The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com.  The interview begins with Willie Prather singing an unnamed hymn. She then discusses her childhood, starting with how she picked cotton as a child and competed with her sister to pick the most. Next, Prather tells a story about the long walk from her childhood home to the school house, and then talks about making her own clothes. After a brief distortion in the audio (4:50-6:25), Prather discusses premonitions and witchcraft. Prather then tells two stories about her fear of snakes. Next, Prather describes attending Christian church camp meetings as a child (13:04), and she sings a song entitled Someday, which she sang with members of her Sunday school at these meetings. Prather concludes the interview by talking about how she sings better when her daughter Ruth accompanies her on the piano, and begins to discuss her brother who died but the ending of the recording cuts her off.  Willie Prather (1890-1969) was born in Jackson, Georgia, and grew up on a farm. She moved to Atlanta as an adult. Larry Moore, William Kitchens, Wayne Franks, Donnie Long, Buddy Summers, Terry Denmark, Pat Karas, Allen Frey, Debbie Smith, Wanda Biffington, Margaret Reese, and Jacquelyn Reid attended Ed S. Cook Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia. Additional biographical information for the interviewees and J. Leff has not been determined.  J' " AHC Oral History Cataloging Worksheet File Information Catalogue number }v\S'S 100'6. 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(LOC subject headinos onlY) Keywords Burrison, John Personal names See subject who for additional names 3 Corporate 81 :;, c"j,,"" ~'Ie , St.\,,,.,:\ names Geographic locations . Topics CD-\~" .("',k,,,,6/ 5<-he".' I,k 4'A. .(,~" f\ Ii';'\f'\',,<) f"q""ty t'-"A>tJ"t;.,.~.} \ lj. \"l/\'Gv ;, ~I!\'G') (f<J,l S'\i.\r;/.':. (j"Wly  f:!At~j jA'/)/I1() /(-t,ctJ~I/Yl./. {yc./ / (/ 90 TRANSCl1l1}T (about one quarter of the tape at the beginning is blank) Me: Do you think you can remember that song now, and sing it? Mrs. Prather: Yes I can. Mrs. Prather: Oh I love to walk with Jesus, like the Publicans(?) of old When he gathered them about him and the glad tidin's of the message tole' (?) How he came to bring delivrance to the captains in distress Take away our every burden , givin' perfect peace and rest. lewill follow, where he leadtth 1 will pasture where he feedith l.will follow, all the way lord, I will follow Jesus everyday. Oh, sometimes I walk with Jesus in that land of endless days, V1hen my j a lu'ney here is over and I reach my home to stay-- Then I'll walk with him forever sing his praises ~re'and are' Laugh and shout when ever I tell him, that I love him more and more. Iwill follow, where he leadith, I will p,,,\';~,,,'f<;L, where he feedi th, Iwill follow, all the w~y lord, I will follow Jesus all the way. Mrs Prather: That's one of my lovely songs. Me: That's very pretty. Mrs. Prather: I love it. We won d'banner with that one an' that other n  Me: 'rhat's very pretty. Jim: Do you Imovi any old stories? Me: You know some old timey stories? Jiml About like your husbands brother Uncle John used to tell: Remember any of those old stories? About like when the wind came in blowin' so hard One day  j'lrs. Prather: I just can't remember any of  urn right novi. Me: Jim says that you used to pick cotton. Mrs. Prather: Yea, I used t' pick a latta cotton. I' d pick as high as three hundred pounds a day. l~e and my sister would race against each other and see Which one could. pick and she'd alWays beat me. She could I pick over three hundred. and l!d get so mad til I nearly crieli, And it just tickled her so much that she'd say. Well you know you could never beat me at doin' anything and you don't need to ever try. And I just gr0l1ed up thinkin~ well I knNI I can and so finally she say well someday I'm gone let you beat me just cause you feel so bad about it. But she says you know you couldn't beat me and I'd say well just give me time and I will. I'll finally make it, the best andthen in the / time. Oh, when fall of the year we'd have the cotton was put in the big ole' barn waitin' for two or three bales to be AQ~~ take to the gin, I'd go out on Sunday afternoon after we oome from Churoh and I'd get in one of them bins whar'that