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- [Chapter Sixty-Six: The Plague of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/12/01/chapter-sixty-six-the-plague-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: I am going back. I am going back to the site where I know Vine stood. I don’t know what I will see, but I am going back. I don’t know if the light from Heaven will lift me in ascension or if the mouth of Hell will swallow me in darkness, but
- [Chapter Sixty-Five: The Plague of Payouts](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/30/chapter-sixty-five-the-plague-of-payouts/) - Editor’s Note: Where I write this from, I can hardly say. The Word of the Lord moves through me, the Holy Spirit guides my pen. I have known neither friends nor family for nights too numerous to name. Yet this is the Word of the Lord—or at least history as I know it to be.
- [Chapter Sixty-Two: The Plague of Bullets](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/27/chapter-sixty-two-the-plague-of-bullets/) - Editor’s Note: as Vine approaches the 21st century, it’s not hard to feel as though the town is beset by challenges on all sides. Nowhere can stay completely cut off from the world forever. Christine thinks the turn of the century will see Vine fully merging with the outside world, modernizing completely, but gradually, like
- [Chapter Sixty-Three: The Plague of Planning](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/28/chapter-sixty-three-the-plague-of-planning/) - Editor’s Note: as Vine approaches the 21st century, it’s not hard to feel as though the town is beset by challenges on all sides. Nowhere can stay completely cut off from the world forever. Christine thinks the turn of the century will see Vine fully merging with the outside world, modernizing completely, but gradually, like
- [Chapter Sixty-Four: The Plague of History](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/29/chapter-sixty-four-the-plague-of-history/) - Editor’s Note: it is harder every day to know exactly what is happening. I have my notebook with me, everything that I’ve written so far, and that’s what matters. No matter what happens, now that I’m so deep into working on this book, no matter what happens, I’m convinced of its importance more and more.
- [Chapter Sixty-One: The Plague of Darkness](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/24/chapter-sixty-one-the-plague-of-darkness/) - Editor’s Note: of course, one problem with complete modernization is this: Vine is still a land of miracles. Jonah is convinced God will destroy Vine the moment the clock strikes midnight on January 1, 2000. I’m skeptical, but the God of the Hebrews sent darkness to Egypt, while the Chosen People in the Americas got
- [Chapter Sixty: The Plague of Skinks](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/23/chapter-sixty-the-plague-of-skinks/) - Editor’s Note: of course, one problem with complete modernization is this: Vine is still a land of miracles. Jonah is convinced God will destroy Vine the moment the clock strikes midnight on January 1, 2000. I’m skeptical, but the God of the Hebrews sent frogs to Egypt, while the Chosen People in the Americas got:
- [Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Plague of Closings](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/22/chapter-fifty-nine-the-plague-of-closings/) - Editor’s Note: as Vine approaches the 21st century, it’s not hard to feel as though the town is beset by challenges on all sides. Nowhere can stay completely cut off from the world forever. Christine thinks the turn of the century will see Vine fully merging with the outside world, modernizing completely, but gradually, like
- [Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Plague of Blood](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/21/chapter-fifty-eight-the-plague-of-blood/) - Editor’s Note: of course, one problem with complete modernization is this: Vine is still a land of miracles. Jonah is convinced God will destroy Vine the moment the clock strikes midnight on January 1, 2000. I’m skeptical, but this did happen: The river and the lake became blood. The families and the histories became blood.
