Spare time to read in the woods, beach or backyard?
Check out these book suggestions from our personal library…
It may be late July with Fall just down the road, but there’s no better time than now to grab a book. Over the years, we’ve acquired many books concerning the paranormal, ghost stories, cryptids, and the occult. Our night stand reading pile, and overflowing bookshelves is a testament to how much we read for pleasure and research. Next year, my wife and I will be celebrating a quarter century together and we have a TON of books. Our apartment has four 7-foot book shelves on one side, and four other shelves (ranging from 3-foot to 6-foot) on wall opposite. That’s not counting the 2 bookshelves in our bedroom and one in the kitchen..and one in the hall…or the random spaces we’ve managed to dedicate to books like under the TV or an endtable. We have a wide range of interests that include Weird History and Fiction, the Paranormal, Occult, and Cryptids, alongside your basic horror, fantasy, history, and such.
In this post I will share a few selections from our library and offer some thoughts on each. These books are specific to the area we live in, Burlington County, and the state of New Jersey. Whether or not you live in the area, these titles may be of interest for the topics they represent. We love everything weird about this state and all the spooky, cryptid tales within it. Our own explorations have been across the nation, not just New Jersey. But this being our 1st book recommendation, Jersey is where we begin.
My wife and I are always eager to learn of historic, haunted, abandoned places local to us, no matter where we live. Being the bibliophiles we are, we seek out titles, or just happen upon them, titles that educate us with regard to these interests. In our YouTube videos and articles, we wish to include historical context to what we are exploring.
Since we are currently Burlington County residents, what better way to start than with two titles by the same author: Ghosts of Burlington County & Ghosts of Mount Holly by Jan Lynn Bastien, of Mount Holly.
These two fascinating volumes are part of the Haunted America book series published by The History Press. Ghosts of Burlington County, published in 2014, has a subtitle of “Historical Hauntings From the Mullica to the Delaware.” The cover depicts the Watch Case Tower in Riverside, NJ. The town of Riverside was first incorporated by in 1851 by wealthy land developer Samuel Bechtold. Riverside was originally called “Progress” and had been a farming community. The story Bastien recounts concerns paranormal experiences by modern people, such as Bob Rossi and the Riverside Historical Society, which had offices within the Tower at one time. Bastien also cites numerous paranormal investigations and findings from the South Jersey Ghost Research Team. I found this especially interesting while reading the chapter concerning the Library of Burlington County.
“A Place with Spirited Reading,” is the subtitle for chapter 6 concerning The Library of Burlington County, which is the oldest library in continuous operation in New Jersey & the 7th oldest in the nation. Now I am not going to go in depth here of its long and noble history, as I encourage you to read the book, and search further online. But, it is a site my wife and I are aiming to visit very soon. We have been exploring Historic Burlington in recent weeks and have the Library on our bucket list. Bastien discusses the work of Sharon Vincz, the director of the Library at the time of writing her 2014 book. Vincz was also a member of South Jersey Ghost Research, and was featured in two YouTube episodes of Ghost Detectives, which investigated the Library.
Ghosts of Burlington County discusses sites like Historic Smithville, which my wife and I have explored, and many others that we have yet to visit. This book has everything that is of interest to us, history, folklore, biography, and of course the paranormal. The same goes for Bastien’s earlier work, Ghosts of Mount Holly: A History Of Haunted Happenings from 2008.
Depicted on the cover is a familar sight to Mount Holly residents: the Relief Fire Company which is the longest continually operating fire department in the United States. Bastien’s focus in this volume is limited to coverage of Hauntings and Paranormal activity in Mount Holly, which is wonderful, but her later work is a well balanced narrative of local history lore and ghostly phenomena in the larger area.
One topic specifically I have read a bit about is how much Mount Holly was a part of the Revolutionary War. Being New York transplants to New Jersey, we’re still learning about how integral New Jersey was to the Revolution and how much of the state was involved in the War. If you have seen our Youtube videos, (or not), we have covered two cemeteries, and a park where soldiers are buried and once battled the British. Bastien incorporates the work of Dave Juliano who has a long respected career in the paranormal, demonology, and is the director of South Jersey Ghost Research. Juliano’s thoughts concerning these cases are invaluable and further a richer understanding of the stories within the book.
Many of you may know that New Jersey is well known to be the home of the Jersey Devil. Yet, how many of you know that New Jersey has other cryptids?
Loren Coleman is an American cryptozoologist, author and television personality who has written over 40 books on a number of topics, including cryptozoology. He is also the President, Founder and leading Director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine. His book Monsters of New Jersey: Mysterious Creatures in the Garden State presents “the best known of the Garden State’s cryptid population”, the “Bizarre Beasts Stalk New Jersey, From Down the Shore to the Creepy Pine Barrens and even in many of the bustling cities.” This book was co-authored by Bruce G. Hallenbeck author of Monsters of the Northwoods.
