Lore - Legends 34: All American

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

The legends that are unique to America might be newer than some, but they still pack a powerful punch. But however familiar they might be, there’s always a darker side that needs to be explored. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Harry Marks and Aaron Mahnke, editing by Alex Robinson, and research by Alexandra Steed. ————————— Lore Resources:  Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music  Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources  All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com ————————— Sponsors: Thorne: Give your body what it really needs with Thorne. Go to Thorne.fit/lorepodcast for 10% off your first order. SimpliSafe: Secure your home with 24/7 professional monitoring. Sign up today at SimpliSafe.com/Lore to get 20% off any new SimpliSafe system with Fast Protect Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE. ————————— ©2024 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Welcome to Lore Legends, a subset of lore episodes that explore the strange tales we whisper in the dark, even if they can't always be proven by the history books. So if you're ready, let's begin. Some stories are universal. Vampires, for example, can be found in legends that span a large collection of countries across many borders. The same could be said for fairies. Add in witches, sorcerers, and ghosts, and I think you get the idea. But as to why they've become universal, well, we can only speculate. Clearly, the

more popular a type of story, the faster and farther it spreads. And when those tales come from inside a travel-happy culture, whether explorers or colonizers, it gives an added boost to the reach of those legends. Some stories, though, are a bit more local. They grow up out of a particular culture and then just sort of stay there. And while that's true all around the globe, even a nation as relatively young as the United States has a few legends of its own. And chances are good that you already know them

or have at least brushed up against them once or twice in the past. But folklore is like a dark, abandoned house. It's hard to get a good sense of the full picture just by walking by it. And even once you're inside, there are surprises hidden in the shadows at every turn. So let's set aside our expectations and assumptions and take a journey into the familiar. Because even if you've heard them before, there's more darkness than you might remember. After all, the bright spots only look so sunny when there are shadows all around them.

So gather around and listen closely to the stories behind America's greatest folktales. I'm Aaron Manke, and this is Lore Legends. Few American heroes are as well-known or as misunderstood as Johnny Appleseed. He's gone down in history books as a myth, but believe it or not, he was very much a real person. Johnny was born John Chapman on September 26th of 1774 in Leamingster, Massachusetts. He came into the world when tensions between America and Britain were at an all-time high, and the revolution was about to explode onto the scene.

In fact, small pockets of fighting had already broken out. Sadly, Johnny's mother died when he was only two. His father, Nathaniel, however, survived and went on to fight at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He even later helped construct New York City's defenses with Washington's men. Any details that we may have once had about Johnny's childhood have been lost to time. But by the early 1800s, the record picked back up again, and he popped up in western Pennsylvania. At the time, this region was part of the country's western frontier. Since the Chapmans were mostly a farming family, it's possible that Johnny left home to find better

opportunities out in what was then considered the Wild West. He eventually apprenticed under a man named Mr. Crawford in Ohio. Crawford taught him how to cultivate a certain kind of plant, one that would be pivotal to America's westward expansion. Mr. Crawford, you see, owned an apple orchard. In 1792, a deal was struck between the settlers and the Ohio Company of Associates. It stated that if anyone built a home out west, they would be given 100 acres of land. And in order to make sure that they stayed put,

settlers had to plant 50 apple trees and 20 peach trees over the course of three years. Apple trees took about 10 years to bear fruit, so it was the perfect way to tie someone down to a single place. Well, that sounded like a pretty good deal to Johnny, so he set out on his own. And this is where the legend reflects the truth. You see, folk stories about Johnny Appleseed depict him as this happy-go-lucky orchardist,

traipsing across the country and scattering apple seeds as he went. And that's pretty much what happened. He walked from Pennsylvania to Illinois ahead of most settlers and began planting orchards. And according to the law, that meant that he owned all of that land. But he didn't plant the kinds of apples that you could pluck off a tree and bite into. They would have tasted bitter and tart. These were called spitters, and they were perfect for hard cider and apple jack, which, despite its innocent name, was actually a strong alcoholic drink.

Johnny traveled far and wide sowing his apple seeds, but that wasn't the only thing he spread. He also liked to preach. He was a member of the Church of Swedenborg, also known as the New Church. And the New Church championed abstinence, a love for nature and animals, and never harming God's creation.

