I never truly appreciated all that my home state had to offer when I grew up here. We have a lot of rich history, as it pertains to the birth of our nation. Plymouth, Boston, Lexington-Concord, Bunker Hill, etc. I blew it off when I was young, and rolled my eyes whenever out-of-towners would arrive and want to see the tourist attractions in and around the Cape and Boston (don't get me started on the "I wanna see the Kennedy Compound" requests...).
In addition to the historical stuff, Massachusetts is home to a lot of weird phenomena as well. And like the Pilgrims and Revolutionary War stuff, I knew of the ghost stories and the whole Lizzie Borden thing, but I never paid much attention to it. The Dillingham House in Sandwich is allegedly haunted by the 9 orphaned Dillingham children, whose parents died in 1813 (the house itself, however, dates to the late 1600s). My dad did the plumbing there for years and years, and as a non-ghost-believer, he never encountered any hauntings that I know of (or that he would admit to anyway).
A few years ago, I'd scored a book called Weird Washington, with the intent of visiting as many of the attractions as possible. But I put it off, figuring that I'd get there eventually and could "always go". Well, that didn't quite work out the way I'd planned! Weird WA was an offshoot of the original Weird U.S. book that came out a few years ago, and I believe it was also a documentary, because I recall watching it several years back.
But lo and behold!!!! I was strolling through the giant Stop & Shop in Wareham, and saw this in their modest book section:
I made a mental note to purchase it from Amazon.com because let's face it, they have the best prices around and I do try to avoid the cover price for books when I see them in stores or catalogs!! My new book arrived on New Years Eve (along with a bunch of movies, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini and a Carolina Liar CD), and I eagerly started poring over it. I had no idea that Mass had so much to offer in the way of unusual sites!! My squeeze is much less enthused about visiting these places than I am, as he does not, and I repeat, does not, like ghosts, ghost stories and haunted places at all. That's OK, I don't mind going on my own and maybe I'll see if any of my friends are game for a day trip out to one of the many places mentioned in this book.
Stayed tuned for photos of Weird Massachusetts adventures! My most probable first stop will be the Borden house & cemetery plots in Fall River!
I'll come with you!
ReplyDeleteOh, wait...just a little matter of getting back home to the cats :(
Whenever I read the words "poring over" I remember the time I saw its misspelt relation on a book jacket, where someone was described as "pouring over" the manuscripts in the Vatican. I'd love to know what they were pouring!
LOL Val!! I admit I had to look up the correct usage of it before I finished my blog post!!! I was 99% sure it was 'poring' but wanted to make sure it wasn't 'pouring'. It's like when people say their curiosity is 'peaked'...I admit to cringing and wanting to write 'piqued'. lol
ReplyDeleteBeing a natural scaredy-cat sort of person, I'd be hiding behind the couch, but I hope you have 'fun' (?) and I'm looking forward to seeing the results :0)
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose "peaked" still makes sense, even if it doesn't mean what they meant it to say. I'm afraid literacy has taken a nosedive. I've sat in on English lessons where the teachers couldn't pronounce or spell words that were written into their lessons. And I work with a couple of people whose literacy is absolutely appalling. Just today I got an email from one using "exited" where they meant "excited". Carelessness? Maybe. But it's only one mistake of many from someone who should have more care and pride.
ReplyDelete