Storyteller Granny Sue

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Storyteller Granny Sue Granny Sue tells tales, sings ballads, writes stories and poems and performs at venues of all kinds. I am a professional storyteller.
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"Once upon a time there was a storyteller named Granny Sue who traveled the Mountain State and places beyond, sharing stories, ballads, folklore and fun." I tell stories from the Appalachian mountains to places beyond--the world, space and the imagination. My repertoire includes family stories, tall tales, ghost stories, and tales from world cultures, as well as original stories of my own composit

ion. Sharing stories is, I think, the best method of communication available to us--we immerse in the tale, forming mental images that make what we hear and see unique from that of any other person, and yet when listening in a group we form a community of shared experience, looking at each other to share laughter, sadness and joy as the stories unfold. My performances often include Appalachian and British ballads. The old songs still resonate with today's audiences with their stories of love and sadness, humor and tragedy. Often there is an opportunity for the audience to sing along and these are favorites because, deep down, don't we all want to sing? Children's programs are where I got my start and remain a strong part of my schedule. Children's performances include participatory stories so children can help with the telling through chanting, puppets, role playing or singing. I have presented programs for family nights at schools, library summer programs, school festivals and fairs, and for school-wide enrichment actvities such as Title I Reading. Many people think storytelling is only for children and will be surprised to learn that about half of my performances are for adult audiences. Conferences, keynotes, festivals, reunions, fairs, book groups and civic orgainzation meetings are just a few of the places I have been invited to present. Adults like to listen and be entertained, and connect with the familiar as well as the deeper themes of stories. Stories remind us that we are a community with a shared history, and often while listening adults will turn to a neighbor to share a particularly touching or funny moment. Stories are, I believe, the most potent form of communication available to us, and the one that connects us accross ages, cultural differences, and time.

Perhaps this sky is a good omen for the new year? The rain has left, clouds are breaking up, and a soft pink colors the ...
31/12/2022

Perhaps this sky is a good omen for the new year? The rain has left, clouds are breaking up, and a soft pink colors the sky.

Time for the annual checklist of do's and don'ts to ensure health, wealth and happiness in the new year. Do you have any...
31/12/2022

Time for the annual checklist of do's and don'ts to ensure health, wealth and happiness in the new year. Do you have anything to add to my list? I am always happy to learn of superstitions and folkore new to me.

A New Year's Compendium of Traditions, Superstitions and More

In 2008 I posted a blog about New Year's traditions, and in 2011
I recorded an interview for WV Public Radio on the topic. Here are some new ones I've found, along withsome of the essay the essay and my original post at the bottom.

Calendar: Take a calender for the new year, then close your eyes (or use a blindfold if it's a party) and turn the pages of the calendar at random and put your finger on a date. On that date, something good will happen to you. You will be able to look forward to this "lucky day" all year.

First-footer: always make sure it is a man who enters your home first on New Year's Day. Some traditions hold that it should be a light-haired man. (I'm in luck there, with Larry's white head!) Others insist on a light-haired man, so I guess it's all good either way.

Parsley: a leaf of parsley on the bottom shelf of your fridge on New Year's Day will make it certain that you will never be without money in the coming year. No wonder I've always been broke. Who knew?

Here is an essay I did for WV Public Radio a few years ago:

Have you cleaned your house, put on new clothes, put money in your pocket and invited a dark-haired man to be the first to cross your threshold at midnight? If you have done all of these things, you have made a good start for the new year. And you will be joining a long line of mountaineers who have followed these same customs for years, many of which came to the Appalachians with the early settlers from Britain and Europe.

For example, there is the food: many people in the mountains still cook and serve cabbage every New Year’s Day. I follow my English mother’s tradition of wrapping wrapped coins in foil, to be found in the servings on our plates at dinner. Although health experts would probably choke on their cabbage at such a practice, it has apparently done me little harm, although I can’t say I have ever gained the wealth that was supposed to come from dutifully following this custom. The cabbage must be served with pork, because chickens and turkeys scratch for their food, and cattle eat standing still. Since the hog eats while moving forward, obviiously pork is the best choice to ensure a year of progress.

