Truth, after all, still remains stranger and more engaging than most legends. And Missouri, of course, leads every other place in truth. Hop aboard Long's dragon boat or take advantage of 1846 wind wagon technology to plunge into the forgotten tales of this fascinating place. Hobnob cautiously with Stagger Lee, Mike Fink and Calamity Jane and view the chamber pot war from a safe distance. Trade witticisms with Alphonse Wetmore and Mark Twain, the frontier folk who keep us civilized today. If you keep company with storyteller Mary Collins Barile, you'll even catch a glimpse of the Mississippi River running backward from an earthquake that was all Missouri's fault.

Truth, after all, still remains stranger and more engaging than most legends. And Missouri, of course, leads every other place in truth. Hop aboard Long's dragon boat or take advantage of 1846 wind wagon technology to plunge into the forgotten tales of this fascinating place. Hobnob cautiously with Stagger Lee, Mike Fink and Calamity Jane and view the chamber pot war from a safe distance. Trade witticisms with Alphonse Wetmore and Mark Twain, the frontier folk who keep us civilized today. If you keep company with storyteller Mary Collins Barile, you'll even catch a glimpse of the Mississippi River running backward from an earthquake that was all Missouri's fault.

Meet the folks who slip out of history books like they're playing the Kansas City shuffle. In this fascinating collection of stories, Paul Kirkman has dug up all sorts of head-scratchers: how did Jesse James rob a bank with John F. Kennedy, and how could a Beatles concert in the 1960s fail to make money? Watch a cow explode in a kitchen, frogs rain down from the sky and dogs pay for a public library system. Learn how Harry Houdini was trapped in a phone booth, why Clark Gable haunted street corners in a clown outfit and what kept Kansas City in Missouri.

Short stories of dozens of people who were amazing, ranging from soldiers and astronauts to pioneers and business women.

Relates local legends from Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma about abandoned mines, hidden stashes of plunder, and lost fortunes

Tales of the Missouri Indians reflects the folklore, values, and tales of the lost Missouri. Having no written language, verbal traditions passed down the important stories of this lost culture. Rich in Native American values, these tales carry both practical and spiritual tales meant to guide the members of tribe. Readers will find beautiful tales that weave stories of the past into practical guides for modern living.

Excerpt from Stories of Missouri The early inhabitants of Missouri were a peculiar people. First of all were the Indians. When they settled there, no one knows. Next came the French, then the Spaniards, and lastly the Americans. The last named were mostly from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Nearly all the American settlers in Missouri were the descendants of pioneers who had grown accustomed to the trying scenes of forest life. They were a rigidly honest people. No locks were on their doors, and they had no need of any. As they were dependent on each other for protection, what belonged to one was freely loaned to his neighbor. If a pioneer wanted to borrow his neighbor's ax, and did not find the man at home, he took the ax without asking, and returned it when done with it. The early Missourians were rude and uncultured, but unselfish and brave. Stories of them, and of the people who preceded and followed them, are both entertaining and instructive. They serve to explain many curious names, customs, and laws, which to a person unfamiliar with the people must remain a mystery. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.