyer for the Watson family trust filed a motion to annul the adoption. A judge granted the motion on a technicality.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court last week overturned the ruling and sent the case back to Probate Judge Carol Emery with instructions to judge the case on its merits.

The dispute is scheduled for a pretrial conference in Knox County Probate Court on Feb. 7. Another dispute is pending in a court in Connecticut, where Thomas Watson died in 1993.

Adult adoption is legal but rare in Maine. It sometimes occurs when an adult child wants to take the name and formalize a bond with a stepparent who raised him, or to create a path for inheritance between unrelated people.

That was apparently the case when Olive Watson legally adopted Spado 16 years ago. At the time, they were in their 40s and had been together for 14 years.
{snip}
[Source]

Plane Crashes That Never Happened

Peter Noddin wrote in the June 2000 Dirigo Flyer about several "phantom plane crashes" in Maine. In each case eyewitnesses swore that they had seen a plane in distress, but in each case they were proven wrong.

Take the case where 12 people in the Dexter/Dover-Foxcroft area saw a B-17 bomber go down in 1942.

One witness actually saw it fly into one of the ridges, but saw no fire or smoke.

Sheriff's Deputies and State Police responded to the telephone reports of the crash. Local men hiked into the woods to search the area. Dow field rolled a “crash wagon” and detachment of men as well as an aircraft to search the area.

By 4 PM the search was called off. No sign of a crash could be found. No New England base was missing a bomber. At least one witness remained firm in his belief that the plane had crashed and would be found. While a Bangor Daily News reporter phoned in his story that evening, the witness repeatedly cut in on the rural party line to “correct” the assertion that it had only been a crash scare. [Source]

Monsters Make Friends

Loren Coleman noticed an interesting Strange Maine moment on the Lewiston Sun Journal's homepage. Click here to read the full post on Coleman's Cryptomundo website.

The Sun Journal has posted a list (figured logically this time by the number of viewings on their webpage) of their
Top Ten Stories of 2006...
#1 Mysterious beast
#2 Flying object spooks man
#3 Why are sex words our worst swearwords?
#4 Nude teens test Vt. limits
#5 "Like horns of a devil"
#6 Infant left inside car; 2 charged
#7 'Sorry... my baby needs diapers'
#8 City man slain; son charged
#9 Verdict: It's a dog
#10 Car crash kills teen

Please notice, as Coleman points out on his site, that three of the articles listed are about the Mystery Beast of Turner, Maine, and two of the others are also by reporter Mark LaFlamme, who Chris Dunham posted about here just last week. Seems like LaFlamme is just a Strange Maine sort of guy!

Since we're having a LaFlamme lovefest, please let me add that I am very happy to now own my own copy of his book, "The Pink Room," which I picked up at Borders in South Portland (an autographed copy, no less). Portland's public library didn't have a copy back when I first heard about it last year, so to read it I had to get a copy via interlibrary loan. I liked it so much I'm adding it to my permanent library! Creepy and well-written, with dialogue that works naturally with the characters. I hate to compare LaFlamme with Stephen King, because no doubt everyone and their brother does, both of them being from Maine. However, it must be said: Like Stephen King, Mark LaFlamme is a devoted student of the human condition. It shows in his writing.

Honest. Gripping. Intriguing.

And did I mention CREEPY? Good stuff.

Photo: Mark LaFlamme scares himself with the help of a Haunted Forest (VT) actress. More photos on Flickr! WARNING: Graphic content.

Zombies...Coming This Way!!

Day 6 - Those horrible creatures are still outside. They seem to have an uncanny ability to slip out of sight and attack when you least expect it. While their brains appear not to function, they have come up with a clever plan to commit their carnage.
First, a few of the least threatening mill around a table with some hot steamy coffee, while one of them feigns friendliness to the unsuspecting humans. Can't you just hear her saying, "Hey neighbor....care for some freshly made coffee? Sure is cold out today, brrr."


Then when your guard is down due to your craving for a warm beverage, the zombie horde springs - like they do- from around the corner, and clomps terrifyingly towards you. You, who is torn between drinking your coffee like a fool, or escaping the blood thirsty undead.


Unfortunately in the time it takes to think, "hot coffee, or torn apart limb by limb by zombies death...gadzooks!", it's too late. Here a teenager has been swept into the raging zombie cauldron of death, never to be seen again. Oh the horror.....

If anyone was in Biddeford on Saturday, they might have seen many strange looking creatures walking the streets. Or perhaps they are so nonchalant, that they wouldn't even notice someone covered in blood standing in front of them, such as our coffee drinking zombie who reported no reaction from the person taking her toll on the highway,and the clerks and customers in her local convenience store.