And Johnnie took these philosophies to heart. He happily spread the word as he walked, leaving church writings behind at the farms kind enough to offer him a place to sleep at night. And he was also a vegetarian and a staunch advocate for animal rights. In fact, he was so passionate about protecting all other living creatures that he once doused his campfire after a mosquito flew too close to the flame and died. The guilt of watching another living thing die for the sake of his own comfort was just too much to bear. Johnny Appleseed Chapman died in 1845. By then he owned more than 1,200 acres of land

as a result of his rampant seed-sowing. He passed away in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but his trees spread as far west as Illinois or even Iowa. Some say that he made it all the way to California. His legend wasn't something that sprung from the ground after his death. It was likely already fermenting throughout the Midwest by the end of his lifetime, but it reached a wider audience in 1871 via an article from Harper's New Monthly magazine. This publication created a sort of folkloric game of telephone, as tales about his adventures on the frontier shifted from reality to myth. Today, Johnny Appleseed's legacy is remembered in both song and story, and also in one particular

apple tree. Planted almost 200 years ago in Nova, Ohio, by Chapman himself, it continues to bear fruit to this day. Just like his stories. The landscape of America can be inspiring. Take a trip to the mountains or along the ocean and you just might walk away feeling a bit of awe or wonder. There are so many beautiful places to explore. But from the very beginning, some people have also asked the question, how did these places take shape?

For example, where did Minnesota's 10,000 lakes come from? Or how about the Grand Canyon? Well, depending on who you ask, you might hear that they were all created by one man, a giant, in fact, along with his blue ox. Oh, and his enormous axe. Stories of Paul Bunyan have been circulating since at least the late 1800s. What likely started as a kind of oral history was eventually cemented and immortalized by professional writers in the early 1900s.

For example, Wisconsin folklorist Charles Brown collected stories about Paul Bunyan around this time, which were then published in pamphlets from 1922 all the way up until 1945. Of course, every legend is a little bit different, but there are several commonalities among them. Paul Bunyan was such a gigantic baby, they say, that he was delivered by five storks, not one. His average-sized family needed 14 cows to keep up with the enormous infant's appetite,

and he slept in a giant cradle in the ocean, where the waves would rock him to sleep each night. In true fairy tale fashion, Paul's parents were forced to move after their big bundle of joy got a little too excited, jumped up and down, and caused a tsunami that wiped out towns across the coast of Maine. And after they moved farther inland, Paul began to learn the lumberjack trade from his father. And he was joined on his lumberjacking adventures by his sidekick, of course, Babe the Blue Ox. Paul had rescued Babe from a terrible winter storm, and she grew up to be just as big as him.

Now, according to the stories, Paul and Babe were responsible for Lake Superior, the Mississippi River, and even the Grand Canyon, which was carved while Bunyan dragged his axe behind him. The legends, like Paul himself, are larger than life. And sure, Johnny Appleseed was a real person, but there's no way that Paul Bunyan was, right? Well, the truth is a bit complicated. You see, Paul Bunyan wasn't just one man.

His legend may have been cobbled together from several. There are plenty of tall tales, no pun intended, from all over the Midwest and parts of Canada that have contributed to his mythology. The stories about him are varied and seem to come mostly from lumberjacks and others in that industry who would sit around the campfires at night and share them with each other to pass the time. But they were popularized by M man named William B. Lawhead, who in 1916 published a promotional pamphlet

for the Red River Lumber Company. Some historians believe that Bunyan was based on a real lumberjack named Fabien Fournier, a French-Canadian born in Quebec around 1840, who moved south to work as a foreman at a logging crew in Michigan following the Civil War. He was extraordinarily tall for the period, standing at a whopping six feet, and boasted a pair of enormous hands.

They called him Saginaw Joe, and apparently had two sets of teeth that he used to bite off hunks of wooden railings. Among his hobbies were drinking and fighting, and given his imposing stature, he probably won most of the time. A book published in 1942 told the story of a fight between Fournier and a man named Silver Jack Driscoll from Ontario. He was just as big as Fournier and was often referred to as a moose of a man. Well, one spring the two men clashed at the Red Keg Saloon in Averill, Michigan, and Fournier was beaten. His signature move of headbutting his opponent hadn't stopped Driscoll from coming out on

top. But, and I quote, he refrained from the custom of stomping on Fournier with his spiked logging boots. Driscoll took the high road, buying everyone in the bar a round of drink, even the defeated Fournier. And lastly, another man that Bunyan might have been based on was another French-Canadian lumberjack, this one named Bonjon. Jon had been a big player in the Papineau Rebellion of 1837, when Canadian loggers revolted

against the British Crown. His mythos wasn't quite as large as the formidable Fourniers, but some people believe that his name, Bonjean, may have morphed into Bunyan over time. And then, of course, there are historians and folklorists who think that Paul Bunyan is just that, folklore. Unlike Johnny Appleseed, most of Paul Bunyan's legend is fantastical and rooted in mystery. But there's no denying that his larger than life presence has made a serious impact on America's soil. Most of us would recognize his name from picture books, childhood films, and a catchy song

