(Photo: Contributed/Experience Cades Cove)

If you were to get married, would you discuss remarrying if one person died? Some people have. Many that I know forbid their partners to remarry, while others encourage it. But not many have restrictions like Mavis Estep.
Coming from the Smoky Mountains, there is a legend that comes from Cades Cove regarding a woman by the name of Mavis Estep, who had a strong phobia of being struck by lightning.
Like most women did in older times, Mavis was a quilter and used anything to make a quilt, including the shirts of her husband, Basil. From these shirts (and a spat) came the Cussing Cover.
But lightning didn’t kill Mavis; illness did. Before she died, she told her husband that he was welcome to remarry on the conditions that her quilts never be sold or place on a metal bed.
It’s a weird request, but when fear goes that deep, there must be a reason. When Basil remarried a woman named Trulie, he started playing with electricity.
The two bought a metal bed.
And one night, when Trulie awoke from the cold, she grabbed the cussing cover and returned to bed.
Perhaps it was Mavis. Maybe she had been right all along.
Suffice to say, when lightning struck the bed, Basil Estep did not have time to consider his actions before he died. Luckily the rest of his house remained unharmed, despite being made primarily of wood.
It’s probably best to keep your promises…
This story comes from the Pigeon Forge official website, and contains a multitude of others from the same region.

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