Appalachian History Series – The Day the River Entered the Mine: The 1959 Knox Disaster in Luzerne County On a cold January morning in 1959, people in the Wyoming Valley watched the ice heavy Susquehanna roll past the coal breakers and company towns that lined its banks. By mid day the river was no longer just beside the mines. It was inside them.

Repurposed Appalachia Series​ – Tracks Across the Sky: The Kinzua Bridge, the 2003 Tornado, and Pennsylvania’s Great Viaduct Ruin If you follow U.S. Route 6 across the northern tier of Pennsylvania, the road climbs into a high plateau of hardwood ridges, gas wells, and old company towns that locals call the PA Wilds. Near the little borough of Mount Jewett, a side road turns off toward a narrow valley where steel once walked across the sky.

Appalachian Folklore & Myths Series – Lanterns in the Raccoon Creek Valley: Moonville Tunnel and the Ghost Town in the Woods On a map of Appalachian Ohio, Vinton County looks like one more patch of green among many. In person, it feels different. The roads slip down into narrow hollows and climb back out again, and the trees close in until even a bright afternoon can look like evening.

Appalachian Folklore & Myths Series – Tailypo: A Southern Monster Tale with Deep Roots in Appalachian Communities On a cold night in the Southern mountains, a single sound can carry a long way. Wind slips through the trees. A loose board on a cabin wall creaks. Somewhere out in the dark, a dog barks once and then goes quiet. Inside, children lean closer to the fire while an older voice lowers to a whisper and begins a story.

Appalachian Folklore & Myths Series – Boojum and Hootin Annie in the Balsam Mountains: Gemstones, Moonshine Jugs, and Haywood County Folklore In the high country of western North Carolina, between the tourist glow of Waynesville and the deep coves that run toward the Smokies, there is a stretch of ridgeline where stories and promotion have tangled together for more than a century.

Appalachian Folklore & Myths Series – The Hopkinsville Goblins: Little Green Men on a Kentucky Farm On a hot Sunday night in August 1955, a caravan of cars pulled up outside the Hopkinsville, Kentucky police station. Inside were eleven people from a small farm community called Kelly, just north of town. Some were crying. One man’s pulse was racing.

Appalachian Folklore & Myths Series – Wizard Clip and the Priest’s Field: Poltergeist, Frontier Faith, and a Haunted Farm in the Shenandoah Valley In the lower Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia there is a quiet patch of fields and houses that once answered to an unsettling nickname.

Appalachian Folklore & Myths Series – The Legend of the Blowing Rock: Wind, Lovers, and a High Country Cliff If you stand on The Blowing Rock on a clear afternoon, the world falls away in layers of blue. The cliff juts out from the Blue Ridge crest above the Johns River Gorge, a stone prow hanging thousands of feet over forest and river. Below, the gorge carries water south toward the Catawba.

Appalachian Folklore & Myths Series – Sensabaugh Tunnel: Ghost Tourism, Urban Legend, and the Real Sensabaugh Family Along the Holston North of Kingsport, Tennessee, the land folds into low ridges and narrow hollows along the North Fork of the Holston River. Farmhouses sit back from the road, the railroad keeps to its own bench above the creek, and narrow lanes carry locals through places that do not make most highway maps.

Appalachian Folklore & Myths Series – The Rivesville River Monster: Ogua, Giant Turtles, and the Stories Marion County Tells Itself On a warm summer night at Rivesville in Marion County, the Monongahela River looks almost tame. Barges push coal up toward Pittsburgh. Fishermen sit on the bank near the mouth of Paw Paw Creek or lean against the rail of the pedestrian walkway, watching their lines disappear into the dark water.

Appalachian History Series – Little Shepherd Trail: Inspiration Mountain on the Spine of Pine Mountain If you ease your car out of the Clover Fork valley and up US 421, there is a point where the pavement breaks over the spine of Pine Mountain and a narrow road slips away along the crest. Locals call it the Little Shepherd Trail.