Speaking Engagements Folklore & Haunted History Lectures
Be sure to send your requests early. Roxie typically starts booking a year ahead!
All of our presentations are available through Zoom Virtual Classroom and in person!
Engaging Programs & Speaking Events
Bring the fascinating history, legends, and lore of New England to your group!
Since 1993, Roxie Zwicker, founder of New England Curiosities, has been sharing the stories, legends, and history of New England with audiences throughout the region and beyond. An award-winning storyteller, author, folklorist, and experienced presenter, Roxie has captivated audiences at historical societies, libraries, museums, schools, businesses, civic organizations, and special events.
Her programs have been presented for organizations including the National Haunters Convention, Massachusetts Paracon, Maine Old Cemetery Association, Victoria Mansion in Portland, Maine, Old Berwick Historical Society, Goffstown Historical Society, Lee, New Hampshire Library, Portsmouth, New Hampshire Library, Throwback Brewery, Kiwanis New England, University of Maine Augusta, Mount Washington Hotel, Seacoast Science Center, Rundlett Middle School in Concord, Brick Store Museum, Rotary International, Wentworth by the Sea, New Hampshire Retired Teachers Association, Maine Retired Educators, and the University of New Hampshire, among many others.
Roxie’s engaging presentations combine history, folklore, fascinating characters, local legends, and plenty of storytelling, creating programs that are both entertaining and informative. Her talks have consistently drawn enthusiastic audiences—the Old Berwick Historical Society and Bridgewater Historical Society have both recognized Roxie’s programs as among the most highly attended and successful presentations in their speaker series. Discover why Roxie is invited back again and again for her presentations.
And the stories don’t stop on land! During the summer months, New England Curiosities has even taken its tales aboard the M/S Mount Washington, sharing stories and legends while cruising beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee. In 2025 and 2026 Roxie was invited to share her ghost stories on the boat trips to the newly restored Wood Island Lifesaving Station in Kittery, Maine.
A New England Storyteller in the Media
Roxie has also appeared on radio programs and television shows throughout New England and across the United States, bringing her knowledge of New England history, folklore, and the unexplained to a much wider audience.
She is also a Toastmasters International Certified Speaker, bringing professional presentation skills and decades of experience to every engagement.
Programs for Every Season
You don’t have to wait until Halloween!
New England’s stories are fascinating all year long. Roxie offers programs throughout the year, with topics that can be tailored to the interests and needs of your organization or audience.
From haunted history and mysterious legends to forgotten people, unusual traditions, cemeteries, historic places, maritime tales, and the curious characters who shaped New England, there is a story waiting to be told.
Roxie can customize a program specifically for your group, whether you’re planning a library lecture, historical society program, corporate gathering, educational event, luncheon, conference, or special community event.
For groups unable to gather in person, virtual presentations and visual programs can take your audience on a journey through New England, bringing historic places, fascinating stories, and little-known legends right to your screen.
References are available upon request.
Bring New England’s Stories to Your Group
Whether you’re looking for an entertaining evening program, an educational presentation, a seasonal event, step-on guide service or something completely unique, Roxie would love to help you create an experience your audience will remember.
The stories are out there. They’re just waiting to be told.
Graveyard Stories, Stones and Superstitions of New England Series
Take a virtual journey through New England’s most evocative burial grounds, brought to life from the pages of Roxie’s acclaimed graveyard book series. From the deep woods of Connecticut to the rolling farm fields of Massachusetts, the rugged mountains of New Hampshire, the peaceful hills of Vermont and the windswept shores of Maine, this richly illustrated presentation explores the history, artistry, and mystery of the region’s cemeteries. Discover Colonial and Victorian burial customs, decode the symbolism etched into some of New England’s oldest gravestones, and hear the ghost stories that linger in both celebrated and long-forgotten sites. Featuring Roxie’s stunning photography, this engaging talk is one of her most popular—and can be tailored to focus on any New England location for a more localized experience.
Salem’s Haunted Legacy: 400 Years of Folklore and Fear
Step into Salem, Massachusetts—one of America’s most legendary and enigmatic cities—where history and haunting intertwine across 400 years. From the weathered. speaking stones of Charter Street Burial Ground to the quiet shadows of Howard Street Cemetery, this presentation invites you on a journey beyond the familiar stories of the Witch Trials to uncover lesser-known tragedies, unexplained phenomena, and deeply rooted folklore. Drawing on our own experience living in the one-and-only “Witch City,” we’ll explore the hidden corners, enduring legends, and eerie encounters that continue to shape Salem’s identity today—revealing a past that is anything but silent.
Treasures of the Tides: The History and Mystery of Sea Glass
Discover the irresistible allure of beachcombing along New England’s storied coastline, where whispers of 16th-century shipwrecks and pirates still linger in the sand. In this engaging presentation, Roxie explores what sea glass is, how it forms, and how to successfully find and identify these ocean-worn treasures. Drawing from her remarkable collection of more than 4,000 pieces—some dating back to the 17th century—she brings each find to life with dramatic, history-rich stories that reveal how these artifacts made their journey into the sea. Along the way, you’ll get a visual tour of her collection and pick up practical tips and tricks to begin your own beachcombing adventures with a sharper eye and a deeper appreciation for the past. Roxie has presented at the International Sea Glass Festival in Mystic Seaport, the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum Sea Glass Festival in New York and the Northeast Sea Glass Expo in North Hampton, New Hampshire.
Spirits of the Bay State - The Ghosts of Massachusetts
Ghosts of Massachusetts. The Bay State is home to some of the most historic places in America, what ghostly stories can be found walking down its many old roads and highways? Find curious abandoned places, haunted beaches, tavern ghosts and eerie cemeteries. Take a spirited virtual journey highlighting stops in many cities and towns and explore stories of legends on this fun tour of mysterious area haunts.
