Appalachianfolklore Stories

It's the peak of summer, and Ty Devereux has spent most of his life trying to keep his broken family together. It's been ten years since their death, and when his youngest brother, Ody, starts having dreams about a man made of roots and hearing music coming from the woods, Ty thinks it's just thinks it's Ody being his usual odd and strange self. Then Matt, the second-eldest brother, discovers a mutilated deer carcass not far from their house, and Aaron, the middle brother, starts drawing and painting strange creatures and symbols. That's when Ty begins to believe that something isn't right within their small town. They begin to realize that these strange occurrences aren't new; they had happened before, and something is lurking within the woods. To make matters worse, Ty finds a page torn from their grandfather's journal, hinting at an old pact that was made by their great-grandfather. Now, the Hollow Season is returning, a three-day supernatural event that only happens once every thirty years, is approaching, and the brothers must decide whether or not to honor that pact or destroy But doing either might cost them their lives.

The mountain knows who belongs to it before they ever start walking up the trail. Deep within Willow Hearth, a physical, playful magic governs the mountain ridges and the tightly bound lives of the Bunches, Collinses, Gibsons, and Goinses. For generations, their survival has relied on keeping the strict, ancient laws of the hearth completely hidden from the flat lands below. When an outsider is brought up the creek path, the threshold is challenged, and a countdown begins. From a baby born behind the veil under a total eclipse to an ancient gate test waiting at the split-rail fence, the valley must decide if it will open its arms or lose the doors forever.

If you whistle at night, you must remember that not everything whistles back My shortest story ever Content warning: graphic violence/gore.