cotton wa:, stored and Ii'd get me a good ole' magazine or .book and I'd lay there in that Gatton and read all kinda' good il'lterestin' books and magazines and we'd taken a lot of papers and we enjoyed our papers very much. And I had t.o go through a big woods to go to sohool. A.nd I walked four miles one year to go to sohool. Four miles there and four miles baok and then when we moved away from there I moved olose to sohool. I had to go through a big body of woods to get to the sohool house and so one day I got lost in them woods. I didn't know where 1 was, I just got turned around and it take me two hours (1 think it was about two hours for I got found where I wa~; it soared me near to death and I just thought , Well why'd I get lost but Inever did know. But supposing somebody'd come along they couldria just taken me anywhere because I didn't even know where I WaS. I'd been (7) less than I s 'pose I W'S about four or filTe blocl[s from my home but I was lost, He: Oh no! Jim: How much they pay you to pick cotton? lVIrs. Prather: Uh, in the fall of the year we'd pick our cotton and we'd go and uh and pick cotton I}"h for other peoplerforty cents a hundred. That's all we got forty cents a hundred  .Jim: So if ,you picked three hundred pounds you'd get a tlallar 'and, 'twenty cents. Mrs. Prather: Thats right. Jim: Didn't your father help you some? Mrs Prather: Oh yeah, that's right and I'd make my own clothes. I'd buy material and I'd make my own clothes, I was a seamstress. I halTe a dress now in my trunk that I made when I was a young girl. It's just beautJ.ful. It's made out of embroidery and it's just lovely. I still have that dress. (from this point until she talks about halTing premonitions the tape is blanR and distorted) Mrs. Prather: . Dr. told her, say@ 'now she'll always be able to fortell ~vents and she will be have premoni tions in.. her Ii fe which will fortella latta things that will oome to her or her loved ones and so I had a lot of 'um, I had a premonition when I was just a young girl that my sister'~Ekhusband would be killed instantly, well it oame to pass. I had a vision uh m~sister INas dressed in white with her little three year old son aDd he was killed the next day. Me; What kind of things do you have to do to keep the witohes away? (Previously she had told me that witohes "oame to ya' " and that she had onoe rented a room to a man who swore that the witohes orawled up and down the walls at night) Mrs. Prather: You oan't. They say they ain't nothin,': in the world you kin do. Me: You oan't? There's nothing you oan do to make them go away? Mrs. Prather: They's no way in the world. Of oourse as I Said a few minutes ago its hard to outlive the way you vias taught when you WaS a IiI' infant ohild. Illmean as far baok as yOll Oan remember~~~ Whether they's still ... but a lotta people st.ill'sI'l.Ys they's witches in the world, and that they can bewitch you and cause you to do as they say do. But now I don'T; know. I'm not practicin' witchcraft atall. Me: Ever heard anybody that S:3-W a wirch or talked about  Mrs. Prather: Well yes I heard a lot of people who said they saw 'um and that they came to um 9,nd talked to 'um But they never have to me. So I don't practice preachin' any witchcraft and not doin' it now. But I'm just tellin' you what these things have come about in my life, that I know I do have premonitions that I do know I can fortell ~vents and I have done it a many a time and I'leven knowed  the spirit came to me before my Daddy died and told me when he'd die. And the spirit came to me and told me when my husband would die and how he would die. And everyone of urn came just like that. Now that wasn't no Witch that was"the deVine revalatton from G"-d because I was endowed. With that ability before I was born and I was born with that ability and I still have that. Me: Okay. Thank you. Jim: Tell us about your sistoI' and the coffee pot. Mrs Prather: Oh yes, uh ~was lih uh when my sister was uh born uh she only weighed uh uh a little over two pounds. Me: Uh huh. Mrs. Prather: And she was a very tiny little baby, uh When I came along. Cause I was the youngest of all seven children as I said and uh when she was grown she agravated me one day and when she did I heard my mother said that when she uh my sister, was born that she