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.
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Copyright: © Copyright Steve Gilly
This week, we tell a story from the lawless mountain border between western North Carolina and east Tennessee during the Civil War. As great battles raged elsewhere, outlaws and deserters came to the mountains to hide, to rob and to turn old trails and creek crossings into killing grounds.
At the center of this story is John Jackson Kirkland and his gang, whose violence touched soldiers, civilians, rivals, and even their own kin. This is a story of a war without sides, and justice that never came.
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This week, Steve and Rod tell the story of Granville “Stick” McGhee and Walter “Brownie” McGhee, two brothers from East Tennessee whose music helped shape American blues and early rock ’n’ roll. Born in Knoxville, the McGhee brothers took the music they heard growing up and used it to launch themselves onto the national stage.
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In 1730, seven Cherokee leaders traveled from their Appalachian home to the heart of London. Hand-picked by a Scottish adventurer named Alexander Cumming, they were presented to King George II as "Kings" of a new empire. Today we tell the story of that voyage and how these Native Americans navigated their way through the streets of the city at the center of the British Empire, all while securing an alliance on their own terms.
It’s another one of the Stories of Appalachia.
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The Big Bull Tunnel in Wise County, Virginia looks like any other railroad tunnel, just a simple cut through a hillside. Looks, though, can be deceiving, as the tunnel’s history is packed with accidents, strange noises, deaths, and a chilling encounter that turned a routine inspection into a bit of Appalachian folklore. In this episode, Steve and Rod tell the story of the tunnel’s difficult construction, the tragedies that followed, and the story that convinced railroad officials something inside the mountain was best avoided.
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Today we tell not one but two stories, both involving the same community in Fannin County, Georgia.
In 1864 two men, brothers-in-law Elisha Stanley and Evan Hughes, became the victims of a gang of violent bushwhackers who terrorized the area during the Civil War, leaving their families to pick up the pieces. Forty years later, in 1906, the Tilley Bend massacre occurred in the same area, causing a local woman, Elizabeth Bradley, known as a "Granny Woman" and healer, to place a curse on the community, in the process creating what may be the most well-known bit of Appalachian folklore in that part of Georgia.
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This week Rod and Steve tell the story of a gang of robbers who cast a long shadow over Ashe County, North Carolina in the unsettled years after the Civil War. One by one they fell, until only Linville Eller remained. He, too, met his fate in 1890 after a massive manhunt.
This is the story of the Eller Gang, led by brothers Linville and Henry Eller, the North Carolina high country’s most notorious 19th-century outlaws, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.
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This week’s story is the bizarre true tale of Leila Davidson Hansell, known as "The Sunshine Woman," and the controversy surrounding her final resting place in Hendersonville, NC.
Leila's final wish upon her death in 1915 was to be buried above ground in a unique mausoleum topped with 147 squares of prism glass, designed to let the sun shine down on her remains. For over two decades, her glass-topped tomb became a must-see tourist attraction, fueled by a 1926 newspaper article that confirmed the skeleton could, indeed, be seen through the glass, contrary to the designer’s adamant denials.
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Born in Blount County, Hut Amerine grew into one of East Tennessee’s most notorious moonshiners. After the Civil War, federal whiskey taxes ignited a bitter conflict between mountain distillers and revenue agents. Accused in the fatal shooting of a federal officer, Amerine became the target of an intense manhunt, spoke publicly in his own defense, escaped jail twice, and ultimately vanished. It’s a true Appalachian outlaw story, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.
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James Faye Hall, better known as Roy Hall, was born in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, in 1921. He died in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee in 1984.
Between those dates is a story about a hillbilly boogie pianist who played for Uncle Dave Macon in a traveling version of the Grand Ole Opry as a child, formed his own hillbilly/R&B band. He found success in Detroit, worked as a session musician for such Nashville stars as Webb Pierce, Marty Robbins and Red Foley, and was on the very cusp of stardom as a rockabilly act in the 1950s, only to have it slip away from him.
Oh, by the way, he’s also credited by many to have co-written “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” which made Jerry Lee Lewis a rock and roll legend.
Join us as we tell the fascinating story of Roy Hall, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.
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We’ve told the story of labor conflicts from Harlan, Kentucky to Blair Mountain, West Virginia. This week, we tell a story that’s not set in the Kentucky or West Virginia coalfields, but in Western North Carolina. It’s the story of the 1906 “Tally War,” a violent clash between Italian railroad laborers and company officials of contractors for the South and Western Railroad, which was building their railroad through the North Carolina mountains. Between Spruce Pine and Marion, North Carolina, a violent confrontation erupted over a wage dispute and the harsh conditions in the railroad construction camps that ended in an international incident between the United States and Italy.
It’s another one of the Stories of Appalachia.
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