This week on Inside Appalachia, we’ll meet several people who are making connections with each other, themselves, or a spiritual community. We’ll hear the…
This week on Inside Appalachia, we’ll meet several people who are making connections with each other, themselves, or a spiritual community.
We’ll hear the story of one woman in Austria who spent years searching for her family in the United States. She didn’t know they were living in rural West Virginia, because her mother was afraid to reveal her father’s name.
We’ll hear how the families finally came together, and met face-to-face for the first time.
And we’ll visit a Southern Gospel Convention in West Virginia that’s been drawing people together to sing for 70 years. As we head into the holiday season, this is a good time for some of us to reconnect with family, or make new connections with friends.
In the small town of Pickens, West Virginia, one family made a connection to a sister they didn’t know they had. Report For America reporter Emily Allen attended a recent family reunion to hear the story. Below are some of the letters the Nestor family exchanged with their Austrian sister, Margaret Bogenhuber.
Loading…
Gospel Music
Credit Zack Harold / For Inside Appalachia
/
For Inside Appalachia
For many in Appalachia, singing hymns brings them closer to God and their family as well. Inside Appalachia Folkways reporter Zack Harold has attended and sang at the West Virginia Mountain State Gospel Singing Convention in Mt. Nebo, West Virginia, since he was a kid. He went back this summer to reconnect with some of the singers and to see what’s changed. Find more stories of Appalachian Folklife, arts and culture, at wvpublic.org/insideappalachia.
Johnson City Sessions
In Ken Burns’ recent film “Country Music” we learned about music producer Ralph Peer’s 1927 and 1928 recording sessions in Bristol, Tennessee, which connected two of country music’s first stars, Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. At the same time, a different record producer, working in nearby Johnson City, Tennessee, made a set of recordings that aren’t as well-remembered today as the Bristol Sessions, but historians say are just as important. WETS’s Wayne Winkler brings us a story about the Johnson City Sessions.
A Familiar Wilderness
Credit Courtesy photo
/
In 2013, Jim Dahlman, a journalist and professor of Communications at Milligan College in Tennessee, walked Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road from Tennessee into Kentucky. From that trip, he wrote a book called “A Familiar Wilderness: Searching for Home on Daniel Boone’s Road.” Author and Inside Appalachia associate producer Eric Douglas interviewed Dahlman about his journey.
We have more interviews where Eric talks with authors in central Appalachia on our website.
Immigration
Credit Glynis Board / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
For many Appalachians, immigration is an issue that’s mostly in the abstract — viewed through news reports. A group from Marshall County, West Virginia, recently felt compelled to take a trip to the border to see if they could do something to help asylum seekers. West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s assistant news director, Glynis Board, followed the group to learn more about the realities of the crisis at the southern U.S. border, and the people who try to help.
The Best Christmas
National Public Radio’s StoryCorps records interviews with people all over the country. These are memories and oral histories that otherwise would be forgotten. Dr. William Lynn Weaver recorded a memory with StoryCorps in Knoxville, Tennessee, about a Christmas 50 years ago he spent with his family when he was 18 years old in Mechanicsville, the neighborhood where he grew up.
His interview will be archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress along with the rest of the StoryCorps collection.
We had help producing Inside Appalachia this week from WETS in Johnson City, Tennessee, and StoryCorps. Special thanks to the West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Dinosaur Burps, and recordings from the Johnson City Sessions.
Our host is Jessica Lilly. Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Jesse Wright. He also edited our show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
Increasingly, teachers are finding that spending time in nature with their students is essential to learning. In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia,…
Increasingly, teachers are finding that spending time in nature with their students is essential to learning. In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia, we’ll hear from educators who are knocking down classroom walls so that kids can get some fresh air and exercise, and improve test scores in the process.
“I think there’s a difference between opening up a science textbook and learning about water quality when you can go outside and be in your own watershed,” Hannah Spencer said. Spencer is a co-founder of the Mountain Stewardship and Outdoor Leadership school, or Mountain SOL, an outdoor education program based in Morgantown.
Credit Jesse Wright/ WVPB
/
Hannah Spencer, co-founder of Mountain SOL, sits with some of her students Sept. 13, 2019, at Morgantown Learning Academy in Morgantown, W.Va.
Teaching outside might not solve all the underlying issues that make education challenging. But research shows that offering children outdoor learning opportunities improves test scores. And for kids struggling with attention disorders, it can be as effective as therapy and medication.
