Authors
Dan Gordon & Gary Joseph
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Dan Gordon first experienced the magic of the Cape as a child vacationing two weeks each summer in Chatham. His admiration for the Cape's soulful homes inspired him to spend the last decade researching the Cape's ghost stories. He has written extensively on international baseball. Combining his two passions, he co-wrote the bestseller Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends & Eerie Events and the follow-up Field of Screams. Gary Joseph, a lifelong Cape resident, has long been interested in accounts of ghost encounters. As a child, he enjoyed listening to adults tell these stories and observing the way people told them--their expressions, their mannerisms, and how they captivated an audience. His writings have appeared in the Cape Cod Times, Cape Cod Chronicle and SCENE. He also writes about film, natural history, and the outdoors.
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Cape Encounters: Contemporary Cape Cod Ghost Stories
"A marvelous collection of stories, some spooky, all interesting, and some unexpectedly touching." -- Lawrence Brown, columnist, Cape Cod Times
Cape Encounters: Contemporary Cape Cod Ghost StoriesIn this attractive 216 pg. trade paperback, forty Cape Codders describe ghosts who descend staircases that no longer exist, kiss sleeping women, flip theater seats, fold laundry, and join musicians onstage. Among those sharing their stories are the former National Environment Coordinator, a scientist from the United States Geological Survey, a retired West Point professor and a Wampanoag Native-American educator.
While seeking out only the mysterious, authors Dan Gordon and Gary Joseph instead met thoughtful individuals who related their stories with humor and insight. Those who have experienced America's most beloved summer travel destination will find this collection much like the Cape itself--beguiling, indelible and timeless. Buy an Autographed Copy of Cape Encounters! Just $14.95 "Free Shipping" Drop us a note if you would like the book personalized. With sufficient notice, we can accommodate. (We apologize that only one author can autograph books.) |
Purchase an autographed copy of Cape Encounters: Contemporary Cape Cod Ghost Stories
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Scary Cape Creatures |
Cape Cod Haunted Map
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Gather around the campfire with this game of strategy using Cape Cod’s spookiest entities as pawns—altogether 52 of the peninsula’s scariest and most famous pirates, ghosts, witches, and indigenous spirits, calling upon their mastery of nature to defeat your opponent(s). Boldness, skill, and timing are needed to enter a mysterious realm populated by a host of weird creature drawn from the Cape’s eerie legends, history, and lore. More than another mysterious, family card game, the lore and history of the Cape are spelled out for children to learn about the different folkloric characters and legends of the sandy peninsula. They’ll become familiar with Old Stormalong, Maushop and other “tall tales” that have been passed down over generations. Just as Paul Bunyan was a symbol of the Northwest (lumberman), waterbeings, mermaids, one-eyed witches, spirit lights, phantom pirates, and bearded sea serpents are among the fabled cast of symbols from Cape Cod’s rich tradition of storytelling. This one-of-a-kind card game is the result of a collaboration between the authors of Cape Encounters: Contemporary Cape Cod Ghost Stories and illustrator Ethan Renoe. Just $5.95 "Free Shipping" Order a Set of Cape Scary Creature Cards Now! |
RESERVE
Rave Reviews for Cape Encounters: Contemporary Cape Cod Ghost Stories
Kirkus Discoveries
“In this winsome compendium of local lore, ghosts become a marvelous household amenity.”
Ghost Magazine
“…a charming and thoughtful collection…one comes away with a feeling that the dead and living are just going about their daily business, sharing common ground, from town halls to centuries-old homes.”
New Bedford Standard-Times
”What distinguishes this collection from virtually all other compendiums of the bizarre encounters is the intelligence and sensitivity the two writers bring to their quest for ghost stories. What they were after in their interviews is personal history, the kind that Studs Terkel and Ken Burns have made so compelling.”
The Improper Bostonian
"The many people in this book who claim to have seen, heard, even been kissed by intruders from the gauzy past in their Cape Cod houses seem remarkably sane. If anything, they have an almost Puritan practicality that would suggest they'd never believe in such things as ghosts. The stair-tromping, door-unlocking, window-opening visitors described in these exciting, uncanny stories are mostly sympathetic, as are the visitees."
“In this winsome compendium of local lore, ghosts become a marvelous household amenity.”
Ghost Magazine
“…a charming and thoughtful collection…one comes away with a feeling that the dead and living are just going about their daily business, sharing common ground, from town halls to centuries-old homes.”
