Strange scrapbook on eBay

Someone is selling on eBay a reproduction of an unusual scrapbook from 1879. One wonders what kind of person collected these clippings.

This is a fascinating copy of an old 1879 scrapbook loaded with news clippings about the states of Maine and Vermont. There are thousands of long lost and forgotten news items, covering all aspects of life including murders, freak accidents, all variations of crime, disease, etc.

If you imagined Vermont and Maine quaint and pastoral in 1879, you might be shocked to see some of this stuff. There were really horrible axe murders, painful (and usually fatal accidents), all sorts of mayhem. It's all a surprising collection of information. Among the countless articles - a man jumps out his window to escape burglars and is impaled on a picket fence, a blind man trampled by horses, a bold robbery, a wandering girl dies in the forest,

A man attacks his wife in a potato field with an axe,

a girl falls down a pipe and is killed, a train smashes into a team of horses, a woman burned to death by dropped lantern, a freak chicken hatched with three bills and three pairs of eyes, loads of suicides by hanging, gunshots and slit throats, cries of murder as a husband and wife fight, countless destructive fires, lots of people drowning in ponds, lakes steams, etc.

Stephen King on Today Show

According to the StephenKing.com newsletter, King will be making an appearance on The Today Show on Tuesday, January 22nd, but they do not have the exact time for his segment yet. The Today Show has provided the following link for fans to send in questions for Steve. They will select questions from those submitted which will then be incorporated by the show's anchor during his interview.

This is a terrific chance if you have a question for King you've been dying to ask -- they are requesting viewers send in their questions for King here on their website: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/22687525/

Priscilla Presley: not horsing around!

A remarkable story out of Palermo, Maine, appeared in the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel. Back in July 2007, a family of 6 horses was saved from a Quebec slaughterhouse by a small group of Mainers. Six months later, during a fundraising drive, the group found themselves in contact with the one and only Priscilla Presley!

Rescued horses go to Graceland
Priscilla Presley adopts animals saved from slaughterhouse by Palermo woman
By MEGHAN V. MALLOY,Staff Writer
01/18/2008

PALERMO -- Max will never be able to thank Carol-Terese Naser for saving his life. He will never be able to thank Priscilla Presley for adopting him and giving him a new home. Then again, Max is a 3-year-old bay horse.

Max and his brother, Merlin, a magnificent chocolate-colored creature, were scheduled to be slaughtered -- along with four other horses in their family in Quebec -- last summer. Naser, who has had horses of her own since she was a child, stepped into action and bought all six horses just days before they were to be taken to the slaughterhouse.
...
Naser and her friend Cathy Cleaveland found out soon enough that it wasn't easy -- or cheap -- to care for six horses. So they decided to start fundraising.

"We sent T-shirts to celebrities we knew were passionate about animals," Cleaveland said. "We requested they autograph the shirt, then send it back. We were going to auction them."
...
Nothing, however, prepared Naser or Cleaveland for the phone call that would change Max's and Merlin's lives.

"I answered the phone and Priscilla Presley was on the other end," Cleaveland recalled with a laugh. "I didn't believe it at first."
...
An animal lover, Presley told the women she wanted to adopt Max and Merlin to give them a permanent home at Graceland, the nearly 14-acre spread, 23-room mansion in Memphis that Elvis shared with Priscilla and their daughter until the couple's divorce in the early 1970s.

"I have always had a bond with horses," Presley said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "Elvis gave me my very first horse. It was the horses that made Graceland home to us." Presley, who called herself "the kid who had to rescue all the animals" growing up, said that when she received the T-shirt from Naser and Cleaveland, the story of the near-slaughter struck her.

"It haunted me," Presley said. "I couldn't sleep because I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to do that."
...
Max arrived at the estate Jan. 10 -- two days after what would have been Elvis Presley's 73rd birthday, Naser said. Merlin will follow in the spring. Presley, who called Naser's saving act "an unbelievable labor of love," said it is her desire to educate people about horse slaughter, including spreading the word about a national call-in day Tuesday to permanently ban the practice.

"I know the bill (to ban the practice) is stalled right now and I have no idea why," Presley said. "I would urge everyone to call their senators and U.S. representatives about this." ...

Read full article here: [Source]

EVENT: Saturday, Spirits Alive meeting

Spirits Alive is the group that has been doing a great job at restoring and revitalizing Portland's Eastern Cemetery.

Join them for their first annual meeting! On Saturday, January 19, 2008, they will be holding a meeting to review the events of 2007 and to look forward to 2008. Everyone is invited to come to One Longfellow Square (at State and Congress Streets) in Portland, Maine. The festivities start at 2:30 pm and run until 3:30 pm. Get there early and be challenged by their giant Eastern Cemetery crossword puzzle, view 2007 activities, and give them your ideas about the Eastern Cemetery on their re-imagination wall. Enter to win a fabulous Eastern Cemetery tee and tour tickets! They'll be announcing their Spirits Alive Membership Program, and you'll have the chance to join! Visit them online at http://www.spiritsalive.org/

Also of note is their upcoming lecture series, kicking off a week from Saturday with:

Death & Commemoration on the Frontier: An Analysis of Early Gravestones in Cumberland County, Maine, 1720-1820
Saturday, January 26
10:00 am - 11:15 am
One Longfellow Square, 181 State Street, Portland, ME

Joy M. Giguere, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at the University of Maine, will give an illustrated lecture about 18th century burial practices and gravestones in Cumberland County. This talk will provide an examination of early gravestones in Cumberland County ranging in dates from 1720 to 1820 and what they indicate about early commemorative, social and ideological patterns of Maine residents during this period.

Ms. Giguere will discuss different types of gravestone iconography (winged death's head, cherub, urn and willow, etc.) and the distribution of these types over time and space. She will also provide a discussion of the works of two local carvers, Noah Pratt and Joseph Sikes, as well as an analysis of epitaph language and its usage over time.

Others have completed in depth research on this type of information in more southern regions of New England, but there has been little investigation into gravestones as cultural artifacts on the Maine landscape, which effectively functioned as the northern frontier of English settlement through the colonial period of American history. A question and answer session will follow.

Admission is free and open to the public (donations accepted) and beverages will be available for purchase.

