Appalachian Ghost Stories in Mountain Culture

Why are Appalachian ghost stories so deep-rooted in mountain culture and folklore?  Let’s journey into this ancient, rugged land to find out.

Ask many Southern Appalachian natives if they believe in ghosts and the answer will be an emphatic “no.” In this strongly Protestant region, often called the “buckle of the Bible Belt,” some consider a belief in ghosts to be against the teachings of Scripture.

But Appalachian ghost stories serve as vessels of mountain folklore, culture, and values stretching back generations. Often taking the form of legends (folktales told about a particular person or place as if real events), they typically involve a human character encountering something supernatural. Subsequently, how this character reacts teaches lessons about this society’s moral codes.

Legends of revenants (beings returned from the dead) or haints (ghosts or evil spirits) have been told for generations in Appalachian communities. Some of these communities were once very isolated from the outside world.  And the lessons these legends taught were comforting to early settlers, combating fear and uncertainty in the strange land they suddenly found themselves in.

Where Are The Appalachian Mountains Located?

The Appalachian Mountains stretch from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to northern Alabama and Georgia. This narrow and extensive mountain system parallels the eastern coast of North America for nearly 2,000 miles.

Appalachia is an ancient land – one of the oldest mountain systems on Earth.  Formed roughly 480 million years ago, the mountains are over five times as old as the taller, more rugged Rocky Mountains.  Indeed, millions of years of erosion have whittled down massive peaks some believe were once taller than the Himalayas and Mount Everest! 

Today, heavily forested mountains, valleys, high ridges, and wide, dissected plateaus make up the system. Some rock structures date way back to the Precambrian and early Paleozoic eras.

The Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina have some of the tallest peaks (Mount Mitchell in North Carolina is the highest Appalachian peak at 6,684 feet). While the backbone of the system, the Blue Ridge, stretches from Georgia north to Pennsylvania.

A massive fall line separates the Appalachians from the eastern Coastal Plain. Between the Blue Ridge and the fall line, a rolling plateau known as the Piedmont takes up large portions of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. While on the western side is the Cumberland Plateau, stretching from southern West Virginia to Alabama. And between the Great Smoky Mountains and the Cumberland, a hilly region called the Ridge and Valley stretches from central Alabama up to New York State.

Appalachia today is often thought of as three regions: Northern, Central, and Southern (see map above).   Although exact boundaries are up for debate, the history, culture, and folklore across these regions are in many ways similar – and very different. 

What is Appalachian Culture?

Common “hillbilly” stereotypes depict Appalachian culture as poor and white. However, early Appalachian settlers included Native Americans, newly arrived European whites and Africans, all living in close proximity.

Native American tribes in Appalachia had their own unique cultures and oral folk traditions. In Southern Appalachia, the most prominent group of Native peoples was the Cherokee Nation.  Like other tribes, the Cherokee made sense of both the visible and unseen worlds around them through song and storytelling.  For example, the eerie mountain mist creeping through areas like the Great Smoky Mountains was of particular significance to them.  Subsequently, famous Appalachian ghost stories like the Brown Mountain Lights of North Carolina are thought to be of Cherokee origin.

But Native American life changed dramatically with the arrival of European settlers.  First, Spanish and French explorers pushed into Appalachia as early as the 1500s. Followed by immigrants from the British Isles (largely Scotch-Irish).  Clannish and fiercely independent, these settlers had rebelled against restrictive laws back home.  Consequently, they sought a place where their Protestant beliefs could flourish without interference.

Early Appalachian Life

These settlers were awed by the dense hardwood forests teeming with game, and the fresh, sparkling rivers filled with fish.  At the same time, the rolling green hills reminded them of their homelands in the Scottish Highlands, Ireland, and elsewhere.

Deep within the hollows, the settlers staked their claims. Virgin forests provided plentiful building materials. Often with the help of the Cherokees, they raised corn, potatoes, and black-eyed peas. They grew fruit trees, and gourds to make containers. Meanwhile, the men hunted the woods for “beasties” (wild animals) with the help of their loyal dogs, often described as “part hound, part cur” (or fierce breed of dog).

Settler log cabins were often cramped, one-room homes. Inside, the women would dye clothes with berries and bark gathered from the forest. Cooking took place in large stone fireplaces. While in-between chores, they would knit quilts on their looms, using elaborate patterns with unique names like “nine-patch,” “double-wedding ring” and “dove-in-the-window.”

Appalachian Folklore

Imagine being a pioneer in such a wild and strange land.  With endless miles of mysterious, dense forest surrounding your small homestead.  Not to mention native peoples with odd language and customs. 

These settlers were already a superstitious group. For instance, everyone knew the moon affected planting cycles, the tail of a hound dog attracted lightning, and an ax placed under the bed of a birthing mother would kill the pain.

But as night fell across the hills, the forests would come alive with spooky, unknown sounds. Whatever they heard or saw in the dark woods probably found their way into ghost stories told around the fireplace at night.

Folklore From the Old World

Appalachian culture and folklore helped build community spirit. For instance, communal activities like corn shuckings, house raisings, and log rollings brought people together.

