Folklore

Brake, Sherry.  Fireside Folklore of West Virginia Vol III.  136 pages.  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 4, 2017).  Brake’s latest volume features 24 chapters of ghost stories, folklore, haunted locations, and Appalachian strangeness, both old and new. Visit the Braxton County Green Monster, hear about the murders in Quiet Dell, and learn of the ghosts that haunt the old West Virginia Penitentiary and much more. 

Dudding, George.  Bigfoot 5.  The West Virginia Yeti.  94 pages.  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (December 1, 2016).  The author continues his discussion of Bigfoot in West Virginia through an assortment of tales as told by local residents as they stumble head-on into the alleged mythical Bigfoot while venturing through the isolated hills and hollows of West Virginia. 

Gainer, Patrick Ward.  Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills.  Morgantown: West Virginia University Press.  Foreword by Emily Hilliard.  264 pages.  (December 2017). First published in 1975 and long out of print, Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills is a major work of folklore poised to reach a new generation of readers.  Drawing upon Patrick Ward Gainer’s extensive ethnographic fieldwork around West Virginia, it contains dozens of significant folk songs, including not only the internationally famous “Child Ballads,” but also such distinctively West Virginian songs as “The West Virginia Farmer” and “John Hardy.”  Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills stands out as a book with multiple audiences.  As a musical text, it offers comparatively easy access to a rich variety of folk songs that could provide a new repertoire for Appalachian singers.  As an ethnographic text, it has the potential to reintroduce significant data about the musical lives of many West Virginians into conversations around Appalachian music—discourses that are being radically reshaped by scholars working in folklore, ethnomusicology, and Appalachian studies.  As a historical document, it gives readers a glimpse into the research methods commonly practiced by mid-twentieth-century folklorists. And when read in conjunction with John Harrington Cox’s Folk Songs of the South (also available from WVU Press), it sheds important light on the significant role that West Virginia University has played in documenting the state’s vernacular traditions. 

Kosky, Peter J. 2017. Mountain Tales & River Stories. First ed. Charleston, West Virginia: Mountain State Press. 198 pp. Author Peter Kosky retells many of the famous folk tales of West Virginia, including the Mothman, Banshee, and other notable legends. 

Michaels, Denver. 2017. Wild & Wonderful (and Paranormal) West Virginia. Charleston, South Carolina: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 155 pp. Denver Michaels’ book explores West Virginia and its mysteries. From ghosts to UFO sightings; Bigfoot reports to out-of-place kangaroos and devil monkeys bouncing along; supernatural entities to folklore and urban legends--no stone will be left unturned. Both ancient and modern history, cryptozoology, ufology, and more come together in the quest to understand the abundance of paranormal activity that takes place in West Virginia.