Old Gods of Appalachia

He had always wanted to come here, to this diamond in the rough wedged in-between kissin’ cousins of a state line: Paradise — a city split down the middle between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Tennessee — was a bustling town in the early winter of 1928. CW: Discussion of historical slavery and military desertion, human trafficking, assault and robbery. Written by Cam Collins a...

The light dies and the darkness comes to the big parlor house out in the gap. There will be blood. There will be death. The conclusion of the The Railroad Man and the Local Magistrate storyline. CW: Discussion of agency and consent, gunfire, body horror, decay, aging, death by magic, death of human appearing monsters, familial stress and conflict. Written by Steve Shell and Cam Collins Narrated by...

The Railroad man and his new friends follow Vera Blevins to Baker's Gap in 1913, and things will never be the same. CW: Mention of death of a family member by illness, family strife, mention of consentual sex work, verbal threats, discussion of religious issues. Written by Steve Shell and Cam Collins Narrated by Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Produced by Cam Collins and Steve Shell The vo...

In 1913, a girl escaped the company-owned parlor house where she'd been kept against her will in possession of company property. She headed south via rail to her family's home in Baker's Gap, TN. She was followed. CW: References to historical racism; references to consensual sex work; descriptions of human trafficking; mention of excrement; non-specific mention of the deaths of children; descripti...

We journey back in time to the end of the 19th Century in Combe County, North Carolina so that we can gain proper perspective on where that incident with the local magistrate and the Railroad Man sprung from.  CW: Institutional Racism/Brutality. Violent work related death.  Written by Steve Shell Narrated by Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Produced by Cam Collins and Steve Shell...

The truth comes out about the hard death of Frank Tilley and Sheriff Andy Hodge has a tough choice to make. CW: Descriptions and depictions of physical and emotional domestic violence, monster violence, gore, disfigurement, dismemberment, religious trauma. Written by Cam Collins Narrated by Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Produced by Cam Collins and Steve Shell Intro music: "The Land Unkno...

Three months before Frank Tilley met a hard death on the tracks outside Baker's Gap, Esther Campbell moved to Baker's Gap in search of a new life and a new way of worship. CW: Discussion of Domestic Violence, Fundamentalist Religious Themes Written by: Steve Shell Narrated by: Steve Shell Intro music: "The Land Unknown," written and performed by Landon Blood  In story song: “Am I Born To Die?...

Our holiday trilogy comes to a close as we witness two different joinings of souls for all eternity. Headphones recommended. You are not prepared, Family. CW: Gore, Monster Violence, Desecration Written by Cam Collins and Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Narrated by Steve Shell Music: "The Bride" by Landon Blood LEARN MORE ABOUT OLD GODS OF APPALACHIA: www.oldgodsofappalachia.com COMPL...

When the shadows of gods and monsters fall across Baker's Gap, we look across the mountain for help. We look to Family. CW: Descriptions of injuries resulting from domestic violence, discussion of emotional abuse and divorce. Written by Cam Collins Narrated by Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Produced by Cam Collins and Steve Shell Intro music: "The Land Unknown," written and performed by L...

Frank Tilley was not a nice man, nor one beloved by his community. He may even have been a pain in Sheriff Andy Hodge's buttocks. But no man deserved to die like that. Tonight, the dark earth comes for one of its own. CW: Discussion of domestic violence. Written and directed by Cam Collins Narrated by Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Produced by Cam Collins and Steve Shell Intro music: "The...

CW: Frank and intimate out of character discussion about the pandemic, death and suicide. In character mentions of child labor, child and parental death and disfigurement. There is a darkness that can only truly fall in the deep woods. An enveloping shadow of some great beast that is at the same time soothing and terrifying and can only exist in the absence of electric light and full moons. T...

Set in the year before a certain stock market crash would change American life forever, The Gift of the Lesser Magi is the second chapter of a new trilogy to be released on the hallowed days of the year. Christmas is a time when family can come together, forgive past grievances, and heal old wounds. In Esau County, Virginia, estranged family come looking to make amends with Miss Delia Hubbard, the...

The ties that bind us to this world are usually fragile things, gossamer strands spun on the looms of great, great grandmamas that we will never meet until our thread is snipped clean. Cowboy held no such ties. These were no mere threads binding this precious boy together, but heavy chains forged from the stygian soil of death itself and tempered in the cold river of eternity. CW: Occult ritual, p...

