From an Appalachian “Bigfoot” allegedly seen in Campbell County, Tenn., to ghost tales near Middlesborough, Ky., author Larry Thacker uncovers many “Mountain Mysteries” in his most recent book.
One is the so-called “Bigfoot” story – or what folks in the Norris Highlands at LaFollette, Tenn., called a “Skunk Ape” a few years ago.
“The Skunk Ape was, in my opinion, a definite creature sighting of some sort which led to media hysteria, grew over the course of about three pre-Halloween weeks, and then died off like a good legend for a few years, yet to return,” Thacker said during a recent interview.
Thacker talks about that creature in “Mountain Mysteries: Mystic Traditions of Appalachia” (The Overmountain Press, $14.95). And he also talks about ghosts, like what’s been happening at the “Ritchie House,” said to be a haunted residence at Ewing, Va.
“I do not believe that scientific proof of ‘Bigfoot’ will be found any sooner than proof of ghosts existing,” Thacker said. “I believe this entity is much more a woods spirit than anything else.”
GHOSTHUNTING VIRGINIA
Spirit. That’s a buzzword of the Halloween season.
Besides Thacker’s book, spirits are also what you’ll find in a recent release called “Ghosthunting Virginia” (Clerisy Press, $14.95) by author Michael Varhola.
A Fairfax, Va., resident, Varhola visits what are believed to be haunted locales throughout the Old Dominion, chronicling tales spun at taverns, inns and hotels.
He makes a stop at the Wayside Inn in Middletown, which has catered to the needs of travelers for over 200 years while collecting a series of ghost tales.
Varhola visits the 1848 Island Manor House in Chincoteague Island, built by two affluent professionals and now believed to be haunted by no fewer than three ghosts.
In Richmond, Varhola goes to the Edgar Allen Poe Museum, where people have claimed to have found evidence of hauntings, including prankish ghosts who pinch and toss things at visitors.
Also, in Abingdon, Varhola opens the doors to the Barter Theatre, where he finds tales concerning the ghost of Robert Porterfield, the theater’s founder.
‘TOO PERSISTENT’
Do ghosts really exist?
Thacker, the “Mountain Mysteries” author, ponders that question for a moment.
“I would have to say I do believe in ghosts,” he said. “Some form of them, in my opinion, must exist ... The ghost phenomenon is too persistent in the world’s history not to have some reality in there.”
An educator who makes his home near Middlesborough, Ky., Thacker has studied ghosts for years and is currently working on a sequel to “Mountain Mysteries.”
But whether or not this author believes in ghosts, he said, does not matter.
“My believing one way or the other doesn’t affect the overall public consciousness of belief, which is my fascination – a fascination rooted in the experiences of others, more of how they believe, when they do believe – and how these often ignored stories change the lives of people in subtle and major ways,” he said.
BOOK SIGNING & MORE
Title: “Mountain Mysteries”
Author: Larry Thacker
Publisher: Overmountain Press
Price: $14.95
Web: http://www.overmountainpress.com
Book signing: Oct. 18, 7:30-9 p.m., at Books-a-Million, Johnson City, Tenn.
Info: (423) 915-0112
YOU SHOULD KNOW
Title: “Ghosthunting Virginia”
Author: Michael J. Varhola
Publisher: Clerisy Press
Price: $14.95
Web: http://www.clerisypress.com
Joe Tennis, Media General News Service