Eagle with bells on

Yet another peculiar article has emerged in my hunt for other material through the Victorian newspapers of Maine. Remarkable stuff!

Aerial Sleighbells

"Rings on his fingers
Bells on his toes
He shall make music
Wherever he goes."

Thus runs the old nursery rhyme, the latter part of which applies to the big eagle with sleighbells attached to his legs, which merrily jingle as he sweeps through the air. The "belled eagle" was seen last week flying over Woolwich by the Sasanoa Bluff cottages. He is a Kennebec bird but makes quite often "flying" visits to New Hampshire and Mass., having been reported as seen over portions of Boston. It is now many years ago when Charles Hunnewell, now a selectman of Woolwich, captured the eagle, then an eaglet, and wired the bells upon him. He has jingled them ever since.

[Source: Bath Independent, July 28, 1888, page 1]

Denture Rescue in 1908

The Daily Kennebec Journal reported on an interesting and almost unbelievable tale of denture rescue from the Victorian era.

The Washington County railroad has gone all the other railroads in the country one better in the matter of accommodating its patrons. A passenger one day last week lost a set of false teeth out of the window. The loss was reported to the obliging conductor, who stopped the train, backed to the scene of catastrophe, where the missing molars were found and returned to their owner.

[Source: Daily Kennebec Journal, April 10, 1908, page 6]

This is not the first denture-related Strange Maine story, as those of you who remember the denture-stealing mouse of 2007 will have noticed.

Old time crime

I ran across this entertainingly written article when I was researching some old Daily Kennebec Journal articles, and thought some of you might be intrigued by it:

Maine Gossip

The North Dexter correspondent of the Bangor News says numerous tramps have made their appearance on our main roads and are causing much uneasiness in the rural districts. Sunday night, D.C. Carlton, a youth of 19, while returning from a neighboring visit, about ten o'clock, was startled by the appearance of a large man standing in the road near what is locally known as Thomas' corner. Not liking his appearance he quickly transferred his pocket book to the inside of his trousers' leg, and, with the cold chills creeping up his spine, with the pocketbook crawling stockingward he approached the man who asked him the time.

Carlton responded by saying he had no watch, whereupon the man seized him and made a thorough search of his various pockets. Not finding anything of value he said, "Well you're all right," and told him he could pass along. It is needless to say that young Carlton took this advice literally and did not stop for a second invitation, breaking all former records for one-half mile dashes, arriving home in a breathless condition.

Source:
Daily Kennebec Journal, 4/11/1908, pg.6

Cabbie surprised by bop on the nose

The West End News reports on an unexpected incident that occurred in a Portland cab recently.

Cabbie Punched in the Nose After Doing Good Deed
by Marge Niblock

At 6 AM on January 25th, a cab driver thought a woman was being assaulted by some males on State Street. He pulled the cab over and Robin Ann Anderson, 25, jumped into the vehicle. She then allegedly punched the cabbie in the nose and left.

The cabbie called police, who were able to apprehend Ms. Anderson nearby. When they ran a check on her it was discovered that she had four active warrants for her arrest. She was arrested and charged with assault, for her attack of the cab driver.

[Source]

UMaine ghost hunters

UMaine in Orono has its own on-campus paranormal investigation club, the UMPIC, (or possibly PRIUM: Paranormal Research and Investigation of the University of Maine, depending on where you look online). The Maine Campus online newspaper has been reporting on the recent rallying of the group, which was founded in 2005 (according to an earlier Maine Campus article, also included below).

Who you gonna call? UMaine Paranormal Investigation Club
By Rhiannon Sawtelle
Posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010, 4:01 am

Tales of Ma Estabrooke wandering the halls of her dormitory, the spooky noises in Colvin Hall and the housemother watching over the Beta House remind the University of Maine community there is a rich history of supposed paranormal activities on campus.

The UMaine Paranormal Investigation Club is ready to confirm or disprove these legends. With a resurgent presence on campus, the group is working on building their base of members to expand their ghost-hunting endeavors.

