As a kid who grew up on the flat land near beaches and the Gulf of Mexico, my family liked to escape to the mountains for vacations. We would drive the ten hours or so north from south Mississippi to the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. I have distinct memories of being in a rustic cabin deep in the hills and the woods while it was storming outside, reading a book that I probably got from the Scholastic book fair containing spooky stories about the unexplained and unimaginable, UFOs, black holes, and Bigfoot.
Reading spooky stories is still definitely my vibe. I come by it honestly!
What is Appalachia?
The area we visited is known as part of Appalachia. Appalachia (pronounced Apple-At-Cha) can refer to several mountain ranges along the eastern seaboard of the United States from Maine down to Georgia. But this word describes more than geography. It also refers to a cultural region stretching from southern New York to northern Mississippi.
Appalachia, like most of the southern U.S., has often been perceived as "backwoods" and "redneck." Full of "hillbillies" (itself once a universal label for Appalachians, now seen by many as derogatory). Maybe you're like me, and you have the unfortunate problem of hearing "Dueling Banjos" and thinking of the film Deliverance when you think of Appalachia.
Borrow the movie Deliverance from HCPL, opens a new window
Listen to Dueling Banjos on the HCPL database Freegal, opens a new window
While thinking of it as a culturally backward place, we tend to cherish the beauty of the region's forests and mountains and celebrate the beautiful music that originated there. Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and John Denver all sing songs about it. As a child, I absolutely loved visiting the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I might blame Dolly Parton, at least a little, for my perception of Appalachia being shaped by the stereotypical hillbillies that populate the theme park ride "Blazing Fury," my favorite as a child.
Listen to Dolly Parton sing Tennessee Mountain Home on Freegal, opens a new window
Listen to Loretta Lynn sing Coal Miner's Daughter on Freegal, opens a new window
Listen to John Denver sing Take Me Home, Country Roads, opens a new window
Watch a "ride-through" of the Blazing Fury ride at Dollywood, opens a new window
I know firsthand that a lot of people from other regions of the U.S. have historically thought of anyone from the South as being uneducated and poor. Once, while I was in college, I visited a place in the Midwest for a service project during my summer vacation and was literally asked if the roads in Mississippi are paved and if people wear shoes. In case you're wondering, yes, most of the time.
The Real Life and Fictional Horror of Appalachia
We've talked about our ideas and perception of this region, but what is the real story? The history of the coal boom and bust in the U.S., and specifically in Appalachia, is well-known. Coal mining is dangerous work and can cause major respiratory illnesses. In the early 20th century, there were many violent and desperate attempts to unionize and protect coal-mine workers. Once the energy industry shifted away from coal to other forms of energy, the best-paying jobs in the region went away and were not replaced by any other industries, leaving many people sick and without meaningful work. To add insult to injury, the poor people who live in Appalachia continue to be objects of ridicule, the butt of jokes, or even the source of fear in our stories. If you'd like to read more about the history of coal mining in Appalachia and the lingering effects on the region, we've got you covered:
In addition to a tumultuous history, Appalachia has been in the news throughout the past decade because of the opioid crisis, with many deaths and thousands of people affected by doctors overprescribing these highly addictive pain medications.
For many years, Hollywood movies have made the backward southerner and the "hillbilly" or "redneck" the enemy. Think of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Wrong Turn. No region or group of people is a monolith. There are bad and good people everywhere in this world. But maybe it's a little easier to imagine illiterate backwoods murderers in the hollers and mountains rather than think about how poverty and illegally prescribed drugs ravaged a region and how the real bad guys are the big businesses and industries who pulled up stakes and left people without hope.
Appalachia, and the South in general, has a lot more diversity these days than the white faces in camo gear, or maybe the barefoot backwoods hillbilly, that some of us may be picturing. Minorities make up almost half of the population over the last 30 years.
Read this NPR article "Stereotypes Of Appalachia Obscure A Diverse Picture", opens a new window
As someone who has experienced some misunderstandings about where I'm from, I always appreciate it when authors from a commonly misunderstood region of the world write books that humanize rather than simply othering and criticizing. We write stories to help us process the horrors of reality. Because I’m me, a spooky-loving librarian, this blog is ending with a list of horror books set in Appalachia. This may seem like a contradiction, but you've gotta trust me when I say nothing makes you feel more empathy for someone than reading about how they've had to endure, and hopefully survive, a horrifying ordeal. A mountain range covered in forests that took its present shape millions of years ago might hold some terrifying secrets and some very spooky horror stories about monsters and mysteries. 10-year-old Sarah sitting in a cabin reading about Bigfoot and alien abductions definitely approves.
If you like monsters and the supernatural I hope you'll give these books a try and let me know what you think!
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