Historical Folklore

Choose an event or time period from the options below to see a list of folktales for that topic.

Contents American Revolution Civil War Colonial Corner Frontier Mississippi Riverboat U.S. Railroad War of 1812 The Wild West

The Spooky Series by S.E. Schlosser Spooky Pennsylvania  NEW! Spooky New Jersey Spooky New England Spooky South Spooky Southwest Spooky New York Spooky California

American Revolution

• The Blue Hen's Chicks
  Why Delaware is the Blue Hen State.

• The Ghosts of Ringwood Manor
  Do not visit Ringwood Manor after dark!

• The Phantom Drummer
  The sound of a phantom drummer is heard just before tragedy strikes.

Civil War

• The Army of the Dead
  The ghosts of the Confederate Army still march through Charleston, South Carolina.

Colonial Corner

• Connecticut Yankee
  A Connecticut Yankee outwits an innkeeper.

• Ethan Allen
  Ethan Allen gets a toothache.

• Old Man Moses
  New Hampshire men can always catch a meal.

• Palatin
  A Dutch ship wrecks off Block Island. (Rhode Island)

• Sam Hyde
  Old Sam Hyde tells a tall tale and earns himself a glass of cider.

• Spuyten Duyvil
  New Amsterdam is under attack. Can a brave trumpeter warn the people in time? (New York)

Frontier

• Daniel's Dear
  How Daniel Boone met his wife. (North Carolina)

• Drought Buster
  Febold Feboldson busts a drought in Nebraska.

• Echoes
  A Minnesota settler longs for the echoing mountains of home.

• Frozen Dawn
  Davy Crockett must unfreeze the dawn. (Tennessee)

• Frozen Flames
  What do you do when the lanterns freeze? Call Paul Bunyan. (Michigan)

• Fur-Bearing Trout
  Colorado Fisherman developed a new trout catching technique following the visit of a hair tonic salesman.

• The Log Jam
  Paul Bunyan and Babe clear a log jam in Wisconsin.

• Paul Bunyan's Kitchen
  It takes a lot of work to feed Paul Bunyan. (Oregon)

• Teething Toy
  What would you give your baby to teeth on if you lived in Deadwood, South Dakota?

• Wrong-Side Up
  A settler is given advice by a Dakota man. (North Dakota)

Mississippi Riverboat

• The Cut-off
  Louisiana ghost story.

• Riverboat Racing
  An old woman is afraid of racing, until her riverboat is challenged by a rival. (Kentucky)

U.S. Railroad

• Casey Jones
  Death of a dare devil railman. (Tennessee)

• John Henry
  Man against machine!

• Kate Shelley Save the Train
  A brave girl rescues a train when the bridge washes out. (Iowa)

War of 1812

• Johnny Appleseed
  Johnny Appleseed rescues a town during the War of 1812.

The Wild West

• Cowboys in Heaven
  Where would a cowboy rather be than heaven? Texas!

• Death of Pecos Bill
  Not even Pecos Bill could figure out how to live forever.

• Jesse James and the Widow
  Jesse James helps out a Missouri widow.

• Pecos Bill and Slue-foot Sue
  Pecos Bill gets married.

• Pecos Bill finds a Hard Outfit
  Pecos Bill seeks a hard outfit in New Mexico.

• Pecos Bill Rides a Tornado
  Pecos Bill tries to tame a tornado.

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© S.E. Schlosser 1997 - 2008.

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