Worst Logging Truck Nightmare

Many Mainers who have driven the roads near northern woods in our state know to stay well away from logging trucks on the back roads, though we unavoidably find ourselves driving near them on larger roads. There is always a certain amount of worry that something will go wrong with their load or the driver's field of vision (which we allow to ourselves is a paranoid fantasy), even in broad daylight on a good solid road when paired with them.

WMTW-TV8 reported this morning on a terrible hit-and-run which happened just after 5pm on Wednesday night (yesterday) which is the result of a Maine driver's worst nightmare:

NEW VINEYARD, Maine -- ...According to investigators, the truck was traveling along Route 27, about 3 miles north of Farmington, when it lost its load and crushed a car in the oncoming lane, touching off a multi-vehicle collision.

The driver of the car was killed, while two people in a second vehicle suffered minor injuries.

Police said the driver of the lumber truck did not stop and left the scene.

[Source]

From WCSH-6, more info, including a number to call if you have any information:

They say the falling lumber struck two cars in the opposite lane from the southbound truck. A man alone in one of the cars was killed. His identity has not been made public.

The driver of the second car, Katherine Jones, and her passenger were checked by ambulance personnel and released at the scene. Both vehicles were a total loss.

The truck driver did not stop at the scene, and is now being sought. Anyone who may have witnessed the accident is asked to call the Sheriff's Dept. at 1-800-773-2680.

[Source]

Getting Egged for Christmas

A friendly fan down in New Mexico who hails originally from Westbrook, Maine, sent this Portland Press Herald article along to me back in December. It's still worth a reprint -- talk about bureaucracy run amuck! Yes, our eggnog contains eggs. What did you expect...?? (Thanks Melissa!!)

Egg in nog? No joke, says Smiling Hill
By BILL NEMITZ
November 18, 2007

When your family owns and operates a place called Smiling Hill Farm, you tend to go through life with a grin. But last week, the best Warren Knight could manage was a grimace. It started with a spot inspection from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- it happens every year or two at the Westbrook dairy farm and has never been a big deal.

But this time was different. Looking over a fresh batch of the Smiling Hill egg nog, the inspector did a double take: The bottle cap -- the only place on the otherwise all-glass container with any printing -- was out of federal compliance.

How so?

"Eggs were not listed as an ingredient," Knight recalled. Egg, you see, is an allergen. As such, the inspector told Knight, it must be explicitly listed as an ingredient somewhere on the one-and-three-eighths-inch-wide cap.

"But the cap says 'Egg Nog!' " protested Knight.

Didn't matter.

"But we're limited by cap space," Knight persisted. What's more, they can't start slapping warning labels onto their reusable bottles without gumming up the bottle washer.

Not the feds' problem.

Then things turned really sour. The FDA notified the Maine Department of Agriculture that all Smiling Hill egg nog on store shelves -- about 400 gallons at that point -- had to be recalled to protect people with egg allergies who don't know there's egg in egg nog.

Enter, not a moment too soon, Ashley Slattery, Maine's dairy inspector.

"We really didn't want to do a recall," Slattery said Friday. Still, she added, the FDA wanted something on that cap "so the people would know egg nog contains eggs."

Umm ... wouldn't people already know that by the name of the product?

"You'd think so," Slattery said.

So here's the deal. No recall, but Knight agreed to have his label redesigned to include the ingredients and, in the meantime, affix a warning label to every bottle of egg nog that leaves his farm. Knight headed for Staples Thursday and bought a bunch of red, one-inch-round labels. Then he fired up his computer and printed "WARNING Contains EGGS" twice on each one.

Then he and the rest of the family spent the day cutting each label in half and affixing the semi-circular warnings to the cap on each bottle -- being careful not to encroach on the bar code.
...
It's not that Knight has anything against enforcing food safety regulations.

"The health and safety of our customers is foremost," he said. "Since without them, we cease to exist."

But Knight checked with the National Institutes of Health and found that .05 percent of the U.S. population is allergic to eggs. And he has a strong hunch that every last one of those poor folks already knows that egg nog contains eggs.
...
Full article available online here: [Source]

One foot in the grave...

As you might have noticed, I'm catching up on some slightly-older news items that have been sitting in my inbox patiently awaiting my attention over the last few months. One of the more singular "weird news" items was pointed out to me by the folks at the New England Anomaly, as well as one of the editors over at our local Port City Life magazine. It originally appeared in the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel back in October.

Grave mishap: Funeral director now recovering after fall in cemetery and hearse ride to hospital
By BETTY ADAMS, Staff Writer
10/10/2007

AUGUSTA -- There are falls from grace and falls into graves.
Take Leo Murphy's, for instance.

One misstep at the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery during a Sept. 20 burial service, and the longtime funeral director from Augusta found himself in a grave, looking up through a cloud of dust.

"I fell in the grave backwards," Murphy said, two and a half weeks into his recovery. "I hit my left side on the corner of the grave. All of a sudden, I saw a cloud of dust, and that's where I was in the hole."

A gloved hand reached down and Murphy, who will be 80 in two weeks, reached up with his right hand and was raised from the grave.
...
Then his son, Pat, convinced him to get into the Plummer Funeral Home hearse to ride to the emergency room at MaineGeneral Medical Center.

"I was in the front seat when the security guard came around," Murphy said. "He said, 'Usually they don't come in this end.'"

Murphy was treated for two fractured ribs and a chest wall contusion, said another son, Michael.
...
He said it was his first mishap at a grave in his 61 years as a funeral director.
...
Full article available online here: [Source]

Maine scientist searches for truth

A confirmed skeptic, as well as a professor of biology and molecular forensics, Irv Kornfield has taken it upon himself to do what he can to clear up some questions about mystery beasts in Maine and elsewhere. There's a great article about Kornfield's work that was written by Kathryn Skelton for the Lewiston Sun Journal back in early November 2007.

Cryptomundo has posted the article as well, with accompanying photos by Amber Waterman of the Sun Journal. Photo shown also by Amber Waterman.

A personal approach to haunting

Joshua Fisher e-mailed me back in December to say hi and to let me know about his blog, which is focused on his own exploration of a spirit he believes contacted him in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland. Throughout his investigation, and more recently through his blog, Sarah Haskell's Ghost, Josh has done a ton of research, and been contacted by some of Sarah's relatives with further information.

