Seem to recall that in Lost in America, Bill Bryson talks about a shunned (by the local Appalachians) population of “white people who have the appearance of black people” of unknown and mysterious origin. He claimed a reporter from TIME was shot in Sneedville for asking too many questions about this population. Was he serious? I can’t recall the name he used, but it began with M. Anyone know anything about this?
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/Melungeon/1996-06/0836144972
Didn’t even read it. Just cut and paste.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?query=melungeon&forumchoice=-1&booleanand=yes&searchin=all&searchdate=-1&searchuser=&exactname=yes&action=dosearch&getdaily=&pagenum= is a list of threads that have the word “melungeon” in them.
Go for it.