Tall Tales, Folklore and Fakelore

1 - Born John Chapman in 1774, he was an American pioneer nurseryman who became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, his great leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he portrayed.  

2 - Born November 2, 1734.  American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Died of natural causes September 26, 1820.  

3 - American soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the American state of Iowa), near LeClaire. He was one of the most colorful figures of the American Old West, and mostly famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes. Received the Medal of Honor in 1872.

4 - Mythological lumberjack who is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill. First documented in the work of U.S. journalist James MacGillivray in 1910. In 1916, as part of an advertising campaign for a logging company, advertisement writer William Laughead reworked the old logging tales into that of a giant lumberjack and gave birth to the modern legend, thereby making him a fakelore character.

5 - Celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is referred to in popular culture after the 1950s as “King of the Wild Frontier.” He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo.

6 - A figure in the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized. His nickname has inspired similar nicknames for men known for their daring in various fields.

7 - American folk hero, notable for having raced against a steam powered hammer and won, only to die in victory with his hammer in his hand. He has been the subject of numerous songs, stories, plays, and novels. He had a 20 pound hammer that he thought was light. He was 6 feet tall, and weighed about 200 pounds.

8 - Frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native American Indians. She is said to have been a woman who also exhibited kindness and compassion, especially to the sick and needy. This contrast helped to make her a famous and infamous frontier figure.

9 - American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee, who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). On April 30, 1900, he alone was killed when his passenger train, the "Cannonball Express," collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi, on a foggy and rainy night.
His dramatic death, trying to stop his train and save lives, made him a hero; he was immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the IC.

10 - He served the Russian military until 1750 and took part in two campaigns against the Ottoman Turks. Returning home, he told outrageously farfetched stories about his adventures and his astounding feats included riding cannonballs, travelling to the Moon, and escaping from a swamp by pulling himself up by his own hair.

11 - An American cowboy who was immortalized in numerous tall tales of the Old West during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. This fakelore stories, including one with him riding a tornado, were most likely invented by Edward O'Reilly in the early 20th Century.

12 - Hunter, trapper, fur trader, trailblazer, author, cartographer, and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the American West Coast and the Southwest during the 19th century. The first white man to travel overland from the Salt Lake frontier, the Colorado River, the Mohave Desert, and finally into California. Surviving three massacres and one bear mauling, his explorations and documented discoveries were highly significant in opening the American West to expansion by white settlers and cattlemen. An account of his death includes an encounter with 15-20 Comanches at the age of 32.

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