Although there were hundreds of catboats on Barnegat Bay in the early 20th century, none were quite like Silent Maid. She was built in 1924 at Bay Head, New Jersey, for Philadelphia businessman Edwin J. Schoettle. Silent Maid's sailing life stretches across eight decades. This book is as much about the people who sailed her and where they came from as it is about the wood, iron, bronze, cordage, and canvas that fleshed out her frames. It was through their lives she moved. With over 470 illustrations, this book recounts how Silent Maid's owners came to shape, nurture, and, ultimately, preserve her . . . and in return, how she influenced their lives.

During the Silent Era, when most films dealt with dramatic or comedic takes on the "boy meets girl, boy loses girl" theme, other motion pictures dared to tackle such topics as rejuvenation, revivication, mesmerism, the supernatural and the grotesque. A Daughter of the Gods (1916), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Magician (1926) and Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) were among the unusual and startling films containing story elements that went far beyond the realm of "highly unlikely." Using surviving documentation and their combined expertise, the authors catalog and discuss these departures from the norm in this encyclopedic guide to American horror, science fiction and fantasy in the years from 1913 through 1929.