If you are from the South, you likely have heard of “haint blue,” a color that adorns the ceilings of porches to keep spirits at bay, especially in the South Carolina Low Country.
In Haints of Black Mountain, a book of intertwining stories by Ann Hite, haints appear in the form of apparitions that encourage, support, comfort, and even warn generations of family members in the rural Black Mountain region of western North Carolina. Ancestral spirits weave a continuous thread throughout the book, uniting themes of nature, home, and family.
While specters inhabit every chapter, these are not mere ghost stories, but shared narratives of life on Black Mountain spanning a period of 160 years.
The book is divided into three parts: Wind, A Little Removed, and Women to Be Reckoned With, with each signaling a separate collection of stories featuring generational ghostly hauntings set against the backdrop of Appalachia.
For example, in the first part, the reader is introduced to Polly Murphy, a young Cherokee woman who will begin the dynastic chronicle of these stories. She understands that the wind will soon blow in change for her tribe and her environment. Change comes in the form of Samuel Richard Riley gathering the history of the Cherokees and alerting the tribe of the government’s plan to remove them from their land.
The second section includes stories with characters that are either physically or mentally removed from their Black Mountain home. Chapters are interwoven with spirits of family members and neighbors offering warnings and even words of wisdom.
Part three involves stories of women who gain strength through adversity and challenges. Some of these struggles are of their own making, while others come about through their environment. Strong women continue to dominate the section as the author intertwines past family connections with current ones.
Haints on Black Mountain is a good choice for those interested in Appalachian history and culture, as well as those who just like a good ghost story. Although the first section is the strongest, Hite’s prose engages and entertains throughout the book as she leads the reader through compelling stories of the people and spirits of the region.
Ann Hite will be Georgia Writers Museum’s “Meet the Author” presenter Oct. 3, with doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. start. Hite is a past Georgia Author of the Year and a 2023 finalist for the Townsend Prize for fiction. Tickets are $45 ($40 each for two or more tickets or $200 for a table for six). The event will feature heavy hors d'oeuvres and an open bar. Visit Georgia Writers Museum online at georgiawritersmuseum. org to register.
Kathelene McCarty Smith is an associate professor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and department head of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collection and University Archives.
– Contributed