Douglas Seiffert interview with Ann Seiffert, Thomas A. Sitton Sr., Sara Gladys Hodges Sitton, and Maryanne Downing

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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. In this interview Douglas Seiffert, Thomas (Tom) Sitton, Sara Gladys Hodges Sitton, and Ann Seiffert talk in Anns store, Anns Antiques. The group discusses which songs they can sing together, then Tom sings a few selections, including Over the Waves. Maryanne Downing interrupts the singing when she enters the store to shop for antiques, but stays as Sitton sings more songs, including The Wreck of 97, A Letter Edged in Black, My Wild Irish Rose, and I Left My Girl in the Mountain. Downing joins in to sing On Top of Old Smokey. After she leaves, the group sings a few more tunes, then shifts to storytelling. Sitton tells a number of stories about fox hunting in North Carolina, working for a power company with his brother, and when a doctor conducting an operation on him kept making jokes. He then tells an elaborate tale about renters finding a petrified body on his uncles farm and showing it around the country, despite spectators claiming that his uncle had planted it. He recalls some supernatural stories, including one about a man taking cover from rain in a graveyard and one about a neighbors magical ability to heal warts. Seiffert tells the group about her memories of hog killing on her grandfathers farm; then Sitton shares a time he saw a flying saucer with his grandfather. He closes the interview with a series of three more stories; one in which he saw a ghost in a church while riding by on horseback, one in which his grandfather found a rattlesnake in what later became Rattlesnake Springs, and one in which a copperhead snake bit him on the finger but whiskey and serum healed him. Thomas A. Sitton Sr. (1892-1978) was born to Thomas Dolphus Sitton (1855-1892) and Alta Elizabeth Johnson (1856-1915). He married Sara Gladys Hodges (1896-1990) on April 30, 1916, worked for many years at an electric plant, and died in Roswell, Georgia. She married Sara Gladys Hodges Sitton, who was born to Leo Mortimer Hodges (1864-1943) and Ann Victoria Thomas (1868-1939). They had two children: Ann Sitton and Thomas A. Sitton, Jr. (1922-2006). Maryanne Downing (1942-?) grew up in Missouri and later moved to Roswell, Georgia. Additional biographical information has not been determined. Persons present were j,'emSittllln (TS), Mrs. Sittllln (Mrs. s), my wife AIU1, and myself (D). A oustomer Who wandered in and sang two songs is identified parenthetioally bel~. Reoording speed was at 3 3/4 ips. Feotage looations of material on the tape is noted in the margin. Miner and irrelevant emissions are shQWn. ---. 065 'I'S Is that piokin' up what we're talkin' about? De you want to try a song ? Do yall knew this one 'i "Tears on my pillew eaoh merning I ory when I dream about you; When I sh0uld be sleeping and you (sio) lay there weeping Wondering if you're weeping teo; I'm trying Sill hard to fGrget you That's not so easy to do - A tear on my pillow eaoh morning, Tears that I shed ever you." Ya'll ever heard that? 080 TS "Over the Waves" now here.1s the way it goes, I knew Y8U've heard it. I don't know the words of it, but we used to play it, oh 60 years age, we used tGl play "OVer the Waves." This fellow, I remember his name, his name was Life Hodge, oh he oould really play that piece. Mrs. S MUst have been tram the mountains 'Diem THAT name. TS (Hums and strums guitar) Sure is a pretty piece on the violin. Well, ya'll suggest a song I oan't think of any eld GInes. D:l.d you find any en yeur list there 't PrAy old sengs ? D Yes, talked about "Sweet William and Little Margaret." TS I don!t know that. What is that Texas something you used to playa song, something about Texas, Old Uncle Nedoh, Red Rose of ~exas, What's that song ? TS "Yellow Rose of Texas" don't know it. D What about a song - itI S a sad song oalled "Orphan Girl" GIl' "No Home." TS I don't know that. -4- D There's a SCllng about Charles Guiteau. Ann Wreck of the Old 97 That~s a railroad song. 