Sylvia Ann Grider (born 1940) is an American folklorist, noted for her research into such topics as ghosts, child lore and the memorialization of tragic events.
[2] Through a Cabot Scholarship she attended the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with a BA in Latin in 1963 and then a MA in history (with a minor in classical civilization.)
[2] During her time at the University of Texas, Grider took part in an archaeological excavation of Corinth in Greece.
Grider later credited her time in Greece with inadvertently inspiring her interest in folklore, feeling that “the folktales and legends that the Greek workmen told were much more exciting...than the excavation”.
[2] Grider taught at N. R. Crozier Technical High School in Dallas before undertaking a Ph.D. at the Folklore Institute at Indiana University, which she completed in 1976.