Books for the Urban Legends in Your Life

Gear up for a frightful jaunt into the darkest reaches of the ancient Appalachians.

Folk deep within Appalachian hollers lean close to share stories of the inexplicable with hushed awe. Monsters rumbling in the hills. Strange lights darting through the pitch-black night sky. Horrible occurrences, almost ineffable in their bizarre tragedy. "Tall tales," you might say. But tell that to the Flatwoods monster in Braxton County, West Virginia. Or the Goat Man of Louisville--look into his humanoid eyes and let him know you don't believe. And what of those apparitions in Mammoth Cave's Corpse Rock, or the Satan-spawn known as the Jersey Devil? How do you respond when those mysteries confront? From metaphysical energy that swirls near the Serpent Mound in Ohio to Point Pleasant's Mothman legacy, Mark Muncy and Kari Schultz explore the dark history lurking in the shadows of Appalachia..

Mysterious creatures, strange happenings and ghost stories. Alabama has them all and more - despite its glorious depictions.

Alabama claims an abundance of fascinating mysteries and legends despite being known for its antebellum mansions and sunny beaches, . The White Thang is a Sasquatch-like creature that has terrorized Alabamians for generations. For a brief period in the 1980s, Needham gained national attention because of its "crying pecan tree." In 1854, a farmer named Orion Williamson simply vanished in a field in Selma. From the aquatic beast known as the Coosa River Monster to the story of the Leprechaun of Mobile, these stories have evolved over generations. Author and ghost-story guru Alan Brown presents some of the strangest stories from this collective tradition.

New Orleans has a reputation as a home for creatures of the night. Popular books, movies and television shows have cemented the city's connection to vampires in public imagination.

Rumors swirled about the fate of the Casket Girls, a group of mysterious maidens traveling to the New World from France with peculiar casket-shaped boxes. A charismatic man who moved to the French Quarter in the early 1900s eerily resembled a European aristocrat of one hundred years prior bearing the same name. A pair of brothers terrorized the town with their desire to feed on living human blood during the Great Depression. Marita Woywod Crandle investigates the origins of these legends so intricately woven through New Orleans's rich history.

In the wake of a love affair and a mysterious chain of events, Tom Dooley was convicted and hanged for the murder of Laura Foster.

At the conclusion of the Civil War, Wilkes County, North Carolina, was the site of this nationally publicized crime of passion, the nation's first. This notorious crime became an inspiration for musicians, writers and storytellers ever since, creating a mystery of mythic proportions. Through newspaper articles, trial documents and public records, Dr. John E. Fletcher brings this dramatic case to life, providing the long-awaited factual account of the legendary murder. Join the investigation into one of the country's most enduring thrillers.

Beyond the beaten path of local landmarks, residents and tourists can find curious secrets, lost mysteries and fascinating legends.

The famed Hope Diamond once found itself, and its mysterious curse, buried in an Asheville girl's sandbox. Elvis once handed a cherished guitar to a local man at an Asheville concert, and he held on to it for forty years. At a flea market, an Asheville attorney paid a few bucks for an old tintype likely of Billy the Kid, and it may be worth millions. Native author Marla Hardee Milling recounts odd, but true, stories hiding behind Asheville's picturesque beauty.

Discover the ghostly, and sometimes ghastly, characteristics of death in Kentucky.

Author Keven McQueen dissects some of Kentucky's more bizarre aspects of death, pulled directly from the history pages. Discover the reaper's creative side, meet the disgusting ghosts of Louisville and find out more than you wanted to know about old-fashioned embalming techniques. You will find it quite engrossing and just plain gross.

When the sun slips behind the trees, the spirits who linger in the mountains and valleys of North Carolina's Highlands and Cashiers whisper their stories.

Located in the Appalachian Mountains, within the Nantahala National Forest, the Highlands and Cashiers are townships rich in natural beauty and folklore. In this carefully cultivated collection, there are tales of lost loves, deals gone bad, and ghosts who walk the night. Is that a whisper winding through the hemlocks, or is it just the wind?

Settle in for a juicy bushel of Peach State bafflement.

Shiver with these eerie stories of the Sunshine State after dark.

Surrounded by golden beaches, sparkling Atlantic waters, and palm trees as far as the eye can sea, Florida can give the appearance of a tropical paradise, but the Sunshine State is home to numerous eerie legends and mysterious creatures. From reports of an elusive Skunk Ape skulking around the Everglades, to an uncanny doll said to be cursed with a life of its own sits inside a glass case in the Florida Keys to welcome any tourists brave enough to come near, and even the tale of a man in South Florida who constructed his own castle by ways still unknown. Join Mark Muncy and Kari Schultz as they uncover the history behind the state's creepies stories and unusual locations.