'l'S The Old 97... do you know~Jltl;} ? AnD. .1'10. do you ? TS Yep~ I used to play it and try to (Here a pert and. attractive brunette girl of about 25 burst inte the store. We later learned she is lYlaryanne vowning (Mrs.) and 'lives ill Raswell and habitually snoops after antiques.) TS What key do you sing ill? --- I only sing in Gne key and that's Whis-key ; 1ViADwng What are you playing ? TS Just anything we can think of we can't think of those old songs. Ann Play the wreck Qf the 97. TS Let's see ya'll help me. Do you know that Qne C( You sing that everybody that comes in. everybGdy CQmes in Why we make 'em sing. We don't, we don't pay very much fer it. ----- 107 'IS Let's see "They gave him his orders at Monr0e. Virginia. saying what if you're way behind time It's not for the A but it's aId 97 We must put her in Denver .(Danville ?) on time. He looked cross the boiler at his greaser bum sayin:i boy yeu shovel i.u the coal - Then When we cross that "hite Oak mountain we do ought te drive and roll. 'fhey were going dow.. grade makill' 90 miles an hour - whistle began tQ scream, hey found him in the wreok with his hand on the throttle, Re was soalded to death in the steam. Ii ------ There's another verse of it I dGn't know . what it was used to sing it about6t6> years ago 1 guess. IlS Ann Talking about railroads, what's the one about John Henry or easy Jones? TS Yeah Gasey Jones. I don't know the words to Gasey Jones. -5- 127 TS Let me see that harmonica, see tle(;see if I can play that. Love for you to hear that "OVer the Waves." l'Ieed that rack there. I know you'll recognize it if you hear it used to be the prettiest tune I ever heard. Mrs S There's some people ramblin' around out there. I d(m't know if they know anybooy's here or not TS 135 I guess they'll keep on a-ramblin' if they hear this (With a gleam of malicious delight in his eye) (Here MIt. Sitton played the harmonica and guitar simu1taneGlUs1y, playing "OVer the Waves.") TS It'd be pretty if I could play it. I can't play it. D Sounds good. ---- (Interrupted by customers) 164 TS My finger's so stiff I never could play much. "I was standing by a Window yesterday morning Without a thought or worry or of care I saw the postman cOlbin' down the pathway With such a happy smile and jaunty air. He rang the bell and whist1e4 While he waited And then he said good mornin i tQ yw Jake Little knew the sorrow that he brOB@ht :me \~en he handed me a letter edged in black." It goes on somethin' 'bout when he took the letter he recognized the handwritin' , it was from his dad, says come home your dear old mother's dead. It's a real, real sad song. I used to sing it,too. I've forgotten all those old songs -- some of 'em I know just a verse or two. D Wonder vthere that song comes from ? I TS I don't know. The name of it, thwgh, is IIA Letter Edged in Black." i 178 MA.Dwng Yw ever heard the original tune of "On Top of Old SmokW" ? Ann .L\IO, do you know it ? Uh huh. It goes like this. "On the top of Old Smokey all kivvered with snow I lost my true 1Qver by a-courtin' too slow. courtin' is a pleasure, partin' is grief, But an unconsciensed lover is worse than a thief. A thief will but rob you and take What you've saved While an unconsciensed lover will turn you to your grave. Your grave will but hide you and turn you to dust - i~ot one man in a thousand that a poor girl can trust." -6- (Mrs. Downing, a sophisticated c1311ege graduate, learned this tune from a music instructor. Wnile it may not be a true folk variant, I include it here since I had not heard it baf'are, and also because her trained voice is an interesting contrast WiIlth Mr. Sitton's singing style.) 