Stories, quotes and anecdotes from Appalachia. 1880s-1950s era.

Category: Animals

The day they hung Murderous Mary the elephant

On September 13, 1916 a five-ton circus elephant was executed, hung from a 100-ton Clinchfield railroad crane car, in the little town of Erwin, TN.

Now if a widow’s left, why they draw a lot of welfare and stuff like that, but there wasn’t nothing like that then. She seen a hard time.

Myrtle Corbin was known far & wide in the late 19th century as the 4-Legged Woman. One pair belonged to her; the other to her dipygus twin.

Warm weather’s here–that means they’re starting to come back. News bees appear as omens to those wise enough to read them.

Back in nineteen and thirteen me and my brother coon hunted lots [in the] Smokies. We had a dog named Track. He was a good one.

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