Author and researcher Florence Williams points out that kids in the U.S. today, “spend half as much time outdoors as their parents did. Instead, they spend up to seven hours a day on screens, not including time in school.”
A review of 13 scientific studies published this year in BMJ Open found that “there is evidence that higher levels of screentime is associated with a variety of health harms” for children and young people, “with evidence strongest for adiposity, unhealthy diet, depressive symptoms and quality of life. There is also evidence that high screentime is associated with deleterious effects on irritability, low mood and cognitive and socioemotional development, leading to poor educational performance.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents should place consistent limits on their children’s screen time (television, phones, computers, all devices).
One possible bright spot in all this is that here in Appalachia, we have an abundance of nature. It can provide a ready-made opportunity to teach kids about the ways industry and pollution can affect the environment. And it can nurture their curiosity. All we have to do is walk outside.
A Place Outdoors For Children With Parents Who Struggle With Addiction
In West Virginia and across the nation, many school systems are struggling to teach kids who are dealing with complicated, often dysfunctional home lives.
But kids often form strong bonds in outdoor settings, and they make connections with other children based on shared experiences, outside of their own homes. It’s almost like a temporary reset button on their lives. For children with troubled home lives, these experiences can be even more powerful and life changing. A group in Ohio has tuned into this idea that kids find coping mechanisms more readily in natural environments. Kavitha Cardoza reports about one program set outdoors in Dayton, Ohio, that hosts children whose parents struggle with addiction.
Outdoor Learning Can Happen In Cities, Too
Many stories in this episode take place in communities that border national forests, with access to an abundance of trees and other wild plants and animals. But you don’t need pristine and remote landscapes to reap the benefits of going outside. Sure, scientists have identified that soils and trees emit chemicals known to improve immune function and even help prevent cancer — but sometimes just walking through your own community can inspire learning and engagement. WFPL’s Liz Schlemmer reports from the parking lot at Louisville Male High School, where science teachers and students are tackling tough subjects like climate change.
Outdoor Academy At Boy Scout Jamboree
If you were in southern West Virginia this summer, you may have run into scouts who were visiting from across the globe. Tens of thousands of young scouts from more than 150 countries converged in rural southern West Virginia for the 24th World Scout Jamboree, temporarily creating the state’s second-largest city. Glynis Board reports it’s the first time the event has come to the U.S. since 1967.
Glynis Board interviewed scouts from South America and all over the world during the World Scout Jamboree. Credit Courtesy Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America welcomed scouts and astronauts alike, and now they’re teaming up with West Virginia University to tackle an ambitious goal — getting all sixth-graders in West Virginia learning outside. Glynis Board went back down to the scouts’ high-adventure property this fall to visit organizers, teachers and students participating in the pilot program.
Credit Glynis Board/ WVPB
/
Griffin Walker, a scout from the US, found a Luna Moth at the Sustainability Treehouse.
Our energy and environment reporter, Brittany Patterson, guest hosts this episode. She closes the show with these personal thoughts:
“Sometimes my job reporting on the environment is really tough. Reporting about all the things in our environment that are making us sick, or could be making us sick, and what’s at stake can be, well, very overwhelming.”
“But then, I also get to visit foresters who know trees like they’re family, hike through rare bogs, finding plants that have been here since the ice age, and breathe in mist from raging mountain waterfalls. My job is awesome because of these super-beautiful, life-giving moments.
And watching kids have those moments, experiencing the outdoors is like honey for my soul. So remember — having a bad day? Go outside. Find yourself hyper-distracted? Try going outside. Your kid is having a hard time focusing? Send him to breathe outside for a couple minutes. It’s worth a try. Trust me.” — Brittany Patterson.
Loading…
We had help producing Inside Appalachia this week from NPR’s All Things Considered and WFPL in Louisville.
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Dinosaur Burps.
Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Jesse Wright. Glynis Board edited our show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. You can find us on Twitter @InAppalachia. You can also send us an email to Inside Appalachia@wvpublic dot org.
Doctors point to overwhelming evidence that breast milk is superior to formula. But breastfeeding rates in the United States continue to be low. Reasons…
Doctors point to overwhelming evidence that breast milk is superior to formula. But breastfeeding rates in the United States continue to be low. Reasons for that may be lack of paid maternity leave in the U.S., challenges breastfeeding at work, the role of WIC in subsidizing formula and the fact that for many women, breastfeeding, although natural, is a learned skill and there aren’t enough people teaching techniques.
