One thing to be aware of when it comes to us traditional Appalachians is that we come from a long line of storytellers. It is our heritage. This means you rarely get just straight facts within any story we’re relating to you. We do use actual truth to create the overall structure for our tales, but then also weave in lots of exaggeration, superstition, fantasy, boasting, lore, and outright fabrications. This is part of the joy of it all.
This might create a situation at times where modern listeners could feel disappointed, or lied to, if finding out that certain details of a story were not completely true. (People desperately WANT to believe, for example, that Daniel Boone really did all of the legendary, impossible things that he is reported to have done. But on some level, we all know that in reality, a lot of those stories are founded on something real that happened, but then exaggerated.)
An example of me pulling this dirty trick on all of you can be seen in Ep 172 Horrifying BIGFOOT ...
Is it worth the trouble carrying one of these on a miles long foot journey through the backcountry? It depends. Sometimes it is worth the trouble, sometimes it ain’t. In my opinion so much of a question like this depends on what other luxuries you’re taking. Taking this lantern usually means foregoing some other luxury.
