Old and New Southern Appalachian Urban Legends, Tales, Cryptids, and Monsters

The folktales and urban legends of the southern Appalachian Mountains are unique, changing with the cultures that carried the tales to the foothills. This book examines the most popular and obscure of these stories, including often overlooked stories from the black community. Thanks to TikTok, message boards, podcasts, and YouTube videos, there's been renewed interest in certain indigenous Cherokee tales, which are included here, as well as some of the newer Appalachian folklore that have gained popularity due to these communities, including feral people, dogman, the Appalachian wendigo, and the Appalachian skinwalker. The gruesomely delightful images were created to intrigue younger readers and get them more involved in folklore, history, and Appalachian lore. It doesn't, however, include infamous area-specific localized folklore such as the Grafton monster, the Flatwoods monster, the Loveland frogman, the Kelly-Hopkinsville goblins, the lizardman of Scape Ore Swamp, Mothman, etc. that didn't spread throughout the Smokey Mountains like many others.