If you study Cryptozoology then these authors are more than likely familiar with you. Coleman’s book includes everything from the less well-known Hoboken Monkey-Man and Lake Hopatcong Monster, to the infamous Jersey Devil. The book opens with discussion of this winged beasty, and ends with an appendix of documented sightings. Coleman presents a well researched book for its size, only 126 pages, but loaded with scholarship, eyewitness accounts, and lore. Coleman’s book serves as a nice companion to a classic many readers will be familiar with: Weird New Jersey.
Weird New Jersey has gotten my wife and I up, out of the house, especially during trying times in our lives, to explore the sites they’ve documented. The same can be said of Coleman’s Monsters of New Jersey. From the historical data, to eye witness accounts we can plan road trips not that far from our new home and see the landscape where these beasts have been sighted.
The latest edition of WNJ features “The Jersey Devil & Other Bizarre Beasts, Your Field Guide to New Jersey’s Cryptid Creatures”. Even though the Jersey Devil is featured on the cover, the ‘zine starts off discussing “Big Foot, Big Hairy Men, and Big Red Eyes.”
The next chapter “Creature Discomforts,” starts off discussing The Mantis Man of Musconetcong.” The Jersey Devil being the title attraction is the second half of this highly enlightening read. The difference between this ‘zine and the Coleman book is that the latter has no pictures as opposed to the Weird NJ publication. This is one reason they can compliment one another, it is not only the research, lore and witness accounts, but Weird NJ provides pictures. We can get an idea of not only the look of these Monsters through exquisite illustrations, but newspaper clippings and photographs.
Next up is: The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster by Brian Regal & Frank J. Esposito
If you do not know the origin story of the Jersey Devil, then from the previous reading suggestions by Coleman or Weird NJ you will certainly learn the basics of the tale. As the legend goes: in 1735 a witch named Mother Leeds gave birth to a horrifying monster, her 13th child, a deformed flying horse with glowing red eyes. This winged creature flew up the chimney of her New Jersey home and disappeared into the Pine Barrens. Thus the legend was born, and ever since this beast has given nightmares to the haunted Pine Barrens woods to innocent visitors to its frightening landscape.
However, according to The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster, everything you think you know about the Jersey Devil is wrong. Regal and Esposito contend the real story is far more interesting, complex and important than most people, believers, skeptic and those in between realize. This books finds that the origins of the Jersey Devil do not begin with witchcraft and a supposed devilish and cursed birth, but with the political fights and religious upheaval of colonial America. Reviews have said this book is essential for those interested in cryptids, especially historicity of the Leeds Jersey Devil, but it would also appeal to anyone interested in the darker underpinnings of US history.
In my own opinion, it is important to have a grasp of the literature and scholarship about a given topic, especially those of interest here: cryptids and the paranormal. But, as we know in today’s world, as it was in Colonial times, disinformation isn’t anything new. Unfortunately, we have a habit of creating stories about others that can be hateful, demonizing and just wrong.
Lastly, I want to recommend a fictional series of book that we have recently acquired. The Pineys by Tony DiGerolamo, a local screenwriter, novelist, comic book writer, game designer, comedian and actor.
The Pineys is his novella series about a Pine Barrens family that has been hunting the kin of the Jersey Devil for over 250 years. Comedy, horror and South Jersey come together in a hilarious mash. (from ThePineys.com)
In recent weeks my wife and I stumbled across the Rancocas Woods Farmers Market on Creek Road in Mount Laurel on Sunday mornings. One morning I learned that DiGerolamo was going to have a table at the Market. What better way to get started on reading a book series than acquiring them directly from the author himself? We got some produce and headed over to the table where Piney Tony had all of his books laid out and a big sign behind him advertising The Pineys.
There are 20 novellas in the series thus far, so we have a bit of catching up to do. We spoke with Tony, a very friendly, incredibly knowledgable and funny gent who was joy to speak with. As a couple who love to explore and visit historic places, we were happy to note that there were a few sites on Tony’s placard that we’re familiar with and have visited. The stories within these novellas have the characters traveling all over the Pine Barrens and Tony has a list of all of these sites.
We bought the first two books, which are a quick read. I’m nearly done with a read of book 2. Wifey will have to give them a read, hopefully before the term begins, but after she’s through her summer in tandem reading of Jane Austen and Douglas Adams.
The Pineys is stuffed with local history and lore, occult themes, and supernatural mayhem. The pacing is fast, and quick, and keeps you reading to the very end. This Saturday we intend to visit the Chatsworth Farmer’s Market and see Tony again for books 3 & 4. We will continue to visit Tony at his event appearances as we continue to collect The Pineys. This should tell you what I think of these stories. Really enjoying them!
This wraps up our first book recommendation. We’ll move beyond New Jersey in the next selections from our personal library. If you have book suggestions, or would like us to discuss your book here, send us recommendations in the comments below.
Leave a Reply