Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Traditions, Superstitions, Stories & More

Traditions, superstitions, annual events and stories (haunted ones may be included) contribute to the culture of an area. These aspects of culture help to create our values and beliefs, and develop a sense of history. Describe a White Mountain tradition, superstition, event or story of past or present. Appeal to all the senses!

118 comments:

  1. During the summer I work at Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Every year we go on long hikes through the mountains. The views are amazing. Nothing could compare to the way you feel when you are on top of a mountain looking down at everything.
    I also work at the Kids Camp at Mount Washington. Every summer we have little games that the we set up for kids to participate in. Like the Rubber Ducky Race. There is a river that runs behind the hotel. On the count of three, all the kids let go of their ducks, and watch as they race down the river. The winner gets a big surprise...which one will win? KG

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  2. In the white mountains we have grand hotels that are very old because of the 1870- present tourists that come up here. In these hotels such as the Mt. Washington hotel there are famous ghost stories.

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  3. The closest thing to a superstition i know is the Bungy Jar, this however is no superstition and is quite capable of blowing you over backwards. (The Bungy Jar is a wind that blows down the Easton valley)

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  4. I have heard many stories about there being ghosts in a lot of the hotels, especially the White Mountain Hotel. BL

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  5. The hotel next to the Bethlehem Elementery school is suppousedly haunted. Along time ago the hotel was a very elegant hotel and a lot of people went there. A ladies father owned it and she lived there with him, because he owned it. One time a man from the army stayed there and the owners daughter and the army man fell in love. He was called into to go back into the war and the girl died of a "broken heart" She suppousedly still wanders the hotel and is called the "red lady" MB

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  6. In third grade, my class went on a history walk through bethlehem, and we stopped at an old hotel or tennis camp buy the school, and our teacher told a story about "The Red Lady" who supposedly haunts the building.
    SA

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  7. There are many ghost stories about the Mt. Washington being haunted, most of them I've heard from friends whose paretns work there. Another place I know of that is haunted is an old house on Mt. View Road. It has a long narrow driveway and in the front of the hosue there's a little island with two gravestones(husband and wife). The husband used to be a general of some kind and I'm not sure what the wife was but if you go there at night your suppsoed to see the ghosts of the two and I'm pretty sure it used to be rented out as a summer house im not sure if it still is to this day or not.

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  8. There are lots of scary stories that I have heard but the most of them I hear are from Mount Washington. HP

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  9. I don't here many folk tails except like every abandoned house or place you go to is haunted. I here alot of things around here are haunted. For example the RED LADY and the Maple Wood and the Mnt. Washington.

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  10. One scary storie my Middle School Foreign Language Teacher told me was about the Mt. Washington Hotel, so you know it's legit. It was about a woman with a child staying in one of the hotel rooms, and the room was supposedly haunted. Well, in the middle of the night the woman woke up and saw an old lady holding her baby, who was supposed to be asleep in the other room. So, she ran to her child and found it choking in it's sleep, called an ambulance and saved it's life. The old woman was either taking the baby away, or woke the mom up with a purpose, to save the child's life. ry

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  11. I've heard of the 'red lady' who haunts that house by the elementary school in Bethlehem, but I dont believe it. Don't let a black cat cross your path...?
    -a.b

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  12. There are many stories about the 'Red Lady' some may be true and some may not. One night, after a b-ball practice, I was waiting for my mom to finish talking to the coach. So I decided to go to the bathroom to wash my sweaty face. After washing my face I looked up and there was a lady in a red dress watching me, she smiled and when I turned around to confront her she was gone. The next day at school we learned about the 'Red Lady'. So I automatically assumed it was her.-ks

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  13. Stories, stories, stories...well, I know that we have a big amount of hotels that have been reported as haunted. I've never experienced anything myself, but I'm a believer. Or that aliens abducted Betty and Barney Hill right in the notch. Just because it's a small town, doesn't mean stuff doesn't happen...-POR

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  14. All I can think of is that the hotels and stuff up here like the Mt. Washington and Mt. View Grand are haunted, and I've heard a couple other ghost stories about places up here. -k.t.

