Tag: Appalachian Folklore

Interview With An Appalachian Village Witch

H. Byron Ballard is a practicing witch in Asheville, North Carolina and the author of four books about the craft, including her latest, “Small Magics: Practical Secrets from an Appalachian Village Witch.”

This story originally aired in the Oct. 15, 2023 episode of Inside Appalachia.

H. Byron Ballard is a practicing witch in Asheville, North Carolina and the author of four books about the craft, including her latest, Small Magics: Practical Secrets from an Appalachian Village Witch.

Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Ballard about the spirits and cryptids of Appalachia.

Lynch: Byron, first, thanks for coming on inside Appalachia. It’s a pleasure to speak to you. It’s not very often I get to speak to an actual Appalachian village which, so…you may be the first.

Ballard: (Laughs) I don’t know. You know, I listen to the show, and I am pretty sure you probably talked to a witch or two already. They just might not identify that way.

Lynch: Just as a kind of get a getting to know you sort of thing, how did you become such a thing? How did you become an Appalachian village witch?

Ballard: Well, I mean, I took that on as a branding thing, just to be honest. I mean, I’m Appalachian, multiple generations back. And I’ve been a witch my whole life. My mother’s family all identified themselves and were identified with that word back to like, five generations, that I know of. 

So, I’ve always been that and then, when it came time for me to, to kind of have, a hat rack to hang all my hats on, that felt like a good one. So, I called myself the village witch. 

And I know some people who function as village witches in Britain. One of them contacted me, and she was like, “Well, what exactly is that you do that you think you’re a village witch?” 

And I said, “Well, I go out, and I bless the cornfields. And I used to bless the tobacco crop, and I’ll come out and clear your house if it’s got some uncomfortable in it. And I’ll bless your babies, and I’ll, you know, bury your grandma, and, you know, all that stuff.” 

And my friend said, “Oh, well, no. That’s exactly what a village witch does.”

 And I said, “Well, yeah.” 

Lynch: Witchcraft or being a witch in the 21st century: how is that different than being a witch in the 20th century or even the 19th Century? 

Ballard: I would say it’s less threatening than it used to be. But in some places, it’s still just as threatening.

Um, how is the role different? It’s a really good question. 

I mean, for people like me, the role isn’t any different. Obviously, I’m gonna do a baby blessing, I’m gonna do a Handfasting when people want to get married. I will do a funeral –all that stuff that people traditionally did. Plus, right now, I’ve got tinctures laid up in the dining room that I have to remember to go in and shake everyday, so that they’re gonna be good next month. 

So, I do a lot of the similar things, but something that we have the ability to do now, and the privilege to do is that I can openly talk about it, and I can openly teach it to other people. 

So, people don’t have to rely on reading a book. Though, I mean, I’m a writer. I want people to read all the books, but I can teach people face to face. I can tell them what works for me and what doesn’t work for me, and encourage them to do those things that they feel like they’re drawn to do, that maybe don’t have the courage or the confidence to try.
So that’s one big difference. 

But the practice itself, I don’t know that it’s really changed. We joke about –there’s ceremonial magic and then there’s what I do, which is sort of, I reach in my pockets and see what’s in my pockets. I go pull a little plantain and some rabbit back and stir it all together.

And for some people, there is a sense of witchcraft being a very high-ordered religion. And you will hear some people talk about that they are a member of a witchcraft, religious tradition. 

But for people like me, it’s not necessarily a religious thing, though it is connected with spirits and with spirit things, but it’s not necessarily a religion. 

Lynch: Let’s talk a little about folklore. Places like the United Kingdom have pixies, and elves in Europe. We have goblins, haints and the Mothman. Don’t forget the Mothman. 

Did we bring our fairies and spirits over with us when we immigrated from Europe or wherever? Or were they already here? 

Ballard: I’m gonna say yes to both of those, because I think already there are spirits that are attached to land. And these are some of the oldest mountains in the world. How could they not have spirits attached to them? But I also think that a lot of my people, certainly they brought some of that with them, and they absolutely brought the folklore with them. 

But now you bring up Mothman, and I’ve got a question for you. Are all cryptids man, I mean, there’s the Boojum, there’s Mothman, there’s the New Jersey Devil… are they all boys?

That was Appalachian village witch, H. Byron Ballard speaking with Bill Lynch. You can hear the rest of that interview and more on Inside Appalachia, Sunday mornings at 7 and Sunday evenings at 6 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Summer Reading Suggestions, Inside Appalachia

Inside Appalachia loves books and writers – and if you’re looking for summer book recommendations, we’ve got a bunch. This is our summer reading episode, featuring some of our favorite notable author interviews from over the past several months. 

