Stories of Appalachia

This week we have a traditional Appalachian folktale to share with you: the tale of Wicked John, a mean-spirited man whose dealings with a mysterious stranger set him on a path that leads to…a place between Heaven and Hell.It’s a story that’s been told in Appalachia for generations and we hope you enjoy our version of it, just in time for Halloween!Be sure to like, comment and subscribe so you don’t miss any of our Stories of Appalachia.Thanks for listening and Happy Halloween!

167 years ago this weekend, on the night of October 16, 1859, fiery abolitionist John Brown and his men set out toward Harpers Ferry and the federal armory located there.  Brown had a vision of an expansive Appalachian mountain campaign to free Southern slaves and establish a free state for them, a strategy that slowly unraveled through delays, betrayal, and Brown’s dismissal of a warning not to proceed from Frederick Douglass at a clandestine meeting the two had in Pennsylvania.This week, we tell the story of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.<br...

This week we tell the story of the Wright-Reynolds feud and the legendary figure at its center: a man folks often called “Devil”:  John Wesley Wright. Riding through the rugged mountains of eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia, Wright forged a reputation as a fierce lawman, detective, and feudist whose very name struck fear into outlaws and rivals alike. At the turn of the 20th century he also found himself involved in a family feud with the Reynolds family, who’d formed a group of nightriders to “enforce morality” in Letcher County…and protect themselves from the Wrights. It’s another one of...

This week Steve and Rod share the true survival story of Captain Robert A. Ragan.A schoolteacher and Union supporter from Cocke County in East Tennessee, Ragan was forced into hiding for 18 months after Confederate soldiers dragged him from his classroom.Living as a fugitive in the mountain wilderness, Ragan survived close encounters with rebel patrols, a brutal foot injury, and near-executions. He went on to become a mountain "pilot," guiding hundreds of Unionists across enemy lines into Kentucky, through a perilous sprint across Powell Valley. It’s another one of the Stories of App...

Before Robert Fulton, there was James Rumsey, an inventor who defied his skeptics and the power of the Potomac River at Shepardstown, in what’s now West Virginia.Today we tell the story of how a chance encounter with George Washington led to Rumsey’s water-jet propelled steamboat twenty years before Robert Fulton’s Claremont and a patent war with another inventor.Subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app so you never miss our stories. Thanks for listening!

Before Elkmont became a tourist destination and eventually a ghost town, it was home to Levi Trentham, a mountain landowner, businessman, hunter, guide, and unofficial mayor.As railroads, lumber companies, wealthy tourists, and then the Great Smoky Mountains National Park transformed the Smokies, Levi watched the world he knew disappear. He also fought against the stereotypes outsiders used to portray Appalachian people, insisting that the people he knew were intelligent, capable, and independent.This is the story of Levi Trentham and the changing world of Elkmont.Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss...

In 1906, escaped convict Will Harris arrived in Asheville, North Carolina, and unleashed one of the most violent crime sprees in the city’s history. After killing several men, including police officers, Harris fled Asheville, sparking a massive manhunt involving hundreds of armed citizens.This is the story of Will Harris, the outlaw who claimed he came straight from hell… and brought hell with him to Asheville.Be sure to like, comment and subscribe for more Stories of Appalachia.Thanks for listening.

Richard Trotter was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, leaving behind his wife, Anne. Instead of living quietly, raising their son, she became a scout and courier on the Appalachian frontier, earning the nickname “Mad Anne” for her fearless rides through dangerous territory before marrying another man she met on the frontier.Her life was full of adventure, including the often told story of her daring mission to bring gunpowder to an isolated frontier fort threatened with attack by the Shawnee.  Behind that story was a real woman who lived an extraordinary life on the Appalachian front...

For decades a preacher would come to the Bristol, Virginia, train station to meet the incoming trains, looking for couples who’d come to the city to elope.  He claimed to have married 5,142 couples, over 10,000 people, in a matrimonial career that included rival preachers, angry fathers, runaway couples, a “matrimonial hotel,” and even a plea to the state of Tennessee for a state pension based on his marrying work.This week we tell the story of Alfred Harrison Burroughs, known as “The Marrying Parson,” another one of the Stories of Appalachia.Be sure to subscribe to the Stories...

In 1794, thousands of federalized militia marched into western Pennsylvania to put down an uprising by American farmers. Their crime? Making whiskey and refusing to pay a federal tax on it.The Whiskey Rebellion was the first major test of the new federal government's authority, and George Washington personally accompanied the troops sent to suppress it. But why did a tax on whiskey bring the young United States so close to civil war?It’s another one of the Stories of Appalachia.Subscribe to the Stories podcast for more stories about the people, places, and ev...

