CSS EP-13 Creepiest Stories In Appalachian Folklore.

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That gets you a twenty dollars credit if you sign up for a paid plan and help support my show. Thanks everyone. Crazy Strange Days podcast presents Crazy Strange Stories Episode twelve. Today we're head over togrune dot com. We're going to check out a little Something by Sarah Crocker, The Creepiest Stories in Appalachian Folklore. What are the hallmarks of any creature is its folklore, and the Appalachian region, which spans thirteen states from the south southernmost counties of New York down into the northern regions of Alabama, Mississippi, is certainly rich in these tales and legends. Of course, like almost anyone, people in Appalasia also love a good scary story, whether they're the ones doing the scaring or just enjoying a chill down their own spine. There are plenty of eerie regional folk tales to choose from in this diverse region. Travel anywhere throughout Appalasia and you're bound to find a quiet hollow or out of the way road that gets even more unnerving once the sun goes down. Perhaps it's the features of the landscape, along with folklore and both indigenous people and immigrants from Europe that helped inspire the people of Appalachian to come up with the tales that still freak us out today. These are some of the creepiest of them all. The Taileypo. The setup of the tailor Poe legend may sound like the lead into a long joke, as you tuber and folktale collector doctor Luke Bowsermann told the Columbus Dispatch he first heard of this Appalachian beast in elementary school. It concerns an old man living alone in the wilds of West Virginia except for his dogs. He's contemplating his scanty food supplies when an odd creature bursts into his home, Roughly the size and shape of a weasel, but it has a thick tail, which the man chops off and adds to his meal. Things get even weirder when the creature returns, this time yowling for its tallypoe for his violent act. The old man and his dogs meet an unfortunate end. Bouserman notes that the legend of the tally Poe I guess it's tailey Poe shares literary DNA with the likes of many stories in which a creature or person returns to seek out something that's been stolen from them, in some cases grievously grievous bodily harm or injury in death isn't enough to stop their vengeance. Writing in Haunting Experiences Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore, Diane Goldstein, Sylvia Grider, and Jenny Banks Thomas maintained that the the telepo is probably not otherworldly, given that it shares more characteristics with a rage filled animal than a specter or more paranormal cryptid. But if you were to encounter the screeching tailepo waving its tail stump and explicitly hissing at you and then your native language, chances are you would be deeply unnerved. One of my favorites the wampus cat today is Denver Michael's Rights and Strange Tales from Virginia's Mountain. Most stories of the wampus cat maintain that it is some sort of mysterious cryptid that stalks the mountains, perhaps inspired by the very real North American mountain lion. Yet the wampus cat reads like a puma on steroids, sporting extra large claw and the ability to stroll around on two legs and scream at you, noop, not for me. One Cherokee legend has it that the wampus cat was once a human woman who spied on a ceremony meant only for men. Though she hid beneath the skin of a mountain lion, she was spotted and cursed by a shaman. Her punishment included being melded together with the puma skin and living as a half feline, half human monster alone in the woods, which she continues to stalk to this very day. She's understandably upset about her fate, meaning that you won't want to encounter the bad tempered wampus cat alone at night. Now, Appalachian History offers up a different and somewhat more heartwarming version of this story, in which an insanity inducing spirit known as the Uah was targeting a Cherokee village. The people's best warrior went out to fight the Ua, but he was mentally destroyed by the encounter. His wife, Running Deer, sourced a cat faced mask from the tribe shaman and defeated UA herself. Today, you some might tell you that the wampus cat is actually the protective spirit of Running Deer, still ready to run Ua off her tribe's lands. Now one near and dear to my heart, I've done a whole show on it is the Bell Witch. It's late at night in rural nineteenth century Tennessee. You're in your electric free cabin cabin, excuse me, trying to go about your business. Then the noises begin, or if you're really unfortunate, that's when the disembodied slapping starts. Such was the fate of the Bell family. According to Tennessee's State Library and Archives, the trouble actually began with the manifestation of an odd canine, or well, at least father John Bell thought that he had shot at a dog. Soon, the sounds of chewing, flapping, and knocking began to happen throughout the Bell house. The spirit grew more violent, moving furniture and then moving on to strike family members. Daughter Betsy became the focus of the activity. Was some of the hardest slaps and pinches reserved just for her. Eventually, the family couldn't pretend that everything was hunky dory, and word got out of the so called Bell Witch. Visitors came to the farm to converse with the spirit, which had started to talk, though it didn't seem to materialize. Ultimately, the Bell farm turned into something of a haunted house attraction. People who dared to taunt the spirit and tried to exercise it, or simply got in its ways, stood to be seriously frightened or even harmed by the Bell Witch. As the legend man maintains, John Bell was eventually killed by the spirit after years of mental torment and physical attacks. At his funeral, it is said that the witch's disembodied voice sang vulgar songs throughout the service. The black Dog. For some people, an encounter with a black dog is only an occasion to pet a friendly canine, But in the Appalachians, as in any other parts of the world, the appearance of such an animal spells something far more ominous. The infamous Bell Witch that hounded