The Wanderer of New Hope may be fact or it may simply be a part of the folklore of the Carolina Piedmont.
Folklore is difficult to analyze with most of the tales being word of mouth versions of local legends based upon everything from the sincere belief in witchcraft held by some valley settlers, to a need to entertain the children with an exciting yarn.
Many of these tales could be the product of some overactive imagination or, just be exaggerations of perfectly ordinary events embellished over time in the telling.
Other stories are harder to explain away. Have you heard the story of The Wanderer of New Hope?