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Famous characters in folklore

Heroes & Villains

Read all about dashing heroes and dastardly villians who have made their mark on American history and folklore.

American Heroes

  • Abraham Lincoln (The White House Ghosts)
    It is said that Lincoln's ghost haunts the White House. He appears in the room where the Lincoln bed is kept. Harry Truman once responded to a 3 o'clock knock on his door and found no one there. He attributed the knock to Lincoln.

  • Bigfoot Wallace
    A Texas folk hero whose exploits as a Texas Ranger and backwoodsman made him a legend in his own time – and ours!

  • Casey Jones
    Casey Jones, that heroic railroad engineer of the Cannonball, was known as the man who always brought the train in on time. He would blow the whistle so it started off soft but would increase to a wail louder than a banshee before dying off. Got so as people would recognize that whistle and know when Casey was driving past.

  • Daniel Boone's Dear
    Late one night, Daniel Boone and a friend went out fire hunting. Fire hunting involves the shining of the light from a fire pan (a pan full of blazing pine knots) into the woods. The light reflects in the eyes of the deer, which is too dazzled to run and the hunters can shoot it.

  • Davy Crockett and the Frozen Dawn
    One winter, it was so cold that the dawn froze solid. The sun got caught between two ice blocks, and the earth iced up so much that it couldn't turn. The first rays of sunlight froze halfway over the mountain tops. They looked like yellow icicles dripping towards the ground.

  • Ethan Allen
    Ethan Allen, the leader of the Green Mountain Boys, who defeated the British at Fort Ticonderoga, was known as a gruff-mannered, hard-drinking man. But Ethan Allen had a gallant streak which would exhibit itself in unexpected ways.

  • Febold Feboldson, the Drought Buster
    Back in the early days, the Plains folk were often in need of a good drought buster during the hot summer months. The sun would shine and shine, and the clouds would scuttle right quick over the Plains without dropping rain. One year, it got so bad that Febold Feboldson, that legendary Swede who could bust the driest drought in a day, got annoyed.

  • Henry Hudson
    On September 3rd of 1609, Henry Hudson sailed the Half Moon into the mouth of the great New York river that later bore his name. The explorer and his crew journeyed north for several days, trading with the native residents and searching for the fabled northwest passage to the Orient.

  • Joseph Bonaparte and the Jersey Devil
    Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, was the King of Spain. Unsuccessful in defending Spain against England during the Peninsular Wars, he was forced to abdicate his throne in 1813. Following Napoleon's defeat, he went into exile in America.

  • John Henry
    Now John Henry was a mighty man, yes sir. He was born a slave in the 1840's but was freed after the war. He went to work as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, don't ya know. And John Henry was the strongest, the most powerful man working the rails.

  • Johnny Appleseed
    Johnny Appleseed was a hermit and a wanderer who was welcomed wherever he went in the Ohio territory. Everyone loved him, in spite of his unkempt appearance. He always carried a sack full of apple seeds to plant, and walked barefoot all year round.

  • Old Stormalong
    Now everyone knows that Alfred Bulltop Stormalong was the ultimate sailor. He was the captain of a mighty ship known as the Courser, which was so wide that she couldn't sail into Boston Harbor and so tall that the mast was hinged into the middle so it could be taken down to avoid the sun and the moon whenever they passed by.

  • Old Stormalong and the Octopus
    One day Old Stormalong, the ultimate sailor, was sailing the Courser through the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean when a particularly large wave knocked the anchor loose. The anchor plunged right down to the bottom before the sailors could reel her in, and it got caught on something.

  • Paul Bunyan
    Paul Bunyan is a larger-than-life folk hero who embodies frontier vitality. He is a symbol of might, the willingness to work hard, and the resolve to overcome all obstacles.

  • Pecos Bill
    Pecos Bill is a cowboy hero with superhuman abilities. He is the embodiment of superlatives: strongest, meanest, greatest. He is attributed with the invention of calf roping, the practice of cattle branding, and the creation of the six-shooter.

  • Saint Nicholas
    Claas Schlaschenschlinger was a wealthy cobbler living on New Street in New Amsterdam. He was a contented bachelor who could afford eight - eight mind you! - pairs of breeches and he had a little side business selling geese. He cut quite a figure in New Amsterdam society, and was happy being single, until he met the fair Anitje! She was as pretty as a picture, and Claas fell head over heels for her.

  • Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett Bests Mike Fink
    Davy Crockett done married the prettiest, the sassiest, the toughest gal in the West, don't ya know! Her name was Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind and she was all that and then some! She was tougher than a she-bear and faster than a wildcat with his tail on fire and sweeter than honey, so that even hornets would let her use their nest for a Sunday-Go-To-Meeting hat.

American Outlaws

  • Jesse James and the Widow
    One day, as Jesse James and his gang were riding through Missouri, they saw a farmhouse and stopped to ask for something to eat. A widow lived there with three small children. She didn't have much in the house, but shared with them what she had.

  • Joaquin Murietta, The Bandit of the Goldfields
    Joaquin Murietta and wife Rosita lived with his older brother Carlos in California. The three Mexican immigrants were living on a small, successful farm and the men were also working a claim near Hangtown. However, the other miners living nearby tried to run them off, telling them that it was illegal for Mexicans to pan for gold or hold a claim. The Murietta brother's ignored their threats and continued to live peacefully on their farm and work in the goldfields...

  • Teething Toy
    Well now, you've probably heard it rumored that here in Deadwood we have such a tough neighborhood that our babies teeth on guns. And the fact of the matter is, this is the very truth. I happen to know the lady who was responsible for the start of this rumor. Nice woman, married with a baby. One afternoon, she saw a drifter approaching her house. She knew he would bother her something fierce for food and take advantage of her...

Villains & Knaves

Pirate Stories

  • Black Bartelmy's Ghost
    Black Bartelmy was an evil, surly buccaneer who murdered his wife and children and went to sea with a band of pirates as nasty as he.

  • Blackbeard's Ghost
    Blackbeard's ghost continues to walk the shores on the Pamlico Sound, searching for his head.

  • Dem Bones
    The skeletons of Captain Kidd's pirate crew return to the place where they buried their treasure.

  • The Ghost Ship of Captain Sandovate
    The merciless crew that killed their captain are doomed to sail the Atlantic forever, searching for water.

  • Ocean-Born Mary
    The ghost of a beautiful woman haunts the house where her pirate-husband was murdered.

  • Palatine
    A ghost ship wrecks off Block Island.

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