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 345 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit the Newtown Bee parking lot in Newtown, Connecticut, to experience the site of a brutal unsolved axe murder of a local cobbler and the profound haunting that followed soon after. Managing Editor Shannon Hicks from The Bee joins us for this one.    See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-345-the-cobblers-ghost-has-no-shoes/   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 56 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit a memorial off the side of the road in Alfred, Maine, that marks the site where America’s first elephant was gunned down in cold blood back in 1816. The elephant named Old Bet had toured throughout New England for eight years before a jealous farmer named Daniel Davis gunned her down as she approached the town of Alfred. Old Bet was part of one of America’s earliest circuses, and if not for the tiny memorial along Route 4, her legend may be lost forever. This episode first aired April 1, 2021.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 344 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore Warwick Neck, Rhode Island, to search for the Crime Castle of Carl Rettich. In the 1920s, during the height of Prohibition, Rettich ran Rhode Island’s bootlegging game with an iron fist, and if you crossed him… with a mobster staple of his own invention: cement shoes.    See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-344-carl-rettichs-deadly-footwear-and-murder-mansion/   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 55 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger take a stroll down a road to nowhere in search of ghosts and a monster. The abandoned section of Downs Road in Bethany, Connecticut, is home to a host of legends whose roots date back more than a century-and-a-half and include ties to a strange New Haven cult whose leader claimed to have the ability to raise the dead. This episode first aired July 16, 2020.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 343 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger sail the harbor of Rockport, Maine, to witness the birth of the donut. In 1847, a young sailor named Hanson Crockett Gregory, made an innovation in the “oily-cake” that changed Maine… New England… America… the World… the Time-Space Continuum. Every legend, every icon, starts somewhere. WARNING: This episode WILL make you hungry!   See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-343-the-birth-of-the-legendary-donut/   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 342 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike New England’s tallest peak in search of a marker that commemorates where Lizzie Bourne left this mortal coil near the summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire back in September of 1855.    See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-342-the-lizzie-bourne-tragedy/   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 53 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hang around an unassuming Westborough, Massachusetts, street corner in search of Tom Cook, an 18th-century man who once out-smarted the devil, and just may be the real-life inspiration for the British Robin Hood you know from centuries of books and movies. This episode first aired November 7, 2019.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 341 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger grab a drink at the Captain’s Well in Amesbury, Massachusetts. In 1792, future Captain Valentine Bagley was marooned in a desolate part of Arabia. Out of his ship’s crew of 25, only eight survived the ordeal. Bagley swore to God if he should live, he would go home and dig a well for all so no one will suffer thirst like he did.    See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-341-the-captains-well/   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 52 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to Pownal, Vermont, to explore the witch trial of the widow Mrs. Krieger. In 1765, the widow Krieger was accused of being in league with the devil. She was given a choice to face one of two horrible tests to see if she was indeed a witch. Though a century had passed since Salem’s infamous trials, belief in New England witches has not gone away. This episode first aired October 14, 2021.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 340 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the shores of Dream Pond in Fairfield, Vermont, in search of clues that could solve an 1841 double murder. After Eugene Clifford tragically loses his wife and infant daughter on a stormy day on Fairfield Pond, his neighbor has a profound dream that gnaws at her until she makes a startling discovery. Was it an accident or murder?   See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-340-the-dream-pond-murders/   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 51 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger take a drive down Route 2A through Haynesville, Maine, to see a road so treacherous and haunted, it inspired a 1965 country song by Dick Curless. Behind the song, though, are countless stories of vehicle accidents and strange encounters on this road that may cause you to slow down and look twice. Be warned, Jeff brought his guitar on this trip, and Ray may have sung some of Dick Curless’s song. This episode first aired August 12, 2021.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 339 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore a nightmare on Elm Street in Stratford, Connecticut, where in 1850 Rev. Phelps and his family were plagued by poltergeist and haunting activity so profound it made all the newspapers. Though the mansion was torn down in the 1970s, the story lingers.    See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-339-rev-phelps-haunted-mansion/   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 50 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger motor down Dracula Drive in Trumbull, Connecticut, in search of the mysterious Melon Heads. These small humanoids with enormous heads have been talked about in southwestern Connecticut for more than half a century. But who are they? Some monster? An alien? Or something else? This episode first aired September 13, 2018.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 338 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger stroll the shores of Narragansetts Bay in Warwick, Rhode Island, to the see the site where Rhode Islanders led by John Brown attacked the HMS Gaspee and her overzealous crew in 1772. Could this shot have been the actual first shot fired in the Revolutionary War?   See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-338-the-burning-of-the-great-gaspee/   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 49 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the small town of Warren, New Hampshire, in search of a missile, a ghost, and a wizard who, according to the history books, tormented a local family during Colonial times. This is one strange trip backed up by historical documents. This episode first aired February 28, 2019.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 337 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger take a drive to the intersection of Routes 35 and 5 in Lynchville, Maine, to see a unique road sign giving directions to places like: Norway, Paris, Denmark, Naples, Sweden, Poland, Mexico, Peru, and China – all of them just a few miles away – in Maine. How did that happen?   See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-337-see-maine-and-see-the-world/   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 48 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the Boston Molasses Disaster of January 15, 1919, that left 21 people dead and 150 injured. What happened and why? Could it have been avoided? This episode first aired January 11, 2018.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 336 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger search for ghosts at the historic Chase House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Built in 1762 by Stephen Chase, it’s been a private residence, then an orphanage, a private home again, and now a museum. With so much history, it’s no surprise the building is haunted. But who is haunting it and why?   See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-336-the-haunted-chase-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 47 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger go ice fishing for the legendary beaver trout on Lake Memphremagog in northern Vermont. Since the time of the Civil War anglers have spread the tale of a trout that grows a fur coat to keep warm during the cold winter months. The story and even photos of the fish have been in the newspapers for over a century. Is it just a story, or could there be something more to it? The guys enlist the help of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department on their hunt for the truth. This episode first aired January 16, 2020.   Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends   Join us for Zombie Prom - Saturday, February 17, 2024 at 7PM in Milford, Massachusetts: https://www.facebook.com/events/1593789218121732/