He spoke a local language[clarification needed] before he learned English, and became an adopted son of a powerful chief whose vision Dr Wellman restored.

First World Fantasy Awards (NY: Doubleday, 1977, p. 253), Wellman's "ancestry reaches back through the Confederate South to colonial Virginia, with the potent infusion of Gascon French and American Indian."

Randolf took Wellman on trips through the Arkansas Ozarks, learning folk traditions and meeting the secluded people of the American back country.

Alfred Bester described meeting Wellman in about 1939: "Mort Weisinger introduced me to the informal luncheon gatherings of the working science fiction authors of the late thirties...

At this time, when Wellman was living in New York, Weird Tales published numerous stories based on three of his most famous characters: Judge Pursuivant, John Thunstone, and Professor Nathan Enderby.

Huge of frame, an epicure, an authority on the occult, Pursuivant strides forth from his reclusive home in West Virginia to confront evil wherever it appears.

Armed with potent charms and a silver swordcane, Thunstone stalks supernatural perils in the posh night clubs and seedy hotels of New York, or in backwater towns lost in the countryside-- seeking out deadly sorcery as a hunter pursues a man-killer beast.

[2] The lesser-known character Professor Nathan Enderby is a "slender savant and unassuming authority on the supernatural, aided by his sharp wits and his Chinese servant, Quong.

His cabin in rural Pennsylvania is a retreat from the frenetic social life of New York City – and a fortress against the powers of black magic.

Amongst Wellman's writer friends during the Weird Tales years were Malcolm Jameson, Seabury Quinn, Henry Kuttner, and Otto Binder.

[12] In 1946 Wellman won the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Award over William Faulkner for his Native American detective tale "A Star for a Warrior".

Faulkner indignantly wrote to the editors of the magazine, proclaiming that he was the father of the French literary movement and the most important American writer in Europe.

There he immersed himself in American southern mountain folklore and history, becoming an expert on the Civil War and the historic regions and peoples of the Old South.

Such books, drawn from his rich knowledge of Southern history, include the critically acclaimed account of the great steamboat race between the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez.

At age 82, on June 15, 1985, Wellman suffered a serious fall and sustained severe fractures of his left elbow and shoulder which made him an invalid.

Due to the onset of gangrene in his legs following double amputation, Wellman's health failed further and he died at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on April 5, 1986.

[15] Before his death he had been able to finish his historical novel Cahena about a medieval African warrior princess (see Kahina), published in 1986, and the final John the Balladeer short story "Where Did She Wander?".

[1] The agent for his literary estate was his friend, the writer and editor Karl Edward Wagner, who edited the posthumous collections Valley So Low: Southern Mountain Stories and John the Balladeer.

A benefit auction was held for Wellman's widow Frances, arranged by Southern fans Beth Gwinn and Sheri Morton, which raised $28,300 in funds.

Lovecraft and Fritz Leiber, a coin from Mel Brooks and the shirt which Ellison wore while writing his story "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes".

Additionally, the progressive bluegrass band, The Dixie Bee-Liners, recorded an original song inspired by the Silver John stories titled "Yellow-Haired Girl" on their 2008 album "RIPE."

Larroes Catch Meddlers: Adapted for television for Lights Out as "The Meddlers", aired 7 July 1951 Director: Unknown Screenwriter: Douglas Wood Gibson, Richard E Davis Starring: John Carradine, E G Marshall, Dan Morgan School for the Unspeakable: Adapted for television for Lights Out as "The School for the Unspeakable", aired 7 January 1952 Director: Unknown Screenwriter: Richard E Davis Starring: Donald Buka, Don Hanmer, Leon Tokatyan, Dick Kallman, Maurice Kenney, Jason Jonson, John Gerstad, Harold Webster The Valley Was Still: Adapted for television for The Twilight Zone as "Still Valley," aired 24 November 1961 Director: James Sheldon Screenwriter: Rod Serling Starring: Gary Merrill (Paradine), Vaughn Taylor (Old Man), Ben Cooper (Dauger), Addison Myers (Sentry); Mark Tapscott (Lieutenant), Jack Mann (Mallory) The Devil is Not Mocked: Adapted for television for Night Gallery, aired 27 October 1971 Director: Gene Kearney Screenwriter: Gene Kearney Starring: Helmut Dantine (General), Francis Lederer (Master), Hank Brandt (Kranz) Rouse Him Not: Adapted for TV for Monsters, aired December 1988 Director: Mark Shostrom Writer: Michael Parry Starring: Laraine Newman, Terrance Evans and Alex Cord as John Thunstone.

Millen); Harris Yulin (Zebulon Yandro); Alfred Ryder (O J Onselm); Chester Jones (Uncle Anansi); Val Avery (Cobart); "White Lightnin'" (themselves); "Honor Hound" (himself).

School for the Unspeakable (on audiotape with Unfortunate Obsession by Matthew Costello) Brilliance Corp 1997 Up Under the Roof 2010 short film (35mm, 20 minutes) Producer: Danielle Stallings and Darin Read Director: Darin Read Screenwriter: Danielle Stallings and Darin Read Starring: Jonathan Milliken, Shawnna Youngquist, Geoff Elliot, Jill Hill, Vince Froio, Alice Taylor and voice of Greg Finley Based on Wellman's short story entitled "Up Under the Roof" Karl Edward Wagner referred to him as "the dean of fantasy writers.