- [Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Plague of Greed](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/20/chapter-fifty-seven-the-plague-of-greed/) - Editor’s Note: as Vine approaches the 21st century, it’s not hard to feel as though the town is beset by challenges on all sides. Nowhere can stay completely cut off from the world forever. Christine thinks the turn of the century will see Vine fully merging with the outside world, modernizing completely, but gradually, like
- [Chapter Fifty-Six: Jonah](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/17/chapter-fifty-six-jonah/) - Editor’s Note: this happened one night at Jim’s, I was there. Jonah told me to put it in the book “whenever you get to near the end.” I double-checked with him in the morning, when he had a more sober mind, and he said “put it in the damn book.” I asked Christine one last
- [Chapter Fifty-Five: Gentleman Jim's](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/16/chapter-fifty-five-gentleman-jims/) - Editor’s Note: some scholars might view it as unserious to write about a bar. Well? Jim’s is as old as any building in Vine, except the Church, but there is something different here. Aside from a gathering place of common people of Vine, Jim’s exudes an uncertain sense of power. The people of Vine drink
- [Chapter Fifty-Four: Ervin in the Quarry](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/15/chapter-fifty-four-ervin-in-the-quarry/) - Editor’s Note: the Bartender told me this one, coming from a Jim’s regular—one Greg Ervin, a man I’ve always known to exude a quiet competence (according to his work crew buddies), love of whiskey and books, and not much use for other folks. Tough as nails, arms as big as telephone poles, but gentle and
- [Chapter Fifty-Three: Anthony and the Demons Part Two](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/14/chapter-fifty-three-anthony-and-the-demons-part-two/) - Editor’s Note: The story of Vine cannot only be one of Elders vs. witches, Preachers explaining away monsters, and land itself performing magic. The story of Vine exists within its people. Sometimes, I like to go to Gentleman Jim’s and simply write down what people say. For a guy who quit drinking, St. Anthony of
- [Chapter Fifty-Two: The Preacher](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/13/chapter-fifty-two-the-preacher/) - Editor’s Note: The story of Vine cannot only be one of Elders vs. witches, Preachers explaining away monsters, and land itself performing magic. The story of Vine exists within its people. Sometimes, I like to go to Gentleman Jim’s and simply write down what people say. Make no mistake, the Preachers drink at Jim’s, too.
- [Chapter Fifty-One: Josie, The Real Estate Agent](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/10/chapter-fifty-one-josie-the-real-estate-agent/) - Editor’s Note: The story of Vine cannot only be one of Elders vs. witches, Preachers explaining away monsters, and land itself performing magic. The story of Vine exists within its people. Sometimes, I like to go to Gentleman Jim’s and simply write down what people say. Josie, in fact, was one of Mom’s old coworkers,
- [Chapter Fifty: Anthony and the Demons Part One](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/09/chapter-fifty-anthony-and-the-demons-part-one/) - Editor’s Note: The story of Vine cannot only be one of Elders vs. witches, Preachers explaining away monsters, and land itself performing magic. The story of Vine exists within its people. Sometimes, I like to go to Gentleman Jim’s and simply write down what people say. Tony hadn’t hit anything since he had broken the
- [Chapter Forty-Nine: Correspondence With the Dead Part Three](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/08/chapter-forty-nine-correspondence-with-the-dead-part-three/) - Editor’s Note: no body of Joan Wallace, ritualistically hacked up and decorated with Devilry or whatever the Militia was worried about, and the passage of time meant interest in Joan’s case waned. By 1990, Jeannie Wallace had lost her husband, both children, and any patience she ever had with police help. She disappeared from public
- [Chapter Forty-Eight: End of the Line, Western Jefferson Line](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/07/chapter-forty-eight-end-of-the-line-western-jefferson-line/) - Editor’s Note: Kaylie is an old friend of Jonah’s. When she heard I was writing about the panic around the Hayes murders/Wallace disappearance, she told me her story. To me, it encapsulates the contradictory mindset that had overtaken the people of Vine in those days. I had just turned 11 when the fuss about the
