Adirondack Outlaws

Local author and historian Niki Kourofsky exposes the North Country’s shadowy past of crime and dark deeds. Her wry, lively storytelling puts readers right in the thick of shootouts, jewel heists, bank robberies, manhunts, and unsolved murders. Spanning eight decades of Adirondack history and ranging from Glens Falls to the Canadian border, Adirondack Outlaws is a rollicking page-turner, rich in chilling details and amply illustrated with historical photographs.

Local author and historian Niki Kourofsky exposes the North Country’s shadowy past of crime and dark deeds. Her wry, lively storytelling puts readers right in the thick of shootouts, jewel heists, bank robberies, manhunts, and unsolved murders. Spanning eight decades of Adirondack history and ranging from Glens Falls to the Canadian border, Adirondack Outlaws is a rollicking page-turner, rich in chilling details and amply illustrated with historical photographs.

An illustrated travel guide to the Adirondacks that includes listings of accommodations and restaurants, tourist sites, entertainment and shopping, and special events, along with maps and a history of the region.

A comprehensive guide to the Adirondacks and beyond Completely updated, now in full color, this guide provides details of Adirondack Park’s history and geography as well as the cultural, lodging, dining, shopping, and recreational opportunities that abound here and in its gateway cities (including Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls). Full of unbiased critical opinions and candid reviews from an author who is immersed in the region; up-to-date, detailed maps; and gorgeous photos throughout—this is an invaluable guide for your next trip.

"It's a taste of the wild, wild west in the Adirondacks when Sheriff Nick Barnes and Deputies Justin Robert and Jackie Salsberry take the long ride on horseback headed for Cascade Falls. There is a legend about an old safe abandoned somewhere in the forest along the trail. Will they find it? Is the legend even true? And what if outlaws discover it before they do? Join The Adirondack Kids in their quest for truth and treasure!" -- page [4] of cover.

Encompassing the lands immediately surrounding the upper reaches of the Beaver River from its headwaters at Lake Lila to Beaver Lake at the settlement of Number Four, Beaver River country is the largest undisturbed tract of forest in the entire northeastern United States. During the nineteenth century it was widely considered to be the very heart of the Adirondacks and was visited by thousands of tourists seeking outdoor recreation. The area boasted a busy railroad station, two grand hotels, an exclusive resort, and an elaborate great camp, as well as dozens of guides camps and sporting clubs. Pitts traces the generations of people who inhabited the region, from the ancestors of the Haudenosaunee, to the early European settlers, to the vacation communities and seasonal visitors. With each generation, Pitts shows how Beaver River country escaped the forces that fragmented and destroyed the wilderness in much of the Northeast. The forest and waters that attracted the early visitors are still there, preserved by a combination of happenstance and dedicated effort. Filled with rare vintage photographs, this book is a vivid portrait of this wild region, revealing how it came to be and why it survives.

Watch Craig Bauer discuss the Zodiac Killer’s cipher on HISTORY’s new miniseries The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer In 1953, a man was found dead from cyanide poisoning near the Philadelphia airport with a picture of a Nazi aircraft in his wallet. Taped to his abdomen was an enciphered message. In 1912, a book dealer named Wilfrid Voynich came into possession of an illuminated cipher manuscript once belonging to Emperor Rudolf II, who was obsessed with alchemy and the occult. Wartime codebreakers tried—and failed—to unlock the book's secrets, and it remains an enigma to this day. In this lively and entertaining book, Craig Bauer examines these and other vexing ciphers yet to be cracked. Some may reveal the identity of a spy or serial killer, provide the location of buried treasure, or expose a secret society—while others may be elaborate hoaxes. Unsolved! begins by explaining the basics of cryptology, and then explores the history behind an array of unsolved ciphers. It looks at ancient ciphers, ciphers created by artists and composers, ciphers left by killers and victims, Cold War ciphers, and many others. Some are infamous, like the ciphers in the Zodiac letters, while others were created purely as intellectual challenges by figures such as Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard P. Feynman. Bauer lays out the evidence surrounding each cipher, describes the efforts of geniuses and eccentrics—in some cases both—to decipher it, and invites readers to try their hand at puzzles that have stymied so many others. Unsolved! takes readers from the ancient world to the digital age, providing an amazing tour of many of history's greatest unsolved ciphers.

While the Adirondack Mountains are New York's most beautiful region, they have also been plagued by insidious crimes and the nasty escapades of notorious lawbreakers. In 1935, public enemy number one, Dutch Schultz, went on trial and was acquitted in an Adirondack courtroom. Crooks have tried creative methods to sidestep forestry laws that protect the flora of the state park. Members of the infamous Windfall Gang, led by Charles Wadsworth, terrorized towns and hid out in the high mountains until their dramatic 1899 capture. In the 1970s, the Adirondack Serial Killer, Robert Francis Garrow, petrified campers in the hills. Join local author Dennis Webster as he explores the wicked deeds and sinister characters hidden among the Adirondacks' peaks.

It was one of the biggest crime stories of the decade - two deadly killers, desperate and on the run. After months of planning, Ricky Matt and David Sweat cut, chopped, coerced, and connived their way out of a maximum-security prison in the wilderness of upstate New York and managed to elude police for three weeks, sending the region into lockdown and keeping the entire country on edge. The media called it "a bold escape for the ages," and veteran true-crime writer Michael Benson leads us along the story's every wild path to dig out a tale of adventure, psychology, sex, and brutality. Escape from Dannemora examines the strange case of Joyce Mitchell, the long-time prison employee who had a sexual relationship with at least one of the killers, and who smuggled them tools and aided in the escape, while they cooked up a plan to kill her husband. In the end, Benson looks closely at conditions at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY, a crumbling Gothic pile now under investigation for charges of drug trafficking and brutality.

This lyrical narrative history reveals how the love affair between Americans and the Adirondacks--America's first wilderness--has grown and changed over time. 40 photos.