Excerpt | New Hampshire Trivia

Rebecca “Becky” Rule’s New Hampshire Trivia is a fascinating, educational, and entertaining collection of facts and stories that will test your knowledge and spark your curiosity to learn even more about this great state. New Hampshire may be a small state, but it has a rich history. Plus, Becky adds in her signature sense of humor to make this book of trivia fun and engaging. There’s something for everyone with 500 questions in such categories as History, Arts and Entertainment, Sports, Notables, Natural Wonders, Strange and Unexpected, and much more. A great gift for those who love New Hampshire, love history, or just love trivia.

New Hampshire Trivia is Rebecca Rule's newest book, and to pump up the excitement we've decided show a sneak peak! We've compiled a taste of each category, which can be played as a fun flash trivia game all on it's own. With a 10 questions and a few bonus "That Reminds Me..." stories, you can play this flash trivia game with friends, family, or just to learn something new.

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Category 1: New Hampshire ⭐

What is New Hampshire’s official motto?

Live Free or Die.

Category 2: History ⭐

What happened to Eunice Goody Cole in 1656?

Eunice Goody Cole of Hampton was among those falsely accused of witchcraft and jailed.

That Reminds Me . . .

Although Goody Cole was never convicted, in 1938 the town voted to officially pardon her with this declaration: “We, the

citizens of the town of Hampton in Town Meeting assembled do hereby declare that we believe that Eunice (Goody) Cole was unjustly accused of witchcraft and of familiarity with the devil in the seventeenth century, and we do hereby restore to the said Eunice (Goody) Cole her rightful place as a citizen of the town of Hampton.”

This happy result came via the newly formed Goody Cole Society, a.k.a. The Society in Hampton Beach for the Apprehension of Those Falsely Accusing Goody Cole of Having Familiarity with the Devil. Members of the society included local officials as well as Harry Houdini’s widow, Beatrice. “For centuries,” Beatrice Houdini wrote, “the belief in witchcraft has permeated the nation. Definite action, such as [Hampton’s], will go a long way to tear the veil from superstitious reaction.”

All court documents related to the Goody Cole trial were burned during Hampton’s three hundredth anniversary

celebration and the ashes placed in an urn that is now part of a Goody Cole collection at the Tuck Museum in town. Among the artifacts: a handmade Goody Cole doll.

Category 3: Arts and Entertainment ⭐

This novelist is best known for The Catcher in the Rye and for being reclusive. What’s his name?

J. D. Salinger.

Salinger spent much of his life in Cornish, where townspeople protected his privacy scrupulously until his death in 2010.

Category 4: Sports ⭐

The first official competition in this “survival” sport was held in 1981 in the woods of Sutton. What is it? (Hint: Each player carries a marker.)

Paintball.

Hayes Noel, stockbroker, and his friend Charles Gaines, author and outdoorsman, disagreed about whether city folks

could survive in the woods. Another friend, Bob Gurnsey, invented rules for what they called “The Survival Game.” Markers were designed and tested, a course set up, date and time announced. Players paid a fee to participate. And a new sport was born.

Category 5: New Hampshire Notables ⭐

Where was Uncle Sam born?

Mason.

The cartoonish Uncle Sam—the stern fellow in red, white, and blue who points a finger because he wants YOU to join the army—was created by illustrator Thomas Nast. The character was modeled after Sam Wilson of Mason, who sold meat to the army during the war of 1812. The shipping crates were marked u.s., meaning they were intended for the US military. People thought the u.s. stood for Uncle Sam.

Category 6: Strange and Unexpected ⭐

The UNH Dimond Library houses the Betty and Barney Hill Collection. This archive includes hundreds of documents and photographs as well as a hand drawn star chart and an old dress. But its most famous contents are drawings of some big-headed, big-eyed nonhumans. What allegedly happened to Betty and Barney Hill to warrant such a collection?

They were abducted by aliens.

In 1961 the Portsmouth couple claimed to have been abducted by aliens near Lincoln. According to Betty Hill’s New York Times obituary in 2004, “Mrs. Hill was not the first person to tell of an alien encounter. But her account was the first to capture the public imagination on a grand scale, defining a narrative subgenre that has flourished in the decades since.” John G. Fuller wrote a bestseller about the Hills called The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard a Flying Saucer, which became a movie, The UFO Incident, starring Estelle Parsons and James Earl Jones. Without the Hills, would there be The X Files, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or a congressional oversight subcommittee on UFOs? Maybe not.

That Reminds Me . . .

In 2000, a group of UFOlogists, accompanied by Betty Hill herself, returned to the scene of the abduction for a look-see. They were on a field trip from a UFO conference. A local in

a pickup pulled over and called out, “What’s up? Did ya see a moose?”

“Nope,” the UFOlogists replied. “Looking for UFOs.”

“Okay,” the local said, and drove on.

Category 7: Natural Wonders ⭐

How does a person become a member of the 4,000-Footer Club?

By climbing all 48 mountains over 4,000 feet in the White Mountains.

Category 8: Man-made Wonders ⭐

Margaret Knight grew up in Manchester and was one of the first women in the country to hold a patent. What did she invent?

The flat-bottomed paper bag.

She had to fight for it. Charles Annan copied her design and claimed the patent. He argued in court that no woman could possibly understand how the machines worked. She showed the judge her technical drawings and won the lawsuit.

Knight would go on to earn 27 patents. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Category 9: Superlatives ⭐

Founded in 1756 by Daniel Fowle, this newspaper is the oldest in the country still in print. What is it?

The New Hampshire Gazette.

Self-described as “a svelte, one-ounce packet of unfettered, non-fiction news,” the Gazette is published every other Friday for readers in and around Portsmouth and subscribers worldwide. And it’s free.

Category 10: Just for Fun ⭐

How many miles of hiking trails crisscross the White Mountain National Forest?

A. 12

B. 120

C. 1,200

D. 12,000

(C) 1,200.

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The multi-talented Rebecca “Becky” Rule is an author, humorist, storyteller, and performer as well as a radio and television host. She has been performing and telling stories in New England for more than thirty years. She hosted the NH Authors series for ten years on New Hampshire PBS and now hosts the network’s Our Hometown series. As an author, her books include N is for New Hampshire, an ABC book with photographs by Scott Snyder; The Iciest Diciest Scariest Sled Ride Ever!, a picture book illustrated by Jennifer Thermes; Headin’ for the Rhubarb, A NH Dictionary (well, kinda); Live Free and Eat Pie, and That Reminds Me of a Funny Story.

New Hampshire Trivia (Nov. 12)

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