New England Legends Podcast

In Episode 347 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the history and mysteries of the Western Massachusetts town of Ripton. Founded in 1767, Ripton made waves back in the mid-1980s when they requested some additional funds from the state budget. Then the U.S. Air Force explored Ripton as a potential site for a new early-warning radar system, and that’s when Ripton made the news for one of the greatest pranks ever pulled in the history of Massachusetts. See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-347-ripton-massachusetts-most-mysterious-town/ 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 58 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger paddle on to Lake Bomoseen in Castleton, Vermont, is search of a ghost town, a phantom row boat, and an island they say is inhabited by giant rabbits with glowing red eyes. This is a buffet of weirdness and wonder with links to the slate industry, tourism, and some A-list celebrities. This episode first aired August 13, 2020. Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

In Episode 346 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger investigate the small town of Manchester, Vermont, to explore the unsolved 1812 murder of Russell Colvin. Years after the murder, Amos Boorn had a dream where Russell’s ghost came to him and told him he’d been murdered, and his remains could be found on the Boorn Farm. After sharing details of his dream, an investigation begins, bones are found, and Amos’s nephews Jesse and Stephen Boorn are arrested and convicted of murder. But did they do it? See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-346-the-unsolved-murder-or-russell-colvin/ 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 57 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike up to an old cellar hole and cemetery in Pawtuckaway State Park in New Hampshire, in search of an eccentric photographer from the late 1800s named George Goodrich. However, folks around the nearby town of Raymond called him: The Barefoot Farmer. Though he looked like a disheveled vagabond to the untrained eye of tourists, locals knew he was one of the wealthiest men in town. This episode first aired December 10, 2020. Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends

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

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 54 – Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike up to Crawford Notch in New Hampshire in search of English Jack: The Hermit of the White Mountains. In the late 1800s, this enterprising man lived in a shack in the woods selling postcards, his biography, trinkets, and even beer. The story of his life is both tragic and cinematic, but is it true? This episode first aired July 11, 2019. 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