The History Press [new releases]

Founded in 1741 as the burial ground for the Second Parish of Dedham, Old Parish Cemetery encapsulates the history of the town of Norwood from its beginnings in 1736.

Today, volunteers, with the support of town officials, are working to preserve this historic site. Dormant since the mid-1900s, and virtually surrounded by commercial structures, Old Parish Cemetery offers a contemplative green space for those seeking solace and peace. Its memorials are rich in lessons about the cultural and social evolution of the community.

Historian and author Patricia Fanning guides the reader through the history of Norwood as she tells the engaging stories of those buried here.

In 1948-49, Nebraska experienced a winter like never before. Brutal cold, unbearable winds and record snowfall made roads impassable and life difficult for locals. Farmers and ranchers struggled with hunger due to a dwindling supply of coal and food. The governor requested federal aid, and the U.S. Air Force dropped bales of hay into pastures for animals. Many locals perished in the weather, and icy roads forced the state to redesign and rebuild highways. Author Barry Seegebarth details the tragedy and courage of the Nebraska winter of 1948.

In the early 1790s, a Lutheran family in Appalachia fell victim to a menacing spirit that Lutheran, Methodist and Episcopal clergy as well as Folk magic practitioners failed to remove. The entity, which came to be known as the Wizard Clip, was said to cut or slice anything made of cloth or leather. Was it a ghost or a demon? After years of torment, the deeply Protestant family finally found respite from a seemingly impossible ally, a Catholic exorcist. This legend has eerie parallels to lore of ghosts and witches from the Old World as well as the early American Republic. As American religious leaders sought to find a place for their congregations in a post-Revolutionary time of enlightened secularism, tales like these helped churches define themselves, and this particular story was used to distinguish Catholic supernaturalism from later spiritualism. /Author Michael Kishbucher tells a spooky and incredibly compelling story that shines a light on the region’s religious history.

Meet the Chicagoans who had the vision -- or the chicanery -- to turn a worthless marsh into the amazing cityscape that is modern Streeterville. The towering buildings between beautiful Lake Michigan and Chicago's Magnificent Mile didn't just happen. Follow the development from mud and sand to office towers and exclusive residences. The cast includes Cap'n Streeter, real estate genius Potter Palmer, developer Jerrold Wexler, and architect Mies van der Rohe, as well as activists who fought against development. Author Wayne Klatt traces the evolution of the Streeterville neighborhood from lake shore mansions, through a postwar fallow period, and then to an energetic burst of construction that gave Chicago its new downtown.

Digging into a forgotten past – and the dead left behind.

San Francisco is famous for not having any cemeteries, but the claim isn’t exactly what it seems. In the early 20th Century, the city relocated more than 150,000 graves to the nearby town of Colma to make way for a rapidly growing population. But an estimated fifty to sixty thousand burials were quietly built over and forgotten, only to resurface every time a new building project began. The dead still lie beneath some of the city’s most cherished destinations, including the Legion of Honor, United Nations Plaza, the Asian Art Museum and the University of San Francisco.

Join author Beth Winegarner as she maps the city's early burial grounds and brings back to life the dead who've been erased.

What goes bump in Boise?



Searching the darkness of the City of Trees reveals what lurks in the liminal spaces. Idaho’s capital city is dotted with haunted residences, hotels and penitentiaries where many still reside in death. Two youngsters lives were cut short, but their spirits never left their childhood homes. Strange specters prowl the foothills, including hooded figures seeking sacrifices. Strange objects patrol the skies. Spooks haunt local prison cells and frighten at a historic fort. Authors Mark Iverson and Jeff Wade collect ghoulish tales that have become local folklore, while setting the record straight. 

Explore the haunted lore and inexplicable tragedies of North Central Texas. North Central Texas is home to some former residents who just won’t leave. Encounter spirits of affluent families lingering in their mansions and the specters of notorious outlaws still trapped in their jail cells. Uncover the mysterious demise of Garland’s Smiley family and the grisly secrets of a Grayson County slaughterhouse. Track down the stone angel who flaps her wings when no one is watching. Learn why the elevators at the Adolphus Hotel frighten guests and plumb the ghostly currents that flow through the town of Mineral Wells. Author Teresa Nordheim ventures into the past of a region with more unnerving shadows than a North Texas Thunderstorm.

