Mountain Folklore
Of the things I love about studying English, literature, and the occasional Medieval Manuscript, is the chance at coming across a piece of folklore that I never heard before. Anything and everything between Jack Tales to cryptid lore fascinate me to no end. Of the many tales, my three favorite have to be the Black Sisters, Skinwalkers, and the Thunderbird.
For those who are not familiar, the Black Sister were three sisters that belonged to the Snead family who, as the story goes, haunts the old Christiansburg High School which had been built over their old boarding house. Growing up the belief was that they were practicing witchcraft on the site and when Ocey died, and the school had been built, it left their spirits restless. Now in reality, the circumstances just point to the lack of understanding around mental health and domestic violence, but such is the nature of folklore.
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As far as the other two, both are tied to the native traditions from various cultures. Having been born in Boulder, one of the earliest tales I remember was that of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers and Contrary Warrior. Both have an element of the supernatural based in a history and truth that carries on traditions of long past people. That alone is, what I feel, as the heart of folklore. It’s a connection to the past that never goes away and unites us in curiosity and wonder.
There is something invigorating about folktales and lore that spark a sense of adventure in me. Even authors like Lovecraft, John Dee, John Donne, with their works and their story I find captivating. The origin of this, I blame on growing up with my dad telling me stories of Bluesmen like Robert Johnson and Son House, selling their souls for musical talent and the tales of roadies talking about the prolific debauchery of metal bands.
And yet, what fascinates me the most about all of this, is how our folklore will evolve in the internet age. YouTube creepypastas, true crime documentaries, even viral videos have all the potential of becoming modern folklore. A fact that I find a little sad. Maybe it’s sad because of the proximity of time or possibly the mystery of its origins is known and searchable. Maybe it’s sad because the future folklore is really misinformation, spread by the internet and perpetuated through growing illiteracy rates. What I do know is that we are going to be participatory in the telling of the future tales.
As for The Thunderbird and Skinwalkers, maybe they will evolve with the times, become future folktales of caution for the Gen AI age. Maybe Jack will be able to fool an AI program or we get a tale of Ghosts in a machine that will possess computers and predict someone’s fate. No matter what comes, we are always going to be telling stories about the unknown. Human culture is all about stories and sharing tales to one another and that will never die.
