The Spectre Leaguers of Gloucester
New England Legends Podcast
Jeff Belanger
4.9 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 July 2022
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 255, Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to the woods of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to search for some ghostly soldiers and scouts who plagued the town for weeks back in July of 1692. With the Salem Witch trials happening just a few towns away, and King William’s War raging to the north, everyone is on edge. Pretty soon, the people of Gloucester think these aren’t soldiers at all, but minions of the devil who can’t be shot or scared.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Boy, it's pretty dark out here in the woods of Gloucester, Jeff. |
| 0:06.4 | Yeah, it is dark. |
| 0:07.8 | So in the military, when soldiers need to perform guard or watch duty, especially at night, |
| 0:13.0 | it's critical to relieve them every few hours. |
| 0:15.4 | Well, that makes sense. |
| 0:16.2 | There's a lot of pressure and concentration on duties like the night watch. |
| 0:20.0 | Yeah, for sure. |
| 0:20.6 | So soldiers take it |
| 0:21.9 | seriously because they know if they're the one sleeping. They want their fellow soldiers to take |
| 0:26.1 | these duties just as seriously. There's an expression, not on my watch, and they mean it too. |
| 0:31.4 | Yeah, that's right. My dad served in the military in Vietnam. You and I both have friends that |
| 0:36.0 | have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I've |
| 0:38.4 | heard stories from all of them about how sometimes when you're on a watch at night, if you stare |
| 0:43.2 | long enough, the trees start to move. Yeah, I mean, sure, you're concentrating. There's low light. |
| 0:48.8 | You may start to see things that aren't really there. Which is what brings us to the woods of Gloucester. |
| 0:53.5 | Ah, there was a time long ago, during a time of conflict and tension, that many locals were |
| 0:59.6 | seeing soldiers who may or may not have actually been there. We're in Gloucester, Massachusetts, |
| 1:05.7 | hunting for the Spectreleaguers. |
| 1:11.2 | Hello, I'm Jeff Belanger, and welcome to episode 255 of the New England Legends |
| 1:15.6 | podcast. |
| 1:16.3 | And I'm Ray Osier. |
| 1:17.1 | Thanks for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England one story |
... |
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