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978-0-89587-093-3
0-89587-093-2
$14.95 hardcover
6" x 9"
104 pages
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At East Tennessee State
University, the ghost of the university's first president roams
Gilbreath Hall like a fussy custodian, closing windows and doors at the
first sign of an approaching thunderstorm.
At Rotherwood Mansion near
Kingsport, a terrifying "Hound of Hell" wanders the grounds on
stormy nights.
In Jonesborough, the ghost of
Andy Jackson can sometimes be seen walking along Main Street, heading in
the direction of the old courthouse where he once served as a judge.
In Bristol, a little,
grandmotherly woman once felled an apple tree with the power of prayer
alone.
Upper East Tennessee is a
rugged place with a rich history. It is also a place with more than its
share of ghosts and unexplained happenings. In Haints, Witches, and
Boogers: Tales from Upper East Tennessee, Charles Edwin Price has
collected twenty stories from Sullivan, Washington, Greene, Carter,
Unicoi, and Johnson counties. The stories run the gamut of the
supernatural, from troublesome poltergeists and magical animals to evil
witches and ghost lights. They span the years from an historic contact
between whites and Native Americans in 1673 to a tragic fire in Johnson
City in 1989.
As Price notes, "Upper
Tennesseans are neither fearful of nor cowed by the supernatural."
But they do have an active, longstanding interest in their native
ghosts, witches, and poltergeists, which they describe with colorful
terms like "haints," "boogers," and "manabees."
Most local people have heard tales of the supernatural since they were
in swaddling clothes. Their attitude is one of enjoying their rich
ghostly heritage and passing it along to future generations, often in
traditional oral form. With this collection, Price seeks to preserve
some of the best tales from the upper East Tennessee tradition.
about the author
Charles Edwin Price has served in the United States Air Force and
written for a small newspaper in Kansas and major dailies in the
Baltimore-Washington area. He currently lives in Johnson City,
Tennessee, where he remains busy gathering folklore.
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