In Appalachian folklore, a "Woman in Black" is a supernatural figure appearing in various regions throughout the southern and western United States in the early to mid 1900s.
According to legend, a Woman in Black typically appeared to men who had misbehaved, cheated on their wives, or committed some moral transgression. Folklore holds that towns such as Bristol, Virginia, Tazewell, Virginia, Lynchburg, Virginia, Richmond, Virginia and Jackson, Minnesota [ citation needed ] were visited by a Woman in Black. According to one tale, she appeared "suddenly and unexpectedly" in Roanoke, Virginia in 1902 to men who had stayed too long at their club, insisting they go home as quickly as possible. Sometimes a Woman in Black was said to hit, pummel, or knock a man down to the ground or "slap him to the earth with a swish of her phantom garments" as retribution for his sins. [1] If continued, the men would be killed at the location where he committed his act.
It was said that her alleged appearances in Roanoke had the salutary effect of keeping married men home with their wives and families rather than going out each night. One account claims she appeared suddenly to four men of the Disciples of Christ church in Tazewell, Virginia, and scared them so badly they all ran home. [2]
Prominent politicians and businessmen were sometimes rumored to have been visited by a Woman in Black. In March 1902, it was claimed that H. S. Wetherald, editor of the Alma Journal; Frank Griggsby, the area's leading carriage dealer; and Ashton C. Shallenberger, then the congressman of Nebraska's Fifth District, and later governor of Nebraska, had been "spooked" by a Woman in Black in Alma, Nebraska. [2]
American folklore encompasses the folklore that has evolved in the present-day United States mostly since the European colonization of the Americas. It also contains folklore that dates back to the Pre-Columbian era.
Woodford County is a county located in the state of Illinois. The 2020 United States Census listed its population at 38,467. Its county seat is Eureka. Woodford County is part of the Peoria, IL, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its name comes from General William Woodford, an officer of the American Revolutionary War who served at the brutal military encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Virginia Dare was the first English child born in an American English colony.
The vanishing hitchhiker is an urban legend in which people travelling by vehicle, meet with or are accompanied by a hitchhiker who subsequently vanishes without explanation, often from a moving vehicle.
The Dullahan is a type of legendary creature in Irish folklore. He is depicted as a headless rider on a black horse, or as a coachman, who carries his own head. As it is not widely attested in native sources, including no references to it on the Irish Folklore Commission's website, there is doubt as to whether the Dullahan was originally a part of the Irish oral tradition.
Littleton Waller Tazewell was a Virginia lawyer, plantation owner, and politician who served as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator and the 26th Governor of Virginia, as well as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
Selkies are mythological creatures that can shapeshift between seal and human forms by removing or putting on their seal skin. They feature prominently in the oral traditions and mythology of various cultures, especially those of Celtic and Norse origin. The term “selkie” derives from the Scots word for “seal”, and is also spelled as silkies, sylkies, or selchies. Selkies are sometimes referred to as selkie folk, meaning 'seal folk'. Selkies are mainly associated with the Northern Isles of Scotland, where they are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin to become human on land.
The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a legend from Southern United States folklore, centered on the 19th-century Bell family of northwest Robertson County, Tennessee. Farmer John Bell Sr. resided with his family along the Red River in an area currently near the town of Adams. According to legend, from 1817 to 1821, his family and the local area came under attack by a mostly invisible entity that was able to speak, affect the physical environment, and shapeshift. Some accounts record the spirit also to have been clairvoyant and capable of crossing long distances with superhuman speed.
Ashton Cokayne Shallenberger was an American Democratic politician and the 15th Governor of Nebraska from 1909 to 1911.
A White Lady is a type of female ghost. She is typically dressed in a white dress or similar garment, reportedly seen in rural areas and associated with local legends of tragedy. White Lady legends are found in many countries around the world. Common to many of these legends to consist of the woman going in to insanity and killing her own kids and once realizing is an accidental or impending death, murder, or suicide and the theme of loss, betrayed by a husband or fiancé, and unrequited love.
The black dog is a supernatural, spectral, or demonic hellhound originating from English folklore, and also present in folklore throughout Europe and the Americas. It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil, and is sometimes an omen of death. It is sometimes associated with electrical storms, and also with crossroads, barrows, places of execution and ancient pathways.
In ghostlore, a ghost train is a phantom vehicle in the form of a locomotive or train. The ghost train differs from other traditional forms of haunting in that rather than being a static location where ghosts are claimed to be present, "the apparition is the entire train".
The Ridgeway Ghost is a ghost of Wisconsin folklore.
Thai folklore is a diverse set of mythology and traditional beliefs held by the Thai people. Most Thai folklore has a regional background for it originated in rural Thailand. With the passing of time, and through the influence of the media, large parts of Thai folklore have become interwoven with the wider popular Thai culture.
In Canadian ghostlore, the Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait is a ghost ship said to sail ablaze within the Northumberland Strait, the body of water that separates Prince Edward Island from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in eastern Canada.
Maria is the title given to a Filipino version of Cinderella collected by Fletcher Gardner and published in The Journal of American Folklore, in 1906. The story is related both to the international Cinderella narrative, as well as to the motif of the calumniated wife.