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Tennessee Tragedies
A one-of-a-kind reference book,
Tennessee Tragedies examines a wide variety of
disasters that have occurred in the Volunteer State over the
past several centuries. Intended for both general readers and
emergency management professionals, it covers natural disasters
such as floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes; technological
events such as explosions, transportation wrecks, and structure
fires; and societal incidents including labor strikes,
political violence, lynchings, and other hate crimes. At the
center of the book are descriptive accounts of 150 of the
state’s most severe events. These range from smallpox
epidemics in the eighteenth century to the epic floods of
1936–37, from the
Sultana riverboat disaster of 1865 (the worst inland
marine accident in U.S. history) to the 1968 assassination of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Included as well are stories of
plane crashes, train wrecks, droughts, economic panics, and
race riots. An extensive chronology provides further details on
more than 900 incidents, the most complete listing ever
compiled for a single state. The book’s introduction
examines topics that include our fascination with such
tragedies; major causes of death, injury, and destruction; and
the daunting problems of producing accurate accountings of a
disaster’s effects, whether in numbers of dead and
injured or of economic impact. Among the other features are a
comprehensive glossary that defines various technical terms and
concepts and tables illustrating earthquake, drought, disease,
and tornado intensity scales. A work of great historical
interest that brings together for the first time an impressive
array of information,
Tennessee Tragedies will prove exceptionally useful
for those who must respond to inevitable future disasters.
eBook
The Bell Witch in Myth and Memory
Apparently, slumber parties in the mid-South 1970s were plied
with a strange ritual. At midnight attendees would gather before a
mirror and chant \"I don't believe in the Bell Witch\" three times to
see if the legendary spook would appear alongside their own
reflections-a practice that echoes the \"Bloody Mary\" pattern
following the execution of Mary Queen of Scots centuries ago. But
that small circuit of preteen gatherings was neither the beginning
nor the end of the Bell Witch's travels. Indeed, the legend of the
haint who terrorized the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee, is one of
the best-known pieces of folklore in American storytelling-featured
around the globe in popular-culture references as varied as a 1930s
radio skit and a 1980s song from a Danish heavy metal band. Legend
has it that \"Old Kate\" was investigated even by the likes of future
president Andrew Jackson, who was reported to have said, \"I would
rather fight the British ten times over than to ever face the Bell
Witch again.\"
While dozens of books and articles have thoroughly analyzed this
intriguing tale, this book breaks new ground by exploring the oral
traditions associated with the poltergeist and demonstrating her
regional, national, and even international sweep. Author Rick
Gregory details the ways the narrative mirrors other legends with
similar themes and examines the modern proliferation of the story
via contemporary digital media. The Bell Witch in Myth and
Memory ultimately explores what people believe and why they
believe what they cannot explicitly prove-and, more particularly,
why for two hundred years so many have sworn by the reality of the
Bell Witch. In this highly engaging study, Rick Gregory not only
sheds light on Tennessee's vibrant oral history tradition but also
provides insight into the enduring, worldwide phenomenon that is
folklore.
eBook