Stay ConnectedWelcome to “Stories of Appalachia,” the podcast where hosts Steve Gilly and Rod Mullins have been unraveling the captivating history and folklore of the Appalachian region since 2015. Join them as they guide you through mist-covered mountains and winding rivers, exploring the stories that define the heart and soul of Appalachia.
www.storiesofappalachia.com
Copyright: © Copyright Steve Gilly
Today we tell the story of a man who refused to let a "disability" keep him down.
Linguist, athlete, amateur astronomer, adventurer and genealogist James Brownlow Lawson from Sevier County, Tennessee, lived the life he wanted, despite the loss of his arm as a young man.
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In February, 1972, a coal company muck dam along Buffalo Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, collapsed after a winter of heavy snow and rain. The resulting flash flood of water and gob destroyed homes, businesses and took several lives in that Appalachian holler.
Today we tell that story.
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Otto Wood was headed in the wrong direction from a young age. As a child he learned how to make moonshine while in the care of his relatives in West Virginia, to whom he had run away from home.
One thing led to another and before you knew it Otto was a wanted man in at least six states.
Thing is, the authorities in those states just couldn't keep Otto locked up for long, since he was always escaping.
Today we tell the story of the Appalachian escape artist and outlaw, Otto Wood.
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Did some Braxton County, West Virginia, kids see a UFO back in 1952? Some folks thought so, especially after locals began exhibiting strange symptoms. Today Steve and Rod tell the tale of the Flatwoods Monster, or the Phantom of Flatwoods, as it was also called. It’s another story that makes up the history of this place we call home.
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In 1938 a Roane County, Tennessee, hermit felt the pull of time. Concerned about how he was going to be remembered after he was gone and wondering if anyone cared anyway, he decided to plan and hold his funeral service...while he could experience it.
Today we tell the story of Uncle Bush's magnificent funeral...
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There was once a cabin down by Sinking Creek at the foot of Droop Mountain in West Virginia, or so it's been told. That cabin was the home of a mysterious man known as "Old Hell."
Some folks around there said that hell was the right name, for that house became known for hellish sounds and otherworldly lights. It was also found to have more to it than that, though, and this bit of folklore is today's story of Appalachia.
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Doris Payne was born in 1930 to a coal miner in Slab Fork, West Virginia.
She didn't stay there. In fact, she ended up traveling the world for decades pursuing her chosen path in life.
International jewel thief.
Today we tell her story.
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In the late 19th century a man from Stoney Creek, in Johnson County, Tennessee, went West to seek his fortune.
He found that fortune.
He then lost that fortune and in the process decided that he no longer wanted the company of his fellow man, so he took what money he had left and purchased the top of an East Tennessee mountain on which to live, with his faithful dog and, for a time, with a pet rattlesnake.
Today we tell the story of Uncle Nick Grindstaff, whose grave and monument still stand next to the Appalachian trail atop Iron Mountain for the entire world to visit, if they've a mind to.
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In 1919 a wave of riots and lynchings occurred across America, fueled in part by a fear of communism and communist agitation among minorites and in part by fear of battle-hardened African-American soldiers returning from service in World War I not complying with Jim Crow laws in the south.
Appalachia was not immune to this wave.
In the summer of 1919 a mob swept through downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, after the arrest of a prominent African-American resident named Maurice Mays in the assault and murder of a white woman in the city. The riot only ended after the intervention of the Tennessee National Guard.
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Years before European settlers moved into Appalachia, native tribes from Alabama to Ohio spoke of going to war with a mysterious race of pale-skinned people who were so sensitive to sunlight they only came out at night. These "moon-eyed" people were forced from Alabama into North Carolina, then to Tennessee and Kentucky before being driven out west of the Mississippi River.
Today we tell the legend of the Moon-eyed People.
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Thanks for listening and thanks for sharing our stories with your friends.
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