SHREWSBURY — A “Mysteries, Myths and Lore” series will be presented during November at the Monmouth County Library’s Eastern Branch, 1001 Route 35.
At 3 p.m. on Nov. 5, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, which drew international headlines in 1931, will be discussed. Robert Zorn, author of “Cemetery John: The Mastermind of the Lindbergh Kidnapping,” will speak about his father, the late Eugene Zorn, who was at Palisades Amusement Park in the summer of 1931 and inadvertently heard his two German immigrant neighbors from the Bronx conspiring with Bruno Hauptmann.
Reporter and historian Dan Radel will present a program on “Lost Topanemus” at 2 p.m. on Nov. 6. A Lenape name that translates to “a place of plentiful fresh water and fish,” Topanemus appears on early maps of New Jersey in what is now Marlboro Township. Radel will also link an old cemetery in the “village” that is missing its gravestones to a Freehold congregation that still meets in its 18th-century-era church at the corner of Old Indian Road.
At 2 p.m. on Nov. 13, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Amy Ellis Nutt will discuss the mysterious sinking of the Lady Mary off the coast of Cape May. The incident left a single survivor and no clues to its demise. Nutt won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for “The Wreck of the Lady Mary” and was also a finalist in 2009 for her Newark Star-Ledger newspaper feature “Accidental Artist.”
At 3 p.m. on Nov. 19, Brian Regal, Ph.D., will talk about the Jersey Devil, one of the most popular myths in New Jersey’s history. Regal discounts myths that the Jersey Devil is a spectral-winged horse demon and believes instead the story of his birth is far more interesting, complex and important than most believe. Regal asserts the Devil is a product of innuendo, scandal and rumor-mongering rather than witchcraft and likens this early American tale to tabloids and Internet gossip of today.
The series will coincide with the library’s annual Fall Book Sale, which will be held from Nov. 1-5 during regular library hours. The last two days of the sale will offer specials, with Friday being a half-price day and Saturday a dollar-a-bag day.
No reservations are necessary for any of the programs, and all are offered at no charge. For more information on these or other programs at any of the Monmouth County library branches, visit www.monmouthcountylib.org.
