SUPERNATURAL MYSTERIES AND OTHER TALES

Revisitations to the environs of this veteran folklorist's favorite haunts -- New England, where the Amherst ghost possessed one Esther Cox and the Stone-Throwing Demon was chronicled in the pamphlet Lithobolia; and the open seas where Parson Wood and the crew of the Monongahela hunted sea serpents and where ships and planes are gobbled up by the Bermuda Triangle in a manner that, happily for Snow, allows for no mere ""logical, natural explanations."" It's only when Snow gets around to modern conundrums, like the role of a humble Spanish fisherman in locating the A-bombs lost off Palomares, that we begin to realize how slight his emanations really are. And, appropriately, Snow winds up by celebrating the centennial of the Boston Tea Party with a ritual quaffing of actual tea party tea (salvaged from the clothes of a participant and kept as a relic by his descendants) while he tries to ignore other competing and more ""extraneous"" commemorations, including ""a rather degrading demonstration by those of riotous nature."" A weak, warmed over brew, though Snow's combination of glibness and obscure learning make him a suitable host for those who strive to be amazed.