New England Legends Podcast

10 Episodes
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By: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger

Twice each week, legend hunter, author, and historian Jeff Belanger and radio host Ray Auger explore the ghosts, monsters, aliens, folklore, history, roadside oddities, true crime, and legends of New England in this award-winning podcast. If you give us about twenty minutes, we’ll give you something strange to talk about today. The bizarre is closer than you think!

The Cobbler’s Ghost Has No Shoes
#403
Yesterday at 2:30 PM

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

 


FtV – The Slaying of Old Bet
#402
Last Tuesday at 2:30 AM

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...


Carl Rettich’s Deadly Footwear and Murder Mansion
#401
04/11/2024

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


FtV - The Downs Road Monster
#400
04/08/2024

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


The Birth of the Legendary Donut
#399
04/04/2024

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


FtV - English Jack: The Hermit of the White Mountains
04/01/2024

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


The Lizzie Bourne Tragedy
#397
03/28/2024

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


FtV - The Robin Hood of Massachusetts
#396
03/25/2024

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


The Captain’s Well
#395
03/21/2024

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/New...


FtV - Vermont’s Witch Trial
#394
03/18/2024

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: htt...