Martha's Vineyard has always been known as a charming seaside destination. But on this island, a cautious tour reveals darker tales that lie beneath its familiar exterior. Walk by the House of Correction, where Old Joe patrols the cells in the afterlife. Savor spirits at the Kelley House, where the ghost of the widow of a whaleman rolls Christmas ornaments across the floor and appears by the fireplace. Meander into the Victorian Inn, now The Christopher, where a honeymooning couple was spooked by towels flung on the floor and a rug that wiggled from beneath their four-poster. Local author and historian Thomas Dresser explores haunted happenings from all six island towns, as well as tales of pirates, murder and the afterlife.

It's no surprise that remote Martha's Vineyard is home to a significant population of ghosts. There are the strange entities that just may have played a part in the notorious accident at the Chappaquiddick Bridge. There is the ghost of aristocratic Desire Coffin, called back from the Other Side by the power of music and the memory of lost love. And at one haunted inn, Room 8, accessible only by way of a cramped hidden staircase, is the focus of strange events—including the total disappearance of one guest. After twenty years in print, this classic is now updated and expanded with new information and new stories.

Holly Nadler, the ghost lady of Martha's Vineyard, won lots of attention for her collections of ghostly accounts on the island in Haunted Island. Now, in her second volume, Nadler brings her sassiness and spunk to investigating and delivering the dirt on even more eerie happenings on an island that is home to the rich, famous — and, yes, the otherworldly. In fact, she says, Martha's Vineyard is America's most haunted island.

Generations of women have traveled to Martha's Vineyard to find solace in its calming waves and varied shoreline. Many prominent and capable women set down roots, contributing to the fabric of the community on the island. Learn of the brilliant poet Nancy Luce, who lived in isolation with her chickens. Emily Post, whose name is synonymous with good manners, sought respite from her personal struggles on the Vineyard. Famed horticulturalist Polly Hill left a perennial legacy for islanders with her tranquil arboretum. In the twentieth century, novelist Dorothy West captured the beauty of Martha's Vineyard with her work. Historian Thomas Dresser provides a series of biographical sketches of these extraordinary women who were bound by their love of the island.

Martha's Vineyard became an integral part of the whaling industry at the beginning of the eighteenth century and inspired a lasting romantic enthusiasm for life on the open ocean. From shorewhaling to daring voyages into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the insular whaling community offered a tempting path for many young Vineyarders to rise from cabin boy to captain. Local businesses were enticed by the potential profit from whaling voyages, and many reaped generous rewards from successful whale oil harvests. Through memoirs, music and memorabilia, author Thomas Dresser recounts this dramatic history of the bygone era of whaling on Martha's Vineyard.

Celebrated local historian Thomas Dresser unearths the little-known stories that laid the foundations for the community of Martha's Vineyard. Behind the mansions and presidential vacations of Martha's Vineyard hide the lost stories and forgotten events of small-town America. What was the island's role in the Underground Railroad? Why do chickens festoon Nancy Luce's grave? And how did the people of the Vineyard react in 1923 when the rum running ship John Dwight sank with the island's supply of liquor aboard? Delve deep below the surface of history to discover the origin and meaning of local place names and the significance of beloved landmarks.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [167]-168) and index.