218 MADwng This is one my mother sang. I tm sure you already have it. n 'Twas f'irst the card playing And then the hard drinking uot shot in the back And tis now f'or my grave - So beat the drum slowly And play the f'11'e lowly And play the death march As thw carry me on. n 268 TS I was tryint to think of' some of' the words to this "Blind Ohild" used to play that. 270 m This lady used to play the organ f'or us. We used to have sings up home when I was a youngster, you know. She's in the hospital now - she may be dead by now - she was unconscious up there last year when my brother and I went up there. And I saw her tbout two or three years ago, and I asked her if they still sing "The Two Little Playmates" and I hadntt thought of' that song in 30 yearsr I guess, but I kept on thinkin' about it, and I remembered 1.t. You want me to play it ? . DYes! TS "Two little playmates, a boy and a girl were playin' one day on the sand - Built a house of' party sea sheIla up to the tiny brown hand (?) - When it was f'inished, the work was well done, Two little hearts were made glad. The boy just like ene, gave a kick and did run, Down came the house on the salld. The girl f'or a moment stood shocked and surprised, Tears to her party eyes came, I'll never thank you, she solemnly cried, How could my Jack be so mean 1 " I hadn tt hadn't heard that song I just kept en thinkin t about it, and it came to me word f'or word, so I f'inally Let's see "My Wild Irish Rose" you know that don't you ? Alln & D TS Oh, yes : "MY wild Irish Rose, The sweetest f'lower that grows - They can search everywhere But none can compare With my wild Irish Rose. -7- TS (Hums and strums) the sweetest flower that grows tt I never could sing much... I used to sing in the (?), but I had a goiter operation, and I can't stt1g1O.i.t al~.new. I never could sing much. I can't reach the high notes. D Sounds good though. TS Let's. see Did you ever hear ttl Left My Girl In the Mountain" ? "I left 111Y girl in the mountain I left her standin' in the rain I went down to the depot I caught myself a midnight train I beat 111Y way to Georgia Landed in a gamblin' tGWn I got 1J1YSelf ill trouble Shot a county sheriff down ~he judge he read the verdict: Murder in the first degree - He said take this prisoner To the penitenn-shur-ree They took me to the station Put me au the fastest train Took me to Atlanta Tied me with a ball and cnain." D TS 320 TS 328 TS 341 TS Ann, D TS And there's another verse and it winds up "I'll never see my girl no more." A real oid song they used to sing it, you know, 50 years ago. I Just know a few words to some of 'em and I just lost em. But that "Blind Child" - I WQl!lld sure love to have that song. We used to sing it used to sing it When I was just a kid. I'll find it. I'd ~U~ to have it. (Plays a fragment of "Flowers on 111Y Grave:") (Hums and. plays "Whispering Hope") That's the purtiest thing. I just love that. There's another old ditty we used to sing - ya'll may be gettin' tired or this, if you do just say so. .NO, ne. "My momma. told me nGt lo~ agEl Bey don't you marry no gal you know She'll spend all yeur money wearin' her clethes What will becGllle of you, LGlrd only knows. IiIy gal's a daisy, I am the same She lives in a log house, I do the same My gal's a daisy, I am the same Lives iu a log house, Caroline'S her name." -- \ TS I used to have an aunt name af Caroline. She used tel come over tEl heme - their farm adjoined wrs, so she'd want me to sing her song called it her song. 365 Ann Oh, Frankie and Jo1J.mJy is a goed one. TS "Frankie and Johnny were pals, dum dee dumm dee dum dee dum " Is that the way it goes ? D That's it. TS (Plays and hums "Frankie and Johnny") 374 Ann There should be some old songs about dogs. TS Dogs? D Tllere's one about eld Blue. You kn$W that? TS Yeah, I believe I have heard about old Blue there. 379 - TS You ever fox hunt any ? D Bo. TS Well we used to fox hunt a lat up in Horth carolina, weeit NGrth Uarelina there. We never could catch the fox 'cause all these high mountains. You know, these fex had their dens ill these cliffs, and they begin to get tired they'd gel in thGse cliffs. !