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  15. There is that story about the red lady in Bethlehem. Also there is the story of Rusty, the oldest active Hitchhiker in the United States, but that might be a myth. JK

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  16. If you go up to the Lake of the Clouds hut there is supposedly ghosts of many of the people that have died up there, if you are brave enough to stay up there in the winter when the hut is closed you might see one of the many entities...
    -MEH

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  17. A north country tradition is saying wicked at least ten times a day. You have to go skiing. You have to shake hands with the majestic Eagle Claw. It is also a tradition to obey Eagle Claws demands.

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  18. The traditions in the North Country are to meet Eagle Claw and pick up Rusty. Also, you can see the Red Lady at the Chase Tennis Camp.

    TG

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  19. In Bethlehem there is a story about "The Red Lady." People say that she lives in the third stall on the second floor girls bathroom at the elementary school. It is said that she was murdered on her wedding night. I never went to the bathroom in that stall! OP

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  20. A Lot of people say that there is a princess at the Mt. Washington hotel that is a certain room and who ever sleeps in that room never comes out.
    <3AT

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  21. My family and i vacationed up in the white mountains for 9 years. Then we decided to move up finally, from Long Island New York. So far i don't have many complaints besides how far everything is.RH

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  22. A common North Country tradition is spending every Saturday during the summer at the race track eating nachos, then tenting out until Sunday morning. ES

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  23. Every year I run the ammonoosuc amble. It's five miles long and doesn't take too long. You have the option of running or walking, the running is much more intense though. SB

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  24. Profile High School is named after a natural monument that hung over the water of Franconia Notch. This monument was in the shape of a man's face. Early travelers found him as they were drinking from these waters. Although the hold man is not with us today, he is a symbol of the north country. jt

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  25. In Bethlehem you always know when summer time is coming because the Jewish people come. They own houses all over Bethlehem and are very much a part of the town. You will always see them walk around the town and they bring great culture to Bethlehem. JY

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  26. Learning about the "red lady" in third grade, and going to those Sunday concerts in the summer in Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, there is a place called the "Hollow", and no one really knows why it's called that. HA

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  27. Once day, a couple was watching the lake outside after eating. The husband told to her wife: I am going take to the dishes in the house. Some minutes after, he went outside to meet her wife and he saw a bear but not his wife... CD

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  28. drive around in main street littleton blasting the spice girls

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  29. Few years ago, a couple started from White Mountains started having nightmares. To solve this problem, they went to see a psychologist who worked with hypnosis. The hypnosis revealed a really strange story: Ten years earlier, aliens had kidnapped the man and the woman. They had been on the road when a small light started growing bigger. And Aliens captured them to make exams. The woman explained that the aliens had planed to contact our world, but before that, they wanted to study us. An alien who was speaking a broken form of English explained that most of them were gentle but some of them had bad urges, like in our own world. The exams that they made on the couple were painful, but some of the aliens reduced the pain in putting their hand on the head of the woman and the guy.

    The couples only remember the event ten years later thanks to the hypnosis. It could have looked like a simple unbelievable story, but the women drew a picture under hypnosis. It was a picture of a galaxy which actually existed. She added two extra stars. An astrologer founded the extra stars few years later.

    AB

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  30. The Bugby murders, in Lancaster, NH. It's the story of how a housekeeper/maid killed the entire family by putting arsinc in their drinks...Col. town's upstairs is known for being the place where the little girl waved good bye to her friends. I had a dance class up there...
    -E.A.B.

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  31. we do after school actiites such as basketball, football, track, and softball

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  32. an annual tradition in my hometown is sugar on snow. when there is stil snow on the ground, and the sugar houses start boiling, there is always a open house for everyone to eat maple sugar on snow:)
    sbah

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  33. the Mount Washington Hotel is famous for its hauting stories. Recently a picture was taken of the entire hotel staff in front of the hotel. on the right side of the picture, a window is open and young lady in an old fashioned green ball gown is standing in the window. the reservtions checked to see if they had anyone staying in the room that day but it was supposed to be empty. Was the princess back at the hotel that day? we may never know...
    ~S.S

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  34. In the wintertime in the White Mountains, many people participate in outdoor activites such as sledding. Some sled in their own backyards, some over at community sedding areas, and some at hotels or businesses with groomed sledding hills. This brings lots of families and friends togther while getting excercise and helping with the region's economy.
    -EV

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  35. There's a house in whitefield ontop of a he hill going in from lancaster and every morning at 2:00 a baby cries but the house owners dont have kids
    dg

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  36. The Lancaster fair is a tradition that is really important to the economy of our region and people look forward to it. They like the lights at night, the smell of the fried food, the excitement of the rides, the cheery music, and of course the yummy food. The fair definitely adds excitement and interest to Lancaster.

