Welcome to Bridgeport Unmasked!
Bridgeport Public Library’s original podcast explores all things about Bridgeport, Connecticut. Join librarian & moderator Adam Cleri–along with authors, Bridgeport librarians, & other guests–as we explore the city’s curious history, intriguing people, & unique fascinations that make Bridgeport Bridgeport.
Welcome to Share Your Bridgeport Voice
Bridgeport Public Library’s newest podcast talks to people doing great things in Bridgeport. Sit down with librarian & host Andre Massa, & his guests, as they swap stories & talk about all goods things happening in the Park City.
Share Your Bridgeport Voice
Episode 3: Derek Oxley: the Pod Doctor
May 21, 2026
Derek Oxley, the Pod Doctor, sits down with Librarian Andre Massa to talk about what goes into making a podcast: writing, research, editing, promoting, and more–and discovering and developing those stories that drives the creation of a podcast.
Episode 2: Geralene Valentine & Jay Misencik: Photographers & Cultural Heritage Storytellers
May 6, 2026
Librarian Andre Massa sits down with Gerlene Valentine & Jay Misencik, who have been taking professional photos of everyday life in Bridgeport, for decades. They currently run the Bridgeport Portrait Project, in which they take photos of people who represent the city of Bridgeport. Listen here for their stories about life, & snapping pics of life in Bridgeport over the years.
Episode 1: Eddie Martinez, Bridgeport Motivational Speaker, Podcaster, & Professional Development Coach
March 28, 2026
Librarian Andre Massa sits down with Eddie Martinez, a lifelong Bridgeport native who works as a professional development coach, motivational speaker, & podcaster. Join us to hear him explain his work & life in Bridgeport, including growing up in East Side & doing work with the Puerto Rican Parade of Fairfield County, & about his upcoming podcast & daily morning news report on good things happening in Connecticut.
Bridgeport Unmasked
Latest Episode
Episode 13: Quarter-Acre of Heartache & Other Claude Clayton Smith Books: Author Talk
March 14, 2026
Librarian Adam sits down with Claude Clayton Smith, an author who writes about the Paugussetts, the tribe whose ancestral lands include Bridgeport. We discuss three of his books: The Stratford Devil, his novel featuring settlers and Indigenous people around colonial Stratford; The Quarter-Acre of Heartache, following Chief Big Eagle’s efforts to keep the Paugussett reservation in tribal hands; and Red Men in Red Square, in which Smith and Chief Big Eagle travel to visit Indianists, enthusiasts of Indigenous People in Russia in the early 1990s.
Previous Episodes
Episode 13: Quarter-Acre of Heartache & Other Claude Clayton Smith Books: Author Talk
March 14, 2026
Librarian Adam sits down with Claude Clayton Smith, an author who writes about the Paugussetts, the tribe whose ancestral lands include Bridgeport. We discuss three of his books: The Stratford Devil, his novel featuring settlers and Indigenous people around colonial Stratford; The Quarter-Acre of Heartache, following Chief Big Eagle’s efforts to keep the Paugussett reservation in tribal hands; and Red Men in Red Square, in which Smith and Chief Big Eagle travel to visit Indianists, enthusiasts of Indigenous People in Russia in the early 1990s.
Episode 12: Morningstar: the Library’s Finance Database
December 16, 2025
Librarian Andre Massa joins Librarian Adam in discussing Morningstar, the library’s finance database, offering tutorials, articles, search engine, & charts of investments’ performances. Librarian Andre also reviews investing terms, how to research investments, & how to keep your head cool while your portfolio fluctuates.
Episode 11: Mayor Ganim on Bridgeport Organizations
December 04, 2025
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim joins Librarian Adam Cleri to talk about happenings at extraordinary Bridgeport organizations.
Episode 10: Food Pantries Open to Bridgeport Residents
November 05, 2025
Episode 9: Why get a library card?
October 10, 2025
Episode 8: Whynd, Diego, & the Block Island Ghost
August 12, 2025
Author Cat Urbain talks about her middle grade book, Diego, Whynd, & the Block Island Ghost, the story of two pre-teens who get into hijinks (natural & supernatural) on Block Island, an island just off of Long Island. This is the first episode of New Books Network in Bridgeport, all about area authors.