~ever did - scarcely never - did catch one, but we used to gG lots. We had a pack of hounds that was fast, they was fast hounds. And so my brother he bought a IiI ole hound from a feller up there. and he's usin' him te run rabbits,. he'd run a rabbit a sight race - he'd run so fast he couldn't catch him. Yeu know, he couldn't grab him, he'S runnin' se fast there. Se they decided to take him fox huntin, (me night, and that dog came in aheadrunnin' the fex - first -time he'd ever been fox huntin'. They didn't take him fer a long time. They said he'd run rabbit and bother the other dogs. Well, we had some English fox hounds, and those degs was fast. (Here we were stopped by a lady Who oame in wanting a washstand. I still believe Mr. Sittan had more of a story behind this reminiscence. but the m00d was gone and I oould not get him back into the SUbject 0f fex hunting. ) ------------- 405 TS -9- Is that tapin' here now? TS 420 TS 437 D D Yes sir. Speak about w0rkin' f0r the power company .My brother and I started to work fer this uentral GeGrgia power oompany dGWD. at J"acksen, Geergia - that was abeut 19 and 12, and they called it, they called this plant out there en the Oomulgee River, they called it the Big Dam. Everybody knew it by the Big Dam and so we was the enly Sittens in the cwnty, and so weld be workin' maybe in the office or sGlmethin' why somebGldy WGuld ~all and we'd just pick up the receiver and say "SittOA at the dam." So this lady says, "\'/hat did you say 'f" "I'm Sitten at the dam." She say, "I don't give a damn Where you're sittin'; Whe is'this talkin' ?" D That story has been picked up and breadcast all around, I guess. TS Well it's teld allover the United States, I think. They've tald it everyWhere (Here ~. Sitten was reluctant te get near the micropbene, thinking that his story might not be suitable fer recerd- 'ing. He was persuaded that it was alright.) I went tG the hospital to get this aperatioll, and so taey took me ints the fllperatin, room, and I was really scared, and I told the doctor - surgeon -when he came iA I says "Dectar, this my first operation n0W and I'm just as nerveus as I can be." And the doctor says "Well it's my first operation, toe." Says "I'm nervous tee." And after he got - did the operation, after I woke up he.teld me, said ".N0W yw can pay this bill just a little a m@nth, so muoh a month it yw want to." And I told him, I said "Well that's ~fida like buyin' a oar, isn't it?" And the deotor says n~hat's v~at I'mdoin'." D Hah: So ya' 11 were together (;)11 two things. TS Yeah. What was that great story you told me abeut SGlme fellClWs were digging a ditch, and they came on a toe re Oh yeah, yeah. That was Gn my uncle's farm. He had two farms and these people had been rentin' this farm fl1lr 20 or 30 years, I guess. So my uncle sent these eld fermer slaves ever there to - I believe they was the children of the slaves - sent these two c0l0red men ever there to ditoh out this swamp. Wanted to dry it up to where they oould hGle ? ,YCJu kn.oW. So there wasn't any rocks in there at all, S0 they're ditchin' along and one 0f the colored bQys hit somethin' hard >. "" -10- there with his shovel, and he lGoked d0wn and there lay a perfect tee, a big tee. Was c~ncrete,YQu knGW, leok like it was petrified, se they dug in the bank little bit and there was a perfect foot stickin' out there. So they jumped eut en the bank - scared ~em to death - so they run ever and teld the fellGW that lived en that' farm back there 'bout finding it. So they sent for my uncle, he lived abeut , eh seme five or six miles from there. So he came GIver and brought ropes and everything, you knew, to lift him aut. Se they dug him out, and he was as perfect a man as you ever saw. Leoked like he's abeut six feet tall, and weigh about 180 p(JUllds, and there was a hele - looked like a bullet hele - right ever his heart. Well, course it was Gut in the country, and the Whele cemmunity for miles around heard about it and came in to see him. Se my uncle carrie d him all ever the country and showed him, you knQW, and charged a dime te leok at hi m. Well then he sold, finally sold this petrified man - supposed te be a petrified man - for 3,500 dollars. Well the fellOW'd bcmght him then got suspicicms and theught it was a fraud, thought it some sculptor'd done this jeb and had put him in there yeu knew, and then had let 'em and accused my uncle of del ng this, and theught he.'d dig him up and claim he was a petrified man and get a let efmeney wt of h1m and but anyway he SGld him and he had a lawsuit abwt it. 1Jq uncle wGln it, so this fellow that bought him carried him out to valifernia there. I believe they had the World's Fair - didn't they have the Werld's Fair wt there once? OUt to Los Angeles or semeWhere? Anyway, he carried him Gut te .;alifornia there, Where they had something - big fair - geing on; and he fQWld five or six more out there just like him. D ALd he wound up in jail, didn't he ? 'l'S 1~Q, he didn't. My unole came clear. They tried te prGlve that my U#cle had put him in there and knew it was a sculptor jeb, and my uncle didrJ.'t knew anything abwt it. It looked like a real petrified man, and the soulptor that did that job he was per- fect, he cwldn't've made it. Impossible to make a more perfect man -chan it was. (Mr. Sitton had told me this story two weeks earlier, and in that telling the man in -.;alifornia is sent to jail Alse in the first telling, Mr. Sitton had expressed his GWn belief that the ebject really was a petrified man, While in this version he rather deubts it. ;l'he two colered men in this story were "niggers" in the earlier account. ) D There was a stary you were telling me abwt a man who ran under a canopy over a grave to get Glut or the rain, and another fellCDW came aleng You remember that? 'l'S I told you that one ? D Uk huh. 'l'S Ok yeah. That happened in Alabama. This fellow was, had walked ----~-- dewn to the store abcmt c0uple of miles, I guess, and going back home he had to go through the graveyard. Daok in those years. why they had a lot or just little oovers. little sheds over the graves - ycm know ? - and some of' em had the seat in there - yau could sit dewn. So this fellGW- it came up a quick summer shower - and se he just went in and set down there. And so. wadn't long till another fellow came along, and it was still raining so he decided he'd go in there, and just's he started to go in. this fellGW says, "Glod Evening. I"ome in :" Well it just scared that fellow near to death,and he took out runnin'. you knOW, and this fellow took aut after him, trying to tell him he wasn't a ghost: By golly, that actually happened over there in Alabama. D Did he ever catch him ? TS I don't know whether he did or not ... I doubt it: (Laughter) D TS D TS Yau were alsG telling me about your grandmother - I'm not sure who it was - who had a way of taking off warts. Oh yes. i~O, this was .Mrs. Hollingsworth - her farm joined aurs - and she took off warts from people. Just f'ar and near there. any- body had warts why they'd ol!)me to i>irs. Hollingsworth to get their warts taken off. And so I asked her one day - I was gettin' up pretty good size. I guess. 'bout 13 or 14 years old, I guess - and I asked her how she did that. And she.says, "Tom. if I tell you," says. "I can't take 'em off anymore. But says, "I'm gettin' Old," and says. "I'll tell ycm," and says, "then you can take !em off." Well I went for years, never thought anything more about it. Well my wife's first cousin had warts allover both hands. great big seed warts.you know. So she came up to the house one after- noon. and I said, "Good-.N!ss. you sure have a warts em your hands." She said, "Yes. I wiSh";I could get 'em taken ott." And I says, "You want me to take !em off?" Says, "uan you take' em eff ?" I says. "Yeah, I can take I~em off." . And so I did what this old lady told me to do. And she told me to go out, go ill the kitchel1 and cut off three little thin slices of fatback meat. and take'em out and raise arreckcnp and lay this meat under the rock and lay the rock right back the way you picked it up and don't let anybody see you. And so that.ls what I did. And