Author Heather Leigh Carroll-Landon guides readers on a spine-tingling tour through Florida’s haunted lighthouses. Lighthouses dot the Florida coast, there to help seafarers navigate their way to shore. But when tragedy comes for Florida, it often blows in from the sea, giving the lighthouses and the cursed men and women inside a first look at horror. The lively spirits of teenage sisters inhabit the St. Augustine Lighthouse, where an accident claimed their lives, suspending them in their playful youth. A storm wiped out the Sand Key Lighthouse in 1846, claiming the lives of 16 whose spirits now chatter away—generally in contented tones but sometimes straying into anger. A Civil War casualty roams near the Amelia Island Lighthouses, holding to a promise to see his love one last time before departure.

A small town no more.

Happy Valley’s transformation from an isolated, rural farming community to one of the most popular places to live in the Portland metro area didn’t happen all at once. With its fertile volcanic soil, it was once the ideal place to settle for many families coming to the Oregon Territory, including the Deardorffs and the Talberts. As the town slowly grew, residents like James Robnett, the first mayor and Ed Rebstock, known as “Mr. Happy Valley,” left their marks on the locals and the land. When the town’s population exploded in the 1990s, newcomers brought prosperity and growing pains as they sought a balance between green spaces and urban amenities.

Join author Mark W. Hurlburt as he traces the origins of Happy Valley.

Tales from North Carolina's high country.

The Toe River winds its way past the peaks of Mount Mitchell and into the valley that bears its name. Mineral mines go back to the earliest days of Yancey County and encouraged some of the first settlers to come to the region. Mitchell County's Bakersville experienced violent unrest, with a riot and a lynching, in 1892--but did it actually happen? The section of the Blue Ridge Parkway that runs through Avery County was left incomplete for years because of a property dispute with the owner of Grandfather Mountain. Take a journey along forgotten rail lines, through abandoned communities and past sites whose histories have shaped this valley's story just as the river has shaped its landscape.

North Carolina historian and author Michael C. Hardy explores the hidden historical gems of the region.

Wandering spirits, vengeful ghosts, and unexplained sightings in Tucson, Arizona.

The benign, candle-carrying ghost of Mayor Levi Manning is reported to roam the halls of Manning House, while a frightening presence is said to lurk in the projectionist room at the Fox Theatre. In Room 242 of the Hotel Congress, guests have described a woman in white sitting at the end of the bed, while other spirits have been spotted in the halls. From the Mission San Xavier del Bac, built in 1700, to the grounds of the University of Arizona, stories of paranormal encounters abound. 

Join author Daryl F. Mallett and discover the thrilling and bone-chilling history of the Old Pueblo.

Discover the spooky history of New York's central region

From the edge of the Adirondacks, to the heart of Syracuse and everything in between, central New York boasts some of the most haunted history in the state. Utica, Rome and Cazenovia all have historic tales of ghostly moments and unexplained aparations. Join author Dennis Webster as he reveals the hidden haunted history of central New York.

Minnesota is often called the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but it could also be called the Land of 20,000 Bridges. /

During the early days of the state, the Mississippi River and its many tributaries barred and disrupted transportation and commerce. To span these obstacles, communities battled to build and maintain bridges. Their efforts created a variety of bridge designs and purposes—from small hiking and biking bridges to concrete beams across rural rivers. Across the area, one can behold wonders like the beautiful Stone Arch Bridge, the La Crescent Swing Bridge, the Point Douglas Drawbridge, the elegant Winona Main Channel Bridge as well as other massive structures crossing the Mississippi.

Studying and photographing these amazing structures, local author Steve Gardiner celebrates the innovation and determination of Southeast Minnesota./      

Like so many cities bordering Lake Michigan, Racine has a long and storied history. Some of that history is stranger than fiction.

The Live Towerview neighborhood, brimming with stories of the city's earliest burial sites, is a hotbed of ghostly activity. Former asylums like the ambitious Taylor Home Orphan Asylum and the infamous Racine County Insane Asylum are filled with chilling tales of the unexplained. The local Masonic Temple houses the restless souls of some of the city's earliest residents. So do Chances Food & Spirits and Ivanhoe, two of the most haunted taverns in southeastern Wisconsin. Historian Rory Graves uncovers some of Racine's most notorious haunts.

Historian Rory Graves uncovers some of Racine's most notorious haunts.

Author Kathy Benjamin accompanies the pioneering women of the Lone Star State's funeral business.

