What is it about lighthouses that make them bastions of spiritual activity? Built for strength and permanence, they are nonetheless vulnerable, protecting lives yet isolated and remote. Unforgiving of human frailty, these outposts inevitably become the settings for tragedy-and for the spirits that linger on at the site of their ruined hopes, their sufferings, their obsessions. With its incessant fogs and infamously craggy coast, Maine has the second highest number of lighthouses in the country. Many of these 64 beacons are shrouded in wisps of rumor and mystery. There are ongoing strange and eerie events and occurrences that recall past violence or sadness-stranded crews who resorted to cannibalism, keepers driven to madness by unending days of blinding fog, children drowned in shipwrecks. Author Taryn Plumb explores the ghostly tales and mysteries surrounding Maine lighthouses. Some hauntings can be directly tied to a known historical event, while others seem to have no origin, yet all will enthrall you with their spookiness.

People are inexplicably drawn to abandoned places. Believe it or not, New England is home to numerous ghost towns long abandoned, but filled with mystery, unexpected beauty, and a sense that these locations are simply biding their time, waiting for people to return. Taryn Plumb explores a dozen such locations in the region, revealing the surprising histories of the towns and the reasons they were abandoned. In Maine, sites include Flagstaff, whose citizens were forced out to make way for a dam and which now sits at the bottom of Flagstaff Lake; Riceville, wiped out by cholera; and Perkins Township, which was abandoned so suddenly the remaining houses are still filled with furnishings. Locations in New Hampshire's White Mountains, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are also covered in this unique and fascinating tour.

Tired of the same old tourist traps? Whether you're a visitor or a local looking for something different, Maine Off the Beaten Path shows you the Pine Tree State with new perspectives on timeless destinations and introduces you to those you never knew existed. *Discover vintage treasures at Elmer's Barn north of Wiscasset *Explore the eclectic antique vehicle collection at the Cole Land Transportation Museum near Bangor *Leap back through time with a visit to the eighteenth-century logging community at Leonard's Mills in Bradley So if you've "been there, done that" one too many times, get off the main road and venture Off the Beaten Path.

With its incessant fogs and infamously craggy coast, Maine has long been a bane of mariners. Scores of vessels and countless lives have been lost on its rocky shores. Taryn Plumb explores the tragic history of shipwrecks in Maine, focusing on a dozen or so of the most interesting and weaving in tales of pirates, lost treasure, violent storms, and other disasters. Maine’s role in shipbuilding is legendary, and the history of vessels meeting their demise here is equally compelling.

Ghostwriters Nancy Roberts and Taryn Plumb spin fascinating tales about 26 haunted houses all over America. Based on stories told by first-hand witnesses, these stories of ghostly goings-on will keep you on the edge of your seat-and possibly up all night! Read about San Diego's Whaley House, whose former residents maintain an active presence, as does Yankee Jim, a hanging victim over whose gallows the house was built. Learn about the house in Massachusetts that once belonged to eccentric millionaire and brilliant inventor John Hammond, Jr.-whose practice in spiritualism, say some, continues long after his death. And relive the terrifying battle that claimed the lives of 1,700 Confederate soldiers whose battlefield became their final resting place on Tennessee's Carnton Plantation.

Centuries before the U.S. Air Force launched Project Blue Book or mysteries swirled around the enigmatic Area 51, the Puritans in 1639 witnessed a great light in the sky over Massachusetts. It was the first recorded sighting of an unidentified flying object. Now, sightings are so common they're not even front-page news, and the Air Force just released all the records from Project Bluebook.Despite all this, there remain sightings that cannot be easily explained. Are we being visited by another species? The Universe, it seems, is full of mystery. Tracing the strange history of UFO sightings in the region, Taryn Plumb presents the stories of sightings or events in each New England state. Many are unexplained sightings of strange objects or lights in the sky; and some tell the tales of alien encounters and even abductions. All will keep you glancing to the night sky, wondering what that was out of the corner of your eye.