23 Tales: Appalachian Ghost Stories, Legends, and Other Mysteries

Reviewed by Jeanne

Edited by Terry Shaw and Brad Lifford, this fascinating collection of tales from Howling Hills Publishing takes on true accounts of –well, the titles says it best: ghosts, legends, and other mysteries.  While some of the stories have a local setting such as Kingsport or Abingdon, other go farther afield, to the northern Appalachian region in Pennsylvania or south to Georgia.

I really enjoy folklore type tales, remembering the ghost and mysteries stories I heard as a child.  This collection reminds me of those stories a great deal. Some are humorously told, some are serious, some have a sense of wonder, but all have a communal feel to them.  It’s like sitting down with a group of friends and having a conversation about the strangest things that have happened to them.  These aren’t the urban legend horror stories or tales told to be scary. These are told as truth. The tone varies with the teller, but they all have that “this is real, this happened” vibe that I like, and all are very well written. 

In short, these are my kinda tales.

It’s really hard to pick favorites when you enjoy the entire collection. Some of the stories were somewhat familiar: I had a friend who told me of her encounter with the shade of Robert Porterfield at Barter,  while others had echoes of family stories.  I will say that “Singer in the Woods” by Sherry Poff sounded so very much like one of our family stories that I could almost hear the voice in my head.  “Wings of Bees” by Patricia Hope was warm and wonderful, and I re-read it a couple of times.  I’ve read Chrissie Anderson Peters’ stories before, so hers was another lovely visit with her Papaw Little.  “Think You Can Sell a Haunted House?” by Suzy Trotta made me laugh, and also reminded me of someone– well, never mind.  

My only regret is that I didn’t get to hear some of these stories in person when some of the authors were here to do readings earlier this month.  However, I am told that there will be another collection of these stories next year—24 for 2024—and I hope we’ll have a return performance.