We’re taking another listen to an episode this week that we aired earlier this year about this important topic. More than a dozen women share their stories about motherhood, breastfeeding, and society’s demands.
Babies have been breastfed for most of human history. Formula was invented in the late 1800s, though it didn’t become affordable for most moms until the 1940s. That’s when doctors began pushing formula as the preferred way to feed infants, and breastfeeding rates declined.
But then in the 1990s, studies began to show that breast milk is better than formula. It has perfect combinations of proteins, nutrients, and fats that a baby needs, and the chemical makeup of breastmilk changes as a baby grows.
Today, most moms in the United States start out breastfeeding, but many stop as complications arise. In this episode, we’ll hear some of the reasons why this might be.
Credit Kara Lofton / WVPB
/
WVPB
Emma Pepper and her son in their home. Pepper struggled to breastfeed for six weeks before switching to formula under the direction of a lactation consultant. It’s a move she says she wishes she had made earlier.
Benefits Of Breastfeeding
There are lots of studies that show that breastfeeding protects infants from getting sick. “Babies who are breastfed have fewer respiratory infections, things like colds, the flu, RSV, less diarrheal illnesses, so less stomach bugs,” said Kailey Littleton, a pediatrician and lactation consultant in West Virginia. “They [also] have a lower incidence of SIDS, which is sudden infant death syndrome.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be breastfed for the first six months of their lives. After six months, doctors recommend introducing some solid foods, while continuing to breastfeed for a year or longer. The World Health Organization says babies should be breastfed for at least two years.
There are also studies that show breastfed babies are less likely to get diabetes, heart disease and even some types of cancer.
But there aren’t many scholarly studies that look at whether the benefits of breastfeeding might be linked to a mother’s social or economic class.
“The more exhausted you are, the more sleep deprived and time deprived and stressed out you are, the better you’re seen as a mother. And these are very incompatible things, to be both a good mother and an exhausted and stressed out mother.”- Molly Clever, sociologist at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
One study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine: Population Health shows that babies whose mothers intended to breastfeed, but don’t, have some of the same benefits as babies who were breastfed. Although this study still shows that breastfed babies are healthier overall, the results aren’t as remarkable and some of the other breastfeeding studies.
There are also a few studies that compare siblings, when one baby was breastfed but their brother or sister was not. Generally, these studies show that the benefits aren’t significantly higher for the breastfed babies, suggesting that a mother’s social or economic status may be the most important indicator of a baby’s long-term health outcomes.
Even though these studies show that breastfeeding does provide benefits, they reveal that the health benefits might not be as significant as originally thought, when a mother’s socioeconomic status is taken into account.
We do know that breastfeeding rates are linked to socioeconomic status. Women with low incomes are less likely to breastfeed than women with higher incomes. In this show, we’ll hear some of the reasons why the disparity exists.
Maternity Leave
Only 17 percent of Americans have paid family leave time through their employers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the early 1990s, the Family Leave Act was passed. It requires most employers to offer workers three months off after the birth of a baby — both men and women. But here’s the catch — employers don’t have to pay them for the time off.
Also, businesses with less than 50 employees are exempt from the Family Leave Act, so it’s legal for small businesses to fire workers if they take time off after a birth.
What this means is that many parents — especially mothers — who can’t afford to take unpaid time off return to work soon after having a baby.
We don’t know when, on average, women in Appalachia return to work. There isn’t any research on that. But some breastfeeding advocates say they believe a need to return to work quickly may be one of the reasons women in Appalachia are less likely to breastfeed, compared with national breastfeeding rates.
Working Moms In West Virginia
Nearly 900 women answered a West Virginia Public Broadcasting survey about being a working mom in Appalachia. From this, we were able to glean some insight into what working women in our region face, especially when it comes to the challenges of breastfeeding.
More than half of the women said they breastfed their babies.
More than half also said they received no paid time off work.
Returning to work after giving birth can be hard, regardless of how parents choose to feed their babies. In this episode, we’ll hear how it affects moms who breastfeed.
Mental Health And Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding has benefits for mothers too. Long term, mothers who breastfeed have a decreased risk of developing breast cancer. They also have better heart health.