“We’re still working on trying to get it up,” said Denise Bickford, a second-year English student and president of the group.

The group has been on campus for at least six years, but has declined in membership over the past few years. When Bickford joined in the fall of 2008, she began to pick up the slack of the dissipating group.

The club made strides last semester when it became an official student group, recognized by Student Government.

“That was really exciting,” said Amie Dick, a second-year social work student and vice-president of the club. “We just got back on our feet.”

The numbers are growing, with a solid base of 10 members and five or six more new recruits who grew interested after a presentation from Mike Marino, a member of the Bangor Ghost Hunters.

Marino spoke to the group during their usual meeting time Monday from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Senior Skulls room. He spoke about his experiences in the group, how to investigate and the equipment used in the process.

“It was really informative. … It was interesting to hear from someone on the case,” Bickford said.

With growing interest in the group, the club is escalating their efforts to investigate the paranormal.

“We’re trying to expand to all paranormal stuff,” Bickford said.

This year, they plan to investigate hauntings around campus, take a tour of a cemetery in Lewiston and visit a cryptozoology museum. According to Bickford, this is a great improvement over last year when the group only went on one investigation in Estabrooke Hall.

The members’ interests lie in all things paranormal, and they takes different steps depending on what they are investigating. When they investigate supposed hauntings, they bring camcorders and still-frame cameras, hoping to capture ghost sightings.

During the cemetery visit, they will use their own observations and electrical readings that denote the presence of spirits. There has been a lot of reported activity around a mausoleum in the cemetery.

“A lot of people have felt a presence there. … It’s intuitive,” Dick said.

“It depends on what you’re looking for in a haunting,” Bickford said. “It’s not a science; you can’t really prove anything.”

Bickford and Dick note that a real ghost-hunting experience isn’t like those portrayed on popular television shows like “Ghost Hunters” and “Paranormal State.”

“You’re not going to find something most of the time,” Bickford said. “You have to go over what you think is real and what isn’t.”

“I think it’s good to go into an investigation with an open mind,” Dick said.

Both women believe there is paranormal activity alive and well in the world but admit that skeptics are good to have around to balance an investigation.

“I don’t consider myself a skeptic … but there are things that can be written off,” Bickford said.

They explained the importance of critically examining evidence and understanding there won’t be activity every investigation.

An interest in the unknown is what drew Bickford and Dick to the club; they joined through word of mouth. While Dick is still waiting for a paranormal experience, Bickford recently experienced a sighting this summer. The incident confirmed her suspicion there were things we can’t explain in the world.

Bickford’s family lives in an old house in Winterport, and her mother has always heard unidentifiable voices and music. Bickford had never before experienced a haunting but woke up one night this summer to see a figure of a man in her room.

“It’s nothing I should be scared of. … it freaks you out if you don’t know what’s going on, though,” Bickford said.

As for Dick, she is still waiting for an experience to confirm her beliefs.

“I wish,” she said.

[Source]

an earlier article, also from The Maine Campus online newspaper, mentions a Ma Balentine spirit instead of a Ma Estabrooke spirit, but you get the idea.

Paranormal Club tackles supernatural on campus
By Michael Hartwell
Posted on Monday, April 4th, 2005, 12:00 am

Toby Paradis has been intimately familiar with cemeteries for over two years. He’s not a grave robber or in mourning. No, the third-year theater major goes to graveyards because he has a passion for the supernatural. A little while ago, he figured out a way to find other students with similar interests: He started a club.

Last semester, Student Council gave the University of Maine Paranormal Investigation Club the greenlight. Right now there are 10 dedicated members and a host of drifters and frequenters. Since only a few months have passed since its formation, UMPIC is still a trial club. This means it will take a few months before Student Council starts giving them any funding.

UMPIC covers a lot of ground in the world of the unexplained. “We focus on ghosts and spirits,” Paradis said, but is quick to point out that nothing mysterious is off-limits. Secretary Michelle Shandorf said “We don’t do aliens and stuff, but we’ve been asked about it a lot, so maybe we will someday.”

