Citro, Joseph

Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors

New England's dark hills, fogbound coasts, and hidden villages have inspired generations of writers such as Hawthorne, Lovecraft, and King. But these authors' dark imaginings pale when compared to little-known but well-documented and true tales. In this delightfully spine-tingling tour of all six New England states, Citro chronicles the haunted history and folklore of a region steeped in hardship and horror, humor and pathos.

The Gore (Hardscrabble Books)

To escape the tensions of his past, ex-newspaperman Roger Newton retreats to Vermont's fabled Northeast Kingdom, the wildest, most remote portion of the state. But there he discovers a terrifying secret that turns his life upside-down.

Newton's adventure begins when Claude Lavigne, a power company employee, sees something monumentally strange in the forests of "the gore" -- a tiny swatch of unclaimed land created by a surveyor's mistake. The uncanny sight so upsets him, so rattles his sense of what's real, that it leads to his suicide.

Lavigne's son, his best friend, and an ancient black man risk an expedition into the gore to discover what Mr. Lavigne saw. In his attempt to stop them, Newton upsets a centuries- old balance that threatens to loose a long-buried nightmare upon the people of Vermont.

Shadow Child (Hardscrabble Books)

To outsiders, the deep, impenetrable forest that blankets Vermont's Green Mountains gives the state its peaceful and verdant mystique, but those same dark woods hide a secret from pre-history that reaches menacingly into the present. Joseph A. Citro's widely read publications about the more haunting history, legends, and lore of New England have earned him a reputation as an expert on themes of the supernatural. In this book (first published in 1987), however, he deftly melds real-life ancient ruins, a keen eye for the social fabric of small-town Vermont, and a soaring imagination to fashion a gripping tale of a family's life-or-death struggle to save their farm from an enemy far more devastating than banks, taxes, or land developers.

Eric Nolan is a man already too familiar with death. His brother's long-ago disappearance, the loss of his parents, and his wife's recent demise in an auto accident have left him near the edge physically and emotionally. In desperation he returns to his boyhood haunt, the family farm in rural Antrim, Vermont, now occupied by his cousin, Pamela, her husband, Clint, and Luke, their four-year-old son. But any solace Eric might find there is short-lived. Something terrible is going on in the woods on Pinnacle Mountain and it seems to be centered around a mysterious stone structure that, a local historian believes may be the relic of an ancient race.

The mystery deepens as people begin to vanish one by one, first a village policeman, then a local hermit, a researcher, and finally Clint himself. As baffling and violent incidents continue it becomes harder to deny that a powerful and malevolent force is at work in the Green Mountains, a force that has targeted young Luke. Though it defies Eric's every rational instinct, he must ultimately confront a reality he can neither accept nor deny. As he and the others struggle to quell the rising tide of evil, the siege escalates to a brutal battle for life itself. Citro twists every shock possible out of this finely crafted gothic thriller that tests the limits of legend and belief.

Lake Monsters

Back in Print -- A "monstrous" tale by Vermont's master of the macabre.

Downsized from his job and dumped by his girlfriend, Harrison Allen longs for a fresh start. Alone, with no prospects or plans, he relocates to a borrowed house on Friars Island in Lake Champlain to relax, contemplate, and begin redefining his life. Then he hears about the monsters . . .

Creatures -- perhaps similar to those of Loch Ness -- are said to inhabit the murky waters and fogbound marshes of his new island home. His interest piqued, Harrison becomes preoccupied with finding them. But his innocent questions provoke a surprising response: the islanders won't discuss monsters. After Harrison meets the lovely local schoolteacher, Nancy Wells, events inexplicably turn menacing. He suspects he is being watched; he is warned away from an abandoned monastery; and somehow he wins the wrath of a murderous local bully. Then people begin to disappear . . . and die.

Harrison's harmless monster hunt discloses something dark and disturbing beating in the heart of this tiny Vermont town. Malevolent forces, powerful and primitive, propel the unwary couple into a maelstrom of escalating terror. Suddenly they find themselves targeted by an unstoppable evil never before contemplated and impossible to comprehend.

Harrison's "new beginning" is like nothing he'd ever planned. And Lake Monsters ends with a surprise that's shocking, unexpected, and unforgettable.

Guardian Angels (Hardscrabble Books)

Joseph A. Citro takes us back to Antrim, Vermont, and the site of the ugliest event in the town's history. When Sheila Crockett moves in with her 15-year old son, Will, and her new husband, they believe they have found the perfect house. They quickly repair ruined walls and doors, and sand the bloodstained floors. But pain and polish fail to completely disguise the lingering horror of the house's
past. Will realizes things are not as safe as they seem: locked doors open and close by themselves, footsteps echo in empty rooms, and he senses he's being watched. He suspects the house is haunted, but soon realizes things are far worse. His family and everyone he knows begins to fall prey to unseen and menacing forces. Then the deaths begin.

When Eric Nolan, protagonist of Shadow Child, escapes from the local asylum and arrives in Antrim, Will and his family wonder if he will be their savior or the agent of their destruction. Events move relentlessly to a truly terrifying conclusion in this epic of mystery and supernatural suspense, first published in 1988.

The Unseen

Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors

Dark Twilight