The Granny Curse And Other Ghosts And Legends From East Tennessee

From the Blue Ridge to the Cumberlands, from Pigeon Forge and Cades Cove to Warrior Path State Park and Roan Mountain, East Tennessee offers a plethora of stories about haints and spirits. Twenty-five tales, all based in historical fact or tied to an actual location and intertwined with regional folklore, are included in this collection.

Twenty-five tales, all based in historical fact or tied to an actual location and intertwined with regional Eastern Tennessee folklore.

The Spooky Side of the Volunteer State Tennessee is steeped in legend. From strange sightings to odd and macabre crimes, the Volunteer State is no stranger to lore. Author Alan Brown details the haunts, troubling crimes and spooky past.

The eastern side of the Smokies abounds with spooky tales, like the story of a Shadow Woman who appeared to a farmer each morning and evening to beg for a cup of milk. Skinned Tom is another East Tennessee haunt, though his is a sinister tale that warns the unfaithful to steer clear of local lover’s lanes for their illicit trysting. From the farmer who finds a Cavern of Skulls to a moonshiner who makes a deal with a water demon; and the Half Shaved ghost seeking vengeance to the first (and only) meeting of the Asheville Ghost Club, the Great Smoky Mountains and its foothills abound with spooky tales. My favorites are in this collection.

Many American legends have Celtic origins. Each chapter in this fascinating book presents a Celtic myth and a similar American one. Celtic immigrants brought these legends to all regions of the U.S. Old-world mythology morphs into New World folklore. Curran recounts America's oldest legends and traces their origins to the Celtic mythology of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, presenting a similar old-world tale alongside each American version. Once transported to America, the original Celtic tales evolved to assimilate the new population's geographic, social, and religious customs, weaving their way into the fabric of American folk history.

What darkness lurks beneath the Season of Lights? T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring … but are you sure about that? The dark winter nights can hold many secrets. Sylvia Shults has gathered over 120 tales of Christmas ghosts, giving new meaning to "the dead of winter". Shults organizes the book around seven themes. They encompass everything from strange Christmas customs ("We Wish You A Merry Christmas … Or Else!"), to the season's monsters ("He Sees You When You're Sleeping"), to ghost stories of Christmas ("'Tis The Season" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"). Unwrap this book, and shiver your way through this great collection of gho-ho-hosts.

The Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English is a revised and expanded edition of the Weatherford Award–winning Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, published in 2005 and known in Appalachian studies circles as the most comprehensive reference work dedicated to Appalachian vernacular and linguistic practice. Editors Michael B. Montgomery and Jennifer K. N. Heinmiller document the variety of English used in parts of eight states, ranging from West Virginia to Georgia—an expansion of the first edition's geography, which was limited primarily to North Carolina and Tennessee—and include over 10,000 entries drawn from over 2,200 sources. The entries include approximately 35,000 citations to provide the reader with historical context, meaning, and usage. Around 1,600 of those examples are from letters written by Civil War soldiers and their family members, and another 4,000 are taken from regional oral history recordings. Decades in the making, the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English surpasses the original by thousands of entries. There is no work of this magnitude available that so completely illustrates the rich language of the Smoky Mountains and Southern Appalachia.

Since 1934 the Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin has been a respected source on the wonderfully diverse history and traditions of the Volunteer State, but until now that publication's wide-ranging articles have been largely restricted to the society's membership. With the appearance of A Tennessee Folklore Sampler, editors Ted Olson and Anthony P. Cavender provide a broad audience with a rich selection of the work published over the course of this acclaimed journal's seventy-five-year history. Packed with colorful descriptions and analysis of the state's folkways, A Tennessee Folklore Sampler covers all three of the grand divisions of Tennessee--East, Middle, and West-- and includes articles by some prominent students of folklore, among them Charles Wolfe, Charles Faulkner Bryan, Thomas Burton, Donald Davidson, Herbert Halpert, Mildred Haun, Michael Lofaro, Michael Montgomery, and Tom Rankin. Following an introductory section that places the book into historical, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts, A Tennessee Folklore Sampler is divided into ten parts covering material culture, medicine, beliefs and practices, customs, play and recreation lore, speech, legends, ballad and song, instrumental traditions and music collecting, and folk communities. Each part begins with an introduction that places the selections in context and concludes with suggestions for further reading. The appendix features an essay that explores the history of the Tennessee Folklore Society and the evolution of folklore studies of the state. The anthology will be a welcome resource for folklorists and scholars in many fields as well as a special treasure for general readers. With more than sixty illustrations complementing the text, A Tennessee Folklore Sampler presents a vivid overview of Tennessee folk culture that illuminates the very soul of the state. Ted Olson is the author of Blue Ridge Folklife and Breathing in Darkness: Poems, and the coeditor of The Bristol Sessions: Writings about the Big Bang of Country Music. He teaches at East Tennessee State University. Anthony P. Cavender is professor of anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at East Tennessee State University. He is the author of Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia and has published articles in Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Folklore Research, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Human Organization, Appalachian Journal, and American Speech, among others.