A typical one-hour meeting can have discussions that cover topics as diverse as poltergeists, telekinesis, Chupacabra, rains of frogs and Pamola, the storm god who watches over Mount Katahdin.

UMPIC members don’t just talk about the supernatural, they go out and look for it. In late January, they investigated Balentine hall in hopes of finding Ma Balentine, the long-dead house mother who allegedly still makes her curfew rounds. Unfortunatly, their search didn’t yield any evidence of hauntings. Vice President Caiti Joly wasn’t discouraged. “Just because we don’t find anything doesn’t mean there’s nothing there, we could have missed it,” she said.

Veterans of the Balentine expedition point out that the residential director wouldn’t let them into the locked fourth floor due to a series of potential hazards. UMPIC members think that recent construction may have driven Ma Balentine up to the restricted, untouched floor.

UMPIC prides themselves on their fair investigations. “We don’t make conclusions around opinions or beliefs. We’re scientific. We stay focused and we stay skeptical,” Shandorf said.

Investigations involve members exploring areas that are reported to have paranormal activities. They bring any equipment they have, cameras and tape recorders for now, and try to find evidence. The investigations are open to anyone, even scaredy-cats.

“We don’t go anywhere alone, we use the buddy system,” Paradis said. There are two reasons for this rule. One reason is to make sure no one gets protecting investigators from becoming uncomfortable or frightened. The other incentive is so they can rely on any evidence they collect.

“If you were recording and alone, you could cough into the tape recorder and forget about it, and then when we listen to the tape, we wouldn’t know where that sound came from,” said Joly.

The Maine’s Paranormal Research Association, the group responsible for the Halloween night investigations on campus in 2003, are making plans to visit UMPIC in the near future and give them some investigation pointers.

According to UMPIC, most of the buildings on campus have had reports of unexplained phenomena. One of the explanations the group suggests is that the Hilltop area is built over Indian burial grounds. Well-known spectors include the suicide ghost of Stodder, Ma Balentine and the various spirits of Estabrooke.

UMPIC member Dave Sawyer is looking forward to the upcoming investigation of Estabrooke hall on April 9. The Estabrooke resident director plans to accompany the group and grant them access to all of the locked rooms. “From what I’ve read, classic hauntings happen around places people don’t frequent,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer reports that he has already seen a few paranormal activities in Estabrooke.

“I was in the basement and I saw what appeared to be a ball of light dance around and melt into a door. What did I actually see? I can’t be sure. I still don’t believe my own eyes. That’s something I’m embarrassed about; I don’t tell my friends about it,” Sawyer said.

Other phenomena from Estabrooke include exploding light bulbs and a locked, unoccupied dorm room that placed a series of 911 calls.

UMPIC feels their investigations will really take off when they receive their funding. The club plans to spend it on an electromagnetic field meter, cameras, thermometers and transportation costs. Instead of sitting on their hands and waiting like good little children, UMPIC is making plans to earn money by selling pizza cards for $10. Each card is good for 20 buy-one-get-one-free pizza opportunities. The store to redeem them has not yet been selected yet.

UMPIC encourages potential new members and curious parties to stop by their meetings Thursday nights at 8 p.m. in the Senior Skulls room on the third floor of the Memorial Union. Unfortunately, there are no telepaths in UMPIC at this point. Until then, all questions can be directed to Toby Paradis or Michelle Shandorf via FirstClass.

[Source]

PRIUM has a Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2201466794

and a presumably defunct/non-functional website here:
http://umaine.edu/umpic/home.htm

Upcoming historic talks

Local cemetery-revivalist group Spirits Alive is once again sponsoring a short series of free winter lecture series with local author-historians. These events will be held at the Maine Historical Society (see http://www.mainehistory.org for more info about the MHS), and are made possible with funding support from the Maine Humanities Council. Of the series, one was held in January (my apologies for neglecting to post it in time), and the other two are upcoming, one in February and one in March. Read on for more info!