For those interested in doing their own independent historical research, whether as part of a ghost-hunting investigation or simply for genealogical purposes, reading Josh's posts will give you an idea of what is involved, and namely, how tenacity in research is your best resource. When one lead dead-ends, find another to move onto. In most cases, it is this technique that will be fruitful. Be patient, realize it may take a while, and settle in to get to know your research subject!

While some of you may find Joshua's paranormal pursuits a little stranger than standard research, the blog is worth a read regardless.

Photo is from Josh's blog.

CFP: Maritime History Symposium

Call For Papers

Maritime History Symposium

at Maine Maritime Museum

"Life in the Shipyard and Life at Sea"

April 11-13, 2008

Save the dates and spread the word, whether you have any inclination to
speak, yourself!

We invite suggestions or self-nominations for speakers at our Maritime
History Symposium, sponsored by the Albert Reed & Thelma Walker Fund, which
Maine Maritime Museum is running this year for the 36th time. The dates of
the program this year are April 11-13, 2008. This will be the first time we
have ever abandoned our usual first-weekend-of-May time slot, which we are
doing because of evidence that a May conference was cutting into people's
gardening and lawn mowing time.

This year's theme will concentrate on the social history side of the
maritime world, especially on aspects of the lives of people working on
vessels or in shipyards (or boatyards). Wages, health, food, education and
training, clothing, religion and morality, leisure activities, folk art,
punishment and family life are all possibilities. If you have similar ideas
and are not sure they would be appropriate, just ask. This year we are
pretty open, but we are looking for presentations on people, not ships.

The length of the individual talks will depend on how many speakers we end
up with. Usually, speakers have 45 minutes each. Any form of AV enhancement
is encouraged, but not required.

Nathan R. Lipfert, Senior Curator

Maine Maritime Museum

243 Washington Street

Bath, Maine 04530

207-443-1316, ext 328, fax 207-443-1665

www.mainemaritimemuseum.org

lipfert[at]maritimeme.org

Eerie voice of the future

Quietly, persistently, the Old Time Radio culture of bygone years has worked its magic on a select audience of new listeners. With the dawning of the digital era, and easy online access to uncopyrighted material thought long-lost, interest in the old audio dramas has not only revived, but also increased. Now, worthy successors to such serial masterpieces as Arch Oboler’s Lights Out and other creepy utterances such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries and the Weird Circle are finally emerging from within our midst.

Witness the folks at Mind’s Eye Productions, home of the newly christened Horrorscopes, whose roots lie in the Rocky Coast Radio Theatre and the Nightmares on Congress Street series of full cast horror stories, available on Amazon.com, Audible.com, and elsewhere (try starting at http://www.mindseyeproductions.com/).

I sat down with Maine's own William Dufris, founder of the company, for an interview early this month, which I’ll be posting parts of on the blog as I transcribe it. He has teamed up with Maine horror author Rick Hautala to unleash their 2008 series. I suspect we will not be disappointed, if their past productions are any indication.

Dufris has some favorites in the company’s repertoire, including the War-of-the-Worlds-style original “The Horror of Walker Point” by Anthony Marino, which takes place as a live broadcast in downtown Portland with horrific results. Other delicious tidbits include classics like H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Statement of Randolph Carter” and previously unheard originals such as “The Cabin in the Woods” by Clay Graybeal, which will make you think twice about inheriting that seemingly idyllic cabin in the Maine woods from your well-meaning relative.

Pick whichever tale you like, the care put into these productions is evident, creating a convincing and compelling audible world that will swallow you into its sweetly screaming oblivion. For a sample, visit http://www.radiodramarevival.com/ and pull up Episode 38, which is one of Dufris’ most recent recordings, an adaptation of horror legend William Hope Hodgson’s “The Derelict,” about a crew of sailors that finds a strange boat adrift in the endless ocean, and discovers all too gruesomely the reason for its abandonment! From the creak of the oars to other, less friendly sounds that the sailors encounter, listeners will find themselves walking with them every horribly fascinating step of the way.

Dufris confided his surprise that none of his neighbors came to investigate the noises being made in his garage during the recording of “The Cabin in the Woods.” I suspect they were scared away.

NOTE: More samples of chilling tales are available as part of Radio Drama Revival's 2007 Halloween Extravaganza. Enjoy!

Pet Cemetery haunting on A&E

First off, I apologize for not posting this info until after the airing of this show, but I only found out myself after the fact!

A&E is the latest station to pilot a ghost-hunting related series. Their series is called Paranormal State, and follows the investigations of the students who run the Penn State Paranormal Research Society.

This past week, on Monday, January 7th, they aired the "Pet Cemetery" episode, which takes place in Maine:

Ryan and his team investigate the bizarre haunting of a woman and her dog in isolated Waterboro, Maine. The Labrador was chewing at her own fur and standing on guard on the bed, growling at unseen figures. Her master, Sybil, began hearing strange noises. As PRS discovers, Lucy may not be the first canine to experience the phenomena--at least four other animals died violently on the property. PRS unravels the mystery culminating in a gruesome discovery deep in the woods.

For those who missed the show, the episode is available in three installments on YouTube (start here with Part 1).

Viewers may also be interested in reading the A&E message boards about the episode, where prior residents of the house and other locals are weighing in.

All Signs Point to Zombies, Monsters, and Music

Don't miss the big event tonight at Merrill Auditorium. It's billed as A Night of Maine Film and Music, featuring two movies by Empythouse Film - the world premiere of "Monster in the Woods" and a screening of zombie flick, "2" - plus music by local bands Live Studio Audience and Covered in Bees. Don't miss it!

For those of you who missed the Zombie March in Portland last night, shame on you! Here's some photos of the event, where fun was had by all! Luckily it stopped raining by the time the zombies hit the streets.






(all photos (c) Chris Wallace)

You can see more photos from the Zombie March here.

Zombie Bliss

In spite of the cold, and the rain that plagued Portland up until about an hour before the event, the Emptyhouse Film sponsored zombie march was remarkably well-attended, with about two dozen folks present, many in zombie makeup. Channels WMTW-8 and WGME-13, as well as the Press Herald were present. I heard that some other local papers sent reporters, but I'm not sure who else was represented.

