{
  "title": "TALES OF TARHEELIA",
  "category": "[RADIO-SERIES]",
  "article": "“Tales taken from a weekly radio program presented for radio station WPTF at Raleigh, North\nCarolina.” Written by John Harden. East Albemarle Regional Library System\nTALES OF TARHEELIA (WPTF, RALEIGH)\n[Wednesday—6:30-     PM]\nApril 24, 1946\nMay 1, 1946\nMay 8, 1946\nMAY 10, 1946:\n[Burlington Daily Times-News—“Governor’s Secretary To Speak At\nJaycess [sic] Charter Night Affair”]\n“…Harden has been a newspaperman in this city, in Charlotte, Salisbury, and was\nin Greensboro as news editor of the Daily News before accepting the position\nwith the governor. Two weeks ago he began what is proving to be a very popular\nprogram over WPTF in Raleigh each Wednesday evening at 6:30 o’clock, called\n‘Tales of Tarheelia.’…”\nMay 15, 1946\nMay 22, 1946\nMay 29, 1946\nJune 5, 1946\nJune 12, 1946\nJune 19, 1946\nJUNE 21, 1946:\n[Burlington Daily Times-News—“The City Desk” by Howard White]\n“Mrs. Charles Hopkins at May Memorial Library has received a complete file of\nfeature articles from Radio Statione WPTF in  Raleigh which cover the regular\nWednesday night feature, starting at 6:30 o’clock, of John Harden’s ‘Tales of\nTarheelia’ and has announced that since John is a Graham native and well-\nknown in this area, together with the fact that the programs are of much interest\nto North Carolina in general, she is making a special display of them at the\nlibrary.\n“For the past two months John has been taking time out from his duties as\nsecretary to Governor Cherry to conduct this Wednesday night program program\nat which time he relates some particular feature story he collected while working\nin newspaper editiorial rooms through many sections of the state. They cover\nmysterious tales of the mountains one week and legends about the seashore the\nnext.\n“It might be of interest to John’s friends here that for the first time in the\nhistory of Radio Station WPTF a file has been established whereby all persons\nwho desire copies of his programs can request them—in one letter—and they will\nbe mailed out each week. Previously, it took one letter for each program of such a\nnature, and the new service is available only because the response to the program\nhas been so enthusiastic.”\nJune 26, 1946\nJuly 3, 1946\nJuly 10, 1946\nJuly 17, 1946\nJuly 24, 1946\nJuly 31, 1946\nAugust 7, 1946\nAugust 14, 1946\nAugust 21, 1946\nAugust 28, 1946\nSeptember 4, 1946\nSeptember 11, 1946\nSeptember 18, 1946\nSeptember 25, 1946\n“The Mystery of Peter Stuart Ney”\n[STATESVILLE DAILY RECORD: “…A favorite North Carolina story—the\nmystery of Peter Stuart Ney will be told on this week’s ‘Tales of Tarheelia’\nbroadcast over Station WPTF Wednesday, September 25, at 6:30 p.m., in\nkeeping with the special Ney anniversary event being celebrated on\nSunday September 29 at 11 a.m., at Third Creek church in Rowan\ncounty… Peter Stuart Ney is buried in the church yard at Third Creek.\nFor many years there has been a debate as to whether this man was a\nsimple country school teacher or Marshal Ney of France, Napoleon’s\nright arm in the wars he waged…”]\nSEPTEMBER 25, 1946:\n[Statesville Daily Record—“Broadcast Will Feature Story Of Marshall\nNey”\n“The ‘Tales of Tarheelia’ series, comprising North Carolina unsolved mysteries, is\nwritten and narrated by John Harden, veteran North Carolina newspaperman\nnow serving as secretary to Governor Gregg Cherry. Beginning this Sunday, when\nthe change to eastern standard time affects various WPTF programs, ‘Tales of\nTarheelia’ will be heard each Sunday at 1:15 p.m.”\n[Sunday—1:15-     PM]\nSeptember 29, 1946\nOctober 6, 1946\nTales of Tarheelia by John Harden. Raleigh: WPTF Radio Publication, 1946\nThe Devil’s Tramping Ground and Other NC Mysteries, by John Harden. Chapel Hill: University\nof North Carolina Press, 1949\nAbout The Southern Historical Collection\nLong at the center of inquiry into the history and culture of the American South, theSouthern Historical\nCollection (SHC) documents this region with its massive holdings of unique, primary source materials:\nletters, diaries, oral histories, photographs, sound recordings, financial records, literary manuscripts, and\nitems in many other formats.These original documents reveal the lives of farmers, homemakers,\ntradespeople, industrial workers, plantation owners, enslaved people, entrepreneurs, educators, politicians,\nactivists, lawyers, physicians, and many thousands of mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters.