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West Virginia Folklore
West Virginia has a rich tradition of folklore – including folktales, legends, and superstitions – resulting from the diverse ethnicities, religions, languages, and culture of migrants who moved there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Origins As the mining and railroad industries in West Virginia grew from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s, the demand for workers also increased. West Virginia became a magnet for immigrants of diverse backgrounds. One group that began to flock to the state was natives of Asturias, Spain, a mountainous region in northwestern Spain where many were employed by the zinc and coal mining industries. This principality was already geographically similar to Appalachia, and when two zinc plants opened in Harrison County (north central WV), Spanish laborers began to flock to the area. A small company town called Spelter was established in 1910, and just 10 years later, over a thousand Spanish immigrants inhabited it. This accounted for appr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asturias
Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory that was part of the larger Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. Divided into eight Comarcas of Asturias, ''comarcas'' (counties), the autonomous community of Asturias is bordered by Cantabria to the east, by Province of León, León (Castile and León) to the south, by Province of Lugo, Lugo (Galicia (Spain), Galicia) to the west, and by the Cantabrian Sea to the north. Asturias is situated in a mountainous setting with vast greenery and lush vegetation, making it part of Green Spain. The region has a oceanic climate, maritime climate. It receives plenty of annual rainfall and little sunshine by Spanish standards and has very moderate seasons, most often averaging in the lower 20s Celsius. Heat waves are rare due to mountains blocking s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
''Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark'' is a series of three collections of short horror stories for children, written by Alvin Schwartz and originally illustrated by Stephen Gammell. In 2011, HarperCollins published editions featuring new art by Brett Helquist, causing mass controversy among fans of Gammell. Subsequent printings have restored the original Gammell art. The titles of the books are ''Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark'' (1981), ''More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark'' (1984), and ''Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones'' (1991). The three books each feature numerous short stories in the horror genre. Author Schwartz drew heavily from folklore and urban legends as the topic of his stories, researching extensively and spending more than a year on writing each book. Acknowledged influences include William Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot, Mark Twain, Joel Chandler Harris, Bennett Cerf and Jan Harold Brunvand. The first volume was published in 1981, and the books ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voodoo Doll
A voodoo doll is an effigy that is typically used for the insertion of pins. Such practices are found in various forms in the magic (paranormal), magical traditions of many cultures around the world. Despite its name, the voodoo doll is not prominent in the African diaspora religions of Haitian Vodou nor Louisiana Voodoo. Members of the High Priesthood of Louisiana Voodoo have denounced the use of voodoo dolls as irrelevant to the religion. Depictions in culture 20th-century link with Voodoo The association of the voodoo doll and the religion of Voodoo was established through the presentation of the latter in Western popular culture during the first half of the 20th century as part of the broader negative depictions of Black and Afro-Caribbean religious practices in the United States. In John Houston Craige's 1933 book ''Black Bagdad: The Arabian Nights Adventures of a Marine Captain in Haiti'', a Haitian prisoner is described sticking pins into an effigy to induce illness. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marion County, West Virginia
Marion County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,205. Its county seat is Fairmont. The county was named in honor of General Francis Marion (''ca.'' 1732–1795), known to history as "The Swamp Fox". Marion County comprises the Fairmont, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the larger Morgantown–Fairmont, WV Combined Statistical Area. History The Adena and successor Hopewell cultures flourished in this area at one time. The region which includes the land now known as Marion County was sparsely occupied by Native Americans, if at all, in the late 18th century. Like much of the Ohio Valley, it had been depopulated by the Iroquois during the later Beaver Wars (1670–1700). Only a few abortive attempts to start European settlements upon the Monongahela River or its branches (such as that which gave its name to Dunkard Creek) are known prior to the French and Indian War. It was not until 1772 that any ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monongah, West Virginia
Monongah is a town in Marion County, West Virginia, United States, situated where Booths Creek flows into the West Fork River. The population was 972 at the 2020 census. Monongah was chartered in 1891. Its name is derived from the nearby Monongahela River. History The Adena and Hopewell peoples dwelt in what is now northern West Virginia 1,500–2,000+ years ago. By the time of the early European traders and settlers, the native population is thought to have been nil, decimated by the Beaver Wars. Monongah was known as Briar Town and was part of the Grant Magisterial District in 1886.Marion County GenWeb , wvgenweb.org; accessed June 18, 2017. It was later known as Camdensburg, named after Johnson N. Camden, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witch Doctor