The intimate task of caring for the dead had long fallen under women's sphere of responsibilities. But after the Civil War, the sudden popularity of embalming offered new financial opportunities to men who set up as undertakers, pushing women out of their traditional role. In Texas, from the 1880s to the 1930s, women slowly regained their place by the bier. Many worked while pregnant or raising children. Most shouldered the additional weight of personal tragedies and persistent sexism. All brought comfort to the bereaved in the isolation of the Texas frontier, kept its cities free of deadly disease and revolutionized an industry that was just coming into its own.

Les Dames d' Escoffier New York, the most influential and accomplished women in the food world, present their favorite recipes for everything from simple weekday meals to spectacular party dishes.

Authors Silvia Baldini and Sharon Franke showcase seventy-six family recipes and pairings by Pascaline Lepeltier, MOF, and including a dedication by Lidia Bastianich to LDNY founder Carol Brock and a foreword by Carla Hall.

From Lidia's "Cavatappi with Asparagus and Spinach Pesto" or Ellie Krieger's recipe "Family Favorite Minestrone," to a stunning "Radicchio Salad with Radish, Basil, and Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette" by two-Michelin star Chef Melissa Rodriguez, these recipes are for every occasion and for every level of skill.

Discover the dishes and recipes that some of the most heralded women in the food business, in the greatest city in the world for food, cook when they are in their own home kitchens.

Rediscover Cleveland’s Forgotten Hauntings/

Hiding in obscure corners and in plain sight, chilling tales from Cleveland’s paranormal past await reawakening. A tale from 1840 places the city’s first haunted house on the windswept commons south of town. Hanged murderers were said to roam the corridors of the Old County Jail, and the 1885 disinterment of the old Cleveland Medical College graveyard led to reports of nocturnal phantoms throughout the excavation. With the construction of Bulkley Boulevard in 1912, many West Side homes were demolished. Also destroyed was the entrance to what neighbors menacingly called The Cave of Apparitions.

Take a step back in time with author and investigative historian William G. Krejci on this journey through Cleveland’s long lost ghostly past.

The Houses Lutherans Built

Large groups of German immigrants began arriving in Cole County in the 1830s. By 1843, thirty-seven of them banded together to establish the first Lutheran church in the county—Zion Church. The following year, the second Lutheran church was founded near Taos, while the pastors at Zion helped establish a third congregation in Lohman in the 1850s. Doctrinal disputes inspired members to leave the church in Lohman and establish a new Lutheran congregation in Stringtown after the Civil War. Over the generations, Zion—the “Mother Church”—disbanded but other Lutheran congregations developed in Centertown, Honey Creek, Russellville, Jefferson City and near Brazito. Local author Jeremy Amick details the rich history of Lutherans in Cole County.

Author Mark Neaves guides readers on an incredible tale through the life of one of America's greatest adventurers.

Born into slavery in the Mississippi Delta in 1847, Holt Collier was taught to hunt at an early age, killing his first bear at age 10, the first of 3,000 bears he killed during his lifetime, more than Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone combined. The number sounds impossible, until considered in the context of a life that reads like the stuff of fiction. When war erupted in the South, he remained loyal to the Confederacy, a teenager off to war. By the turn of the century, he'd become such a legendary hunter he was tapped to lead Teddy Roosevelt on a hunt that gave birth to the "Teddy Bear." As a former slave, Confederate soldier, and professional hunting guide, Holt goes down as an American legend.

Explore the origins of Wood County lore .

Ghostly tales abound from fallen war heroes of Bowling Green State University to the darkened woods of Holcomb Road. The spirit of Frank Simonds, a venerated World War I veteran who nearly got away with murder, may linger around Main Street in Bowling Green. A soldier who died in a desperate attempt to save hundreds still guards Fort Meigs. Though nothing stands there now, the spot of the infamous Woodbury House remains a terror—just as it was for the earliest settlers in the area./

Wonder-seeker and amateur folklorist Melissa Davies reveals the stranger side of local history./

Crawfordsville, Indiana, has a rich history of spiritualism and paranormal lore. /

In the late 1800s and early 1900s mediums were trained in the city, and spiritualism was preached from the street corners. Spirit photography was all the rage, and many flocked to town to have their photos taken with ghosts. The Crawfordsville Monster caused a nationwide stir after terrorizing the town for several days and being spotted by more than 100 people. Urban legends also abound in this small city, including legends like the cursed chair of Oak Hill cemetery, Spooky Hollow and the Old Hospital./

Authors Christopher and Christina Hunt share these tales and others devoted to the mysterious past and darkly thrilling secret life of the heart of Montgomery County.