\nThe SHC’s collections offer strong documentation of all periods of southern history since the late\neighteenth century: the colonial and Revolutionary periods (though less fully than the others), the\nantebellum plantation era, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the New South, the Jim Crow South, and the\nSouth in the second half of the twentieth century. Subject strengths range widely, but especially prominent\nare early nineteenth-century plantation culture, Confederate leadership and battles on both sides in the\nAmerican Civil War, politics and political activism, religious experience, rural life, southern literature,\nAfrican American life, journalism, business, and family relations. Among the most heavily used materials\nare thousands of oral history interviews in the Southern Oral History Program Collection with individuals\nranging from business leaders to textile workers.\nLocated in Wilson Library, the SHC welcomes all researchers, ranging from academic historians to those\nimbued with a simple curiosity about our past. We look forward to seeing you in our reading room.\nCONTACT INFORMATION\nSouthern Historical Collection\nCB# 3926, Wilson Library\nThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\nChapel Hill, North Carolina 27514-8890\nTelephone: 919-962-1345\nFax: 919-962-3594\nEmail: mss@email.unc.edu\nCreator of the Month…John Harden\nPosted on 23 October 2009 by Biff Hollingsworth| Leave a comment\nJohn William Harden (1903-1985) of Greensboro, N.C., was a journalist, newspaper editor, author, advisor\nto North Carolina governors and textile executives, and founder of the state’s first full-service public\nrelations company. The collection contains materials, 1914-1986, including business records,\ncorrespondence, writings, speeches and speech materials, administrative records, newspaper clippings,\ndiaries, scrapbooks, photograph albums, family papers, sound recordings, and videocassettes relating to\nJohn Harden.\nCorrespondence and other papers includes items relating to each of John Harden’s published books. Harden\npublished The Devil’s Tramping Ground and Other North Carolina Mystery Stories in 1949 and Tar Heel\nGhosts in 1954. These books present stories gathered by Harden that deal with North Carolina locales,\nmyths, and stories. Devil’s Tramping Ground grew out of a weekly radio program, entitled Tales of\nTarheelia, presented over eighteen months on station WPTF in Raleigh in 1946-1947. Both books were\nillustrated by Lindsey McAlister, an acquaintance of Harden’s daughter Glenn Abbott, and were published\nby the University of North Carolina Press.\nHere are some interesting items and images that can be found within the writings series that highlight\nHarden’s interest in the strange and unknown. Since Halloween is fast approaching, we hope that you will\nfind items in this collection fascinating and ghoulish.\nJohn Harden (#4702)\nJohn Harden (#4702)\nJohn Harden (#4702)\nJohn Harden (#4702)\nJohn Harden (#4702)\nThe Devil's Tramping Ground\nThe legends and stories of North Carolina are infinitely fascinating. In 1946 and 1947, John\nHarden hosted a radio show called Tales of Tarheelia, in which he recounted many of the state's\nlegendary stories and mysteries. Interest in that radio series and Harden's commitment to\npreserving these stories that could be lost forever if not put down in writing led to the publication\nof this book, The Devil's Tramping Ground and Other North Carolina Mystery Stories, in 1949.\nThe stories collected here are mysteries as opposed to, say, ghost stories (of which North Carolina\ncan boast of her fair share); these stories won't give you the creeps, but they will fascinate you and\nsharpen your interest in the history of the state of North Carolina.\nPosted by History Chasers at The Lost Colony Research Group blogspot.\nA Great Book of Mysteries and Legends About NC\n10/15/2000   By : Michael Delaware\nI recently just finished reading this collection of stories about North Carolina. This book is filled\nwith intriguing mysteries and legends about the Tar Heel state. The more famous story of\nRoanoke Island is covered here, as well as many others most from outside the region have\nprobably never heard about. The stories include tales about shipwrecks, anomalies of nature as\nwell as disappearing people. I found particularly interesting the story entitled 'The Devil's\nTramping Ground' itself, as well as 'The Strange Hoof-Marks at Bath' and the mystery of 'The\nBrown Mountain Lights'. These alone will capture anyone's imagination and spark a desire to\nexplore the hills of North Carolina. All in all a very enjoyable book, and if you like a good\ncollection of short stories this is a good one for you. The fact that they all come from a particular\nregion and are researched North Carolina mystery stories makes it even more facinating and\nentertaining.