Adaptation of “Stormwalker,” from Roberta Simpson Brown, The Walking Trees and Other Scary Stories (Little Rock, Ark.: August House, 1991). Used by permission of Marian Reiner on behalf of the publishers.
“The Wedding Ring,” in Berniece T. Hiser, Quare Do’s in Appalachia: East Kentucky Legends and Memorats (Pikeville, Ky.: Pikeville College Press, 1978), 164–168. Heard and compiled by Berniece T. Hiser, copyright 1978 by Berniece T. Hiser. Reprinted by permission of Susan Hiser and Shirley Hiser Fugate.
“The Gingerbread Boy,” by Mary Hamilton, was first published in The August House Book of Scary Stories: Spooky Tales for Telling Out Loud, edited by Liz Parkhurst (Atlanta: August House, 2009), 22–26.
“2010 Gingerbread Boy,” by Linda Gorham, is used with her permission.
“The Blue Light,” archival text by Mrs. Dicey Hurley or Mrs. E. McClanahan. “The Bushel of Corn,” by J. B. Calton. Excerpts from an untitled text collected by Euphemia Epperson from Ted Middleton. All from the Leonard Roberts Collection, Southern Appalachian Archives, Berea College.
“How She Paid Her Debt,” or “Flannel Mouth,” by Nora Morgan Lewis. From the Nora Morgan Lewis Collection, Southern Appalachian Archives, Berea College.
“The Open Grave” is adapted from William Lynwood Montell, Ghosts Along the Cumberland: Deathlore in the Kentucky Foothills (Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1975), 187–190. It is used with permission of the publisher.
“The Farmer’s Smart Daughter” is adapted from “The Farmer’s Daughter,” in Marie Campbell, Tales from the Cloud Walking Country (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1958), 198–200. Adaptation undertaken courtesy of Indiana University Press.
“Kate Crackernuts” is reprinted from Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales, 3rd ed. (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons and David Nutt, 1898), 198–202.
“The Story of Kate Crackernuts” is reprinted from Andrew Lang, “English and Scottish Fairy Tales,” Folk-Lore 1, no. 3 (September 1890): 289–312.
“The King and His Advisor,” adapted by Mary Hamilton, with the permission of Umang Badhwar and her family. Text of May 1986 correspondence from Umang Badhwar to the author reprinted by permission of Umang Badhwar.
“Jump Rope Kingdom,” by Mary Hamilton, first published in The Scenic Route: Stories from the Heartland, ed. Ellen Munds and Beth Millett (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2007), 1–3.