Author James Renner offers tour of Ohio’s weird and wonderful at Mentor Library

 

Have you ever heard of the Melon Heads, the hydrocephalic test experiments that supposedly still lurk in Kirtland woods? Or the Loveland Frog, the 4-foot-tall amphibian that’s haunted the banks of the Miami River since the time of the Twightwee Indians?

Author and journalist James Renner spent years collecting stories about the weird and wonderful denizens of this state for his book, It Came from Ohio: True Tales of the Weird, Wild and Unexplained.

Renner will share stories from his book at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 13 at Mentor Public Library’s Main Branch. His talk is free and everyone is welcome.

In anticipation of his talk, Renner was kind enough to answer a few questions about his book, his interest in the unusual, and things that go bump in the night.

Q: What about the abnormal and macabre interests you?

A: There are a handful of moments in every person's life that cannot be explained. I am fascinated by these stories and how they alter the course of someone's life. How do we explain the unexplainable when we tell the story to someone, later? What is the little pearl of truth hiding inside?

Q: You've written both fiction and nonfiction. Where does It Came from Ohio fall in that dichotomy?

A: It Came from Ohio is 100% nonfiction, in that these are stories collected from people across Ohio who firmly believe they have encountered frogmen and Bigfoot and UFOs. I research each case from the point of view of a journalist but it's up to the reader to ultimately decide whether Mothman really exists or whether it could just be a giant, angry owl.

Q: When did you start compiling the stories from It Came from Ohio?

A: I wrote crime stories for about 10 years and really wanted to do something a little more fun. I noticed that the people I interviewed about crime always had some other story they wanted to tell, now that someone was listening. And usually that story was about the strangest thing that had ever happened to them. I started jotting those stories down in my notepad. Eventually I had enough to put this little book together.

Q: Do you have a favorite story in It Came from Ohio?

A: Definitely the story about the Loveland Frog. Back in the 70's, a couple cops outside Cincinnati saw a half-man/half-frog creature on the banks of the Miami River. When I researched the local history, I found a story passed down from the Twightwee Indians who once lived in the area, about a monster called the Shawnahook. 400 years ago, the Indians also saw a frogman in the river. That gives me goosebumps. What in the world was it?

Q: I suspect people have been sharing their own unusual tales with you since you published It Came from Ohio. Is there a possibility of a sequel?

A: I love a good scary story and am compelled to go looking for monsters if you tell me where to go.

Come to the Mentor Library on Oct. 13 to hear more stories about the unusual creatures that reside in Renner’s Ohio. People can register for his talk on Mentor Library's website or by calling 440-255-8811 ext. 216.

Renner will also have copies of It Came from Ohio available for sale on Oct. 13 at Mentor Library, and he will sign them after his program.

The Civil War at Mentor Public Library

We'll be talking about General Sherman's March to the Sea next Wednesday at Mentor Library.

While I hate to use the word "fun" to describe any war, there's a lot that's fascinating, interesting and, yes, even fun to learn about the American Civil War.

For the last two years, the James A. Garfield National Historic Site has led a monthly lunch-time Civil War series at our Main Branch, and their war stories and facts have been captivating.

Rangers and park volunteers have talked about everything from the Battle of Gettysburg to Civil War Art to the role artillery played in the war.

At noon this Wednesday, Sept. 9, they will talk General William T. Sherman’s famous “March to the Sea” from Atlanta to the Georgia coast. All of the Civil War talks are free and open to the public. You can register for it on our website.

And that's not all!

As part of our Monday University series, we're having a special concert Monday evening, Sept. 8, at our Main Branch. The Celtic Union Band will share stories, poems and play music from the Civil War era. Once again, this program is free and open to all.

To get a taste of the Celtic Union Band, you can check out their YouTube page, but there's no substitute for seeing them live.

Lakeland professors talk about importance, symbolism of dreams

Tony Palermo has been fascinated with dreams since he was a child.

“I remember being amazed at how real some of my dreams were and how my emotions were affected by them,” Palermo said.

During graduate school, Palermo researched symbolism which led him to the study of dreams.

Palermo is now an associate professor of humanities at Lakeland Community College, and he’ll be sharing his knowledge of dreams and dream interpretations at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 10, at Mentor Public Library’s Main Branch.

The talk will be part of the library’s Monday University series.

“It’s been my experience that the majority of people love to talk about their dreams,” Palermo said. “More than anything else, they are ‘personal mysteries,’ which individuals love to solve. Once given the proper tools, most people can do their own interpretations; and it is phenomenal how much you can learn about yourself through interpretations.”

Palermo will be joined at the library by Jim Dailey, another associate professor at Lakeland. He specializes in the science of sleep, which has a big impact on the study of dreams.

Those who come to the Monday University program will learn the significance of dreaming, the importance of dreams in several religious traditions, and some methods and techniques with which people can interpret and understand their own dreams.

The talk at Mentor Public Library is free and open to the public. However, people are asked to register for it beforehand.

They can also sign up to hear Palermo and Dailey by calling (440) 255-8811 ext. 215.

Hypnotherapist to talk about power of hypnosis

Edd Schultz, a hypnotherapist who works in Kirtland, likes to compare the mind to an iceberg.

