Storyteller Jane Traver brought the holiday home Monday with her scary and ghostly stories told at the Perry Public Library’s Lifelong Learners Coffee. Her program of tales started with a poem called “Bloody Mary,” followed with the “Tilley: A Girl Afraid of the Dark.”
The ending of Tilley’s story made the audience of 37 people jump in their seats and gasp with fright.
“Old Rock Mountain” was a story about a wild razor-back hog in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. The hog’s skeleton roamed the hills, looking for its severed head and the person who butchered it.
Traver recited the Scottish story of the “Dancing Fiddle” with a delightful accent. It tells the tale of a dead man’s fiddle that did not want to be sold. She also used an Irish brogue in telling the tales of the “Bag Piper’s Revenge” and the “Bat Banshee of Ireland.”
Both of these Irish tales ended with an unusual twist that caused the audience to exclaim “Ohhhh!”
Traver also read three pieces from “Strange and Ghostly Stories of Dallas County Iowa” by Lori Pielak: “The Legend of Panther Creek,” “The Loch Ness Monster of the Raccoon River” and “The Adel Murder House.” All three of these short readings were very tall tales.
Traver was the longtime school librarian at the Perry Elementary School and Middle School, and she delighted the elementary school students Monday afternoon with more scary and ghostly tales.
She retired from the Perry school system in 2010 and now lives on her farm near Truman, Minn. She has taken several classes and workshop in the art of storytelling and has given story presentations to numerous groups over the years.
