Jericho
Chronicle Notes
This chronicle takes place in the fictional town of Jericho, in Grey County.
Overview
Grey County
Grey County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,320, making it one of the least populated counties in the state. Its county seat is Jericho. Grey County is part of the Asheville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The county was formed in 1823 from parts of Buncombe County and Yancey County. It was named for James Grey, a Brigadier general out of Charlotte during the American Revolutionary War.
The county bloomed in population during the early 20th century because of a prosperous coal mine, however during the early 1950's the coal mine ran dry causing the population to dwindle in the years since.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 451 square miles (1,170 km2), of which 450 square miles (1,200 km2) is land and 1.9 square miles (4.9 km2) (0.4%) is water.
Grey County is located deep in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, and much of the county's terrain is rugged, heavily forested, and sparsely populated. The county's north-western border is with the State of Tennessee. Grey County's largest river is the Hawk River, which flows south-southwest through the county, first past the county seat of Jericho, then into Snakewater Swamp.
Broken Ridge National Park takes up a substantial portion of the counties land.
Jericho
Jericho is a town in and the county seat of Grey County, North Carolina, United States. Located in the Broken Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Jericho was the home of The Bethlam Psychiatric Hospital, one of the first in the US to be built, but was lost after a fire. Now the Bethlam Memorial Cemetery stands in its place. The population was 1,850 at the 2020 census.
The town is named after Jericho Thames, an influential figure in the history of the Baptist Faith during the early 19th century. Jericho Thames built a church in Grey County as an out reach to the population. That church still stands today as a historic location but is no longer a functioning church.
Locations
Legends and Lore
- Strange Things in them Hills: Folks been telling tales about Wi'a'catta, or Ol' Blackeyes as some call it, for as long as anyone can remember, and I don't recon that is going to change anytime soon. Wi'a'catta got as many shapes as folks telling the stories and no one really knows what it wants. My cousin swears to go Wi'a'catta lead him and his buddies out of Broken Ridge when they were just kids, but Mrs. Catternaw swears that Ol' Blackeyes ate her pawpaw. Everyone knows he was just a drunk and probably just ran off.
Culture
Life in Jericho from the outside would be marked by most as a simple one. It is a town where everyone knows everyone, the people who are born there rarely leave, and newcomers are almost unheard of. Because of this a network of influential families have sprung up and interwoven across the county, and very little happens with out it passing through the town gossips.
Grey County Public School provides education from kindergarten through 12th grade, and the most prominent sport in the area is Football. The Grey County Grimms have a long standing rivalry with the school just over statelines, The Blue Water Buccaneers.
Most people in the town make a living either through local retail work or through agricultural or husbandry work, however few people make significant money through this line of work. This means many in the county supplement their lives through hunting, fishing, and foraging. There is a tradition of bartering between local craftsmen and hunters for goods and services that have kept the relatively small and poor county alive.
Grey County receives some of the highest rates of government assistance in the US Southeast because of the large percentage of the population that lives in poverty.
Prominent Local Families
As Characters are approved more notable families will be added to this list
- The Cleary's
- The Horne's
- The Jones'
- The June's
- The Murphy's
- The Shelly's
- The Grey's
Insiders (From Here)
Through a strong sense of community and intermingling of family trees, Everyone in Grey County is kinfolk if you go far enough back. Like family the people of the hollar bicker and fight with the best of them, but they also support and look after each other as well. Even deep seated feuds might be put aside temporarily to find a lost child or deal with a troublemaking outsider.
Outsiders (Come Here)
Outsiders are generally distrusted by the people of Jericho. While they might get a healthy dose of Southern Hospitality they are rarely ever welcomed into the fold so to speak. Many of the locals blame Outsiders for the evils that have fallen over the county in the past, and so those that come to Jericho rarely stay for long. It isn't impossible for someone who is coming in to be accepted though if they are willing to work at befriending and ingratiating themselves to the local population.
Inspirational Media
- The Descent (Movie, 2005)
- The Blair Witch Project (Movie, 1999)
- The Mothman Prophecies (Movie, 2002)
- Deliverance (Movie, 1972)
- Brother, Ania Ahlborn (Novel, 2015)
- Appalachian Horror, Bo Chappell (Anthology, 2019)
- Revelator, Daryl Gregory (Novel, 2021)
- Outsiders (TV Show, 2016)
- Hemlock Grove (TV Show, 2013)
- Ozark (TV Show, 2013)
- The Old Gods Of Appalachia (Podcast)
- Lore: North Carolina Monsters (Podcast)
- Our Numinous Nature (Podcast)