Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Electric City Renaissance

The Electric City Renaissance (ECR), a single stop for information on the events, people and perspectives that make up the Scranton area. ECR's blog format features a comprehensive roundup of what's going on in Scranton on a daily basis; profiles of area residents; and local opinions on movies, music and restaurants.

D.B. Echo on vacation

I'm going to be on vacation in Ireland until the third week of March - you can follow my adventures at Another Monkey. I leave NEPA Blogs in Gort's capable hands. And if anybody has anything they want to see linked, just post it in a comment!

I have some plans for the blog when I get back. I didn't want to do anything that might result in a flurry of site submissions before I left, since I won't be able to add sites while I'm away. But when I get back I want to do a grassroots advertising blitz, canvassing the area for local bloggers. We'll see how that works out!

Sunday, February 19, 2006

The Old Cat Lady Spooks

The Old Cat Lady from The Old Cat Lady Speaks has taken up the challenge of creating a blog focusing on NEPA monsters, myths, legends, and lore. Check it out at The Old Cat Lady's Stories! And be sure to submit any stories you may have!

The Old Cat Lady and several others have pointed out the book Weird Pennsylvania, by the people who brought you Weird N.J. and Weird U.S. I actually bought this book shortly after it came out, and was disappointed to see that it had skipped over things like The Secret of Olyphant in favor of reprinting large sections of Weird U.S. about abandoned asylums in the Philadelphia area. The book has a brief Afterword that is a challenge to readers: if you know of any stories that should have been included in the book but weren't, contact the authors and they'll see about including them in the next edition.

So this is our chance! John Peruka, I'm lookin' at you! The Secret of Olyphant, that weirdest of places in weird Pennsylvania, can be made known nationally! Submit what you've got to The Old Cat Lady's Stories, and maybe we can see it in the next edition of the book!

And if anyone has a good story of the Suscon Screamer, or the B'Gunk, or any of the other spooky stuff that goes on here in NEPA, be sure to submit that too!

For my part, I think I should make a note to be sure to photograph a certain branch of a certain tree over a certain grave in a certain cemetery this Fall. The grave is that of a girl who drowned in the Nanticoke high school's pool shortly after it was opened, and the leaves on the branch are always crimson, even though the rest of the leaves on the tree are gold...

Monday, February 13, 2006

NEPA monsters, legends, and lore

Every part of the world has its own legends and lore, myths and monsters. Northeastern Pennsylvania is no different. John Peruka has sought to publicize the "Secret of Olyphant", which you should probably hear about in his own words. Just last week I learned of the "Suscon Screamer" a fierce half-wolf / half-pig that haunts the area of Suscon Bridge, not far from the Grimes Industrial Park and the Pittston FedEx office. There is a spot in Scranton where, I am told, if you flash your headlights three times the devil-worshippers will come out to get you. (I don't know if these are the same illiterate devil worshippers and/or slaves to fashion who spray-painted "WORSHIP SATIN" at the Nay Aug Zoo back in 1985.) And, of course, there's the B'Gunk, a swamp monster who haunts the wilds of Glen Lyon. (The only way to get away from him, I am told, is to shout his name three times while running for your life: "B'Gunk! B'Gunk! B'GUNK!")

There are stories like this everywhere, and there are plenty of them here in NEPA. But what we don't have is a single coherent repository for all of the stories of ghosts and monsters, devil-worshippers and UFO's, local characters and local connections to the pyramids of Egypt. It's time somebody took care of that. I'm sure there's somebody out there who would be willing to write this stuff down. Why not write it up as a blog? Blogger.com offers the space for free, and it takes five minutes to get started. And I'll be sure to link you from NEPA Blogs!

So, what are you waiting for? Get started, and send me a link!

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Old Cat Lady Speaks

Another Nanticoke blogger! NANTICOKE RUELZZZZ! TROJANS! TROJANS! TROJANS!

Sorry.

The Old Cat Lady herself submitted her blog, The Old Cat Lady Speaks. Check it out!

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Three more local blogs

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre At The Movies

This purpose of this blog is to put together a virtual list/collection of memorable (if fleeting) references to the cities of Wilkes-Barre, PA or Scranton, PA in movies/TV/music/Broadway (in the script, setting, lyrics, etc).

Michelle's Weblog

I am obviously still working on my blog to get it back to what it was. I was attacked by comment spammers and after searching google apparently greymatter (the blogging software I was using) was extremely vulnerable to it. I have upgraded to Wordpress now. So comment spammers eat shit and die!!

The Lady Speaks

News, Chat, and Rant from the middle of Nowhere
The PA-Lady
Location:Little Bitty Town, Northeastern Pennsylvania, United States

Friday, February 03, 2006

Adding Fewl.net

Jim said...

I'm originally from Wilkes-Barre, but deployed overseas with the US Military. Growing up in the NEPA area always drove me nuts, but now my visits back home can never come soon enough.

I run Fewl.net, a personal blog. Since I'm a NEPA native, and still vote there, can you add me?

Sure thing, Jim! Glad to have you onboard!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Adding Ranzino.com

Former NEPA resident Brian found NEPA Blogs by way of former NEPA resident Dave Caolo's blog, and posted a comment letting us know about his blog. Go check out Ranzino.com!

If you're from NEPA, or used to live in NEPA, or would like to live in NEPA, drop us a line (or a comment) and we'll add you to the NEPA Blogs roster! Otherwise, we're just gonna have to come lookin' for you...