Spooky Tales And Sci-Fi, Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, submitted for your approval, we have a selection of spooky tales for Halloween and beyond. We have scary stories read by acclaimed sci-fi and horror authors, tales of the supernatural, and we might know someone who says they’ve seen a ghost.

Submitted for your approval, we have a selection of spooky tales for Halloween and beyond.

We have scary stories read by acclaimed sci-fi and horror authors, tales of the supernatural, and we might know someone who says they’ve seen a ghost. 

All this and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:


Mike Allen And The Button Bin

Mike Allen is an award-winning science fiction, fantasy and horror writer based in Roanoke, Virginia. Besides writing, Mike also runs Mythic Delirium, a micropress that “specializes in speculative fiction and poetry, with a penchant for writing that’s challenging to classify.”

Mason Adams visited Mike to talk about fantasy and horror and to hear excerpts from one of his stories.

Molly Born And The Spooky Old Tunnel

Spooky stories can be about people, but sometimes they’re just about a place. In Mingo County, West Virginia there’s an old single-lane railroad tunnel that’s become a local legend. 

Back in 2018, reporter Molly Born ventured inside the Dingess tunnel to find out what makes it so unsettling.

Ghost Story

Some people are afraid of ghosts. Others want to figure out ways to communicate with them – like Anita Allen, a writer and paranormal investigator in Roanoke. 

Mason Adams talked to her about a couple of her ghost encounters.

Another Ghost Story

Haunted places dot Appalachia – moonlit hollers, mist-shrouded cemeteries, and dusty buildings that hold unspoken secrets. Playwright and theater director Dan Kehde knows just such a place in Charleston, West Virginia. 

Return Of the Headless Man And The Murdered Girl

James Froemel, an actor and storyteller in Morgantown, West Virginia brought us two stories from Ruth Anne Musick.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by The Animals, Amy Lavere, Jason Isbell, Gerry Milnes, Sierra Ferrel, Southern Culture on the Skids and Red Sovine.

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.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Hoodoo + History = Haints (Why Is Appalachia So Haunted?)

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, West Virginia Penitentiary,  Mothman…our region has a long list of haunts and haints.

On this week’s Front Porch podcast, we ask folklorist Gerald Milnes about the roots of our deepest fears, and why these old Appalachian stories remain so strong.

Meanwhile, Rick Wilson reveals his theory of why Appalachia has more than its fair share of scary places: Hoodoo + history = haints.

Hoodoo  – places with natural power

History – wars, disasters, murders

Folklorist Gerald Milnes has studied witches in eastern West Virginia.

Haints – that which haunts

Also, Rick reveals the reflexive property of haints: If it’s haunted, it’s got a haint.

Subscribe to “The Front Porch” podcast on iTunes or however you listen to podcasts.

An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.

Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org

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