Marcia Horne interview with Leola B. Turner, Harmon Deal, Helen Deal, E.W. Horne, M.L. Green, and L.E. Smith

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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. This interview begins with Harmon Deal and Helen Deal discussing Warwoman Dell and Screamery Mountain in North Georgia. Switching topics, Harmon Deal talks about how the moon affects farming. If planted on a new moon, corn will grow tall, but if planted on an old moon, your hogs will die; if you kill hogs on a new moon, the meat wont be greasy; and if you dig a post hole at the wrong time of the moon, there wont be enough dirt to fill it back up. Next, Deal describes his childhood and studying at a one-room schoolhouse that he attended in 1916. He and his classmates went to school between crop times, usually in six-week stretches; Deal guesses that he only attended school three months a year. In his free-time he would build Shoot-me-chutes, a sledding track slicked with axle grease and discarded meat skin, as well as swing on grapevines, slide down mountains, and explore the local creek. Deal then explains crop cycles and reminisces abouts how farmers were all friendly to each other. Helen talks about the Warm Closet, a way to store food during winter. Then, E.W. Horne recounts a miraculous story told to him by an African American man who worked with his father. When he was young, the man was so hungry that he split bullets in half to double their number. With these bullets he killed enough turkeys and deer in one night to last the winter. M.L Green switches the topic to superstitions. He calls fishing in the Omaha River Swamps and shares a story about a man who prayed for rain to help his crops but was struck and killed by lightning. Green also shares old superstitions about cows tails, digging wells, killing hogs, the weather, and killing deer. E.W. Horne and L.E. Smith share ghost stories. Toward the end of the interview, Smith narrates practical jokes played on farmers and shares illness remedies such as; cupin horn, spring pills, tea, Queen-of-the-Meadow, and snake-root. At the end he explains some superstitions, including how it is bad luck for a chicken to lay a small egg, to burn sassafras wood, and to break a mirror. At the conclusion of the interview, Smith claims that if a persons funeral is on a rainy day, they were sent to the bad place. Marcia Marie Horne (1945-?) lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and attended both Roosevelt High School and Georgia State College. Harmon Jesse Deal Junior (18861975) was born to Absolom P. Deal (19571927) and Mary Jane Deal (ne Boatright) (18601936). The family lived in Emanuel, Georgia. He married Dona Temperance Derriso (1898-?) and they had five children: Ruby G. (1913-1997), Grady L. (1914-1986), Grover Cleveland (1916-1999), Ira William (1918-2002), and Jewell Venell (1923-1996). He was a farmer and joined the United States Military during World War II. The family lived in Metter, Candler, Georgia. Helen Barber (ne Deal) (1925-2005) was born to James Virgil Deal (1989-1925) and Lottie May Hart (1908-1977) and was granddaughter to Harmon Jesse Deal, Jr.(1886-1975). She married Stewart Barber (1925-1988) and lived in Jenkins, Georgia. Ernest Walton Horne, Jr. (1914-1979) was born to Earnest Walton Horne, Sr. (1888-1933) and Della Caroline Horne (ne Pascoe) (1890-1961). He had two children with his wife, Jewell Lorene Horne (ne Adams) (1917-1977), and lived in Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked as a tool dresser. In 1940 he joined the United States Army. Maruice L Green (1903-?) married Cecile Green (1910-?) and lived in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1917 he enlisted in the United States Army. Dr. Lester Elisha Smith (1896-1974) was born to William B. Smith (1870-1950) and Roxie A. Smith (ne Debord) (1877-1958) in Gwinnett, Georgia. He married Leone Moon (1902-1986) and they had two children, Renva Leone (1927-2006) and L.E.