Download or read book Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake written by Paul Vanderwood and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2003-06-23 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A notable and tragic case of the struggle between legal and social justice Reelfoot Lake has been a hunting and fishing paradise from the time of its creation in 1812, when the New Madrid earthquake caused the Mississippi River to flow backward into low-lying lands. Situated in the northwestern corner of the state of Tennessee, it attracted westward-moving pioneers, enticing some to settle permanently on its shores. Threatened in 1908 with the loss of their homes and livelihoods to aggressive, outsider capitalists, rural folk whose families had lived for generations on the bountiful lake donned hoods and gowns and engaged in “night riding,” spreading mayhem and death throughout the region as they sought vigilante justice. They had come to regard the lake as their own, by “squatters’ rights,” but now a group of entrepreneurs from St. Louis had bought the titles to the land beneath the shallow lake and were laying legal claim to Reelfoot in its entirety. People were hanged, beaten, and threatened and property destroyed before the state militia finally quelled the uprising. A compromise that made the lake public property did not entirely heal the wounds which continue to this day. Paul Vanderwood reconstructs these harrowing events from newspapers and other accounts of the time. He also obtained personal interviews with participants and family members who earlier had remained mum, still fearing prosecution. The Journal of American History declares his book “the complete and authentic treatment” of the horrific dispute and its troubled aftermath.
Download or read book Reelfoot Lake written by Shirley Applewhite Moore and published by . This book was released on 2008-02-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the story of Sammy D, who takes his nine-year- old grandson, Ricky, on a camping/fishing trip on Reelfoot Lake, where his ancestors settled in the late 1800's. He tells Ricky the story about how the settlers had to fight the West Tennessee Land Company in order to keep control of their land and fishing rights. After all legal means were exausted, they organized a vigilante group they called The Night Riders. The Night Rider's attempt at showing their power goes a few steps too far when they kill the lawyer who they believe betrayed them, and it condemns a number of them to prison and even to a death sentence. A candid look into this author's father, Sammy D and grandfather, Sam Applewhite accused of being a Night Rider, arrested for the murder of Captain Quenton Rankin, tried, convicted and sentenced to hang. This book will astound readers as to the authenticity of the events and keep them glued to the pages. Shown with actual pictures taken from the headlines, and archives of many well known national newspapers and articles. A tale of guilt, betrayal and murder. Reelfoot Lake will leave readers entertained as they embark on a journey alongside the historic Tennessee Night Riders on their mission to protect and preserve this beautiful paradise. This story is shocking and captivating and will compell readers to finish the book without wanting to put it down. It truly is a page turner.
Download or read book The Legend of Zoey written by Candie Moonshower and published by Yearling. This book was released on 2007-12-11 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zoey's family has a strange feeling about the two-tailed comet in the sky. But that doesn’t mean Zoey will let them chaperone her class field trip to Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee—especially since Grandma Cope grew up near there. What if Grandma tells everyone about being a Native American? Zoey has no interest in her family’s past. All she wants is for her parents to get back together, and for herself to fit in at school. She doesn’t know what’s hit her when, during the bus ride to Reelfoot, she’s propelled back in time to 1811, when the lake was formed! Now Zoey’s cell phone doesn’t work, there’s no fast food in sight, and massive earthquakes keep rattling the land. Prim, proper Prudence Charity and her way-too-pregnant mother are the first people Zoey sees, but they don’t believe her story—until they meet up with Chickasaw Chief Kalopin and his beautiful Choctaw bride. Kalopin is convinced that the Great Spirit has cursed him for stealing Laughing Eyes from Chief Copiah, and that soon, the river will swallow up his village and everyone in it. Zoey knows they’re headed for disaster, but can she find the courage to save them?
Download or read book Tennessee Legends and Lore written by Dr. Alan N. Brown and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2023-02-13 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spooky Side of the Volunteer State Tennessee is steeped in legend. From strange sightings to odd and macabre crimes, the Volunteer State is no stranger to lore. Author Alan Brown details the haunts, troubling crimes and spooky past.
