Episodios

  • James Harrod: The Kentucky Pioneer and his Mysterious Disappearance

    James Harrod: The Kentucky Pioneer and his Mysterious Disappearance
    Apr 18 2026
    James Harrod was a soldier, a longhunter, an explorer and the man who founded Kentucky’s first permanent pioneer settlement. But in February 1792, the legendary Colonel Harrod walked into the woods and never returned.

    Today we tell the story of the man who founded Harrodsburg, Kentucky and the many theories surrounding his mysterious disappearance, including a possible connection to the fabled Swift’s silver mine.

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    17 m
  • The Woman-Hating Hermit of Kentucky

    The Woman-Hating Hermit of Kentucky
    Apr 11 2026
    Roger Tandy Quisenberry had every advantage in life: wealth, education, and opportunity, but chose a path few could understand. From the California Gold Rush to a dangerous expedition in Nicaragua, his early years were filled with adventure. But when he returned home to Kentucky, something had changed. He withdrew from everybody, lived alone in a crude cabin, and became known for his extreme isolation and strange behavior.

    Today we tell the story of Tandy Quisenberry, the woman hating hermit of Kentucky, another one of the Stories of Appalachia. Be sure to subscribe and leave us a comment on your favorite podcast app, we’d appreciate it.

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    15 m
  • The 1895 Flat Top Coal Strike

    The 1895 Flat Top Coal Strike
    Apr 4 2026
    In the spring of 1895, a sudden wage cut swept through the Flat Top-Pocahontas coal fields along the Virginia/West Virginia border, touching off one of the earliest large-scale labor confrontations in that part of Appalachia. What began as a wildcat strike quickly shut down mines along the Norfolk and Western Railroad, disrupted coal shipments to Norfolk, and brought state militia into the company town of Pocahontas.

    Today we tell the story of the Flat Top miners’ strike of 1895.

    If you enjoy our stories of Appalachian history and folklore, subscribe to the Stories podcast and follow the show wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

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    18 m
  • Exploring the Cumberland: The Story of Kasper Mansker

    Exploring the Cumberland: The Story of Kasper Mansker
    Mar 28 2026
    Born aboard a ship of immigrants in the Atlantic Ocean, Kasper Mansker became a longhunter, venturing out to explore the wilderness of Kentucky and Tennessee from his home in what’s now West Virginia. From those longhunts to building Mansker’s Station and helping shape the Cumberland frontier, his life is part of the story of those who moved west on the Appalachian frontier.

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    17 m
  • The Old Red Fox of East Tennessee: Daniel Ellis

    The Old Red Fox of East Tennessee: Daniel Ellis
    Mar 21 2026
    Daniel Ellis of Carter County, Tennessee was a wagon maker who became one of the most successful guides of the Civil War. Living behind Confederate lines in East Tennessee, Ellis created a secret route through the Appalachian Mountains to Union territory at Cumberland Gap.

    Traveling mostly at night and avoiding Confederate patrols, Ellis made about twenty journeys through East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, guiding roughly four thousand Union supporters to safety. About two thousand of them later joined the Union Army.

    Join us as we tell the story of the man Confederate soldiers called “The Old Red Fox” for his ability to escape capture, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.

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    20 m
  • Von Shores: The Daredevil Pilot of the Cumberlands

    Von Shores: The Daredevil Pilot of the Cumberlands
    Mar 14 2026
    This week, Rod and Steve tell the story of Ray Vaughn Shores, better known as Von Shores, an Appalachian aviator and popular aerial daredevil in Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky during the 1920s and ’30s, who, it’s said, once crashed his airplane near Pound, Virginia

    He was a favorite at local airshows and fairs and it’s also said he ran whiskey for Al Capone during prohibition.

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    23 m
  • The Kirkland Bushwhackers

    The Kirkland Bushwhackers
    Mar 7 2026
    This week, we tell a story from the lawless mountain border between western North Carolina and east Tennessee during the Civil War. As great battles raged elsewhere, outlaws and deserters came to the mountains to hide, to rob and to turn old trails and creek crossings into killing grounds.

    At the center of this story is John Jackson Kirkland and his gang, whose violence touched soldiers, civilians, rivals, and even their own kin. This is a story of a war without sides, and justice that never came.

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    19 m
  • Appalachia's Blues Brothers: Stick and Brownie McGhee

    Appalachia's Blues Brothers: Stick and Brownie McGhee
    Feb 28 2026
    This week, Steve and Rod tell the story of Granville “Stick” McGhee and Walter “Brownie” McGhee, two brothers from East Tennessee whose music helped shape American blues and early rock ’n’ roll. Born in Knoxville, the McGhee brothers took the music they heard growing up and used it to launch themselves onto the national stage.

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    15 m