could have put her in a coffeepot. ,... Me: She could have . Mrs. Prather: I heard my mother say she could have she was so tiny, and so when I got to be about eight or nine years old Maybe not quite that old why my sister agravated me one day and I look her ltn the face and I says well Mama said she could have put you in the poffeepot and I wished she hadda put you in n'ar and a boiled you till you died. Me: Oh my! Mrs Prather; And when my sister never did get over that and when me and her WaS older people and married and raised a family she never did forget that and she'd tell me about that a lotta times, she'd say that hurt me worse than an~thing anybody ever said to me and I'd say ,~ell I can't hep1,it I was just a little biddy girl and I didn't know. ",no better and I can't J:Jh If ask you to forgive me cause(I~know no better, but you shouldn't of never uh uh thought that thEJt was wrong. And also another terrible experienoe I had, also when I waS  aft(er I I'J"S married we lived outin 7 in the country and always did live in the country until a few years ago. ao one day"uh I heard mY'. little girl a hollerin' and screamin' aut in the backyard. Sa I broke to runl.andl was very uh strong and uh and I could really get about and so \qhen I heard her I screamed and the baok door steps just had one step and I went out there and I had raised a little runt pig and he was a pretty good sized pig  ???? and so I had fried chicken for dinner and I~d give Ruth a piece of fried chicken {.~she run oui t~ere and got in her little wagon and this pig smelt that chicken .. he run up and grabbed chioken hEmd and all and I taken the broom or the brush broom or the yard broom or somethin' to beat him, I had to nearly kill him before he'd tur1her hand aloose. That like to scared me to death and she still remembers that. And that same house that house we lived at one day I sta~ted to walk out doors and I just looked down and there was a highland ~gcson snake just fixin' to leap on me and I jumped in the air and jumped over him  Couldn't jump baok in cause I' d done gone too fer. I just jumped over the snake and run got a hoe and killed him and thenci>ll'ren I was a little girl we lived in a big log oabin. Just oalled a mansion nearly but was made outta logs and it was beautiful and it had a double story and I went up in the double story part a lot of times to play with my dolls and one day I was up there and a huge blaok snake, he was about five feet long, he was just laying out on that big beam up there and I run told l'1ama and she came up there and she taken somethin' and killed him. I have a lotta experiences like that you know out in the oountry. Iused to ketoh these little tiny lizzards when we'd be pickin ootton. Little tiny lizzards and my sister the same one about the ooffeepot) she was soared of um I to death and I wasn't. I d piok um up and start toward her and she' dstart screamin' and hollerin ','ariel beggin' for meroy"and I wouldn't pay a bit attention I'd just keep a runnin' and she'd have to keep a runnin' and outrlm me and just had all kind of fun like that we'd just agravate each other. We didn't aim to do it through meanness but we just liked it. We didn't have no television, no radio, no high-fi nothin' We d.idn' t have 110 automobiles. vie didn't have much. But I loved to piece quilts. I'd piece a lotta qUilts. I had fifty when I married. Me: My goodnessl Mrs. Prather: Beautiful ones. j~e: Jim says you used to go to the old camp meetings. Mrs. Prather: Oh yes, I'd. go to camp meetings and. we'd. get in our big old. d.ouble  (?)I hitched. two horses or two mules to a big wagon and we'd. put straw in that wagon and.~e'd. get a wagon-a~~ we'd. get a bunch of girls and boys and ladies and men and we'd go as high as fifteen miles tqthese big camp ground. meetings where they had shottnin' (?) and. you know just really hard down shottnin' (?) and all kind.a beautiful songs. Me: Do you remember any of the songs? Mrs. Prather: We'd sing all kinda pretty songs and then we'd have ... our Sunday school would. have these big celebrations called singing conventions and our Sunday sohool would. go and we won two of the banners and you know I would like-;to if you and. Jim don~t mind to let me sing a little bit of one of them songs that  Me: I'd love it Jim: Yeal Mrs. Prather:  That I sung . uh that I helped sing The name of it is "Some Day" is the name of one oL.um. ! (\ , I dan t sing very well beoause my v1\i'p\3e is nearly gone. Some day the olouds,will pass away for ever Someday when we get home Someday with jay we'llimeet our blessed savior 7 Someday when we get home Oh the joys are waiting!.