Episode 7: Jasper McLevy: Bridgeport’s Socialist Mayor (1933-1957)
May 7, 2025
Professor Cecelia Bucki joins Librarians Jaime Pettit & Adam Cleri to talk about Jasper McLevy, Bridgeport’s longest serving & only socialist mayor, & Bridgeport & Connecticut from pre-Depression to post-War.
Episode 6: Paugussett Clan Mother Shoran Piper
January 29, 2025
Clan Mother Shoran Piper joins Librarians Kate & Adam to share the past & present of the Paugussetts, whose ancestral lands include Bridgeport & areas of Fairfield County.
Episode 5: Revolutionary Connecticut
October 25, 2024
Episode 4: The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill
September 9, 2024
In the late 1800s, abortion practitioner Nancy Guilford gets caught up in the death of a patient in Bridgeport, and then flees the country, before being returned to face her trial. Marcia Biederman comes into our podcast studio to talk about late 19th century intrigue, society, & medicine, as in her book, The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill.
Episode 3: Ghosts on Lindley St.?: A Debate
April 16, 2024
In November 1974, bizarre things happened on a house on Lindley St. in Bridgeport—can they be explained physically, were they the work of ghosts, or did they happen by something else entirely? This debate pits different explanations against each other in one of the Warrens’ most famous paranormal investigations.
Episode 2: Bridgeport to Hollywood
March 19, 2024
First Blood, The Conjuring, Story of G.I. Joe–none of these movies, & many others, would have been made without Bridgeport residents. We discuss how Brian Dennehy, the Mitchums, the Warrens, & others who called Bridgeport home, wrote & performed for great films.
Episode 1: The Death of James Beardsley
February 15, 2024
Sure, you’ve heard of James Beardsley—or at least, the Zoo, park, & library that bear his name—but have you heard about his murder? We explore the cold case (but we have thoughts about what happened) of the felony murder of one of Bridgeport’s best known benefactors.
The Library on Other Podcasts
Podcast: Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path
Episode: “20,000 Leagues Under Long Island Sound: Part 1”
Librarian, author, & historian Michael Bielawa joins Mike Allen to discuss a maritime disaster in Long Island Sound.
Many people have no idea that the S-48 submarine sank in Long Island Sound off the coast of Fairfield back in 1921, with 41 crewmen onboard. This first of a two-part series takes us through a detailed accounting of the first hours of what the crew encountered over a 12-hour period, based on statements from the survivors. It is an absolutely spellbinding story of bravery and ingenuity as one challenge after another met these men on a relatively routine sea trial mission that went horribly wrong.
Podcast: Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path
Episode: “20,000 Leagues Under Long Island Sound: Part 2”
Librarian, author, & historian Michael Bielawa joins Mike Allen to discuss a maritime disaster in Long Island Sound.
In this second of a two-part series on the sinking of the S-48 submarine 100 years ago in Long Island Sound, we’ll have the exciting conclusion about the survival efforts made by the 41 crew members trapped 60 feet below the surface of The Sound, off the coast of Fairfield, with icy water and poisonous chlorine gas filling the vessel and no communications system to let others know of their dire circumstances.
Podcast: Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path
Episode: “This CT Ghost Story has Plenty of Credible Witnesses”
Librarian & Assistant Archivist Jaime Pettit joins Mike Allen to discuss the bizarre (even supernatural?) events that occurred in a Bridgeport house in the 1970s.
Floating refrigerators, knives and crucifixes flying through mid-air, and a talking cat were observed by more than a dozen police officers and firefighters reported seeing and hearing these incidents. When newspapers reported it, thousands of spectators gathered nightly, causing traffic jams. The Catholic Church became involved as did the infamous ghost hunter couple Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Want to dive more into the Lindley St. phenomena? Scroll up & click on Bridgeport Unmasked’s Episode 3: “Ghosts on Lindley St.?: A Debate”.
Podcast: The Checkout Stack
Episode: “A SciFi Philosophy Series With Adam in CT”
Librarian & Bridgeport Unmasked moderator Adam joins library superfan Maria to talk about books, including: Ishmael, The Story of B, My Ishmael, The Woman in Me, The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens, The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill, Red Paint, & Dirty Jokes & Bawdy Songs
The Checkout Stack is for library lovers and bookworms everywhere. Each episode Maria interviews a new librarian to discuss their recent reads, get book recommendations, and learn how their library impacts the community it serves. This podcast is a celebration of the reading life, join us to make sure your library checkout stack is always piled sky high.