Biker zombie and daughter enoy the pretty lights in the trees around the square (photo by Michelle Souliere). See a few more photos here on Flickr, mostly before and after the march (one must try to stay in character during these things!). No word on how the clientele at David's responded.

Fun was had by all, and as the event broke up, happy promises were made to meet again tomorrow night at the big Maine Film and Music extravaganza at the Merrill Auditorium! Ahhh, zombies.

Waterproof Zombies!!!

Andy Davis reminds all zombies that tonight's Zombie March in Portland's Monument Square is a rain or shine event!!!

Zombie March on Portland this Friday !

For our Strange Maine Readers - Just received this morning, via MySpace:

“JOIN THE ZOMBIE MARCH ON PORTLAND!”

Hey all you zombie brothers and sisters! We are now at the one year anniversary of the Zombie casting call that we held for “2”. We thought it would be an awesome time to have a Zombie March on Portland!

Friday night, January 11th meet us at Monument Square in Portland at 7:30 pm for a walk you’ll never forget! Dress up as your favorite zombie and join the crowd!We’ll be taping this for the special features on the “2” DVD and we are scheduled to be on WCYY at the same time, we also hope to get some TV cameras out there so you can get on the news!

Please email our good friend and “Zombie Wrangler” Shawn French at themoviehippy@gmail.com and let him know you’ll be coming to join us.The more the merrier, so bring all your undead friends, relatives and co-workers. Let’s make this an event to be talked about!

Also, don’t forget that we will be showing MONSTER IN THE WOODS and “2” at the Merrill Auditorium on the 12th. Covered In Bees (see also: http://www.myspace.com/coveredinbees )and Live Studio Audience will each perform a set and there will be special guests like Tim Sample. Call Porttix at 207-842-0800 to score your tickets.

Special Thanks to Mordicai Sulk for the artwork on the attached flier! His work can be seen at http://www.needmorebrains.com/

http://www.wblm.com/

has updated their homepage with lots of movie goodness too; if you have a chance, check them out!We look forward to seeing you on the 11th and 12th! Please repost this as many places as you can, MYSPACE, boards, etc!

Thanks!

Andy Olin and John

Spotted in Portland: SASQUATCH!

I happened to be in a car driving down Spring Street just before 3:00pm today, which wound up stopped at the light at the corner of Temple Street and Spring Street. What did I see, but a furry bipedal humanoid sporting about in the freezing cold weather.

I can only hope his furry pelt was protecting him! He was surrounded by paparazzi, catching reaction shots of the citizenry, including myself and my roommate, who just about had a fit, startled as she was by the sight.

What were those crazy guys at Emptyhouse Film up to? Well, whatever it was, they were having fun. *grin* Thanks for making our afternoon so surreal!!!

Don't forget that they're running a premiere showing of their latest Maine-based film, Monster in the Woods at the Merrill Auditorium here in Portland on January 12th. Check out their ad for the event here on YouTube. And keep your eyes peeled for a sasquatch near you!

The shadow crows cast

Emeric Spooner, author of In Search of Maine Archaeology: An Amateur's Guide to Artifact Identification, dropped me a line the other day about the curious goings-on in his area of Maine. He had some power outages -- but not from the ice storm!

My fourth book is about the Red Paint People, and how Bucksport was built on a Red Paint Cemetery, and the Mill in Bucksport was built on a Red Paint Cemetery, the first dug in the state.

Last weekend, a flock of 300 or more crows descended on the library I work at, and surrounded the library in the trees. Dozens of people reported seeing them, and Monday morning when I went in to shovel, the entire railing, and walk way was covered in Crow mess, so much that you couldn't walk or touch the railing, going down the walkway, without getting covered in it.

This alone would be cause for great concern, but nothing strange beyond the normal Bucksport everyday, heck we expect to be descended on by crows. It's a given. This morning power was knocked out for 3 towns, Bucksport, Verona and Orland. Thousands of people were without power. I talked with a line guy, fixing the transformers, and he said the Substation at the mill was hit with a huge flock of crows, and they actually blew it up there was so many, and landing on the wires, and messing on everything. The substation is within feet of the Red Paint Cemetery, located at the Mill on Indian Point. Once the fire died down, they saw hundreds of dead and crispy crows littering the area.

What a mess! Were the crows drawn to the Red Paint site? We'll never know.

Crows are admired by many (including myself), but despised by many more as pests. Portland, Maine, is home to huge clouds of roosting crows, which people the bare trees in Deering Oaks come winter evenings. It's a remarkable sight.

In a Time Magazine article from Monday, Mar. 31, 1924, titled "Vermin," an account arose of a contest run by gunpowder makers E. I. duPont de Nemours & Co., Inc. The firm offered $2,500 in merchandise prizes "to the individual or club which, at the end of a three months' season, has killed the most crows or other birds or animals termed 'vermin' in the prospectus of their competition."

Maine's own governor is quoted in the article, as he reacted to a plan for wholesale slaughter of the ebon birds.

To his people of the State of Maine, Governor Percival Proctor Baxter made proclamation as follows: "It would seem that a great corporation like the one that controls the powder industry in America, with millions of assets, would find other ways of increasing its profits instead of by inciting the men and boys of this country to kill one of the farmers' friends, the crow."

"I am indignant that such a prize has been offered, and hope that the people of Maine will not participate in the contest."

[Source]

Historic Maine Governor Percival Baxter, folks, champion of crows everywhere!

Those Darn Cell Phones

The West End News reported on an interesting turn of events during a Portland crime investigation:

Cell Phone Helps Cops Catch Teen
by Marge Niblock

Officer Kent Porter received a call on November 29, at 4:20pm, about two teenagers who had stolen DVDs at Guitar Grave, 441 Congress Street. Porter was met by the store's owner who said he'd chased one of the thieves down Elm Street and then lost him near Portland High School. During the chase the youth dropped his cell phone, which was turned over to the officer.

After Porter saw a number for "Mom," he dialed it, got her name and address, and was told her son wasn't home yet. Police were waiting to arrest him upon his arrival.