~hthe songs are singing " Someday when we get home I will tell the story of our savior~ glory Somc,day when we get home Mrs. Prather: I just love that. We won the banner one year on that. Me: Do you remember any other ones? Mrs Prather: We won the banner on one other one that was so pretty but I don't know much of that one  (She now talks about how she can sing much bettor when her daughter Ruth plays the piano) Jim: Tell us about your brothers. Mrs. Prather:  ( TellS about her brother who died) 10 Collecting Project-- English 301 My collecting was done on May 13,1968 and May 14,1968. The children are from Ed S. Cook Elementary Sohool on Memorial Drive in Atlanta. Twuclasses of ohildren participated. Mrs. Strikland's sixth grade and Mrs. Harris's seventh grade. Only William Kitchens, Wayne Franks and Donnie Long.~-J,o."Mrs. Harris I s class were recorded on my tape. On May 13 the children were asked to write down stories whioh were told to them but whioh they did not hear on T.V. or read from a book. On May 14 those stories which I felt were useful I had the children repeat into the recorder. Some of the children knew more stories (other than what they had written down the day before) so they contributed them also. Except for the last four stories the children had no audience when their stories were being recor,ied. The b8.okground noises are those of other children in the halls and traffic in the street. The MaJority of the ohildren are from the nearby housing project Capitol Homes and the nearby area, The ohildren in order of their appearanoe on the tapel (Some of the stories the ohildren said had no titles) BUddy Summers- Bloody Bones Terry Denmark- Bloody Bon~ .~lliLB~K-yed~ Pat Karas- Allen Frey- Debbie Smith- Bloody ~.S! illliLthe Sandwioh, Wanda BUffington- T~ Animals's Storx Margret Reese- Ghost Sir~ lVlargret Reese- Jaoquelyn Reid- !b& Ghost ~ Walked Jaoquelyn Reiei- The II/oman vlhQ. Diein' t LiKe People Larry ~Ioore- The Main l!.111- Childrens game performed by Aggie (4th grader) and Margret William Kitohens- The first of two stories his Unole told him William Kitohens- Seoond of the stories Wayne Franks- !b& Golden Arm Donnie Long- The ohildren were asked to ~ITite on their papers who told them the story. In my own opinion \rl1lliam Kitohens is the best story teller and he would be good to oolleot from some more. Me: Testing ... Testing . BUddy: Bloody Bones waS 1~ this basement n' then Me: Talk nioe and loud and olear. Buddy:  the mother oome down there n ' she saw J 'um an 'n got ~ ~ said~ I'm gonna eat yOLl, so she run back .r:o:J:.ko} C! I" the~sister 'n the sister come down thar'n say the same thing, so the sister run b'30k!n got the brother, went down n1,air 'n said the same thing so the brother come back 'n got the little baby 'n the baby went down n'air 'n Bloody Bones says, "I'm gonna eat chu (you) .. 'n baby ... n' baby says I'm gonna bloody your bones if .you2.dnn t get outta here. Terry: One time this famly oame back um from the show and the father went upstairs an uh halfwaY:i upstairs, to turn on the hawl (ha!i:t) light 'n somen' said, "bloody bones and black-eyed peas" an'" so he oame down 'n tole the mother to go up n' i'-+l!.w!'-!~ there the mother went" n' somrn' said, "broody bones an black-e1ted peas" an so he went down n' tole the brother to go up there and the brother went half~laY an sompn' say, "bloody bones and blaok-eyed peas" an so he come down an tole his sister to go up there. Sister went halfway 'n sompn' said "bloody bones and black-eyed peas" 'n so he tole the baby to go up there 'n the baby went all the way up there 'n somethin' said, "bloody bones and blacl{-eyed peas" 'n the baby said) II I I 11 bloody ,your bones n black your peas" (Pat began to tell this story but then decided that she couldn't retell it without reading off her paper that she had written the day before) Pat: Once upon a time there were some people who lived in the fortest. In a little house there were five