New Bedford Standard-Times
”What distinguishes this collection from virtually all other compendiums of the bizarre encounters is the intelligence and sensitivity the two writers bring to their quest for ghost stories. What they were after in their interviews is personal history, the kind that Studs Terkel and Ken Burns have made so compelling.”
The Improper Bostonian
"The many people in this book who claim to have seen, heard, even been kissed by intruders from the gauzy past in their Cape Cod houses seem remarkably sane. If anything, they have an almost Puritan practicality that would suggest they'd never believe in such things as ghosts. The stair-tromping, door-unlocking, window-opening visitors described in these exciting, uncanny stories are mostly sympathetic, as are the visitees."
Excerpts from Cape Encounters
Real Ghost Stories. Real People. Real Life On Cape Cod.
A few of the real storytellers in...
"Cape Encounters: Contemporary Cape Cod Ghost Stories"…
BRUCE MACKENZIE:
“There's the ghost of the old Namskatet Road. Most of the time he's just present, immanent. I think that most of the time he probably feels reasonably comfortable in this place. And, at this point, there's a continuity. I've been in and out of this house for almost sixty-five years, so I'm not unknowing. It's like people who have had breakfast together for thirty years—they don't necessarily have to have a conversation.
“At the moment, the ghost seems to be very much at peace. Maybe it's because I still do say "hi" to him when I come in. And I don't pretend he's not there. Maybe ghosts age! Who knows?”
JERRY ELLIS:
“This area, along this whole wall, is the most haunted part of the cemetery. I don't care who you talk to who has been in here at night—this is the place where they get the daylight scared out of them.”
MARGARET KEITH:
“Before I retire at night, I say, ‘Good night, ghost.'
I don't see him then, but I have a feeling he's here. This is where he felt most at home.”
PAM BLACK:
“The footsteps on Queen Anne Road were freaky. You'd run up the stairs, and you'd be hearing running up the stairs. It wasn't an echo. It wasn't that kind of thing. I had met the previous owners, too, and they said, ‘Oh, yes, the house is haunted.'”
BOB MORRILL AND JUDY PIHL:
While many a rumored Cape Cod ghost can dazzle the eye or raise the hair on the back of the neck, one of the more popular specters at the Inn at Duck Creeke in Wellfleet can hum a few bars and play the flute to boot. Amplifiers mysteriously turn off mid-performance when folksinger Maureen Burke performs onstage at the Duck Creeke Tavern. During duets with her brother, an unidentified third voice has often joined in. Band members from Sylvan Zephyr have seen the ghost walking onto the stage.
One late summer evening, versatile pianist Tom Fitzgerald kept jerking his head back during his performance. When the inn owners, Bob Morrill and Judy Pihl, asked Tom why he was doing that, he said, “She kept pulling my hair.” During another performance, the pianist went from lead to an accompanying mode—playing four bars, stopping, and playing four more. When he finished, Bob once again asked Tom for an explanation. The pianist said, “Didn't you hear the flute?”
JACK BRAGINTON-SMITH:
“I never felt scared there. Some houses you go into, they're cold and they're kind of ominous. You have an uneasy sense when you go into the house. And some houses are very warm, friendly, and protective. Rick Jones has a house that was built in 1678 just down the road in Cummaquid. When you go into that house you feel protected, warm, and confident.
“I used to get that sensation walking along Route 6A to work—a little over a mile. At five-thirty in the morning, there's not much traffic. I'd see candles in the windows of these old houses, and I used to sense that independence and spirit of what Cape Cod used to be.”
JOAN TAVARES:
“Well, I live in a house that belongs to my family. Some people call it “haunted,” and some of them are afraid to come by because of the stories they've heard—the oral stories they've heard from the tribal members. I look at it as just the opposite. As a Wampanoag tribal member, I understand that the sounds you hear or the things you may see come from my ancestors, who are protecting us and guiding us. . . Ever since I was very young, I've held connections with people – a relative or someone in the community—even after their death. I feel that person is my guide, also my protector, my support mechanism. He or she gives me no fear whatsoever. So, I could never use the word “haunt” in terms of it being a haunted house. I would say that it's a home with ancestral spirits.”
