Dave Tabler, Author at Appalachian History

Stories of Superstition: East TN’s Houston House

A restless Confederate soldier’s ghost returns again and again to a house, looking for the money he buried there.

For 40 years James Still gathered sayings from the local people, which he almost did not allow to be published— here’s why.

There’s an old Irish myth about a man named “Stingy Jack.” He was a drunken brawler who found great enjoyment playing tricks on everyone.

Floyd’s last words? Asked by agent Melvin Purvis about the Kansas City Massacre, he snapped, “I won’t tell you anything, you son-of-a-bitch.”

Ruth died on the operating table. Ellen Fridley returned to Big Ridge, riding on the train with her daughter in a coffin in the baggage car.