…in the night. Jeff Belanger has been for many years curious about what lies beyond that thin invisible veil that separates the living from those not living. He has authored numerous books detailing legends and studying ghost stories now published in one of his many books.
The author, actor, television director, producer, podcaster, expert of paranormal phenomenon, and all-around entertaining speaker, spoke recently at the Elizabeth Taber Library sharing spook-filled stories and anecdotes of legends that poured into the old library’s shadowy corners.
Belanger’s research has taken him throughout New England on quests to ferret out the truth of reality, which is the seed of nearly all folk tales. Where truth ends and legend begins, even Belanger is hard-pressed to say.
Belanger talked about the flat-layered stones found in Salem, New Hampshire, formally known as Mystery Hill but now known as America’s Stonehenge. Believed to have been built by indigenous people or stone age migrants from Ireland or Scotland, the stones seem to be a type of astronomical calendar. The site has been heavily researched by Dr. Barry Fell of Harvard University who claims the ancient inscriptions can be attributed to Ogham, Phoenician, and/or Iberian script. Evidence of the people, however, remains hidden somewhere in the stones. Some believe the flat alter-like stones were used for sacrificial purposes.
Belanger reminded the audience that humans have been fascinated by death since the beginning of time. A physician named Duncan MacDougall from Haverhill believed the soul had weight and set out to prove it was so. As Belanger tells the story, MacDougall convinced dying people to let him weigh them before and after death. Finding there was a loss of weight after death, he was sure he had proven his point. He apparently forgot to account for the loss of bodily fluids at the time of death. Yuck.
Francestown, New Hampshire is the site of Haunted Pond, also known as Scoby Pond. As the legend goes, a great fire consumed the shoreline leaving behind fire-blackened skeletons where once trees stood. But in the late 1700s, workers at David Scoby sawmill pulled up a large male skeleton. Folks came to believe that it was the remains of a hunter killed by a wild animal. The remains were buried there, being too cumbersome to return the deceased home. Haunted Pond is also the place where a teenager drowned in 1810. He was found clasping lilies, as the legend goes. Still, more drowning deaths are recorded in 1816, 1824, and 1830. The pond certainly has earned its name.
The story of the Mary Celeste strikes close to home. Belanger told how Sea Captain Briggs and his family including the family cat departed on a trip to Italy never to be seen again. The ship named the Mary Celeste was found off the Azorean coast – completely empty. There wasn’t any evidence of foul play, simply, all the crew and the Briggs family had disappeared. The mystery has never been solved.
We had heard from a reliable source that the library itself has a resident ghost although a friendly ghost, like Casper.
To learn more about Belanger and his many stories and paranormal adventures visit his web site at jeffbelanger.com.
Elizabeth Taber Library
By Marilou Newell