Known for friendly people, traditional family values, and the Packers, Green Bay is a big city with a small-town feel. But resting beneath its welcoming demeanor is an underbelly of wickedness that has been there from its very formation. /

The city’s downtown district rests atop one of Wisconsin’s oldest burial sites, and the west side was the location for the state’s second recorded hanging, which was at the time the punishment for murder. And the city’s beloved football team once drafted one of America’s worst serial killers./

Compiling stories of stolen skulls, underground gangs, and crimes so horrendous and shocking they made national news, Timothy Freiss reveals a side of Green Bay few have seen./ 

Join author Lisa M. Russell on a tour through these icons of Georgia backroads.  At one time, Georgia had over 250 covered bridges. By 1955, that number had shrunk to 75. By the 1970s, only 25 remained. But thanks to preservationists and Georgia's Department of Transportation, sixteen historic bridges have endured. Meet the bridge builders—including an enslaved apprentice who out-built his “master,” and travel back in time underneath the elegance of these simple yet masterfully crafted structures.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt changed America with a government on the side of the people that put Americans back to work and inspired confidence that the nation could overcome the Great Depression.  This is the story of their progressive legacy when FDR was Governor during the era of Prohibition and the advent of radio in the Roaring Twenties, a decade that ended with the Great Depression upending life for most Americans. This is the story of how as Governor of New York he tried the programs that became the New Deal that transformed America. It was the place where his warm, easily relatable voice heard on the radio for the first time created a bond of trust with the public that inspired confidence at a time of great fear.Author Michael J. Burgess reveals the often overlooked history of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in Albany at the helm of the Empire State.

Iconic vistas, eerie roadside attractions and celebrity ghosts.

From the stark beauty of the Mojave Desert to the haunted Santa Monica Pier, California’s Route 66 is a truly spirited road trip. The road is lined with ghost towns such as Ludlow, a town that lived and died twice, and Goffs, now a dusty museum where the shades of the past walk the streets. In Barstow, a hundred-year-old rail station hosts long-dead passengers still waiting for their trains, and in Monrovia, the Aztec Hotel entertains spirits from a bygone era, as does the Pasadena Playhouse, the official state theater of California.

Join author and paranormal historian Brian Clune as he explores the haunted history of the Mother Road.

Every city has its odd and scary side, and Dayton is no exception.

The ghost of Paul Sorg still sits in his favorite seat in the Sorg Opera House more than a hundred years after his death. The so-called phantom terrorized truck drivers crossing the Englewood Dam before disappearing for good. The famed Butter Street Monster roams Germantown. Magee Park is home to numerous bigfoot and ghost sightings--and even a unicorn sighting. A building of many names, the tower on Patterson Boulevard in Kettering near Hills and Dales Park has been the source of many stories for generations, but only now is its true story finally told.

Dayton native, author, and host of the Dayton Unknown blog Sara Kaushal leads a chilling tour of Gem City's strange and unusual history.

Hand-colored, vivid details bring these historic photographs to life like never before. Witness the beginnings of the sweetgrass basket tradition. See the bleak devastation on Meeting Street after the Civil War. Note intense contrast in blues and grays of prisoners captured at the Battle of Bull Run. Explore the Battery as it looked in the 1800s. And dazzle in the bright fashions of flappers at the dawn of "the Charleston" dance craze. Author Mark Jones and artist Lewis Hayes bring a new vision to Holy City history.

Journey down one of the most important roadways in the annals of Illinois transportation history.

Stretching from Chicago to Cairo, the Egyptian Trail was one of the earliest "improved" roadways in Illinois. Dating to 1915, it was the longest road in the state, running four hundred miles through 20 counties and over 60 towns. The project was the brainchild of two Mattoon men, Dr. Iverson Lumpkin and Ernest B. Tucker, who realized the southern reaches of the state should be linked with Chicago along the same path as the Illinois Central Railroad. Though long forgotten today, the trail also served as the basic template for the route of Interstate 57. Author James R. Wright takes a road trip through the fascinating heritage of the Egyptian Trail.

People enslaved here experienced the same horrors as those held captive in other states, and their stories of courage and perseverance are amazing. Priscilla Baltimore purchased her own emancipation and founded a freedom village. Caroline Quarlls escaped to Canada. Many who fled for their lives spent time bunkered in the basement of Hanson House. The region's Congregationalists brought a fiery. brand of abolitionism. And Prairie Park still holds the faded "haint" blue paint traditionally used on slave dwellings. Author Julia Nicolai details these and other adjective stories.