Appalachian Murder, Mystery And Legend · Larry Bentley

The Ghouls Of Old Rag Mountain

·16 min·1 clip

The state's eugenics board treated the Harlow clan like livestock, tricking women into forced sterilization during fake appendectomies.

Host Larry Bentley delves into the dark legend of the Harlow clan, an isolated family in Virginia's Old Rag Mountain known for extreme inbreeding. The story explores the resulting physical traits, the Virginia government's brutal eugenics and forced sterilization campaign against them, their forced removal for Shenandoah National Park, and the local folklore that evolved—claiming some descendants became pale, cave-dwelling 'ghouls' who still haunt the mountain.

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