Obscure Appalachia

04/03/2024

Y'all, the time has come. I'm going to have to say goodbye to Obscure Appalachia. The vast amount of love and support I have received from my amazing listeners has kept me going even when it was challenging, but unfortunately the spark is gone. I looked at diversifying to see if that would help reignite it, but at this point maintaining the podcast feels like a heavy weight.

I was at a different point in my life when I started this. I needed an outlet. Now that life continues on, I miss the things I had time for before I started. I need those hours back in my day to devote to the other things I love, and my other hobbies.

I cannot thank all of you enough for the love and support you've given me. I'm very sorry to anyone who is disappointed in this. It wasn't an easy decision and is one I've grappled with for quite awhile now. The existing episodes will stay posted, and I'll still be here on social media and available via e-mail.

Patrons, you can check out my post on Patreon for what this means for you guys.

Thank you all yet again, and I love and am grateful for my audience. ❤️

16/02/2024

Our house has been visited by the plague.

Okay, a touch dramatic, but we have had Covid. First my son, then me to follow a few days later. Since we decided to take turns in that way it was a good couple weeks of illness and isolation. The good news is we’re now back to the land of the living. Again, a touch dramatic. But unfortunate that means for next week’s episode… I’ve got nothing. 😕 I only just got my voice back from the hoarseness and coughing a couple days ago. I’m sorry, y’all. But, I am excited for the next episode I can make. It is one I’ve been planning for awhile, rooted in tradition and folklore as well as mysticism. It should be a good one. 🤞🏻

06/02/2024

Ep. 35: Bigfoot of Appalachia Part II

In this episode I cover some local/regional folkloric Bigfoot-like creatures, and we chat about Bigfoot theories. What do you think? Do you believe in Bigfoot? Where do you think he came from?

1. Painting based on the legend of the NC Boojum, by Cordon Bell.
2. Still from the Patterson-Gimlin footage.

31/01/2024

Phewww, Tuesday’s episode is research heavy, but I think it’ll be a good one. Heavy on the folklore, and the best Bigfoot origin theory I’ve ever heard.

31/01/2024

25/01/2024

I can totally see their point. It DOES sound like lovesick werewolves!

23/01/2024

I’m baaack. January has been about three months long I swear. But let’s talk about this big, hairy guy. Are you a believer?

19/01/2024

I received the following listener email today, and they gave me permission to share their story on my social media. I’ve heard several similar stories over the years, with the strong sense of foreboding and darkness closing in while on dark roads at night. It’s so intriguing. Thank you for the story, AB! 💗

———————-

Hi Candis!
First of all, I love your show! It's so much fun hearing about tales specifically centered around Appalachia.
I have a followup to the first part of the story sent in by Anonymous that you read in the listener submissions vol 2 episode. Back in 2006, I had a very similar experience. I was about 50 miles east of where Anonymous's story takes place, in Maryland on the stretch of River Rd by Blockhouse Point.
It was the middle of summer, around 7:30 or 8pm. The sun was still up, but starting to get low on the horizon. My friend and I had gone out for dinner and decided to go for a drive afterwards to enjoy the warm night.
We were driving with the windows down, blasting Linkin Park while singing along and chatting. As we got into a more wooded area, it got so dark, darker than it should have. I remember the beam of the headlights seeming to narrow to the point of not illuminating anything. Even the interior of the car seemed darker, no longer lit by even the dash or radio lights. The night was warm, it was the middle of summer after all, but all of a sudden, I felt cold. So cold that my whole body broke out in goosebumps. Then I noticed a smell, like we were sitting on top of a pile of roadkill, dozens of rotting bodies; so pervasive, I could taste it. Next I realized that the radio had gone silent and we had gone silent, no longer singing along or talking. I couldn't even hear anything outside the windows. Still moving forward, I started to get this intense feeling, a certainty that I was about to die. I turned to my friend who was driving and told her we needed to turn around. She turned to look at me and there were tears streaming down her face, at which point, I realized that I was also crying. She said she felt like she was going to die and I screamed to turn around. She pulled a three point turn in the middle of the road and for the moment that my open window faced the direction we had been heading, I swear I felt something barrelling down on us. Some massive, dark, oppressive pressure rushing towards us. The feel of it was crushing me and I couldn't draw a breath.
Once she got the car turned around, she floored it back the way we had come. Within about two hundred yards, the radio and dash lights came back on. The headlights once more illuminated the road. Then the sun came back and I could see everything around us again. Finally, I could hear wildlife in the trees on either side of the road and the overpowering stench of death and rot had vanished.
We made it back to my house in record time and both flung ourselves, sobbing, into my mother's arms. We told her the story and then my mom followed my friend home to make sure she got there safely. The next day, my mom and I went back out to that same stretch of road to investigate and there was nothing there. No smell, no darkness, no feelings of impending doom; everything was perfectly normal.
I brought the experience up recently to the friend I had been with that night and she still remembers it as viscerally as I do. We are both certain that if we had kept driving forward down that road, we would have died. Neither of us knows what was out there that night and Anonymous's story is the first I've ever heard of someone experiencing anything similar.
You don't have to share this on the show, but if you do, I would be very interested to know if anyone else has a story like it.
Thanks for reading!