Some studies have shown that moms who breastfeed have a lower chance of developing post-partum depression. However, the results do vary study to study, and depending on whether women showed signs of mental health issues before giving birth. A 2014 study published in the Maternal and Child Health Journal showed that when women intend to breastfeed, but then are unable to for various reason, they tend to have a high chance of developing postpartum depression.
Motherhood is often portrayed in popular culture as a time when women are glowing with warmth, love, and happiness. The reality is sleep deprivation, coupled with huge hormonal shifts, the need to return to work quickly, and the struggles of caring for a brand new human being, and you have all the ingredients for a mental health disaster. We’ll hear the story of several women’s struggles with maternal mental health.
Milk Sharing- Not Always Safe
In 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a recommendation that at-risk, premature babies be fed donated, pasteurized breastmilk, if their mothers aren’t able to breastfeed. The milk comes from milk banks certified by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. Donors are tested for contagious diseases.
But informal systems of milk sharing exist, too. And they could be putting some babies at risk. A study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics ran some tests on human milk purchased over the internet — and yes, websites exist that sell breastmilk, although it’s not legal. The study found that most of this milk was contaminated with bacteria. And while some types of bacteria are safe, even beneficial, other types are dangerous for infants. The researchers found a lot of the dangerous kind in the donated breastmilk, likely from poor pumping, storage or shipping practices.
Last year, the CDC began asking people how they feel about informal milk sharing. Of those who answered, about 30 percent said they, “believe it is acceptable for mothers to feed their baby with the breast milk obtained informally from another mother (not including pasteurized breast milk from a milk bank).” Only 20 percent said they disagree.
Intensive Motherhood
Today, the majority of women in America work outside the home, including women who’ve recently given birth. At the same time, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, women today actually spend more time with their children than they did in the 1960s.
Molly Clever, an assistant professor of sociology at West Virginia Wesleyan College and herself a mother of two kids, teaches a course on gender studies. She says sociologists have a term for this — “intensive motherhood.” “Basically, the idea is that you have to be with your children all the time. And that your status as a mother is tied to how much you sacrifice of yourself, to raise your children,” Clever said.
“The more exhausted you are, the more sleep deprived and time deprived and stressed out you are, the better you're seen as a mother. And the better you are able to see yourself as a mother. And these are very incompatible things, to be both a good mother and an exhausted and stressed out mother. The interesting thing about that is that ideology rose more in the 1980s and 1990s, as a reaction to women spending more time in the paid labor force and less time at home,” Clever said.
Glynis Board guest hosts this episode. She closes the show with these personal thoughts:
“Unpaid maternity leave, breastfeeding challenges, social pressures — I really wish we could solve these issues here in this episode. But we’re journalists — not superheroes. Still, I want to share one personal experience that has shaped how I approach these kinds of things.
“My little guy was probably a month old when I got a message from another mom I knew. I didn’t know her well. So it really surprised me. She told me about how after she first had a baby she felt depressed, isolated, even trapped. But that it passed. She told me about how hard it was to breastfeed at first. But then things got easier. She said I could call her if I needed to.
“I cannot tell you how much that note meant to me. I was living in rural Preston County at the time and struggling with so many emotions. Worried about having to return to work in a few short weeks. Frustrated that I couldn’t slow time — as crazy as that might sound.
“But that note made me suddenly feel like I was part of the mom club. Everywhere I looked there were other members. And they had my back. A few years later, an acquaintance of mine had a baby. I sent her a similar note.” –Glynis Board.
Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Jesse Wright. Ibby Caputo edited our show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi helps with promotions. Tweet at us on Twitter @InAppalachia – we love that.
By branding southern West Virginia “Hatfield & McCoy” country, are we re-affirming negative stereotypes in Appalachia?In this week’s episode of Inside…
By branding southern West Virginia “Hatfield & McCoy” country, are we re-affirming negative stereotypes in Appalachia?
In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia, we’ll look at how some communities in southern West Virginia are hoping to jumpstart their local economies through tourism. In particular, we’ll explore a type of tourism that caters to ATV riders along the Hatfield and McCoy trail system.
But what do we gain, and what do we lose, when we market ourselves to visitors? Are people able to remain true to their real identity, and claim ownership of their own narrative? We’ll discuss that and more in this week’s episode.