(1929-?). The family lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and Smith traveled across the state to preach. Lovers Leap; Swamps -------------------------------------------_. - - "My eduoation was limited. but Ah was always willin' to give what Ah had. On a rainy day, Ah was lookin' an' hopin dat Ah wouldn't have many students. Ah had sixty reoorded. Oft times Ah would have to oall de adde vanCe grades to hep me teach. Ah would assign to themtmiddle grades, prob'ly the foth and fifth. But Ah always ohoose de beginner because dey had a lot of curosity as well as Ah. Ah love ohildren. hav", always loved them, shall always love 'em. Ah love humanity beyond words. Ah ask God each day to hep me to do His will. An den it's so clos", in keen Ah ask Him to make me purh (pure). If someone do a wrong to me. it hurts indeed. But God said vinyan (vengeance) was His; Ah do not want vinyan. Ah ask Him to hep me to forgive. De malice Ah see on de streets everyday it hurts, indeed it does. When Ah See our race cryin. an we",pin an have saying dat de whit~ race ~ don", us a wrong. it might be true in some instanoe, but in other instano~. dey dun us a lot of good. My ~st fri~nds are among de white race as well as de oolor... Ah don't know my color, Beoaus~ de vh ite and de black all do me good. "But now goin' back to sohool, an de time dat Ah was teaohin' on a rainy day, a rainy day at sohool. All d~ ohillun would be dare an sometime dey'd bring their little sisters and brothers. An Ah'd wond"r what would .~h do with ail of dem dat day. So Ah would r"lview. An den Ah would ~~nt all of them to hep me. too. De one's could sing, We would sing until we would sing aroun with de ones that oould lead. Dey oould aDvsys sing better dan Ah. d" stori~s. An An d~n d~ on~ who kn~ good stories to tell dey would tell den d~ ~~::r dat could draw. we would let them draw. An to yo supris"l some of dem little oountry boys could draw an automobile. just really draw an automible an a few minits, and many other objects. Also, they oould just take their kniv9s with" big pieoe of pin" bark and oarve out a oano" befo you oould say almos soat. An it jus suprisin to you what -tilYle a little oountry boy oan do if you will only cherish him an giv" him hi, i. "'Now for the great part we would have a spellin b",e.Line up ev"rybody dat think they oan spell. Pronouno", your word befo an aft",rwards. An th" longest one stands, would get a surprise. An after the spelling bee is it woull/ over, probrlyflast all de morning, we would take dose words and work em up. W,,11. We found sum MW words an w" put em in our notebook and work "m up an aft"r that we gone have arithmatio. C"rtinly we oannot work arithmatio unl" ss w" know our numbers. An on my board Ah had on two sid"s Ah had numb"rs from on" to a hundred. An on the other side Ah had all the alphabets. An if w" had som"one in sohool who didn't know d"y ABC's or didn't know dey numbers we r"'ferred to th" numbers on de board. b"oause We wanted "v",rybody in dar" to know and have de materials whioh w" thought they would n""d to work with. You oannot build a word without th" l"tters. and you oannot work arithmatio unless you know your numbers. An dat one-teaoher sohoolroom was jus a pleasur" for those ohildr"n and me. An, Ah don't know. Ah-Ah the only reason Ah stopped teaching was Ah didn't mak" "nough to support my fam'ly. But Ah do b"lieve that Ah was born to teach. An after my ohildr"n ar" grown Ah beg de day Ahrll go back to sohool agin." Marcia, "Would you t~ll us a 11ttl", bit about (uh) Warwoman Dal~? You w~r", tellin m~ som",thing about th,t. How did that g",t its na=?" Mr. Deal. "'V~ll. Ah really don't know what-what give Warwoman Dale its nam~. Some f",llow. the fir~ servic~ put that, I m~an. this give that a name. as far as I don't know about that part of it." H"len D~al. "Sh~ m",ans th~ warwoman,'" Mr, Deals "'Vell, that warwolll8.n was given from an Indian~. In was olden days the Indians _ in here. An women got into a fight,' my und~rstanding and th~y give it th~ Illl.llle of warw<Ill9.n," Marcia, "'Will you tell