During World War I a wealthy playboy from Philadelphia refused induction into the U. S. Army and was charged and convicted of draft evasion.  He managed to escape and, when captured, offered to buy his way out of prison with gold he said was hidden in the hills of West Virginia. That's just a small part of this week's story...you'll have to listen for the rest! Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app for all our stories of Appalachian history. Thanks for listening!

Today we tell the story of an East Tennessee man who realized after 20 years of marriage that he wasn't who he always thought he was. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, IHeart Radio, Audible or on your own favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening!

On April 11, 1946, Earl McFarland was captured by the FBI at the corner of Gay Street and Magnolia Avenue in Knoxville while waiting for a streetcar.    Why this happened to a Marine veteran of the Battle of Guadalcanal is the subject of our story today. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening to our stories of Appalachian history.

In 1925 the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach the theory of evolution in public schools.  Today we tell part two of that story, the trial itself. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast in many ways: on our website, www.storiespodcast.net, at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Audible, Player FM and many more. Thanks for listening!

In 1925 the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach the theory of evolution in public schools. A group of men in Dayton, Tennessee, decided to challenge that law with the help of the ACLU, picking a high school teacher named John Scopes as their defendant. Today we tell part one of that story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast in many ways: on our website, www.storiespodcast.net, at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, IHeart Radio, Audible, RadioPublic and many more. Thanks for listening!

Today we go back and retell one of our favorite stories, about a very odd occurrence at a farm in Kentucky in the 1870s that's still a mystery today. A tasty tale, indeed. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on such fine podcast apps as Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Audible, IHeart Radio and more. Thanks for listening!

Prior to the Civil War the Clay family of Kentucky was one of the nation's most prominent political families, the most well-known of which was congressman, senator, speaker of the House and Secretary of State Henry Clay.  Today we tell not his story, but the story of another Clay, abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay, who also was the namesake of another well-known Kentucky native, the boxer who dropped that name for the name Mohammed Ali. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, Audible, among other podcast apps. Thanks for listening!

After the French and Indian War the governor of Virginia awarded veterans land in the western part of the state in payment for their service to king and colony.  Among those vets receiving land was George Washington, who decided to set up a colony of settlers in what's now West Virginia.  Today we tell the story of that attempt to set up an early Appalachian settlement. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, IHeart Radio, TuneIn, or on your own favorite podcast app.  We're also on YouTube, for those who like to watch us tell our stories. Thanks for listening!

In 1938 a family had an encounter with an Appalachian ghost when young Bertha Sybert's bed began to shake mysteriously every night. Soon people were coming from all over the country to witness the spirit, or demon or witch or whatever it was that was moving Bertha's bed around. Today we tell the story of Bouncing Bertha's ghost. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, IHeart Radio, among others. Thanks for listening!

In 1949 a gang robbed the Bank of Follansbee, near Weirton, West Virginia, of $5,400.00 and made their escape. Later that night two policemen pulled over a car they suspected belonged to those robbers. Things did not go as they planned, and we tell that story this week. Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Audible and on many other podcast apps.