But mountain dances were the most popular gathering spots, frequently called “play parties” if the local church didn’t approve of dancing.  Fiddlers, accompanied by banjo and dulcimer, would play humorous and plaintive ballads reminding the settlers of their homelands. Occasionally, the musicians played narrative folksongs of local legends, fairy tales, and ghost stories.   For example, the popular Appalachian ghost story The Ghost of Fiddlers Rock is about an unlucky fiddler at one of these parties.

Therefore, many ghost stories, songs, superstitions, and folk remedies considered “Appalachian folklore” can actually be traced back to places like Scotland or Ireland.  For instance, settlers would share tales of Scottish haints and Irish fairies, then adapt them into Appalachian stories over generations.  Of course, physical and cultural isolation kept many of these Appalachian folklore traditions alive well into the 20th century.   Such Old World traditions are sometimes known as “Appalachian Granny Magic.”

An Isolated Mountain People

Although skirmishes with the Cherokees occurred from time to time, many early settlers learned to co-exist.  Some Cherokees even joined forces with the U.S. against pro-British tribes during the War of 1812.  At the same time, Cherokees learned to adopt “civilized” ways of life, such as individual farming, business ownership, and their own syllabary and newspaper.

But the discovery of gold in north Georgia accelerated the forced removal of the Cherokees by the United States government. As a result, the shameful Trail of Tears removal of 1838, nearly eradicated Cherokee culture from Appalachia. Leaving behind a culture largely of European descendants and, as latter day research has shown, a growing number of Africans.

Slavery in Appalachia

One common misconception is that all Appalachians were against slavery.  In fact, some early European settlers owned slaves, and the Cherokees held the most slaves of any Native peoples – especially among the elite plantation owners in Southern Appalachia.  While some Appalachian white farmers were slaveowners, the region as a whole didn’t depend on slave labor like the Deep South. 

Both enslaved and free Africans played major roles in defining Appalachian folklore and culture (see Affrilachia). In fact, some Africans lived freely in certain mountain communities for generations.  While the banjo, a folk instrument long associated with mountain whites, was originally brought over by enslaved Africans.  Furthermore, part of the Underground Railroad ran from Tennessee to points north via Appalachia.

Intermarriage between Africans and other ethnic groups further diversified Appalachian folklore and culture. In fact, the dark-skinned Melungeon people of Central Appalachia are believed to be a “tri-racial” group consisting of African, Native American and European ancestries.

How Did the Civil War Affect Appalachia?

The Civil War hit Appalachia harder than almost any other region.  Appalachia was strategically important to both Union and Confederate armies because of its mines, saltworks, rivers, and railroads. 

Broadly speaking, Southern Appalachia supported the Confederacy, Northern Appalachia the Union, and Central Appalachia was stuck somewhere in between. In reality, Civil War allegiances were often split among regions, towns, and even within families.  In fact, West Virginia was founded by Virginia mountaineers who didn’t agree with Southern secession.  Many Appalachians just wanted to stay out of the fight altogether – and ended up attacked by both sides. 

The Virginia and Tennessee valleys were major battle sites. Many Appalachian communities were stuck between equally violent, plundering forces.  Robbers and guerrilla fighters from both sides stole livestock and food, burned farms, and terrorized the women left behind.  Children were sometimes captured and forced to serve as lookouts on mountain ridges.

As a result, the Civil War severely scarred the region for generations.  Starvation, poverty and malnutrition were common.  Distrusting of both warring governments,  many communities turned further away from the outside world. Consequently, little immigration took place through the 19th century, leading to intermarriage within families.

With fresh memories of the horrors of war, Appalachian storytellers spun ghost stories of eternally damned and suffering soldiers from both sides, their cries heard in the darkness of devastated mountain battlefields.  In Georgia, the stories of the Hell Hole and the legendary Green Eyes of Chickamauga were but two of such oft-told tales.

20th Century Appalachian Ghost Stories

Many ghost stories and legends have their origins in real life hardship and tragedy. Appalachia saw its share of both, especially in the 20th century.

Some Appalachian farmers now struggled to grow crops. Migrating from the low valleys into the creek branches, sub-valleys, and steep hillsides, families toiled on rocky terrain not ideal for farming. As a result, many families fell into poverty, with disease and malnutrition spreading.  Central Appalachia, located further away from urban centers and transportation networks, became an especially isolated world.

Social Changes to Appalachian Culture

Early 20th-century social workers were stunned by the living conditions they found in some areas. Little sanitation, children without shoes or fresh clothes, and large families crammed into dirty, one-room shacks were common sights.

Distrusting of “furriners” toting little black bags filled with “black magic,” some mountain families became their own doctors and pharmacists. They used odd assortments of herbs, tonics, and roots to treat everything from typhoid fever to measles. As a result, the mortality rate soared.

Hence, these social workers brought what became the first wave of modernization to the hills. For instance, trained nurses taught families about personal hygiene and homemaking skills. Teachers taught children to read and write. While midwives helped deliver babies in the remote hollows. Indeed, some social workers risked their lives braving rough mountain roads, swollen streams, and treacherous bridges to reach these isolated families.