me abDut a mountain. I think you were. Mrs, D"al. about Soreamy Mountain," Mr. Deal, "Soreamery Mountain," Marcia, "Screamery Mountain," Mrs. Deal, "A wOlll8.n was lost th"re they said. an' scream"d all night an so they give it the name of Soreamery Mountain," Marcia, "That's right around here. isn't it? (laugh) Mrs, Deal, "'Yeah," , Marcia, "Right through the window, huh? Well, good. (uh). You were telling me a f"w minut~s ago about (uh) about when to plant crops," Mr, D"al, "'W"ll. you want plant your cor-( uh) your corn on new moon. if you do it'll grow tall," Marcia: nYeah.n Mr, Deal, "~arllll be a-stickin right straight up, Plant your corn on the old of the moon and (uh) kill your hogs on the old of the moon. If you kill em on a new moon meat puff up an you won't have no grease in it. If you dig a post hal.. at th.. wrong time of the moon why you won't have enough dirt to fill it back up." Marcia, "You didn't do that. huh? (laugh) Wrong tim", of the moonl (B..fore We turned on the tape record..r. I ask..d Mr. Deal if he had ever heard of this ~Postholen superstition. H.. answered. Yes. and said that just a few days before he had been digging a hole for the new gate post and hadn't had enough dirt to fill the hole back ,in.:.t the time of the he inoident, Sa had forgotten this particular superstition.) Would you tell us a little bit about the one-room school hous", that you went to, when you w..nt to school, an' (uh) what you studied, an' how they oarried it on?" Mr. Deal, "lYell, we start. (uh) I started to school in this partio'lar bildin' in-in 1916. Had one lard, one log cabin all the olasses wuz in that one oabin. And dey. I b'liev", they teaoh up to seventh grade. Dey call each class to come reoite de lessin we'd do our-writin' on de blackboard.(Pause) Marcia, "You-" Mrs. Deal: "Mama said some of '"m'd have just a reader, you know. oould afford to buy goods an sometimes they'd. they,d stay in the fourth r ..ad..,r maybe, said they'd have a certain reader theyed stay in the sa.me book a year or toIO." (,~. Deal, "Well, thats what they'd call 01' blue back speller. We didn't stUdy that blue back speller (mumble)." Maroia, "Well, you were sayin-- " Mr. Deall,"Well, arithmatic an' (uh) an' spelling an' gog-raphy about all we had at that time as far as studyin." Marcia, ~Yell. you were talkin' about ~",r- you went to school betw" en crop t illl'!s. When did-" Mr. Deal, "Yeah. we'd go-wh-about six weekS in spring of the year to 9 time plant tM crop and den got it planted we'd go back then agin, I mean. We wouldn't go back till we got it laid by, along up in July. Then then we'd go till about six weeks foder pullin' what dey called apple foder. Then wid-uh- get out then, git foder, whatever, hay or whatever git up an' then we'd go back six weeks till time to gather up crops. We goschool at dem days didn't go but three months a year." Marcia, ~Must be nice." ~ Mr. Deal: "Teacher, used to board at-at my daddy's house." Marcia: "Yeah. and tMy were paid by the county right." Mr. Deal: ~Paid by the county board." ot'+ Marcia: "Well, when you w",re young and you w",re El!Is of school you said on Sunday was when you usually got in any of your playing that you did." Mr. Deal: ~Vell. on. -yes, during uh- winter s",ason we'd git out in the woods an' play on grapevine swings and make slides and slide up and down mountains. Durin' summer time we stayedin the creek on Sunday most of tM time." Maroia: "You were talkin' about uh- what was it shootin-chutes or some- Mr. Deal:' "Shoot-meohut..s." Me roia: "Shoot- me- ohutes." - Mr. D"'al, "Called Shooter-me-chutes. Marcia, (laugh) "Vfhat's that? SIl'I_~t~._",z-_I_1;l;oo""s?" Mr. Deal: "Well. it would. we's -uh- take we'd call em scantlin' dey's just little 01' one by three's and we'd make a track on a slope an give it enough fall. And we'd make us a - a sled an git on dat track, An' grease with axel grease, ----- throwed away meat skin or whatever we could find to make it sliok, an git on those things and ride them and of course we'd have to tote our