The James T. Callow Folklore Archive

ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A COUPLE ON VACATION, WHO HAD
TRAVELED ALL DAY AND FINALLY CAME UPON AN OLD TOWN. AS THEY
WERE WALKING THROUGH THE TOWN, THEY CAME UPON THE OLDEST
HOUSE THEY HAD EVER SEEN. WHEN THEY WERE MET BY AN OLD
COUPLE WHO OFFERED TO FEED THEM AND LET THEM SLEEP IN THE
UPSTAIRS OF THE HOUSE. THE NEXT MORNING, WHEN THE VISITORS
WOKE UP, IT WAS STILL VERY EARLY, SO THEY LEFT A SILVER
DOLLAR ON THE SMALL MARBLE TABLE IN THE ROOM FOR THE OWNERS
OF THE HOUSE. WHEN THE TWO OF THEM STOPPED DOWN THE STREET
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL PAST THE OLD TOWN, THEY ASKED
THE GASOLINE STATION ATTENDANT WHO IT WAS THAT LIVED IN THE
OLD HOUSE IN THE DESERTED TOWN BACK THERE. THE MAN TOLD THEM
THAT THAT TOWN AND HOUSE HAD BURNED DOWN OVER A HUNDRED YEARS
AGO AND THERE WAS NO LONGER ANYONE LIVING THERE. SO, THE
COUPLE WENT BACK, AND SURE ENOUGH THERE WAS NOTHING BUT
GREEN GRASS AND TREES GROWING ALL AROUND THE AREA WHERE THEY
HAD JUST BEEN. THE STRANGE THING ABOUT IT WAS THAT WHEN
THEY WENT TO GET A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PLACE WHERE THEY
HAD SPENT THE NIGHT, THEY FOUND THE MARBLE TABLE WITH
THE SILVER DOLLAR ON IT STILL STANDING THERE, ALTHOUGH IT
WAS ALL ALONE.

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE