PA Fireside Tales — Volume 7

This is a book I had not planned to write. When I started my Pennsylvania Fireside Tales series I thought it would end up as a set of six unique volumes. In fact on the front cover of volume six I noted that it was indeed the “last” volume of the series. However, I didn’t feel quite right about it. I still had some colorful tales left that I wanted to share with readers, but didn’t think that there were quite enough to fill yet another volume. Fate, on the other hand, seemed to have other ideas. After Volume 6 was published in 2005 I continued to get invitations to speak in front of various groups, which I’ve always enjoyed immensely. My talk, which I title “Pennsylvania Mountain Folktales and Legends – Fact or Fancy”, has always been well received, and inevitably when I end my presentation someone always comes up and shares a tale with me that they feel might deserve inclusion in my next book.

As a result of these pleasant interchanges, I acquired some anecdotes over the last two years that include some of the best material I’ve found in my thirty-seven years of collecting the state’s folktales, legends, and oral history. These new additions to my treasure chest of tales led me to decide that a seventh volume was definitely possible and certainly necessary, not only to preserve these new additions for posterity but also to preserve the other colorful tales I had left to share.