the Bell family of early nineteenth century Tennessee sometimes sent out black dogs to attack people. Meanwhile, a tale published in nineteen oh seven issue of the Journal of American Folklore relates the tale of a ghostly black dog that stalked a mountain pass in Virginia. Locals were frightened by the giant beast, especially when it appeared unaffected by gunfire. Eventually, a woman arrived seeking her missing husband and his black dog. The spirit of the animal promptly led her to the man's grave. The scariest black dog of the Appalachians might be the snarly yow. According to author Denver Michaels, this creature is often spotted around western Maryland and into West Virginia. It frequently appears as a black dog with a striking red mouth, though it rarely attacks people. Modern drivers report that a black dog like creature fitting the description of the Snarly Yoo will appear in the road and is sometimes even hit by their car. Yet no damage to the car or animals ever seen, and the creature is sometimes even standing in the road again, only this time it's behind the car that struck it. The moon Eyed people, this one's really interesting. According to the Silva Herald, many legends of North Carolina so called moon eyed people seem to originate from the indigenous Cherokee people. As Native tales have it, these small, blonde humanoids were so sensitive to the sun that they could only bear to come out at night, hence the moon eyed moniker. In some versions of the story, American Indian tribes come into conflict with the moon eyed people and either push them out or force them to live underground. The second possibility is especially creepy, given the extensive cave networks throughout the Appalachian region that are already unnerving without imagining eerily pale people looking inside. Later folklorists have tried to make this legend work in the context of real history, with some claiming that the moon eyed people might be the descendants of medieval Welsh explorers who crossed the Atlantic centuries ago. However, little physic evidence has presented itself to support this theory, apart from this statue on display at the Cherokee County Historical Museum. As director Wanda stall Cup told Roadside America, it shows two figures carved out of soapstone with faces marked by large eyes. Are these the moon eyed people or are they aliens, fairy lake beings, or even just artistically depicted standard humans. It's hard to tell, given that these the striking carving only shows up in the historical record after it was excavated in the eighteen forties, but it's clearly been enough to get people talking about this eerie Appalachian legend Everyone's favorite the moth Man. When it comes to Appalachian folklore cryptids, few have reached heights of notoriety quite like West Virginia's Mothman. As the Point Pleasant Register reported on November sixteenth, nineteen sixty six, two couples experienced a how a harrowing run in with the Mothman. The night before, the four had been up on the outskirts of town near a defunct National Guard armory around midnight. Nothing good happens after eleven. That's where they encountered a strikingly tall, winged humanoid with red eyes. The creature gave chase, keeping up with the group's speeding car as the cryptid flew through the air. It was only when they reached the brighter lit areas of Point Pleasant that it backed off, with its gray coloring and red eyes. The creature soon became known as the Mothman. Since its nineteen sixty six debut, the Mothman has become not just a local folklore legend, but something much more widespread, and we all have Richard Griggear to think for it, sort of. According to the Smithsonian's folk Life magazine journalist Mary Hire and John Keel, John Keel's The Godfather of the Mothman prophecies and Injuried Cole and All That published The Mothman prophecies in nineteen seventy five, which included other allegedly true stories of this creature that had seemingly put down stakes in the Point Pleasant area. The book was then turned into a two thousand and two film of the same name starring Gear, which pushed the eerie Mothman even further into notoriety. As creeped out as some may be of the Mothman, it's now become so popular that Point Pleasant hosts and annual Mothman festival that brings thousands to an otherwise small Appalachian town, one I've never heard of. It is a raw head and bloody bones. Kids not eating their vegetables, tearing up the house, getting up past bedtime. Simply bring up the story of a monster who steals away miscreant children, and at least some of those tykes will fall into line, even if that doesn't jive with your parenting philosophy. You can't deny that boogeyman are everywhere. There's the Brazilian Cucko, the devilish crampis in the Alps, and the Inuit qualub Illitute, just to name a few that's probably butchered by the way. I cannot speak Inuit. Appalachian folklore is no exception. Some mountain children were frightened into good behavior by the tale of raw head and bloody bones, as country legend Dolly Parton recalled in Dolly My Life and Other Unfinished Business. Her own mother would sometimes sneak outside and scratch at the window to get the children to stay in bed. But what are the folk tales behind these gory names? The Journal of American Folklore notes that this creature seems to have got its start in England and was first recorded around the sixteenth century. Many variations maintain that it's some sort of monster with the flesh fully or partially stripped off its skull, as children in North Carolina may have heard, as per the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, in Mary Hamilton's Kentucky Folklore, or in Mary Hamilton's Kentucky Folklore, two stepsisters encountering raw, bloody skull in a well. The inanimate skulls ask to be washed and treated lacely, but one of the girls reacts with disgust. Only the one who keeps it together is rewarded the Brown Mountain lights. You may think that the appearance of a few lights hovering around a mountain wouldn't be much cause for alarm, but the sheer uncertainty that surrounds the Brown Mountain lights of North Carolina, not