people. One night one of the youngest daughters went out into the fortest for a walk an she heard somethin'  (Here I turned off the recorder and she began to read the story from her paper)  once upon a time there were some people who lived in a forrest. In a little house there were five people. One night one of the youngest daughters decide  decided to take a walk in ~he forrest. While she was in the forrest she heard something like a bCl:by crying, She listened very close and she did hear a baby crying, 3 !o')(,she was too scared to see what it was so she ran home as fast as she could. WHen mournin' came she went downstairs to eat breakfast but no one was there Everybody had gone . went somewhere. So the next night the mother went into the forrest to gather wood for the fare(fire) While she was there she heard somethin' so she went to see what it was. There in the middle of the forrest was a cradle but it was rockin' an a sound of a baby crying. So she went over to the cradle but no baby w:;;:as in it. She carried home with her and sat it by the fareplace. But every night it cried and from thin on the crac1.le roc!{ed and a sound of a baby cried. Me: Go ahead Allenl (he read this from his paper~ My grandfather was in his house when a tornado J)j'L came, it took the whole house 'ceptlone room, ~ the room my grandfather was in. l~e: OK Debbie: Once there were 3 ~mean some bears . Once they was some bears they had the Papa bear, Mother bear, Brother bear, Sister bear) Baby bear. 'n one n"ght LI their light wadn't own(on) . one night their basement light was own an ~10ther bear ast Pappa bear to go downsta,irs a.n turn it off an Pappa bear went 100 downstairs an heard somethin say "b,~~dy bones and sandwich" so he went back up  he went back up an tole the Mother bear go down. a.n:J!1e heard somethin' say "bloody bones an sandwich"  she hear somethin' say bloody bones and sandwich so she went back up an she tole Brother bea~ to go down and put the light off 'n he heard somethin' say \ \bloody bones and sanwich" . he went bacit up an tole the mother  brother sister bear t' go turn it off Sister bear heard somethin' say "bloody bones and sandwich" so sister bear went to baby bear to turn it off an baby bear heard somethin' say "bilioOdy bones and sandwich" but he said you take the bloddy bones an I'll take the sandWich. Wanda: The name of my story is the animal story. There was a brown horse stand on a heel and all the other horses were asleep. So this horse  the brown horse, saw a cowboy was comin' across th' road, so he ran back to the other horses, all come up(?) n' the cowboy ran after den and When he get annoyed nj] t\,ilJfil) they n' the horses ran over the hill and the cowboy went back home. So when dey went home theyH'Jt n' then they rest for a lill while and the horse still runnin  the horse still runnin'  and the cowboy came back an they.an they say.they chase"um but they didn' fine ~um thas all. Me: Thank you MeIDK, Go ahead. Margretl Once upon a time there was a little girl i\Y'\VS an she live in a haunted house when she went to bed she heard a noise and she and went to knock on her mothers door and she asted her and she said "I heard a noise, it sound like a ghost" An her motheI' went back in her room an she heard~ she hurrd,,( hurried) downstairs to see was it in the kitchen e.n she didn't see any than' an when she came back in the  a  in her house in the little girls room  she . she uh saw a red coat hanging in the winda. Margret: I knocked on the ghost doe(door) Iwent up the ghost stairways, I went down the ghost hawl) I knocked.  I went in the ghost bedroom I turned on I the ghost light, Ilaid in the ghost bed an I saw a ghost, ghostl Jaoky, Onoe upon a time there live a man who live up on top of the heel (hill) where every night  he'd come down to the village to see the people so the people soared of him because he was a ghost, an they never did believe in ghosts. So one day this stranger came to this town, he',sat i,on the poroh every night, so one night this ghost noticed this stranger and say, "Hi stranger" an the stranger looked around didn't see nobody. He say "Hi"stranger" back. "Where are you?" He said "I am a ghost" The man say "a ghost? HELP" An he ran into the house' 'an then he . the next day he takes his ciothes and left so the