John Lennon's death and Stephen King

Well, I've heard a lot of interesting stories and anecdotes about Stephen King, but this has got to be the most peculiar. To sum it up, the far-gone conspiracy story originates with Steven Lightfoot, and "Lightfoot is the guy who thinks that there was a conspiracy to kill John Lennon, involving Nixon, Reagan, various police departments, and Stephen King. King, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mark David Chapman, supposedly pulled the trigger."

The information comes from Donna Kossy, author of Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief, and founder of the online Kooks Museum. Her Steve Lightfoot Exhibit is online at http://home.pacifier.com/~dkossy/lightfoot.html. The exhibit consists mostly of rant-and-rave texts produced and distributed by Lightfoot in a campaign to inform the public about the facts of the event as he perceived them.

He stalked King for years, even moving to Bangor (at least according to his far-fetched account of events). Talk about fringe elements...

Great shots of snowy Maine!

The nifty blog Five Squirrels has some pretty sweet shots of Maine covered in snow (a familiar sight for us over the last few weeks). Take a peek by clicking here! There's a nice variety, 6 shots taken by Mindy in different places near her, posted just a few days ago. Since I haven't had a chance to get out with my own camera, these'll have to tide both you and I over until I do!

92-year old surprised by early obituary

There's nothing like reading your own obituary in the paper to get your attention!

Wrong Maine woman declared dead in obit
By Aimee Dolloff
Saturday, December 15, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

BANGOR, Maine - Anne E. Hathaway was somewhat shocked Friday when a friend called to see if she was still alive.

The Orono resident’s obituary had appeared in Friday’s Bangor Daily News. The information in the short obituary and the list of death notices was correct, except for the part about her being dead.

The deceased was actually Ann Hathaway of Bangor.

Both women had made advance funeral arrangements at the same funeral home. When pulling the file for the deceased Ann Hathaway, the funeral home employee didn’t realize there were two women with very similar names and grabbed the wrong one.
...
At 92, Hathaway admits she’s no spring chicken but said that she’s not dead yet.

"I just laughed," Hathaway said. "I went to the pearly gates and opened the door and they didn’t have any strawberry shortcake and they didn’t like the way my hair looked."
...
"It’s just a matter of us checking the vitals a little more carefully," a funeral home employee said Friday.

To read the full story, please click here: [Source Photo by John Clarke Russ of the Bangor Daily News.

The City Has Ghost Streets : Part 1 - The West End

With this new and occasional series, Strange Maine visits what can no longer be seen in the city of Portland: streets and sites whose references are merely their ground coordinates. Replaced, plowed-over, or built-over, these are the city's Ghost Streets whose silent witness is in the ground of the Forest City's very roots. Their documentary memory is fragmented, yet evidenced, in ancient maps and archival documents, but beneath the surface their stories are sensed in the spirit subsumed...


What we now see is surely not
all that has been,

and whither one may travel in the state of Maine country, city, farm, and shore, the present day is built upon substrata that call to those who need only scratch the surface.

Portlanders who call the West End home may hastily pass by the sprawling Reiche Elementary School, which- for folks who are unfamiliar with the city is the neighborhood at the western rim of the peninsula city- seems an anomaly in a densely-packed district of 18th and 19th century houses and triple-decker apartment buildings.

On a second glance, the school's 1970's architectural contrast with the houses standing around it may be cause for curiosity, as well as the suspiciously levelled expanse in the heart of an ancient residential quarter, once known as the Bramhall Hill area.

The pictures above and below attest to over 40 homes which had been entirely demolished in the early 1970s; these are from the ghost lane called Bradford Street. The street and all its homes, in addition to Varnum Street, are completely gone. (Above is a view of 9 Bradford Street; below, the home at Number 11.) The photos were taken in 1924, and the one below shows a gaslight street lamp. (Photos may be enlarged by clicking on these smaller versions.)

Above is a duplex that was on the Numbers 17 & 19 Bradford Street lot. Today this is topped by the school yard, and behind this building is today's Aurora Provisions, on Pine Street. The child pictured, playing in the street, may have gone to the Brackett School- which is todays' Fresh Approach Market, at 155 Brackett Street.

Below is a livery-stable, likely converted into a garage with the advance of the 20th century, on the even-number side of the no-longer-existing street. Perhaps the cafeteria stands above this.

And here (below) is today's surface- the humble "Bradford Walk" sign attached to the Reiche School building. Note the architectural style of what continues to stand sentry on Clark Street, and how identical it is to what was- on Bradford and Varnum Streets.

Now a map, showing the area in 1914- from the Richards Atlas of Portland streets. The peripheral Pine, Brackett, Spring, and Clark Streets encompass the Reiche School area, and excluding the row of buildings along Pine (at left), everything else you see within that periphery- including the streets themselves- were demolished and leveled in 1972. In the Richards Atlas, yellow indicated a wooden structure, and red meant brick.

Now we move a ghostly block- now existing only in spirit- to the southwest, and find Varnum Street. Immediately below is the Varnum Garage. Note the 1920s vintage gasoline pump- and the unique roof- which can be recognized in the Portland Evening Express picture further below, taken for the March 14, 1972 article, describing- not the structure or the displacement of some sixty households, but the magnet school to be built over the large site.

Like the once bustling Bradford Street, Varnum Street is understatedly memorialized by barely detectable plaque (right, in the photo) upon the Reiche School. In the background is the old Brackett School, which is now Fresh Approach- or for West Enders with memories extending before the 1990s, the late and beloved Good Day Market Co-op.

Below- two more from Varnum Street: Number 16 and Number 14. These were close to Clark Street, and we can see how these are also architecturally harmonious with prevailing Victorian styles typical in the West End. Look closely at the one immediately below, with a for-rent ("To Let") sign in the front window (and snow piled into the side entrance). The house at lot Number 14 has a Mansard "Second Empire" style roof. When you visit the Reiche Branch of the Portland Public Library, your steps have been warmed by those of the woman pictured in this scene- and an innumerable number of pedestrians- and vehicular traffic.

