New England Ghost Stories

The Leather Man was a French vagabond who spent 30 years traveling a circuit of 365 miles, from the Connecticut River to the Hudson River.  From 1858 to 1889, the Leather Man walked in a clockwise direction, completing his route every 34 days.  Residents in the towns he stopped in said that you could set your watch by him.

As we go through our own pandemic, it may be appropriate to visit the grand daddy of all pandemics, the Spanish Flu outbreak which raged from March 1918 - Spring 1919 in 3 separate waves.  Over 100 years ago, the 1918 Pandemic of the Spanish Flu killed at least 50 million people worldwide.

How would you like to attend college in a haunted school?  Well, if that thought appeals to you, you should definitely check out the University of Vermont in Burlington.  Many of its buildings can give you an education in the paranormal.

In 1871, Louis Wagner was a mysterious loner, barely scratching out a living fishing the Maine and New Hampshire waters off the Isles of Shoals, when he had the good fortune to meet John Hontvet and his wife Maren. For two years John and Maren took a personal interest in seeing that Wagner was never in need of food or clothing, and hiring him to work on John’s prosperous fishing schooner, the Clara Bella.  On the morning of March 6,1873, 147 years ago, the Hontvets discovered  how their kindness was to be repaid.

Approximately 30 miles from Manhattan is Stamford, CT.  Stamford, which was incorporated as a city in 1893,  is a part of the Greater New York metropolitan area and home to eight Fortune 500 companies. And like many cities on the east coast, Stamford has its own vibrant downtown district with restaurants and entertainment, museums, parks, and yes, ghosts.

When you think of pirates, warm tropical climates probably come to mind, but the islands off the coast of New England were popular hang-outs for the swashbuckling set.  The Isles of Shoals off  Portsmouth, New Hampshire was home to none other than Blackbeard.

By the turn of the 20th century, Newport was the summer home of many of the nation's wealthiest families, including the Vanderbilts, Astors, and the Bradleys. And some of them never left.

In northwest Massachusetts, below the Mohawk Trail, lies a railway tunnel named, The Hoosac Tunnel.  The tunnel runs five miles through the Hoosac Mountain Range from North Adams on its west side, to Florida, Massachusetts on its east side. It took over 24 years, and the 193 lives. to complete the Hoosac Tunnel, earning it the nickname, “The Bloody Pit.”

Dogtown is a Massachusetts ghost town between Gloucester and Rockport. It was once home to vagrants, wild dogs, witches, werewolves, and creepy dolls. Not to mention people who simply...disappear. 

Anawan Rock is just one of the creepy sites within the Bridgewater Triangle.  The Bridgewater Triangle encompasses about 200 square miles in the Hockamock Swamp region.  Hockamock is an Algonquin word for "Place where spirits dwell," however the Colonists preferred to call it The Devil's Swamp or the Devil's Bowl.