- [Chapter Forty-Seven: Correspondence With the Dead Part Two](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/06/chapter-forty-seven-correspondence-with-the-dead-part-two/) - Editor’s Note: not long after the Hayes murders, Joan Wallace disappeared. Vanished, not a trace, worried mother. The double blow of tragedy took a toll on Vine. Below are letters given to me by Jeannie Wallace, as well as some reporting by me from interviews done in the course of researching the Hayes murders. For
- [Chapter Forty-Six: Justice Part Three](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/03/chapter-forty-six-justice-part-three/) - Editor’s Note: It’s important to remember the police force in Vine wasn’t created until the 1970s, and even then was created by an Elder who was a werelion and the sycophant who was covering up for him. Below is the history of the Hayes’ murders as best I know how to construct it, in the
- [Chapter Forty-Five: What Jeff Knew](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/02/chapter-forty-five-what-jeff-knew/) - Editor’s Note: I wasn’t the first to drop out of Seminary. That “honor” goes to Jeff Hudson. Below is the story Jeff told me when—one night, when we both happened to be at Gentleman Jim’s, and Jeff was already three whiskies deep, and there was no one else to talk to, or maybe that’s not
- [Chapter Forty-Four: Justice Part Two](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/11/01/chapter-forty-four-justice-part-two/) - Editor’s Note: Two murders and one disappearance was enough to activate the violent immune system that sleeps within any community with a proper fear of the Lord. The frightened people did all they knew to do. Below is the history of the Hayes’ murders as best I know how to construct it, in the style
- [Chapter Forty-Three: Correspondence With the Dead Part One](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/31/chapter-forty-three-correspondence-with-the-dead-part-one/) - Editor’s Note: not long after the Hayes murders, Joan Wallace disappeared. Vanished, not a trace, worried mother. The double blow of tragedy took a toll on the people of Vine. Below are letters given to me by Jeannie Wallace, as well as some reporting by me from interviews done in the course of researching the
- [Chapter Forty-Two: Justice Part One](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/30/chapter-forty-two-justice-part-one/) - Editor’s Note: as a new decade dawned in Vine, hope was not necessarily in the air. Full disclosure: I was born in 1980. I don’t remember a time before everyone was scared all the time. Below is the history of the Hayes’ murders as best I know how to construct it, in the style of
- [Chapter Forty-One: Fields](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/27/chapter-forty-one-fields/) - Editor’s Note: the 1970s in Vine featured population growth and development even in the face of slight economic decline. Modernization was beginning to breed hints of decay, yet the Elder Council voted again and again to increase production. I found this in a drawer in my dad’s desk. I don’t know if it’s notes for
- [Chapter Forty: Werelion of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/26/chapter-forty-werelion-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: The following is taken from the journals of Simon Sten, great-great-grandson of Peter Sten. Simon Sten’s journals are generally unremarkable, much like his great-great-grandfather’s, but the Sten men’s journals are kept in the town archives along with the Elders’ journals. I wasn’t sure why until I read this: When the livestock started showing
- [Chapter Thirty-Nine: When the Net Was Full They Collected the Good Fish in Baskets But Threw the Bad Away](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/25/chapter-thirty-nine-when-the-net-was-full-they-collected-the-good-fish-in-baskets-but-threw-the-bad-away/) - Editor’s note: this story comes direct from the Bartender at Jim’s, some details corroborated by some regulars like Alice Rollins and Fred Mills. Dad says he also was at Jim’s and remembers the day that Jeremy The Fisherman discovered pollution in Vine. It was nearing midnight and Jeremy the Fisherman ordered another whiskey. “Ain’t you
- [Chapter Thirty-Eight: Closed Road: An Accounting of the Life of Jonathan Sevier VI](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/24/chapter-thirty-eight-closed-road-an-accounting-of-the-life-of-jonathan-sevier-vi/) - Editor’s Note: I drove out to the Sevier estate, now run entirely by the late Elder Jonathan Sevier VI’s daughter, Evelyn. A saber-tongued old bullhorn of a woman who’s spent her life avoiding people amid a cloud of lesbian rumors thanks to her spinsterdom and hardscrabble, self-reliant reputation, I had meant to interview her about
