The town of Southbury was incorporated in 1787. It was a mere 50 years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock that the original 15 families were drawn to the promise of religious freedom in what was then known as Ancient Woodbury. Descendants of these families and subsequent individuals have called the town their home: community activists fighting the establishment of the German Bund; writers such as Gladys Tabor; celebrities such as Ed Sullivan and Victor Borge; artists, community leaders, educators, businesspeople, and ordinary folks. All have left indelible marks on the rich fabric of this beautiful New England community with the town seal "Unica Unaque," translated as "The One and Only."

Since its inception in 1705, Newtown has been an agricultural community at heart. Small, self-sufficient, subsistence farms grew but not substantially enough to overcome competition from the South and Midwest. Men like Ezra Johnson continued to farm until the beginning of the 20th century; others turned to dairy farming, like Israel Nezvesky, or to wholesale nursery operations, like Charles Newman, or to viniculture, like Morgan McLaughlin. Industry made contributions to Newtown's economic landscape in the 19th century through the efforts of William Cole of the New York Belting and Packing Company and Samuel Curtis of Curtis Packaging. James Brunot, developer of Scrabble, and William Upham, inventor of the tea bag, continued to innovate and form Newtown's unique culture. Community commitment thrives today through people like Laurie McCollum, who continues her grandfather's tradition as manager of Lorenzo's Restaurant, and Diane Wardenburg, who carries on Ginny Lathrop's legacy by guiding the Lathrop School of Dance to serve a new generation of aspiring dancers.

Once, a shooter walked alone through the front doors of an unsuspecting high school in Burke, Virginia. He was young. Troubled. Tormented. Drowning in a cavernous abyss so deep that light itself seemed no longer to exist. It is an all-too-familiar story these days. After all, once a shooter enters a school or another public space, chaos always follows. Or does it? Once A Shooter chronicles the astonishing story of TJ Stevens, a suicidal high school gunman who unexpectedly experiences a miraculous transformation in the exact moment he is about to execute nine hostages and then himself. All author royalties will be donated to a charity that hosts events for troubled teens.

Anyone who has lived near New Haven, Connecticut, in the past 40-plus years has surely heard of Toad’s Place. With a capacity of 750, Toad’s has served as the perfect spot for musicians who prefer smaller venues. U2 played one of their first US concerts there, on their Boy tour. In 1978, Bruce Springsteen was in New Haven and arrived at Toad’s unannounced, and got up and played. The surprises kept coming and the club was attracting big names, as well as up-and-comers. In 1989, the Rolling Stones played a surprise show on a Saturday night, giving 700 fans the night of their dreams. Nothing could have been better—the Rolling Stones in downtown New Haven was unimaginable! That is only a taste of the stories that are uncovered in this book. Randall Beach and Toad’s owner Brian Phelps recall the legendary shows and behind-the-scenes stories.

Dispirited by years of disappointment, Minor League Baseball player Billy Green summons a mysterious stranger who promises to help him cheat his way onto the big stage of Major League Baseball if he lives up to the terms of a nefarious agreement. At first, Green complies but later reneges, creating the catalyst that propels the action forward in this modern day morality tale that pits God versus Satan in a battle over the soul of an innocent boy who stumbles across Green's cursed baseball glove. A timeless tale that will renew your faith in God and human nature.

You never know what can be lurking in the cemeteries you casually drive by. Such was the case in the Fall of 1993, when Linda McLaughlin and her innocent six-year-old daughter Kelly passed by Easton Connecticut's Union Cemetery. Kelly didn't even know such spirits existed when an apparition materialized and tapped into her consciousness. Nothing could have prepared her for the suffocating terror that she would soon experience when it followed her home. The merciless spirit didn't stop with Kelly. It targeted each and every family member and their friends when they were alone and when they were most vulnerable. Then it targeted the alpha of the family, the wealthy, Real Estate Broker father, who was a natural skeptic and the last person to believe in ghosts. In this tale of real haunting phenomena, a Connecticut Family is plagued by evil spirits who infest their home. Will they ever get their lives back? Will these evil spirits continue to haunt them or will the family find help in ridding them of this terror from beyond the grave? This book explains in detail the process of investigating a 'haunted house' and what can be done about it. It explains the dangers involved with the negative occult and how dabbling in it can summon darkness and ruin into our lives which could last forever despite our every attempt to stop it.

This book seeks to address the journeying context of pilgrimage within the landscapes of Medieval Britain. Using four case studies, an interdisciplinary methodology developed by the author is applied to four different geographical and cultural areas of Britain to investigate the practicalities of travel along the Medieval road network.