One story that I have come to know well is Booger Jim of Cherokee Falls. Many tales exist surrounding the famous character, who lived under a bridge, in the woods, chasing people in the night, and was hanged from that very bridge by his wife in the 1970s with a set of battery cables or bungee straps. The legend says if you scream his name three times at midnight from the bridge, he will answer, but you cannot make out what he is saying due to crushed vocal cords from the murder.
Another story says Jim was the town drunk in the 1930s and would walk the nearby Mill Hill. One evening, he murdered his wife and child in a fit of drunken rage. He set off for the bridge and ended his life. Many people have claimed to see his disfigured face in the brush below the bridge, his ghost standing on the bridge, and to hear disembodied voices.
Often, tales such as this one are passed through generations to keep children scared straight into doing the right thing.
The legend of Booger Jim endures in the small community of Cherokee Falls, near Blacksburg. If you are brave enough to visit, you may hear his gurgles for help from deep within the woods.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
Image: John G. Clark Jr. (December 2023)
