Ghosts Of Boston Town

Ranging from the 18th century to the present and from Beacon Hill to windswept Cape Ann, Holly Nadler's collection of true ghost stories from Boston and its environs offers a varied sampling of supernatural phenomena. Many of these tales offer a satisfying dose of ghoulish and frightening details; others are colored with a certain poignancy or even humor.

“Explores the city’s ghoulish history over more than three centuries, including Colonial-era spirits.” —BU Today It should come as no surprise that one of the nation’s oldest cities brims with spirits of those who lived and died in its hundreds of years of tumultuous history. Boston, Massachusetts, boasts countless stories of the supernatural. Many students at Boston College have encountered an unearthly hound that haunts O’Connell House to this day. Be on the watch for an actor who sits in on rehearsals at Huntington Theatre and restless spirits rumored to haunt Boston Common at night. From the Victorian brownstones of Back Bay to the shores of the Boston Harbor Islands, author Sam Baltrusis makes it clear that there is hardly a corner of the Hub where the paranormal cannot be experienced—and shares terrifying tales of the long departed. Includes photos

Among Massachusetts's many treasures is Boston, a city rich in culture and history. Haunted Boston, a collection of stories of ghosts, mysteries, and paranormal happenings in Beantown, will leave readers delightfully frightened.

Take an eerie journey through the historic town of Boston, where ghostly friars still occupy the land of their thirteenth-century monastery, and where Sarah Preston's disembodied cries of 'Pestilence!' can sometimes be heard as her ghostly apparition jumps from the top of St Botolph's Church. Her alleged former home, Church Key Studio, has seen many occupants come and go over the centuries – but does one of them still reside there in spirit? Also featured is the ancient Guildhall of St Mary's, where a group of distinguished ghostly gentlemen hold board meetings in the upper hall while a lady apparition stares intently into the old prison cells. And explore the spectacular rooms and gardens of Fydell House, where previous occupants have been seen and heard, long after their deaths. This book tells the stories of many well-known locations, with first-hand testimonies of paranormal activity – from pubs, shops and restaurants to a former music venue. Including exclusive photographs and the results of paranormal investigations, some of the locations featured will surprise you... and some of the chilling evidence will make your blood run cold.

Meet the spirits who lurk in the waters near this historic seaport and its secluded islands—photos included! Boston Harbor brims with the restless spirits of pirates, prisoners, and victims of disease and injustice. Uncover the truth behind the Lady in Black on Georges Island. Learn about the former asylums on Long Island that inspired the movie Shutter Island, and dig up the skeletal secrets left behind by the Woman in Scarlet Robes. From items flying off the shelves at a North End cigar shop to the postmortem cries of tragedy at the centuries-old Boston Light on Little Brewster, author Sam Baltrusis breathes new life into the horrors that occurred in the historic waters surrounding Boston.

For more than 350 years, America's beloved Beantown (Boston) has held a special spot in American history. It should be of no surprise that Boston has also been a major center of ghostly activity since the first Europeans stepped foot on the land in the early 1600s. No stone has been left unturned to find these local legends and urban myths that loom like shadows in Boston.

Cemetery spooks, haunted historic homes and Native American legends figure prominently in this collection of eerie in tales from the Bay State. From the beaches and cliffs of the Atlantic coast and the historic streets of Boston to the beautiful Berkshires come a variety of stories and legends, including the phantom canoe of two dead Mohegan lovers, the haunted Danvers Lunatic Asylum whose former residents never really left, and eyewitness accounts of UFOs sightings that date back to the mid-1800s.

Welcome to the Massachusetts Volume II of America's Most Haunted where we unlock the eerie secrets of Salem, Boston, and Fall River. Salem has a reputation as one of America's most haunted cities. Between 1692 and 1693, 200 villagers faced accusations of witchcraft, 19 of whom were executed by hanging. This period saw the deadliest witch hunt in American history that left a bloody stain on Salem. The poor men and women who never got a fair trial still hold a grudge against the living and make their ire known.Considering Boston is chock-full of historical landmarks and old buildings, it's safe to say that there are a few haunted sites that are worth checking out. At almost every corner of the city, there's a site that is infamous for its hauntings. What's more, there's a wide variety of venues that are said to contain ghostly spirits. You can find haunted houses, cemeteries, and historical landmarks, all with a unique twisted backstory.Nantucket Island is home to many ghost stories due in part to its history in whaling and commerce. Spooky stories of unexplained occurrences in Nantucket include rumors of flickering lights, items moving on their own, and translucent figures.Fall River is known for a gruesome double murder, where Lizzie Borden allegedly murdered her father and stepmother with an ax. The brutal murders of Fall River attract all sorts of strange entities. Ghosts, spirits, and ghouls are known to haunt the streets of this quiet town.

Journalist and "Ghosts of Salem: Haunts of the Witch City" author Sam Baltrusis leaves no gravestone unturned in his search for New England's most haunted crime scenes. From the bloody fingerprints left at former asylums throughout Massachusetts to the haunting legacy of Lizzie Borden in Fall River, Baltrusis delves into ghastly tales of murder and madness to uncover the truth behind some of the state's most bone-chilling haunts.

The area known as Dogtown -- an isolated colonial ruin and surrounding 3,000-acre woodland in storied seaside Gloucester, Massachusetts -- has long exerted a powerful influence over artists, writers, eccentrics, and nature lovers. But its history is also woven through with tales of witches, supernatural sightings, pirates, former slaves, drifters, and the many dogs Revolutionary War widows kept for protection and for which the area was named. In 1984, a brutal murder took place there: a mentally disturbed local outcast crushed the skull of a beloved schoolteacher as she walked in the woods. Dogtown's peculiar atmosphere -- it is strewn with giant boulders and has been compared to Stonehenge -- and eerie past deepened the pall of this horrific event that continues to haunt Gloucester even today. In alternating chapters, Elyssa East interlaces the story of this grisly murder with the strange, dark history of this wilderness ghost town and explores the possibility that certain landscapes wield their own unique power. East knew nothing of Dogtown's bizarre past when she first became interested in the area. As an art student in the early 1990s, she fell in love with the celebrated Modernist painter Marsden Hartley's stark and arresting Dogtown landscapes. She also learned that in the 1930s, Dogtown saved Hartley from a paralyzing depression. Years later, struggling in her own life, East set out to find the mysterious setting that had changed Hartley's life, hoping that she too would find solace and renewal in Dogtown's odd beauty. Instead, she discovered a landscape steeped in intrigue and a community deeply ambivalent about the place: while many residents declare their passion for this profoundly affecting landscape, others avoid it out of a sense of foreboding. Throughout this richly braided first-person narrative, East brings Dogtown's enigmatic past to life. Losses sustained during the American Revolution dealt this once thriving community its final blow. Destitute war widows and former slaves took up shelter in its decaying homes until 1839, when the last inhabitant was taken to the poorhouse. He died seven days later. Dogtown has remained abandoned ever since, but continues to occupy many people's imaginations. In addition to Marsden Hartley, it inspired a Bible-thumping millionaire who carved the region's rocks with words to live by; the innovative and influential postmodernist poet Charles Olson, who based much of his epic Maximus Poems on Dogtown; an idiosyncratic octogenarian who vigilantly patrols the land to this day; and a murderer who claimed that the spirit of the woods called out to him. In luminous, insightful prose, Dogtown takes the reader into an unforgettable place brimming with tragedy, eccentricity, and fascinating lore, and examines the idea that some places can inspire both good and evil, poetry and murder.