Filmmakers Andy Davis and Olin Smith held an open casting call for zombies, which yielded over one hundred zombie hopefuls. People did their best to appear undead, from having elaborate makeup to simple dark smudges around the eyes. Some even showed up with no makeup whatsoever.

I was the official zombie photo- grapher for the day, which meant I got to see every single zombie. My job was to get a head shot of each one. Thankfully I'm not insane and I used my camera, not a rifle. I enjoyed taking everyone's photos, especially the ones who went all out to do their best zombie pose.

After having their photo taken, the zombies were interviewed by Andy and Olin. After a short interview, they were asked to do their best zombie impression, which involved walking towards the camera and making zombie sounds. Some of the sounds coming out of that room were scary, and one was a shrill noise that would put the fear of god into dogs.

The day ended with Andy filming all the zombies that were still outside. Twice they stumbled down the road towards the camera (first slow and then fast). Then they milled around aimlessly, like zombies do, with Andy in their midst.

I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. Let's face it, how many times am I going to get asked to take photos of zombies? A big thank you to Andy for asking me to do this. I had a fantastic time. It was unbelievably cool and I would love to do it again.

For more info on the zombie film, "2", head over to Emptyhouse Film. Also keep checking back for updates on the film as we hear them, plus I will be putting a link to my zombie photos once they are online.

Mark LaFlamme, Strange Maine Reporter

For stories of real and imagined strangeness in Maine, check out Sun Journal columnist Mark LaFlamme's website—especially the Strange News section.

I work the crime beat, for the most part, and there is plenty of strangeness in that world. There are the unsolved murders that still haunt me. There are the heinous crimes that leave all but the killer perplexed. But then there are stories from outside the limits of my beat -- stories of weird creatures prowling the woods; about ghosts in a welfare apartment filled with religious icons; about inexplicable objects that blaze across the sky leaving only a contrail of mystery.

It will take me some time to fish out many of these stories from the archives of my memory. I will post them here as they come to me. In the meantime, here's hoping for new weirdness. Here's hoping that truth remains stranger than fiction.

Join the Zombie Horde - SATURDAY!

Hello future zombies!

Emptyhouse Films' zombie casting will be held on
Saturday, January 13th at 9:00 AM
at 24 Pearl Street, in Biddeford, Maine.

A MAPQUEST from your location can be found at www.mapquest.com or other online mapping service. When you arrive, please find on street parking or park across from MULLIGANS restaurant. The casting will be held at Riverdam Millyard. You'll see signs saying ZOMBIE CASTING.

Emptyhouse Films would like to thank their sponsor for this event. Steven at Riverdam Millyard has really made this possible for them. Please visit Riverdam Millyard at www.riverdammillyard.com.

On hand during casting will be the band that is doing the soundtrack of the film, COVERED IN BEES. You can check out COVERED IN BEES on MySpace or at www.coveredinbees.net. Also on hand will be our writer Al Lamanda, the cast of TWO, Molly Roberts and Jim Roberts and it's producer and cinematographer Olin Smith.

Emptyhouse is requesting that everyone coming to the casting should come made-up as zombies. They know that not everyone has the makeup or the experience, but try your best! Please bring zombie spirit with you!

Also, if you are under 18 years of age, please make sure to have a parent or guardian with you. Everyone will be required to sign press releases upon entering the casting. They will be filming this event for the "behind the scenes" portion of the dvd release. They will also be taking a still picture of you. They will pick their favorite zombies for a few online voting competitions as well.

When you come this Saturday, you'll see a line. Please wait in this line, as they have to register everyone. This may take awhile, so please be patient and have fun while you wait by getting to know your fellow undead legions!

Emptyhouse Films has had a blast reading all of your letters and comments and says, "You guys sound like a very excited bunch of undead creatures! We are looking forward to meeting you all at the event this Saturday."

Please feel free to bring anyone else who may be interested.

If you are coming, please send an RSVP email to jessica.davis718[at]gmail.com and tell her how many people you have
coming. This will allow Emptyhouse to send you an e-mail in case of any changes, such as a snow date.

Thanks and hope to see you there! Strange Maine correspondent Chris Wallace will be covering the event, since I'm stuck at work all day.

For those of you who haven't heard about this film yet, here is the lowdown:
Andy Davis' story is being turned into a script co-written with author Al Lamanda. Olin Smith and John Lane (Lobsteroids) will be producing. Davis will also be directing and it looks pretty good for some great special effects by Robert Dipitriantonio. Ross Kearny will be helping out with makeup. Here's the official press release and synopsis:

Zombies to roam the Maine Countryside!
A new film from Motion Media/Emptyhousefilm.