vehicle back up on the mountain to ride again (laugh)." Maroia: ~Vill you tell us about -uh- lover's l",ap down at Tallulla Falls. HOY1 did -uh- do you knaw anything about that?" It> Marcia: "Don't know anything about that at all? Mrs. D"al do you rememb"r anything about it?" Mrs. Deal: "No. I don't." Mr. Deal: "I've heard always heard it cal]"d lover's leap. but as far as details. I don't know." - Marcia, "You were telling us a little bit about how friendly every body was. an' about -uh-if scmebady got behind with the crops or something. that they would come help." Mr. Deal: "Well. if ye. got. family got sick. ~n' durin' crop time. why the n"ighbors went around and tend to his crops. Whatever the work was to do around the farm they take care of the person till he got able to a. c"i...... go back "",I rk. Neighbors. somebody in the community wanted to build a II house. th"y'd have a build hous" an wimen on a big spread. n log rais in' and man would go in an cut an haul an j"l' ~ would fix a. perpare meal for'em'. dinner? ~ put Marcia: "An that's what they got paid for their day's work." Mr. Deal. "That's right. That's all the pay they WAre lookin' for. An they. In the fall of the year they'd have corb shuckins. pile up a col"'le big heap a' corn. N"ighbors all _ in an shuck corn. G"t the corn all s .....drT II l: \ up then they. Somebody else. would call out another one. Put a big jug up in the top of it an who'd got the jug or the red "ar wnn th" prize. Mrs. Deal, ~oev"r got the red ear got a kiss. didn't they?" Mr. Deal, "V{ell. they got the prize." Mrs. D.,al, nOh. was that the prize? Jdr. Deal: "Got the Prize." Marcia: "V{ill you tell us a little bit about the stove an how they cooked stuff on that and about puttin it up in the warm cabinet or soemthing?" Mrs. Deal: "Warm loset." Maroia: "Warm ClosetZ" Mrs. Deal: "Always find bisoits an l..an meat an gravy a-sittin up th"r" an go in an "at any time of day. Go to the kitohin an ask for a',. pi"oe of bread, they'd pull it out an put the l"an meat between the biscit, wouldn't they?" Mr. Deal: "Back in those days old-timers houses that'd be the first ting'theY'd ask you, regardless what time day or night , w"s lIiilot when you went in if you'd had anything to eat. An if not, they always had enough there. -J..q;-)(~ I.. cKin prepared for 'yer to eat. Wadn't nothing likin about something to eat. People raised their own fbod, except-er-sugar an coffee an flour, most' 0+ "',o'people did raise their flour. As for as the meats and other vegetables corn. Whatever up in that, why, they raised their om.n Marcia: "An you were talkin' about how they ate in the wintertime." Mrs. D"al: "They'd -they'd haul up their cabbage an turnips(laugh) pa-patatas. They had somethin green an fresh out of the garden all winter. Th" dried fruits and beans they had, louse, they had somethin to cook and their homemade meat they didn't have to go to the store everyday." Marcia: ''What did you say. they hole up the!=r cabbage. What do you m"an by hole up?" Mrs. Deal. '~ell, they'd jus dig a deep hole. put strawaroynd it in there an -uh - an - uh-pile straw back over it an just hole up a heap$of dirt up over it." .pr'es~ Marcia: "And they stay'd ~, huh?" Mrs. Deal: "Stay'd fresh and firm. Didn't even freeze. Jus had a place _ little planktthat you'd pull out an jus reaoh in throug thar and pull out your v~g~tables. I've lived in that day." Maroia, "An you were t~llin -- ~xouse me, go on." Mr. D~al: "Rog-killi~ time, they'd kill - my daddy always kill /3 anywh~re from two to half dozen big hogs. he'J And they'd have a b,ig - ilAey'4 cook thelardc~~rend~rthe lard out in -outside in a big ole washpot, blaok washpot. We'd have good 01' cracklin bread." Marcia: "(laugh) My daddy talks abcut that still. You were taliin about -uh- What the houses were made out of. Mr. Deal. "They wer~ log,- hewed logs." They wer~ --" Marcia: "And they wer~ one room or had a sid~ room?" Mr. D",al: "Well, they'd have one room, one large room, what I gu",ss you'd oall the living room. We \'D.lld now. Then