What do devil dogs, witches, haunted houses, Daniel Boone, Railroad Bill, "Justice John" Crutchfield, and lost silver mines have in common? All are among the subjects included in the vast collection of legends gathered between 1937 and 1942 by the field workers of the Virginia Writers Project of the WPA. For decades following the end of the project, these stories lay untouched in the libraries of the University of Virginia. Now, folklorist Thomas E. Barden brings to light these delightful tales, most of which have never been in print. Virginia Folk Legends presents the first valid published collection of Virginia folk legends and is endorsed by the American Folklore Society.

Like every state in the Union, Virginia has unique myths, legends, and yes, even true stories that sound much like legends, but aren't. Learn about the urban legend of the Bunnyman and what happens to mortals at his Bunnyman Bridge in Clifton at midnight on Halloween. Prepare to discover the myths surrounding Edgar Allan Poe and other famous Virginians. See why Natural Bridge is actually a haunted tourist attraction. And what makes the Great Dismal Swamp so creepy: Is it the ghosts or Bigfoot? Meet the Witch of Pungo in Virginia Beach and find out that Mothman and the Jersey Devil actually visited Virginia. Read Virginian stories of witches, demons, monsters, ghosts, pirates, strange animals, and soldiers from the Civil War. Come visit a most amazing, frightening, and even intriguing Virginia that you never knew existed.

Nineteen stories focus on the magical lore and wondrous imaginings of African American women.

Patrick Mullen examines how elderly people use folk traditions to engage others and pass on their wisdom and knowledge to succeeding generations. Based on interviews with nine people in their seventies and eighties who live in rural Virginia, North Carolina, and southern Ohio, this book shows how folklore enriches people's lives. Mullen places the folklore - local legends, jokes, personal-experience narratives, family history, folk medicine, planting signs, foodways, wood carving, belief systems, customs, folk architecture - within the context of the individuals' life stories and the culture of their local communities. The analysis concentrates on recurring themes in each person's folklore and the rhetorical strategies the storytellers use to interest listeners and assure that their traditions will be passed on.

Find out about all the strange phenomena that abounds in Virginia.

This 1920 collection includes five timeless French fairy tales written by Comtesse De Segur and illustrated by the 19 year old Virginia Sterrett.

Discover the spookier side of West Virginia with over 85 ghost stories, legends, and haunts from Harpers Ferry, where Screaming Jenny still never outruns the trains, to Hatfield-McCoy Country where Devil Anse Hatfield rises from the grave along with his sons. Explore Moundsville Prison and see the shadow man, then investigate the death and ghostly hereafter of Mamie Thurman, the housewife with a secret life who haunts 22 Mine Road. Follow the Rail Trail to get a glimpse of the ghost of the Silver Run Tunnel and take a thrill-ride through one of the most haunted tunnels-Dingess Tunnel. There's the Headless Ghost Rider of Powell Mountain and a woman who still walks the Ohio River shoreline of Blennerhassett Island long after her death.

West Virginia ghost stories, legends, haunts, and folklore- including the Rowlesburg Misty Ghost Legend of Seneca Rocks, Twistabout Ridge, Stretchers Neck, Thurmond, Hawks Nest State Park, Booger Hole, Route 901 Bloody Hands, Wheeling haunts like Hempfield Tunnel and Wetzel's Cave, Harpers Ferry ghosts . . .and over a 100 ghost stories, legends, and folklore of West Virginia.