A new feature length film is in the works from the creators of "Mud" and "I'm Sorry". Motion Media and Emptyhouse Film announced that their latest project titled "2" will be shooting in and around southern Maine, starting this month.

The film will be co-produced by Olin Smith (Mud, I'm Sorry) and John Lane who is currently in the pre-production on "The Novice" starring Chuck Norris. "It's very exciting, last year we completed two feature films right here in Maine and we just keep building, adding new creative forces each time," said Producer Olin Smith.

"2" is a zombie survivalist film co written by published author Al Lamanda (Dunstan Falls) and Andy Davis (Mud). "This is a film I have always wanted to make. I grew up on zombie films and think that our story will make a nice addition to zombie film lore. We came up with some very interesting ideas and I can't wait to see the final outcome," said writer/director Andy Davis.

"2" tells the story of two survivors of a biological attack that has turned the world upside down and how they deal with their situation. "2" stars C. James Roberts (Mr.Barrington) and Molly Roberts (The Dark). "I am very impressed with the talents of both James and Molly. We're all looking forward to seeing them carry out the story," said Co-Producer John Lane.

Soundtrack music is being created by the Portland based band "Covered in Bees." The band has been featured on Troma Films' upcoming release Poultrygeist's soundtrack. A music video will be shot for the release of "2". The band can be found on the web at www.coveredinbees.net and on MySpace, where samples of some of their songs are available.

Shooting is scheduled to begin in January. A website for "2" has been set up at www.emptyhousefilm.com and will feature interactive flash based games as well as interactive media in the coming months. "2" will utilize many Southern Maine locations, shooting in Freeport, Biddeford, and Porter. In addition to using Maine locations, "2" will require many Maine residents to portray the living dead.

More information on "2" can be found at www.emptyhousefilm.com.

Photo of Covered In Bees by Michelle Souliere, (c)2005.

Presentation of...?

I was pointed to a recently produced online video that looks like it is supposed to be shown to prospective Portland business investors. It has a very strange feel to it. What do you think?

Click here to check it out.

The company behind this particular vision of Portland, Maine, is Groff Video. They have a long and varied client list, including everyone from uber-local standards such as L.L. Bean, the Opportunity Farm for Boys, and Shipyard Brewery, all the way to the big boys in the national arena, like Nickelodeon, Toon Disney, and International Championship Wrestling.

The odd thing about the video is that the feel I got for Portland as they portrayed it somehow managed to make it look like any other prosperous city. It didn't show the personality of the Portland I know, which is diverse and creative. It looked appealing, just not that interesting. I'd be curious to see what you all think...

A Sea Serpent Sermon?

On Channel 6 (WCSH-NBC) here in Portland, they air segments from the First Radio Parish Church each morning which used to drive me up a wall. They call them Daily Devotions. Now, lately, the Reverend has gotten more interesting. His television persona has gotten noticeably more wound up and animated (see wacky photo from his website, shown here, for an example). Also, I've noticed that sometimes his choice of story used to illustrate his point are quite... surprising.

Loren Coleman caught one that I totally missed, in which Rev. Peter B. Panagore talks about, of all things, a sea serpent sighting. Click here to read the summary and transcription of the on air segment.

MaineToday.com's Colleen Stone, who runs the "From Away" blog on their site, was moved by one episode of Daily Devotions to describe the Reverend's modus operandi for these segments as follows:

Panagore tells some sort of story and you often have no idea where it's going and then, at the end, it all makes sense. Like, "Of course, don't steal! Be nice to people! The beach was a metaphor for our journey through life!"

Click here to read the original post in its entirety.

Panagore's mulitmedia endeavours are not limited to television. He also has available a CD called "When I Died It Was Beautiful."

Strange Maine Patents

Google's new Patent Search makes it easy to find weird inventions that sprang from the brains of Mainers.

Charles Burt of Belfast would not have been a member of Greenpeace. He patented his Exploding Harpoon in 1851 in an effort to keep the whale population under control.

Henry D. Sprague of Portland's 1866 Improvement in Coffins involved mounting a mirror inside so that mourners wouldn't have to lean over the body to get a good look.

I'm glad that Arvid Ek's design for a Water Closet never caught on. It would have required that the user crouch over the toilet "and thereby increase the expulsive forces of the colon."

Josie Baldwin of Tremont invented a Chest Bandage for "effectively and continuously extracting superfluous milk from the breasts of a pregnant woman." The model doesn't seem to be enjoying it.

And, speaking of milking, no fewer than six patents for cow-tail holders were issued between 1890 and 1936. Apparently Maine milkers were especially prone to getting swatted by errant cow tails.