There's the tip above the water's surface, and it looks powerful and impressive. That's the conscious.

But there's a much larger, more powerful structure underneath the water that supports the tip we can see. That's the subconscious.

Most people think they know their own mind, but they're just looking at the tip of the iceberg.

Schultz will be taking people beneath the surface during Mentor Public Library's Monday University at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the library's Main Branch.

Schultz will discuss the ways that hypnosis can be used to address a range of common problems, including insomnia, weight loss and quitting smoking.

Schultz will also talk about how hypnosis can be uses to change bad habits, control stress, cope with pain and otherwise use the power of the mind as an alternative to traditional therapies.


You're welcome to join us if you're interested, or even merely curious, in hypnosis.

The talk is free and open to the public, though we do ask that people register for it beforehand. You can register by calling the Mentor Public Library at (440) 255-8811 ext. 215 or on the library's web site.

Edd Schultz will talk about the power of hypnosis Monday, Dec. 2, at the Mentor Public Library.

Sweet Jazz at Mentor Public Library

No 1,000-word monologues today. Just some music.

The Four Clarinets performed Monday night at the Mentor Public Library Main Branch. They played jazz standards like "Girl from Ipanema," "I'll Take Romance," "Jitterbug Waltz" and "Try a Little Tenderness."

(Yeah, "Try a Little Tenderness" was a jazz standard before Otis Redding funked it up.)

The Four Clarinets also talked about the history or jazz and basics of jazz improvisation. If you missed the show, I've embedded a video of them breaking down the blues. It gives you a taste -- but I'll be honest -- it's not a substitute for being there.

If you love jazz, feel free to drop by Mentor Public Library and check out some of our hundreds of CDs. You can also use your library card to download a lot of great jazz music on Freegal or stream it on Hoopla.

We have a lot of books on jazz too, if you're a reader. (And if you're reading a library blog, then we bet you are.)

Get Hep to the Jive with a Jazz Show at Mentor Library

Louis Armstrong had a line, "If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."

Far be it from me to disagree with Pops, but everybody from dilettantes to Charlie Parker had to start somewhere.

I started at the library. As a kid, I used to borrow stacks of CDs and cassette tapes -- Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughn, Arturo Sandoval, Parker, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus and, of course, Armstrong. (Yeah, cassettes -- that gives you a sense of how old I am.)

I was introduced to most of my favorite jazz artists at the library.

But I never got to hear them play live at the library.

Jazz lovers (and those with just a passing interest in the genre) can enjoy the music firsthand this Monday at our Main Branch.

The Four Clarinets will perform jazz tunes from the 1920s through 1950s from 6:30 to 7:45 in the Garfield Room as part of our Monday University series.

They'll play their own arrangements of standards like "I'll Take Romance," "Jitterbug Waltz," "One Note Samba" and more. They'll also give historical anecdotes on the music and explain the basics of jazz improvisation.

The program is free and open to the public -- kids and adults. However, we do ask that you register for it beforehand. You can do so on our website or by calling the Mentor Public Library at (440) 255-8811.

By the way, jazz lovers, have you tried Freegal yet? It's a program that allows you to legally download mp3s of your favorite artists for free. And you can keep the mp3s forever. Play them on your iPod, burn them to CD, record them to cassette (if they still make those) -- whatever you want to do. They're yours.

Freegal's library includes John Coltrane, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jerome Kern, Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Wynton Marsalis and a lot more.

And it's free with a Mentor Public Library card. Check it out.

The Psychic Lives of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and James A. Garfield

Did you know that President Abraham Lincoln attended séances with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln?

There are even some who think Lincoln was psychic because he had precognitive dreams, including one about his own assassination.

Did you know that there are those who think President James A. Garfield haunts his former home? (The one in Hiram -- not the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. The best we can tell, that one is ghost free.)

While we can't say for sure if Lincoln knew he was predicting his own death or what Garfield is doing in the afterlife, we do know that there's more going on than was dreamt of in Horation's philosophy.

We also know that the Victorians of Lincoln and Garfield's era had a fascination with the psychic. Spiritualism, astrology, premonitions and phrenology -- the practice of using the bumps on someone’s forehead to predict their future -- were all the rage.

And the Lincolns and Garfields were aware and, to some extent, even participated in these interests. (The Lincolns held the aforementioned séances in an attempt to contact their deceased, 11-year-old son Willie.)

If you want to know more about where the presidents' lives intersected with the psychic and spiritual, you can visit the Mentor Public Library for the Beyond the Veil program at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, at the library’s main branch.

Visitors will get a chance to join two grieving first ladies, Mary Todd Lincoln and Lucretia Garfield, around the séance table. The first ladies will also share how these psychic and astrological practices and beliefs affected their own families, as well as reveal some strange facts about their husbands’ deaths.

Lincoln and Garfield will be portrayed by Marian King and Debbie Weinkamer, respectively, of the re-enactor’s collective We Made History.

If mediumship, presidential history or both piques your interest, Beyond the Veil is well worth your time.

The program is free and open to the public. However, we ask that you register with us beforehand.

For more information on the program or to register call 440-255-8811 ext. 247 or log on to www.mentorpl.org.