to mention the many explanations and legends associated with them, makes for a pretty eerie experience. It's on my list, how about you? As per the Encyclopaedia of North Carolina. Via the Encyclopaedia of North Carolina, the Brown Mountain lights behave strangely appearing to float in change in size round yes, brown Mountain, according to researches from Appalachian State University. The earliest confirmed sightings of these odd lights floating around the area were reported in a nineteen thirteen edition of the Charlotte Observer. Even if people have been witnessing these strange lights since an on early time, no one's been able to come up with a definitive explanation despite more than one hundred years worth of sightings. Some of the more romantic and mysterious stories say that the lights are those of long gone Cherokee women searching for men who died in battle, or perhaps those of a search party looking for either a doomed woman or a lost slave master. More practical minded folks like those at the USGS say that the orbs could be the lights of cars or trains refracted through the atmosphere, though it's hard to feel chills when you believe you're observing misidentified headlights. For many, the notion of ghosts still wandering the mountain will survive suffice for a good eerie thrill. Appalachian witches. The figure of the witch has an especially complicated reputation throughout the Appalachians. Some of the creepy folk tales that speak of them assume witches are out to work evil on their neighbors, as Tom peak Cross relates in witchcraft in North Carolina. Many North Carolinians once believe that illnesses and livestock troubles were caused by evil witches. Someone might be especially creeped out wondering just who in the area might be working evil against them. Some might decide to fight back in and ominous fashion themselves. According to Patrick W. Gainer in Witches, Ghosts and Signs Folklore of the Southern Apple Ashes, it was whispered that crafting an image of the witch, then taking that dull to the top of a mountain and shooting it with a silver bullet would bring suffering and death an to the evil magic worker. Yet some witches aren't ill intentioned in Appalachian lore, they have instead proved themselves to be a valuable asset to the community. These are the granny witches, often elderly figures who act as folk healers and wise women in the communities that once had poor access to doctors. Often encountered in the Southern Appalachians, granny witches and other magic practitioners often often combined folk practices with Christianity. According to the Atlas Obscure, some may even proclaim that all of their work is strictly a gift from the Christian God. Granny Witch's work to heal the sick, affect the weather, and protect homes against blind influences that are out to get seemingly everyone who is a good one, the Hopkinsville Goblins. For one group of family and friends, a simple night spent at home would seriously awry in nineteen fifty five in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. As per the Courier and Press, several members of that family went to the police in late August of that year to report their encounter with what they believed were otherworldly visitors who had descended from a flying saucer to attack the family. A few even claimed to have fired guns at the small creatures with huge eyes and webbed hands and pointed ears, though no bodies were produced. Though some of these individuals may have believed they were fighting off aggressive goblins from outer space, others were immediately skeptical. It could be that they were simply lying, or perhaps they were loudly misinformed and frightened by meteors or aggressive owls, and this being rural Kentucky, some wondered if the witnesses had indulged in a bit of moonshine. After a while, it seemed like it was all over. Then the Hopkinsville goblins made a comeback. Well maybe, As paranormal investigator Greg Newkirk wrote in twenty fifteen for a Week in Weird Ent, Tucky man told him that creatures similar to those sighted way back in Hopkinsville were menacing him. New Kirk's investigation became increasingly long, which may lead you to believe that either he's into something or it's all a tangled mess of folklore and conspiracy theory. Still, the image of a three toed Claude Goblin approaching is enough to put a chill down even the most dedicated skeptic spine. Here's yet another I've not heard of the pity Pat. Cute as the name may sound, you really really don't want to come across Tennessee's pity Pat on a dark night. Luckily, according to Legends of America, this particular bit of Appalachian folklore seems restricted to one location, Shipley Hollow, alongside Sale Creek. The earliest tales of the Piti Pat take place in the late nineteenth century, with many versions centering on a mother and her young child traveling through the area in a horse drawn wagon. A strange creature rises up from the dark hollow and spooks the horse. The wagon overturns, and before the woman can do anything, the piti Pat grabs her child and runs back into the woods. No one sees or hears anything of the unfortunate young one ever again. Other riders in the area have reported being chased by a mysterious creature while they were on horseback near Shipley Hollow. In some tales, they reach their destination and insist they're staying the night lest they cross paths with the Piti Pad again. The spot has also become known as Piti Pat Hollow for the poorly described yet terrifying being lurking nearby. But what the heck is this thing? Some tales make it sound as if the Pity Pat were an odd but still tangible cryptid. Others hint that it's a more ghostly problem, with rumors of apparitions around Shipley Hollow. Whatever it is, it's said to be accompanied by a pity Pat noise as it creeps through the darkness towards you. All right, folks, there it is. Links to this article, links to support the show in the show notes, have a great October. The spooky season is upon us. Be safe, share the show where you can. Five star war rate and review goes a long way to helping me. All right, much love, respect, peace. Dame name adds d