The Hatfield and McCoy feud is full of bloodshed and revenge. An article published in “The New York Times” in 1896 referred to the feud as “frontier lawlessness”, and the Hatfields and McCoys as having an “utter disregard of human life.” The fact that the families got their income from “illegal moonshining” has also been used to discredit them as “outlaws.”
For some, the feud has become synonymous with the type of mischaracterization of Appalachians that we’d like to leave behind.
We’ll hear about a new episode of PBS’ American Experience that looks deeply at the history of the Hatfield and McCoy Feud, how it was reported, and some of the long-term effects the stories have had on people in Appalachia.
A group of tourists from New York state were parked outside the Ole Jose Grill and Cantina parking lot in Pineville, Wyoming County.
Tourists who come to ride the ATV trails in southern West Virginia help support an ailing economy. But are they also helping to re-ignite an authentic sense of pride?
“We don’t really play off of the name, but what we want people to know is here we stick true to tradition,” said Chad Bishop, master distiller at Hatfield & McCoy Moonshine, a distillery in Mingo County that caters to ATV tourists. The owner of the distillery is Nancy Justus, a descendant of the infamous Hatfield family. While she admits that most of her family members have a bit of a temper, she’s quick to point out that there’s more to her family.
“Hatfields are great people. My daddy would have given you the shirt off his back. I loved my daddy,” Justus said. She said she feels like she’s reclaiming her family’s name through her businesses, and by telling these stories.
The Feud
Also in this episode, the Hatfield and McCoy Feud is a story many Americans have heard of. But the real story is much more complicated. We’ll hear why some descendants of the infamous Hatfield and McCoy families say, it’s time to take back the narrative.
“A lot of people viewed us as uneducated people, savages, and that has never really been the case at all,” Kimberly McCoy, a descendent of the Hatfield and McCoy families. “People can call us whatever they want. But we’ve always been very proud people, very proud of our heritage, and very proud of our homeplace.”
We’ll hear from one of the writers of the new American Experience episode called The Feud, and why they wanted explore the complicated history surrounding the Hatfield and McCoy feud, and the lasting impact it had on Appalachia’s identity.
Matewan
You might have heard of this small southern West Virginia town because of the movie, “Matewan”. The 1987 movie highlights the labor history in Mingo County in the 1920s. The film shows a fictionalized account of historic events that led up to the shootout that took place between Baldwin-Felts Detectives, who were hired by the coal company owners, and forces in the community who supported striking miners. Ten people died; seven of them were Baldwin-Felts Detectives. And like the Hatfield and McCoy Feud, the Matewan Massacre is a part of our history that was once taboo and a story often used to characterize Appalachians as lawless, violent and rebellious.
But now, this southern West Virginia town is leaning into this labor history. Folks in Matewan have even built a museum dedicated to the Mine Wars. It opened in 2015 and draws about 1,500 visitors each summer, many from out of state.
The museum is closed for the season, but in May, they plan to expand to a larger building in downtown Matewan, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the Matewan Massacre. Local actors from the community, as usual, will perform a re-enactment of the Matewan shootout.
Blood Creek
“Blood Creek” is a new novel that tells the Matewan tale from the perspective of women who lived through the mine wars. Author Kimberly Collins wrote the book after being inspired by stories about her own family members and how they were involved.
Hope For The Future
“We have some grim realities here, but we also have people who are finding solutions, and making changes,” said Inside Appalachia host Jessica Lilly, in the close for this episode. “There’s no lack of work to be done. Economic hardship, apathy, loneliness, addiction. But Appalachia is home to some really creative and extremely resourceful people. Tourism alone can’t fix central Appalachia’s problems. But it can help bring new energy, and people, into our communities. And while visitors bring their own sorts of problems, too, I’d like to believe that they also bring opportunities to glean insight into other places and perspectives. I’d also like to believe that as we become better at telling our own story, other people will begin to understand us better, too.”
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Dinosaur Burps, and Hazel Dickens. Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Jesse Wright. Glynis Board edited our show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. You can find us on Twitter @InAppalachia. You can also send an email to InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
For a few years now, an Inside Appalachia tradition is to ask listeners for a favorite ghost tale or legend. We have a lot of great storytellers here in…
For a few years now, an Inside Appalachia tradition is to ask listeners for a favorite ghost tale or legend. We have a lot of great storytellers here in Appalachia, and we love to celebrate that.