- [Chapter Thirty-Seven: Riverbanks](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/23/chapter-thirty-seven-riverbanks/) - Editor’s Note: Jeremy the Fisherman passed away before I had a chance to know him, but my dad knew him. Drinking buddies. I should mention my dad was a reporter for the Vine Bulletin. Mom worked the fact-checking desk, and honestly, she was the one who taught me to look between the lines of verifiable
- [Chapter Thirty-Six: A Van of Hippies Meets a Hermit of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/20/chapter-thirty-six-a-van-of-hippies-meets-a-hermit-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: Don’t laugh at the title. The Hermits won’t say they were hippies, because the guardians of Vine’s borders and shepherds for the lost among Vine’s mountains don’t have that kind of vocabulary. But they were hippies. Speaking of vocabulary, a reminder: I’m told the Hermits infuse their songs and stories with meaning in
- [Chapter Thirty-Five: You Can Wash Your Feet and Spend the Night and Then Go On Your Way Early In the Morning](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/19/chapter-thirty-five-you-can-wash-your-feet-and-spend-the-night-and-then-go-on-your-way-early-in-the-morning/) - Editor’s Note: Margaret Clitherow should not have been notable in Vine. The daughter of Tom Clitherow, of Clitherow’s Wholesale (which sold ‘imported’ goods from the rest of the U.S. to Polk’s General Store and Vance’s Auto Dealership), Margaret was born into a pre-outbreak fortune and was poised to do what other girls her age and
- [Chapter Thirty-Four: Hank Goes to Visit Kenny, And What He Saw](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/18/chapter-thirty-four-hank-goes-to-visit-kenny-and-what-he-saw/) - Editor’s Note: taken directly from the journals of Jonah’s great uncle Hank, who, according to both Hank (in writing) and Jonah (in conversation) had no last name. Family lore holds he came from a cave in the mountains. Adopted by Hank’s great-grandmother, “like the story of Moses, but with more whiskey,” per Hank’s journals. Reprinted
- [Chapter Thirty-Three: One Day They Went Silent](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/17/chapter-thirty-three-one-day-they-went-silent/) - Editor’s Note: this story taken directly from the journals of Carolyn Joy Roberts, a close confidante of George and Ethel. Reprinted with permission. It seemed as though they had always been there, smiling up at Preacher Davidson from the front pew. No one remembered when they were called to Vine, nor did they have any
- [Chapter Thirty-Two: The Lewis Twins](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/16/chapter-thirty-two-the-lewis-twins/) - Editor’s Note: the broad strokes of the Lewis Twins’ tragic story is well-known throughout Vine. Finer details have never been committed to paper. These I’ve compiled from various Gentleman Jim’s regulars who claim to have known both Chuck Lewis and Jeremy The Fisherman—who would later discover pollution in Vine—as well as some details direct from
- [Chapter Thirty-One: Wise Fear](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/13/chapter-thirty-one-wise-fear/) - Editor’s Note: One night, my dad and I were talking about various proverbs of Vine, and he went off on this tangent about his parents. I turned my tape recorder on. Reprinted with his permission. The records were always there. She could take comfort in that. There they were, playing hymns of comfort, no matter
- [Chapter Thirty: Whiskey Lemonade in the Abundant Afternoon](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/12/chapter-thirty-whiskey-lemonade-in-the-abundant-afternoon/) - Editor’s Note: Like I said, the 1950s were a time of peace in Vine. My dad told me this story of his parents having a theological discussion one afternoon, which he overheard while lying down under the stairs. “Go on ahead and leave your hand right there on my back,” he said. He poured her
- [Chapter Twenty-Nine: Mary Wife of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/11/chapter-twenty-nine-mary-wife-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: By 1950, Vine, like most of the United States, was entering its prime. Trade picked back up, the almanacs show a few years of strong crop yields, and birth rates nearly doubled. Church attendance records show membership consistently growing, and I at least cannot find any official record of encounters with shapeshifters, witches,
- [Chapter Twenty-Eight: Squatters at the Butler House](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/10/chapter-twenty-eight-squatters-at-the-butler-house/) - Editor’s Note: The years after the outbreak were difficult years in Vine. The residents couldn’t know it, but the Great Depression affected them, too. Being cut off from the rest of the world does not mean you don’t exist in the world. We don’t have a lot to go on to understand life in those
