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Wicked Strange

Your Guide to Ghosts, Monsters, Oddities, and Urban Legends from New England

Photographs by Frank Grace
Published by New Page Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Go legend hunting with explorer of the unexplained, Jeff Belanger, visiting haunted places, where monsters lurk, and other roadside oddities.

Wicked Strange is a journey and a celebration of all the things that make New England like no other place on earth. In a time when so much of the world is becoming homogenized as box stores and chain restaurants move in, and so many communities lose their identity—we still have these legends. They belong to specific towns and streets. These are stories locals will share with you… if they trust you.

This travel guide takes readers on a journey to the strange and frequently-unseen world that is often right under their noses. Covering numerous haunted places, environs where mysterious creatures were spotted, usual events happened, eccentric locals, and roadside oddities to explore noted expert of the strange, Jeff Belanger is your guide to all that local and strange. Haunted locations from all over New England are covered including:
  • The Haunting of Conimicut Lighthouse , Warwick, RI
  • Maine’s Sistine Chapel – South Solon, Maine
  • Edith Wharton’s Haunted Mansion, The Mount – Lenox, Massachusetts
  • Emily’s Haunted Bridge – Stowe, Vermont
  • The Sleeping Giant – Hamden, Connecticut
  • The Haunted Mt. Washington Hotel – Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
New England is also full of monsters and devils that lurk in the woods, lakes, and seas. Explored are some of the best-known, and most obscure, including: Lake Champlain’s Champ; the Cumberland Vampire of Rhode Island, Gloucester’s sea serpent; the Black Dog of West Peak in Meriden, Connecticut; the Flying Moose of Maine.

Also, covered are unusual evets such as UFO sightings (Connecticut's UFO Crash at Bantam Lake / Betty & Barney Hill UFO experience) and roadside oddities such as the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet (Burlington, VT), Boston’s Big Steaming Tea Kettle, and the literal Fork in the Road of Westport, MA. Wicked Strange takes you off the beaten path, revealing a hidden world right under your nose. Come journey through the towns, hamlets, and hills that hide the strangest of history. Uncover the wickedly strange.

About The Author

Jeff Belanger is one of the most visible and prolific researchers of legends and lore today. A natural storyteller, he’s the award-winning, Emmy-nominated host, writer, and producer of the New England Legends series on PBS and Amazon Prime, and is the author of over a dozen books (published in six languages). He also hosts the award-winning New England Legends weekly podcast, which has garnered over 4 million downloads since its launch, and ranks in the top 1/2 percent of all podcasts for popularity according to Listen Notes. His books include the best sellers: The Fright Before Christmas, The World’s Most Haunted Places, Weird Massachusetts, Our Haunted Lives, The Call of Kilimanjaro, and Who’s Haunting the White House?. He founded Ghostvillage.com in 1999—one of the Web’s most popular paranormal destinations—and he’s a noted speaker and media personality. He was featured in the 100th episode of Stories from the Stage on PBS, he’s given a TEDx talk in New York City, and he spoke at MENSA’s national conference. Belanger has written for newspapers like The Boston Globe and USA Today, and has served as the writer and researcher on numerous television series including every single episode of Ghost Adventures (25 seasons and counting), Paranormal Challenge, and Aftershocks on the Travel Channel, and Amish Haunting on Destination America.

Product Details

  • Publisher: New Page Books (November 25, 2025)
  • Length: 240 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781637480212

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