Hoosier Folk Legends (Midland Book)

Indiana University Press, 1984. Paperback. New. New softcover in glossy printed wraps. 8vo. Text is clean and free of marks or underlining. 288 pp.
Fast shipping in a secure book box mailer with tracking. Spine-tingling and funny, Hoosier Folk Legends is a collection of over 300 legends gathered throughout the state of Indiana. Ronald L. Baker includes ghost stories, stories of the evil eye, and stories of bloodstopping. He relates legends of Jesse James, Al Capone, and John Dillinger and tells the sad story of the ghost of Diana of the Dunes. Hoosier Folk Legends explains the derivation of the names of Hobart, Jasper, Loogootee, and the Shake Rag School. Also included are a number of legends that did not originate in Indiana but are widely circulated in the Hoosier state, such as "The Baby-Sitter and the Phone Call," "Hook Man," and "The Vanishing Hitchhiker.''

Baker arranges his material in four general categories: supernatural and religious legends; personal legends about heroes, eccentrics, and outlaws; place legends; and modern legends. In his introduction, he defines the legend and describes the types included in this collection. Most of the texts were selected from the manuscript files of the Indiana Federal Writers Project of the WPA, although some were gathered by later field workers. Hoosier Folk Legends demonstrates the persistence and vitality of oral folk traditions. It is a book for students of folklore and anyone interested in old-time yarns.