Tyler Chadwell-English - a charismatic librarian & folklorist with a masters in folklore & museum studies from George Mason University - lights our imagination with all-things Appalachian witchlore! We begin with me sharing my own personal story of Brooklyn witches & a possession experience that left me white as a ghost. Once the interview commences, Tyler teaches us about the three types of Appalachian witchcraft: white witchery, black witchery, and witch doctoring; followed by the various sub-genres of witches: the water witch, shapeshifter, bloodstopper, and granny woman. We hear four local folktales about: troublesome cats in a mill, a widower’s haunted lilac bush, a mysterious hitchhiker, and a lock of hair in a shoe. Then it's time to dust off our old brooms & Bibles as we learn a handful of regional ways to protect our homes from witches & evil spirits. The conversation creeps through Grimms, the connection between the queer & occult communities, and if folktales should be believed as truth. Make sure to stick around till the very end as Tyler shares two of his personal spooky stories: one about the death of an old cat lady, the other about a mysterious occurrence with a rose during a harrowing car wreck. This is the bewitching Halloween special I had prayed for!

Check out the West Virginia Folklife Center and the books mentioned by Tyler throughout the episode: Witches, Ghosts, and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians; Signs, Cures, and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore, and The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales.

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APPALACHIAN WITCHES + THE EXPLODING ROSE | Folklorist | Tyler Chadwell-English