Inside Appalachia loves books and writers – and if you’re looking for summer book recommendations, we’ve got a bunch.

This is our summer reading episode, featuring some of our favorite notable author interviews from over the past several months. 

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Silas House Talks Climate Calamity With “Lark Ascending”

“Lark Ascending” is a post-apocalyptic story about the ravages of climate change.

Written by Kentucky’s Silas House, the novel racked up several awards including the 2023 Southern Book Prize and the 2023 Nautilus Book Award. 

Mason Adams spoke with House following the release of “Lark Ascending,” last fall.  

Kentucky poet laureate Silas House spoke to Mason Adams about his novel “Lark Ascending.”

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Barbara Kingsolver’s Appalachia Explored In “Demon Copperhead”

A Pulitzer Prize winning novel is typically considered “a solid read,” and even before it took the honor, Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead” was attracting attention.

In 2022, Kingsolver was the Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence at Shepherd University in West Virginia. 

WVPB’s Liz McCormick sat down with Kingsolver to talk about Appalachia and the book. 

Author Barbara Kingsolver.

Credit: Evan Kafka

Frank X. Walker Talks Poetry and Affricachia

Thirty years ago, Kentucky poet Frank X. Walker rebelled against the definition of Appalachians as, “the white residents of the Appalachian mountains” and coined the phrase “Affrilachia.” 

Walker’s latest is “A is for Affrilachia,” a children’s book.  

It’s been called “an ode to Affrilachia.” 

WVPB’s Eric Douglas spoke with Walker. 

Cover art for Frank X. Walker’s children’s book, “A is for Affrilachia.”

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Hotdogs In the Hills With Emily Hilliard

One of our favorite recent non-fiction books has been “Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia,” by folklorist Emily Hilliard.

It’s chock full of quirky Appalachian culture – from indie pro wrestling to the video game “Fallout 76” and more.

Folkways Reporter and resident foodie Zack Harold talked West Virginia hotdogs with Hilliard.

Emily Hilliard’s book relishes Appalachian culture.

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Women Speak In Appalachia

For a sampling of women writers, especially poets, you might check out any of the eight volumes of “Women Speak,” an anthology series collecting the work of Appalachian women.

The books are edited by Kari Gunter-Seymour, Ohio’s poet laureate.  

Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Gunter-Seymour about poetry, getting published, and Appalachian Ohio.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Del Mcoury, The Appalachian Road Show, Little Sparrow, Buck Owens and Tim Bing.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Making the ‘Lore’ List

With "Lore," Bill Lynch began by considering traditional culture, after he thought about trying to get on the game show "Survivor."

Ideas don’t happen in vacuums. When I began putting together the rough list of topics for “Lore,” I borrowed heavily from my previous newspaper column, which had me doing all kinds of things for a month at a time.

Some of the “Lore” topics were things I’d meant to try but had never gotten around to doing anything with. Nearly all were woodsy, which is a weak spot for me.

I prefer to experience the great outdoors in bite-sized, easy to digest servings and would rather sleep in my car than camp.

Still, I wanted to push myself. So, my initial list included fire building, wild mushroom foraging and deer hunting.

“What? Am I trying to get on ‘Survivor?’” I thought.

Truth be told, I did apply to get on “Survivor” once. I thought it would be cool. No one from West Virginia (as far as I know) has ever been a contestant, though there have been a few Appalachians.

I don’t know if any of them have ever won, though.

As I was preparing to start “Lore,” I talked it over with news director Eric Douglas. I shared my ideas and he agreed that I’d come up with a curriculum meant for someone studying to be a cave man.

Building fires and finding basic foods in the wild had more to do with basic survival. It didn’t have an Appalachian feel, even though, sure, people do that.

My list was falling short, but as I was listening to an Inside Appalachia Folkways story about Lost Creek Farms, something co-owner Amy Dawson said stuck with me.

“If you live on a farm, you just do food prep all the time –and preservation,” she said.

A great deal of Appalachian culture begins around certain notions of rural life with families living on small farms.

So, I stopped thinking so much about hunter/gatherers and imagined an old couple, living out in a holler somewhere and what their lives might be like. I didn’t see them as poor, but as self-reliant and thrifty. Maybe they grew a garden and got their water out of a well. Maybe they cooked over a wood stove because they lived in their childhood home and the stove their parents used still worked.