Finding a dark-haired man, called the “first-footer,” to enter your home before anyone else on New Year’s morning is supposed to assure wealth, just as it did for my mother’s family back in England. There are also those who believe that it’s bad luck to take the Christmas tree down until after New Year’s Day. So if you’re one of those who hurries to get the tree down quickly after Christmas Day, you might want to enjoy that tree just a little longer and see if your fortunes improve this year. In Scotland, homes are scoured for the coming of the new year, a custom that still has its followers in our mountains. I heard a Jackson County neighbor refer to this as “redding the house,” the same term used in Scotland to describe these preparations.

I enjoy following the old traditions. It just feels right to prepare for the new year by cleaning the house, paying off bills, and cooking traditional foods. I can almost feel a long line of those who have gone before me watching over my shoulder and nodding approval. I think they would approve a new custom we started at my house about ten years ago too, and that is the burning of our troubles in a New Year’s bonfire.

Fire has been used as a purifying force as far back as history can recall. In the British Isles there fire festivals dating to the times of the ancient Celts that are still observed, so our fire is not a new idea after all, but rather the continuation of a long tradition.

Each year we used to invite friends, family, and even strangers to send their troubles to us, to be burned in our fire on New Year’s eve. Most of these troubles were sent to us via email, from as far away as Australia and Taiwan. Many of the messages simply said, “burn this.” Over the years a few people have sent updates on their problems, letting us know what has improved in their lives and what new troubles have come their way. Once we received a message from someone that said, “no new troubles to send. Happy New Year!” We have not done this for several years, but maybe it's time to start again? Lord knows we have more troubles than ever these days. However, some have told me they've started the tradition in their own homes, and that's the best of all.

Now, here's my original post from way back when I was young. Er, younger!

Do you have special plans for your New Year's celebration?

Do you observe certain traditions and customs?

Do you have New Year's superstitions?

Do you prepare special foods for luck and health?

Or do you just go to bed at your usual time?

As you might know from a previous post, we build a New Year's bonfire in which we burn all the things that are worrying us and those who send their troubles to us to burn.

We stay up late, share music and stories, have lots of food on hand. (You can read all about last year's celebration here.) The kids beat pots and pans to celebrate, the adults sip champagne, and we wake up the quiet night of the ridge with our noise. Far away we can usually hear fireworks and guns going off as neighbors on distant hills celebrate in their own ways.

I watch for the first-footer too, trying to make sure it's a dark-haired man who leaves through a different door than the one through which he entered. In Scotland, this first-footer should carry in a small lump of coal for the fire.

Other things I do to ensure a good year:
Listen up! The first words I hear after the year changes might carry portents for the rest of the year.
Do things I enjoy on New Year's Day. This includes touching base with my family and planning the garden with seed catalogs in hand.
We used to have to work every New Year's Eve and New Year's day. Now it's important to me to be home because it seems to impact how the rest of my year will go. Superstitious? Yeah!
Spend no money. An old superstition says that nothing should go out, not even dust or the trash. I don't know about that, but not spending on New Year's is another of those precedent-setting things for the coming year.
There are conflicting world opinions about sweeping on New Year's. Some say you will sweep out your luck, others sweep out the old year's dust. So I sweep if it's needed!
My mother always said that if you cried on New Year's, you'd cry all year. true? I don't know, but I try not to cry ;-)

As for food:
We always eat cabbage (with wrapped coins mixed in--I think this was a way to get kids to eat cabbage, one of the few vegetables available in winter in the old days, but probably not a favorite with kids then either! My sons were always on the hunt for the coins, but the deal was they had to eat all their cabbage to keep the coins. Quarters were the favorite, of course.), The cabbage can be coleslaw, of course, although somehow that seems like cheating.
Black-eyed peas are on the menu, too--my version mixes the peas with Ro-Tell Tomatoes and onions--spicy and good. And ham--yumm!