And once more, below, a view taken today- this time the side of the Reiche School which faces Spring Street (named after an ancient fresh-water spring in the neighborhood). Notice, in the far background, the mouth of the still-existing Spruce Street. Now scroll up to the map and see how Spruce Street once extended all the way up to Brackett Street. That block of Spruce Street is indeed a ghost street- all its homes leveled and paved-over. On a map made in the 1850s, Bradford Street was called Peach Street; now we can imagine a web of streets near one another called Pine, Peach, and Spruce. Perhaps the trees themselves, with the Dutch Elms, have ghosts too.

And finally, a murky 1924 image of Varnum Street. When you are strolling Cushman Street, and notice how it is abruptly cut off by the hard curb bordering the school yard, you'll have found where Varnum began. What were in those containers, in the picture? Whose lives were situated in these apartments? How do parts of our selves and our souls begin- and remain- to inhabit our living spaces? Might place be transcendant of structure? The City indeed has Ghost Streets that speak from beneath and beyond.

Holiday Greetings 2007

Well, it's been a great year here on the Strange Maine blog. We topped 60,000 hits, reached our 2 year anniversary in October, and overall had a great time. I met Loren Coleman, Glenn Chadbourne, and countless other friendly Mainers who intrigue me to no end. Abraham Schechter began adding his lore and research to our archives. I heard a lot of interesting stories which I'm hoping to get onto the blog to share with all of my readers. After two years of walking the path of Strange Maine, I can say with all honesty that I feel at home here still, and I love every minute I spend here. And I will never run out of interesting material!

The last few months have seen a slowdown of posts on the blog, and with the New Year I'm hoping to remedy that as I shift around some of my other obligations that have been leaving the blog unfairly short of my time and attention.

I'd like to take this moment to thank all of my readers, both the new ones and the regulars who have been with us for what seems like a long time now. Thank you for letting me know how much you like the site, and for bearing with us in our slower times. We promise great things as the years go on, and we hope you'll stick around to enjoy them.

We have some great stuff in the works -- interviews with Glenn Chadbourne, William Dufris of "Nightmares on Congress Street" OTR recording fame, exploration of Maine bigfoot sightings, exciting talk about Mark LaFlamme's new book and other great strange Maine fiction, and more, more, more! So stay tuned -- I promise you won't be disappointed.

As the year turns, I would like to share one thing with you all for sure -- my new tattoo. For almost two years I planned on getting a tattoo that commemorates my love of the strangeness of Maine. I finally drew up the design and set a date in late October 2007 with Wil Scherer, at Sanctuary Tattoo in Portland. After three hours in the chair, this was the result. It's official! Once I get organized, I'll be producing t-shirts with the design on them as part of a fund raiser for the blog and the Gazette.

EVENT: Massive Maine Movieshow @ Merrill!

"MONSTER IN THE WOODS PREMIERES AT NIGHT OF MAINE FILM AND MUSIC2 FILMS, 2 BANDS, AND A FILM FAIR AT THE MERRILL AUDITORIUM

On Saturday January 12th 2008, Motion Media, a Maine Entertainment Company, in association with John Lane Films and Emptyhouse Film, presents "A Night of Maine Film and Music" at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland Maine.

The events of the night include a film fair featuring various vendors from the Maine film and music community. The Film Fair will be followed by a performance by local musicians LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE, then, the world premiere of the horror/comedy MONSTER IN THE WOODS. The film will be followed with a performance by COVERED IN BEES and capping off the night, a screening of the zombie film "2".

"Monster in the Woods" tells the story of two Cryptozoologists sent to the remote backwoods of Maine to try and track down the elusive Bigfoot. All hell breaks loose when a high stakes reward is offered for the capture of the creature- dead or alive, and the Cryptozoologists race against time to try and maintain the beasts' safety. Click here to see a trailer for the film.

The zombie film "2" tells the tale of two survivors of a bio-terrorist attack that has turned everyone around them into zombies. Both films are feature length and contain adult content. Click here to see a trailer for "2".

Further details will be announced soon for "A Night of Maine Film and Music" including surprise guests, giveaways and much more. Stay tuned to www.emptyhousefilm.com, WBLM and WCYY for chances to win prize packs.

Tickets are $19/ADULTS $17.50/STUDENTS & SENIORS and are available through PortTix in person or by mail at 20 Myrtle Street, Portland, Maine 04101. To charge by phone, call PortTix at 207-842-0800. Internet sales at www.PortTix.com!

For more information, contact emptyhousefilm[at]gmail.com

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
4:30-6:00 PM- FILM FAIR
6:00-6:30 PM- LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE PERFORM
6:45-7:00 PM- FILMMAKERS SPEAK
7:00-8:30 PM- WORLD PREMIERE OF "MONSTER IN THE WOODS"
8:30-9:00 PM- INTERMISSION
9:00-9:30 PM- COVERED IN BEES PERFORM
9:30-9:45 PM- FILMMAKERS SPEAK
9:45-11:00 PM- SCREENING OF THE ZOMBIE FILM "2"

Maine/Quebec's lake cryptid needs love!

Guest post by Loren Coleman:

Ponik Needs Your Love

Quebec and Maine share aquatic cryptids seen in Lac Pohénégamook, which are “supposedly” some of “the ugliest-headed monsters around.” It may be time to send them a little love.

Investigate Further:

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/ponik07/

Photo caption: "The mayor of Escourt, Mr. Gaston Painchaud, indicates from his balcony the place where in 1957 he saw the monster in Lake Pohénégamook."

Images from BDgest.com forum discussion of Ponik!

Thanksgiving Tukey

Maine Strangeness may be found in the least-expected crevasses and corners of our dear State, even (and surely) among documents and archives. A small detail may draw our glimpse- such as it does, at the Portland Public Library, this time in the Portland Room's map collection.

Indeed, though many Miles from Standish, notwithstanding Pilgrimage nor Courtship, and far from Plymouth (having Forded no water beside that of Back Cove), we are replete with Thanksgiving for the stuffing that now brings Tukey's Bridge to our feasting table. And that's no gobbledy gook!

While conserving an 1871 map of Portland, printed by F.W. Beers (in New York, take note), a modest detail caught the attention of the Archivist...
(Photos can be clicked to be enlarged)

...first in the smaller map, giving the layout and legend of the following larger maps, and...


