Tall Tales

Choose a topic from the options below to see a list of American folktales for that topic.

Ghost Stories | How DID That Happen? | Legends | Tall Tales | Holiday Lore | Place Lore | Weatherlore

Ghost Stories

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

• The Cut-Off
  Louisiana ghost story.

• The Telltale Seaweed
  An overnight stay in an abandoned Cape Cod house reveals a ghost. (Massachusetts)

• Wait Until Emmet Comes
  Do you really want to wait for Emmet? (West Virginia)

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How DID That Happen?

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

• Callin' the Dog
  Mississippi tall talk.

• The Crows are in the Corn
  Georgia folktale explaining an old saying.

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

• Hoosiers
  Why are Indiana folk called Hoosiers?

• The King of the Sharks
  The King of the Sharks has a mischievous son.

• Sinks
  Nevada rivers flow into a series of lakes with no outlets. So what happens to all that water? It sinks!

• Why Dogs Chase Cats
  Its a dog chase cat kind of world. (Virginia)

• Yellowhammer
  Why Alabama folk are called Yellowhammers

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Holiday folklore

• Christmas Gift
  Why Florida's coast is plagued by hurricanes.

• Eavesdropper
  A Maryland man learns a hard lesson about eavesdropping.

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American Legends

• The Birth of the Jersey Devil
  The origins of the Jersey Devil.

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

• Ethan Allen
  Ethan Allen gets a toothache.

• The First Tears
  Eskimo tale about the origins of tears. (Alaska)

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

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

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

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

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

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Place Lore

• Sangamon County
  Where is the most beautiful place in the world? (Illinois)

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

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Tall Tales

• Arkansas Traveler
  A lost traveler tries to find a place to spend the night.

• Connecticut Yankee
  A Connecticut Yankee outwits an innkeeper.

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

• The Crystal Mountain
  There is an invisible mountain in Wyoming made of crystal.

• 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.

• Hoop Snakes
  Pennsylvania has a particularly mean variety of hoop snakes rolling about.

• Jack and the Corn Stalk
  Kansas corn grows mighty fast.

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

• Mississippi Mosquitoes
  And you thought your mosquitoes were bad!

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

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

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

• Potatoes
  No one does potatoes like Idaho.

• The Sheep Herder's Lawsuit
  A Sheep herder outwits a lawyer.

• Slide-Rock Bolters
  Tourists, beware! Deep in the mountains of Colorado lurk the slide-rock bolters.

• The Talking Mule
  Even mules deserve a day off now and then. (South Carolina)

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

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  Weather folklore

  • Arizona Weather
    We like the weather in Arizona.

  • Fog
    If you thought England's fogs were thick, you should see a fog in Maine.

  • Healthy Climate
    California is so healthy, its hard to die.

  • Oklahoma Weather
    OK weather ain't always o.k.

  • Wind
    Michigan winds are a bit strong in the spring.

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