[Silver John 04] • John the Balladeer

Silver John, the wandering balladeer, is well respected among the back-country folk for his knowledge of woodcraft, the manly simplicity of his singing, and especially for his dealings with the dark mysteries that flourish amid a land untamed by modern civilization. So he is welcomed by the men and women working high in the Southern mountains. The new Stonehenge they are helping reconstruct has been plagued by unaccountable happenings - nothing violent yet, but there lurks in the woods many a blinking eye. Their imaginations, agitated by the area's history as a gathering place for devil worshippers, create a succession of woo-haunting ghouls, each more terrible than the last. Their employer, Noel Kottler, millionaire industrialist, is unschooled in mountain lore and scoffs at what he considers childish fancy.

Silver John doesn't. Neither does Edras Hogue, seventh son of a seventh son, whose communications with primordial cavemen proves a stronger defense against the evil forces unleashed upon them than all the latest ammunition Kottler can muster.