Fireside Tales

Kevin Coolidge

It’s been a long day, and now it’s a dreary night. Icy pellets rattle against the window, and the damp cold seeps into my body. A good warm fire and a snort of brandy is just the thing I need to ease into my evening and soothe my wearied bones, and nothing goes better with a crackling fire than a good smoke, and a yarn. Just let me get this pipe lit, and I’ll tell you about that night in Panther Hollow…

Pennsylvania Fireside Tales by Jeffrey R. Frazier is filled with legends and folktales of the good old days. The mountains of Pennsylvania have always called to him, or maybe it’s the stories that come out of the dark hollows and remote valleys, and their connection to the past. Regardless, he has found the work of collecting the tales a “labor of love” from the very beginning.

There have been attempts to preserve these stories before, but many of these attempts were limited to specific regions of the state. A fine example of this is Flatlanders and Ridgerunners by James York Glimm, which contains folklore and traditions from Northern Pennsylvania, especially Tioga County. Many tales were saved from extinction through these various efforts, but many others have gone unrecorded and have been lost.

Jeffrey’s endeavors have taken him from Tioga County’s “Grand Canyon” and the Black Forest in Potter County in the north, to the battlefields of Gettysburg and the mountains of Adams County in the south. To the coal regions of Carbon and Schuylkill Counties, and the farms of Pennsylvania Dutch country, as well as the mighty Allegheny Mountains of Blair, Huntingdon, and Indiana.

That’s a lot of territory to cover and a lot of people to talk to--coal miners, lumbermen, hunters, trappers, farmers, railroad men, Native Americans, dowsers, herbalists and even few reputed witches. All have been asked to share their stories.

As you can imagine this has lead to a wide variety of tales. You’ll read of the Indian wars and the Indians in Pennsylvania – including a deadly summer in 1778 when clashes between American Indians and frontiersmen were common, and escaping the scalping knife wasn’t. There are stories of the supernatural with haunted houses, ghosts, and witches, as well as early hunters’ narratives of encounters with wolves, mountain lions, elk, and other “big game” animals. There are also accounts of lost treasure, moonshiners, and huge snakes.

Some of these stories found in Pennsylvania Fireside Tales sound “far-fetched”, but that’s only because they have been embellished and romanticized as they've been told and retold over the years. None have been concocted by Frazier, as was the case with Henry W. Shoemaker, an early collector and writer know for fabrications which he presented as authentic folk stories. The tales are recorded in the same basic outlines in which they were presented to him.

Frazier does, however, go the additional step of trying to uncover any historical truths behind the tales, and this can make it more interesting for those of us who like to solve a good mystery. He’s also added historical footnotes to specific stories. So, you can decide for yourself if these stories are a part of our history, or just a good yarn to pass a cold winter’s night.

It’s time to throw another log on the fire, and enjoy one more tale before I retire for the evening. Stories are a part of our tradition here in the mountains of Pennsylvania, and Jeffrey has been helping preserve them for over forty years. The mountains are calling. Are you ready to listen???

A good yarn, a good snort, or both? Email me at from_my_shelf@yahoo.com and let me know. Miss a past column? You can catch yourself up at http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com. Looking for a tale fit for a child? “Hobo Finds A Home” is about a cat, right here in Tioga County, who wanted more than a life on the farm. A portion of the royalties goes to Second Chance Animal Sanctuaries, in our neck of the woods.