So share! What are your plans? What will you cook? What will you do or not do to celebrate and to guarantee your good luck?

And lastly:

According to legend, the Great Bend in the Ohio River at Ravenswood, WV, was caused by this guy. As Paul Bunyan was he...
28/12/2022

According to legend, the Great Bend in the Ohio River at Ravenswood, WV, was caused by this guy. As Paul Bunyan was headed west, he tried to step over the West Virginia mountains. But his legs didn't stretch far enough, and his heel dropped down in the mud of the river, creating the Great Bend. Here, he is just hanging out at the entrance to a tractor dealership on Route 33 between Ripley and Cottageville. Maybe looking for a new job?

A post I wrote 11 years ago, a few weeks after my son passed away. I had forgotten about this woman and her story, and i...
11/11/2021

A post I wrote 11 years ago, a few weeks after my son passed away. I had forgotten about this woman and her story, and it seems serendipitous that I stumbled on it today. Sending my thoughts and care to her, wherever she is now. https://grannysu.blogspot.com/2010/02/conversation-with-soldiers-sister.html

West Virginia storyteller and writer. Appalachian storytelling and life in the hills of the mountain state.

He wasn’t buried when he was supposed to be, dead and in the ground, with the dirt thrown over and the job done. It was ...
06/08/2021

He wasn’t buried when he was supposed to be, dead and in the ground, with the dirt thrown over and the job done. It was a week later that the gravediggers arrived, big gray truck, concrete vault, yellow backhoe, the dark hole covered with a bright blue tarp, bright as the sun, maybe as bright as his eyes, if his eyes were blue,...

https://mountainpoet.wordpress.com/2021/08/06/anonymous/

He wasn’t buried when he was supposed to be, dead and in the ground, with the dirt thrown over and the job done. It was a week later that the gravediggers arrived, big gray truck, concrete vault, y…

His voice is what drew me. On the radio, saying that he tore down old buildings, removed trees and brush, just call this...
03/08/2021

His voice is what drew me. On the radio, saying that he tore down old buildings, removed trees and brush, just call this number. So I called. I had no buildings to tear down, no trees or brush to remove, but I wondered. “Do you ever have old doors or windows to sell?” Yes, Carl said, he did. So we arranged…...

https://mountainpoet.wordpress.com/2021/08/02/carl/

His voice is what drew me. On the radio, saying that he tore down old buildings, removed trees and brush, just call this number. So I called. I had no buildings to tear down, no trees or brush to r…

Like a mother with a wayward child, the world wrings its hands and laments daily through the voices of the media, people...
01/08/2021

Like a mother with a wayward child, the world wrings its hands and laments daily through the voices of the media, people we’ve never met but know in that way of knowing what you’ve never seen. I listen for a while, then turn the radio off and the CD player on, listening instead to Alice Wylde, singing, playing banjo. Old-time Appalachian music…...

https://mountainpoet.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/these-times/

Like a mother with a wayward child, the world wrings its hands and laments daily through the voices of the media, people we’ve never met but know in that way of knowing what you’ve never seen. I li…

Little baby with your pretty bare feetpattering on the wooden floor,would you care to dance with me?With your little bab...
27/07/2021

Little baby with your pretty bare feetpattering on the wooden floor,would you care to dance with me?With your little baby handsand chubby baby legs,can we dance? Can we dance?Around and around the room we'll go,around and around til the sun goes down,little baby, little baby, little child of mine,shall we dance?

https://mountainpoet.wordpress.com/2021/07/27/2900/

Little baby with your pretty bare feetpattering on the wooden floor,would you care to dance with me?With your little baby handsand chubby baby legs,can we dance? Can we dance?Around and around the …

So quickly my tracks disappear, erased, the endless waves sighing over them. The Irish coast will not remember I was her...
27/07/2021