...then in the detailed map, the name of Tukey's Bridge- a name that has existed from 1796 and continues today...

...has been printed throughout the Beers Atlas as Turkey's Bridge. An anomaly we have not seen on any other map of the city- old or new.


Just below is a picture, correctly labeled, as printed by the City of Portland, for the 1897 Municipal Annual Report, showing how the bridge appeared in its era as a swing-bridge which allowed passage for the city's trolleys and traffic between Munjoy Hill and East Deering.

John Tukey was among the settlers in the Portland region when, in 1744, it was still known as Falmouth. Tukey was a shipwright, and among his 14 children, all born in Portland, was William Tukey who had been among the builders of the Portland Head Light, the first lighthouse built in Maine.

Here is the present manifestation of the bridge, still as ever known as Tukey's Bridge. Above is a view from Munjoy Hill and below, a view from Baxter Boulevard.

And, finally, a detail from a new map...

(The "R" has been correctly (and thankfully) dropped- something that rarely happens in Maine??)

A Small Plague of Rabid Cats in Norridgewock

The State of Maine's Health Officer released an alert about rabies on November 8th after a second rabid cat was found in Norridgewock, Maine.

To date, three domestic cats have tested positive for rabies, two in the town of Norridgewock and one in Greene; during 2006, six domestic cats tested positive for rabies. An average of one domestic animal per year has tested positive in Maine since 2002.
...
The continued incidence of rabies among domestic animals has prompted the State’s Health Officer to remind Mainers to be aware of animals acting aggressively or not exhibiting their normal behavior, and to vaccinate their pets.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Dora Anne Mills, MD, MPH 207-287-3270
Or John Martins, Director
Employee and Public Communications (207) 287-5012

For more information on animal rabies in Maine, see the Maine CDC website or call 1-800-821-5821.

Photo Essay including Strange Maine store & Geno's

Thomas Michael Corcoran has a great style of journaling -- little photo collections and collages made of everyday passing-bys. In this entry in particular, he visits Brunswick and then Portland, and gives a little mini-tour of Congress Street, including the Strange Maine store (shown here) and Geno's Rock Club. Good stuff! It caught my eye, so I thought I'd point it out to any interested parties.

If you like what you see, he has plenty of other entries, mostly based Augusta.

A Ghoulish Word from Glenn

No Maine autumn would be complete without a word from Maine’s own spooky artist, Glenn Chadbourne. Here we bring you a selection from an interview with the fiend himself. I’ll post the interview on the website as I transcribe it, so keep your eyes peeled!

- - -

As the month of August waned, I and intrepid Strange-Mainiac Stella Hell set out on a sunny day on our quest to visit Glenn in his well-appointed den of darkness. As we settled in to the Chadbourne house’s darkly furnished livingroom for our little chat, it seemed inevitable that the subject of cemeteries would come up.

SMG: In “The Hairy Tale of Lou Garoo” from your comic Farmer Fiend’s Horror Harvest, the characters talk about places that are “just off.” Are there any places like that you’ve encountered or heard of?

Glenn: There was a spot off the railroad tracks when we were kids here in Newcastle that was an old overgrown boneyard out there, a graveyard from way back when. There was an urban legend that one of the stones glowed. So when we were kids, around Cub Scout age, we’d creep out there, but no one would head for the stones or dare to go up and check them out, we were wimps.

According to the town of Newcastle’s Comprehensive Report (dated 2/6/06), “At least thirty-six cemeteries have been identified in Newcastle. Most are old and private with the oldest dating back to 1758.” The town today has a population of about two thousand living souls.

Newcastle isn’t the only place in New England where tales of a glowing tombstone have proliferated. A close neighbor of ours, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has one of its own which is well documented online and elsewhere (for instance, see http://nielsenhayden.com/ or read Curious New England: The Unconventional Traveler’s Guide to Eccentric Destinations by Joseph E. Citro and Diane E. Foulds).

At the time I interviewed him, Glenn was up to his neck in artwork for the much-anticipated second volume of Secretary of Dreams, a fully-illustrated collection of Stephen King stories published by Cemetery Dance. The work looks terrific. Glenn showed us the stack of black and white pages, as well as a handful of gorgeous full-color pieces that will be featured in it. The book officially went on sale the other day -- I placed my pre-order as soon as I got the e-mail notice! You can order your copy at Cemetery Dance.

Stay tuned for a contest here on the blog -- we'll be giving away a couple of copies of Glenn's album by Nick Noxious and the Necrophiliacs, courtesy of Morbideus of Maine's own Postmortem Productions.

The Headless Halloween of 1940

This story made its debut in the October 2007 issue of the Strange Maine Gazette. I'm still hoping to do further research on the story, and would be very pleased to hear anything from folks who have any information or recollections about the events of that Halloween.

- - - - -

Halloween, while the haven of horror movies, pranks, and thrilling, terrifying darkness filled with unknown things, is still viewed as a mostly harmless occasion to indulge in the shadow world that is forbidden territory the rest of the year.

On Halloween night in 1940, however, events in Rockland, Maine, took a turn for the worse, and over the next week or so a story emerged in the Rockland Courier-Gazette that was as grim and grisly as today’s worst Hollywood imaginings.

John B. Phelps, 54, got in an argument with his 16-year-old stepdaughter Pauline Young yet again. Only this time, things went horribly, horribly wrong for Pauline.

Nine days later, police found Phelps wandering the streets near the police station around 2 o’clock in the morning, “bleeding profusely” from a suicide attempt, and ready to confess to his step-daughter’s murder.

The details of his hospital bed confession to Sheriff C. Earle Ludwick shocked an already wary town. A good number of the details created further questions in people’s minds.

For a week or so before the incident, Pauline had been avoiding her home at 28 Crescent Street, staying with a friend. On Halloween she returned home, planning to leave shortly thereafter. She never had the chance.

Phelps locked the doors of the house to prevent her leaving before her mother could get home from her job at the almshouse, although later he would tell Thelma Phelps that Pauline “ran out the back door.”

“She cursed me,” said Phelps, “and came at me with a butcher knife. I threw a hammer at her and it struck her on the forehead. [...] I didn’t know what to do with the body, but finally removed the head with an axe and a knife. The body I dragged down the cellar stairs, and wrapping it in burlap bags put it out through a cellar window under the piazza.”

