Tall Tales
Join us for some really Tall Tales. We've got giant mosquitoes, Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, Brer Rabbit, and folklore stories that will make you laugh so hard you'll bust a gusset! After you've read a few, e-mail us one of your favorite tall tales.

Contents American Legends Brer Rabbit Christmas Stories Folktales Legendary Women Paul Bunyan Pecos Bill Tall Tales Urban Legends

The Spooky Series

Tall Tales

• The Army of the Dead
  The ghosts of the Confederate Army still march through Charleston, South Carolina. A new version of this story is retold by S.E. Schlosser in Spooky South .

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

• Babe the Blue Ox
  Paul Bunyan finds a little blue ox the Winter of the Blue Snow.

• Bigfoot Wallace
  A Texas folk hero whose exploits as a Texas Ranger and backwoodsman made him a legend in his own time – and ours!

• Brer Rabbit
  Brer Fox tricks Brer Rabbit into fighting with a Tar Baby, and many more Brer stories.

• Connecticut Yankee
  A Connecticut Yankee pulls a fast one on a Southern 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.

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

• Drought Buster
  Febold Feboldson busts a drought in Nebraska.

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

• 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.

• Gollywhopper's Eggs
  A traveling salesman comes to town with a most unusual product to sell.

• The Greenhorn and the Mule Egg
  A greenhorn tries to hatch a mule from a coconut, with surprising results.

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

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

• Jean Sot Guards the Door
  Foolish John is determined to guard the front door, even if he has to carry it up a tree to do it.

• The Jersey Devil
  Origin and stories about the Jersey Devil.

• Mississippi Mosquitoes
  And you thought your mosquitoes were bad!

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

• Paul Bunyan
  Paul Bunyan makes a big splash, first as a baby, then as the greatest logger that ever cut down a tree!

• Pecos Bill
  In which our hero --Pecos Bill -- is adopted by coyotes and grows up to become the greatest cowboy in the world!

• Potatoes
  No one does potatoes like Idaho.

• Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett Bests Mike Fink
  Mike Fink tries to scare Miz Crockett and gets a scare of his own!

• The Shaggy Dog
  A woman loses her pooch between Salem and Springfield and starts looking for her extremely shaggy dog.

• 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?

• The Twist-Mouth Family
  Find out what a college education is good for.

• You can't get out
  The town drunk falls into a grave on his way home.

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Folktales

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

• Callin' the Dog
  Mississippi tall talk.

• Coyote and Wishpoosh
  How the Northwest coastal tribes were formed.

• 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?

• John Henry
  Man against machine!

• Johnny Appleseed
  Johnny Appleseed rescues a town during the War of 1812. Based on a true story.

• 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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Christmas Stories

• A Gift from Saint Nicholas
  A poor family is visited by a stranger on Christmas Eve.
• Christmas Gift
  Why Florida's coast is plagued by hurricanes.

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

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© S.E. Schlosser 1997 - 2008.

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