they'd have a side room fer a kitchin, maybe the kitchin. Th" used they kitohen and dinin tables all in the same room. Some of em - would have -uh- upstair in em. I slept upstairs in~. Snow would com~ thru on my bed. Track myself down the stairsteps ." LJhe~ Mrs. Deal: ~ ham and grits. Sm"ll that homade ham a-fryin." Marcia, "You did a lot of huntin, didn't you, or still do?" Mr. Deal: "Yes, we do a lot huntin. I hav~ six boys and they all big hunters. Some of us gits a de~r every year. Sometilll!l we have had as many I believe, three at one time." Maroia, "Thats good." Mr. Deal, "Turkey hunt, I turkey hunt a lot too." Mr. Horne: ~~ll. the colored fella that my daddy used to have go with him when he's s~ttin monuments. (clMrs throat) H... and my mother (uh) my daddy and my mother'd go off to ohurch or somethin they'd leave this Sa.l& 01 man, he'd stay there with us. an baby-sit with us. An h'!! Jil,e,;W that one ~~ time when he was young that times got real bad and they had a bad droughC an they couldn't make any crop, an so they all about to starv'!! to death. So he had an 01 shotgun an he had one 01 solid balfthat he could put in it an he d...cided he'd go off down there an see if he couldn't kill a rabbit or somethin and they'd ...at that an then they'd die. "So h~ took the shotgun an loaded it up with that 01 one solid ball an went off down in the woods. He got down (clears throat) in the woods and he look~d up in the 01 dead tree and there were seven turkesy settin on a limb and he got to trying to figure out how he's gone (huh) try to kill em all at on'!! shot an he heard a little noise in the bushes an he looked over there an there's a great big d...'!!r standin over there. So h... decided he'd kill the deer cause there's more meat in the deer. (clears throat) So th'!!n h'!! looked down at the foot de the tree that the turkey's sittin on an ther" , s an 01 ax down th"re. So h" sat the ax up wi th the blad" of' to him an shot th" edge ~ the blad'!! and split the bullet in half an half of it went over and kill.,d the deer and the othe~ew up side of the tree and split the limb and all the turkeys to'!!s were slipped in the limb. And then when the bullet went through the limb closed up on the turk.,y's toes and oaught em all. I' So h" climbed up on the (cl",ars throat) H., climbed up, on-on the tre", and killed all th'!! turkeys and dropp.,d them down an got down and had to go aoross the creek to kill-to g"t his deer. So he went ov",r there to get his deer, and (olears ~ throat) he had an 01 pair rubber boots on and /l /? had his britohes leg down in the boot. An when he got his deind got baok aoross the oreek, said liis britohes felt real heavy an he looked an he got in a brim bed an he had both britohes legs full of brim. "So he piled all that stuff in a pile an he oouldn't, he saw he wasn't goin to be able to carry it baok to the house. He skinned the deer, oause they'd done - all the old harness done rotted off his -off his wagon. So he skinned the d",er and took the hide baok up th,re and made him some harness and hook",d the mule to the wagon. went down and load",d all his stuff up on it and started baok to the house. An when he got to the house, why he looked around and his wagon hadn't even moved it uz so h"avy loaded an that gr",en deer hide j"'s stretoh",d an left the wagon dCl\1ll ther", in the woal s and the mul", was standin up th",re at th", house. So he - he was tir",d and he put the mule up, tied-tied him to the post there an went on in the house and said in a littl", bit he heard a wagon oomin up the road an he wondered who it was, An he looked out there an the sun had dried the deer hide an was pullin the wagon up th, road an got home and they had enough m",at to last I~ until they had a gOOd~in an got a garden in." Maroia, ftMr. Green, would you tell us a littl", bit about superstitions or _ oountry tal",s that you know?" Mr. Gre.,n, ,I Maroia, there's a tal", that you oan dig a post hol" at a o"rtain time of the moon and put a post in the hole an not have "nough