New England Legends and Folklore

Discover weird and amazing tales about pirates, ghosts and witches in old New England while learning early American history! The rich and wonderful history of early New England isn’t just about pilgrims, the founding of the nation, and the American Revolution. It also includes incredible tales of shipwrecks and pirates, witches and Puritans, old mansions and terrifying ghosts, and dense forests and wind-swept beaches populated by strange and mysterious creatures. This classic collection of the legends and folklore of New England will not only take you back to colonial days, where you will rediscover Plymouth Rock, the courtship of Priscilla by Myles Standish, and Paul Revere’s ride, but will introduce you to exciting and bizarre events long obscured by the mists of time. Meet Molly Pitcher, the fortune-telling hag of Lynn, said to be descended from wizards; Agnes, maid of Marbleton’s Fountainhead Inn and a real-life Cinderella; Captain Teach, better known as the notorious pirate Blackbeard; and the wealthy widow Ann Hibbins, accused of being a witch and hanged from a tree in Boston. If these amazing tales of real-life historical figures aren’t exciting enough, weird old New England was also a paranormal wonderland. Discover the massive sea serpent of Gloucester Bay; the testimony of the man who was chased by the double-headed snake of Newbury; the skeleton in armor pulled from the Fall River said to date to 1000 A.D.; and the terrifying Marblehead legend of the shrieking woman. A classic of its kind, authored by a Civil War veteran who was closer in time to these stories than anyone living today can ever imagine, and illustrated with over 100 evocative period engravings, New England Legends & Folk Lore is a treasury of historical fact and literary flight of fancy.