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  37. In the northcountry just about every house you go in is haunted. I have had many experiences with ghosts and they are very unusual. Ghost will turn your lights on and off, move your stuff around, walk throu walls. They pretty much have a black outline on a white body thats see throu. Some have beards and are old and some have dresses on. But none of them have legs/feet. I have seen them.. and its pretty scary. most of them are nice.. they just creep you out a little bit. RK

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  38. One tradition is you have to go to Clark's Trading Post and yell at the wolf man. BG

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  39. In Lancaster, no matter what, someone ALWAYS puts soap in the Kent Fountain infront of the post office, and it has been an honoured tradition for years :D
    KD

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  40. One tradition that I have is that I go and play video games and hang out with my friends every weekend. CER

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  41. A scary story or superstition is that the Mountain View and Mount Washington Hotels are haunted. Also having the TAPS guys come and then everybody all day says "I saw the TAPS guy!!" MK

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  42. my dad told me a story that one halloween nigh four kids went to an abandon house and knocked on the door, then the light insaid turned on and the door opened. they went in and saw stairs so two went up stairs,one went to the basement and one went in the kitchen. the kid that went to the basement fell down the stairsand when he got up someone was there and killed him. the kid in the kitchen opened the door and a knife killed him instantly. the kids who wen up stairs one kid fell through the stairs and then climed up again but when they got up there all of the doors shut and they got scared they they went in a room and someone jumped out and got one of the kids and ie dont know what happened to him. we know this story because one kid got out and told us but when they went to see what happened no one was there and the kids were gone!
    BM

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  43. hmmmmm...traditions??? maybe the parades?? :) ohhh! and Old Time Christmas!! :D thats always fun :)
    - A .S. :)

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  44. my tradition is hunting and fishing. C.C

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  45. On halloween, my friends and I watch scary movies and eat popcorn and milkduds and, eat cookies and the first one to bed just scared half to dealth or we prank them!!!!!


    -CTD

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  46. In Lunenburg, (ya, it's not in the White Mountains) there's a tridition called "Old Home Day" and people sell stuff in the park. In the morning there is a parade, and people make foats from the theme that is chosen. At the end of the day you go to the Lunenburg school and watch fireworks!!! lb

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  47. I guess one of the biggest traditionn would be going to the Waumbek on the 4th of July to watch fireworks!!!!
    MB

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  48. on thanksgiving all of my family come over and we play games all night.

    l.s.

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  49. umm..
    skating all summer

    ZBM

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  50. on tradition is to go to school even if there are about 5 feet of snow!
    -I.C.

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  51. there is a real ghost located in the Mount Washington hotel. I work there so sometimes its kind of freaky.

    asf

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  52. Any person who has ever attended Lafayette Regional School, or lives in the surrounding towns, has heard much about the iron furnace, an old furnace built in the 1800's that still stands in downtown Franconia. It has been a topic of interest in many of the elementary school classes, and has been a topic for projects throughout the years. It is a beautiful piece of architecture, and has been shut down for many years now, but is always a tourist attraction, especially when the leaves begin to change and envelop the sides of the furnace.

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  53. The only storie i have ever heard of is about the Chase Tennis Camp by Bethlehem Elementary School being haunted by "The Red Lady"
    MM

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  54. Garnet Hill hosts an annual party for it's employees and their families at Whale's Tale. I look forward to it every year becuase all our family friends will be there and we have the whole water park to ourselves. Even though most years it is pouring and freezing out, that does not keep us kids from going on every water slide mulitple times.

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  55. anyone who lives in Bethlehem or the surrounding areas knows the story of the red lady who haunts various sites in town awaiting the return of her love.

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  56. the Giants Chair behind the town pool in Bethlehem!

