Seven Images of Interesting Places in My Travels...

ProfessorChaos

New member
I cannot possibly express the memories these pictures bring back, of some of the places where I had some fun adventures over the years. Here they are...

1. Ruins of Dana, East Quabbin, Massachusetts:

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This was one of the areas where I found shards of old pottery amongst the walls, dating back to the actual time when Dana was still a thriving town.

2. Goat's Peak Ruins, Mount Tom, Massachusetts:

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When I was a teenager I scaled both that very wall and the cliff beneath it to get into the window of those ruins, all on a dare from one of my cousins.

3. Devil's Hopyard, East Haddam, Connecticuit:

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Not far from this area, my grandfather and I saw a demonic apparition that was later confirmed to be a part of an old ancient Native American legend.

4. Greylock Glen, Mount Greylock, Massachusetts:

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When I visited Mount Greylock, I noticed here and there were some old ruins such as this chimney. I know nothing of it's history, but it is still interesting.

5. Howe Caverns, New York:

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My family took me there right after we went to see Temple of Doom. It was my first taste of real underground adventure, and I loved every minute of it.

6. Secret Caverns, New York:

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After going to Howe Caverns, we took a trip over to Secret Caverns, which was no less amazing. You can see the colorful look that this underworld has.

7. Cathedral of the Pines, Rindge, New Hampshire:

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A mere picture cannot convey the peace and serenity of this holy grove. It is absolutely magnificent. Even a non-religious person could feel at peace there.
 

IAdventurer01

Well-known member
Joosse said:
And all in one country...

All on the East Coast! :D

Some of these places look really neat, and the fact that you did interesting things there too makes for some pretty interesting stories.
 

Indy's brother

New member
ProfessorChaos said:
3. Devil's Hopyard, East Haddam, Connecticuit:

dsc00155.jpg


Not far from this area, my grandfather and I saw a demonic apparition that was later confirmed to be a part of an old ancient Native American legend.

Can you give us the details?
 

ProfessorChaos

New member
I have to say, the East Coast does have a lot of interesting places. They do not always get a lot of publicity, but they have a rich history and make for some fascinating times exploring. When she was younger, my grandmother had the opposite experience, she used to go to places all out west. She was in Salt Lake City, Utah... Reno, Nevada... Fresno, California. Texa, too, and those were just a few of the places she told me about. And she had as many interesting stories of her journeys as I came to have about my own. It just kind of runs in the family I suppose, that love for going to interesting places.

The funny part about the Cathedral of the Pines is I didn't want to go there at first, because I thought it was going to be just a stuffy old church. ;) I, of course, was proven quite wrong in my assumption when I finally did go there.

I was about 14 at the time and my grandmother recently got over a serious heart operation. She heard that the atmosphere of the Cathedral had, like other sacred places such as Fatima and Lourdes, healing properties. So, we took a trip there, stopped in Fitchburg on the way. There I bought a bunch of comics at the local comic store to keep me occupied on the way and when we finally go to the Cathedral of the Pines I was amazed to see it wasn't a Cathedral at all but a sacred grove on the top of a mountain set up to look like a Cathedral. They had this new age music playing, and it was all designed so no matter what your religion you'd feel at home. The view from there was amazing, too, with a good vista of the surrounding countryside. The amazing thing is, my grandmother was spiritually healed by the air there, and over the years she often would recover from things that should have probably been the end of her. This leads a lot of people to joke and say she is either a medical miracle or a robot. :D I used to call her "Robo-Grams" just to tease!

The sad part is, I had a terrrible catastrophe that happened regarding all our old photos. Most of our pictures from over the years were in the shed behind our house. Last summer, we had one of our trees fall over during a storm and it crushed the shed, destroying it's contents. So, in order to show eveyone here these places I visited, I had to find some good images online to link to. I was particularly amazed at the Goat's Peak one. When I had found it, I was like: "This is just like the pictures we took of it!" So, it was a perfect one to use. It's hard though, because you can't replace memories... but at least the good part about memories, is they live on even if your old photos do not. :)
 

ProfessorChaos

New member
Indy's brother said:
Can you give us the details?

Oh, easily. I remember it like it was yesterday. My grandfather and I were on the way to Mystic to see the Aquarium and Seaport there, as we did every summer. On the way, we stopped by the Devil's Hopyard to have a look. One of the publicity things about it was that it was the inspiration for the Devil's Hopyard in the movie "The Dunwich Horror", based on an H.P. Lovecraft story.
So, it has this spooky history that nobody ever talks about except for the old drunks and the young kids who don't care and speak their mind anyway. :D I was about four years old when we made this trip, and didn't believe in either ghosts or demons. However, I was soon to change my opinion in that regard!

I always suspect that they do like the publicity the Devil's Hopyard gets from this "hidden" reputation... but I digress... we drove the car past the entrance and came to this circle in the park where you could drive around past a metal gate. In that ara, there is a series of trails which lead up to that overlook int he picture. We checked that out, and while we were over there, we spotted something black and shaggy-looking down by where we parked the car, but more off towards the woods. So, we hurried back to the circle where the car was parked and we looked. The black shape moved off towards some wierd looking rock formations. Being the complete fools we were, we followed what we thought was a large animal, until we'd come to this really off looking rock that resembled a giant fang sticking up. Past that, right at the edge of the woods, we stopped in our tracks to see the animal, big as life and twice as ugly. The thing was covered in black fur, had hooves a lot like a pig's, was about the size of a grizzly bear, and had a white, skull-like face... with four horns and glaring pale yellow eyes. The thing made no sound except a pitter-patter, and it just stared at us before then rushing off into the woods again. Having seen it, we went pack to the car and drove around the park a bit, seeing if we could see it again. But, it was gone this time and we continued on our way to Mystic. When we got home, we asked my grandmother, who is part Native American, about the creature we had seen, being curious about it.

She said that there is a legend of a creature called the "Death Bear". If you see the Death Bear then it means someone related to the one who sees it is going to die. Ironically, in 2005, during the same month (August) in which we had first seen the Death Bear, my mother died of Diabetes. Not too long after that, in September of 2006, my grandfather also passed away from the same disease. The following year, my brother was out bike riding. He's much, much younger than me, being only 16 now (whereas I'm 34), and he was about 14 at the time he was out on his bike... he never heard the story of the Death Bear, so when he came home looking pale and shaking like he'd seen a ghost, we were shocked when he described the identical creature, but this time at a local park near where we live. We told him the legend, and he shrugged it off. But not long after he saw it, my uncle Ed was crushed to death in a fatal car accident on the way home from work. After that, none of us ever saw the apparition again, and we hope *never* to see it again, since the legends of it do indeed seem to be quite true. The funny part is, my grandmother is a very modern person, being a Methodist minister and a down to earth type of person. But she always warns me: "Don't mess with things we aren't meant to understand!" and indeed... there are many things in this world like that. ;)
 

Indy fan 235

New member
Professor Chaos, do you know of any books on Native American mythology one can read? Yours is an interesting story and I have always wanted to read more about Native Americans.
 

The Magic Rat

New member
Not to sound like a jerk but you should expand beyond the NE. There is a lot of different scenery to enjoy, and since you seem to enjoy nature I think you'd greatly benefit from traveling this great country. You might be a youngin', though, so I can't hold it against you. Very pretty pictures, though.
 

Saber79

New member
ProfessorChaos said:
Oh, easily.

Great pictures and a very interesting legend that you experienced Not many can say that they actually experienced something of legend... I'm sorry to hear about your losses too, must have been a rough couple of years.
 
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