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 [...] (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- Part 1: Introduction; Folklore- Part 2: Types of Folklore and the North Carolina Folklore Society; Folklore- Part 3: North Carolina Folktales and Storytellers; Folklore- Part 4: Legends, [...] (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; Conjure; [...] (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. MacDonald, Flora by Maud Thomas Smith, 1991; Revised by SLNC Government & Heritage Library, June 2023 1722–5 Mar. 1790 See also:  Flora MacDonald Homesite (from the Encyclopedia of [...] (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.)