DOROTHY BAISLY:
“My grandmother was a historian, and she knew a great deal about Chatham and gave me a great interest in the houses around here. She died when I was eleven, so I don't remember a whole lot of her stories, but she was into just about everything having to do with Cape Cod architecture and history. She would give tours of the town showing all the houses that were reported to be haunted. I always liked haunted houses. When I was about thirteen, my grandmother came back once. I sat up in bed, and I looked over in the corner and I saw not really a person, but the outline of someone. I knew it was my grandmother. I sat there for a couple of minutes and then I said, ‘Oh, cool. She's gone now. That's it.' I think she was just checking on me. It was kind of nice."
“There's a house right on Oyster River that a lot of my friends had said was “haunted,” if you want to use that word. I was with a couple of friends one night after a party. We were pretty bored, so we decided to go down there and check it out. It's only the second house around here I had ever tried getting into. You get bored around here, you know. We found a bulkhead door to the basement that was open. We went inside, and upstairs we found this log sitting on the dining room table. So we read it. It basically gave a brief description of the house's history. The person writing it said they liked to call it the ‘cathouse,' because it was owned in the 1850s by this man who lived in the city and would come down on weekends and entertain his mistress. After reading the log, we went through the house. Sheets were covering the couches, and all the beds were made up beautifully. It was a really, really nice house. It had five or six bedrooms. I didn't find anything that seemed peculiar. But we were standing in the den, which is basically all windows, and we heard a bang in the kitchen. We thought, 'Whatever. Wind, right?' All of a sudden, we heard people talking in the attic... ”
JEAN SOUR:
“The house is from 1758. As the story goes, it was inhabited by a sea captain, one of the Rich family. He blinded himself with his own boom in Philadelphia. He had a black servant called Pomp. Pomp was the only black man on this part of Cape Cod, and he was desperately lonely. He went out and hanged himself by Pomp's rock—that's a rock in back. And he became our ghost. Maybe an unresolved life. What constitutes a ghost? I've always wanted to know. What do you have to be to be a ghost? Not all souls become ghosts.
“Anyway, he's the fellow. He lived in this house in the former kitchen or keeping room. That's where he slept and that's where you usually see him. He wanders through here quite freely. He's been seen upstairs. He goes into the middle house. I've never seen him past the kitchen, although I have had a renter who has. I don't know what they're confined to. I suppose they can go anywhere, can't they? As a matter of fact, I think he wanders. I think they can travel the world, can't they? These things fascinate me.”
CHAR PRIOLO:
The lady of the house was mixing cake batter when she turned to see a man dressed in a yellow rain slicker, pants that bloused out of his boots, and a blue cap. At first the woman smiled, but suddenly realizing this was a stranger, with annoyance she asked the man what he was doing in her kitchen.
Questions or Comments?
e-mail: [email protected]
© 2004 Cockle Cove Press All rights Reserved.
"Cape Encounters: Contemporary Cape Cod Ghost Stories"…
BRUCE MACKENZIE:
“There's the ghost of the old Namskatet Road. Most of the time he's just present, immanent. I think that most of the time he probably feels reasonably comfortable in this place. And, at this point, there's a continuity. I've been in and out of this house for almost sixty-five years, so I'm not unknowing. It's like people who have had breakfast together for thirty years—they don't necessarily have to have a conversation.
“At the moment, the ghost seems to be very much at peace. Maybe it's because I still do say "hi" to him when I come in. And I don't pretend he's not there. Maybe ghosts age! Who knows?”
JERRY ELLIS:
“This area, along this whole wall, is the most haunted part of the cemetery. I don't care who you talk to who has been in here at night—this is the place where they get the daylight scared out of them.”
MARGARET KEITH:
“Before I retire at night, I say, ‘Good night, ghost.'
I don't see him then, but I have a feeling he's here. This is where he felt most at home.”
PAM BLACK:
“The footsteps on Queen Anne Road were freaky. You'd run up the stairs, and you'd be hearing running up the stairs. It wasn't an echo. It wasn't that kind of thing. I had met the previous owners, too, and they said, ‘Oh, yes, the house is haunted.'”
BOB MORRILL AND JUDY PIHL:
While many a rumored Cape Cod ghost can dazzle the eye or raise the hair on the back of the neck, one of the more popular specters at the Inn at Duck Creeke in Wellfleet can hum a few bars and play the flute to boot. Amplifiers mysteriously turn off mid-performance when folksinger Maureen Burke performs onstage at the Duck Creeke Tavern. During duets with her brother, an unidentified third voice has often joined in. Band members from Sylvan Zephyr have seen the ghost walking onto the stage.
