New England Legends Podcast

In Episode 303 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hunt for the last (and maybe the first?) Egopantis--a giant beast of an animal unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Today the head of the monster is mounted over the fireplace of the Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, Massachusetts. They say the monster was killed in the late 1700s by Captain Nathaniel Smith. Is this a tall tale and a clever taxidermy project, or could there still be other Egopantises out there lurking? See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-303-hunting-the-egopantis-of-shirley/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 8 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger revisit the story behind an obscure quilt in a Portsmouth, New Hampshire, museum. Ruth Blay was hanged for what was found inside this quilt in 1768, and today she haunts the city of Portsmouth. But why can’t her spirit rest? This first aired January 4, 2018. Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 302 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, home of (according to the United States Library of Congress), America’s first hamburger. In 1900, Louis Lassen operated a food cart in downtown New Haven. He served sliced broiled meats to hungry customers. But one day one of his regulars was in a hurry to get some food on-the-go, and a legend was born that became a global icon. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-302-new-havens-controversial-first-hamburger/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 7 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger revisit Boston’s North End and swing by Paul Revere’s house to discuss the Boston Massacre. On March 5, 1770, five colonists were killed in the streets of Boston by British soldiers. Six more were wounded. The event became known as the Boston Massacre. This tragedy helped start a revolution because of a now-famous and legendary engraving made by Paul Revere. The only problem is… Revere’s image doesn’t depict what really happened. Fake news? Propaganda? We explore the legend! This first aired July 5, 2018. Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 301 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger stroll historic Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island, to visit a house built in 1763. Known as the Stephen Harris house, this home was constructed over a former burial ground. Though the graves were relocated, some suspect not all of the human remains made the move. The house was haunted from its earliest days, a run of bad luck plagued the Harris family, and by the late 1800s it fell into disrepair. The legend inspired horror icon H.P. Lovecraft to pen his novella “The Shunned House.” See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-301-the-shunned-house/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 6 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger revisit North Kingstown, Rhode Island, in search of a footprint left by devil himself. Back in Colonial times they say a Native American girl murdered a white man and then made her way down to a rock in North Kingstown where she encountered the devil who dragged her off to her doom. But is this more than just a story? This first aired July 19, 2018. Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 300 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger sail out to Monhegan Island, about ten miles off the coast of Maine, searching for a hermit named Ray Phillips who lived 40 years on a desolate nearby rock of an island called Manana. From 1931 to 1975, Phillips lived out there in a shack with his flock of sheep and a pet goose. Over the years the old hermit became a celebrity as curious tourists ventured over to talk to him and try to find out what makes him tick. Think you could walk away from it all? See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-300-the-hermit-of-manana-island/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 5 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger revisit the town of Albany in northern Vermont to see the haunted Hayden Mansion. They explore a curse that was set in motion in 1806 on the deathbed of Mercie Dale. Dale vowed the Hayden name would perish in the third generation, and the remaining children would die penniless. But did it come to pass? This first aired March 29, 2018. Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 299 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger investigate a former Concord, New Hampshire, police station turned Mexican Restaurant to search for the ghost of “George.” Back in 1945, two fugitives named Edgar Cook and John Giles broke out of a Council Bluffs, Iowa, jail and headed for New England on the lam. Dubbed the Toothbrush Bandits because they fashioned a toothbrush into a cell key, their dramatic life of crime ended in Concord, New Hampshire, in one of these haunted former cells. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-299-concords-most-haunted-jail/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 4 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger revisit Casco Bay near Portland, Maine, in search of Cassie the Sea Serpent. Since 1779 there have been many reported sightings of a 100-foot-long serpent that has terrorized some local fisherman. Could this creature still be around? This first aired December 7, 2017. Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 298 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the shores of Lake Memphremagog in Newport, Vermont, searching for Little Maggie, the most photographed person in northern Vermont in the early 1900s. This wandering vagabond wore men’s clothes, she fished the lake all day long, and smoked a pipe like she was a chimney. This memorable eccentric always found what she needed. Maybe there’s a lesson there? See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-298-a-selfie-with-newports-little-maggie/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Welcome to New England Legends from the Vault – FtV Episode 3 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger revisit the ruins of Little People Village in the woods of Middlebury, Connecticut. Who built these miniature stone houses, and why? Is this forest haunted by an elderly couple who went mad listening to the chittering voices of the fairies? And what’s the connection to Lake Quassapaug and other countries around the world? This first aired February 1, 2018. Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 297 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Newburyport, Massachusetts, to visit a mansion once owned by an idiot named Lord Timothy Dexter. An idiot, who no matter how many stupid business moves he made continued to fail upward, getting richer by the misstep, which makes us wonder if maybe he wasn’t an idiot at all. In 1802, Dexter published his memoir A Pickle for the Knowing Ones without a single bit of punctuation. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-297-timothy-dexter-an-idiot-who-failed-upward/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Welcome to New England Legends from the Vault – FTV Episode 2 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger revisit the strange UFO abduction case of Barney and Betty Hill of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that took place on September 19-20, 1961. What was that odd light they saw in the night sky? Their story has become one of the world’s most famous UFO abduction cases. We end this one with a song "The Ballad of Betty and Barney Hill." This first aired September 21, 2017. Check out "The Ballad of Betty and Barney Hill" by Dante and the Bird Dogs Music on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bj8a03NOKE Band Site: https://danteandthebirddogs.com/ Join the New England Legends Patreon! Early access to ad-free episodes plus bonus episodes and content: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 296 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit Hartford, Connecticut, to see the memorial to the July 6, 1944 circus fire that claimed 167 lives and launched a 50-year mystery as to the identity of a young victim they called Little Miss 1565. This tragic story changed state laws and left a permanent scar on the state’s capital city. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-296-the-great-hartford-circus-fire-mystery/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FTV Episode 1 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger revisit Dungeon Rock in Lynn, Massachusetts. It was here in 1852 that spirits told Hiram Marble to dig for buried pirate treasure. Marble and his son spent years tunneling through solid rock searching for gold. Their tunnel is still there as is the legend. This first aired August 22, 2017.

In Episode 295 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hunt the woods of the Fairmont section of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, searching for the loup-garou, the French-Canadian version of the werewolf. Found somewhere near a cave called the Devil Hole, the story about a monster roaming the woods near the Blackstone River has been passed around for generations. See more at: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-295-the-woonsocket-werewolf/ Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 294 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore a Jonesport, Maine, monument to the 1866 voyage of the Nellie Chapin. The ship, and its 156 Christian pilgrims was led by Rev. George Adams, with the plan to sail to Jaffa and build housing for Jewish people in an effort to restore Israel to the Jews so Jesus can return and bring on the End of Days. Even Mark Twain weighs in on the sorry state of the expedition. We ask the important question: What’s the rush? See more at: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-294-a-maine-voyage-to-end-the-world/

In Episode 293 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger investigate an 1897 Good Friday murder and bank robbery that left the town of Somersworth, New Hampshire, in shock. A 68-year-old pillar of the community named Joseph Stickney was found lying in the bank in a pool of his own blood. The police chased 24-year-old Joseph Kelley into Canada where he was apprehended and brought back to New Hampshire for trial. In court, Kelley claimed he was under contract with the Devil. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-293-a-contract-for-murder-with-the-devil-in-new-hampshire/

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/