Dillion “Old Dill” Asher was one of the early pioneers of southeastern Kentucky, a frontier soldier and farmer who became the toll keeper at the Cumberland River ford at what’s now Pineville, giving him a front row seat to the early settlement of the state.In this episode, we tell Old Dill’s story, from his connection to the first settlers in what became Tennessee, his military service, his journeys into Kentucky along the Wilderness Road, the settlement of Red Bird Valley, and his, shall we say, “complicated family life.”Along the way, we try to separate...

In 1779, on the Georgia frontier, a group of armed Loyalist soldiers forced their way into Nancy Hart's cabin, demanding a hot meal from a helpless woman and her daughter.Instead, they found themselves face to face with one of the American Revolution's toughest and fiercest patriots.Join us as we tell the story of Nancy Hart, whose courage, quick thinking, and daring stand against soldiers loyal to the British crown made her one of the most celebrated heroines of the southern Appalachian frontier, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.Don’t forget to su...

The infamous Killing Rock massacre ended with the deaths of a moonshiner and his wife and several of their friends on a mountain along the Virginia-Kentucky border. It began years earlier with a lawsuit, a bitter rivalry, and two determined men on opposite sides of the law. This week, we trace the feud between lawman Doc Marshall Benton Taylor and moonshiner Ira "Bad Ira" Mullins, and the long road that ended in one of the most notorious acts of violence in that part of Appalachia.It’s another one of the Stories of Appalachia.Don...

In the winter of 1789, Cherokee war leader John Watts made a daring decision. Instead of returning to the Chickamauga towns as he usually did for the winter, he established a hidden winter camp deep in the mountains, at what’s now the Lamar Alexander Rocky Fork State Park in Unicoi County, Tennessee, so he and his men could attack the frontier farms when it was least expected. When John Sevier learned of the camp's location, he led a militia through snow and bitter cold to launch a surprise attack that became one of the bloodiest and most controversial bat...

In the late 1780s a man from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, William Hewitt, crossed the Ohio River seeking to find solitude in the Appalachian wilderness after heartbreak changed his life forever. Living alone in caves and rough dugouts for nearly fifty years, Hewitt lived in peace alongside the Shawnee, served as a scout during the War of 1812, and became a legend across southeastern Ohio. But the strangest chapter of his story began after his death.Join us as we tell the haunting true story of the Hermit of Hewitt’s Fork.Be sure to subsc...

In September 1894, a routine drilling operation on a Tyler County, West Virginia, farm broke into a massive natural gas pocket, unleashing one of the most powerful and uncontrollable wells the world had ever seen. For nearly a year, the Big Moses well defied human engineering, triggered massive fissures in the ground, survived two separate lightning strikes, and wasted billions of cubic feet of gas.Join us as we tell this wild true story from the West Virginia oil boom era about the legendary Big Moses gas well.If you like these historical stories, make sure to...

Vincent “Clawhammer” Witcher became one of the most feared Confederate guerrilla leaders along the Virginia/Kentucky border in the Civil War.  As the leader of what was called “Witcher’s Boys, he operated from the Ohio River in what’s now West Virginia down into northeast Tennessee, bringing brutal violence to both friend and foe alike. This week we tell his story, including notorious incidents in Lee County, Virginia and Unicoi County, Tennessee, that earned him the name “The Devil in the Mountains.”Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app so you don't mis...

The early settlements along the Watauga and Holston Rivers in what’s now Tennessee were the very beginning of "The Wild West." While names like Daniel Boone, John Sevier, and William Bean filled the history books, another man was standing right beside them at nearly every major turning point—yet his story has been lost to time. In this episode, suggested by one of our listeners, Steve and Rod tell the story of Captain William Asher.  One of the first to arrive in the Watauga settlement, Captain Asher served as a Patriot in the American Revolution, fought the Chicka...

In 1781, as the American Revolution raged, Appalachian settlers in what’s now West Virginia rose in armed rebellion against the Virginia government. Angry over crushing taxes, forced military service, and wartime demands, John Claypool led an Appalachian backcountry revolt that sparked panic across the Shenandoah Valley. This is the little-known story of Claypool’s Rebellion, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.

In 1906, escaped convict Will Harris arrived in Asheville, North Carolina, and unleashed one of the most violent crime sprees in the city’s history. After killing several men, including police officers, Harris fled Asheville, sparking a massive manhunt involving hundreds of armed citizens.This is the story of Will Harris, the outlaw who claimed he came straight from hell… and brought with him to Asheville.Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast; you'll find us on your favorite podcast app.Thanks for listening!