The legends and stories in this episode aren’t fact-checked or verified. And they aren’t meant to be taken too seriously. But they do speak to something traditional for us.
After all, long before Netflix or Snapchat, our ancestors spent many an evening sitting around the fireplace spinning tales and telling stories.
It’s one of the oldest forms of entertainment there is.
This Halloween episode is filled with spooky stories. We hope they thrill, entertain and educate you. As rational adults, we all know there’s an explanation for the supernatural. Yet, we still have questions. There are television shows dedicated to finding out what goes bump in the night, we sometimes engage in conspiracy theories to find the answers for things we can’t easily explain. The capacity for us to find explanations for the seemingly unexplainable is an inherent human trait. And sometimes, to find the answers, our imagination fills in the blanks. And, we all know there are no such things as monsters, right? …
Flatwoods Monster
Credit Caitlin Tan / WVPB
/
WVPB
Andrew Smith wearing part of the Flatwoods Monster costume. More than likely, he says if you see someone in the costume it is him.
The story of the Flatwoods Monster began September 12, 1952, in the small town of Flatwoods, West Virginia. It was 7 o’clock at night, and some school boys were playing football. They saw some kind of object falling from the sky that looked to be on fire, according to Andrew Smith, the director of the Braxton County Visitors Center and the founder of the Flatwoods Monster Museum.
“Something, something bright, maybe a fireball, appeared to fly overhead and land on a nearby hill top.”
So, as the original story goes, the boys and two adults hiked up the hill to check out this “fireball.” There was an overwhelming rotten-egg smell in the air that burned their eyes.
They saw a 10-foot tall monster hovering above the ground, spewing smoke and gas at them. Its head was red, and spade-shaped, with a distinct point at the top. It had glowing eyes, with spindly arms and claws. Its body was covered in some kind of green armor.
The story of the Flatwoods monster has evolved over the years. The legend has become a part of West Virginia’s pop culture. It’s even made a resurgence just in the past four years through a tourism campaign, spearheaded by the folks who created the museum two years ago. Our folklife reporter, Caitlin Tan, brings us the story from Braxton County.
Mothman Festival
Mothman is probably the most famous monster in Appalachia, but did you know there is a festival in his honor? It’s held each year in the Ohio River town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and it draws in tourists by the thousands.
Mothman has been the subject of several video games and plenty of conspiracy theories. It’s often depicted as a flying moth-bird-like monster, always with red, glowing eyes.
A local museum has hosted a Mothman festival every September since the early 2000s. There’s a carnival atmosphere, local bands, and a wait of over an hour just to get into the mothman museum — and another long line just to get your photo taken beside the shiny, silver statue of the imposing cryptid.
Reporter Emily Allen attended this year’s festival, to meet some of the attendees, and learn more about why the legend of the Mothman continues to draw so much curiosity.
Civil War Ghost Tour
Credit Liz McCormick / WVPB
/
WVPB
Rick Garland took over the Ghost Tours of Harpers Ferry 10 years ago. He holds the tour year-round and meets tourists on the steps of the historic St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church.
Monsters aren’t the only thing that draws visitors to Appalachia. Some people come here just to be spooked by tales of hauntings.
Ghost stories and haunted places exist all over the country. But some places just seem to be better scenes for ghost stories. Often, it’s the places where real historic events also took place- and that history lingers in ways that invite a good ghost tale or two.
The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia is well known for its American Civil War history – especially in Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County. The town was the site of John Brown’s Raid and the Battle of Harpers Ferry. During the civil war, control of the town changed hands from Union to Confederate at least a dozen times.
Harpers Ferry saw so much destruction during the war that many now say it’s a town home to ghosts and hauntings.
While Halloween is often synonymous with scary, for this next story, we sent one reporter who is a self-proclaimed scaredy cat to a Halloween-themed event light on the scares, but heavy on the spooky creatures. Brittany Patterson reports from the West Virginia State Wildlife Center, in Upshur County.
John Hale guest hosts this episode. Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Jesse Wright. Dave Mistich edited our show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
Adversity isn’t new to Appalachia. We’ve faced boom and bust cycles for over a century. This episode of Inside Appalachia looks at some of those struggles…
Adversity isn’t new to Appalachia. We’ve faced boom and bust cycles for over a century. This episode of Inside Appalachia looks at some of those struggles and various efforts to curtail them. We’ll hear stories about West Virginia’s overwhelmed foster care system, to questions about what is killing off apple trees. And we’ll explore the research behind job creation programs — many of which are supported by federal grants. Do they bring long-term economic impact to Appalachia?
