Author: J.W. Ocker

The ruins are located at the edge of the Madame Sherri Forrest at the bottom of Wantastiquet Mountain

So there I was, sneaking a McRib into the mausoleum of Mount Calvary Cemetery in Manchester. The mausoleum is a beautiful one, with large colorful stained-glass windows, marble and brass walls full of the shelved dead in an airy chapel.…

Unique holiday observations in the Granite State

A climb to the top of a strange rock with a pointy hat in the town of Tamworth.

I’m always telling people that they don’t have to travel to faraway lands to be mind-boggled by history, nature or culture. I tell them to drive a few hours in any direction…

Historical highway markers are a dice throw. Sometimes you pull over to these metal informational hitchhikers to find the most boring facts punched into their faces. And sometimes the stories they tell will expand your sense of time and history.…

New Hampshire is the home of three NASA astronauts, one of whom — Lee Morin — is still alive. So let’s not bother him. But the other two have left the Earth…

Last week a graphic went viral on the socials that claimed to denote the worst attractions in every state. It was the work of an Instagrammer who polled his 400,000 followers. And you know what repped New Hampshire? Of course…

Odd offerings were the daily special at these two eateries.

Not every New Hampshire oddity is a happy oddity

Obscure rituals in Hanover

New Hampshire has 54 historic covered bridges, and they’re all worth squeezing into a camera lens on any given autumn day. However, only one of them has a connection to Chevy Chase. I think. Now, I don’t want to get…

Let’s take a New Hampshire road trip together.

I like my ghost towns with spooky names, but sometimes ironic ones are just as good. Like the ghost town of Livermore, New Hampshire. Livermore…

We’re pretty proud that we gave the world astronauts Alan Shepard and Christa McAuliffe. Also the legendary Old Farmer’s Almanac. It’s braggable to be…

Epitaph levels accusations from the other side

Did you know there's such a thing as a corpse flower? And that one of these rare (and smelly) flowers native to western Sumatra grows in New Hampshire?

In 1942, a B-18 crashed in the White Mountains — it's still there.

This quaint little house in Hebron once hosted the Wickedest Man Alive.

In Keene and New Boston you can find monuments to the man who held a grudge against gravity. Yes, gravity.

Why is columnist J.W. Ocker talking about the Massachusetts home where a Salem witch trial judge once lived? Read on to find out the strange connection to New Hampshire.

Some of the hikes in New Hampshire can take you to some really weird, fascinating stuff. Like ghost towns. And airplane crash sites. Art installations. Carnivorous plants. This one brings you to a plaque in the woods installed by movie star Bette Davis.

Did you know that four very famous comic book characters were first doodled at a house in Dover? Here's a hint: They love pizza, fight crime and share names with certain Italian masters of art.

Frankenstein Cliff, outside the town of Bartlett in Crawford Notch, soars 1,400 feet above sea level, and while that makes it a monster of a cliff, its namesake isn’t the lumbering spawn of a mad scientist, is it? Well, walk this way.

Each week, J.W. Ocker will reveal an odd, unknown or quirky fact about our beloved state. First up is the grave of the first American-born magician.