Although the United States of America has long been considered a powerhouse for regional storytelling through the genres of Wild Westerns and Southern Gothic fiction, novels written about Appalachia, like most media that covers the area, have struggled to have a strong foothold in the larger mainstream media. Referred to as the 'White Ghetto' in the National Review and 'the smudge of the country' by the New York Times, Appalachia is an area frequently ridiculed for the poverty the location felt as an aftermath of the exploitation caused by the coal industry and pharmaceutical companies. My goal with this project therefore was to integrate Appalachian folklore with real-life economic and public health issues, examining how stereotypes or "myths" can twist a reality and how they originated in the first place. My goal with this fellowship research is to raise awareness of Appalachia’s struggles through storytelling and to use folktales and childhood stories as tools to shift readers' perceptions of the culture which my family came from.