\nA fascinating collection of Tarheel mysteries\n07/05/2004   By : Daniel Jolley\nSeeing as how \"I'm a Tarheel born, I'm a Tarheel bred, and when I die I'm a Tarheel dead,\" I am\nof course fascinated by the legends and stories of the Old North State, just as John Harden was.\nIn 1946 and 1947, Harden hosted a radio show called Tales of Tarheelia, in which he recounted\nmany of the state's legendary stories and mysteries. Interest in that radio series and Harden's\ncommitment to preserving these stories that could be lost forever if not put down in writing led to\nthe publication of this book, The Devil's Tramping Ground and Other North Carolina Mystery\nStories, in 1949. One should note the fact that the stories collected here are indeed mysteries as\nopposed to, say, ghost stories (of which North Carolina can boast of her fair share); these stories\nwon't give you the creeps, but they will fascinate you and sharpen whatever interest you have in\nthe history of the state of North Carolina.\nWhen you talk about North Carolina mysteries, you must of course start at the very beginning -\nthe Lost Colony. The first English settlement in the New World was made in the late 16th century\nat Roanoke, and it was here that the first non-native American child was born (Virginia Dare);\nwhen the long-delayed supply ship returned to these shores, the entire colony had disappeared\ncompletely, leaving behind a single clue as to the colonists' fate: the carving of the word Croatoan\non a tree. This, North America's first mystery, remains as compelling and unsolved today as it\nwas over four hundred years ago. The famous Brown Mountain Lights of western North Carolina,\nof which many may have heard, necessarily earn a chapter. The Devil's Tramping Ground to\nwhich the title refers is a circular spot of land in Chatham County in which the devil is said to pace\neach night as he thinks up his evil plans. The circle has a diameter of forty feet, and nothing will\ngrow inside it; also, any material placed inside the circle will disappear overnight. A similar story\ninvolves the Magic Horse Tracks in the town of Bath; this series of holes remain fresh and\nunobscured after some two hundred years, and legend says they were made by the hoof prints of\na horse whose owner asked him to either win the horse race he was engaging in (on the\nSabbath, no less) or take him straight to hell - the horse obviously chose the latter by immediately\nbarreling into a tree, killing his sacrilegious rider. You will read of deserted ships that mysteriously\ncame to shore through the treacherous waters of the North Carolina Outer Banks, strange and\nunexplained disappearances of several individuals, the legend I must assume all new students at\nthe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill continue to be told about (I was, but that was back\nin 1988) related to the present site of Gimghoul Castle, a couple of botanical mysteries, several\nstories related to animals, and a number of others miscellaneous tales.\nI must admit that I was unfamiliar with several of these stories, although many were well known to\nme. One of the most interesting tales involves the identity of a schoolmaster of Rowan County;\nthere is plenty of evidence that this man, Peter Stuart Ney, was in fact Marshal Ney of France,\none of Napoleon's most trusted military strategists. Marshal Ney was, history tells us, executed by\na firing squad after Napoleon's downfall, but rumors abound that his execution was in fact a hoax.\nWhile the caliber of the twenty mysteries chronicled here varies somewhat, only a couple of them\nfailed to fascinate me. Naturally, those with no association with North Carolina won't feel the\nconnection I feel to the material, but anyone interested in the legends and mysteries of former\ntimes should find much to interest them in this engaging collection of Tarheel mysteries.",
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