that girl's up there in about two or three weeks, and she didn't have a wart on her hand. 1 was, it just w-.w& kno~ked me cold. i didn't have any idea it'd take 'em off, you know? But you know, then she asked me how I did it and I told her, and 1 never could take any more off, and .i. tried it on several people. Did you rub the fatback over her warts or anything o? ~o, I didn't touch it. Didn't touch her ? Didn't touch her at all. uh uh. -12- D Did you have to say anything '( TS I asked her, I says, "What's your name 'i" course I knew it, and and she told me. I says, "Be a good girl; mind your mother and father." I did that. And those warts came off of there. I never thought about this old lady tellln' me about after you told someone else, you couldn't take 'em off. I was sorry I did it 'cause I could'.ve left the thing Where I could've taken tem off. '. 571 Ann Seeing those horseshoes, did ya'll used to play horse- shoes When you were a boy ? TS Yeah i reokon so; Yeah, we used to play. There's a fellow lives over there next door to my son - Lowell Connor-he's the head of the safety department. Ya'11 oUght -to know Lowell ConnGr, you've read about him I know. He lives next dGor tCll my sClln, '1.'_ Jr., and I'll guarantee you that three times out of five that he'll ring that stake pitohin' horseshoes - beat anything I ever saw - and when it leaves his hand he'll tell you whether it's gonna ring Qr not - beats anything I ever saw. He used to be a baseball pitoher here. 1~at was way years ago. He's in the State Patrol. D I guess he's got an eduoated hand. TS Oh y~~h~ I guess that helps alright. D Baok in ~orth Carolina did they ever tell Irishman stories or Pat and Mike stories stories about stupid Irishmen or stupid somebodys pulling stupid trioks ? TS I don't know - probably did though. I don't remember hearing it. ----- 606 Ann You know, I can remember on my grandfather's farm the killing or the hogs, you know ? TS Yeah, we used to kill 'em. You oan remember that ? 611 632 TS TS ---- The way we did, we used to have a 55 gallon drum - was a wooden drum too~oause it leaked enough -1!.~ lb0V.,J.d pd.A~ ~"L little hole in the greund there, you knOWUl abouii r'ike thaf you see, about a 50 - 60 peroent angle, I guess. So we would heat the rooks - we'd build up a big fire, you kn0W, and put big rooks in there and heat 'em, and we'd put those rooks in that water and get it to soaldin', you know, and you had a pig right ready, you know to shove him in there his head first, and take him out and then turn him 'round and put him in there, and then you'd take the hair 01'1' of him, you see. If you had your water too hot, or left him in there too long, it would set that hair, and you'd liave a time gettin' it out. They tell about these flying sauoer things. This is some- thing that happened - 1 n~ver have understood it. My brother and ltd been over to my uncle's. It was across the creek there, our farm adjoined theirs. It was a big oak tree and i't cornered four farms, and it Vias on Boyston Creek was the name of this oreek. Well, we'd been over to my uncle's, and we want to possum huntin' up there on Forge Meuntain - that's the way this mountain got its name. My grandaddy Philip Sitton and this Philip Guillespy, you know, set up this forge and iron works there - and coming back it was a misting rain, and 'bout halfway up on that mountain it was a light going along, looked like it was going maybE4r"ll S"4r 25 to 30 miles an hour, and that mountain - you oould see for miles each way, you know, and that thing went out of sight. Looked like it was traveling about 20 to 30 miles an hour, and it was a light. You oould see it very v/ell. D You saw it ? I saw it, yes wondered What heven't you? sir. I've thought about that a lot of times it was. You've heard about jack-lanterns, I wonder if it'd been something like that. D TS How long ago was that ? .~ Oh that's been 60 years now, so I imagine I was .