New England Legends Podcast

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: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-279-americas-first-christmas-card/ Listen to our past holiday specials: Episode 227 - Christmas Witch Sheep of Narragansett - https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-227-christmas-witch-sheep-of-narragansett/ The Mistletoe Bride - https://ournewenglandlegends.com/holiday-extra-podcast-the-mistletoe-bride/ Episode 175 - Boston's Christmas Tree - https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-175-bostons-christmas-tree/ Episode 122 - New England's First Christmas Tree - https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-122-new-englands-first-christmas-tree/ Episode 70 - The Ghost Who Saved Christmas - https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-70-the-ghost-who-saved-christmas/ Episode 18 - The Jingle Bells Scandal - https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-18-the-jingle-bells-scandal/ Episode 17 - When Boston Banned Christmas - https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-17-when-boston-banned-christmas/

In Episode 424 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Hartford, Connecticut, for their Thanksgiving dessert. Hartford Election Cake is a massive confection that dates back to 1796 when America was holding its first contested presidential election. Voting used to be a big event with parties and banquets and a HUGE cake as a reward. The people of Hartford made an 80-pound cake following the recipe of Amelia Simmons. Over time, election day became less of an event, but Thanksgiving got bigger. So the people of Connecticut moved their favorite cake over to Thanksgiving. Enjoy!   See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-424-thanksgiving-dessert-hartford-election-cake/  Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G  Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/  Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/ 

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 142 –   Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the shores of Beaver Lake in Derry, New Hampshire, searching for the Derry Fairy. In the 1600s, Tsienneto, came to the lake and built shelter on an enchanted island in the middle. While hunting near the lake, he had a run-in with the local Pawtucket people. The capture lead to prophecy and legend with later ties to colonists and even (possibly) the United States space program. This episode first aired January 21, 2021   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends 

In Episode 423 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the skies over Colchester, Vermont, searching for a cigar-shaped UFO that abducted two teenagers working at the old Buff Ledge summer camp on Lake Champlain back in 1968. The strange encounter gave rise to a popular book about the incident and one of the most famous UFO cases to ever grace the Green Mountain State.  See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-423-the-buff-ledge-ufo-abduction/    Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G  Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/  Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/ 

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 141 –   Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger saunter into Green Mount Cemetery in Vermont's capital city of Montpelier in search of the Black Agnes grave. They say if you sit on the statue's lap… it would be bad. Very bad. But how did this grave earn that reputation? How is the person buried here tied to the local library? Do Jeff and Ray dare to test this legend? This episode first aired September 27, 2018 Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends 

In Episode 422 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger drive to Sterling, Connecticut, to pop their car in neutral and search for the ghost of Gravity Hill on Main Street. The legend goes this was once land owned by a witch… and if you put your car in neutral her ghost will push your car uphill off her property. But is it true? See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-422-the-ghost-of-gravity-hill/  Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G  Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/  Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/ 

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 140 –   Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Exeter, Rhode Island, in search of the mortal remains of Mercy Brown. Mercy died of Consumption on January 17, 1892. Three months later, her father had her heart and liver removed from her corpse so he could burn them to ashes and feed those ashes to his dying son. Why? Because some suspected Mercy was a vampire. This episode first aired March 28, 2019    Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends 

In Episode 421 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Burrillville, Rhode Island, to investigate the curious grave of Laura Sherman who was buried in this small family plot back in 1870. Today all of the headstones are gone. They say under a full moon and right conditions, her ghost will appear and talk to you.    See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-421-dancing-with-a-ghost/  Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G  Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/  Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/ 

Auger travel to Lobster Lake in Piscataquis, Maine, in search of a giant white moose that's been reported since 1891. Witnesses say the animal was a grayish white, and twice the size of a normal moose. For almost 50 years the sightings continued. Was it some rare version of Maine's most iconic animal, or was it something more paranormal? Join us as we go hunting legends in the woods of central Maine! This episode first aired November 8, 2018 Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends 

