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

by S. E. Schlosser, Paul G. Hoffman (Illustrator)

Overview

Here we have a collection of unnerving tales of events that happened--and still do happen--in the collective back yard of the Deep South states. Accompanied by evocative illustrations, these compelling retellings of 43 popular folktales feature supernatural occurrences and ghosts of all sorts, from fiddling ghosts to the story of the Jack o'Lantern. Whether read around the fire on a dark and stormy night or in the backseat of the family van on the way to Grandma's, each expertly told tale is guaranteed to make readers look at the South--and over their shoulders--again and again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493069910
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/02/2024
Series:	Spooky
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	322
File size:	36 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Author S.E. Schlosser has been telling stories since she was a child, when games of "let's pretend" quickly built themselves into full-length stories. A graduate of Houghton College, the Institute of Children's Literature, and Rutgers University, she also created and maintains AmericanFolklore.net, where she shares a wealth of stories from all 50 states, some dating back to the origins of America.

Artist Paul Hoffman trained in painting and printmaking, with his first extensive illustration work on assignment in Egypt, drawing ancient wall reliefs for the University of Chicago. His work graces books of many genres--children's titles, textbooks, short story collections, natural history volumes, and numerous cookbooks. For the Globe Pequot Spooky series, he employed a scratchboard technique and an active imagination.

Read an Excerpt

From Chapter 10
The Woman in Black
Savannah, Georgia

Suddenly the rat sprang forward and ran straight towards us. Teddy and I jumped back in terror but the woman in black did not move. For several terrible seconds, we watched that white rat coming closer, closer. Then the woman picked up her black silk skirts and ran to meet it. The white rat sprang up into her arms and then sank right through her chest. I caught a glimpse of her face through the veil. It was all sunken-in like the face of a corpse. She laughed, a horrible high pitched sound. Then the earth seemed to open below her feet and she sank down and down.

Teddy let out a shriek that was almost as terrible as the ghoul-woman's cry. He dropped his stick and started runnin' as if he'd never suffered from rheumatism a day in his life. I was right on his heels. We never stopped runnin' til we got home.

After that, we always took the long way to my aunt's house and made sure we left before dark.

Table of Contents

Part 1	Ghost Stories
1.	Wait Until Emmet Comes: Kanawha County, West Virginia	2
2.	The Cut-Off: Red River Landing, Louisiana	6
3.	I'm Coming Down: Camden, South Carolina	10
4.	The Army of the Dead: Charleston, South Carolina	15
5.	The Death Watch: Raleigh County, West Virginia	20
6.	Hold Him, Tabb: Hampton, Virginia	27
7.	The Headless Haunt: Madison, North Carolina	32
8.	Jakie and the Ghost: Greenville, Mississippi	39
9.	The Log Cabin: Montgomery County, Arkansas	46
10.	The Woman in Black: Savannah, Georgia	51
11.	Seeing Ghosts: Sea Island, Georgia	56
12.	Chattanooga's Ghost: New Orleans, Louisiana	61
13.	Fiddler's Dram: Dukedom, Tennessee	67
14.	Uncle Henry and the Dog Ghost: Somewhere Down South	77
15.	The Headless Specter: Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina	83
Part 2	The Powers of Darkness
16.	The Wampus Cat: Knoxville, Tennessee	92
17.	The Devil's Marriage: Guilford County, North Carolina	99
18.	The Witch Woman and the Spinning Wheel: New Orleans, Louisiana	108
19.	Jack-o'-Lantern: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, Alabama	113
20.	Plat-Eye: Harrison County, Mississippi	118
21.	The Witch Bridle: Albright, West Virginia	123
22.	Tailypo: Montgomery County, Tennessee	131
23.	The Devil's Mansion: New Orleans, Louisiana	136
24.	The Red Rag under the Churn: The Kentucky Mountains	144
25.	Chicky-licky-chow-chow-chow: Maryville, Tennessee	150
26.	A Fish Story: Farmville, Virginia	160
27.	Christmas Gift: Palatka, Florida	166
28.	Wiley and the Hairy Man: Tombigbee Region, Alabama	171
29.	West Hell: Jacksonville, Florida	182
30.	Old Hickory and the Bell Witch: Adams, Tennessee	186
	Resources	195
	About the Author	198

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Spooky New England

"If you have ever felt a chill as you walked past a Vermont graveyard, or stopped by a small New Hampshire country inn for the night and knew there was something watching you, or felt an unseen hand brush against you on a mountain in Maine, you will love Spooky New England. And if you don't believe in ghosts—you will."

Michael Carlton

Praise for Spooky New England

"If you have ever felt a chill as you walked past a Vermont graveyard, or stopped by a small New Hampshire country inn for the night and knew there was something watching you, or felt an unseen hand brush against you on a mountain in Maine, you will love Spooky New England. And if you don't believe in ghosts—you will."
—Michael Carlton, Editor, Yankee Magazine

From the Publisher