Upcoming 'Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub' book signings

"Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub" author Sam Baltrusis

Based on my recently taped stint as Boston's paranormal expert on the Biography Channel's "Haunted Encounters: Face to Face," spirits are serious business. The on-camera interview, which was shot in front of the Central Burying Ground and facing what I called Boston's “haunted corridor” near the corner of Boylston and Tremont Streets, explored the residual energy, or psychic imprint, left over from the 1897 gas-line explosion. The segment is tentatively slotted to air Friday, November 23 on the Bio Channel.

The book "Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub" was released on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Thanks to the initial buzz, there are a slew of book signings and events scheduled for September/October 2012. Here are a few highlights:

 * 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at the Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street in Downtown Boston. Launch event with special guests from the paranormal community. Tickets are $5 in advance here.

* 7-8 p.m. Thursday, September 27, 2012 at the Brookline Public Library, 361 Washington St. in Brookline Village.

* Noon-1:30 p.m. Saturday, October 6, 2012 at the The Book Shop, 694 Broadway in Somerville's Ball Square

* 7 p.m. Monday, October 8, 2012 at the Harvard COOP, 1400 Massachusetts Ave. in Harvard Square

* 7-8 p.m. Thursday, October 11, 2012 at the BPL's Brighton Branch library, 40 Academy Hill Rd. in Brighton. 

* 2-4 p.m. Saturday, October 13, 2012 at Johnny Cupcakes, 279 Newbury St. in Boston's Back Bay.

 * 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 18, 2012 at the Provincetown Library, 356 Commercial St. in Provincetown. 

* 7-8 p.m. Monday, October 22, 2012 at the Weymouth Public Library's Tufts Library, 46 Broad St. in Weymouth.

 * 2-4 p.m. Saturday, October 27, 2012 at the History Press booth Boston Book Festival in Boston's Back Bay.

* 6:30-7:30 p.m. Monday, October 29, 2012 at the BPL's Adams Street Branch library, 690 Adams St. in Dorchester. 

 * 7-8 p.m. Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 338 Newbury St. in Back Bay. 

* 6:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at Quincy's Park & Recreation Facility, One Merrymount Parkway in Quincy.

 * TBD November 2012 at Paranormal Books & Curiosities, 627 Cookman Ave. in Asbury Park, NJ. Special preview book signing. 

To book the author, email him directly or contact publicist Katie Parry at the History Press. Check back for updates.

Common Haunts: So, there's something about Mary ...

While researching a Halloween-themed story called Haunted Hot Spots for STUFF magazine, I started spending hours in the Boston Common. I've always felt a strong magnetic pull to the site of the Great Elm, also known as the hanging tree. There was also an inexplicable interest in the Central Burying Ground and, one night while walking by the old cemetery, I noticed a young female figure wearing what looked like a hospital gown and standing by a tree. I looked back and she was gone.

At this point, I didn't know about the Matthew Rutger legend dating back to the 1970s. Like me, he saw a ghost at the old cemetery and I remember shivering in the beauty and the madness of the moment. Somehow, I felt her pain.

I call her Mary.

Read the full story in the upcoming book, "Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub," hitting shelves on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Click here to pre-order on Amazon.com.

--Photo courtesy Jeffrey Doucette

Cover design for 'Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub'

“Why would anyone want to leave Boston … even after they're dead?"

--Adam Berry, Ghost Hunters

It should come as no surprise that one of the nation’s oldest cities brims with spirits of those who lived and died in its hundreds of years of tumultuous history. Boston, Massachusetts boasts countless stories of the supernatural. Many students at Boston College have encountered an unearthly hound that haunts O’Connell House to this day. Be on the watch for an actor who sits in on rehearsals at Huntington Theatre and restless spirits rumored to haunt Boston Common at night. From the Victorian brownstones of the Back Bay to the shores of the Boston Harbor Islands, author Sam Baltrusis makes it clear that there is hardly a corner of the Hub where the paranormal cannot be experienced as he breathes new life into the tales of the long departed.

About the cover:

Beacon Hill's Acorn Street, known as one of the most-photographed spots in America thanks to its picturesque brownstones and narrow cobblestone lane dating back to the 1820s, is also rumored to be Boston's most haunted. There have been numerous sightings of ghostly, full-bodied apparitions wearing turn-of-the-century and Civil War-era garb passing by the street's ornate, gas-lit lamps.  

--Cover photo by Ryan Miner