~ ' .. ago, I guess. I'm in my about 15 years old. 76th year Weird,wasn't it ? But that woman that he savi in a pulpit Mrs. S He's told me that a thousand times. 666 TS Oh yeah. I don't guess you'd want anything wasn't true. D Oh oome Cim. Who oares long as it's a story. -----I'd been to this party one night. It was summer and I started back home. I was riding a horse, horsebaok you know. Well I had to go by my old family graveyard, the eld highway went right by there, you know. So oame up a quick summer showerwell I just jumped off the horse and unheoked one rein and just Went in the little vestibule at the front there, you know. It wasn't IGlcked. Well, it was a-lightnin', it was lightnin! just every few minutes, and se I could see-"'N into the church, and I saw a woman -standin' up there in the pulpitL dressed in White. Well, just chills went all over me - J. didn't know Whether tQ run Qr holler - didn't knew what to dG. -dust stood there, you knew. And little bit ef lightnin' again and slll'd walked down out of the pulpit on to the floor. And I kept on standin' there thinkin' maybe she'd disappear - I'se satisfied it was a ghost. Well, in a little bit she's'beut halfWay out, (I) still stoGd there, 'freid to run. And so she finally got pretty olose to me. and I jumped out of the ohurch there and jumped eli the horse and that w@lll8.n jumped right on behind me ' Ann DOH! DOH! TS Well I went dOWn the road just as hard as that horse could --------------------------- mrs.S. gallop, and then just off and asked her, said "Just what in the name of the Lord are you here far 1" And she just disappeared! like that. (Sll8.ps fingers) I never knew what went mth her or anything. He's told me that ~' Lard knows how many times. Believe it 0r not ' .- (With a twinkle in his eyei (laughter in group) D That's a good tale. She went away when you said what ? TS TS I said, "What in the name or the Lord are you doing here ?" Tom, what about that one that Tom had told me he lived in a cate, and I thought really he did Uve in a cave up there : for a long time. TS Mrs.S. 1:'.., ,. Well don't you still think it? (with anger in his vote,) , _. t.~ell I don't kn.OW. Y.OU.OOU.ld've -. y.au look like a oave man. r .r~l~~oug-'e,J.ifaUil.ii-,-fa;ve... ,.U ~~.,'~ (There is probably a good yarn behind all this, but sinoe the matter appeared to be proveking ill feeling between the Sittons, I did not pursue it.) 711 TS We have some tall tales up there in western i'iorth Carolina in the mountains. My grandad, who used to raise a lot of oattle, and held take 'em back in the Paint Bed Mountains, and held leave 'em all summer. He'd go up every four or five weeks, you know, and cast salt for 'em and oheok up en -tem, see if they'g doing alright. So they'g a big spring up there - oh it's a regular big branch runsoff'n this spring - so .. had ferns growin' all around it. So my unole (sio) was thirsty, sa he just got dawn on his hands and knees thataway, you know, and just drink out Glf the spring that way, and as he raised up there'S a great big rattler layin' rignt above his head - 1'l8W this a true story - layin' right above his head and:. he's in hi~ co11, ready to strik~. Well, said grandaddy always ,carried a big - one of these squirrel -rifles with him! you know, se he eased back, you know, soared to death. So sa1d he leveled his rifle down en this snake and saidl. "Well, you had in your power to kill me -' yeu didn't do it." ::;aid, "!'lOW I've got in my power te kill you," and . says, "I'm gonr~ let .you live.!; Alldthat spring today is known as Rattlesnake Springs. ' It!s known in that area around there as Rattlesnake Springs. But I still think he was orazy. Don't you? J.~ot to kill that snake? D 738 I don.'t know ; it worked. (Mr~' Sitton relates a leng rambling acoount 01' hew a oQpper- head snake bit him on the finger, and 01' hew some serum and whiskey saved his life.) D What did people do abeut snakebites befere they had serum. ? Antiques in R8swell, Georgia) 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. 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