Ghost Stories & Folklore of Southeastern North Carolina
The lantern still swings out there in the dark.
The true ghost stories and old legends of the Cape Fear lowlands — the swamp roads, the railroad tracks, the black water — gathered up and gently retold for young readers. Spooky enough to thrill. Soft enough for bedtime.
The Legends
Each book takes one real Southeastern North Carolina legend and tells it the way it ought to be told — on a grandmother's lap, then carried home through the dark. The Maco Light is out now. The rest are coming, one lantern at a time.
The Legends Ahead
More legends are always being written — leave your name below and we'll tell you the moment the next one lands.
Keep a Lantern Lit
Join the list and we'll send word whenever there's news from Cape Fear Legends — a new book on the way, a story going up, and one day the keepsake hardcover that gathers them all. No spam, ever — just a lantern kept lit for you.
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About the Series
These are the stories of home — the Cape Fear lowlands of Southeastern North Carolina, where the back roads run dark through the pinewoods and the swamp keeps its secrets. Some were carried down through families, told on a grandmother's lap or a grandfather's front seat. Others belong to the whole county, argued over and half-believed for a hundred years.
Cape Fear Legends retells them for young readers — roughly ages 7 to 10 — the real, eerie shape of each legend kept intact, but the sharpest edges softened for bedtime. The magic here is the listening: the far amber light down the tracks, the heartbeat under the black water. Never gore, always wonder.
Written and produced by Andy Rockwell, from the coast near Wilmington, and published by Old Family Recipe Archives — a small imprint devoted to the things worth keeping.
A story stays when somebody keeps it. So we keep them.
