The Revolt: And 28 More Original Uwharrie Ghost Stories

by Fred T. Morgan

North Carolina's ancient Uwharrie Mountains look stately and beautiful in the daylight, but when the sun goes down, nightmarish secrets reveal themselves. The title story tells of a graveyard that can't hold those buried in it, as the dead revolt against the lack of respect they receive from the living. Another tells the legend of a prospector who returns from the grave to take revenge on his murderers. In one story, a ghostly white deer moves silently through the woods, stalking hunters. In another, a benevolent man suffers a curse from a witch shortly before his death; sure enough, his ghost turns evil. Then there's the murderous specter called Indian Joe, who thrives on the fear of humans about to die violently. Those of us who know and love the Uwharries, as well as those who just love spooky stories, won't be able to put down Morgan's latest collection.

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

Reviews

[W.B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre fiction time! Autumn and winter (here in the changeable East) are the seasons to read ghost stories. I wasn't as happy with the Uwharrie ghost stories in this collection as I have been with previous books by this author. The first book in his series, Ghost Tales of the Uwharries, is a book I remember loving as a kid. Some of those folk tales stayed with me my entire life. I believe those were mostly folkloric adaptations of tales told widely and for generations in North Carolina. These stories are more original work, improvisations on Morgan's part rather than transcriptions or adaptations. The author, who passed in 2009, did have that folksy raconteur bit down, and I didn't find any stories in here where I didn't make it to the end. He has funny little crotchets in his writing; for example, ninety percent of the time he comes up with character names so improbable that you just know no one on the planet ever bore that name. I always wondered how much that reflected a worry on Morgan's part that he might sully or offend someone living with a coincidence in names. The ghosts in The Revolt sometimes do predictable things. Some of the stories start to suffer a little from a sameness. Retribution from beyond the grave (either against mortals or ghosts) is a theme that gets trotted out quite a bit. Morgan tells the stories in a Southern vernacular with little bacon bits of dialect thrown in. "The Necklaces" is a funny little almost-ghost story that is bound to make you recall the misunderstanding in the hugely famous De Maupassant piece. It's a different take on that theme of coveted jewelry, but it feels like a strange echo of that tale. I would recommend this book to people who can't get enough of the ghost story genre. Other than that, it would not be a strong recommendation. But I remain a fan of Morgan's work and wouldn't let this book slip out of my library, even with these perhaps captious qualifications of my admiration for his writing.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked many of the tales. Favorites include Shadowy Ghosts, Pirate Ghosts, and Jane Dirk's Light.