Historical Folklore

Choose an event or time period from the options below to see a list of folktales for that topic.

American Revolution | Civil War | Colonial Corner | Frontier
Mississippi Riverboat | U.S. Railroad | War of 1812 | The Wild West

American Revolution

• The Blue Hen's Chicks
  Why Delaware is the Blue Hen State.

Civil War

• The Army of the Dead
  The ghosts of the Confederate Army still march through Charleston, South Carolina.

Colonial Corner

• Connecticut Yankee
  A Connecticut Yankee outwits an innkeeper.

• Ethan Allen
  Ethan Allen gets a toothache.

• Old Man Moses
  New Hampshire men can always catch a meal.

• Palatin
  A Dutch ship wrecks off Block Island. (Rhode Island)

• Sam Hyde
  Old Sam Hyde tells a tall tale and earns himself a glass of cider.

• Spuyten Duyvil
  New Amsterdam is under attack. Can a brave trumpeter warn the people in time? (New York)

Frontier

• Daniel's Dear
  How Daniel Boone met his wife. (North Carolina)

• Drought Buster
  Febold Feboldson busts a drought in Nebraska.

• Echoes
  A Minnesota settler longs for the echoing mountains of home.

• Frozen Dawn
  Davy Crockett must unfreeze the dawn. (Tennessee)

• Frozen Flames
  What do you do when the lanterns freeze? Call Paul Bunyan. (Michigan)

• Fur-Bearing Trout
  Colorado Fisherman developed a new trout catching technique following the visit of a hair tonic salesman.

• The Gulls
  Mormon settlers face starvation until a miracle appears from the sky. (Utah)

• The Log Jam
  Paul Bunyan and Babe clear a log jam in Wisconsin.

• Paul Bunyan's Kitchen
  It takes a lot of work to feed Paul Bunyan. (Oregon)

• Teething Toy
  What would you give your baby to teeth on if you lived in Deadwood, South Dakota?

• Wrong-Side Up
  A settler is given advice by a Dakota man. (North Dakota)

Mississippi Riverboat

• The Cut-off
  Louisiana ghost story.

• Riverboat Racing
  An old woman is afraid of racing, until her riverboat is challenged by a rival. (Kentucky)

U.S. Railroad

• Casey Jones
  Death of a dare devil railman. (Tennessee)

• Kate Shelley Save the Train
  A brave girl rescues a train when the bridge washes out. (Iowa)

War of 1812

• Johnny Appleseed
  Johnny Appleseed rescues a town during the War of 1812.

The Wild West

• Cowboys in Heaven
  Where would a cowboy rather be than heaven? Texas!

• Jesse James and the Widow
  Jesse James helps out a Missouri widow.

• Pecos Bill finds a Hard Outfit
  Pecos Bill seeks a hard outfit in New Mexico.

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