S7ories

There are writers who tell stories — and then there are writers who change how a country thinks. Tom Clancy never served in the military. He never held a security clearance. And yet his debut novel was so technically convincing that senior officials in Washington wondered how he knew what he knew. In this episode of Stories in the Seventh State, Shane Hall examines Tom Clancy not as a list of book...

In this episode of S7ories in the Seventh State , Shane Hall tells the haunting, deeply human story of Holland Island — once a lively Dorchester County community of 360 people, with a church, a school, ballgames, watermen, and children playing on porches… now reduced to marsh, pilings, and tide. We explore the island’s rise and fall: Its soft foundation of clay and silt The gnawing erosion of nor’...

In this episode of S7ories in the Seventh State , Shane Hall tells the haunting legend of Moll Dyer , the Maryland woman driven into the frozen woods in the winter of 1697 and immortalized as the state’s most enduring witch story. We revisit Leonardtown as it was then — a small frontier crossroads in St. Mary’s County, battered by disease, famine, brutal winters, and fear. Witchcraft accusations w...

In this episode of S7ories in the Seventh State , Shane Hall unpacks the wild, brilliant, and deeply emotional story behind the Maryland flag — the boldest, loudest, most recognizable state flag in America. This banner isn’t “just a flag.” It’s a historical document — a stitched-together symbol of a state torn apart during the Civil War and deliberately reunited in its aftermath. We dive into: Why...