The Way I Heard It: Tales of the Big Bend

by Walter Fulcher

Book Overview

The folklore of Texas' Big Bend region was still in the making during Walter Fulcher's lifetime. Born in Lampasas County in 1887, he worked on the Martin Ranch near Sheffield when a young man. There he witnessed events in the last outlaw activities of the Black Jack Ketchum gang.

He also listened to legends told almost as gossip, and some of the legendary figures were still alive--or said to be alive, usually in hiding. In every village there...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292790279
• ISBN13: 9780292790278
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 113 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The Way I Heard It: Tales of the Big Bend

For all of the people who lived in the Ojinaga Chihuahua, Presidio, Texas Chihuahuan Desert is a must to read. I am a sixth generation from the Chihuahuan desert and always wondered what of the many places names came from. Not to mention that the ones I knew matches the stories told for generations in my family. The Flotte - Spencer. Now, I have a better understanding of my culture and grass roots. Great Job! Great Book but I guess only the people who was raised in the Chihuahuan desert will understand the authenticity and originality of the ways the book is being written. I can't be more real than that.

Talk of the region

As the author says, these are stories he heard, not researched investigations. Fulcher spent his entire life in the area, resident in Terlingua. He heard some stories from Anglos, some from Mexicans, about mines, legendary figures, place names, etc. They are occasionally touchstoned on other, published accounts, but the author is just as skeptical of print as he is of speech, an excellent attitude, it seems to me. The book is short, not much more than 100 pages, and seems to have been written down by 1950. This is a good introduction to the kind of stories that used to circulate in this country. An amateur's work, but not less useful or enjoyable for that reason.