Today, we travel through Vermont in search of a family curse, a legendary lake creature, the ghost stories surrounding a terrible railroad disaster, and a group of mineral springs that seemed to resist every attempt to turn them into a business.

Some parts of these stories are supported by historical records. Others belong entirely to folklore. Together, they reveal how real people, places, and tragedies can become legends passed down for generations.

Long before Vermont had its present name or boundaries, Indigenous people lived throughout the region. Archaeological evidence shows that people were living in the Champlain Valley thousands of years ago. Over time, small seasonal camps developed into more permanent communities along the lakes and rivers.

The Western Abenaki were among the Native peoples whose homeland included what is now Vermont. Lake Champlain provided food, transportation, and spiritual meaning, while rivers such as the Winooski and Missisquoi connected communities throughout the region.

In 1609, Samuel de Champlain became the first European known to have set foot in what would become Vermont. Contrary to a frequently repeated claim, there is no reliable evidence that Jacques Cartier visited Vermont in 1535.

The French built Fort Sainte Anne on Isle La Motte in 1666, creating Vermont's first European settlement. France eventually lost control of the region to Great Britain in 1763. Vermont then declared itself an independent republic in 1777 before joining the United States on March 4, 1791, as the fourteenth state.

That long and complicated history created the perfect setting for stories in which fact and folklore are rarely far apart...

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