“Tales taken from a weekly radio program presented for radio station WPTF at Raleigh, North
Carolina.” Written by John Harden.East Albemarle Regional Library System
April 24, 1946
May 1, 1946
May 8, 1946
MAY 10, 1946:
[Burlington Daily Times-News—“Governor’s Secretary To Speak At
Jaycess [sic] Charter Night Affair”]
“…Harden has been a newspaperman in this city, in Charlotte, Salisbury, and was
in Greensboro as news editor of the Daily News before accepting the position
with the governor. Two weeks ago he began what is proving to be a very popular
program over WPTF in Raleigh each Wednesday evening at 6:30 o’clock, called
‘Tales of Tarheelia.’…”
May 15, 1946
May 22, 1946
May 29, 1946
June 5, 1946
June 12, 1946
June 19, 1946
JUNE 21, 1946:
[Burlington Daily Times-News—“The City Desk” by Howard White]
“Mrs. Charles Hopkins at May Memorial Library has received a complete file of
feature articles from Radio Statione WPTF in Raleigh which cover the regular
Wednesday night feature, starting at 6:30 o’clock, of John Harden’s ‘Tales of
Tarheelia’ and has announced that since John is a Graham native and well-
known in this area, together with the fact that the programs are of much interest
to North Carolina in general, she is making a special display of them at the
library.
“For the past two months John has been taking time out from his duties as
secretary to Governor Cherry to conduct this Wednesday night program program
at which time he relates some particular feature story he collected while working
in newspaper editiorial rooms through many sections of the state. They cover
mysterious tales of the mountains one week and legends about the seashore the
next.
“It might be of interest to John’s friends here that for the first time in the
history of Radio Station WPTF a file has been established whereby all persons
who desire copies of his programs can request them—in one letter—and they will
be mailed out each week. Previously, it took one letter for each program of such a
nature, and the new service is available only because the response to the program
has been so enthusiastic.”
June 26, 1946
July 3, 1946
July 10, 1946
July 17, 1946
July 24, 1946
July 31, 1946
August 7, 1946
August 14, 1946
August 21, 1946
August 28, 1946
September 4, 1946
September 11, 1946
September 18, 1946
September 25, 1946“The Mystery of Peter Stuart Ney”
[
“…A favorite North Carolina story—the
mystery of Peter Stuart Ney will be told on this week’s ‘Tales of Tarheelia’
broadcast over Station WPTF Wednesday, September 25, at 6:30 p.m., in
keeping with the special Ney anniversary event being celebrated on
Sunday September 29 at 11 a.m., at Third Creek church in Rowan
county… Peter Stuart Ney is buried in the church yard at Third Creek.
For many years there has been a debate as to whether this man was a
simple country school teacher or Marshal Ney of France, Napoleon’s
right arm in the wars he waged…”]
SEPTEMBER 25, 1946:
[Statesville Daily Record—“Broadcast Will Feature Story Of Marshall
Ney”
“The ‘Tales of Tarheelia’ series, comprising North Carolina unsolved mysteries, is
written and narrated by John Harden, veteran North Carolina newspaperman
now serving as secretary to Governor Gregg Cherry. Beginning this Sunday, when
the change to eastern standard time affects various WPTF programs, ‘Tales of
Tarheelia’ will be heard each Sunday at 1:15 p.m.”
September 29, 1946
October 6, 1946
Tales of Tarheelia by John Harden. Raleigh: WPTF Radio Publication, 1946
The Devil’s Tramping Ground and Other NC Mysteries, by John Harden. Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press, 1949
About The Southern Historical Collection
Long at the center of inquiry into the history and culture of the American South, theSouthern Historical
Collection(SHC) documents this region with its massive holdings of unique, primary source materials:
letters, diaries, oral histories, photographs, sound recordings, financial records, literary manuscripts, and
items in many other formats.These original documents reveal the lives of farmers, homemakers,
tradespeople, industrial workers, plantation owners, enslaved people, entrepreneurs, educators, politicians,
activists, lawyers, physicians, and many thousands of mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters.
The SHC’s collections offer strong documentation of all periods of southern history since the late
eighteenth century: the colonial and Revolutionary periods (though less fully than the others), the
antebellum plantation era, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the New South, the Jim Crow South, and the
South in the second half of the twentieth century. Subject strengths range widely, but especially prominent
are early nineteenth-century plantation culture, Confederate leadership and battles on both sides in the
American Civil War, politics and political activism, religious experience, rural life, southern literature,
African American life, journalism, business, and family relations. Among the most heavily used materials
are thousands of oral history interviews in theSouthern Oral History Program Collectionwith individuals
ranging from business leaders to textile workers.
Located inWilson Library, the SHC welcomes all researchers, ranging from academic historians to those
imbued with a simple curiosity about our past. We look forward to seeing you in our reading room.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Southern Historical Collection
CB# 3926, Wilson Library
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514-8890
Telephone: 919-962-1345
Fax: 919-962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
Creator of the Month…John Harden
Posted on23 October 2009by Biff Hollingsworth| Leave a comment
John William Harden (1903-1985) of Greensboro, N.C., was a journalist, newspaper editor, author, advisor
to North Carolina governors and textile executives, and founder of the state’s first full-service public
relations company. The collection contains materials, 1914-1986, including business records,
correspondence, writings, speeches and speech materials, administrative records, newspaper clippings,
diaries, scrapbooks, photograph albums, family papers, sound recordings, and videocassettes relating to
John Harden.