WHAT: "Privateering on Casco Bay"
WHEN: Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 10:00am
WHERE: Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress Street, Portland, ME
COST: Free and open to the public.

DESCRIPTION:
James L. Nelson, author of George Washington's Secret Navy, brings America's historical connection with the sea to life through fiction and nonfiction. His writing covers a wide range of America's maritime heritage, from piracy in Colonial Virginia to the naval action of the Civil War. Mr. Nelson will talk about privateers -- armed private ships licensed to attack enemy shipping -- in New England.

For more information on the book: http://www.jameslnelson.com/george_washington%27s_secret_navy.htm

For more information on James L. Nelson: http://www.jameslnelson.com/biography.htm

WHAT: "The Historical Development of Munjoy Hill"
WHEN: Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 10:00am
WHERE:Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress Street, Portland, ME
COST: Free and open to the public.

Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, will present a slide lecture on the history of Munjoy Hill. Born in Portland, Mr. Shettleworth has been researching, speaking, and writing about Maine history since he was a teenager. He has been on the commission since 1971 and director since 1976.

For more information on the Maine Historic Preservation Commission:
http://www.state.me.us/mhpc/

About the Maine Humanities Council:
The Maine Humanities Council is a private nonprofit organization, Maine's affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It promotes strong communities and informed citizens by providing Mainers with opportunities to explore the power and pleasure of ideas. For more information, visit their Web site at www.mainehumanities.org.

About Spirits Alive
Spirits Alive is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of Portland's historic Eastern Cemetery through a range of activities including promotion and education. Founded in 2007, the group carries out an active program of seasonal tours of the cemetery, a winter lecture series, and is conducting a stone-by-stone inventory of the nearly 4,000 grave markers still existing in the 340-year-old cemetery. http://www.spiritsalive.org

The vote is on!!!

Okay, we made it into the running! Now it's time to vote. I trust you folks to have your own say on the matter, and here's the link to the blog category (or just click on the button below):
Vote for the best Portland blog!

Of course, you can start at the beginning and vote for all sorts of categories here:
Portland Phoenix's Best of Portland voting

An important note: To actually register your vote, after you've made your selections, you must click on the "SKIP TO FINISH" or "FINISHED" button to enter your name, etc. The vote is not logged in until this part of the process is completed.

Have fun!!!

For you to decide!

To those of you who feel so inclined -- it is once again time for the Portland Phoenix to collect nominations for their annual Best of Portland vote.

I would be very honored if any of you would like to nominate me for Best Blog. And even if not, it's a great chance to vote on your other favorites as well!

You can add your nominations here!!! (or just click on the big red button below)



The Blog category is located under the "City Life" category on the linked page. There are a bunch of other fun categories too!

I will mention that there is a friendly rivalry afoot between myself and the Action Chad blog, and they are nefarious and wiley opponents. Good heavens. It could be an interesting election if we both get nominated!

Others of you who are fans of monthly Bingo, featuring The Fuge and Country Rhodes, may be interested in making sure they get into the running for the Portland Comedian category!

Water pulls a vanishing act

Thanks to T. Woodrich for spotting this bizarre story for us! He heard it mentioned on the radio and scared up a Bangor Daily News article about it.

Despite all the honest Yankees out there, there are still some Mainers who will stop at nothing to steal what they want, from dragging ATMs out of storefronts with their pickup trucks to siphoning gas out of cars in the dark of the night. But this is a new one on me... read on!

Stonington firm searching for missing water
By Rich Hewitt
BDN Staff

STONINGTON, Maine — The Stonington Water Co. has a mystery on its hands.

Large amounts of water have been disappearing regularly from the system since October, and officials don’t know how or why. It does not appear to be a leak, according to water company Superintendent Roger Stone, and the missing water is not running into the town sewer system.

There’s concern that someone may be drawing water from the system either deliberately or by accident.

Either way, the problem is getting worse.

“It’s bizarre,” Stone said Thursday.

