William Austin (1778-1841) was an American author and lawyer, most notable as the creator of the Peter Rugg stories published in the New England Galaxy in 1824-1827. Austin's stories, constructed as long letters signed with the name Jonathan Dunwell, presented the Rugg story as a long-standing New England legend, about a strong and obstinate man who got lost in a thunderstorm in 1770 and wandered the roads ever afterwards. The stories were so popular and convincing they were readily accepted as a recounting of actual legend. Austin's original fiction was forgotten, and Peter Rugg became accepted as a figure of popular New England ghost tales.