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  57. Traditions, there are so many in this area, but there are a few highlights that cannot be ignored. First, sugar on snow. Sugar on Snow is the the best idea ever. I am in love with sugar on snow. and Finally, famers markets. On any given day a white mountains local can travel less than twenty miles and find any number of farmers markets touting fresh vegetables, local treats, and nifty trinkets. Farmers markets are definetly a special tradidion. Oh and did I mention skiing, its kind of big around these parts. ;)
    CJS

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  58. My sister and I were always fascinated by the old hotel next to the Bethlehem school. When we first got here we always imagined different stories about ghosts who would haunt the place. Whenever ever our younger cousins would come over we would plague them with our stories; then let them know thats where they were staying. DB

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  59. In my new house, all you can hear are these footsteps and other creepy things. You can feel that coldness that people say is a ghoast. One side of me will be warm, yet the other side will be cool. I think my house is haunted. -zf

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  60. There are many traditions, such as pond skimming every year during the spring at cannon, taco night at the cmv, skiing on christmas eve and the roland peabody race.
    KS

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  61. there are many traditions including pond skimming,snowmachineing,shoveling,and trying to stay warm.......RB

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  62. During the summer I work most of the time mowing lawns but, when I'm not working I'm hanging up town bethlehem shooting hoops with my friends.

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  63. every hotel or old house you see is haunted

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  64. A big tradition is skiing. Anywhere you see a snowy mountain, there are millions of skiers.

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  65. all the people around always are telling storys about all the haunted hotels that burnt down years ago..........kh

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  66. A tradition around the white mountains... hmm... fish and hunt :)
    CP

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  67. a tradtion is the white mountains is to ski the whole winter

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  68. During the summer I work at the Maplewood Golf Course and when it is really hot I always love going to swim at Echo Lake. BW

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  69. me and my family hike tuckermans ravine every spring... i think spring. JS

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  70. A tradition in the white mountains is the first day it snows we usually get the day off. Even if its only a half inch of snow. But if there's two feet of snow later in the year we will still have school -KS

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  71. A tradition in the white mountains is to ski untill every last inch of snow on the mountains is gone. JA. I am a ninja.

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  72. New Hampshire... where every hot girls a tourist

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  73. New Hampshire... Every guy owns a gun. TK & MB

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  74. When i went camping a bear had come and stood on our table, and the BRAND new table broke. That's as much action as you'll get in the White Mountains.
    ---
    when two of my friends and I threw a party because we were going to New York the next day.
    CM and LW

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  75. A tradition in the white mountains is snow it comes every year . a.m and k.a

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  76. In the Bethlehem Elementary School, it was said that in the girls bathroom on the bottom floor, in the last stall, the red lady died. No one ever went in that stall, even if the bathroom was crouded. MD

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  77. There are many different stories that origanate from around, one story is all of the UFO and hauntings legands/stories that are from the area. The grave yard is always haunted during halloween. Finally that no matter the weather we almost always have school when every other school in the whole northeast is closed.

    L.A.
    N.C.

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  78. even if the ground hog doesnt see it's shadow we still have 3 more months of winter-MC

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  79. I work at Polly's Pancake Parlor in the summer, and every once in awhile we'll hear a strange noise, or something will randomly move. We've concluded this was the deceased Polly showing her disapprovement in what we were doing. ~MM

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  80. to go skiing the day of the first snow, no matter what. NM

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  81. I have heard about the two ghosts that haunt the Mount Washington Hotel. -KH

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  82. We always know when a bear is around, because our dog tucks tail,turns,and runs.
    MH

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  83. One time I was biking with Neville, Meg, Madison, and Quincy. Quincy and I rode on some good ol' fashioned Shwins. Quincy's was a tad bit older which meant his brakes were controlled by peddling backwards. We were speeding along into Neville's driveway when all of a sudden Quincy slides down on to the gravel and tears his leg up. What a great summer day.

    IB

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  84. There are many old hotels in the surrounding areas. I remember once staying at the Mount Washington with my friends, and my friends dad told us a story of a picture that was taken at the hotel a long time ago. Everyone was asked to leave the hotel to be in the picture. Positive that everyone was out of the hotel, the picture was taken. If you take a look at one of the lower windows on the right side of the building there's the outline of a woman.