You Have the Right to a Headbutt -- NOT!

The Lewiston Sun Journal reported today on a case that has been pending since last August, in which a Portland Police officer was accused of head-butting a photographer who also happens to be homeless.

Cong Van Nguyen pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and agreed to pay a $1,000 fine. In return, prosecutors dropped an assault charge that probably would have ended his career as a police officer had he been convicted.

The charge stemmed from a complaint filed in August 2005 by Peter Coltart, who claimed that Nguyen angrily confronted him and then head-butted him in the mouth when he walked in front of the officer's cruiser on Congress Street. Coltart was not seriously hurt. Nguyen has been on leave without pay since he was indicted last February. He now faces possible discipline from his department and the trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, who oversee police certification.
...
Coltart could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but a prosecutor said he had been informed about the plea agreement and approved of it.

Nathaniel Kuritz, who witnessed the confrontation, said he's concerned about the possibility of Nguyen returning to the force. He said he saw Nguyen jump up to hit the taller Coltart with his head.

"I don't think that there should be second chances given to officers who are supposed to protect people and then do things like this," Kuritz said. "Hopefully he's learned his lesson."

Nguyen, a refugee from Vietnam when he came to Portland in 1975 at age 5, was the first Asian officer on the department when he was hired in 1997.
[Source]

Back in August, Coltart's own account of the event, along with that of eyewitnesses', was published on a police misconduct monitoring site.

08/18/2005 - PORTLAND, Maine -- Under state law, the penalty for jaywalking these days is a fine no less than $25 and no more than $500. Unless, of course, you're Peter Coltart.

He got head-butted.

Hard to believe, but according to Coltart and three eyewitnesses, it's true: After he walked in front of a police cruiser on Congress Street in downtown Portland last week, Coltart found himself face-to-face with an irate police officer, Cong Van Nguyen. And by the time their not-so-private tete-a-tete ended, witnesses say, the significantly shorter Nguyen was on his tiptoes driving his upper forehead into Coltart's face.

"I really don't want a whole lot," Coltart, 27, said this week. "But I definitely think the officer needs to be somehow reprimanded for this. Someone has to explain to him how to respond to a situation in the proper way."
...
While Police Chief Michael Chitwood said Tuesday that Nguyen denies head-butting Coltart in broad daylight outside Paul's Food Center on Aug. 1, three witnesses with no connection to either man say that's exactly what happened.

"Oh, yeah, I definitely saw it," recalled Sayre English, who works for a nearby advertising agency and saw the whole thing from the sidewalk on Congress Street. "As soon as it happened, I was like 'Oh my God! That cop just head-butted that guy!' "

According to the written complaint he filed with the Portland Police Department, here is Coltart's version of what happened:

Coltart, a freelance photographer who also happens to be homeless, was crossing against a green light at Congress Street and Forest Avenue on Aug. 1 when he passed in front of a police cruiser, forcing the driver to slow down. Moments later, as Coltart walked on the sidewalk, Nguyen pulled up alongside him in the cruiser, got out and hollered, "Hey (expletive)!"

"Excuse me?" replied Coltart.

"Hey (expletive)," the officer repeated. "Learn how to cross the (expletive) road."

Coltart asked if Nguyen could at least "be a little more civil." Several times, he said, Nguyen replied, "What are you going to do about it?" and at one point shoved Coltart in the chest.

"I'll admit I was a little angry," Coltart wrote in his statement. "And I said, 'Why don't you stop harassing me and get the hell out of here? I haven't done anything. Stop pushing me.' "

Finally, Coltart said, Nguyen turned and began walking back toward his cruiser. Still angry, Coltart yelled, "Good. Get outta here and leave me alone."

At that point, he said, Nguyen "turned around, marched back up to me . . . and head-butted me directly in my face."

"I lifted my hand to my face to make sure there was no blood, that my nose had not been broken or that my teeth had been knocked out," Coltart said. Despite the pain, he said, there was no serious damage.

Coltart said Nguyen then told him, "I'll see you down at the headquarters," got back in his cruiser and drove away. Coltart immediately got out his notebook and started asking bystanders for their names and telephone numbers.

From there, he made a beeline for Portland police headquarters. At first, he said, he was told that he could not file a formal complaint because "I was trying to provoke the officer." But later last week, police finally took his statement.

Chitwood, who will leave Portland on Friday for his new job as police chief in Upper Darby Township, Pa., said the matter is under investigation by the department's internal affairs unit. But he added that "preliminary" information from Nguyen, who was not available for an interview Tuesday, suggests that Coltart was looking for a confrontation with the officer.

