Customer Reviews

Weird Massachusetts: Your Travel Guide to Massachusetts' Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm from New Jersey but go to school in Mass., so when this book came out I snatched it right up--and I'm very glad I did. It is not only a great addition to the series as a whole, but also a must have companion to the Weird New England book published a few years back. Sure, the obvious stuff is covered here--Salem, Lizzy Borden and so forth--but you really couldn't do a book called Weird Massachusetts and NOT include those stories. It just wouldn't be complete. Even so,the author does a great job of retelling the few obligatory stories that are included here, and somehow manages breathe new life into them through his energetic writing style. But the real tastey meat of this book lies in the material not covered in any previous volumes: like the terrifying stories of Dudley Road, the little know odd finds buried deep in the woods like Deed Rock, and the just plain quirky entries like the story of Sheila Shea's grave (it actually reads "who the hell is Sheila Shea?" In addition to that, there are some chilling tales from some of MA's abandoned place. Sure, most people know of Danvers, but what about Worcester State, Northampton State, and Medfield State hospitals? All are explored here in their creepy and forlorn glory! If you are into Weird and want to know more about its presence in the Bay State, this book has it covered. What more can I say?

Weird Massachusetts is a fun, silly, enjoyable book enjoyable to read for anyone who enjoys good ghost stories, local legends and other weird events. Of course they are not true but like most people we all love to be scared and left with the question of "what if?" This book is highly recommended for people who enjoy a good fright and love to read stories about ghosts and goblins and want to share those with others around them.

Read this for some good, scary, fun!

It was just an "ok" read. A lot of it dealt with stuff that wasn't "weird" or interesting to me (so I skipped quite a few "stories"). I got this book from the library under the impression that it was a "travel" book, which would tell me cool places to visit. Instead with some of the stories it was hard to even figure out where they took place until reading further in. Even then not all places gave concrete info on where to visit these areas even though they were public places. Some really needed photos, but didn't provide any. So for addresses and photos I'd have to search the internet. I would have liked to hear more "ghost" stories from the area and would have loved an index in the back of town by town. As I said, an "ok" read, but I wouldn't bother reading it twice, and has no "gotta buy it" value to me. For a more in-depth review visit my horror movie/book review blog in my profile.

Who would have thought there are so many bizarre and unique goings-on in my own innocent Bay State? This volume is stuffed full of fun facts, local history, and little-known oddities in this great new addition to the "Weird" series.

This book is so engagingly written I often had a hard time putting it down for the night. Jeff Belanger has really done the legwork in unearthing every stone and peering into every nook and cranny to uncover the little known people, places and things that have influenced the Bay State. A floating island crashing into waterfront backyards? Cars rolling uphill? Ghost ships, balancing rocks and Bigfoot? It's all here - amusing, mysterious, scary and strange! There are giant chairs, spooky abandoned asylums and the Cat in the Hat. (Did you know Dr. Seuss was from the Bay State?) How about a Sacred Cod in the House of Representatives and a Holy Mackerel in the State House?

You will enjoy this wacky ride from one end of Massachusetts to the other, and you can rest assured you won't be missing anything along the way. I haven't had this much fun between the pages of a book in a long time!

Here's the award for the funniest (and most devious) story in the book: The Cape Cod Canal Resident Tunnel Permit. How many tourists have driven the length of the canal hoping to find this local oddity? (C'mon, was it you?)

I really liked this book, although it was a bit of disappointment to learn that there isn't really anything that spooky about Spider Gates! ha ha I learned a lot of things about my own home state that I didn't even know, this was a great book. Each story is pretty short, so you can always investigate the stories that really interest you further on your own.

i love this book and take it everywhere with me i love visiting the places i never get bored of this book and read it all the time

I purchased this book for my 12 year old. He has read a couple of times and we have visited a few of the places. The book mentions odd facts and places to visit that you may not normally hear about..

This book was purchased as a gift for a family member who has recently relocated to Salem, MA. While I did not read the book in its entirety, I already own a copy of Weird Pennsylvania by the same authors, so I knew before I opened it, that the MA version would be just as cool and weird as the PA one! The family member who received the MA book said he couldn't wait to start paging through it!

Very much enjoying the stories from my home state. Many of which I was
familiar with but curious to see if included. Definitely would recommend
this to others.

If you have an interest in the weirdness that is Massachusetts then this is your book. Very cool.