Correspondence and other papers includes items relating to each of John Harden’s published books. Harden
published The Devil’s Tramping Ground and Other North Carolina Mystery Stories in 1949 and Tar Heel
Ghosts in 1954. These books present stories gathered by Harden that deal with North Carolina locales,
myths, and stories. Devil’s Tramping Ground grew out of a weekly radio program, entitled Tales of
Tarheelia, presented over eighteen months on station WPTF in Raleigh in 1946-1947. Both books were
illustrated by Lindsey McAlister, an acquaintance of Harden’s daughter Glenn Abbott, and were published
by the University of North Carolina Press.
Here are some interesting items and images that can be found within the writings series that highlight
Harden’s interest in the strange and unknown. Since Halloween is fast approaching, we hope that you will
find items in this collection fascinating and ghoulish.
John Harden (#4702)
John Harden (#4702)
John Harden (#4702)
John Harden (#4702)
John Harden (#4702)
The Devil's Tramping Ground
The legends and stories of North Carolina are infinitely fascinating. In 1946 and 1947, John
Harden hosted a radio show called Tales of Tarheelia, in which he recounted many of the state's
legendary stories and mysteries. Interest in that radio series and Harden's commitment to
preserving these stories that could be lost forever if not put down in writing led to the publication
of this book, The Devil's Tramping Ground and Other North Carolina Mystery Stories, in 1949.
The stories collected here are mysteries as opposed to, say, ghost stories (of which North Carolina
can boast of her fair share); these stories won't give you the creeps, but they will fascinate you and
sharpen your interest in the history of the state of North Carolina.
Posted by History Chasers at The Lost Colony Research Group blogspot.
A Great Book of Mysteries and Legends About NC
10/15/2000
Michael Delaware
I recently just finished reading this collection of stories about North Carolina. This book is filled
with intriguing mysteries and legends about the Tar Heel state. The more famous story of
Roanoke Island is covered here, as well as many others most from outside the region have
probably never heard about. The stories include tales about shipwrecks, anomalies of nature as
well as disappearing people. I found particularly interesting the story entitled 'The Devil's
Tramping Ground' itself, as well as 'The Strange Hoof-Marks at Bath' and the mystery of 'The
Brown Mountain Lights'. These alone will capture anyone's imagination and spark a desire to
explore the hills of North Carolina. All in all a very enjoyable book, and if you like a good
collection of short stories this is a good one for you. The fact that they all come from a particular
region and are researched North Carolina mystery stories makes it even more facinating and
entertaining.
A fascinating collection of Tarheel mysteries
07/05/2004
Daniel Jolley
Seeing as how "I'm a Tarheel born, I'm a Tarheel bred, and when I die I'm a Tarheel dead," I am
of course fascinated by the legends and stories of the Old North State, just as John Harden was.
In 1946 and 1947, Harden hosted a radio show called Tales of Tarheelia, in which he recounted
many of the state's legendary stories and mysteries. Interest in that radio series and Harden's
commitment to preserving these stories that could be lost forever if not put down in writing led to
the publication of this book, The Devil's Tramping Ground and Other North Carolina Mystery
Stories, in 1949. One should note the fact that the stories collected here are indeed mysteries as
opposed to, say, ghost stories (of which North Carolina can boast of her fair share); these stories
won't give you the creeps, but they will fascinate you and sharpen whatever interest you have in
the history of the state of North Carolina.
When you talk about North Carolina mysteries, you must of course start at the very beginning -
the Lost Colony. The first English settlement in the New World was made in the late 16th century
at Roanoke, and it was here that the first non-native American child was born (Virginia Dare);
when the long-delayed supply ship returned to these shores, the entire colony had disappeared
completely, leaving behind a single clue as to the colonists' fate: the carving of the word Croatoan
on a tree. This, North America's first mystery, remains as compelling and unsolved today as it
was over four hundred years ago. The famous Brown Mountain Lights of western North Carolina,
of which many may have heard, necessarily earn a chapter. The Devil's Tramping Ground to
which the title refers is a circular spot of land in Chatham County in which the devil is said to pace
each night as he thinks up his evil plans. The circle has a diameter of forty feet, and nothing will
grow inside it; also, any material placed inside the circle will disappear overnight. A similar story
involves the Magic Horse Tracks in the town of Bath; this series of holes remain fresh and
unobscured after some two hundred years, and legend says they were made by the hoof prints of
a horse whose owner asked him to either win the horse race he was engaging in (on the
Sabbath, no less) or take him straight to hell - the horse obviously chose the latter by immediately
barreling into a tree, killing his sacrilegious rider. You will read of deserted ships that mysteriously
came to shore through the treacherous waters of the North Carolina Outer Banks, strange and
unexplained disappearances of several individuals, the legend I must assume all new students at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill continue to be told about (I was, but that was back
in 1988) related to the present site of Gimghoul Castle, a couple of botanical mysteries, several
stories related to animals, and a number of others miscellaneous tales.
I must admit that I was unfamiliar with several of these stories, although many were well known to
me. One of the most interesting tales involves the identity of a schoolmaster of Rowan County;
there is plenty of evidence that this man, Peter Stuart Ney, was in fact Marshal Ney of France,
one of Napoleon's most trusted military strategists. Marshal Ney was, history tells us, executed by
a firing squad after Napoleon's downfall, but rumors abound that his execution was in fact a hoax.
While the caliber of the twenty mysteries chronicled here varies somewhat, only a couple of them
failed to fascinate me. Naturally, those with no association with North Carolina won't feel the
connection I feel to the material, but anyone interested in the legends and mysteries of former
times should find much to interest them in this engaging collection of Tarheel mysteries.