Still uncertain whether I can be seen, I follow them up the hill, staying as far back as I’m able and still see their lights. I am eager to part with my peculiar company. How my feet ache. How my heart strains. I do not know what awaits me at the Hinterland, but I am unsafe where I am . . .Continue Reading
“That’s all for now. Don’t pay me. You will be back. You will be back next year. You will be back after you start that new job,” she stated, taking another sip of the Southern Comfort.
I tried to pay her, but she vigorously refused to accept the five-dollar bill. As I was leaving, a brand-new . . . Continue Reading
It has been our great pleasure to have met and published so many impressive and talented people. And we are grateful for each and every one of you—our submitters, subscribers, readers, perusers, and scrollers. In these five years, we have . . . Continue Reading
Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! the old days recalling, When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling! When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin, Glaring out through the dark with a candle within! (25-28) —from “The Pumpkin” by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1844 People living inContinue Reading
The following excerpt is from “The Complete Pitty Pat Hollow Tales” in Curtis N. Coulter’s 2022 book This Is the Way I Heard It . . . Not only does Coulter’s exceptional storytelling and wit transport the reader inside his beloved Sale Creek community, the very place that inspires hisContinue Reading
Introduction I was born and raised in Clendenin, West Virginia, a small town in Appalachia. When I was fourteen, my mom piled me and my sisters into a brand-new blue Chevrolet Impala convertible and we headed west to California, then to Miami, and finally back to West Virginia for aContinue Reading
Appalachia Bare recently published Stephen Billias’s poem, “Little Margaret,” a thoughtful and earnest homage to his friend, James Elton “Jim” McMillan, Jr., who was, among many talents, a musician. Stephen’s poem “Little Margaret” is the namesake of one of Jim’s songs. Stephen generously passed along a recording of Jim andContinue Reading
The following story, first appeared in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. It was so convincing that the editors listed the author as “Edward Lang” instead of “Edward Francisco.” I was named for my great-grandfather, David Lang. David has long been a source of speculation and fascination owing toContinue Reading
To say that Hollins University is haunted would be a bit of an understatement. Records of the various spirits and supernatural occurrences popcorn throughout the school’s almost 200-year history: correspondence from the mid-19th century debates the level of concern that should be assigned to the strange occurrences in a student’sContinue Reading
**Trigger Warning: This article contains supernatural violence and abuse. The Smurl family didn’t have an easy go at life. They were Pennsylvanians and devout Roman Catholics who were heavily involved in church activities. The family included Navy veteran Jack Smurl,1)Jack Smurl was on a ship at sea during the CubanContinue Reading