17 h 18 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the thunder above the mountains is a ghostly crew playing ninepins?
In Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, Charles M. Skinner gathers American folk tales around the places that hold them. Haunted houses, strange rocks, vanished ships, and buried treasure mark the route. There is no single plot: the map leads, and each place opens another story.
Travel through New England’s haunted shores, the Dutch tales of New York and the Hudson, the early colonies of Virginia and the Carolinas, and Spanish legends of the South and West. Henry Hudson’s ghostly crew, Captain Kidd’s hidden gold, and Ponce de León’s search for youth reveal what people fear, desire, and remember.
What you’ll discover
- Ghosts along the Hudson Meet tales that turn mountain thunder into the sound of Henry Hudson’s ghostly crew.
- Gold beneath the shore Follow Captain Kidd’s treasure legends into stories of hungry hopes and searches that rarely succeed.
- Legends of early Virginia Explore the stories linking Pocahontas, John Smith, Jamestown, and the Powhatan people.
- The dream of youth Join the legendary search of Ponce de León for Florida’s Fountain of Youth.
- A land of voices Discover stories from Native peoples, Dutch, English, and Spanish settlers, towns, and mining camps.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who love folklore, local history, ghost stories and tales of old roads and rivers. It also helps teachers and travelers. If you want one tight plot with deep characters, the short, many-voiced entries may feel scattered.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Stories grow out of the land
- New England fears: witches, sea tales, haunted shores
- New York and the Dutch: the Hudson's ghosts
- Virginia, the Carolinas and the early colonies
- Spanish dreams, frontier lands and the far West
- What the tales say, and how they are told
Who’s who
- Henry HudsonThe explorer whose ghostly crew is said to play ninepins in the Catskill Mountains, so that the thunder is their game.
- Captain KiddThe pirate tied to many tales of buried gold along the Atlantic shores, where treasure hunters dig and rarely succeed.
- PocahontasThe Powhatan woman linked in legend to Captain John Smith and the early settlement at Jamestown.
- Virginia DareThe first English child born in America, whose fate after the Roanoke colony vanished grew into legend.
- Ponce de LeónThe Spanish explorer who, in the story, searches Florida for a spring that will make old people young.
- John SmithThe English captain of early Virginia, whose adventures with the Powhatan people became a favorite tale.
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- Audiobook
- 17 h 18 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Myths and Legends of Our Own Land — Complete
by Charles M. Skinner· 1896
American folk legends connect strange events to local places.
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Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
Stories grow out of the land
Skinner begins from a simple idea. A country feels old when its places have stories. A rock, a waterfall or a lonely house becomes more than scenery when someone says what happened there. He argues, in his plain newspaper manner, that America has plenty of such tales, even though many readers think of folklore as something that belongs to Europe.
So the book is arranged by place rather than by theme. Each entry is short, often only a few pages, and it names a spot and then tells the legend that clings to it. The reader may meet a ghost on a bridge in one entry and a lake spirit in the next. The effect is like a long walk with a guide who always knows the story behind the next bend.
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The author
Charles M. Skinner
1852–1907 · American folklorist and writer
Charles Montgomery Skinner (1852–1907) was an American writer born in Victor, New York. He worked as a newspaper journalist in Brooklyn. His books included Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, published in 1896. He also wrote books about nature, gardens, and folklore.
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Questions about Myths and Legends of Our Own Land — Complete
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What is Myths and Legends of Our Own Land about?
It is a collection of American folk tales arranged by region. Each short entry links a legend, such as a ghost, a treasure or a spirit, to a real place in the United States.
Who was Charles M. Skinner?
Skinner was a New York newspaper writer and editor who died in 1907. He collected and retold American folklore in several books, writing in a clear, lively style for general readers.
When was Myths and Legends of Our Own Land published?
It was published in 1896 in two volumes. The tales themselves range from very old Native and colonial legends to stories from the nineteenth century frontier.
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