Since October, approximately 1.2 million gallons of water has simply disappeared from the water company tanks. It always happens on Wednesday, Stone said.
[...]
The problem appears to be getting worse. Stone calculates that about 200,000 gallons was missing in October; it increased to about 400,000 gallons in November; and to more than 600,000 gallons in December.
[...]
Stone has discounted a leak, although he continues to check the water lines regularly. A leak doesn’t start and stop once a week, he said.
[...]
Stone said they have searched for chlorine residue in areas where the water may have been dumped, but so far they have turned up no clues as to where the water is going, Stone said.

“There’s absolutely no sign of it,” he said.
[...]
Stone has concluded that some individual or individuals are behind the water loss.

“Somebody’s doing it,” Stone said. “What we don’t know [is] if it’s malicious or not.”

The mystery is a costly one for the water company. About 75 percent of the water that has passed through the system in the past several months has not been paid for, Stone said.
[...]
While he continues to search for the source of the water losses, Stone is urging Stonington residents to contact him if they go anywhere where they hear the sound of continuous running water, or if they notice anything else out of the ordinary. They can contact Stone at the town office at 367-2351.

Read full article here: [Source]

Cryptografitti?

sasn grafitti
Originally uploaded by misfitgirl.

Seen across the street from the newly installed International Cryptozoology Museum at 661 Congress Street.

Photo (c)2010 by Michelle Souliere

Breaking News- Fire at Zinnia's!

We got a call (thanks McNallica!) that the old Zinnia's building at 660 Congress Street near Longfellow Square in Portland, across the street from my bookshop, The Green Hand, and next to my husband's shop, The Fun Box Monster Emporium, was on fire. There was smoke blowing through the block onto Deering Street as we arrived just before 10:00.

Firemen were breaking out the top story windows as we arrived on the scene. An early eyewitness report mentioned an overheard conversation between a few people talking on the stoop of the building shortly before the fire, the topic of their conversation being about breaking into various buildings. More news as warranted.

UPDATE:
Photos now online here, on my Flickr site. A few included below.

Herbie the tree to be gone...

I met Herbie this June, and my only regret is that I didn't have my picture taken with him properly (well, I did, but it didn't come out well). Anyone who wants to visit him before he meets his demise should be sure to go this week!!! Herbie stands, gargantuan, at the corner of East Main Street and Yankee Drive.

240-Year-Old Yarmouth Elm Tree To Be Chopped Down
Tree Will Be Cut Down Jan. 18
POSTED: 8:13 am EST January 8, 2010

YARMOUTH, Maine -- A 101-year-old man who has spent the last half-century caring for New England's oldest and tallest American elm tree said he's made his peace with the tree's impending demise.

The 110-foot-tall tree is nicknamed Herbie. It has stood sentinel in Yarmouth since before the American Revolution.

It also has survived 14 bouts of Dutch elm disease -- but the latest round has proven fatal.

Former town tree warden Frank Knight calls Herbie an "old friend." He said the tree was so big and beautiful he couldn't bear to chop it down in the 1950s.

Over the years, he nursed Herbie with insecticides and fungicide injections to battle the dreaded disease. But Knight said nothing is forever.

The tree is estimated to be 240 years old. Its exact age will be known once it's cut down Jan. 18.

[Source]

Fort Knox ready for prime time!

Exciting news from our friends at Fort Knox! Read on...

Ghost Hunter TV Program Coming to Fort Knox

The Friends of Fort Knox received an interesting email recently from the producer of the SyFy Channel's hit series, Ghost Hunters. According to the email, the producer was searching the Internet and came upon reports of paranormal activity occurring at the State Historic Site.

Over the past several years, local paranormal investigating groups have approached
the Friends of Fort Knox to enlist their help facilitating night time research. Some of these paranormal research groups such as Bangor Ghost Hunters, Central Maine Paranormal and Maine Supernatural, have posted their investigation result on the Internet. Recently, a new paranormal investigation group, the Bangor Ghost Trackers, were featured on a local TV news program describing their belief that Fort Knox is indeed haunted.

