Outlaws and Villians

Read short stories starring your favorite outlaws, black-hearted villians, pirates, mutineers, and other nefarious folks. Jesse James, Joaquin Murietta, Captain Kidd, and many other dubious characters steal, plunder, and haunt their way through American Folklore in the tales below. Contents Villains & Knaves Pirate Ghost Stories American Outlaws Tricksters

The Spooky Series

Villains & Knaves

• The Bloodstain
  A murdered man haunts the house where he was killed.

• The Bloody Knife
  A terrible fight leads to murder.

• Connecticut Yankee
  He's so tricky that he could sell you the bedsheets right off your bed!

• The Cursing of Colonel Buck
  A witch's curse haunts the colonel long after death.

• The Dungarvon Whooper
  A murdered cook screams out his rage and terror each evening at dusk.

• The Devil and Jonathan Moulton  
  General Jonathan Moulton sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for gold in this excerpt from Spooky New England.

• Gollywhopper's Eggs
  What do you mean you've never heard of a gollywhopper? Surely you jest!

• The Hook
  An insane killer, known as the Hook Man, escapes from a local prison and stalks a young couple.

• Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett Bests Mike Fink
  Miz Crockett don't take nothing from no one, especially not from a rascal like Mike Fink.

• The Sheep Herder's Lawsuit
  A sheep herder bleats himself out of a heavy fine in the "baa"-verlous story!

• The Trapper's Ghost
  The phantom of an evil trapper is doomed to roam the wilds of Labrador, helping lost travelers to atone for his sins.

Pirate Ghost Stories

• Black Bartelmy's Ghost
  Black Bartelmy was an evil, surly buccaneer who murdered his wife and children and went to sea with a band of pirates as nasty as he.

• Blackbeard's Ghost
  Blackbeard's ghost continues to walk the shores on the Pamlico Sound, searching for his head.

• Dem Bones
  The skeletons of Captain Kidd's pirate crew return to the place where they buried their treasure.

• The Ghost Ship of Captain Sandovate
  The merciless crew that killed their captain are doomed to sail the Atlantic forever, searching for water.

• Ocean-Born Mary
  The ghost of a beautiful woman haunts the house where her pirate-husband was murdered.

• Palatine
  A ghost ship wrecks off Block Island.

American Outlaws

• Jesse James and the Widow
  One day, as Jesse James and his gang were riding through Missouri, they saw a farmhouse and stopped to ask for something to eat. A widow lived there with three small children. She didn't have much in the house, but shared with them what she had.

• Joaquin Murietta, The Bandit of the Goldfields
  Joaquin Murietta and wife Rosita lived with his older brother Carlos in California. The three Mexican immigrants were living on a small, successful farm and the men were also working a claim near Hangtown. However, the other miners living nearby tried to run them off, telling them that it was illegal for Mexicans to pan for gold or hold a claim. The Murietta brother's ignored their threats and continued to live peacefully on their farm and work in the goldfields...

• Teething Toy
  Well now, you've probably heard it rumored that here in Deadwood we have such a tough neighborhood that our babies teeth on guns. And the fact of the matter is, this is the very truth. I happen to know the lady who was responsible for the start of this rumor. Nice woman, married with a baby. One afternoon, she saw a drifter approaching her house. She knew he would bother her something fierce for food and take advantage of her...

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