Download or read book Reelfoot Lake TN KY written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 1262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book When the Mississippi Ran Backwards written by Jay Feldman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Jay Feldmen comes an enlightening work about how the most powerful earthquakes in the history of America united the Indians in one last desperate rebellion, reversed the Mississippi River, revealed a seamy murder in the Jefferson family, and altered the course of the War of 1812. On December 15, 1811, two of Thomas Jefferson's nephews murdered a slave in cold blood and put his body parts into a roaring fire. The evidence would have been destroyed but for a rare act of God—or, as some believed, of the Indian chief Tecumseh. That same day, the Mississippi River's first steamboat, piloted by Nicholas Roosevelt, powered itself toward New Orleans on its maiden voyage. The sky grew hazy and red, and jolts of electricity flashed in the air. A prophecy by Tecumseh was about to be fulfilled. He had warned reluctant warrior-tribes that he would stamp his feet and bring down their houses. Sure enough, between December 16, 1811, and late April 1812, a catastrophic series of earthquakes shook the Mississippi River Valley. Of the more than 2,000 tremors that rumbled across the land during this time, three would have measured nearly or greater than 8.0 on the not-yet-devised Richter Scale. Centered in what is now the bootheel region of Missouri, the New Madrid earthquakes were felt as far away as Canada; New York; New Orleans; Washington, DC; and the western part of the Missouri River. A million and a half square miles were affected as the earth's surface remained in a state of constant motion for nearly four months. Towns were destroyed, an eighteen-mile-long by five-mile-wide lake was created, and even the Mississippi River temporarily ran backwards. The quakes uncovered Jefferson's nephews' cruelty and changed the course of the War of 1812 as well as the future of the new republic. In When the Mississippi Ran Backwards, Jay Feldman expertly weaves together the story of the slave murder, the steamboat, Tecumseh, and the war, and brings a forgotten period back to vivid life. Tecumseh's widely believed prophecy, seemingly fulfilled, hastened an unprecedented alliance among southern and northern tribes, who joined the British in a disastrous fight against the U.S. government. By the end of the war, the continental United States was secure against Britain, France, and Spain; the Indians had lost many lives and much land; and Jefferson's nephews were exposed as murderers. The steamboat, which survived the earthquake, was sunk. When the Mississippi Ran Backwards sheds light on this now-obscure yet pivotal period between the Revolutionary and Civil wars, uncovering the era's dramatic geophysical, political, and military upheavals. Feldman paints a vivid picture of how these powerful earthquakes made an impact on every aspect of frontier life—and why similar catastrophic quakes are guaranteed to recur. When the Mississippi Ran Backwards is popular history at its best.
Download or read book Reelfoot written by Gerald Darnell and published by Booktango. This book was released on 2014-04-17 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ex-Memphis cop and a friend of Carson is in trouble – but what kind of trouble? While trying to answer that question, Carson finds more questions - and all with no answers. What Carson also finds is trouble coming from all directions. The Mafia, the Teamsters Union, an unhappy sheriff and some very rough characters are all looking for his friend, and Carson is in the middle of this mess. An apparently senseless murder only complicates Carson’s problems, which makes getting to the truth more difficult. Things are not what they seem in Carson Reno’s adventure at ‘Reelfoot’
Download or read book Fishhead written by Irvin S. Cobb and published by . This book was released on 2016-08-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During his lifetime Irvin S. Cobb was one of the most celebrated writers in American literature, though nowadays he is almost forgotten, apart perhaps from his Lovecraft connection. Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was born in Paducah, Kentucky on the 23rd June, 1876. His father, unable to cope with the death of his own father, succumbed to alcoholism when Cobb was only sixteen. As a result, Cobb's education came to an end and he started work, first on the Paducah Daily News, then the Louisville Evening Post. By 1904 Cobb's career in journalism was doing so well that he moved to New York, where he would go on to spend the rest of his life, starting work at the Evening Sun, though it wasn't long before an assignment to cover the Russian-Japanese peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire so impressed Joseph Pulitzer that he offered Cobb a job at the New York World, where he became the highest-paid staff reporter in the United States. In 1911 Cobb moved to the Saturday Evening Post. Three years later he was asked to cover the Great War. Amongst the many stories he wrote while there were the exploits of the Harlem Hellfighters, a unit of black American soldiers who had gone on to earn distinction for their courage and discipline, which Cobb celebrated in his book The Glory of the Coming. Besides his prolific work as a journalist, Cobb's fame largely came from his humorous stories, which were published in the leading magazines of his day, and collected in numerous books during his lifetime. But, though he was best known as a humourist, he did have a darker side, exemplified by the tales collected in this volume. Two of the most famous succeeded in catching the attention of H. P. Lovecraft. It is claimed that Fishhead influenced Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth. And there is certainly no doubt that Lovecraft was favourably impressed with this tale. In his groundbreaking essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Lovecraft wrote: "Fishhead, an early achievement, is banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake..." The Unbroken Chain gave Lovecraft the key idea behind The Rats in the Walls, though in all other respects the two tales are totally different. Besides writing and journalism, Cobb's career extended to Hollywood, where legendary director, John Ford, made two films based on his books: Judge Priest (1934) and The Sun Shines Bright (1953). Other films included Peck's Bad Boy (1921), starring Jackie Coogan, and The Woman Accused (1933), with a young Cary Grant. Cobb also did a stint at acting himself, appearing in ten movies altogether, including Pepper, Everybody's Old Man (1936), Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) and Hawaii Calls (1938). It's a sign of the prominence he had achieved that in 1935 he was invited to host the 7th Academy Awards. Other than the tales that inspired Lovecraft, Cobb also wrote some brilliantly dark stories that culminate in a kind of sadistic irony. They are some of the finest conte cruel ever written. Amongst the best of these is the final story in this collection: Faith, Hope, and Charity, whose protagonists, as is often the case in Cobb's stories, struggle against fates that are not only pre-ordained but are horrendously appropriate! It must be added his hapless victims are far from blameless. What fates await them under Cobb's pen have most definitely been brought upon them by themselves! Through most of the tales there is a wry sense of humour, so wry, in fact, that it never detracts from the impact at the end; indeed, it often adds to and embellishes it! I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I did and share with me the conviction that it is high time they were revived.
