Joe Sledge

In 1930, Stanley Green went from a student at UNC to becoming a teacher and principal on the rugged coast of the Outer Banks at Avon, Kinnakeet, to the locals. They expected a rugged brute to beat the teenage students into submission. What they got was the opposite. Short and slight of build, Stanley instead bonded with the students, bringing education and respect to his school and the island.

For twelve years Stanley would live and work with the Kinnakeeters, younguns and adults. He became a popular and well liked teacher, a true part of the village. Even when war came to the coast, he would join up in the Coast Guard and protect the island that became his home.

Originally written in 1971, this book is now back in print, with added material by local author Joe Sledge. Interestingly, Joe made a rather happy discovery in searching out Stanley's estate to get permission to reprint the book. 

Hidden beneath the sandy beaches and deep within the twisted coastal forests of the Outer Banks are the old ghost tales that permeate the Outer Banks coast of North Carolina. In this follow-up to Haunting The Outer Banks, you will find thirteen tales of ghosts, witches, and phantoms across the Outer Banks shores. These stories have rarely been told outside of oral traditions, mostly recited on darkened porches or at campfires by the sea.
I sought out some great hidden legends, some that I only heard as a kid, others that were almost unknown outside of the small villages and towns from long ago. I wanted to have ghost stories that most readers had never heard before. Some of these have never been written down or in a book until now. 

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This is the book that started it all. Did You See That? is the first in the series about all the cool and weird roadside attractions in North Carolina, found either just off the road or farther off the beaten path. Complete with the GPS locations, a detailed description, and oddity ratings, there are over eighty different subjects in the chapters in this book. I wanted all these books to include real places, not just stories, but places you could go to and touch. Not that I recommend touching everything in this book! They range all across the state, from the sea to the mountains. If you want to end up on an adventure out there on the road, a great place to start is right here.

Of course I would write a book about all the cool and strange places all around my home. These subjects range from above Corolla down across the beaches of Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head, past Hatteras, and all the way to Ocracoke. In Did You See That? On The Outer Banks readers will find places and history not included in the usual travel guides. There’s a bit of history, a bit of weirdness, and a lot of fun in this book. It’s a great addition to any vacation guide, and a fun distraction for kids on a scavenger hunt on a rainy day.

It’s hard to believe that I couldn’t find everything I wanted to the first time around. But there were so many places I just didn’t get to when I wrote Did You See That? This book still has lots of strange little hidden spots, but it also has a bit more history to it. These may take a bit more exploring to find them all, but with the GPS coordinates and a little guidance, it’s all worth it. This is a great companion to Did You See That?

There was no way I was going to leave out the spooks and spirits of North Carolina. Just because they are no longer in the living doesn’t mean I was going to forget about them. This is not a ghost tale book, but a companion in the Did You See That? Collection. This book details the many haunted places throughout North Carolina. It still provides the locations, but adds a bit of history and rumor to the tales. Some are just urban legends, some may have a scientific explanation, and some are going to be truly spooky, but they all are great tales. Did You See That Ghost? Even includes an appendix that helps explain the legends in more depth, but you don’t have to read that part if you don’t want to. Just enjoy a good scare!

Growing up on the coast, I heard all the ghost tales and sanguine legends of the Outer Banks. Bloody murders, vengeful pirates, scary witches, and ghosts. Lots of ghosts. I wanted to retell some of those great old stories in a new voice. I also wanted to share the stories I had heard that were left untold in other books. So I wrote this, Haunting The Outer Banks. These are real ghost tales, meant to be retold on a dark night on the beach, on a back porch as the sea breeze blows in, when the wind whistles through the salt rimed screens of a beach house. Read about a little girl that haunts the dark corners of a famous house. Hoodoos chase children in the dark streets of Manteo. The lighthouses that shine as protective beacons for mariners are also the homes of spirits long passed, but still with us. Shadowy specters wander the beaches of Hatteras and Nags Head. All these tales and more a waiting to be read in Haunting The Outer Banks.

In 1985, Hurricane Irene brings a surprising shipwreck to the soft beach of Ocracoke Island in the form of a derelict U-Boat, a shipwreck from a different time. When the few locals remaining on the island decide to crack it open, they discover the crew is still aboard, and still alive, cursed to live forever in darkness for the sins they committed decades before.

But if they survived, others did, too. From the depths of the Atlantic boil horrid nightmares of the past in the forms of the victims of the Nazi submarine, all bent on revenge on the suddenly freed last vestige of the Kriegsmarine. When the relentless red eyed zombie wraiths find their way to the submarine crew, nothing will stand between them and their long demanded retribution. The islanders are caught in the middle, as hell comes to Ocracoke.

This work of horror fiction is obviously written for adult fans of horror and thriller genres. It is written under the pen name of John Martell.

When I was a kid, I would find the many wonderful cheap paperbacks of the 1980s left behind by tourists who just wanted a cheap and entertaining read while they sat, covered in suntan oil, baking on the beach. The books were inexpensive, smaller than today’s books, in those great classic cream colored trade paperback pages. I wanted to do a tribute to those books and the stories within, which drove me to write The Unmerciful Sea. This version is a slightly smaller print and book size, more in line with those great paperbacks of yore, but it includes the same story as in the larger book. Look for a little secret hint near the end of the book in this one!

I wanted to write a book for my daughter to read, something fun, appropriate, and had my name on it. So I came up with Bess Truly, a fifteen year old girl living in 1950s New Mexico with her nuclear physicist mother and pilot father. She and her friends live typical teenage lives in the open plains, riding horses, going out for ice cream, exploring their world. But when strange things start happening, Bess and her friends discover a threat to their home, and to the whole country. With the help of her mother’s invention and her father’s experimental aircraft, Bess takes on a mysterious invasion.

Bess Truly And Her Zap-Gun Rangers is written for both kids and adults. I describe it as something like if Nancy Drew met Radar Men From The Moon. Action packed, but still age appropriate, this is a great read for older kids and anyone who likes adventure stories.

Written originally in 1851 by George Higby Throop, under the pen name Gregory Seaworthy, Nag’s Head was actually the first book ever written about vacation life on the Outer Banks at a contemporary time. Written as a vaguely fictional memoir, it tells the story of Seaworthy as he vacations with a family from inland to the soundside resorts along Nags Head. It’s a different world, as people rarely venture to the beach, and no houses stand on the shore. Many places are still similar, as he describes the soundside life, Jockey’s Ridge, and the homes along the Nags Head sound.

This is a rare and old book, and important in how it describes the beach of long ago. I wanted to republish it, with footnotes explaining many of the descriptions that Throop uses, along with his penchant for quoting in Latin. This book includes photos, maps, and a series of appendixes written by me to explain the changes over more than 170 years.

Throughout North Carolina, from the coasts to the mountains, and all in between, there are ghost tales, legends, monsters, and all sorts of fun and scary paranormal stories. In this book, In The Shadows Of The Pines, there are thirteen stories that are less known, rarely told or repeated. The stories range from mysterious to funny to tragic to downright terrifying. This companion book to Haunting The Outer Banks brings out a new set of mysterious tales for fans of the spooky and macabre, with stories from all across the state. Lock that door before you start reading. Maybe it will help keep the ghosts out!