Folklore and Legends

by Dodge, Robert J. Brown mountain lights are unexplained phenomena that appear low in the air under favorable atmospheric conditions, grow in size, and then linger for a few minutes before fading away. Brown Mountain [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by King, William E. Frank Clyde Brown, professor, departmental chairman, university administrator, and collector of folklore, was born in Harrisonburg, Va. His parents were John Michael and Emma Catherine Liskie Brown. [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by DiNome, William G. Burial Customs by William G. DiNome, 2006 See also: Funerals; Town Creek Indian Mound. The nature of the specific burial customs that may have existed among the people inhabiting the [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Stevenson, George, Jr. Conjure is based on the belief that psychical and magical powers can be exercised in such a way that spells may be cast, enchantments made, bad or good luck established, the future foretold, lost [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Childs, T. Mike, Agan, Kelly. The Dare Stones By T. Mike Childs (2013) and Kelly Agan (2019), Government & Heritage Library Listen to this entry Download MP3 audio The Dare Stones are a series of forty-eight rocks [...] (from Government & Heritage Library, State Library of North Carolina.)

by Barefoot, Daniel W. Devil's Horse's Hoof Prints near Bath are a series of small, saucer-shaped depressions reportedly in existence since 1813. Measuring four to five inches deep with sloping sides from six to ten [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Hewitt, Kimberly. Devil's Tramping Ground, located ten miles from Siler City in western Chatham County, is a foot-wide bare path forming a perfect circle 40 feet in diameter. Regional legend maintains that Satan [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Doodlebugs, or ant lions, belong to the order of insects Neuroptera and are found in many parts of the world, including much of North Carolina. They came to be called doodlebugs about 1866. The [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Baker, Bruce E., McFee, Philip, McMillan, Douglas J., Reavis, Shannon L. Folklore by Bruce E. Baker and Philip McFee, 2006 Additional research provided by Douglas J. McMillan and Shannon L. Reavis. See also: Brown Mountain Lights; Conjure; Devil's Horse's [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Baker, Bruce E., McFee, Philip. Folklore by Bruce E. Baker and Philip McFee, 2006; Revised by SLNC Government and Heritage Library, July 2023 Additional research provided by Douglas J. McMillan and Shannon L. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Baker, Bruce E., McFee, Philip. Folklore by Bruce E. Baker and Philip McFee, 2006 Additional research provided by Douglas J. McMillan and Shannon L. Reavis. See also: Brown Mountain Lights; Conjure; Devil's Horse's [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Baker, Bruce E., McFee, Philip. Folklore by Bruce E. Baker and Philip McFee, 2006; Revised November 2022. Additional research provided by Douglas J. McMillan and Shannon L. Reavis. See also: Brown Mountain Lights; [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Baker, Bruce E., McFee, Philip. Folklore by Bruce E. Baker and Philip McFee, 2006 Additional research provided by Douglas J. McMillan and Shannon L. Reavis. See also: Brown Mountain Lights; Conjure; Devil's Horse's [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Reevy, Tony. The Ghost Train of Bostian's Bridge by Tony Reevy Reprinted with permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian. Fall 2008. Updated by the Government & Heritage Library, 12/2010. Tar [...] (from Tar Heel Junior Historian, NC Museum of History.)

by Simpson, Bland. Ghosts by Bland Simpson, 2006 The literature and lore of North Carolina are filled with stories of haunted islands, houses, churches, mines, trains, bridges, swamps, and mountains. The [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Patterson, Daniel W. Arthur Palmer Hudson, folklorist and teacher, was born in the Hesterville community of Attala County, Miss., the son of William Arthur and Lou Garnett Palmer Hudson. Despite the handicap of growing [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mazzocchi, Jay. Humor has played a distinctive role in the lives of North Carolinians from the days of the earliest British explorations to the region. As much as any other aspect of human life, humor can be [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Holloman, Mollee. Is the Outer Banks Series Fact or Fiction? Culturally Speaking ...  By Mollee Holloman, 2021 See also: Is the Outer Banks Series Fact or Fiction, Historically [...] (from NC Office of Archives and History.)

by Conway, Cecelia. Benjamin Franklin Jarrell, musician, was raised in Surry County on the southern slope of the Blue Ridge, the son of Rufus A. and Susan Turney Jarrell. According to his father, the Scot-Irish family [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Smith, Maud Thomas, Smythe, Andrea. MacDonald, Flora by Maud Thomas Smith, 1991; Revised by Andrea Smythe, SLNC Government & Heritage Library, December 2023 ca. 1722–March 5, 1790 See also:  Flora MacDonald Homesite [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Simpson, Bland. The Maco Light, also called the Ghost at Maco Station, is one of North Carolina's most well-known and enduring supernatural phenomena. It dates to a fatal train wreck in 1867 at a small rural station [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Anderson, Jean B. Madstones have existed from antiquity in the realms of magic and have appeared at various times in North Carolina folklore. Akin to precious and semiprecious stones, to which fortune or healing were [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Murray, Elizabeth D. R. Julius Melbourn, said to have been born on 4 July 1790 in Wake County, was apparently a fictitious character invented to perpetrate a literary hoax. In 1847, the firm of Hall and Dickson in Syracuse, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Baker, Bruce E. Asheville since 1928. That year, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, a passionate lover of mountain music and culture and an active collector of folk music, organized a contest for musicians and dancers in [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Hill, Michael. The Ney Myth, propagated by several North Carolina writers as fact but dismissed by historians as spurious, held that Rowan County teacher Peter Stuart Ney, who died on 15 Nov. 1846, was the assumed [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Taylor, George V. Peter Stewart Ney, schoolmaster who died near Salisbury, is believed by many to have been the Napoleonic marshal, Michel Ney, living in hiding to escape persecution. His gravestone at Third Creek [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by . Extraído de Libro de hechos de El Viejo Estado del Norte. La propiedad literaria 2011 por la Oficina de Archivos e Historia de Carolina del Norte, Departamento de Recursos Culturale de [...] (from NC Office of Archives and History.)