man never did return again oause he had soared the ghost. JaolcYI The ti tIe of my story's the woman who didJ.1't like people. Onoe upon a time there live a woman who was a witoh. She did not like anybody cause they did not like her. So she said Who don't like her she gonna kill them, so she dress herself up like a princess an a queen and ast to be married,so on one marry her so she ast this man could she sleep there and he say yes so the next morning when they woke up they house was you turned around so he say t:))JJLfJ can spee~4:1g:ht here  well they  we  tonight cause we gon' spend the night visitin(?) So the next day When they come back they house was turned around. But , they say "you can t sleep here no moe(more) She say that was alright, she went back to her house an' put a spell upon the man so the man he went round killin' everybody  so this man he jumped in the lake so the alligator  so she made the alligator Gome out 'ter (there) now so den.~.when the alligator almost tore him \~~tr'~':yl70'wt~ir,;~~ '~:,:;t::1.. an he say yes so she made de alligator turn back around. N' so they's married in a kingdom palace( 7-,) an they live forever happy. Larry: Well once there was this man al mailman an a old woman 'n old man'N' old woman lived on a ,hill 'nit was real lonely 'n it was foggy an rainy. One night it was midnight, an every night at midnight the mailman would have to bring mail up to the top of the hill so that's i all the people know whats goin' on. So one night he had to come up the hill 'n give urn mail'n it was raining 'n foggy 'n cold outside 'n he only had one bycicle to get up ,  back down the hill 'n after seven o'clock no one else would come up 'n the mailman new nothin' about it so one night he came up to bring the mail up and then he came up an knocked on the door an they invited him in for coffee and he said"No Thanks" An he left an got.on his bycicle an"went down the street an the old woman and old man went inside ~he hous: an, they_t;,Wvf< heard a scream oin down the "';~8~~~t/ot:;l~h~~~" ". was so they waited until the mornin' came an then thE3Y "ent down the road an found the mailman in the ditch with his head cut offl , Ir,Cf, Game played by Aggie and Margret: (The two children stand ~acing each other and they hit each others hands and clap in time to the rythm of the game.) Head and shoulders baby one-two-three- (they touch their head and shoulders when they repeat the words and after each number they clap their own hands and then those of their partner) Head and shoulders baby one- two- three( Repeat motions above) Head and shoulders, head and shoulders, head and shoulders baby one- two - three- If {They touch their head and shoulders each time) Wrist and elbow baby one- two- three( they touch their wrist and elbow when they repeat the words and clap their hands as in the first verse) Wrist and elbow baby one- two- three( Repeat motions above) Wrist and elbow, wrist and elbow, wrist and elbow, baby one- two- three- (they touch their wrist and elbOW eachl; time they repeat the words; ~nd clap after numbers) Knee and ankle baby one- two- three- (they touch their knee and ankle as they repeat the wordsjand clap after the numbers) Knee and ankle baby one- two- three( repeat above motions) Knee and ankle, knee and ankle, knee and ankle, babY" one- two- three- (they touch their knee and ankle each time and continue to clap after they repeat the numbers) 'Round the world baby one- two- three( they move their hips around, continuing to clap after they repeat the numbers.) 'Round the world baby one- two- three( repeat above motions) 'Round the world, 'round the world, 'round the worilld,; baby one- two- three- (they continue to rotate their hips along with the words and to clap on the numbers) Jump the fence baby one- two- three( they jump off of the ground and clap on numbers) Jump the fence baby one- two- three( repeat above motions) In Jump the fence, jump the fence, jump the fence, baby one- two- three- (they jump up and down three times, and clap when they repeat the n~mbers) Kick the cow baby one- two- three( they make kicking motion with their right feet and clap on numbers) Kick the cow baby one- two- three( repeat above motions) Kick the cow, kick the cow, kick the cow, baby, one-two- three- (they continue to make kicking