The Cold, Cold Hand: Stories of Ghosts and Haunts from the Appalachian Foothills

I had heard about "Tilly Ben" a church in Blueridge, GA before however I didn't know all the details. I had heard that the minister of the church had hung himself in the church and thats why it was closed. However the book said that a witch was buried at the churches graveyard and thats why everyone who stepped foot on the grounds would be cursed until they stepped off the property of the church.

The first night we stopped at a local grocery store and asked directions and everyone had their own story to tell us about the old church. It seemed that all the locals had ventured up to the church at one point or another. After getting directions (bad directions by the way) we were off travelling down Aska rd. Well me and my friends would spend three futile hours looking for the church, but no luck. The next day we went back with someone who had been there before, and boy it was creepy. Set back way in the mountains across the creepiest one lane bridge you will ever travel on sits the now infamous Church that we had sought out.

The church is small and run-down, and the graveyard stretches across the land looking like it doesn't end. The property is surrounded by endless woods and the moon was covered by dark clouds this particular night. We were all pretty excited at first, but soon we all became scared. Two of my friends decided to explore the backside of the church while the rest of us began searching for the grave of the famous witch we had heard about from the book. After about five minutes of searching we heard screams and my two friends were running to the car. Instantly the rest of us freaked and we all ran back into my Jeep Cherokee. It turns out that they had heard rustling in the woods, and then they heard a bang that sounded like it came from inside the church. We then left because everyone was freaked, however I am planning to go back so I can find the witches grave and perform the ritual that this book tells of, and maybe I'll actually see a ghost.

So pick up this book because the tales are real and who knows you could end up on a ghost or witch hunt of your own, hopefully yours will be more fruitful then mine!!!!

The best thing about this book is that it does exactly what it sets out to do. The folklore of the southern highlands is beginning to fade away but this book puts it in writing so that it will never be forgotten. The writing style is superior and it is sometimes hard to put the book down. Never doubt that this book is well worth the price.

I took away one star from what would otherwise be a five star book for the chapter about the UFO. I don't buy ghost books to read about UFOs just like I wouldn't buy a UFO book to read about Big Foot. In this chapter one of the writers suggests that just maybe we are seeing aliens when we think we are seeing ghosts in Confederate uniforms. The fifth star went away when I couldn't figure out why an alien would be wearing a Confederate uniform.

Still, I thank these writers for helping to preserve a little Appalachian folklore.