by Morton, Chris. He was a man of mystery, this fellow who arrived in Asheville in the fall of 1902. An Englishman with a persistent cough, he was obviously in poor health. He was attended by a nurse who knew very [...] (from Tar Heel Junior Historian, NC Museum of History.)

by Jackson, Marhsall. When I was growing up, I listened to older folks talk about Cherokee raids in our community. I heard about the time that Yankee troops chased two wounded Confederate soldiers into the Yadkin River, [...] (from Tar Heel Junior Historian, NC Museum of History.)

by Wilson, Sheila. North Carolina Legends & Myths: The “Three Sisters” as told by Shelia Wilson Reprinted with permission from Tar Heel Junior Historian 45:1 (Fall 2005). Copyright 2005, North Carolina [...] (from Tar Heel Junior Historian, NC Museum of History.)

by Dough, Wynne. Old Christmas, or "Little Christmas," celebrated by some eighteenth- and nineteenth-century North Carolinians around 5 January each year, resulted from the adoption of the Gregorian calendar by the [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Stick, David. Old Quawk's Day by David Stick, 2006 Old Quawk's Day, by long-standing tradition, is a day when residents [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Malone, E. T., Jr. Hubbard Fulton Page, folk poet, teacher, and composer, was born in northern Sampson County near the old Harnett County community of Averasboro. He was the son of Sion Cephas, a circuit-riding Baptist [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Warner, Anne. Frank Noah Proffitt, farmer, craftsman, and singer of traditional songs, was born in Laurel Bloomery, Tenn., the son of Wiley and Rebecca Alice Creed Proffitt. His paternal grandparents, John and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Beck, John J. Root doctors are the traditional healers and conjurers of the rural, black South. They use herbs, roots, potions, and spells to help and sometimes to hurt recipients of their ministrations. Root [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Gohdes, Clarence. Carl August Sandburg, poet, journalist, biographer, and folk song recitalist, was a national celebrity long identified with the Midwest when he moved to North Carolina in 1945 after purchasing the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Shape-Shifting by William S. Powell, 2006 Shape-shifting was one of many superstitions widely accepted by early North Carolinians with little or no understanding of natural phenomena. It [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cecelski, David S. One night last summer, Terry Shinn visited my family's campsite next to the French Broad River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The tall, soft-spoken stranger lived just up a short path, in the faded [...] (from Listening to History, News and Observer.)

by Wright, Marilyn. Shivaree by Marilyn Wright, 2006 Shivaree, or chivaree, was a traditional Mountain folk custom staged during the first night that a bride and groom, following the honeymoon, moved into [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Yancey, Noel. Silver, Frankie, Murder Case by Noel Yancey, 2006 See also: Silver, Frances "Frankie" (from Tar Heel Junior Historian) On 12 July 1833 an estimated 10,000 people crammed into a space behind [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Baker, Bruce E. The Southern Folklife Collection (SFC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is among the leading folklife archives in the country, containing extensive documentary material for southern [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Patterson, Daniel W. Maude Pennell Minish Sutton, teacher, folklorist, and journalist, was born in Lenoir, one of three children of Anna Pennell and Walter Lafayette Minish. Her father was a prominent local businessman, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Boyd, Sandra O. Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony: Fact and Legend by Sandra Boyd Reprinted with permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian. Spring 2000. Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of [...] (from Tar Heel Junior Historian, NC Museum of History.)

by Engstrom, Mary Claire. Carleton Walker, British-born collector of the Port of Wilmington, paymaster of troops in the War of 1812, and Cape Fear planter and lavish speculator, was the youngest of three sons of James (d. [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Stonestreet, O. C., III. Wampus is the name of a semimythical creature believed to inhabit Iredell County and adjacent counties. It was a source of particular concern in the early 1930s. Sightings and hearings of the [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Stonestreet, O. C., III, Malo, Jorge. Wampus es el nombre de una criatura mitológica que se cree que habita el condado de Iredell y los condados adyacentes. Fue la fuente de una particular preocupación a principios de la década de 1930. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Barefoot, Daniel W. The mysterious disappearance between 1587 and 1590 of the English colonists on Roanoke Island, known as the "Lost Colony," spawned numerous legends and ghost stories among the people who later [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jones, H. G. Cratis Dearl Williams, folklorist, ballad collector and singer, linguist, professor, and college administrator, rose from humble beginnings in the Caines Creek community of Big Sandy Valley in [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cecelski, David S. One of the great pleasures of my life has been getting to know Sonny Williamson and his wife, Jenny. Born and raised in Sea Level, a remote fishing village in Carteret County, Sonny had a short [...] (from Listening to History, News and Observer.)

by Powell, William S. Belief in witchcraft influenced people for hundreds of years, and many unexplained occurrences were considered supernatural in origin. In America, the New England colonies were the scene of notorious [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Patteson, Angelyn H. The fuzzy brown and black creature commonly called the woolly worm or woolly bear is the larval form of the tiger moth (Isia isabella). Woolly worms appear in early fall, when they feast on common [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Baker, Bruce E. Work Songs by Bruce E. Baker, 2006 See also: Menhaden Chanteymen. Work songs are sung as an accompaniment to work, primarily manual labor. They are usually traditional in nature, [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Wyche, Richard Thomas by William S. Powell, 1996 25 July 1867–5 May 1930 Richard Thomas Wyche, lecturer and storyteller, was born in Henderson, the son of Benjamin and Sarah Elizabeth [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)