dirt to fill the hole baok up aft",r you 'V" plaoe the post in it. " There's also - you oan plant oorn on - when dark nights and not have an the oorn will grow tall. An if you plant it on moonlight nights will not grow tall. "Your daddy and mys"'lf was dawn in the Omaha River Swamps on", time fishin an we run up on a turtle in the river. An w'" followed that turtle up the river. Sent one guy to the house after a rifle. An he -turtle turned an went off up the creek an we continued to follow him up there. An the turtle fol - was fillin the creek up with water h" was so big. If? Got the up behind the mill pond. dam Off mill pond. back"d the water up on 'k"J="~~aJ mill wheel. start",d to turnin backwards and . thr"" bush"ls of corn before w" could get him out." Mr. Horne: "r bet you she ain't got a prof",ssor up there that'll oatoh that 1" Mr. Horn,,: "My mother t"Us a story about tte fella that (uh) plant"d in a crop.o'oorn and when it got up (uh) pr"tty good. why. th"r" cam" a drough. an his crop began tc dry up an h", pray",d for rain. an "v"rybody prayed for rain an no rain came an so h" (uh) he got r ...al upset about it. of cours". oaU8e h~~sggoin lose his orop. So 'bout the time his oorn got r"ally (uh) past any good at all. why. the - ther" C9lll" a big cloud. And go;~ +0 he saw that it was~rain. but dey kn"w that it was goin to be too late to do ~ his orop any good. so he. slaves (uh) he oa11ed th"m all out. mad" go out an pull up "very bit of that corn. Said that if God wouldn't l"t it rain wh"n h" n"eded it. h", oertainly wasn't going to l"t God rain on it when it didn't n~ed it. I' So aft",. th"y got it all pull"d up. why- llh- h" w"nt back to the house and they had an 01' on" of th"m 01 olocks on the mantle pieo", and the clook was out of it. just the case. an he kept receipts an everything in th"re. An h" was in ther" mouthin about (uh) wlat he had done. an this 01 c100k case struck tw"lve times. So that made ',.,m mad an he ran out in th" yard. and just as he ran out in the yard lightin struck him and ki11",d him. That's it." /9 Mr. Green: ~Maroia. there's an 01 tale that farmers used to believe "'tt> i I quite a bit in that oows would have a hollow~. And. of oourse. the farmers would get the 01 oow by the tail and push-hold one part of it, and push it up and dawn an the joints in it would give an they would deoide to have a hollewl tail. They'd take a knife. split the tail. fill the hole full of salt an (uh) lamp-likin from a kersene lamp an wrap the thing up with a or pieoe of 01 bed sheet ~.some kind of a rag. An when it get well the oow supposed to been - tail was supposed to been well. an she'd start eaten better an givin more milk." There's another one that people}talkin about diggin wells, Out in the oountry. And (uh) they would want to know where to dig the well. And theres a lot of people had the belief that they oould take a staff or a pieoe of peaohtr"", limb and make a staff out of it and hold eaoh end of it and when they would walk oVer the ground where the vmter was the nearest top of the ground that the thing would buokle down. And that'd be an indioation as to where they were supposed to dig the well at. "Maroia, there's another one that people beli",vM in !.ri~kil.lihg rogs an (uh) my daddy always believed in it. Ii':yo~3kBl hogs on .. oertain time of the moon that when you're renderin lard tblt the hog would-that you'd get more lard from the hog y When the moon was at a oertain atage.than you oould in others. He was a firm beli..ver in this. an even regardless of haw oold the weather was 0' how rl'~hT' -the we"i-Jle.r 1<.