by Johnny Cash. To manual laborers all over the United States, John Henry was an icon, a representative of their struggle and plight. In fact, a number of states have claimed John Henry as their own, including Virginia, Louisiana, and both North and South Carolina. According to the stories, John Henry was an African American man born into slavery in the 1840s and freed along with many others after the Civil War. But one early detail to remember is that as a baby, John Henry was said to have had a

vision of a hammer in his hand, And allegedly he told his mother about this vision when he was just three days old. That vision eventually came true when he went to work as a steel driver for the railroad to provide for his family. Steel drivers, by the way, did things like drill holes into rock by hand, which would get filled with powder to blast it into smaller, more manageable pieces.

In short, it was difficult, backbreaking work. Now, according to the stories, John Henry was part of a two-man team consisting of the driver and the shaker. The driver would swing the hammer, while the shaker would hold the metal bits against the rock. After each swing from the hammer, the shaker would turn the bits,

and then the driver whacked it again, until the hole was deep enough for the explosive powder. Well, thanks to John Henry's strength and gusto, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, known as the CNO, was moving along nicely. But right in the middle of their path was a major obstacle, the Big Bend Mountain. And the railroad executives decided

that they didn't want to waste the time and the track that it would take to go around it. Instead, they planned to go through it. This was what men like John Henry were hired for, but not only was the work hard, it was dangerous too. The job of digging through the mountain claimed the lives of a thousand men over three years, but not John Henry. He powered through, swinging his 14-pound hammer 12 hours a day, leaving all the other workers in his dust. But he was just one man, after all, and the railroads needed a faster and cheaper way to carve through the rock. Some say that it was a salesman who brought the railroad their supposed

golden goose. Others claim that the company came knocking on its own. But whoever was responsible, they didn't realize the impact that it would have on the workers, especially John Henry. And what had they brought in? Well, a steam-powered drill, of course. Now, this wasn't a panacea to alleviate the laborer's workload. It was a direct threat to their livelihoods. So John Henry laid down a challenge.

If he could beat the drill through the mountain, the man could keep working. If not, well then the company could switch to the steam-powered drill instead of human labor. Using two 10-pound hammers, although some stories say 20, John Henry started at dawn and faced down the machine. He and his shaker made incredible progress, too. One version of the story, captured in song, says John Henry made 14 feet while the steam drill only made 9. When the race was over he had triumphed over the machine, but at great cost. He died shortly after the

challenge with his wife Polly right by his side. Now obviously no mortal man could beat a machine at a job like that. The story of John Henry largely seems to be a tall tale. But it's not just a random story. No, John Henry represented the plight of African American men all throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. You see, after the Civil War ended, the Southern economy was in tatters. Many people were struggling for work, especially newly freed black men and women.

Looking to get away from the constant discrimination they faced each day, they moved to cities north and west in search of better lives. Of those who remained in the south, though, some continued working in agriculture, either on plantations or on farms of their own. Women worked in domestic service as maids and cleaners, while some men turned to the railroads, which were steadily expanding. But it's important to remember that many of those people didn't even have an option to make a new life for themselves, and John Henry is thought to be one of them. You see, a clue is a line in his

legend that describes how after he died, he was buried near the White House. But don't assume that this phrase referred to the executive residence in Washington, D.C. No, according to most historians, White House was another name for a jail, which means that if John Henry was a real historical figure, there's a good chance that he had been a prisoner working in a chain gang. Thankfully for John Henry and many other former enslaved peoples from the South, it was much more difficult to lock up his spirit than it was his body. Thanks to the legend and the songs it has given us, we remember John Henry today as

a man determined to be the best at what he had in front of him. Folklore or not, that's a bit of an inspiration that all of us could do well to remember. America's legends always offer us a unique experience. Whether it's the creation of natural wonders like the Grand Canyon, or a record of the plight of underrepresented communities, the stories we were raised on always offered more than just a thrill. Oftentimes they also gave us an education. And honestly, as someone who studies and writes about folklore for a living, I'm glad for

that. Sometimes these legends are a necessary time capsule that allows us to hold on to the past, and every now and then they do more, giving us a snapshot of something unique and fascinating, even if the context has been stripped away by the years. And the legend of John Henry certainly hits all those points. It gives us a freeze frame of the plight of post-Civil War Black Americans and how, in a lot of ways, their enslavements really didn't go away. But it also demonstrates the double-edged sword of progress. Machines, after all, are wonderful, but they have a cost. And like I said, John Henry's