Download or read book Reelfoot Lake written by Jim W. Johnson and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book explores the cultural and environmental history of Tennessee's only natural lake, Reelfoot Lake. Jim W. Johnson, a longtime west Tennessean and environmentalist, guides readers through the ancient and recent history of the lake, provides a section for visitors, campers, and tourists interested in visiting Reelfoot Lake, and discusses the past, present, and future conservation issues facing this important body of water"--
Download or read book Disaster Deferred written by Seth Stein and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12, Disaster Deferred revisits these earthquakes, the legends that have grown around them, and the predictions of doom that have followed in their wake. Seth Stein clearly explains the techniques seismologists use to study Midwestern quakes and estimate their danger.
Download or read book The Legend of Zoey written by Candie Moonshower and published by Yearling. This book was released on 2007-12-11 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zoey's family has a strange feeling about the two-tailed comet in the sky. But that doesn’t mean Zoey will let them chaperone her class field trip to Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee—especially since Grandma Cope grew up near there. What if Grandma tells everyone about being a Native American? Zoey has no interest in her family’s past. All she wants is for her parents to get back together, and for herself to fit in at school. She doesn’t know what’s hit her when, during the bus ride to Reelfoot, she’s propelled back in time to 1811, when the lake was formed! Now Zoey’s cell phone doesn’t work, there’s no fast food in sight, and massive earthquakes keep rattling the land. Prim, proper Prudence Charity and her way-too-pregnant mother are the first people Zoey sees, but they don’t believe her story—until they meet up with Chickasaw Chief Kalopin and his beautiful Choctaw bride. Kalopin is convinced that the Great Spirit has cursed him for stealing Laughing Eyes from Chief Copiah, and that soon, the river will swallow up his village and everyone in it. Zoey knows they’re headed for disaster, but can she find the courage to save them?
Download or read book David Crockett written by Michael Wallis and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-05-16 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography of the legendary frontiersman, soldier, and martyr examines his life--from hunting bears in the unspoiled countryside to helping defend the Alamo--and aims to dispel long-held myths.
Download or read book Report of the Reelfoot Lake Biological Station written by Reelfoot Lake Biological Station and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book From Here to There and Back Again written by Sue Hubbell and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Longtime "New Yorker" contributor Sue Hubbell explores a range of offbeat and engrossing subjects, including after-hours truck stops, the country's best pie restaurants, bowling shoes, Costa Rica's blue morpho butterfly, earthquakes, and the honey trade.
Download or read book Explorer s Guide Tennessee written by Sally Walker Davies and published by The Countryman Press. This book was released on 2011-06-06 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Explorer’s Guides, expert authors and helpful icons make it easy to locate places of extra value, family-friendly activities, and excellent restaurants and lodgings. Regional and city maps help you get around and What’s Where provides a quick reference on everything from tourist attractions to off-the-beaten-track sites. From wild, open spaces in the Great Smokies to the rhythms that define Memphis and Nashville to charming small-town squares and character-filled city streets, all corners of Tennessee are explored in this indispensable guide. With honest opinions and engaging descriptions, Sally Walker Davies takes you into the heart and soul of her home state.
Download or read book Ebony Jr written by and published by . This book was released on 1980-10 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Created by the publishers of EBONY. During its years of publishing it was the largest ever children-focused publication for African Americans.
Download or read book Rivers Under Siege written by Jim W. Johnson and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rivers under Siege is a wrenching firsthand account of how human interventions, often well intentioned, have wreaked havoc on West Tennessee's fragile wetlands. For more than a century, farmers and developers tried to tame the rivers as they became clogged with sand and debris, thereby increasing flooding. Building levees and changing the course of the rivers from meandering streams to straight-line channels, developers only made matters worse. Yet the response to failure was always to try to subdue nature, to dig even bigger channels and construct even more levees-an effort that reached its sorry culmination in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' massive West Tennessee Tributaries Project during the 1960s. As a result, the rivers' natural hydrology descended into chaos, devastating the plant and animal ecology of the region's wetlands. Crops and trees died from summer flooding, as much of the land turned into useless, stagnant swamps. The author was one of a small group of state waterfowl managers who saw it all happen, most sadly within the Obion-Forked Deer river system and at Reelfoot Lake. After much trial and error, Johnson and his colleagues in the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency began by the 1980s to abandon their old methods, resorting to management procedures more in line with the natural contours of the floodplains and the natural behavior of rivers. Preaching their new stewardship philosophy to anyone who might listen-their supervisors, duck hunters, conservationists, politicians, federal agencies-they were often ignored. The campaign dragged on for twenty years before an innovative and rational plan came from the Governor's Office and gained wide support. But then, too, that plan fell prey to politics, legal wrangling, self-interest, hardheadedness, and tradition. Yet, despite such heartbreaking setbacks, the author points to hopeful signs that West Tennessee's historic wetlands might yet be recovered for the benefit of all who use them and recognize their vital importance. Jim W. Johnson, now retired, was for many years a lands management biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. He was responsible for the overall supervision and coordination of thirteen wildlife management areas and refuges, primarily for waterfowl, in northwest Tennessee.