>,,5/ he wouldn't kill hogs UJil ...ss the moon WaS in the position m ioh he killed hogs. "ltlaroill. talkin about the weather. there's an 01 sayin that when the oorn husk is heavy that we'll have a rough winter. .. Or when the fur on animals is heavy that we'll have a rough winter. This y"'ir was all indioation in th.. world that we would have a rough winter. but We haven't. An I don't know how muoh truth oould be put into this. We killed d..er this year that the hair was heavy on th" hid" and th"r" was a h.,avy fat und.,rn"ath th" skin or-or "ith.,r th" hid" an (uh) th" corn husk b"in h.,avy this y.,ar. An th" squirr"ls has put in a h.,avy supply of nuts an acorns this tim". An so far as th" signs, or th" indications was that w" w"r" to hav" had a rough wint.,r. An most of th" country has had it with th" .,xc"ption of Jm.yb" th" south.,astern stat"s which has b"en fortunat., "nough not to hav.. it." Mr. Horne, "Th.,r,,'s a lot of d""r sup.,rstions. (uh) Of cours" th" tradition is th" first d""r you kill, th.,y wash yourfac" in the blood. And if you miss on" they cut your shirt-tail off. I'v" b., ..n involv"d in that on sev.,ral occasions from both ends. The fact of business som"body's got a film som..wher" of cuttin my shirt-tail off, I wish I could get my ';:'1 hands on. (uh)" Mr. Gr".,n, "Th" good part- th" good part about it though that w~n I was - the first one I killed th"r" wasn't anybody thQr" to blood my fac" and I hadn't ev"r missed on"." (laught"r) Mr. Horn", "Th.,r,,'s a lot of stories about (clears throat) Po' folks g"tting scar,,') g"ttin the buck-eggar. I know one tim" w" wer" down in South Georgia huntin and this felle. b.,en down ther" s"ven, eight or ten y"ars an hadn't got a shot. ~~.vOne day w.. ceJlle in at diIUll'!r and th., man that ~q$t{h" place had been down doing th" drivin. goin with t):., dogs. tryiIl to run d"er by th" hunters. accus"d this r"lla of leavin his stand. Fella said. "No. sir'. I didn't l.,ave my stand." Said, "Well, you must hav" because;' says. "Iran a big buck right over your stand an if you'd beenti1"re you could've killed it." And ~ said. "W"lll: said. "I didn't leave IIlBh stand. "said. "That doer And said, "IV",ll, why didn't you kill h~?n H", said, "Jus tell you the truth. Mr. Parker," only thing I could think of was nOh, Lord. don't let it s~e mel'" (laught",r) Mr. Horne: "This is a ghost story. (uh) A friend of mine and I were - had a little 01 plumbing job and we d~c1ded to fabricate som", of the cast iron that wtis)1down at the shop on", night, So we could put it in on the following w",.,kend Without (uh) havin to put it together on the job. ~cr "w", had all of th., material dawn at th., shop. An it was a bright moonlight night an just as still as it could be, wadn't a breath of air stirrin at all. An we were in th., shop assemblin this cast iron pipe an had two bundl",s of iron water pipe layin out in the driveway, in a gravel drive. An whil., we w.,re workin in the shop, why, we heard somethin draggin off a bundle of that water pipe. An I h..ard it a bout th", same tim"l my friend heard it. An I looked at him an he looked at me and I said, "What was that"? And :;-t<?d..Jt''l~ h", said, "Som",body's stsliR that water pipel" \ - . I So we both grabbed up a pieoe of pipe an ran out there in the yard and the water pipe was layin th"r" just as still as it ever was, and th., moon was shinin just as bright as day an there wadn't a breath of air or nothin. An so w.. d..cided we'd heard things and we went back an started to work. An we hadn't start",d to work good an we h..ard it again. An said, "Somebody, -is steaiin that water pipel." An we went out there a second tilr... an w" don't know till yet what happened, but it oertainly sounded like that pipe was goin down the driv",way and it hadn't be"n mov",d. An there wadn't any wind blowin an there wadn't anything movin, So. ghost or no ghost. I still think som",thin was out there," -.7 / ,. Dr. Smith: "This particular incident hap!'"ned down in Harris County, near a little town named Shiloh. There were five men who grew up in this town all of them prominent men. They all came back sometime durin' August each year at the same time. This particular incident happened on a cloudy)cool. August afternoon. The youngest of the five boys really was sufferin with tuberculosis, about six feet .tall. very thin. dressed in a light palm beach suit. walked out baok of the Baptist ohurch to one of the loneiest lookin cemeteries you've ever , SMn. It'was