NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — MCLA Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Dr. Hannah Noel Haynes will present on Myths & Monsters of New England this fall based on the class she taught in the spring. 

 

The public is invited to the talk on October 3 at 7 p.m. in the Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation (CSI) atrium, which will explore New England folklore, insight into historical places, and why certain stories are repeated in human history. 

 

"The talk will be about looking at the folklore and the history of our region in a different way," she said. "It will be both educational and fun." 

 

During the spring semester Noel Haynes taught an American Studies class about "Cryptids and cyborgs: Bigfoot, La Llorona and the American imagination."

 

According to a press release:

 

Noel Haynes, a cultural theorist, has a special interest in vampires and how vampirism in Europe made it to New England. Her class also studied various sightings of bigfoot in Berkshire County and students shared their own haunting stories. They learned about different cultures and how folklore impacted certain areas such as Bennington and the Bennington Triangle or stories related to North Adams and indigenous people, and the Hoosac Tunnel being haunted from the deaths of the workers who built it. 

 

During the spring Undergraduate Research Conference (URC), Noel Haynes presented her own studies based on this topic and created a campfire scene with s'mores trail mix with students sitting around the fire as a communal story telling environment. She said the upcoming talk will likely reflect that experience.  

 

Some of Noel Haynes' students who took her course grew up in surrounding towns and said they opted for the class because the subject is something they would have liked to have seen when they were in grade school and are fascinated with local myths growing up hearing the various stories. Noel Haynes is a Florida, Mass. native and shared interests with her students having been told similar stories.  

 

While the goal is not to determine if any of the folklore that Noel Haynes studies is true or not, she focuses on why people believe them and what reflections they have on society at a particular moment.  

 

The 45 min talk on Oct. 3 is free and open to the public and will be followed by a question-and-answer session.