Author: Joseph Citro, Stephen R Bissette
Publisher: University Press of New England, 2009
Price: USD 18.95
Isbn: 9781584657828

This slim guide to unknown creatures in the northeastern corner of the United States is a little gold mine. Where else will you find news of such one-off wonders as “Old Slipperyskin”, Bowman’s Golem, a 300-pound leech, and the ghoulish “vampire vine” which, after exhausting the supply from fresh graves, goes in search of blood from the living?

My favourites are “The Shadow People”, who are just what they sound like: wraiths made of shadows. Others will enjoy the accounts of more than a dozen lake monsters, besides Lake Champlain’s famous “Champ”.

Bissette’s art is very much in the style of 1950s horror comic books, and the whole guide itself seems best suited for reading by children in the back seat of a car during long vacations. The adult fortean will be disappointed by a lack of dates, footnotes, context and comparables; often a creat­ure earns a listing based only on a single foggy sighting.

Still, author Citro is to be congratulated for placing on record these little-known denizens of New England folklore. Tourists will enjoy it, and forteans will find it a useful starting point for future research.