One late summer evening, versatile pianist Tom Fitzgerald kept jerking his head back during his performance. When the inn owners, Bob Morrill and Judy Pihl, asked Tom why he was doing that, he said, “She kept pulling my hair.” During another performance, the pianist went from lead to an accompanying mode—playing four bars, stopping, and playing four more. When he finished, Bob once again asked Tom for an explanation. The pianist said, “Didn't you hear the flute?”
JACK BRAGINTON-SMITH:
“I never felt scared there. Some houses you go into, they're cold and they're kind of ominous. You have an uneasy sense when you go into the house. And some houses are very warm, friendly, and protective. Rick Jones has a house that was built in 1678 just down the road in Cummaquid. When you go into that house you feel protected, warm, and confident.
“I used to get that sensation walking along Route 6A to work—a little over a mile. At five-thirty in the morning, there's not much traffic. I'd see candles in the windows of these old houses, and I used to sense that independence and spirit of what Cape Cod used to be.”
JOAN TAVARES:
“Well, I live in a house that belongs to my family. Some people call it “haunted,” and some of them are afraid to come by because of the stories they've heard—the oral stories they've heard from the tribal members. I look at it as just the opposite. As a Wampanoag tribal member, I understand that the sounds you hear or the things you may see come from my ancestors, who are protecting us and guiding us. . . Ever since I was very young, I've held connections with people – a relative or someone in the community—even after their death. I feel that person is my guide, also my protector, my support mechanism. He or she gives me no fear whatsoever. So, I could never use the word “haunt” in terms of it being a haunted house. I would say that it's a home with ancestral spirits.”
DOROTHY BAISLY:
“My grandmother was a historian, and she knew a great deal about Chatham and gave me a great interest in the houses around here. She died when I was eleven, so I don't remember a whole lot of her stories, but she was into just about everything having to do with Cape Cod architecture and history. She would give tours of the town showing all the houses that were reported to be haunted. I always liked haunted houses. When I was about thirteen, my grandmother came back once. I sat up in bed, and I looked over in the corner and I saw not really a person, but the outline of someone. I knew it was my grandmother. I sat there for a couple of minutes and then I said, ‘Oh, cool. She's gone now. That's it.' I think she was just checking on me. It was kind of nice."
“There's a house right on Oyster River that a lot of my friends had said was “haunted,” if you want to use that word. I was with a couple of friends one night after a party. We were pretty bored, so we decided to go down there and check it out. It's only the second house around here I had ever tried getting into. You get bored around here, you know. We found a bulkhead door to the basement that was open. We went inside, and upstairs we found this log sitting on the dining room table. So we read it. It basically gave a brief description of the house's history. The person writing it said they liked to call it the ‘cathouse,' because it was owned in the 1850s by this man who lived in the city and would come down on weekends and entertain his mistress. After reading the log, we went through the house. Sheets were covering the couches, and all the beds were made up beautifully. It was a really, really nice house. It had five or six bedrooms. I didn't find anything that seemed peculiar. But we were standing in the den, which is basically all windows, and we heard a bang in the kitchen. We thought, 'Whatever. Wind, right?' All of a sudden, we heard people talking in the attic... ”
JEAN SOUR:
“The house is from 1758. As the story goes, it was inhabited by a sea captain, one of the Rich family. He blinded himself with his own boom in Philadelphia. He had a black servant called Pomp. Pomp was the only black man on this part of Cape Cod, and he was desperately lonely. He went out and hanged himself by Pomp's rock—that's a rock in back. And he became our ghost. Maybe an unresolved life. What constitutes a ghost? I've always wanted to know. What do you have to be to be a ghost? Not all souls become ghosts.
“Anyway, he's the fellow. He lived in this house in the former kitchen or keeping room. That's where he slept and that's where you usually see him. He wanders through here quite freely. He's been seen upstairs. He goes into the middle house. I've never seen him past the kitchen, although I have had a renter who has. I don't know what they're confined to. I suppose they can go anywhere, can't they? As a matter of fact, I think he wanders. I think they can travel the world, can't they? These things fascinate me.”
CHAR PRIOLO:
The lady of the house was mixing cake batter when she turned to see a man dressed in a yellow rain slicker, pants that bloused out of his boots, and a blue cap. At first the woman smiled, but suddenly realizing this was a stranger, with annoyance she asked the man what he was doing in her kitchen.
Questions or Comments?
e-mail: [email protected]
© 2004 Cockle Cove Press All rights Reserved.
