Spooky South: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore

When I pick up a book like this one I am normally looking for a book of non-fiction accounts of paranormal experiences. The books that I like most contain stories of ongoing haunts and include eyewitness accounts from people who have experienced the haunt. I often post scathing reviews of books like this one that I buy believing them to be that type of book only to find that the book in question is only a collection of folk stories that generally have no basis in fact. This book however, does not advertise itself as the kind of book I normally read but clearly states on the back cover that it is a book of folklore. That is all I have ever asked. If it's folklore just say so. Just like any other type of book there are different grades of folklore books and I must say that this one deserves a very high grade. The stories are the type that I grew up hearing and are deeply rooted in the Southern psyche. Many of these tails involve the Devil and the dangers one incurs in dealing with the Prince of Darkness. Most all of the stories involve some type of moral lesson but are also extremely fun to listen to or read. Southern grandparents have been thrilling their grandchildren with these stories for years. In this book you will find many stories that are pure legends like the story of "The Fiddler's Dram" or the tale about "The Red Rag Under the Churn." There are also stories however that deal with the Bell Witch, the Wampus Cat and the Army of the Dead which are all based on the very real experiences of very real people. The Wampus Cat still puts in an occasional appearance around the tunnels that run under the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. I was particularly fond of the "Tailypo" story because it closely parallels a story that I was told as a child. In this version an old man cuts the tail off of a strange animal and cooks and eats the tail. That night the creature returns to claim his "Tailypo." In the version I grew up with an old woman finds a severed big toe in her potato patch and cooks and eats the toe. That night the toe's owner returns seeking his toe. The end results are the same in both stories and prove that it isn't wise to eat something's "Tailypo" or someone's big toe. The stories in this book are wonderfully written and are told from the perspective of the original storyteller. This is quite a collection of Southern folklore and the author has obviously done a large amount of research in putting this book together. Best of all, she lets the stories speak for themselves which is virtue not possessed by many folklore books. If you have any interest in folklore I would highly recommend this book and if you grew up in the South I bet that you either heard some of these stories or stories very similar to the ones found in this book. When my grandson gets a little older he may just get to hear about "The Witch Bridle" while we sit around a campfire on a cool autumn evening.

A super collection of scary ghost stories from down South. There are famous haunts like the Bell Witch from Tennessee, Blackbeard's ghost who roams Ocracoke Inlet in North Carolina, and the Army of the Dead in Charleston. There are also some not-so-famous but equally scary tales like the Wampus Cat, Hold Him Tabb, and the Devil's Mansion. These are great stories to tell around the campfire! Another thing I liked about the book was the way the author threaded humorous moments into many of the stories. I laughed aloud when I read I'm Coming Down and Wait Until Emmet Comes. The book has lovely illustrations that go with each story, and a map showing the towns and locations from which the tales originated. Can't wait to see more books from this author.

If you are a folklore fan, you will love this book. There are many interesting chacters in this book. President Andrew Jackson meets a bell witch in Tenn. In Fla. a Big John de Conqueror goes wife hunting with interesting results. Alabama has a Hairy Man to keep the residents of the state company. In Virginia there are strange looking fish to catch. In Mississippi there's a black cat called a plat-eye waiting to scare people. There's a Jack -o- Lantern in Alabama that people have to watch out for. These are only a few of the interesting folklore character's you will meet as you read this very interesting book. I highly recommend this book, there are stories for people of all ages.