Lynda Lee Macken

Lynda Lee Macken, a native New Yorker, has chronicled supernatural tales and legends since her own ghostly sighting of Grace Brown (see Adirondack Tragedy: The Gillette Murder Case of 1906 in our store).

Lynda's encounter later was produced on the "Unsolved Mysteries" television series. It also led her to write her first book – Adirondack Ghosts: Stories of Spirits in New York State's North Country. A dozen more books have followed.

In addition to her radio and television appearances, Lynda has consulted for PBS, the Travel Channel, Sightings, Paranormal Borderline, and Scariest Places on Earth. Her articles have appeared in regional and national publications, including the Staten Island Advance newspaper, the Mountain Astrologer, and FATE magazines. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Rutgers University.

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Stuart Mesinger lives in South Glens Falls, NY, with his wife Peg and his son Will. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia, he grew up hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains and spelunking in the Alleghenies.

Mesinger graduated from St. Lawrence University of Canton, NY, with a dual degree in geology and environmental studies. He has worked as an exploration geologist, environmental consultant, and town planner. Stuart is an avid hiker, paddler, and angler who explores the Adirondacks as often as he can.

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James P. Millard

Jim Millard has been publishing his incredible website, America's Historic Lakes, since early 1997, and he has also published 3 outstanding volumes of history. He wears so many hats, it's hard to believe. Jim is a member of the Vermont Historical Society, Clinton County Historical Association, Mount Independence Coalition, and the American Association for State and Local History.

He is also the webmaster for the Valcour Bay Research Project and the Clinton County Historical Association. Jim is employed by Saint Michael's College as a Senior Instructional Technologist. He has written articles for many publications, and has provided materials for use in museum exhibits in the US and the United Kingdom, atlases, public television documentaries and educational textbooks.

Jim enjoys speaking about the America's Historic Lakes project and the rich history of the Lake Champlain/Lake George region. He also enjoys giving personal tours of some of the more unusual locations on the lakes, and offering his popular multimedia presentations in a variety of forums.

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Dr. Hollis A. Palmer

Hollis Palmer, a retired teacher from Saratoga Springs, began telling stories shortly after he learned to talk (just ask his mother, he says). He learned a wide range of stories from both of his grandfathers, and "to enjoy the soothing effects of oral accounts." Later, he became engrossed in his family's history, and during research, he came across the story of the trial of Jesse Billings.

The Billings story was a classic. A very rich man was accused of murdering his wife. Complications included an earlier shooting and a possible mistress. It was a story waiting to be written in the book To Spend Eternity Alone, Palmer's first.

Since then, Hollis has not slowed down. Each of his 6 books tells stories of true crimes, sometimes including several in one volume. In most of the stories the guilty party was never convicted, and the crime remains officially unsolved. All the books are based in the Victorian Era, and though they may read like fiction, they are all true crime stories.

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Lettie A. Petrie
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Lettie Petrie lived in Central New York for 62 years. She served as director of the Camden Public Library, retiring in 1993 to devote her time to writing. Mrs. Petrie published 4 children's books. She was active in the Literacy Volunteers of America's Literacy Tutor program and served as president of the Mid-York Library Advisory Council.

Mrs. Petrie passed away on October 16, 2003. Her daughter-in-law, Beth (pictured with Lettie at left), continues operating Petrie Press in Westdale, NY, south of the Tug Hill area, offering Mrs. Petrie's publications in her honor.

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David J. Pitkin

David Pitkin is a resident of Chestertown, NY, near Schroon Lake. After nearly four decades of teaching in New York State schools, he has gained fame across the region for several volumes of ghost stories and hauntings.

Pitkin has gone anywhere and everywhere in New York during the past 35 years, collecting ghost stories of all sorts. Many originate in the Adirondacks and the North Country, but you're sure to love them all, as thousands of others have.

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Stan Ransom

Stan Ransom, The Connecticut Peddler, is a folk musician who specializes in singing and playing the guitar, the hammered dulcimer, the mandolin and autoharp, and six and twelve-string guitars. He also plays bowed psaltery, tenor banjo and dombek. His songs reflect the interests of the North Country, ranging from the historical to the contemporary.

Stan was born in Winsted, Connecticut, in 1928, and has been singing and playing folk music for nearly sixty years, taking his stage name from the traveling salesmen of the 19th century. What a resume he carries: lumberjack; forest guard; participant in the post-WWII military occupation of Japan; member of the Yale University Glee Club; a master's degree in Library Service from Columbia University; an award-winning folklorist; a library director; the director of the entire CEF library system; book editor; honored historian; and singer, songwriter, and musician.

Stan has performed at the NYS Museum, Caffe Lena, Great Camp Sagamore, and dozens of other sites across the state. His songs of regional history often include humor: one review used the term "wickedly funny." Song titles like "The City with the Stereo Smell" helped make Stan Ransom a North Country treasure.

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Cheri Revai is a native of northern New York, currently residing in Massena. Her "Haunted Northern New York" series was the result of a life-long interest in local ghost stories, along with a love of writing, research, and history.

It also helped prepare her for her 4th, 5th, and 6th books for Stackpole's "Haunted" state series [Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York]. Next came Weird Northern New York, followed by a contract with Stackpole Books to write Haunted New York City: Ghosts & Strange Phenomena of the Big Apple, scheduled for release in 2008.

She is also working on a follow-up to Weird Northern New York, scheduled for release in 2008 as well.

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