A silly little book

This is, for the most part, a nice, harmless book about weird crap in Massachusetts - most of it hauntings, cryptozoology, witches, and weird history, though some if it is just regular weird crap - pretty to look at, lots of artwork, doesn't take itself too seriously. The handful of local legends I'm familiar with it gets right or mostly right, which is a point in its favor.

One of my chief complaints is the illustrations - most of them are unlabelled, and a lot of them are either "art" rather than photographs, or photographs that have been altered or otherwise don't clearly connect up with the surrounding text. I'd have liked a little more information about the illustrations in most cases, especially where the illustration is clearly an artist's rendering. The book also mentions, not infrequently, photographs that it then doesn't show, which is... weird, especially as there's never any explanation for that absence.

The book also isn't comprehensive; it leaves out Fort Warren entirely, for instance, and gives short shrift to some of the better known legends, I think. A lot of space is taken up with anonymous or pseudonymous accounts from the internet, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence, either. But it's a fun read, and full of things you'll want to know more about. ( )

As with all of the "Weird" books (which sprang from a periodical, Weird New Jersey), this is an excellent read. A native of Massachusetts myself, this edition is particularly neat, and lists many places of which I was aware, although not necessarily of the particular version of the story given! Terrific series of books. ( )