Nature Folk: Wildlife or Wild Myth?

Naturalist Ranger Russ from Meigs Point Nature Center teams up with noted folklorist Professor Stephen Gencarella from UMass/Amherst to share perspective on the creatures and characters that might have been part of our natural world centuries ago....and the stories attached to them!

Naturalist Ranger Russ from Meigs Point Nature Center teams up with noted folklorist Professor Stephen Gencarella from UMass/Amherst to share perspective on the creatures and characters that might have been part of our natural world centuries ago….and the stories attached to them!

What is a Whapperknocker? What are the truths about the last gray wolf in Connecticut…how about that frog war in Windham…we dissect the story and share from both the nature side and the folklore side what might be true…and where the fantastical may take over…and why!

Cohosts


Ranger Russ Miller

Educator, naturalist, and amazing story teller, Russ has been past of our state parks for decades, and presently oversees the Meigs Point Nature Center at the Hammonasset Beach State Park.

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Professor Stephen Gencarella

Stephen Olbrys Gencarella is a professor of folklore at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the resident folklorist for the Connecticut River Museum in Essex, CT. He is currently finishing a collection of essays on eccentrics in New England for Globe Pequot Press and a book on the folklore of the Moodus noises. He is an officer for the Eastern Regional Tourism District and has been a Visiting Professor at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. Steve grew up in Westerly, Rhode Island and is now a resident of Lyme, Connecticut, where he lives with his wife, four children, three dogs, and countless wild animals who visit the pond at their home. You can reach him at ctfolklorist@ctrivermuseum.org or solbrys@comm.umass.edu Links: https://www.umass.edu/communication/people/profile/stephen-olbrys-gencarella https://www.ctrivermuseum.org/ http://www.globepequot.com/ http://www.lymeacademy.edu/

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