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Mary Hess, Smoky Mountain Witch: A Novel

Mary Hess, Smoky Mountain Witch: A Novel
By author: Anthony P. Cavender
Product Code: P751
ISBN: 9798897360390
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Construction of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is well underway in 1937 when the National Park Service recruits a young, freshly trained linguist, Thomas Haller, to investigate what life was like for residents before the park's creation. Also required to do a speech study of the stigmatized regional dialect, Haller conducts in-depth interviews with older residents, many of whom were born before the Civil War. John Stoll, an old man known in the mountains as a true believer in witchcraft, a witchdoctor, and "a good talker," regales Haller for hours with stories about an infamous witch, Mary Hess, who tormented her neighbors. She had the power to hex cows, cause sickness and crop failure, spoil milk, ride horses and people at night to exhaustion, move objects, and control the spirits of animals. Others said she could squeeze through a keyhole and shape-shift into a cat, crow, or dog. Haller dismisses witchcraft as pure nonsense, but Mary Hess intrigues him, and he decides to set aside his dialect work to learn more about her. Was she really a witch? Near the end of his investigation, Haller experiences a recurrent dream where a beautiful young woman beckons him to join her in eternity. He soon learns she is the Nesting Witch who haunts White Oak Flats in Sevier County. In his cabin, objects mysteriously move about and Haller feels under constant watch by an indefinable entity. Eventually, he is visited by the ghastly spirit of Mary Hess, which he rationalizes as a "change in sensibility," and his faith in science is challenged.
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Reviews

Review by: Roberta Teague Herrin, emerita professor of English, East Tennessee State University, and author of APPALACHIAN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - June 11, 2026
"MARY HESS, SMOKY MOUNTAIN WITCH is a realistic, historical tale seasoned with a generous measure of witchery. In the hands of a less-skilled writer, this novel might have been just another piece of sensational, cliched Appalachian fiction; in Tony Cavender's hands, however, it is a masterly blend of ethnography, linguistics, nature writing, and plain old good storytelling. The characters, from a linguist and CCC workers to native Smoky Mountain people, are drawn with humility and respect. The details of material culture, the reverence for the natural world, and the solid grounding in research make this book a rare gem."
Review by: Michael Braswell, emeritus professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, East Tennessee State University, and author of WHEN JESUS CAME TO THE CRACKER BARREL - June 11, 2026
"In the blue haze of the Great Smoky Mountains, Thomas Haller comes to study the ways and customs of the generous hardscrabble mountain folk who abide there. He finds soon enough that when science meets the mystery of the mountains, strange things happen. Anthony Cavender offers up rich and masterful storytelling about Haller's encounters with the witch, Mary Hess. Is she real or a malevolent spirt…or something more?"
Review by: Ann Hite, award-winning author of the Black Mountain novel series - June 11, 2026
"MARY HESS, SMOKY MOUNTAIN WITCH is a deliciously dark tale set in the Great Smoky Mountains. The telling tickles my Appalachian storytelling bones. Keeps you looking over your shoulder at night."

Goodreads reviews