motion with the same feet each time they repeat the words and they continue to clap on numbers.) Head and shoulders, wrist and elbow, knee and ankle, round the world, jump"the fence, kick the cow, baby one- two- three- (they repeat the series of previous motions in each verse and clap on numbers) TESTING 1-2-'} , , ..:' Williaml Well, uh back in Alabama, see thas where I-,,'us livin' my Daddy, .. my Daddy he got kinda .. a .. "woozed up" alla time, he'd tell me some of 'ees stories, weU. one story a  about these army shoes walked in with nobody in!:um. Well.. um a  his mother 'n father had gone down workin' in a garden and my uncle an my Daddy's standin' by the farplace. Well, an the door d'open up just is perty is ya' please  uh perty as could be, couple army shoes just started walkin' in. \I Ey (he) looked at 'urn, my uncle he jumped out at door like a ghost or somethin'  My Daddy just stood there see, an these here army shoes they just turned around ~n walked into t'other room. Well 'bout that time my uncle got back from my  uh  his mother'n fathers. Well they looked allover the house an they never did find them shoes, never did see 'urn agin. Me I Go ahea!.- William: M'uncle , he us laying in th' bed and light  light was awf 'n he felt somen' hit him inna ches' well he reatched over 'n he got his flashlight n' shinted it up on his chest - a big 'ole snake laying up 'air, well he looked at the snake a little bit 'n he reatched over 'n got his shot!'Jun, laid de shotgun 'tween snakes eyes --shot th' snake.~n next mornin' he looked around to see where the snake came in couldn't find no place, said probably fell out the 10ft but wadn' t no place ',h), fallout. \~assen no cracks in th' roof. Wayne: The Golden Arm-- Once upon a time long ~ long ago there's this 'ole house up o~ a heel back in th' woods 'n it wasdvery dark, this lady each night when she went to bed she laid she had a golden arm  she laid it on the bed 'n, '"' one day she woke up 'n it wasn't there she hunned (hunted) an hunned for it but she never did git it. So one day she seen a man with a pure golden arm, thought it was hers. She thought she's gone git it back. She fought an!' fought for it, but never did git it back. 'rhe next day a man, the same man walked up an she never did try to git ~rjl,&- it back because she was~'cause he'd chopped off her head. Donnie: Back inna old days when Jessie James \' {} was livin therejs this ole saloon in this lil town n~ ever night at twelve o'clock or about two maybe. Nobody wondda (wanted to) go in cause they were skeered somethin' might gitum, cause everybody been sayin' stories 'bout people gettin' hurt 'n killed ~n ever thang, you know, and so on~ight they's in the bar drinkin' you know getting ready t' close up 'n the bartender tale this man about it and he says"1'll stay in n' air tonightl! 'n he said he'd give him a thousand dollars if \\- (I he would ya' know. So he said ~'ll stay in n'air \\ an so he said 1'ont (want) cha t' chain me up too. just to make sure if I get skairt I won't go home fr (Audience laughs) So he chained urn up and then when he chained urn up everybody was standin outside (?) W', everthing so they went to bed (I stopped the recorder here to remind Donnie not to draw the story out too much because the tape was right at the end) 'n the next mornin' ',rhen eiTerbody \'I-oke up , they heard somebody screamin' 'n they went in 'air then they had to go git the doctor 'n the doctor said that he died of old age. Ir! I Tllli FOLLeJvlING Ai'll'.: THE s'.rOlUl.'S (OHIGINAL) \'JRIT'rEN DOViN BY I: Hi,: CHI LDHEN. NOT ALL 01<' WHIcH APPBARED ON THE TAPE.  A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access.  Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions.  As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us in a position to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, and bias is reflected in our descriptions, which may not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materials accurately. Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment. We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created. Additionally, our work to use reparative language where Library of Congress subject terms are inaccurate and obsolete is ongoing. 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