But Appalachian ghost stories like The Town Without Death didn’t flinch from the inevitability of death. On the contrary, such stories argued that life must be lived to its fullest, no matter the hardships.

Appalachian Coal, Lumber, and Ghost Stories

In the early 1900s, the lumber and coal industries made inroads into Appalachia.  After the lumber centers in the Mississippi and Louisiana flatlands had been fully “slashed and burned,” lumber companies exploited Appalachia’s hardwood forests. Additionally, Appalachia’s abundance of coal became crucial to post-Civil War industrialization.  

Hence, mill towns and railroads sprung up seemingly overnight.  Waves of immigrant workers from places like Italy, Mexico, Germany and Eastern Europe sought work.  African-Americans leaving the South during the Great Migration were recruited by the mining companies, especially in Central Appalachia.  Consequently, the coal camps became largely integrated communities. One can only imagine the nightly cultural exchange of music, storytelling and other folk customs by these new arrivals.  

But these loggers and miners found themselves working extremely long hours, with the constant threat of accidents, dismemberment, and death. Still, many had no choice but to accept such conditions to support their often impoverished families. 

It’s no wonder then that many Appalachian ghost stories about mining accidents or mysterious dogs saving miners appeared around this time. These stories are still told to this day.

Appalachian Culture and Folklore Today

As the 20th century drew to a close, Appalachia experienced rapid cultural change.  In areas heavily dependent on coal mining, the industry’s latter-day decline spelled economic ruin for many families and communities.  Not to mention lingering health problems, severe pollution, and broken promises of health benefits and pensions. As a result, younger families faced with limited opportunities migrated to the cities, leaving ghost towns behind.

In addition, modern technological advances had a dramatic impact on Appalachian culture. In this once-isolated region, new highways along with radio, television, and the internet, diluted traditional speech and customs. 

At the same time, many Appalachian natives proud of their heritage – especially younger students – sought to redefine and preserve Appalachian folklore and tradition.  Foxfire and Appalshop are two well-known organizations arming Appalachia’s youth with multimedia tools to keep the traditional folk arts alive, while also looking toward the future. 

(Fans of Appalachian folklore and ghost stories should read Foxfire’s story collection Boogers, Witches and Haints: Appalachian Ghost Stories, told by older mountain residents.)

Appalachian Tourism

Many parts of Appalachia today rely on tourism, deep-pocketed retirees, and second homeowners.  Some former working-class towns have become quaint shopping and entertainment districts.  Many visitors seek an “old-timey” Appalachian culture long gone, or a sanitized version of a once hard existence. 

But even now, traces of traditional Appalachian culture can be seen.  Like an older farmer still plowing his steep fields with a team of horses, or story swapping in mercantile stores. Traditional bluegrass music is still played by old and young acts on community radio stations. Locally carved crafts, fiddles and dulcimers are sold in gift shops. And countless mountain churches dot the hillsides.

In conclusion, Appalachian ghost stories are still told, if only in storytelling festivals, movies or books.  But what serves as entertainment today was once the delivery system for a unique culture’s beliefs, hopes and fears in a strange, isolated world.  By telling these ghost stories, through mediums known and not yet known, the elder voices of Appalachia live on.

Bonus: Appalachian Dialect

If you’re lucky enough to hear an Appalachian storyteller tell a ghost story in traditional Appalachian dialect, it may take you by surprise.

Most original settlers were immigrants from the English Isles. They brought with them colorful, Elizabethan era words and phrases one can find in the works of Shakespeare.

As time passed, the isolation of mountain life transformed the language. Words were mispronounced, and phrases and sentences were rearranged. New words were created to fit the rugged life these settlers faced. Family intermarriage helped this unique language flourish for many years.

But modern influences transformed mountain dialects. As the exodus of young families from the mountains grew, the Appalachian dialect became less prevalent.

Glossary

One can still hear some of the original dialect in more isolated communities. Therefore, if you find yourself in such places, listen closely for unique words and sayings like:

SAYING	MEANING
a-childing	pregnant
a give-out	an announcement
arm baby	child small enough to be carried in someone’s arms
a whoop and a holler	a long distance
ain’t had much schoolhousing	isn’t very educated
bald faced whiskey	fresh whiskey from a still
bigging it and bigging it	exaggerating
bonny	good
butter-mouthed	speaking in flattering terms
chunk-washer	heavy rain
death watch	ticking insect in the wall of a house that meant death in the family.
dogtrot	covered passageway between two rooms
doney-girl	female sweetheart
et	ate
fur	far
graveyard cough	deep, tubercular cough
goozler	boy whose voice is changing
jairy	nervous
kiver	cover
knee/lap child	child small enough to sit on a knee/lap
pap	father
pile up with trash	associate with low class, immoral people
rip and tear	raise Cain
since Heck was a pup	a long time ago
skun	skinned
turn right-handed/left-handed	turn right/left
yan	yonder
yan side	farthest side