Field Guide to the Mysterious Places of Eastern North America [Paperback]

Salvatore M. Trento (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1997

A fully illustrated, one-of-a-kind guide to the unexplained rocks, ruins, and phenomena of eastern North America.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For those of you who like your travel seasoned with a little mystery, Salvatore M. Trento's Field Guide to Mysterious Places of Eastern North America might be just the book to bring along on your next jaunt along the eastern seaboard. In Nova Scotia, a giant rock bears ancient runes, markings that have been attributed to everyone from the Vikings to the ancient Myceneans! In central Vermont, stone burial chambers combined with caches of ancient Roman coins add up to a puzzling conundrum. In upstate New York, the community of Pine Bush appears to be a magnet for UFOs.

Not all of the sites listed in Trento's book are this spooky, of course, but every place is both mysterious and controversial. Indian burial mounds, standing stones, burial caves, and petroglyphs--these are just a few of the many places and objects of interest you can find all over the eastern United States and Canada. In addition to descriptions of the sites, Trento provides historical background, the latest theories of the experts, directions for getting there, and suggestions for the best times to go. So if you're looking for something different to do on your next vacation, pick up a copy of Field Guide to Mysterious Places of Eastern North America. The truth is out there.

Review

"This book reads like an adventure tale . . . pack up and check out these wondrous sites for yourself. "- Stephen J. Abramson, director of Sightings

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 1st edition (May 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805044493
• ISBN-13: 978-0805044492
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,568,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good descriptions of real places with mystery about them., March 9, 1999

By 

[e-mail], Earl E. Hill (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Field Guide to the Mysterious Places of Eastern North America (Paperback)

The "Field Guide..." has enough detail to lead one to a whole range of interesting spots. Some are a little hard to find from the information provided in the book, because the investigators and the owners of property of the sites cannot reveal too much for fear that there will be excessive traffic and human erosion.

Many of the locations are treated in other books and serious study reports whose authors are concerned with evidence of "diffusion", the idea that other peoples and cultures arrived in North (and South) America before the voyages of Columbus. Several groups are organized for the purposes of continuing these studies, and most of them are cited in the book.

From the serious side of these investigations, the author's use of a magnetometer to detect magnetic anomalies around many of the sites is interesting, but lends and air of comedy or strangeness to the visits which then makes it too easy to dismiss the locations as less than important clues to history. It does, however, reflect and improve on the tendency of certain investigators to perform "dowsing" to detect hidden features.

The organization of the "Field Guide ..." by state and province, from North to South, makes it easy to use. It is also interesting reading, even if you can't get there to see the stones.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Field Guide, July 12, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Alameda, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Field Guide to the Mysterious Places of Eastern North America (Paperback)

Mr. Trento's book is informative, well written, and above all, consise. The descriptive instructions to the exact locations of many of the sites he reviews is essential. The best example is the Gungywamp, CT. site. Since this mysterious place is literally "off the beaten track", finding it would have been impossible without his book!

Sadly, the Druid's Hill site located in Lowell, MA is missing from the text. Perhaps he will consider this mysterious location in his next revision.

Regardless, I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to do a little amateur archeological work.

4.0 out of 5 stars An Archaeological Outlier Compendium, August 16, 2009

By 

OtherWorlds&Wisdom (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Field Guide to the Mysterious Places of Eastern North America (Paperback)

A great "field guide" to sites across the East, many of which are forgotton and little studied. As the author deatils, there are many more than what he discusses. He tells the readers the locations of many other potential sites that he himself hasn't examined. His listings on Pennsylvania sites is too brief, he focuses mainly on the New England states. Perhaps someday he will update and expand this important volume. See alsoThe Island of Seven Cities: Where the Chinese Settled When They Discovered America and Columbus Was Last: From 200,000 BC to 1492, A Heretical History of Who Was First.