New England Legends Podcast

In Episode 292 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger dig down 114 feet in the Forestdale section of Brandon, Vermont, to search for an Ice Age-era frog they say was discovered back in the summer of 1865 deep in an ochre mine. But when the frog was brought to the surface… it jumped back to life! Is this just one weird fish story, or something more? See more at: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-292-vermonts-ice-age-monster-from-the-deep/

In Episode 291 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike up a wooded hill in Chester, Massachusetts, searching for a unique tomb carved into a glacial boulder. In 1873, Hiram Smith and his sister, Isabell Toogood were entombed in a rock that took masons two years to chisel. One story goes that Hiram wanted to be buried above ground so the Devil couldn’t get him. But maybe it was a childhood memory that haunted Hiram all of his long years. See more here: ...

In Episode 290 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the Meeting House Hill region of Meriden, Connecticut, searching for a ghost that made the newspaper back in August of 1895 -- a spooky specter around Booth Pond seen by dozens of locals. Though the reporter at the time seems to think he solved the mystery of the ghost… we found something more. The pond is gone now, but are the ghosts? See more at: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-290-the-meeting-house-hill-ghost/

In Episode 289 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Little Compton, Rhode Island, to drive by the Spite Tower. Built in 1905, it’s a three-story, odd-looking tower located at the edge of the former Hathaway property. They say it was built out of spite -- to intentionally block the view of a neighbor Hathaway didn’t like. But what’s inside? See more at: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-289-rhode-islands-spite-tower/

In Episode 288 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike up to Maiden’s Cliff near Lake Megunticook in Camden, Maine, where they say the ghost of a young woman still haunts the ledge. Some people witness the horrific fall that killed the girl back in 1864 playing over and over again. Today there’s a large white cross and plaque marking the spot where young Elenora French lost her life. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-288-the-ghost-of-maidens-cliff/ Also check out Podcast...

In Episode 287 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger spend Valentine’s Day driving along Route 103 in Newbury, New Hampshire, to see some graffiti that’s endured for half a century. Though the state once painted over it in the 1990s due to a complaint, Newbury responded with a petition to protect this enduring but odd message of affection. The painted rock reads: Chicken Farmer I Still Love You. Who first put it there and why? See more here: ...

In Episode 286 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike up East Mountain in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom searching for the ruins of the North Concord Air Force Station, a massive Cold War-era radar base where a UFO was spotted on September 19, 1961. This UFO sighting was the precursor to New England’s most famous UFO case. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-286-vermonts-abandoned-ufo-base/ Hear also: Episode 5, The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction: ...

In Episode 285 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger cheer Westford Academy’s football team in Massachusetts. Their mascot is the Grey Ghosts. How they cam e to be called that has been a point of controversy in recent years, but part of the backstory leads us to the haunted Roudenbush Community Center in Westford where we explore a Civil War legend. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-285-westfords-grey-ghosts/

In Episode 284 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Haddam, Connecticut, to a location officially known as Cremation Hill -- a place where they say a farmer used to hire farmhands for the season, and then murder them and burn the bodies instead of paying them. There’s some truth to the legend… this is the story and trial of Emil Schutte who was sentenced to hang on October 22, 1922, for the murder. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-284-connecticuts-cremation-hill/

In Episode 283 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the former Rhode Island State Burial Grounds in Cranston, searching for the place where Grave 599 was exhumed in November 1883. The remains of Caleb Brown were being retrieved by an undertaker hired by his sister to be reinterred in a family plot. When the grave was exposed it was discovered that Brown’s head was missing. Who took it and why (and how) is a mystery. See more here: ...

In Episode 282 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Paris, Maine, to investigate the unsolved murders of Dr. and Mrs. Littlefield who were killed in October of 1937. Two men were convicted of the heinous crime, one of them likely didn’t do it. What seemed like an open-and-shut case turned into an event that rocked the otherwise small, peaceful town of Paris. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-282-the-unsolved-littlefield-murders/

In Episode 281 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger stroll Heritage Park in Manchester, New Hampshire, in search of the statue of a man sitting on a park bench holding a small box with dials on it. The statue depicts Ralph Baer, who changed the world back in 1966 when he developed the first home video game console. From two lines knocking a small digital square back-and-forth, a $220 billion dollar industry was born. See more here: ...

In Episode 280 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger take a week off for the holidays and reintroduce you to an episode from that vault that originally aired in December of 2020. We head to Jericho, Vermont, in search of snow. In 1885, Wilson Bentley figured out a way to attach his camera to a microscope and capture the first close-up photograph of a snowflake. In the coming years he would photograph thousands of images showing the intricate beauty of these ice crystals. His images would be published...

In Episode 279 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts, searching for the factory that produced America’s first Christmas cards. Back in 1875, Louis Prang took a chance that Americans might want to send Christmas cards like they do in Europe. His risk paid off. Within a few years 5 million cards per year were leaving his Roxbury factory, and sending holiday cards became an institution. Jeff and Ray wish you the happiest of holidays! See more here: ...

In Episode 278 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore a bungalow house on Lindley Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where in 1974 haunting activity was so profound the police, fire department, city engineers, and clergy got involved. Police witnessed a levitating refrigerator, chairs breaking with no one touching them, chairs piling up on each other, and a panicked family. And that’s when Ed and Lorraine Warren joined the case. In this episode we’ll hear from Ed Warren himself about this...

In Episode 277 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to South Kingstown, Rhode Island, to check out a rock and 40-foot observation tower named after Hannah Robinson, a broken-hearted woman who once sat here in 1773 to take in the view of her childhood home one last time. They say her ghost still haunts the rock, but her story still haunts us all. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-277-rhode-islands-broken-hearted-tower/

In Episode 276 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Lewiston, Maine, to search for a house that’s “ridden with ghosts” according to the headline of a December 1894 local newspaper article. A shadowy man whose neck appears broken in a most unnatural way had been reported throughout the tenement house for years. Some believe he was a harbinger of bad things. But he’s not the only ghost reported here. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-276-the-broke-neck-shadow-man/

In Episode 275 – the Thanksgiving Special – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger search the White Mountains near Albany, New Hampshire, for Pamela Hollingworth, a five-year-old girl who went missing back in the Autumn of 1941. What followed was one of the largest and most closely-watched search parties to ever grace the region. For days New Englanders held their breath waiting for news of little Pammy’s fate. See more on our Web site: ...

In Episode 274, Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger sail out of Gloucester Harbor in Massachusetts, aboard the fishing schooner Charles Haskell. In March of 1869, the Haskell was fishing on Georges Bank when a perfect storm knocked her into another vessel sinking the other ship and damning her crew. The ghosts of the sunken crew came back to haunt the Haskell. The story still haunts Gloucester Harbor. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-274-a-ship-crewed-by-the-damned/

In Episode 273, Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike into Ponemah Bog in Amherst, New Hampshire, searching for some strange carnivorous plants that grow in the region. These plants are downright deadly… to the right species. Like the Venus Fly Trap that grows in the Carolinas, Ponemah Bog is home to plants like Sundews, Pitcher Plants, and Bladderworts. Could these plants have inspired the classic story and musical Little Shop of Horrors? Seymour (get it?) here: ...