The Friends notified the Maine Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL) about being contacted by the Ghost Hunter TV program. The Bureau of Parks and Lands manages Fort Knox on behalf of the people of Maine and is being asked to approve the shoot. The Friends informed BPL that they would be willing to head up this project by providing staff supervision, facilitate a meeting between the TV show producers and individuals who have reported “experiences” at the Fort and assist the film crew with logistics.

Friends of Fort Knox executive director, Leon Seymour said that "The Friends are very excited about the possibility of the Ghost Hunters traveling to Maine to investigate and film at Fort Knox. The Friends believe that featuring Fort Knox on a TV show watched by millions will swell Fort Knox and Penobscot Narrows Observatory attendance and have a positive impact for local businesses from increased tourism."

Though the Friends of Fort Knox have never taken a position on whether the Fort is haunted, they say that they are often asked by visitors if the historic site is indeed occupied by spirits. The Friends of Fort Knox are a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring Fort Knox and enhancing its educational, cultural and economic value for the people of Maine. The Friends' latest restoration effort is focused on extensive masonry repair throughout the Fort.

Individuals who wish to be considered for an interview relating what they believe to have been a "paranormal experience at the Fort, may contact the Friends at FOFK1@aol.com or by telephone at 207-469-6553.

Let's hope the folks at the Bureau see fit to approve the adventure! I for one would love to see an investigation of the Fort. It's such a fantastic location to begin with, and the stories coming out of the Fort have been so interesting.

One of the most recent took place during work on Fright at the Fort 2008. The Bangor Daily News reports:

Worker ‘creeped-out’ by ‘Fright’ at Fort Knox
By Rich Hewitt, BDN Staff

PROSPECT, Maine — When the Cowardly Lion stood in the Haunted Forest wringing his tail saying, “I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks,” he had good reason.

He was surrounded by trees with faces, flying monkeys, a wicked witch and, yes, spooks.

Now, Teddy Cooke, 19, of Verona Island has a good reason to say the same thing.

Cooke, who works as a tower and gate attendant at Fort Knox Historic Site and the Penobscot Narrows Observation Tower, didn’t have to deal with the Wicked Witch of the West, but he did have a close encounter of some kind last Saturday night inside the fort.

“It creeped me out,” he said.

It happened Saturday night as Cooke was closing up the fort after the annual Fright at the Fort event. He wasn’t one of the ghouls, trolls or ogres stationed in the fort to spook the nighttime visitors. Cooke was part of the tech crew, in charge of the fog, the lights and the scary audio for the event.

The fort was dark except for the “Fright” effects.

“My job was to lock up, shut down all the electrical stuff, the fog machine and the strobe lights,” he said. “I was going to the upper level of the officers’ quarters when I saw it — it was the back of a leg moving at the end of the hall.”

At that point, he said, he thought there was a straggler from the Fright event, and he called out to say the fort was closed and to follow him out. There was no response.

From the hall, a set of stairs leads up to a long corridor known as “Two Step Alley.” Cooke walked up the steps and as his eyes reached the level of the floor, he saw the dark shape of someone walking down the alley.

“About halfway down, I could see the figure of a person,” he said. “There was a red floodlight at the other end and it clearly blocked out the light.”

He called out again, but there was no reaction.

Cooke said the figure looked like a “solid shadow.” He saw no face or details, but could tell it was walking, not gliding. It did not react or turn when he called. And it made no sound that he heard.

Although he said he felt a little jittery, he didn’t feel any emotion or any presence from the figure.

He reached for his flashlight and the figure was gone.

“I looked down for just a second and when I looked up again, there was nothing there all the way to the end of the alley,” he said. “At this point, I’m still thinking it’s a person. There are pillars all the way down the alley, and I thought they may have ducked behind there. I thought maybe someone was going to jump out and scare me.”

Cautiously, he checked each pillar all the way down.

No one was there.

“There’s no way anyone could have gotten down the alley in that time,” he said. “Up until I got out I thought it was a person. I don’t know what it was. I got out of the fort as quickly as I could.”

