The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

Episode 177
Appalachian Monsters

Asher Elbein and Tiffany Turrill join us to talk about monsters and folklore of Appalachia. Their new project about fictional witch Anna O’Brien draws heavily from authentic folklore of this storied region of the United States.

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Related links

• The Anna O’Brien Kickstarter Project

Appalachian Books Referenced

• Strange Tales of the Dark and Bloody Ground by Christopher Coleman
• Witches Ghosts and Signs by Patrick Gaynor
• The Silver Bullet and Other American Witch Stories by Hubert Davis
• Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney
• Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia by Steven Stoll
• Night Comes to the Cumberland: A Biography of a Depressed Area by Harry Caudill
• Earl Hamner on The Twilight Zone
• Earl Hamner on Stopover in a Quiet Town, Jess-Bell, and on writing for Twilight Zone in general.
• Manly Wade Wellman’s Silver John series
• Connections III — the episode of the fabulous James Burke series I mentioned. I’ve timestamped it to skip to the relevant segment, but I highly recommend the entire three series run unreservedly. It is some of the finest documentary television I’ve seen.
• What makes a mountain? (USGS)
• Track Rock Gap and Pseudoarchaeology (article by Blake Smith)

Previously on MonsterTalk

• The Black Dog of Bungay (episode # 50) with David Waldron
• Black Dog Folklore (episode # 125) with Mark Norman

Music

• Monstertalk Theme: Monster by Peach Stealing Monkeys

The views expressed on this program are not necessarily the views of the Skeptics Society or Skeptic magazine.