2010 has been a nice, weird year.
So much so that it can't be contained. Today, in Part I of the Weird, Wicked Weird year-end update, there's a witch wanted, unavenged murder, a bit of magic, Boston Strangler(s) and something even bigger than crop circles.
Emeric Spooner: More murder, plus a new take on Maine heroes
He's written about ax murders, urban legends, ghosts and one unsolved decapitation. Bucksport librarian Emeric Spooner is continuing his string of self-published books with two new ones.
One weird. The other, intriguing.
"In Search of Mattie Hackett: A True Maine Unsolved Murder Mystery," tackles the 1905 murder of Mattie Hackett, who was found strangled near her home in Readfield. She was 17.
"At the time, it was Maine's biggest unsolved murder, except for Sarah Ware," Spooner said, referring to the Bucksport woman who was found decapitated in 1898. Ware's killer was never convicted.
Neither was Hackett's.
Spooner's 288-page book, self-published in May, takes readers through the case, including the trial of Elsie Raymond, a local woman who police said killed Hackett because she was jealous of the attention her husband was giving the teenager.
Police said a woman fitting Raymond's description was seen heading toward Hackett's home the evening she was killed, and Raymond had no alibi. Police said they found footprints at the scene that matched the shoes Raymond burned after the murder, and that she had borrowed a library book that described a strangulation in Australia that was similar to Hackett's.
The slaying hit the news, sensational because of Hackett's age, the way she was killed and the fact that she was found steps from her own home in what had been regarded as a safe community.
"It went all across the country," Spooner said.
Raymond went on trial seven years after Hackett's murder. She was found not guilty. No one else was tried.
Spooner's second book this year also deals with the deaths of Mainers, but not at the hands of a murderer. They died in war.
"Maine Gravestones and Flags: Honoring Our Heroes" recognizes the graves of Mainers who fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
Spooner spent years combing records and touring centuries-old graveyards in an effort to find the veterans' final resting places. He found the old graves in mostly forgotten or abandoned cemeteries, the headstones often broken or buried completely in leaves and overgrowth.
Spooner's book recognizes about 60 veterans. Both are available at Amazon.com.
He's already at work on his next book, a look into whether the Boston Stranger — or stranglers — began his killing in Maine.
The Witch & The Skeptic: New classes, help wanted
Lena Toth needs a new witch.
In October, Toth and Julie Bryan, business partners and titular heads at The Witch & The Skeptic (Toth the skeptic, Bryan the witch) parted ways at the year-old shop on Howard Street in Lewiston.
“(Bryan’s) doing her own thing now,” said Toth, adding that she hasn’t been tempted to close the 500-square-foot gift shop with its stones, statues and incense.
“This place is important," she said. "A lot of people of different metaphysical beliefs come here for sanctuary. It’s kind of like a lighthouse. We have a lot of fun here; that’s the biggest thing.”
Toth said it’s also served as an anchor in a tough year. She has coped with illness in her family; and in June, she and Bryan lost all of their belongings in an Auburn apartment fire.
Volunteers have helped run The Witch & The Skeptic, which plans a new slate of classes come January. Among her offerings, local medium and metaphysical instructor Eddita Felt is teaching “Exploring Meditation Styles” on Jan. 15; “ABC’s of Power Tools: Magic 101” on Jan. 21; and a six-week “I am the Goddess: Exploring Women Centered Spirituality” beginning Feb. 4.
“I think she is an awesome asset to the shop,” Toth said. “We’re always looking for anyone with any hidden trades, skills or talents.”
Syrena Whitefeather has started a year-long class teaching Reiki; Mary Dauncy will teach polarity and massage therapy; and Kristin Rohnert of Auburn is filling a hole left by Bryan by starting a Beginner's Witchcraft class Jan. 1.
Rohnert said she plans to keep things light: “Some people are just curious about it; they don’t really want to practice.”
One-story tall and tucked in a side street among tenements, Toth said she’d like to expand to a new location, adding clothes, secondhand finds and books. She’s also fielding recommendations for a new shop-affiliated witch.
Freddy Silva: (The written) life after crop circles
Freddy Silva's been looking at the stars.
And the world's temples.
And he's been asking lots of questions.
The Portland man's new book, "Common Wealth: Our Legacy of Places of Power and the Transfiguration of the Human Soul" came out in October. His last book, "Secrets in the Fields," all about crop circles, sold 40,000-plus copies.
The scope of "Common Wealth" is much broader. Sixty pages are readable, for free, on his website where, in a video, he says he looks at sacred sites such as temples around the world and how they "help us remember who we are, where we come from and what it is we're doing here." He said the book covers 15 years of research, visiting hundreds of places.
"There's nothing in the works on the crop circle front because so much that has occurred since the launch of the book in 2002 has been hoaxed. Thus, there's nothing positive to add, Silva said in an e-mail interview. "In fact, I am amazed at the timing of the book and the sudden closing of the transmission."
He said fan reaction to "Common Wealth" has been overwhelmingly positive. "They know I have fingers in deeper pies, and the connection to sacred space is just an extension of the concept of sacred space that the (crop circles) reminded us about."
The past year has taken Silva to New Zealand to talk orbs, to an Appalachian dowsers convention in North Carolina and to the International UFO Museum in Roswell, N.M. He'll be in Portland on Jan. 11 at the Spiritual Horizons center, his first appearance of 2011.
Next month: In Part II of our year-end update, it's zombies on the run, a paranormally ambitious duo and the latest from the Twin Cities' own Real Life Superheroes. Watch for it Jan. 1.
Weird, Wicked Weird is a monthly feature on the strange, intriguing and unexplained in Maine. Send ideas, photos and personalized prophesies to kskelton@sunjournal.com
