The old aphorism 'One thing leads to another' proved true for me some years ago during the time I wandered up and down the 64 miles of the island/peninsula of Cape Cod in search of myths, monsters, legends, and spirits that would come together in a book called "Ghosts of Cape Cod".
In the town of Mashpee, which has deep connections to the Wampanoag tribe, whose leader Massasoit saved the 1620 'Pilgrims' from ruin, I found an abandoned section of roadway.
Vines and brush undertook the job of masking the former highway from the view of the thousands of motor vehicles using the new rotary (roundabout) that was the reason for the old section being orphaned and fenced off.
Over time, the few joggers and walkers who made use of the former thoroughfare began reporting the presence of spirit figures - and it became known as a ghost highway.
A walk on the pavement of the Old Ghost Road, which is still in relatively good condition in the 2020s after a few decades in dis-use, is surreal due to the incongruity of strolling through the stillness of a modern paved road with no cars on it, surrounded by a forest that resembles the 18th century more than the 21st.
Though my excursion on the road of ghosts failed to yield any contact with spectral beings, it did lead me to the story of a spirit - a little known figure from the oral legends of the Mashpee Native Americans.
A few of the sturdy hikers along the Old Ghost Road, told tales of hearing in the distance, beautiful love songs being sung by a Native American woman with a golden throat.
Though I never uncovered any published stories about this mystery woman, I gathered pieces from a number of sources and combined them to produce a story about 'Ah-soo'. She lived many hundreds of years ago, long before the European invaders arrived and pushed the Wampanoag people almost into extinction.
It is said that Ah-soo had a golden voice that made angels hark, but she had a face like ragged wooden bark. So beautiful was her singing that all the animals of the forest would gather around her to listen while she sang. Blood enemies momentarily forgot their battles and sat side by side while she warbled.
As beautiful as her voice was, her face was the complete opposite. Sadly for her, not a single man would even speak to her. They ran from the unhappy young woman. Not one brave would consider taking her to his wigwam.
She did find true love, however, from a most unusual source.
As beautiful as her voice was, her face was the complete opposite. Sadly for her, not a single man would even speak to her. They ran from the unhappy young woman. Not one brave would consider taking her to his wigwam.
She did find true love, however, from a most unusual source.
The story of Ah-soo is in my book Ghosts of Cape Cod. It's on Kindle, as well as all major online retailers. The Audible-iTunes version is narrated by one of NPR's top announcers, Scott R. Pollak.
Her ironic tale, with samples of her singing, is now available for free on the Ghosts of Cape Cod Podcast. Here's the link - https://www.spreaker.com/user/11578348/ah-soo-the-ugly-and-talented
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