- [Chapter Twenty-Seven: An Accounting of the TVA At Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/09/chapter-twenty-seven-an-accounting-of-the-tva-at-vine/) - Editor’s Note: The years after the outbreak were difficult years in Vine. The residents couldn’t know it, but the Great Depression affected them, too. Being cut off from the rest of the world does not mean you don’t exist in the world. The Tennessee Valley Authority, of course, changed life for all Tennesseans; I’d bet
- [Chapter Twenty-Five: A Covenant So That They May Dwell Securely In The Wilderness And Sleep In The Woods](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/05/chapter-twenty-five-a-covenant-so-that-they-may-dwell-securely-in-the-wilderness-and-sleep-in-the-woods/) - Editor’s Note: The years after the outbreak were difficult years in Vine. The residents couldn’t know it, but the Great Depression affected them, too. Being cut off from the rest of the world does not mean you don’t exist in the world. The previous generation of Elders may or may not have caused countless to
- [Chapter Twenty-Six: Hymn of Healing and Regeneration](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/06/chapter-twenty-six-hymn-of-healing-and-regeneration/) - HYMN OF HEALING AND REGENERATION Editor’s Note: The years after the outbreak were difficult years in Vine. The residents couldn’t know it, but the Great Depression affected them, too. Being cut off from the rest of the world does not mean you don’t exist in the world. Christine gave me this to include in the
- [Chapter Twenty-Four: Absence](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/04/chapter-twenty-four-absence/) - Editor’s Note: The years after the outbreak were difficult years in Vine. The residents couldn’t know it, but the Great Depression affected them, too. Being cut off from the rest of the world does not mean you don’t exist in the world. Like the Israelities held captive in Babylon, the people of Vine were adrift,
- [Chapter Twenty-Two: Outbreak Part Three](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/02/chapter-twenty-two-outbreak-part-three/) - Editor’s Note: death, obviously, is certain for all of us. Yet the human desire for remembering persists. No one wants to die without their story told. For the living, the stories remind us: that which has disappeared has not diminished in importance. Those who are gone mattered. This is basic, human stuff. Why else would
- [Chapter Twenty-One: Outbreak Part Two](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/29/chapter-twenty-one-outbreak-part-two/) - Editor’s Note: Deniers of the outbreak do not have much evidence of a thriving Vine to point to from 1926-1929. But let us not get ahead of ourselves. 1924 death records, as I’ve already said, show a 10% increase in deaths. There’s evidence of suffering, too: surviving sources show a slow-building fear turn into panic
- [Chapter Twenty-Three: The Butler House](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/10/03/chapter-twenty-three-the-butler-house/) - Editor’s Note: The rain was hounding me and I really felt like this could wait until tomorrow. The ground was practically marsh and the wind was icy and I was two beers deep with Christine over at Jim’s but duty calls I guess. History first. The house was a broken-down old nightmare of a barn
- [Chapter Nineteen: The Ghost and Edith](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/27/chapter-nineteen-the-ghost-and-edith/) - Editor’s Note: Madam Lafayette’s story is well-known throughout Vine: Sunday School classes cautioning against trusting fortune tellers. A contrast to her brother, John, who married the daughter of an Elder and then had a daughter who would marry a Captain of Industry. “See the upward mobility you can achieve staying on God’s path,” they say.
- [Chapter Twenty: Outbreak Part One](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/28/chapter-twenty-outbreak-part-one/) - Editor’s Note: This is—best I can tell—all that is known and recorded about the outbreak in Vine. I say “outbreak” or “the outbreak” because the disease never got a name. It occurred—roughly—around 1923, and would last for the remainder of the decade, if not into the 1930s. There are those in Vine who still believe
- [Chapter Eighteen: Nearer My God to Thee](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/26/chapter-eighteen-nearer-my-god-to-thee/) - Editor’s Note: the Hermits of Vine are not officially holy men, but they command some degree of reverence. The Hermits are guardians of Vine, and shepherds for the lost among Vine’s mountains. Thanks to some contacts from Jonah, I’ve been able to do more research on and with the Hermits than any other scholar prior.
