“Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst. The street is Pyncheon Street; the house is the old Pyncheon House; and an elm-tree, of wide circumference, rooted […]
A historic home in Salem finds its way into Lovecraft’s fiction
The Crowninshield Bentley House c.1727-30. Click here to view larger and more images from Salem, Massachusetts. Part of the Peabody Essex Museum and available for tours, June through October 126 Essex Street at Washington Square “I lied when I said she had gone away. I killed her. I had to. It was sudden, but we were […]
Yorktown Ghost Stories: Colonial era ghosts still haunt the streets of this landmark village of the American Revolution
The Nelson House is an imposing edifice by anyone’s standards. Three stories tall and on a hill overlooking the York River, the house was believed to be for a time, the headquarters of British General Cornwallis during the American Revolution, and was a frequent target of American and French cannon fire during the siege of Yorktown. […]
Top 5 Haunted Massachusetts hotels and bed and breakfasts
Ghost stories are a traditional part of New England evenings, and have been since before the founding of our country. So what can be better than spending an evening in a haunted Massachusetts hotel, inn or bed and breakfast? Let’s be honest … you’re not likely to be disturbed by either the dead or undead in a […]
The right to bear arms, the right to regulate guns, both guaranteed by the second amendment – a guarantee of conflict
The reason the debate over gun control is all screwed up, is because if you look at the issue historically, both sides are right. The second amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives citizen the right to bear arms, especially in the case of forming militias, to both protect and if necessary, hold the government accountable. […]
Cemetery Symbolism: The Meaning of Memento Mori and a Puritan reminder of your mortality
Memento Mori, headstone in the Old Burial Ground, Concord, MA, c. 1759. Click here for more tombstone images “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound […]
America’s Haunted Inns: Bardstown Kentucky’s chilling Old Talbott Tavern lives up to its reputation
It was late in the evening, the manager of Talbott Tavern and a cook were making their way up the stairs towards the safe, when they saw the figure of a man in a long coat walking across the landing. Hurrying up, they reached the top of the stairs just in time to see the […]
Jerusha Howe’s bedroom at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn
Room 9 is the room to get when staying at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn outside Sudbury, Massachusetts. It’s said to host the spirit of Jerusha, who has been known to snuggle up to male guests during the night, when they stay in the room alone. But don’t come expecting much in the way of modern entertainment. […]
Piracy in Charleston, S.C.: The adoption of the gentleman pirate, Stede Bonnet
Top: White Point Garden, The Battery, Charleston, South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina has a colorful history related to pirates. The pirate with the main claim to fame would be Blackbeard, who once held Charleston Harbor for several days. But Charleston has latched onto one of Blackbeard’s lesser captains, the gentleman pirate, Stede Bonnet. This isn’t […]
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
The Great God Pan, a novella by Welsh born Arthur Machen (3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947), was cited by Stephen King as maybe the best horror story in the English Language. Originally decried for its strong sexual and horror content, it is almost tame in comparison to today’s literature of the same genre. […]
The best haunted hotels and inns: Lemp Mansion – A house built on beer, brought down by suicides and debauchery makes for a great ghoulish destination
Ann Barrett: What did he do to make this house so evil, Mr. Fischer? Benjamin Franklin Fischer: Drug addiction, alcoholism, sadism, beastiality, mutilation, murder, vampirism, necrophilia, cannibalism, not to mention a gamut of sexual goodies. Shall I go on? Ann Barrett: How did it end? Benjamin Franklin Fischer: If it had ended, we would not […]
The Haunted Lemp Mansion in St. Louis: Dining and sleepovers with the ghosts of the upper crust
We’ve all heard of railroad tycoons and oil barons, but beer barons? St. Louis was ripe with those by the turn of the twentieth century, and foremost on that list was the Lemp family. Lemp beer became the first mass produced lager in the United States, and created a fortune for the family. Yet the […]