story has been claimed by multiple states in America, all wanting to give him a home and an origin story. In Virginia, for example, a man named John William Henry was said to have been incarcerated at the Old Virginia Penitentiary in Richmond. In 1868, he was leased out to help construct the C&O Railroad. According to that version of the tale, he was assigned to the Lewis Tunnel, where he was forced to drill and dig his way through solid rock. And it was there that he raced a steam-powered drill and died. His body was taken back to the prison and was buried in the sand near the White House

in a mass grave. In Alabama, on the other hand, the story pulls Henry out of prison and calls him John Henry Dabney. Dabney, they say, came from Mississippi, and there he worked digging tunnels for the C&W railway. And, of course, there was a competition between a new-fangled rock driller and John Henry's legendary might. On September 20th of 1887, they say, the human factor won.

In the process, though, John Henry went blind and his heart gave out. His wife raced to his side as he took his final breath, and according to the song, he drove so hard that he broke his heart. Every version of John Henry's story is a little different, but they all do the same thing. They give a voice to the Black experience in America. And the name John Henry was common enough that it's almost impossible to know now if he was based on one or more actual people. But regardless of who he was in life, one thing is certainly clear.

In death, his name is a legend. And one that will never be forgotten. America's folklore is both unique and vast, a lot like its landscape. And while you've probably heard of all the characters we explored today, I hope you were able to see them from a new, more dark angle than before. But of course, we're not done. My team and I have saved one last American legend to re-examine. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.

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Not every folktale is inspired by real people. Sometimes they're just repackaged versions of older stories. And by drawing on older myths and legends, this all-American horror story I'm about to tell you, in its own way, became one of the most famous stories of all time. Our first stop is actually overseas, in the legendary land of Camelot, where a huge figure dressed all in green, named creatively the Green Knight, challenged the members of the Round Table to a game. They were free to strike off a part of his body with a sword, but a year later he would

return and do the same to them. And Sir Gawain had a plan. He decided to cut off the Green Knight's head. After all, how could anyone come back from that? Instead, after the deed was done, the Green Knight stood back up, picked up his head, and rode off, promising to return the following year. Everyone spent the next twelve months wondering if he'd actually come back. Gawain, though, left Camelot in search of the Green Knight himself, only to find out

that the supernatural being had been put up to the whole ordeal by Morgan Le Fay, King Arthur's stepsister. The Green Knight declared that Gawain was the bravest knight in all the land and let him go with his head still attached. Another legend, though, comes from Ireland, and this one is far more gruesome. In it's a fertility god called the Dulahan required a blood sacrifice that was only attainable through decapitation. The only problem was that people eventually stopped worshiping the Dulahan once Christianity came to Ireland and so they no longer had to make a human sacrifice just to ask

for things like help with having a baby. Because of that, this old god now wanders the countryside, carrying its own head in search of a new sacrifice. According to some, that head is a big mess of decaying flesh, and looks like what has been described as, and I quote, moldy cheese. The doula hand is also said to use human spines as a whip, and the wagon it rides on is adorned with macabre candles mounted on skulls and wheels made of bones. If you're familiar with Warhammer 40,000, just picture anything from the Black Templars in all their grimdark glory.

But this carnage isn't just for show. It's been said that wherever the Dulehan stops, a person there dies. But perhaps the biggest piece of the puzzle is the Wild Hunt, a post-medieval legend from Germany. But whether you study the southern version of the Furious Host or its northern counterpart, the Wild Hunt was usually seen as an omen of disaster. Many of these hunters were either otherworldly creatures chasing supernatural beasts or humans who had committed some terrible sin and were forced to be part of the hunt for all eternity.

Often the wild hunt was said to steal unbaptized children and train them to do their dark bidding. Of course, stories travel, and these tales eventually made their way into the stories written down by the Grimm brothers and followed the migration of Germanic peoples first to England and then to America where they reached an audience hungry for stories of villainous German horseback riders. According to one story in 1776 a German mercenary fighting for the British side met an unfortunate end at the Battle of White Plains when a cannonball separated his head from the rest of his body. That headless soldier is reportedly known to rise from his grave in the dead of night

searching for his missing skull, and he murders anyone who gets in his way. According to the legend, that head was never recovered, but the body it came from was, and it was taken to a nearby church for burial, the Old Dutch Church, in the village that is known today as Sleepy Hollow. This episode of Lore Legends was produced by me, Aaron Manke, with writing by Harry Marks and Aaron Manke, with editing by Alex Robinson, and research by Ally Steed. Don't like hearing the ads? I've got a solution for you.

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