So quickly my tracks disappear, erased, the endless waves sighing over them. The Irish coast will not remember I was here, timeless years from now. I lick my lips, taste salt, and magic; the foam washes upon the strand, shape-shifting grays and greens. Seals watch, their great eyes knowing I am but a stranger who longs to dive to their castle beneath the sea,...

https://mountainpoet.wordpress.com/2021/07/26/on-inis-mor/

So quickly my tracks disappear, erased, the endless waves sighing over them. The Irish coast will not remember I was here, timeless years from now. I lick my lips, taste salt, and magic;  the …

Outside, the birds sing me awake.Before the sun taps my shoulder with its rays,there is mist, gray, formless, that hover...
20/07/2021

Outside, the birds sing me awake.Before the sun taps my shoulder with its rays,there is mist, gray, formless, that hovers over green,gardens still at rest after the heat of mid-July.In early morning, anything seems possible,that it will not be too hot, too dry, too humid, too summer.Bergamot sends its spicy aroma into the ether,...

https://mountainpoet.wordpress.com/2021/07/19/early-3/

Outside, the birds sing me awake.Before the sun taps my shoulder with its rays,there is mist, gray, formless, that hovers over green,gardens still at rest after the heat of mid-July.In early mornin…

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Videos

Jimmy the Crow
Jimmy the Crow

A short clip of a story from my new CD, Idy Mae's Full Moon. I love my husband's voice on this :)

The Greenbrier Ghost
The Greenbrier Ghost

Small things make me happy. Like a phone call from a student at a high school where I'd told ghost stories last month. Could she ask me a few questions for a research paper she's writing? Why yes she could. We had a great chat about this story, The Greenbrier Ghost, West Virginia's most famous and well-documented spirit.

The Greenbrier Ghost
The Greenbrier Ghost

Time for a story! The Greenbrier Ghost is West Virginia's most famous ghost story, the tale of a man convicted of murder by the testimony of a ghost. Want more like this? Contact me to buy this CD, Beyond the Grave.

Down in Yon Forest
Down in Yon Forest

A rough recording of Down in Yon Forest, one of the strangest of Christmas carols. Hear the story behind this carol at one of our upcoming performances! This was taped with my phone at St. Peter's Church, Harper's Ferry, WV, last Sunday during our performance. Please excuse the rough beginning!

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Our Story

"Once upon a time there was a storyteller named Granny Sue who traveled the Mountain State and places beyond, sharing stories, ballads, folklore and fun." I am a professional storyteller. I tell stories from the Appalachian mountains to places beyond--the world, space and the imagination. My repertoire includes family stories, tall tales, ghost stories, and tales from world cultures, as well as original stories of my own composition. Sharing stories is, I think, the best method of communication available to us--we immerse in the tale, forming mental images that make what we hear and see unique from that of any other person, and yet when listening in a group we form a community of shared experience, looking at each other to share laughter, sadness and joy as the stories unfold. My performances often include Appalachian and British ballads. The old songs still resonate with today's audiences with their stories of love and sadness, humor and tragedy. Often there is an opportunity for the audience to sing along and these are favorites because, deep down, don't we all want to sing? Children's programs are where I got my start and remain a strong part of my schedule. Children's performances include participatory stories so children can help with the telling through chanting, puppets, role playing or singing. I have presented programs for family nights at schools, library summer programs, school festivals and fairs, and for school-wide enrichment actvities such as Title I Reading. Many people think storytelling is only for children and will be surprised to learn that about half of my performances are for adult audiences. Conferences, keynotes, festivals, reunions, fairs, book groups and civic orgainzation meetings are just a few of the places I have been invited to present. Adults like to listen and be entertained, and connect with the familiar as well as the deeper themes of stories. Stories remind us that we are a community with a shared history, and often while listening adults will turn to a neighbor to share a particularly touching or funny moment. Stories are, I believe, the most potent form of communication available to us, and the one that connects us accross ages, cultural differences, and time.