Coming Soon

In this middle-grade adaptation of Shark Attacks of New York, author Patricia Heyer dives into the history and lore of shark attacks along New York's coast. Every summer, thousands of people flock to Coney Island, the Rockaway, and all along Long Island's southern coast for some of the most beautiful beaches on the east coast. But some come face to face with much more.

Columbia County Past Revealed

People have been drawn to Columbia County, New York, for years. Beyond the region’s picturesque streams, lakes and mountains, the county is filled with the magic of history. Famed pirate Captain Kidd and local Lord of the Manor Robert Livingston were once in cahoots regarding the plundering of the seas. A roaring nightclub fashioned as a ship marooned on dry land, named the Show Boat, drew legendary acts like Ella Fitzgerald and Redd Foxx in the 1930s. The hills and caves of Austerlitz feature a pond that appears to have no bottom, there have been sightings of the “Beast of the Berkshires” and the area was home to outlaws, gangs and many wishing to remain remote. Author Allison Marchese reveals the lost people, places and things of Columbia County.

Dr. Ann Webster Bunch delves into the enigmatic disappearance of William Morgan, a 19th-century figure whose threat to expose Masonic secrets led to his mysterious vanishing, igniting political turmoil and leaving a case that remains unresolved nearly 200 years later.

William Morgan was last seen in Batavia, New York, in September 1826, down on his luck and haunting the local pubs. An elusive local citizen, he had recently threatened to publish purported Masonic secrets. He was later arrested that same month in Canandaigua for petty theft and eventually transported and held in Fort Niagara. From there Morgan seems to have disappeared forever. The local Freemasons were accused of his demise. State Assemblyman and newspaper editor Thurlow Weed fanned the political flames to great effect. Yet Morgan was to return, this time in stone, atop a monument erected at Old Cemetery, Batavia, in 1882. Enigmatically, no body lies there. Thus, the case of Mr. Morgan technically remains that of a missing person almost two hundred years after his disappearance. Dr. Ann Webster Bunch takes an investigative science approach to this extremely cold case to demystify and highlight ways to resolve the fate of this highly polarizing historical figure.