Cooke admits to being a fan of the “Ghost Hunter” television show, but said he wanted proof before he’d believe in ghosts. He says he has it now.

“I considered myself a skeptic until something happened so that I would know,” he said. “This was kind of that ‘it’ that happened.”

Some might discount Cooke’s account as imagination, but he’s not the first to have a supernatural experience in the fort. According to Leon Seymour, executive director of the Friends of Fort Knox, there have been reports for years from visitors and fort staff of unusual happenings.

“I’ve heard hundreds of stories,” he said. “People having their hat taken off, people being pushed.”

The fort is a likely spot for spirits, according to Sky Taylor, a Bangor radio announcer and co-founder of the Down East Paranormal Society.

The granite and the fort’s proximity to the water all help to store and conduct spirit energy, Taylor said.

Taylor and her husband have had unexplained encounters in the fort before, one of them in the same area where Cooke saw his spirit on Saturday. Several years ago, she brought in a psychic, who confirmed there were spirits dwelling in the fort.

Although no one actually died inside the fort, Taylor said, the spirits could be soldiers who had strong ties to the fort. One might be Sgt. Leopold Hegyi, who spent 13 years at Fort Knox and died in a house across the road from the fort where he lived.

Taylor produced a special radio broadcast about the spirits at the fort and included the story from a former guide at the fort during the 1980s. The guide reported that on one of her tours, a soldier showed up at the edge of the group. She assumed it was one of the Civil War re-enactors who hold encampments at the fort.

She learned later that none was at the fort that day.

“A little later, she saw a photo and said [the soldier] looked just like Sgt. Hegyi,” Taylor said. “If anyone had ties to this place, it was Sgt. Hegyi.

Although Hegyi’s widow, who lived in New York, collected his belongings after the sergeant died, she did not claim his remains. He is buried in a cemetery a short distance from the fort down Route 1 in Stockton Springs, Taylor said.

Cooke is not sure what he saw, but he’s convinced he saw something. He’s a little “uneasy” about going back in for this weekend’s version of Fright at the Fort, and admits that anytime he comes back into the fort, he’ll recall this incident.

“I’m not sure I’d want it to happen again,” he said. “But I’d be excited if it did.”

See BDN article for photos: [Source]

Photo (c)2009 by Michelle Souliere.

A different type of chill

Photo of SMCC's Hillside dorm from PRI-ME.org website.

While the cold has settled into the state in earnest, I'd like to throw some spooky chills into the mix as well.

I was talking to a friend of mine who has worked in SMCC's resident inn, and finds it a pretty creepy place to work through late nights at. But online, I found references to SMCC Hillside dorm as a home for haunts, which was new to me. I can't vouch for any of this information, but would definitely be interested in hearing from anyone who has experienced any of the Hillside phenomena mentioned here:

Southern Maine Technical College, South Portland: A Funeral Home

The Hillside Dorm has a long and strange history. This specific branch is now housing for students but at certain points in its career it has been not only a funeral home, but a brothel, and a nursing home. All this history makes it difficult to predict exactly what is haunting the halls of this college. There is a man who wanders the floors of the attic. There is also repeats of a creature up there who moves to and fro. Many times maintenance has tried to catch it, but as of yet it has eluded all traps. Strange dusty footprints have been reported around the traps. There is also an older lady and a young boy who are said to torment some of the students by messing with their blankets and windows at night. There is also a young woman in a nightgown who walks up and down the staircase in the evening hours. The validity of this sighting is that not only has she been seen by individuals, but also groups.

[Source

In searching for a photo of the dorm online, I found that Paranormal Researchers and Investigators of Maine (PRI-ME) has done a training session for paranormal investigations at the site. You can read about their investigation here -- lots of photos too!

Pine Tree State Mutant Turtles

The Trusty Plinko Stick blog has a funny little post up that involves a few of my Maine favorites:

The now-defunct but much-loved Moonshadow Comics of Portland

The Maine-born weirdness that is the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Back in the day, Bill of the Plinko Stick used to get his comics via mailorder from Moonshadow in Portland.