Maybe the old man hunted every fall. He probably looked forward to it and enjoyed it, but taking a deer was more than “sport.” It was meat in the freezer over the winter.

I imagined this couple telling their grandkids stories by firelight or teaching them to dance out in the yard because neither the internet nor Netflix had made it out to the end of their road.

What these people might know interested me and so, I began writing down what I’d want them to teach me. It gave me a place to start, and the list of wants grew to include things that had nothing to do with that old couple I imagined.

It’s a pretty good list. Who knows if I’ll get to all of it, but there’s a lot to learn.

Welcome to Lore with Bill Lynch

Lore is defined by Merriam-Webster as “Something that is learned. Traditional Knowledge or Belief. Tribal Lore. Knowledge gained through Study or Experience.”That last part is important. Experience.Some things you can’t quite get a grasp on just from reading a book or listening to someone talk at you. You have to put your hands on what it is you want to know. You have to spend some time with it.

Lore is defined by Merriam-Webster as “Something that is learned. Traditional Knowledge or Belief. Tribal Lore. Knowledge gained through Study or Experience.”

That last part is important. Experience.

Some things you can’t quite get a grasp on just from reading a book or listening to someone talk at you. You have to put your hands on what it is you want to know. You have to spend some time with it.

I’ve lived in Appalachia nearly my entire life, but a lot of the culture that’s part of Appalachia is a mystery to me. I don’t hunt. I have never been whitewater rafting (on purpose) and have never stepped foot inside a coal mine or handled a snake in church (or anywhere else).

I don’t clog, flatfoot or contra dance. My mother didn’t make chocolate gravy for breakfast on special occasions (or any occasion) when I was a kid. I don’t make biscuits from scratch. I buy them. They come in a can (or from a bag at the drive-thru) and I’ve never tried chow-chow or apple stack cake. I have never even seen muscadine pie.

Honestly, up until a week ago, I thought chow-chow was a kind of dog and didn’t know you could eat muscadine grapes.

It’s more than a little awkward.

Appalachia is forever associated with the Appalachian mountains. I grew up in Giles County, Virginia, which has an access point onto the Appalachian Trail. All summer long when I was a kid, I used to see hikers from the trail wander through town on their way to the post office to pick up their mail and maybe to find a bath. In college, I served these hikers pizza and sandwiches at Papa’s Pizzeria. They’d eat like horses. In between mouthfuls, they’d tell me about their adventures.

Sometimes, I was the first person they’d spoken to in days.

As an adult, I’ve read books and magazine articles about the Appalachian Trail. I hate camping, but I’ve flirted with the idea of taking on a long trail hike more than once. I even have a hiker’s map of the trail hanging up in my office, but I’ve never visited — not even for just the day.

There are dozens of other things, really — boxes on an All Things Appalachia list itching to be ticked.

So, I’ve started this blog and I have some recording equipment to make some radio stories for Inside Appalachia. There are things I’m very interested in knowing, things I’m sort of interested in learning about and things I’m not entirely sure I want to know at all, but I’m curious to see where this all goes.

Shepherd’s New Storyteller In Residence Will Bring Appalachian Tales To The World

Shepherd University has named a native West Virginian to its first “storyteller-in-residence” position, with an eye on sharing Appalachian folklore with the world.

Adam Booth, a native West Virginian, has been awarded the position and will use his skills to help reflect the region’s culture and heritage through stories, according to a press release from Shepherd University.

Booth is an award-winning storyteller, who has taught at Shepherd for the past 14 years. This new position will allow him to share his skillset beyond the university. 

“Our stories define who we are and determine who we might become,” said Sylvia Bailey, director of Shepherd’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities. “Our stories reflect our culture and heritage, and the most fundamental parts of ourselves, and they are essential for survival.” 

Booth has won the West Virginia Liars’ Contest four times and he created the Speak Series — an international storytelling series partnered with the Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities. 

Booth’s stories are a combination of mountain folklore and contemporary Appalachia. For example, on his Youtube channel Booth tells his interpretation of the traditional story “Rawhead and Bloodbones,” a story that originated in the British Isles and traveled with immigrants to southern Appalachia.

“…That woman she had a daughter that was about as mean as she was. They’d do mean things to people all day long, and then go home a laugh about it…and there was also a man that was just the opposite. He had a heart that seemed to be made out of pure gold…and he also had a daughter, who was just like him…”

Through the storyteller-in-residence position at Shepherd University, Booth will continue to develop the Speak Series, sharing Appalachian folklore with a modern twist to the world.

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