Haints of the Hills

This is the third of Daniel Barefoot's "Haunted Hundred" books, which chronicle one paranormal event in each of North Carolina's one hundred counties. The first volume deals with the coastal area, the second handles the Piedmont and this volume takes a look at the mountains of Western North Carolina. As is the case in the other two volumes, this book does contain some good ghost stories that are of a recent nature, but there are also a lot of stories that are simply old legends. As was the case with the previous volumes I really don't like these old legends but for some reason I still liked this book a great deal. It would have been difficult to write this type of book about Western North Carolina without including at least a few Cherokee legends because Cherokee culture is just so prevalent in this area. Add in the occasional witch and a bigfoot or two and what you end up with is a book that is mostly legend with a few real ghost stories thrown in for good measure. Still, I liked this book. The best and most interesting chapter in this book tells the true story behind the Kingston Trio's big 1958 hit "Tom Dooley." Tom's last name was actually Dula but was pronounced Dooley and I was surprised to find that the song is basically an accurate account of a true story. Better yet, this story actually does involve a ghost that pays regular visits to Dula's grave. All three volumes of the "Haunted Hundred" series involve far too many stories that do not deal with ghosts in any reasonable sense. This volume is more guilty of this than the other two and really offers only two or three real ghost stories, but still I liked it. I don't know whether it is the author's obvious enthusiasm for his subject or his excellent writing style but whatever the reason, I liked this book. Now that Barefoot has finished this series of books I hope that he will go out and interview people who have had recent ghostly encounters and produce an all-new book of Tar Heel ghost stories. He has the talent and if he will give up these old legends this author could produce some top-notch ghost books.