Fascinating tales dredged from the swamps and bayous of Southwest Louisiana.

A century on, the twisted wreckage from the Ricohoc disaster smolders, passenger trains turned into husks amid predawn fog. Would-be assassins draw straws to determine who will take out Huey Long. And pickers stroll the banks of the Vemilion River during the heyday of the Spanish moss industry, plucking their livelihood from majestic oaks, many of which still stand. This strange country flummoxes Vermilion Parish pioneers and The Olive once again plies the waters of the Mermentau River. Author William Thibodeaux plumbs the historical record, breathing fresh life into the history of Acadiana.