ABSTRACT
Storytelling in the region resounds with themes of disaster, loss, and disappearance, among other cultural messages, drawn from experiences with hurricanes or nor’easters or with economic displacements of people when a natural resource supply is exhausted. Supernatural themes in traditional narratives are prevalent, and the extensive swamp, bog, and marsh wetlands, along with vast commercial pine plantations, lend place and purpose to tales of encounters with ghost lights, mysteriously disappearing exotic animals, and the spirit guardians of “wild money” and pirate treasure burials. Historic place legends explain anomalous lights and land formations in terms of the religious and social beliefs of the region, and legend tripping customs reinscribe those sites with contemporary fright experiences among young adults.
