By ERIC SEIVERLING
With Halloween around the corner, people are looking for scary stories and frightening folklore to add enjoyment to the season.
But what if those stories were true, and not made-up myths?
In his new book, “The Witch of the Monongahela: Folk Magic in Early Western Pennsylvania,” author Thomas White separates fact from fiction, including the tale of Moll Derry, a mysterious figure who resided in Fayette County more than 200 years ago.
According to folklore, people came from near and far to seek healing and protection through Derry’s strange rituals. Some even believed she could fly.
Nicknamed “The Witch of the Monongahela,” her legend has been documented by writers and folklorists for more than two centuries. She is intertwined in many regional tales, such as “Lost Children of the Alleghenies” and “Polly Williams and the White Rocks.”
According to White, archivist and curator of special collections in the Gumberg Library at Duquesne University, Derry’s tale isn’t totally fictitious.
“I wanted to delve into her legend to find out what’s true and what’s legend,” White said. “I knew parts of it couldn’t be true.
“But she really was a real person. She was a fortune teller. What I found is her story is the combination of three different witches. What’s not true for her was true for someone else. The stories kind of got inflated over time by the mid-20th century.”
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