In many states, the opioid crisis is contributing to a surge in foster care cases. West Virginia has been hit especially hard. Child advocates are suing the state for allegedly failing to protect kids from abuse and neglect.
West Virginia has the highest rate of children in foster care in the country — about 17 out of every 1,000 children in the state are in state care, according to a recent report by Child Trends.
There are a lot of families who are stepping up to take in foster kids, but many say they feel unprepared for the looming task of taking care of the children who are placed in their homes.
Salia’s Story
Credit Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press
/
Associated Press
Salia’s parents are in recovery after struggling with addiction and share her experience with the show’s Karli—whose muppet character has a mom who is also in recovery.
Kids whose parents struggle with addiction often don’t get the chance to talk about what they are going through. And the stigma that follows people with addiction often has long-lasting impacts on families.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Sesame Street launched a new short film to help kids who are going through tough times when their parents are struggling with addiction.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail recently reported that four percent of all students in West Virginia are homeless, based on data from the state Department of Education. In Jefferson County it’s as high as 16 percent. Homelessness is everywhere, but in rural parts of Appalachia, it can be challenging to find resources to help get back on your feet.
A pastor in St. Albans, Kanawha County, West Virginia saw that a homeless encampment consisting of about 10 tents in his community was being pushed out. People there were being told they had to leave. So, he decided to help. But not everyone in the town approves of the work he’s doing. Producer Kyle Vass reports.
Job Training and Retraining
Finding long-lasting solutions to create jobs in Appalachia isn’t easy. There are programs trying to help, but are they really working? Some say we need investors to bring more industries. Others say we should be investing in our own entrepreneurs who can create home-grown businesses. Most economists say it will likely take many different approaches to make real progress.
The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced nearly $5 million for worker training programs in Appalachia. It’s the latest influx of funding aimed at blunting the job losses in the region’s coal sector. But critics of those programs say worker training alone is no solution. Becca Schimmel brings us this story.
Loading…
Promoting Nature Tourism Through A Local Legend
Credit Brittany Patterson / WVPB
/
WVPB
The Woodbooger statue in the Flag Rock Recreation Area in Norton, Va.
One way people are looking to boost our economy is through tourism. Generally, jobs in outdoor recreation aren’t as high-paying as those in the coal industry, but outdoor recreation is a multi-billion dollar industry. Other countries and some cities in the U.S. have been able to leverage their wild places as destinations for nature lovers. Some people have wondered, could Appalachia benefit from a similar approach? Reporter Brittany Patterson visited one community in southwest Virginia is using a local legend to help appeal to national tourists.
Apples
Farmers in parts of Pennsylvania, New York and North Carolina are losing their apple trees from what researchers call Rapid Apple Decline and researchers are trying to figure out what’s causing it.
Last year, we produced an episode about apple cider and apple pies. Here’s a recipe that West Virginia State Folklorist Emily Hilliard shared with us on how to make a delicious apple pie crust:
Nothing in the House Pie Crust
This is the standard crust recipe Emily Hilliard uses for most pies that call for a pastry crust. It makes enough for 1 double-crust pie. If you only need a single crust, halve the recipe, or make a full recipe and save half of the dough for a future pie by wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap and storing it in the freezer or fridge.
Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or 1 c. all-purpose + 1 c. whole-wheat pastry flour*)
1/2 beaten large egg, cold (save the other half to brush on top of the crust)
1/4 cup ice-cold water
1/2 tablespoon cold apple cider vinegar (I keep mine in the fridge)
Credit COURTESY EMILY HILLIARD
/
Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or fork and knife, cut in the butter. You want to make sure butter chunks remain, as that’s what makes the crust flaky.
2. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the COLD liquid ingredients. (Using cold liquids ensures that your butter will not melt — another crucial detail for a flaky crust!)
3. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour-butter mixture and combine using a wooden spoon. Mix until dough comes together but is not overly mixed (it should be a little shaggy). Form into a ball, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and let chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before rolling out.
*If you use whole wheat pastry flour, you may need to add additional liquid.
We had help producing Inside Appalachia this week from WKU, the Allegheny Front, and the Ohio Valley ReSource, which is made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
