A 9-11 Oral History from West Texas
In the weeks following the bombing of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, Tumbleweed Smith was teaching a class in techniques of preserving and presenting oral history. One class project became interviewing people in west Texas about those events to prepare a program of local reactions. The 13 minute program has been broken into 3 segments for...
A very special Christmas.
It was Christmas morning in our new house on Norwood. Standing at the top of the stairs in our red white stripped pajamas we found the note attached to the end of a big red ribbon! At five, I could not read the note very well so my older sister took control and read it aloud to us all. Follow Me the note said! Slidding down the stairs,...
Born to Climb
Chris Klinger is an avid rock climber and has worked with Outward Bound programs. Ron has also told the story of how he first realized that his son was seemingly born to climb, which was a part of the reason that a Thanksgiving trip would include camping and the opportunity to climb some rocks. Born to Climb
Circus Day
FoldUnfold Table of Contents Circus Day September, 1902 recording Circus Day When I was 7 or 8 years old, around 1934, my Daddy took my brother and me to watch the Ringling Brothers circus unload. We were awakened in the wee small hours and my teeth chattered in the cold while I stood on a chair for my mother to dress me, in a little...
Ghost in Tyler, Texas
For many people, the only difference between people who have experience with ghosts and those who do not is the willingness to accept what is directly in front of you. Jo is one of those who has experienced many different ghosts in many different locations. She prefers to keep her accounts semi private as she has become accustomed to hearing...
Julia Ann "Dolly" Daneker Haupt
My aunt, Mildred Diddy Haupt, recently celebrated her 97th birthday. The short pieces of audio that have been added here are her memories of the events. Diddy was as close as her younger sisters could get to Mildred, and she has been known as Diddy ever since. (editor's note: Months after Diddy celebrated her 98th birthday, she passed away on...
Links to Chips with audio files
These stories all have attached mp3's for those of you who prefer listening. Got a story you want to tell so others can listen? Send us an email and we will add your voice to Story Chip. A 9-11 Oral History from West Texas Ghosts in Tyler, Texas Mrs. Santa Claus Restless spirits in Williamson County, Texas Thanksgiving in Taos Mowing in the Nude...
Marie Sturm
Life in Prague During German Occupation Marie Sturm was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in June 1925. Marie was an only child and lived with her mother who worked for the postal service and her father who was a craftsman. Her father fabricated glass signs and restored wood furniture in a highly skilled fashion of the time - transforming the wood to...
May Day Demonstration 1971
FoldUnfold Table of Contents Protesting a War Nixon's Reflections on Talking with Protesters Protesting a War I would love to be able to claim that I was one of those arrested and herded off to the parking lots of D.C. Stadium (renamed RFK at some point) during the May Day demonstrations of 71 but I was actually one of those doing the...
Mowing in the Nude
Everything is bigger in Texas; except the trees. What Texans call a tree, most people call a shrub. Oh, and one other thing, the hills. In west Texas, the elementary schools have berms in the playgrounds so there is one place that will block the prevailing 20 mile an hour winds, but more so that the children will have the experience of walking on...
Mrs. Santa Claus
It may be that the appeal of trains goes back to when I was a boy and the true sign that Christmas was around the corner was when we got the request to design the annual train layout. What a production! We all drew designs of how the track would carry the train around all the little bits of scenery, tunnels, bridges and switching yards while our...
Pocket Full of Peanut Butter
Peanut Butter Joker (audio file) All families have ways to lighten the load and brighten spirits. Seven small people will find ways to entertain themselves with practical jokes. It is a good thing that my parents had a sense of humor as they were frequently the target of these pranks. An audio story from the Three of Seven collection.
Restles Spirits in Williamson County, Texas
This brief ghost story has to do with an area between Cedar Park and Round Rock in Williamson County. Spanish Creek feeds into Brushy Creek on the northeast corner of Cedar Park. The location is the general site of the Battle of Brushy Creek in 1839. The story includes a months long series of skirmishes between Texans, Texas Rangers and Comanches...
SAIL BOAT & CREW SURVIVE CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE BILL: Dangers of Promoting World Peace
FoldUnfold Table of Contents Sailing in a Category 4 Sailor's Prayer Sailing in a Category 4 Promoting World Peace can be a dangerous mission. Several weeks ago, the United States Coast Guard called us and told us they found the crew and that they were safe. It wasn’t until last week we received our first email from them and then another week...
Thanksgiving in Taos
Ron and Gay Klinger live in Cedar Park, Texas (a little north of Austin). Their son, Christopher, currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland. This version of one of their Thanksgiving memories was recorded just before sitting down to dinner on Thanksgiving Day, 2009. Flaming Thanksgiving Lee McGavin Leander, TX 2009
The Peaceful World of Silvana
Silvana lives in a small adobe surrounded by orchards and is a two minute walk to the Rio Grande. She is or has been a musician, a dancer, a grandmother, a Californian, a European music student, owner of a laptop running a Linux operating system and above all else, charming. She claims that she cannot write well enough for the pages of Story Chip...
This Old Man
FoldUnfold Table of Contents This Old Man Cowboy Joe This Old Man By Dub Ramsel This old man I am going to tell about was my grandfather and was born in Grimes County, Texas in 1855. He was named Carlos Clayton Cleveland. His father George William Cleveland was a Veteran of The Civil War. It was said that he attained the rank of Captain....
Veteran's Day
FoldUnfold Table of Contents Veteran's Day Arms Limitation Veteran's Day I spend my summers in Maine. My father’s family was from the Portland area, and in nineteen hundred and five they built a little summer cottage on a nearby lake. From the time I started working at Taft in the Fall of 1969 I spent my summers at the cottage in Maine, and...
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