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This week, in author Willie Carver, Jr.’s new book, he reconsiders a negative childhood experience with a neighborhood girl who might have just been looking for a friend. Also, a southwestern Virginia community rang the alarm after more and more of its children were diagnosed with cancer. A local journalist is trying to unravel the cause. And, the city of Asheville has a new crusading reporter. He’s a puppet.
JD Pauley and his beloved Hobby III.Jim Lange/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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This past July, my friend and I were walking around during Charleston’s newly returned Sternwheel Regatta. After making the rounds that hot day, we needed some refreshment and shade. Seated riverside, cold water in hand, she looked over and saw a sternwheeler that friends of hers owned. Soon we were aboard the Hobby III.
My old pal, and WVPB News Director Eric Douglas, was there and we all started chatting amiably about all sorts of things. Then I was introduced to the owner, JD Pauley, and his friend Brian Carr.
JD has a laid-back, engaging personality with a very funny dry wit. Sensing that my question would not be perceived as odd or crazy, I asked JD whether he had any personal experiences with ghosts. After all, boats and water seem to be a frequent paranormal setting.
To my utter surprise, he said that the Hobby III was being visited by the former owner, Harry Wilson.
Well, knock me over with a feather.
Harry Wilson Photo credit: UnknownHobby III owner JD Pauley with the wheel that Harry Wilson was holding when he passed. Photo credit: Jim Lange/WVPBClose-up of the boat log, in Louise Wilson’s handwriting, with a newspaper clipping of Harry’s passing. Photo credit: Jim Lange/WVPBJD shows the sconce light that mysteriously comes on. Photos of Harry Wilson are hung below that light. Photo credit: Jim Lange/WVPB
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This week, in author Willie Carver, Jr.’s new book, he reconsiders a negative childhood experience with a neighborhood girl who might have just been looking for a friend. Also, a southwestern Virginia community rang the alarm after more and more of its children were diagnosed with cancer. A local journalist is trying to unravel the cause. And, the city of Asheville has a new crusading reporter. He’s a puppet.
Lydia Hamessley is a professor of music at Hamilton College in New York and the author of "Unlikely Angel, The Songs of Dolly Parton." She spent nearly a decade researching Dolly's music catalog. Inside Appalachia Associate Producer Abby Neff talked with Hamessley.
Dolly meant a lot to educator, author and poet Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr. from east Kentucky. Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Carver about the loss of Dolly Parton.
