Happy Thanksgiving! In Episode 119, Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit Newport, New Hampshire, the 1788 birthplace of Sarah Josepha Hale. Hale not only wrote the most famous nursery rhyme of all time, she lobbied governors, admirals, and U.S. presidents for decades to make a new federal holiday called Thanksgiving. Her determination paid off when President Abraham Lincoln made it official in 1863! We explore the history and mysteries of this holiday. We’re thankful to all of our legendary listeners!

The Mother of Thanksgiving

Twice each week, legend hunter, author, and historian Jeff Belanger and radio host Ray Auger explore the ghosts, monsters, aliens, folklore, history, roadside oddities, true crime, and legends of New England in this award-winning podcast. If you give us about twenty minutes, we’ll give you something strange to talk about today. The bizarre is closer than you think!

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Places & Travel

In Episode 345 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit the Newtown Bee parking lot in Newtown, Connecticut, to experience the site of a brutal unsolved axe murder of a local cobbler and the profound haunting that followed soon after. Managing Editor Shannon Hicks from The Bee joins us for this one.    See more here:  https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-345-the-cobblers-ghost-has-no-shoes/   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  

The Cobbler’s Ghost Has No Shoes

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 56 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit a memorial off the side of the road in Alfred, Maine, that marks the site where America’s first elephant was gunned down in cold blood back in 1816. The elephant named Old Bet had toured throughout New England for eight years before a jealous farmer named Daniel Davis gunned her down as she approached the town of Alfred. Old Bet was part of one of America’s earliest circuses, and if not for the tiny memorial along Route 4, her legend may be lost forever. This episode first aired April 1, 2021.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

FtV – The Slaying of Old Bet

In Episode 344 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore Warwick Neck, Rhode Island, to search for the Crime Castle of Carl Rettich. In the 1920s, during the height of Prohibition, Rettich ran Rhode Island’s bootlegging game with an iron fist, and if you crossed him… with a mobster staple of his own invention: cement shoes.    See more here:  https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-344-carl-rettichs-deadly-footwear-and-murder-mansion/   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Carl Rettich’s Deadly Footwear and Murder Mansion

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 55 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger take a stroll down a road to nowhere in search of ghosts and a monster. The abandoned section of Downs Road in Bethany, Connecticut, is home to a host of legends whose roots date back more than a century-and-a-half and include ties to a strange New Haven cult whose leader claimed to have the ability to raise the dead. This episode first aired July 16, 2020.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

FtV - The Downs Road Monster

In Episode 343 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger sail the harbor of Rockport, Maine, to witness the birth of the donut. In 1847, a young sailor named Hanson Crockett Gregory, made an innovation in the “oily-cake” that changed Maine… New England… America… the World… the Time-Space Continuum. Every legend, every icon, starts somewhere. WARNING: This episode WILL make you hungry!   See more here:  https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-343-the-birth-of-the-legendary-donut/   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

The Mother of Thanksgiving

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