Professor Thom Simmons speaks five languages, including Scottish Gaelic, and is a qualified translator for the Interpreter Corps of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. A graduate of Hofstra University and Hofstra Law School, he has also studied at the Colaisde na Gàidhlig in Nova Scotia and the Invermark School of Piping. A professor for over 25 years, he has spent much of his life researching his family’s history and the folklore of Glenshee, Scotland, and is an active member of the Clan MacThomas Society.
An animated storyteller, he had thrilled visitors to the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, serving as an interpretive guide recounting tales of pirates, shipwrecks, and ghostly apparitions at the Boston Lighthouse. He lives with his husband Dan in Chester, Vermont, where they operate Dungeon Dragon Farm, an organic homestead. When not sampling single-malt Scotch whisky varieties, they enjoy their home-brewed mead, ales, and hard ciders. He is a practicing reconstructionist heathen, embracing both Norse and Gaelic polytheism.