Sure, I got my issues of Captain America, Marvel Age, and some of the other books I considered essential, but the rest were odd. I should have been reading the first issue of the Howard the Duck movie adaptation, but instead I had this dumb book a lady with clocks on her boobs, a grey, Peter Porker-looking barbarian, and four ninja turtles.
[Source]

For more info on Maine-born Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Turtles, you can dig around online, or check the Wiki on him here. There is conflicting information on his birthplace, with Wikipedia stating Springvale, and the TMNT25.com site claiming Portland. At any rate, there's no doubt he's a Mainer!

Maine's mystery penny

Mental Floss Magazine's blog has an interesting post about 8 top Out-Of-Place Artifacts, which includes in the #1 spot Maine's own weird penny, a.k.a. The Goddard Penny. To quote the site:

The Maine Penny. So an archaeologist finds a silver coin while digging in Maine. No big deal, right? It is when the archaeological site was an old Native American settlement and the coin is found to be a piece of Norse currency dating from 1065-1080 AD. Although more than 30,000 pieces were recovered from the site, they were all Native American save for the coin.

There’s no evidence that the Vikings ever had a settlement there, however, and no evidence that they even came that far south in the interest of trade. The only Norse settlement ever found in North America is in Newfoundland. The strongest theory thus far suggests that Native Americans acquired it through their trades and travels. There’s no doubt that the coin itself is authentic, but how it ended up at the site is still in question – was it planted or did it really end up in Maine by honest means?

Click here to see a photo of the penny, and read about the other OOPArts: [Source]

More info on the penny can be found on the Wikipedia page devoted to its discussion (click here to ponder the penny further).

Forget the register, gimme the ATM!

The Bangor Daily News reported on yet another odd Maine crime earlier this week.

Maine man charged with stealing ATM from store
11/30/09
Associated Press

SCARBOROUGH, Maine — A Maine man accused of taking a cash machine from a convenience store and driving off with it in the back of a pickup truck faces charges including aggravated assault.

Scarborough police who arrived at the convenience store late Sunday found the front door had been ripped off, and soon spotted the pickup with the ATM in the back. Police say the truck backed into a police cruiser and then sped off.
[...]

Please click here for full story: [Source]

You don't think he could have found a more subtle way of getting into the store?

Greetings and tardy salutations

Hello all! Just an update on why I've been silent on the blog front...

On November 6th, I finally secured my city permits to open The Green Hand, my used bookshop at 661 Congress Street, with three hours to spare before the Grand Opening was scheduled to start! Phew. There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony (click here for photos) during the First Friday Artwalk that evening, with Representative Herb Adams presiding. Loren Coleman's International Cryptozoology Museum opened at the same time in the rear portion of my shopfront, and it's been great working with him in this venture so far!

In the 3+ weeks since them, I've been trying to groom my store's selection, processing books as quickly as I can, and putting out tempting stocking stuffers for connoisseurs of the ridiculous and delightful (anti-werewolf Silver Bullet Mints, anyone?). Hence my silence here!

I've missed working on the blog dreadfully, and this post should mark a return to regular posting again. In addition, the long-overdue October issue of the Strange Maine Gazette is in the works, and should be showing its face soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

Thanks, everyone, for your patience and understanding, and I hope you'll enjoy the progress of the blog, and maybe even stop by the shop sometime to say hello!

Sunday: No opening of The Green Hand

Hello everyone --
Due to bureaucratic delays, we are unable to open The Green Hand Bookshop as planned on Sunday. Please bear with us, those of you who hoped to come along, and we will open as soon as possible.

I'll be at the shop working regardless, so if any of you do show up, you are certainly welcome to pop in and get a sneak preview of the grounds! :)

Many thanks again for all your support, and we'll see you soon. We are still planning to have our gala ribbon-cutting next Friday at 6:00!

Regards,
Michelle

Happy Halloween !

A photo for the season, from the Archives !
This was taken by a Portland Press-Herald photographer in 1939.

The long arms of the law were strong enough to bag 'dem bones!