The ghosties and haints will be crawling about on Saturday, October 12, at the Morgantown (WV) Public Library. Storytellers: Granny Sue and Jason Burns. Time: 11:00am, because some of these stories are best heard in the daylight when we can be assured nothing is likely to grab our ankles and pull us in. Here's more about our program:
Monstrous Mysteries of WV: Tales of the Strange & Unexplained
"From the bloody tale of Dorsey's Knob to bizarre graves and monsters that lurk in the hills and below the rivers, West Virginia harbors a host of strange and haunting tales. Storytellers Susanna "Granny Sue" Holstein and Jason Burns tell stories that will send you home looking over your shoulder and watching closely in the night."
Jason Burns has been listening to and telling ghost stories since his childhood, when his family lived for a time in a haunted house. He conducts ghost tours of the WVU campus in Morgantown and maintains the website West Virginia's Spectral Heritage.
Jason and I have presented ghost stories programs in historic Sistersville, WV and in Point Pleasant, WV as part of the Mothman Festival. We conducted a full day workshop in finding and telling ghost stories for the West Virginia Storytelling Guild as part of a grant-funded series of professional development workshops, and I will be presenting workshops on this topic in Provo, Utah for the Timpanagos Storytelling Conference and in Kentucky for the Kentucky Storytelling Association's Annual Conference. Ghosts are near and dear to us in, to use an old saying although we both prefer they keep a respectful distance.
Our program will include not only ghost tales and ballads but also tales of strange and unexplained occurrences in our state--such as Mothman, the Flatwoods Monster, the Agua, Ikie's Tomb and others. Those who come to listen will leave with an appreciation of the strangeness that lurks beneath everyday life in our mountain state and, I hope, a determination to explore some of these mysteries for themselves.
Admission is free, and so are the chills and goosebumps. See you there? For directions to the library, click here.
