Stories of Appalachia

In 1859, a solar storm stronger than any other in recorded history hit the earth, bringing the northern lights all the way down to Cuba and causing massive interference in telegraph lines throughout the world. Today, Steve and Rod tell the story of what’s become known as the Carrington Event, and what that meant for […]

In the little town of Hurley, Virginia, in 1909, a widow sold the timber rights to her 150 acres of land for a tidy sum, making her a target for anyone wanting to take that money for himself. On September 21, she and her daughter’s family were murdered in cold blood in the daughter’s house […]

A few weeks ago, Steve and Rod shared several short stories from Appalachian newspapers in 1891-92. This week, they’re back with a second set of these “short stories” for y’all! Thanks for listening, folks…

Hello folks! This week on the podcast, Rod and Steve tell the story of how a Corbin, Kentucky, gas station operator ended up cornering the market for gasoline in Corbin in a gun battle with his competitor, also launching his in-station restaurant, which became one of the most successful fast food franchises on the planet. […]

No, folks, Rod and I haven’t gotten into the real estate business. What we have done is put together the story of how Bone Marrow Creek, West Virginia, became Appalachia, Virginia, in the eyes of CBS, NBC, and ABC, and the creative way the town fathers in Appalachia responded. You can subscribe to the podcast […]

In the early part of the twentieth century, two young African American albinos from Truevine, Virginia, made their way into a carnival sideshow, or freak show as it was sometimes called then, and disappeared. Over a decade later, their mother found them performing for the Ringling Brothers Circus in nearby Roanoke and fought a legal […]

In 1875, four men rode their horses into Huntington, West Virginia, and proceeded to rob the local bank. Two of them were later captured, one of whom died without revealing his identity, the other tried and convicted of bank robbery under an alias. The other two? Local legend has it that those men were Frank […]

During the Civil War there were numerous local militias formed, but none quite like Thomas’ Legion. Composed of Cherokee Indians and local Western North Carolina men led by the only white man to be made a Cherokee chief, Thomas’ Legion, also known as Thomas’ Legion of Indians and Highlanders or the 69th North Carolina Regiment, […]

In the course of researching the stories that we pass on to you, Rod and I have happened upon a ton of old newspaper stories that contain nuggets of a tale, but we just can’t find enough other information to flesh out a ten to fifteen minute podcast. We’ve been saving these articles, though, and […]

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, the Wiley family settled in what’s now Southwest Virginia, in the present Bland County. And that’s where they got caught up in the ongoing war between the settlers and the native Americans who had been living in this area for generations. The result was an attack by […]

In the early part of the twentieth century, Helen Timmons Henderson came to Buchanan County, Virginia, to run the Buchanan Mission School with her husband. She did such an outstanding job of running the school that local Democratic party leaders talked her into running for state delegate in 1924, one of the first two women […]

On this episode of the podcast, Steve and Rod tell the story of the Maryville, Tennessee, youth who lived more lives than ten men. Sam Houston was adopted into the Cherokee nation as a teen, then grew up to be an Indian agent, Tennessee governor, commander-in-chief of the Texas military during that nation’s war for […]

Happy Halloween, podcast listeners! On today’s episode, we have two stories for you. First up, Steve tells the story of the Wampus Cat, a Cherokee legend. Then Rod tells about the legend of the Major Graham Mansion just outside Wytheville, Virginia, which has made that house into one of the premiere Halloween destinations in Appalachia. […]

On this podcast we have two native American stories for you. First, Steve tells the story of Penn’s Cave, in Pennsylvania, where tragedy befell a man who fell in love with a chief’s daughter. Then Rod shares the Cherokee tale of how Blowing Rock, North Carolina got its name. All on the way to Halloween, […]

With Halloween in the air, Rod and Steve tell the story of St. Albans Sanatorium near Radford, Virginia, site of some, well, not so nice “treatments” as well as a lot of paranormal activity. You can subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app. We’re on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and on Twitter @storyappalachia. Thanks for […]

Halloween month continues with the story of the mysterious glowing orbs that can be seen on Brown Mountain, near the Linville Gorge in the high country of western North Carolina. Are they spirits? Are they swamp gas? Car lights? Or maybe UFOs? Listen as Steve and Rod tell the story of the Brown Mountain lights… […]

In the early twentieth century, a young man from Scott County, Virginia, joined the circus as a trick shooter, probably one of the best to come out of Appalachia. And in another time, in another place, that talent might have won him accolades, perhaps as a sniper in war, or as a military trainer. But […]

For over a hundred years, the states of Tennessee and Virginia tried to figure out their common border. It took a United States Supreme Court decision and a near war between Bristol, Tennessee, and Goodson, Virginia, over water pipes in the middle of present-day State Street to get that line drawn on a map. On […]

Holston Mountain is the tallest peak in East Tennessee, and the location of several television and radio towers. It’s also near the Tri City Airport, the air hub for the East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia region. And the mountain is the site of several plane crashes, but one crash in particular, over 50 years ago, sparked a […]

Today, Steve and Rod have not one story, not two stories, but THREE stories, along with a short story! This week is crime week, and on this podcast we tell the stories of two Scott County, Virginia, prisoners who managed to escape and were later caught by chance, one in the 1850’s and the other […]

In January, 1964, a crippled B-52 was on its way home from Massachusetts to an airbase in Georgia, when it ran into a heavy snowstorm. The plane’s vertical stabilizer (the tail) was ripped off, and it went into a spin, crashing on Big Savage Mountain in Western Maryland. Two of the five crewmen survived the […]

In 1926, Prohibition was in full force, and the Commonwealth of Virginia had prohibition enforcement agents employed across the state, looking for illegal liquor. In Dickenson County, Virginia, that man was James Sherman Mullins, who was on the trail of the Dickenson County Sheriff, Pridemore Fleming, on suspicions that he was helping local moonshiners and […]

In the last part of the nineteenth century, newspapers across America were obsessed with tales of blood feuds in Appalachia, the best known of which is the Hatfield-McCoy feud. At the time, however, no other feud got more coverage than that between the French and Eversole families of Hazard, Kentucky. Private armies battling each other, […]

In 1982, Knoxville, Tennessee, hosted a Worlds Fair. The fair was a success, breaking even, but it led to the downfall of the Butcher banking empire in East Tennessee. On this episode of the podcast, Steve and Rod tell the story of Jake and C.H. Butcher and the Knoxville World’s Fair. We’re on Facebook @facebook.com/storiesofappalachia. […]

The people who settled Appalachia were tough. They’d have to be to carve a home out of the forests and mountainsides of the area. In 1777, two girls, Polly Alley and Jane Whittaker, proved how tough they were when they escaped Indian captivity in Ohio and made their way back home to Scott County in […]