Reading Line: Fifteen Mind-Boggling Tales from the Show-Me StateWhy did a girl from a modest farming family end up becoming one of the main attractions at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair? By the time she turned sixteen, Ella Kate Ewing had surpassed her 6' 2" tall father; a few years later, she was rumored to be over eight feet tall. Labeled the "Missouri Giantess," Miss Ewing stood head and shoulders above others not only stature, but in character and compassion.What caused a single mother, along with her daughter and a friend, to simply vanish from her home in Springfield, Missouri, during the summer of 1992? A neighbor--who is currently serving a life sentence for another crime--confessed to killing the women but refuses to tell the police where he allegedly buried them. Meanwhile, police refuse to allow core samples to be taken from a parking garage where a ground-penetrating radar system showed some possible graves.How does a shipwrecked steamboat end up half a mile away from the river into which it sank--and 45 feet underground? Over a century after the Arabia sank in the Missouri River, a recovery team surprised one farmer when they found the ship under his cornfield. The over two hundred tons of incredibly well preserved cargo made salvaging the wreck undeniably worth the time and expense.From one of the world's largest earthquakes to an uncannily intelligent canine, Myths and Mysteries of Missouri makes history fun and pulls back the curtain on some of the state's most fascinating and compelling stories.Josh Young cultivates his home life at Long Creek Herb Farm in deep woods along the Missouri-Arkansas border, where he has garnered awards for a locally syndicated humor column.

Originally from New England, he describes the Ozark Mountain region where he lives as a journey back in time.