Run Chamberlain, Run!: Solving the 200-year-old Mystery of Runaway Pond

Run Chamberlain, Run! Solving the 200-year-old Mystery of Runaway Pond is the true story of an American hero and a quest to solve a lingering controversy: Was Spencer Chamberlain the real runner and hero of Runaway Pond? Why are there two alternate realities? What eye witness account proves that the runner actually did get ahead of the flood? How was the runner's account of his race with two billion gallons of water preserved to be told in full for the first time eighty-years after the event?

When the author was 10 years-old his mother told him a story about his great-great-great grandfather Spencer Chamberlain, who ran about five miles to get ahead of a huge flood to warn others in the valley below. The story remained family folklore until a few years ago when author Dennis D. Chamberlain learned that the small town of Glover, Vermont celebrated the story of Runaway Pond each year and considered Spencer Chamberlain the hero of the event which occurred on June 6, 1810. A three day Bicentennial Celebration was planned in Glover in June 2010. Dennis immediately got the word out to others in the Chamberlain family and over twenty members from the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh generation of Spencer Chamberlain's family made plans to travel from Utah, California or Connecticut to attend. This would be the first time this branch of Spencer's family returned to Glover since Spencer's son Alonzo left in 1855.

An old controversy resurfaces: In January 2010, Jack Sumberg's blog, Runaway Ponders, had taken the position of an old controversy that Soloman Dorr might actually have been the real runner and hero of Runaway Pond. Or, perhaps the story of a heroic runner is a complete humbug altogether. Dennis took the challenge to sort things out and put all the pieces of the puzzle together from records compiled by the Glover Historical Society and also from family history records compiled by Dennis' grandfather to find out what really happened on June 6, 1810.

Chamberlain family history: The 142 page book also includes photos and stories from Chamberlain family history from the 1600s to the present generation.