17/01/2024

Coming Tuesday, part I of a two part research episode on the man himself.

12/01/2024

Language warning on this one.

Y’all, I can’t express how much loathing I have for the term “chester drawers”. Nails on a chalkboard for sure. 😂

08/01/2024

Sorry guys, I won’t be able to get an episode up this week. Winter break from school just ended and it has been kid chaos in this house. Also, I’m taking this time to just take the leap… I’m going to YouTube. I will always upload the audio to the podcast providers too, so don’t worry if you want to keep the ball rolling as-is currently. I’ll have to probably make some changes to the intro and outro, but the meat of the episodes will stay the same. The goal is to have a format that works great for both uses. 😊 I’ll keep y’all updated on the next release. I have the research portion done, but haven’t been able to get to any scripting yet. Thank you for your patience!

01/01/2024

Happy black eyed peas, greens, and cornbread day!

28/12/2023

Yep.

26/12/2023

Seems Facebook doesn't allow polls outside of groups nowadays, so I have to ask this in an open-ended post instead. I've asked this previously, but have since gained so many new members it warrants asking again.

Do you prefer the research heavy episodes, the story compilations, or do you like both equally?

Also, do you have any interest in seeing me in video form on YouTube, or will you likely stick to only audio?

Thanks for your feedback! 💟

26/12/2023

The final episode for 2023 is up now. This one was a fun departure, getting to just update y’all on the show and where it may go, talk about some favorites, annnd you get some bonus stories related to the most popular episodes. So it isn’t ALL my rambling. What would you like to see for the future of the podcast?

25/12/2023

Merry Christmas from Daisy!

25/12/2023

How great is this “Appalachian Santa” stock image I found? Lol. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! And if you celebrate something else, have an amazing one of those.

14/12/2023

I was so caught up in Tuesday’s episode I somehow missed that the podcast has hit a huge milestone. Thank you to all of you who have shared it with friends and family. Word of mouth support has been the biggest help in getting my spooky stories to more ears. Y’all are so amazing. Thank you for supporting my little podcast dream. 🥹

12/12/2023

Round two of your stories is up! I love how getting to hear and tell your stories feels like it has brought me closer to you guys. I met some amazing people over these past few weeks.

Like last time, this post can serve as a place for you to ask questions or offer comments for me to forward along to our story submitters. Or just tell me what you think of the episode!

What was your favorite from today’s stories?

30/11/2023

Okay… I need a spooky tattoo. Anyone have ideas on how to incorporate mountains and ghosts? 😂 Morrreeee tatttooosss.

ETA: Oh wow, I appreciate the offers, but I’m loyal to my artists.

29/11/2023

I posted a short video for patrons today. This is big, because audio only is a more cozy place for me. But here goes! I’m trying to let my audience get to know me more, and let y’all see some of my personality more. For better or for worse. 😂

29/11/2023

I really do have the best listeners and I love y’all so much. 😭 The Not Deer was again my post popular episode, I have listeners in 72 countries on Spotify, and the best part of it all, is that 44% of listeners found my show through a text message from other listeners. 🥺 That’s incredible.

I’m trying to get Spotify (well, really all podcast providers) to expand their categories to offer a true home for us paranormal shows. Right now we have to list for the charts in Natural Science or Society & Culture, and it really isn’t the best fit.

Anyhow, amazing. All of you. 💗

29/11/2023

🤯😰 This is crazy.

28/11/2023

Ep. 31: Listener Submissions Vol. 1

We get to hear about Bee’s bizarre astral projection experience, Father JP’s unexplained event, Karan’s potentially haunted stay, Sherry’s eerie hospital doppelgänger, Christopher’s triad of events, and Earl and John’s cryptid encounter.

Please forgive the audio issues in this one. They’re making me absolutely crazy and I’m working on it.

ETA: Apparently I am an audio snob for my own show and people don’t hear as many flaws as I do. 😌

If you have any comments or questions about this episode for me or the writers, leave them here! 😊