It’s been a year since we made a public call for submissions to our New England Folklore Bestiary project and I wanted to update readers about how the book is progressing.

Progress has been excellent!

When I posted a list of 75 potential entities I was hoping we might find authors to cover perhaps half, and assigning a few essential-to-cover creatures to authors I’ve previously worked with. Instead we have over 90 entries covering all manner of New England’s strangest legends. It’s been a great experience to connect with so many writers, old and new, and see what they can come up with. The final book is anticipated to be over 200 pages long. Each entry will be illustrated

With this growth, we have also added an illustrator to the project, with Galen Pejeau joining Chris Huth who was initially attached to the book. Here’s a little sample of their work:

As for the contents, here is how they stand currently, based on my current organization scheme, which might change as the editing process progresses. For now they are divided very roughly by habitat, then broken down into general categories. Some of these creatures are tougher to slot into a singular position – is the Silver Lake Frog Man a “strange humanoid” or “lake monster”? – but I think generally this thematic organizational system, rather than something like alphabetical or regional, will be of greatest use to the Keeper.

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Creatures of the Water

Sea Monsters

• Cassie, the Casco Bay Monster
• The Gloucester Serpent
• Block-Ness Monster
• Mermaids and Tritons
• The Plum Island Giant Squid

River Monsters

• The Connecticut River Serpent

Lake Monsters

• ‘Champ’, the monster of Lake Champlain
• Candlewood Lake Monster
• Dublin Lake Monster
• Memphremagog
• The Moore Damn Monster
• Ponik
• Willoughby Wisp
• The Indian Lake ‘Wassit’
• The Silver Lake Frog Man
• Furry Trout

Swamp Monster

• The Bristol Marsh Monster
• The Ware Swamp Monster
• It, the Creature of the Dark Swamp

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Creatures of the Air

Aliens

• Greys
  • Hill Version
  • Alagash Incident version
  • ‘Generic’ Gray
• Saybrook Blockheads
• The Talcott Mountain Robot

The Awful

Giant Bat of Mine Hill

Giant Birds and Pterodactyls

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Creatures of the Land

Bigfoot, Wildmen, and Hairy Hominids

• Bigfoot
• The Bennington Monster
• “Creature in the Dairy Barn”
• The Downs Road Monster
• The Durham Gorilla
• Goonyak
• North Stonington Ape Man hoax
• Winstead Wild Man
• The Woods Devil

Other Humanoids

• The Black Flash of Provincetown
• The Dover Demon
• Goat-men
• Melonheads
• Pig Man

Animalia

• The Catamount
• The Beast of Truro and Other Alien Black Cats
• The Danville “Devil Monkey”
• Slipperyskin

Fantastical Creatures

• The Densmore Hill Monster
• Glawackus
• The Man-Eating Stone of Glastonbury

Lumberjack Lore

• The Agropelter
• Billdad
• Celofay
• Dingmaul
• Dungavenhooter
• The Hidebehind
• Lunksoos
• Razorshins
• Tote Road Shagamaw
• Tree-squeak
• Wedge-ledge Chomper
• Will-am-Alone

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Creatures of Spirit

Ghosts

• The Headless Horseman of Canton
• The Headless Skeleton of Swampington
• The Phantom Hitchhiker of Route 44
• The Phantom Leaguers

Phantom Creatures

• The Black Dog of the Hanging Hills
• Black Fox of the Salmon River
• The Spectral Moose
• White Wolf of Peacedale Cemetery

Other Spirits

• Bowman’s Statue
• The Stone-Throwing Devil
• Treasure Guardians
• Will-o-the-wisp
• Worrineagues

The Fae

• Fairies
• Banshee
• Lutins
• Perry Bonny, the “fairy man”

Diabolical Beings

• Satan (Puritan)
• Satan (Trickster)
• Diabolic Possessors
• Familiars
• Loup-Garou
• Monstrous Swines
• Vampires (New England)
• The Vampire Vine of Dummerston

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This isn’t the only project we have in the works. Watch this space for more news soon.

For more frequent updates in the meantime follow us on Patreon.