A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor), or witchcraft doctor, is a kind of magical healer who treats ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. The term is often misunderstood, and they could more accurately be called "anti-witch doctors". The term is now more commonly used to refer to healers, particularly in regions which use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine. Original meaning of the term In its original meaning, witch doctors were not exactly witches themselves, but rather people who had remedies to protect others against witchcraft. Witchcraft-induced conditions were their area of expertise, as described in this 1858 news report from England: Recourse was had by the girl's parents to a cunning man, named Burrell, residing at Copford, who has long borne the name of "The Wizard of the North:" but her case was of so peculiar a character as to baffle his skill to dissolve the spell, Application was next made to a witch doctor named Murrell, residi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richwood Mini Mart
Richwood may refer to: Places United States * Richwood, Georgia * Richwood Township, Jersey County, Illinois * Richwood, Kentucky * Richwood, Louisiana * Richwood Township, Minnesota * Richwood, New Jersey * Richwood, Ohio * Richwood, Texas * Richwood, West Virginia Richwood is a city in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States. In 2020, the census showed Richwood with a population of 1,661. During the 19th and early 20th century Richwood was a booming coal and lumber town. Richwood has a very rich hist ... * Richwood, Wisconsin, a town * Richwood, Dodge County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community Elsewhere * Richwood, Cape Town, South Africa See also * Richwoods (other) {{disambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wetzel County, West Virginia
Wetzel County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,442. Its county seat is New Martinsville. The county, founded in 1846, is named for Lewis Wetzel, a famous frontiersman and Indian fighter. Its northern border aligns with the Mason-Dixon line, but is to the west of the line's western terminus. History Wetzel County was formed in 1846 from part of Tyler County, Virginia. On June 20, 1863, at the height of the Civil War, Wetzel was one of fifty Virginia counties admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia. Later that year, West Virginia's counties were divided into civil townships, with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in the heavily rural state, and in 1872 the townships were converted into magisterial districts. Wetzel County was divided into six districts: Center, Church, Grant, Green, Magnolia, and Proctor. A seventh district, Clay, was formed in the 1880s. New Mart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keyser, West Virginia
Keyser () is a city in and the county seat of Mineral County, West Virginia, Mineral County, West Virginia. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,853 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Keyser, the county seat of Mineral County, is located on the North Branch Potomac River, North Branch of the Potomac River at its juncture with New Creek in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Throughout the centuries, the town went through a series of name changes, but was ultimately named after William Keyser, a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad official. The first local land grant was issued by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Lord Fairfax to Christopher Beelor on March 20, 1752. The place was first called Paddy Town, for Patrick McCarty, an Irish immigrant who came to then-Hampshire County, Virginia, sometime after 1740. Eventually, a community developed, which was also known as "the Irish Settlement." Initially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devil
A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God, 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a '' fallen angel'') or 4) a symbol of human evil. Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil.Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 , pp. 41–75 The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature, developing independently within each of the traditions. It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names— Satan (Judaism), Lucifer (Christianity), Bee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Ann Musick
Ruth Ann Musick (September 17, 1897 – July 2, 1974) was an American writer and folklorist specializing in West Virginia. She was the sister of artist Archie Musick and niece of writer John R. Musick. Biography Youth and education Born in Kirksville, Missouri, to Levi Prince Musick and Zada (or Sadie) Goeghegan, Musick received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Kirksville State Teacher's College (now Truman State University) in 1919. From September 1919 to June 1921 Musick taught at Luana High School, Luana, Iowa, before moving to Garwin, Iowa, in 1921, where she taught at Garwin High School until June 1922. She then continued her education at the State University of Iowa, graduating with a Master of Science in mathematics in 1928. Between 1923 and 1931, Musick taught at Logan High School, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. For five years beginning in 1931 she taught at Phoenix Union High School, Phoenix, Arizona, before returning to the Midwest in 1938 to begin her docto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olive Oil
Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a condiment, or as a salad dressing. It can also be found in some cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, soaps, and fuels for traditional oil lamps. It also has additional uses in some religions. The olive is one of three core food plants in Mediterranean cuisine, with wheat and grapes. Olive trees have been cultivated around the Mediterranean since the 8th millennium BC. In 2022, Spain was the world's largest producer, manufacturing 24% of the world's total. Other large producers were Italy, Greece, and Turkey, collectively accounting for 59% of the global market. The composition of olive oil varies with the cultivar, altitude, time of harvest, and extraction process. It consists mainly of oleic acid (up to 83%), with smaller amounts of other fatty acids ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