Neighbors reported hearing four screams followed by a “dull thud” at the time of the incident. This did not necessarily agree with Phelps’ version of the events. Both of Pauline’s younger siblings were at play in the home’s dooryard during the time of their sister’s murder.

In the week after Phelps’ confession, neighbors spoke freely to the press, revealing that Phelps had acted “wild” the day after the killing, and did such peculiar things as asking Mrs. Alice Rich if she “noticed an awful smell,” and offering police the use of his pickaxe and shovel during the early days of their search.

The police search following Phelps’ confession uncovered five of the six burlap bags that he claimed to have placed Pauline’s body in. Although his story on when exactly the dismemberment occurred differed from telling to telling, the location in which the bags had been left was accurate. It must have been unnerving to realize that when they had come by earlier in the week to look for clues to the girl’s disappearance at the request of her mother, those grisly packages had been there the whole time.

The question that remained uppermost in local authorities’ minds was where had Pauline’s head gone? Taking the police to the northeast corner of the Maine Central wharf on the afternoon of his confession, John Phelps pointed into the murky depths of the Atlantic and cried, “There’s where I threw it; down there!”

Days passed, divers were called in, the harbor was dragged thoroughly, but no head was found. Stories circulated among local kids about where it could be. Adults pondered whether Phelps was cunning enough to have hidden it somewhere undiscoverable in order to hide “marks which would prove that more than a single blow was administered.”

Arraignment of Phelps occurred a week after his confession, at which time he pled “not guilty.” He spoke no other words during the court session. By the time of this turn of events, efforts to uncover the head were being abandoned, as the diver engaged to pursue the missing appendage had continued to stay away, and authorities decided that “the head has either become embedded in the soft bottom, or has drifted away from the wharf…”

The following Wednesday, Thelma Phelps announced plans to retire to her husband’s hometown of Danforth, Maine, with their two youngest children. Presumably Pauline’s younger sister, 13-year-old Evangeline, remained in the Pownal State School (later to become known as Pineland) where she resided at the time of the murder. Here ends the paper trail as it exists in the Rockland Public Library’s collected file.

I picked up the trail again in Home Front on Penobscot Bay: Rockland During the War Years 1940-1945 by Merriam, Molloy, and Sylvester. In the chapter titled “Crime of the Forties,” the story continues with Phelps’ indictment on February 13, 1941.

According to Home Front, Phelps pleaded guilty to murder, and two other charges, of mutilation and disposing of a human body, were filed. He served a life sentence at Maine State Prison, only released on parole “some thirty years later … to an out-of-state nursing home, where he died.”

Home Front co-author Theodore W. Sylvester, Jr., grew up playing on the streets of his neighborhood, which included Crescent Street, home of the unhappy Phelps family. He speaks of it in the chapter “Youthful Recollections”:

They never found the girl’s head. There was a lot of speculation and stories going around. The one that impressed us most was that the Phelps home was forever haunted, and that the head was buried under the porch. It was literally years before any of us would walk past the house – day or night. Sometimes we would race past the house on our bicycles, but that was the extent of our courage.

The book’s information about the case isn’t limited to dates and anecdotes. Among the interviews in Home Front is that of Cecile “Cis” Moore and her husband James A. Moore. Jim came to Rockland in 1940 as a Portland Press Herald correspondent. That first year he found himself present at Pauline Young’s autopsy at the Burpee Funeral Home.

The reporters didn’t actually get to watch the autopsy – the view was blocked by a screen. However, they “could hear the doctor describe the wounds to a nurse, who recorded the findings.” The doctor borrowed the knife of one of the reporters, Ray Sherman of the Bangor Daily News, part way through the operation, though after washing it off before returning it to Ray he remarked on its dullness.

By this point the newsmen must have been thankful they were spared the raw imagery. The stench alone was described as “nearly unbearable.” Cis recalled that it was months before Jim could eat a hamburger again.

To this day, the folks of Rockland who grew up with these events still wonder about what happened. The few who have tried to do research have come up with very little information. The story seems to have hidden itself away with Pauline’s missing head.
- - -
Special thanks to K. Gordon, who tipped me off to this tale, and to Dan O’Connor at the Rockland Public Library, who helped get copies of relevant newspaper clippings to me.

All material in this article (including photos), unless otherwise cited, can be found in issues of the Rockland Courier-Gazette from November 1940. I’ll be digging into this more, but so far it’s been a bit of a boggy march with lots of dead ends.

As a side note, I would highly recommend the book Home Front on Penobscot Bay: Rockland During the War Years 1940-1945 by Merriam, Molloy, and Sylvester to anyone interested in what coastal Maine life was like during World War II.

EVENT: Ghost Story performance WED 11/7

Having just arrived back from the ghost story themed World Fantasy Convention of 2007 in Saratoga Springs, NY, I find it my great pleasure to have brought with me the eminent British performer, Robert Lloyd Parry. He is here in Portland to tell you a tale, two tales actually... tales of delicious dread and ghastly ghosts.

He has brought to Portland his show "A Pleasing Terror," in which he performs a telling of two M.R. James stories. The atmosphere is perfect -- a darkened room, lit only by candlelight, allows those in the audience to develop a wonderful sense of suspense as the tales emerge and come to life in the shadows around them. Believe me, it is not to be missed. It is a must-see for any fan of ghost stories, Victoriana, or storytelling.

WHAT: One Longfellow Square and Seanachie Nights presents A Pleasing Terror
WHO: performed by Robert Lloyd Parry
WHEN: Wednesday, November 7th, at 8:00pm
INFO: Tickets are $10 and are available at www.onelongfellowsquare.com or by calling 207-761-1757. Also available at Bullmoose Music locations. Free parking available behind Joe's Smoke Shop.

To find out more about Mr. Parry and the performance, please visit his website at http://www.nunkie.co.uk/

M.R. James is perhaps one of the most famous (and deservedly so) writers of ghost stories in the history of supernatural literature. If you haven't encountered him yet, please do pick up a copy of any collection of his short stories and find yourself a few spine-tingling delights for a cold November night's reading. Brrr!