NAHANT — While he paged through a homemade book created for his three adult daughters — “Halcyon Days” — about his family’s history last Saturday, author and lifelong Nahant resident Gerald Butler spoke about his love for the word “halcyon.”
“It’s one of those great words you find in the past,” he said. “Days that will forever be unequaled.”
A longtime historian who enjoys reminiscing about his North Shore childhood, Butler has now written 15 books — most focused on military history, and all with some tie-in to Nahant.
His latest book, Nahauntus, is somewhat of a deviation from his usual topics of military bases and forts, however. Instead, Butler said that this time he thought it might be interesting to focus on something different.
Nahauntus, a title derived from an old nickname for Nahant, was published last October and details several spooky, scary, and otherworldly occurrences purported to have happened on the little island north of Boston.
From Vikings and sea serpents to witches and UFO sightings, Butler combed through several local history books and old news articles, some centuries-old, to bring Nahant’s oldest mysteries to life in his 12-chapter book.
“It was a fun book to write,” he said.
The retired Massachusetts State Guard captain, who joked he can’t remember what he did yesterday but can recall events from the 1940s in perfect detail, credited his family’s long military lineage for sparking his early interest in history.
“I’m an Army brat. I’m very proud of that,” he said.
Born in 1944 at George Army Air Force Base in Illinois, Butler and his family settled in Nahant permanently in 1949. Because his father and grandfather were both Army veterans, Butler’s early exposure to military life and its lingering effects was constant.
“My grandad joined the Lynn Infantry and was badly gassed,” he said.
“I remember him sitting in a chair on a Sunday afternoon with a bottle of Pickwick ale. He’d start to laugh, and that’s when his terrible wheezing would go off. I saw that as a youngster, and he was very straightforward about it. I’ve always appreciated that.”
It was partially the frankness with which his father and grandfather spoke about the stark realities of life on the frontlines that inspired Butler to document stories in ways that accurately preserves them.
“I’d rather have somebody (be straight) with me rather than sugarcoat it. Once you take all that away, the truth is still there,” he said.
Butler said the books he writes are for anybody who’s interested in reading them, but added he was surprised by how many people have shown interest in Nahauntus.
“I found with this book, (the audience) was pretty wide,” he said. “The younger generation liked the idea of the witches and the devil’s footprint and the stone and things like that. The older generations are interested because they heard the stories themselves growing up and want to know more.”
Despite the positive feedback he’s received, Nahauntus will be Butler’s final book.
He believes he’s exhausted all the information he has on his beloved town, which he said was his ultimate goal.
“I have a lot of information I’ve learned and documented throughout the years,” he said. “When I go, it’s gone.”