In Episode 420 for Halloween, we spin the tale of an old Inner Sanctum radio drama. In "The Undead" we hear the story of Diana, a woman whose husband has been undead for years… terror ensues as vampires close in trying to turn Diana into one of them. Happy Halloween! See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-420-halloween-the-undead/  Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends        Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G         Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/                  Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/    

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 138 –  Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger search downtown Fitchburg, Massachusetts, for Rollstone Boulder; a 110-ton rock moved into a traffic island back in the late 1920s. This boulder was once perched on top of a hill overlooking town, but when stone quarries moved in, local and state politicians made a legendary effort to save this local landmark. But now that it's been in the center of town for almost a century… no one cares. This episode first aired January 20, 2022   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends   

In Episode 419 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger travel to Portland, Maine, to search for John L. Aitchison, the man, they say, who only spoke twice. Back in 1864, something happened to 44-year-old Aitchison that made him quit every part of life. For the rest of his days he didn't work, didn't venture outside, and spoke only twice.   See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-419-the-man-who-only-spoke-twice/    Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends       Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G        Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/                 Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/    

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 137 –  Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger search for the lost village of North Pepperell, Massachusetts. Once a bustling center of commerce back in the early 1800s, all that's left today are a few cellar holes and former foundations sinking into the woods. The reason the village disappeared is because of a witch's curse placed on the town after the locals drove out a peculiar old woman by branding her face. This episode first aired June 10, 2021   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  

In Episode 418 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger row out on Dublin Lake in Dublin, New Hampshire, to search for a strange lake monster and possible UFO crash site that only dates back to the early 1980s. The stories have made the news and books over the years, but how did it all begin?   See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-418-the-dublin-lake-monster/    Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends      Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G       Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/                Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/   

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 136 –  Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger take a drive up Lakeside Avenue in Burlington, Vermont, searching for a train bridge built by a ghost. In June of 1900, Mary Blair was killed crossing the train tracks in front of the Queen City Cotton Mill. The event triggered a haunting that made the newspapers, with reports coming from inside the mill late at night, and out on the tracks where the accident occurred. This episode first aired June 3, 2021   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends    

In Episode 417 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the ghost towns in and around the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts. In the 1930s, the towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott, Massachusetts with a combined population of about 2,500 people had to disincorporate in order for the Swift River Valley to flood and form the reservoir needed for Boston's drinking water. What was left behind were scars, haunts, mysteries, and maybe a dirty secret many would rather not know about.  See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-417-the-ghost-towns-of-the-quabbin/  Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends     Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G      Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/               Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/    

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 134 –  Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Peck's Hollow in Franklin, Connecticut, in search of Micah Rood's former farm and a cursed apple tree that dates back to an alleged murder from the early 1700s. For many decades, folks in eastern Connecticut had to wonder when they bit into a Mike apple if those red specs were just pigmentation, or drops of blood from a murdered French peddler. This episode first aired January 14, 2021   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends   

In Episode 416 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore Coates Island and the surrounding bay on Lake Champlain in Colchester, Vermont, searching for the lost treasure of the alleged pirate Pierre Mallett. In the 1760s, a strange man arrived at this bay and lived as a recluse the rest of his days. Many years after his death, a letter arrived from France opening a mystery of potentially millions in lost treasure still out there. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-416-pirate-pierre-malletts-millions/    Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends    Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G     Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/              Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/  

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 134 –  Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to High Street in Lancaster, New Hampshire, to the site of an 1880 unsolved serial murder that took the lives of six people in two adjacent houses. Was it a contagious illness, or poison? Authorities were torn, but one young woman had the motive. This episode first aired April 2, 2020 Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  

In Episode 415 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore Sand Hill Cemetery in South Canaan, Connecticut, searching for the grave of Miles Blodgett. His grave was ground zero for a horrific event that took place in 1878 when the man later dubbed the South Canaan Maniac approached the grave with a shovel and the intent of resurrecting the dead boy below.  See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-415-the-south-canaan-maniac/    Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends   Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G    Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/             Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/