Ozark Tales 🕯️ 1 (Patreon)

This video was brought to you through a multitude of trials and tribulations. From weeks of recording through an obstacle course of random noises to hardware insufficiencies to random software corrupts, I damn near lost hope in my power to finish this in a timely manner. But with this marking the start of a series, hopefully the knowledge and techniques I gained will help to streamline the next 4 videos as much as possible. It was a long (and difficult) time coming, but today I am finally able to share with you an experience I had dreamed up in the spring of last year. 

Having just moved into what is quickly becoming my home town, I craved the exploration involved in becoming acquainted with a region. I've hiked many a trail in surrounding nature areas and seen many a sight. But nature and wildlife don't speak to you the same way folktales do. Folktales tell you about the people who came before you and let you see the very earth you stand on through the eyes of those it has supported through seasons and generations. It is therefore with great passion that I share these old stories of strange and supernatural events from my region, as told by people I will never meet yet deeply appreciate. 

The inspiration for this series has been a book. A fated encounter with an unassuming sounding book peeking at me from a shelf that spelled "used books" in a quaint little shop in southern Missouri. The book titled Ozark Tales and Superstitions by Phillip W. Steele. 

It isn't every day that you find such a gem of local lore in such an unassuming place. I remember it was the first I opened in the car on the way home and I found myself unable to put it down until it finally gave me motion sickness, so gripping are these tales and so inspiring the old stories I was an arm's length away from never hearing. My deepest gratitude goes out to Mr. Phillip Steele for the hard work of collecting these beautiful stories straight from the sources. It is through his effort that a priceless piece of local history will not be lost in time, but will be able to be enjoyed by thousands of people all over the world. 

I hope that my adaptation of these into bedtime stories you can listen to each night, accompanied by firelight and the gentle crackling of the fireplace (footage provided by Largo Editt at Pexels because I do not, in fact, have a fireplace at my disposal) will bring you the same sense of magic and wonder it has brought me, reading the first two chapters in the car and knowing that someday, this video would be made to comfort and inspire anyone who cares to be comforted and inspired by these immortalized tales.

I can only hope I have done them justice with the limitations of my own time and tools and skill. And I hope this and the following four videos will bring you many nights of good, cozy sleep and sweet, wondrous dreams. 

Let me know which story is your favorite if you are so inclined 🕯️