Examining "old media" treatment of crime legends: news reports, fictional film and television depictions, and "new media" interactive discussions: versions and discussions circulating in Internet newsgroups and via electronic mail lists, this text examines a social context vastly changed from the height of rumour research in the mid-20th century.

Drawing on primary documents such as farmer's diaries, small rural papers of the 19th century, and the publications of state agricultural societies, this provocative study presents an intelligent overview into the driving forces of that shaped American history in the Northeast.