Spirits of the Granite State - The Ghosts of New Hampshire
A search of the legends and ghosts of New Hampshire. Follow the peaceful dirt roads to long forgotten ghost stories, you’ll hear superstitions from some of the quaint, small towns and learn of unusual occurences that still can’t be explained today. Find out some of the best places to explore spirited happenings. This presentation features tales from the White Mountains to the ghosts of the Seacoast. Journey through haunted woods, find mysterious cemeteries and be captivated by ghostly lighthouses during this virtual journey. New Hampshire has a lot more than just beautiful scenery – and this presentation will take you there.
New England Witchcraft Tales - Stories Outside of Salem
Do you know the tales of other New England witches outside of Salem, Massachusetts? This presentation guides guests through witchcraft stories from western Massachusetts to New Hampshire and Maine for tales that you may not be so familiar with. Learn about some of the New England place names that relate to old witchcraft tales. The presentation also highlights the evolution of customs and superstitions relating to witchcraft throughout New England. Not all witches come from Salem! Attendees might find themselves checking underneath their front doorstep, in their chimneys or in their backyards for remnants of these stories!
Haunted Portsmouth - Legends & Lore from the Colonial City by the Sea
Roxie literally wrote the book on this one. Taken from the pages of her first book, Haunted Portsmouth, this presentation is filled with fascinating facts about Portsmouth the “City of the open door”, and little known history as well, woven with intriguing true ghost stories. A journey through the side streets of this town’s local legends and lore that spans hundreds of years from fascinating Colonial tales to stories of the secrets beneath the city streets. Roxie has gathered captivating stories from the locals that they don’t share with everyone. This virtual tour also includes stories from Fort Constitution, Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse and the Wentworth by the Sea in New Castle, the tiny island that once was part of Portsmouth. We promise you won’t look at the city the same again after this presentation from a very entertaining perspective!
Tempus Fugit - Connections to the the Spirit World
Tempus Fugit – Time Flies. Roxie has spent years working with her tour guests to help them better understand messages from the spirit world. In this compelling presentation, she explores what it means to go beyond the veil, sharing the many ways people experience and interpret communication with spirit. Attendees will learn how to build a meaningful connection with guides and ancestors—often closer than we realize—and gain insight through Roxie’s firsthand stories of spiritual encounters and healing. Thoughtful and engaging, this presentation offers a glimpse into the ways these experiences can bring comfort, clarity, and perspective during life’s most challenging moments.
Other presentations available
The Victorian Parlor in New England Virtual Tour
The Victorian Parlor: Take a trip back in time to the days of the Victorian Parlor. Did you know the word parlor – meant to talk? The parlor was the focal point of many home and was often a gathering point for many curious happenings. In this presentation we will gather in a virtual parlor with Roxie Zwicker of New England Curiosities to explore some of the amazing stories from New England parlors. From evenings focused on spiritualism, seances and tea leaf readings to gatherings of both the somber and eccentric, what might you find when you walk inside these often richly decorated rooms? Beautiful graphics and vintage photos bring guests back in time over 150 years ago for an eye opening gathering.
Halloween Folklore – History, Traditions & Customs
Join Roxie for an enchanted voyage into the magic and folklore of the Halloween season. The spiritual veil to the other world is at its thinnest at this time! The fields are bare, the leaves have fallen from the trees, and the skies are going gray and turning cold. The Halloween season offers us a variety of enchantments around us, from nuts, pumpkins, colorful leaves and cornstalks, you can feel the energy in the air!
Discover the intriguing history of Halloween in early America in this entertaining session full of spooky lore, games, decorations and customs. Dive into the traditions of the holiday and delight in Halloween themed divinatory tools, costumes and Victorian parties. If you’ve always loved the charms of Halloween, you’ll love this beautiful presentation that features antique photos and ephemera.
Echoes in the Grand Hotel: Spirits of Wentworth by the Sea, New Castle, NH
Join author Roxie Zwicker for a presentation on one of New Hampshire’s most legendary properties, the Wentworth by the Sea. Step back in time and take a virtual tour of the property, learn about the robber baron, Frank Jones and how he created a Victorian hotel in all its opulent glory. Hear stories about the legendary guests, parties and goings-on from over 100 years of history. Review the years when the hotel’s future was in peril and how it was resurrected with spirits from the past. Roxie has interviewed members of the Wentworth staff, former guests and the locals for an assemblage of tales you won’t soon forget.
Wicked Tales of New England
Join author and storyteller Roxie Zwicker for an entertaining evening of curious tales that reveal New England’s quietly strange side—stretching all the way back to Colonial times. In this lively presentation, Roxie shares some of the most unusual stories from her collection, featuring eccentric characters, eerie omens, and delightfully superstitious silliness. You’ll also encounter darker accounts of wicked people and their equally wicked deeds, brought to life through chilling old newspaper headlines. Drawing from every corner of the region, these stories are creepy, astonishing, and wonderfully weird—told with Roxie’s signature blend of humor and wit.
Haunted Road Trips of New England
Take a virtual road trip along the strange highways and hidden byways of New England with mystery maven Roxie Zwicker of New England Curiosities. In this engaging presentation, you’ll uncover offbeat landmarks, curious secrets, mysterious locations, and even a few actively haunted sites that bring the region’s character to life. Blending history, folklore, and a sense of adventure, Roxie guides you to unforgettable places that just might inspire you to map out your own journey into New England’s wonderfully eerie side – or run in the other direction!