What comes to mind when you think of North Carolina history? Is it Sir Walter Raleigh, Guilford Courthouse and the Wright Brothers? Or do you think of sea monsters, drunken geese, hitchhiking alligators and a boy with "America" spelled out in his eyes?

Throughout its 350-year past, North Carolina has been the site of a vast number of famous historical events. But the history of the Tar Heel State doesn't stop there. Just beyond what's well-known, written about and taught lies a second history, a Tar Heel treasure trove of fascinating characters and extraordinary events that have for decades gone untold or been forgotten. Until now.

In this enthralling new book, Roger Kammerer and Tom Painter have compiled a collection of stories on North Carolina history sure to befuddle, baffle and bemuse even lifelong residents. Who knew that a man in Currituck County once traded his wife and two children for a fishing net? Or that the town of Rich Square once counted among its residents a 1,000-pound man? Or that a world champion fiddler from Asheville once fiddled at the White House for the president and King George VI? Or, better yet, that oysters with false teeth were once hauled up from the waters off Morehead City?

Forgotten Tales of North Carolina is an incomparable collection of outrageous historic stories that will delight Tar Heels across the state, newcomers and natives alike.