"(Nguyen) is a very small officer," Chitwood said. "At one point, the guy (Coltart) is standing over him saying 'What are you going to do about it?' and (Nguyen) pushes him back. That's it."

And the head-butting?

"Nguyen claims he never head-butted anybody," Chitwood replied.

Which brings us back to English, who was walking to Paul's Food Center with Nathaniel Kuritz, a co-worker at Garrand & Co., when they saw the top of Nguyen's head meet the bottom of Coltart's face.

Is there any chance they were mistaken?

"None," English replied. "None at all."

Echoed Kuritz, "We saw the officer jump in the air and head-butt (Coltart) and we're like, 'Wow! What's going on?' I've never seen that done before -- and (Nguyen) had to actually jump to get (Coltart's) head."

Also watching was Leonard Weiss, who lives in an apartment building on Congress Square. Upon hearing Nguyen's and Coltart's raised voices, Weiss said, he turned to look just in time to see the officer push Coltart in the chest.

"The next thing I know, the kid and (Nguyen) get real close and the officer butts him with his head," Weiss said. "I said, 'What the heck? Right there in broad daylight.' "

Coltart, for the record, has a criminal trespass charge pending against him in Lewiston, stemming from his alleged crossing of a police line during Laura Bush's visit there last year. He has had a handful of other encounters with Portland police in recent weeks -- he said most involved them asking him for identification and none have led to any charges against him.

Coltart said he's fallen on hard times since he graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. He now spends his nights at the Milestone Foundation shelter on India Street and his days walking around downtown Portland, working on a photography project about life in the city.

Coltart insists that he's not trying to follow in the footsteps of plaintiffs whose $672,000 in settlements with the city prompted the two-year Justice Department investigation that ended last summer. (A follow-up letter last month from the feds praised the city for its "progress" in training officers about the use of force.) At the moment, he said, he has no plans to sue anybody.

So why take his complaint public?

"Because if you're homeless in Portland and you walk around with a knapsack on your back, you do get treated differently," Coltart said. "I think people need to know that."
[Source]

This is not Coltart's first run-in with police aggression. Back in 2003, he was, in fact, carrying a press card from the Lewiston Sun Journal itself (interesting!) when he attended the February 15th anti-war rally in New York City, after which he was quoted in a Village Voice article as follows:

The police definitely used "rough tactics," said Peter Coltart, a 24-year-old photographer who traveled from Maine to New York to cover the rally. Coltart, who carries a press pass from the Lewiston Sun Journal, spent several hours in the packed blocks of the East Fifties, watching police push the demonstrators around. "Sometimes when I put a camera up, they'd be more careful," he said, "but other times if I tried to take a picture, they would either put their hand up or tell me to move along."

Coltart claimed that one officer knocked him down three times and another picked him up off the street and threw him. The first incident occurred at an intersection where protesters were densely packed on the sidewalk, facing a line of cops on foot and on horseback. The police were pushing people back so buses and cranes could come through. "I was standing there taking photographs," he recalled. "Me and the cop were facing each other and the cop said, 'You've gotta move.' " The next thing he remembers is, "I got knocked down by a police officer. I was on the ground, got up, and got knocked down again. I was knocked down three times and trampled on by other protesters."

Later, Coltart arrived on a side street where protesters had begun a mass sit-down. Police were telling people to get up and arresting them if they did not. "I saw this guy lying down getting arrested," Coltart recalled. "I ran out toward the street, got on my stomach in front of the guy, and popped off two frames. Then all of a sudden, I was floating. A big cop reached down—he must have weighed over 200 pounds. I weigh 150. He grabbed my jacket with one hand and picked me up. I kept shooting. He threw me back into the crowd. I don't think I landed on my feet."
[Source

Happy 2007!

Greeting from the future! Here we are in 2007. It's ridiculously warm for January. That's pretty strange. What else is new?

Well, the Strange Maine Gazette's 7th issue is out on the streets, and I'll be mailing my out-of-town copies shortly (thanks to all those hardy souls who distribute it for me). So far, copies have been dropped off at Strange Maine the store, the Maine Historical Society's library lobby, Coffee By Design on Congress Street in Portland (across from Geno's), and more copies will be making their way into the city by chance over the next week or so.

In a cooperative effort, the Gazette will also be teaming up with the Portland Banner. Back issues of the Banner, heretofore unavailable, will soon be accessible in an archive hosted on one of my other websites, Bad Cakes/Bad Influences. We're still settling the format, and whatnot, but this is a resource we're excited to make available for Banner fans, and Portland's reading public in general.

WELCOME TO 2007, EVERYONE!!!