- [Chapter Seventeen: Saint Louise of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/25/chapter-seventeen-saint-louise-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: these fragments were found lining the pages of Census archives for the years 1872 and 1873. Ellipsis are mine, since these are torn scraps of paper. I don’t know if these pages are a diary or an obituary written by a devoted friend. Some might disagree, but Louise’s story should begin this way,
- [Chapter Sixteen: Manifest Destiny](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/22/chapter-sixteen-manifest-destiny/) - Editor’s Note: please allow me a little re-imagining fun. After all, I am a citizen of Vine, and we’re given to telling some tall tales. Dolores’s Vision is taught in Sunday School, to remind children that Vine is a land of miracles. In Seminary, though, you learn more fun details, such as Dolores’s husband being
- [Chapter Fifteen: Christina the Astonishing Part Three](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/21/chapter-fifteen-christina-the-astonishing-part-three/) - Editor’s Note: the primary source here, again, is pages signed “Friends of Christina the Astonishing.” I find myself wondering about the extent of Christina’s followers’ devotion. Today, 100+ years on, she’s a fairy tale—the Church prints up little tracts with her story, cute little crudely-drawn pictures of Christina holding hands with an Elder and a
- [Chapter Fourteen: Christina the Astonishing Part Two](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/20/chapter-fourteen-christina-the-astonishing-part-two/) - Editor’s Note: Christina lived a remarkable and—even someone as jaded as me can admit—holy life after, well, “Up From The Grave She Rose.” Her good works often go forgotten in the face of her miraculous undeath. The below text was found between the covers of Christina’s journals, handwritten pages signed “Friends of Christina The Astonishing”
- [Chapter Twelve: Hymns & Proverbs of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/18/chapter-twelve-hymns-proverbs-of-vine/) - HymnsEditor’s note: The early years of Vine were a time of fear, uncertainty, and creation. As a new town was being built on unfamiliar land, strange forces seemed determined to disrupt the settlers’ holy quest. Alongside this push-pull of creation and destruction, the written and unwritten word flourished. These are assembled from a variety of
- [Chapter Thirteen: Christina the Astonishing Part One](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/19/chapter-thirteen-christina-the-astonishing-part-one/) - Editor’s Note: Christina’s tale is one most children of Vine can recite at least some details of by heart. There are hymns and drinking songs written about her. Some things, however, can be corroborated by historical record: archives of sermons’ texts, even surviving fragments of Christina’s own journal (copied from the remaining pages for the
- [Chapter Eleven: Hunt](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/15/chapter-eleven-hunt/) - Editor’s Note: taken from the diary of Peter Sten, a farmer who died in 1823, yet whose diary was kept at Elder Sherman’s family estate, I would later discover. Into the fir trees again. Stay away from the river. It will not be near the river. At night its belly full of sheep picking teeth
- [Chapter Nine: Written in the Book of Common Healing Knowledge Is...](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/13/chapter-nine-written-in-the-book-of-common-healing-knowledge-is/) - Editor’s Note: An honest account of the early days of Vine should include some real reporting on the witches. Not “witches were evil, the Elders drove them from Vine” or whatever the Church puts in their cheap little tracts. Unfortunately, “witches’ texts” is not in the reference section of the Vine Library. And how are
- [Chapter Ten: The Burials](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/14/chapter-ten-the-burials/) - Editor’s Note: copied from memory, from The Book Of Vine. No one outside of Preachers has access to The Book Of Vine, except Seminary students. You do not get to keep your copy if you drop out of Seminary. The soil’s rejection of the dead had not been noticed initially. Vine was discovered as an
- [Chapter Eight: Numerous Sightings of a 'Devil-like' Figure Were Reported](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/12/chapter-eight-numerous-sightings-of-a-devil-like-figure-were-reported/) - Editor’s Note: Some of this is taken from L. James Richardson—reading him, you’d think Elder Aloysius Wilkinson was some fiery, heroic figure like King David or Achilles. Sure, the Wilkinson line would continue to show a quick-tempered streak. Richardson doesn’t get at all the details, though, ones you can pick up if you buy the
- [Chapter Five: The Tenets of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/07/chapter-five-the-tenets-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: taken from the remaining pages of A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE REVELATION OF VINE by L. James Richardson, published 1804, archived 1805 Now it was in those days that the Church of Vine had been established before all other buildings, before even permanent homes for the settlers. Speedily-organized work crews toiled six days