She recognized the naked fear and rawness in their respective gazes. Something had happened to these boys. She could see their hearts and minds were pink and pricking red at the edges where their innocence had been torn away with such force they'd not even had a chance to bleed yet. CW: Rain sounds, references to supernatural prophecy by a child, bullying, references to death by firing squad. Writ...

The county had taken a narrow little valley and dug themselves a reservoir to provide drinking water for the whole town and then some. As pretty as the lake and the surrounding woods were, it was still something wedged into nature by the hands of men — water stolen from rivers and collected here like a dragon’s hoard, grounds that had lain untouched for centuries carved up and reshaped to serve hu...

Set in the years between Season One and Season Two, Blood is Blood is the first chapter of a new trilogy to be released on the hallowed days of the year. Nadine Rigg was born to a life of privilege and comfort. What happens though, when an inheritance brings its own dark gifts to your door? CW: Death of parents, death by train, verbal assault, relational violence, train sounds, apparent murder by...

Give a group of boys from anywhere a backyard, a stretch of woods, hell, a vacant lot even — and you can watch it rise to a place of hallowed glory. A patch of trees in between houses becomes an ancient battlefield where two sides of some long-remembered, or forgotten, conflict plays out again and again after school hours. An empty, fallow field becomes an arena or tournament ground where rasslin,...

The Gibson family meets their fate. CW: Gunshots, dog/monster sounds, references to murder, death by structural collapse, earthquake sounds. Written by Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Narrated by Steve Shell Intro music: "The Land Unknown," written and performed by Landon Blood Outro music: "I Cannot Escape the Darkness," written and performed by Those Poor Bastards LEARN MORE ABOUT OLD GO...

These yarns were spun to teach you to stay safe and mind common sense, and most importantly, your mama. The stories that get lost though — the ones hardly nobody ever lived to tell — were often just blunt and simple warnings. There is darkness here: fear it. Trust those who can see through it and you might live to see the dawn. Or then again... maybe not. CW: References to regional ghost stories,...

O Appalachia: mother and maw that births and devours us, roots sunk deep and winding as gnarled hands clasped in prayer, hold us fast and give us foundation. O knotted cage and vine wrought chains O feast of hills and green, that which feeds our hearts but often starves our blood: Hear us now. Written by Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Narrated by Steve Shell Intro music: "The Land Unknown...

The Walker Sisters and their man Melvin journey into the darkest night Baker's Gap, TN has known in thirty years in this thrilling finale to The Wolf Sisters series, originally performed live on Discord. CW: Frank discussion of historical racism and treatment of migrant workers, depictions of period racism, cult activity, shapeshifting, supernatural animal violence, gore, dismemberment of a dead b...

In which we properly meet The Walker Sisters and their man Melvin. CW: Frank discussion of historical racism and treatment of migrant workers, depictions of period racism, cult activity, shapeshifting, supernatural animal violence, gore, dismemberment of a dead body, references to the KKK (pejorative), spiritual/demonic possession themed elements, references to historical sex work, references to t...

To be a wolf is a thing of spring loaded joy, of black gummed panting death. Of pack and ground. Torn tendon and blood and broken bones in feasting abandon beneath a split and howling sky. But to be a wolf with the mind of mortal man or woman? No-we can’t be trusted with that kind of power without being broken by it. Not even wise women of The Clutch. Not even them. CW: Frank discussion of histori...

A whole new story set in the world of Old Gods of Appalachia. Exclusively on Patreon. Come tithe and come a with us to Esau County, VA in the fall of 1927. Written by Steve Shell Sound design by Steve Shell Narrated by Steve Shell Outro music: "Build Mama a Coffin," written and performed by Blood on the Harp To learn more about Old Gods of Appalachia, visit our website at www.oldgodsofappalachia.c...

Season One comes to a close as we follow Daughter Dooley to the far reaches of Last Harbor and witness what changed her and The Black Stag whose name sounds like, but is not Horn-ed Head or Hornet Head. CW: Medical horror, death of the elderly and physical trauma patients in a period hospital setting, theft and endangerment of a newborn, blood, cult activities. Written by Steve Shell Sound design...