    IE

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  85. in the White Mountains there are only a few things for kids to do. but these things become a religion to most teens like playing an after school sport.

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  86. during the summer for the forth of July the Mount Washington Hotel does fireworks yearly.

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  87. Well there's the Red Lady...I think that's what she's called. I'm pretty sure she's a ghost or something that haunts that old abandoned hotel next to the elementary school. That's all I got *shrug*

    -Jesse

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  88. A tradition up here is always going to the Old Home Days parade on the Fourth of July. We would always watch the duck race, down by the river.

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  89. There are a lot of superstitions in Bethlehem that the old hotels are haunted.

    Also, a fall tradition is raking leaves and carving pumpkins :)

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  90. I remember in the 6th grade when we all went to the VLC. This is were we had to camp outside and we didn't know exactly what to do so we had to survive on our own for a night. Well, not really but we did camp outside in the freezing cold in vermont.

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  91. many people in the north country enjoying hiking at all times...no matter the weather, or the time.

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  92. yea what genevieve said... ZB

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  93. there's this place by the bethlehem elementary school that is haunted by the "red lady"

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  94. Your enemy is the only cop in town, and your best friend is anyone with a plow on their truck.

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  95. Stories have it, my house is haunted! It's true, It's in Franconia.
    CC

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  96. A strange tradition that some of my friends have is jumping into Knockie's on May 1st! If you ask me, they're idiots.

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  97. many people enjoying hiking at all times of the day for no reason at all.

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  98. you will always see random stairs leading to ground, or you will see driveway post marking where to enter but no road or sing of it being driven on.

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  99. Everything in Bethlehem is "Haunted"

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  100. snowboarding, everybody snowboards and skis up here. Sam Pitre

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  101. Some of the attractions in the White mountains would be all the interesting ghost stories and historical events that have happened, like the "blue boy," "red lady," there are many different ghost stories and unexplainable stories that have happened in the north country.

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  102. we have had a lot of stories about aliens. most famously the story about betty and barney hill who were abducted by aliens and later had a book written on them.

    RR

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  103. No matter wear you are in the White Mountains we all have one memory in common of growing up here. Fall. Fall in the White Mountains is the most beautiful time of the year! The trees are at peak foliage, friends and family are all out side together enjoying soccer games, hay rides, picking apple and carving pumpkins. Living in the White Mountains during the fall is magical!

    I.H.

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  104. One time I was climbing an apple tree and was jumping from one of the branches because it felt like a diving board. The last time I was gonna do it, right as I was about to jump the branch snapped and I fell six feet down and landed right on my stomach. I was so shocked when the wind got knocked out of me. Liam Demers.

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  105. Playing soccer every Sunday when the weather is right.

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  106. I have heard of lots of suspicions in the hotels around here such as the Mountain View Grand, Mt. Washington. With ghost haunting some of the rooms. Also i'm not sure if this is true but I have also heard before that there are some ghost and sprites in Franconia and that area from the iron Fieriness back when it was running. -Madison

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  107. One superstition of the North Country is that everybody skis or snowboards. MEG

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  108. one tradition that my family has is that we always get a big bottle of apple cider during the holidays and we let it ferment and then all off the parents drink and then we have dinner. JR

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  109. ...going hunting every year with my dad
    ...riding atv's
    ...skiing with friends
    Connor K

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  110. A tradition with my family is going or at least try to go to Santa village the weekend after the fist snow.JED

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  111. One superstation is everyone in the North Country hunts, and eats it (deer)... ew..
    -R.B.K

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  112. I know a lot of young teenagers try to get jobs at like Clark's trading post or things like that.JED

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  113. One superstition is of the family who worked at the Mount Washington. The care taker went crazy and tried to kill the family one night in a brutal snow storm. But thanks to the boys special powers, he escaped with his mother in a snowcat

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  114. people do try to get jobs at clarks trading post

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  115. one superstition of the family is that we have to try to get a job at 14,15,16 then if we still want to work at the family store we can.

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  116. one family superstition is that us kids have to try and get a job somewhere else before we can work for the family bussiness

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  117. theirs a cat that lives at the top of mount Washington
    RO

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