- [Chapter Four: The Driving Out of the Indigenous](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/07/chapter-four-the-driving-out-of-the-indigenous/) - Editor’s Note: taken from the remaining pages of A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE REVELATION OF VINE by L. James Richardson, published 1804, archived 1805 In the early days of Vine there was conflict. For it is known that the blessings of the Lord are not bestowed upon those who have not worked. Vine was a
- [Chapter Three: The Revelation of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/07/chapter-three-the-revelation-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: taken from the remaining pages of A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE REVELATION OF VINE by L. James Richardson, published 1804, archived 1805 Josiah Jefferson was an honest and humble man who did not extend himself beyond his station. His life was one of solitude by choice, as he was given to introspection and
- [Chapter Two: The Building of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/07/chapter-two-the-building-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: taken from the remaining pages of A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE REVELATION OF VINE by L. James Richardson, published 1804, archived 1805 They built upon the land, and the land was generous. In Vine, rivers flowed agreeably and the rapids were not harsh. Rolling hills offered grazing pastures, while fields stretched richly soiled
- [Chapter One: The Discovery of Vine](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/07/chapter-one-the-discovery-of-vine/) - Editor’s Note: taken from the remaining pages of A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE REVELATION OF VINE by L. James Richardson, published 1804, archived 1805 Were it not God’s plan for His Chosen People in the Americas, the discovery of the consecrated land now known as Vine might be referred to as an accident. The scout
- [Chapter Six: Editor's Introduction and Notes Regarding   L. James Richardson](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/07/chapter-six-editors-introduction-and-notes-regarding-l-james-richardson/) - Let’s be honest and forthcoming, unlike most of the people of Vine: I am not L. James Richardson. Far from it. I am a historian and Vine resident, and the number of people who have been able to hold those two qualifications with a straight face over the last 200 or so years is vanishingly
- [Chapter Seven: Rendered Guilty Verdict Unto Sarah Beth Miller Under Counts of Practicing Witchcraft](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/2023/09/11/chapter-seven-rendered-guilty-verdict-unto-sarah-beth-miller-under-counts-of-practicing-witchcraft/) - Editor’s Note: Christine copied this for me. A cautionary tale circulated among certain, say, women’s groups in Vine. A knock at the wall. Rain sheeting east to west like trying to rip the forest down. Clattering. A knock at the wall. A streak of whistle like a pen crossing out whole paragraphs of dead information.

## Pages

- [](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/) - Vine is a series of texts discovered in the mountains of East Tennessee. Like the Holy Bible, it is a codex of 66 stories. Efforts to track down its author or authors—“Editor” in the text—were unsuccessful. The text is presented as discovered. The book was published from September 2023-December 2023. To begin reading the book,
- [Table of Contents](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/table-of-contents/)
- [HOME](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/home/)
- [Content Warnings](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/content-warnings/) - Vine features discussions and depictions of death, child death, religion/Christianity, misogyny, violence against a child as punishment, brief hint of but not depicted intimate partner violence, discussion of animal death within the context of animal husbandry, discussion of animal death within the context of werelion attacks, discussion of animal death within the context of hunting,
- [Newsletter](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/newsletter/)
- [Acknowledgements](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/welcome-to-vine/) - Thank you to Chloe N. Clark for the kind and thoughtful edits on earlier drafts of Vine. Find more Chloe at chloenclark.com. Thank you to K.C. Mead-Brewer, aka the Elvira Of The Newsletter Game, for advice in setting up the Vine newsletter. Find more K.C. at kcmeadbrewer.com. Thank you to Adam and Brian Hinkle for
- [Council Eras](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/council-eras/)

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://www.storiesfromvine.com/category/uncategorized/)