in a bawl-shaped place with trees all around three sides of it, most of them oovered with muskindine vines. an -uh- honey-suckle vines. The other side of the oemetery had a wire fenoe and it w as covered with honeysuokle vines. This partioular man had walked out there -uh- just for a little d ,'sf~ nee exercise. The church.was baok from the road quite a ~S~&ie and there was a path that out through and cut off about a quarter of a mile. Most people walkin' used the path. The pa th went betwt'!en the oemetery and the ohurch. This particular man saw a Negro boy coming up that path from a spring, and he dt'!cided he would -uh- have a 11ttle fun with the boy. so he went -uh- iil the oemetery an lay d'lJiIlll on a marble slab. An just as the boy got even -uh- with where he was in the ce~tery. he rose up and started rubbing his eyes. and asked the bci>y, "Hey. boyl" -uh- "Can you tell me where I oan get a drink of water. I been in this grave twenty-five years without a drop." J>..nd he said that -uh- the boy pointed back over his shoulder and mumbled somethinl An h.... saw that he had frightened the boy more than he really intended to. -uh- and he hollered at him and told him to stop; but that _de bad matters VlOrse. Uh- He lit out for town. h1411 Had a gallon glass jug w~th a handle on it in his hand and the _ mo met him as he mmt into the little town. said all that was left of the jug was just the handle and the neok. He ran right into them. And they asked hila what was the trouble, , H", said. "Boss. that grave yard over yon",r's op",n. An th",m dead folks A4 orawlin out beggin for water." "And he turned around and pointed baok an saw this man oanin. And the man that related to me part of the story said he just said. "01>00." and lit out down f"'n~lly the road just as fast as he oould go. They ~y caught him. But. he was almost frightened to death. Ahd it took quite a bit of explainin to oonvinoe him that it was a livin man in plaoe of a dead man. "Ah- another inoident happened in this general canmunity. Arter the farmers had laid their creps by. this partioular man decid",d he's shell him a bushel of corn. put it on a mul~s back. get on there with it. ~n go about five miles o~r in the country to a old-fashioned. water mill an have some good meal ground. So o on th" way back. it clme up one of those quiok summer thunder-clouds just as he was approac bin the Methodist Church. with a c.,metery on the other side of the road, He knew that if th" rain caught him. it would get his meal wet and ruin part of if if not mMt of it. He couldn't get in the church. it was locked. So oross the road in th" cemetery -uh- there were a number of ~re.ves with neatly built little houses over the grav"s. Uh- he just w"nt up and crawled in one of these little hous"s. out of the rain. A Negro boy about 15 years old with his bushel of meal on a mUleL back was right behind him. And it waS dark. thrunderin. lightenin. beginnin to rain already an this man. without any intention of fright"ning the l,,,gro boy. holl"red at him as he got - u!J.- even with the oemetery. and said. ''Hey. boyl Tie your mule to a saplin. bring your meal and oome up here and crawl in with lIll! 1" Of course. the Negro thought that -uh- it was one of the dead man-er- dead persons a hollerin at him. And the man that related the stoxy to me - 00- said I . that th~ ij~gro boy reaohed aver and caught the In1:!le around the neok, and started whippin it wi th a st iok that he red in his hand. and down the road, 1/ He thought -uh- no more of it muoh, So later on in the afternoon he saw the dootor pass. JI..nd as country people ofen did. when the doctor oame back by, they stopped him and asked him who was si ok and what the t rouble was. And the dootor stopped and calhd the !b'egro boy by name and said. uh- "I don't knaw what's wrong with him;' Said. "He doesn't Seem to have muoh temperature. but, "he said, " he~s out 'of his head and Seems to be scared nearly to death." And the ""!n that related the story to me and was a part of the story said, ''V{~ll. I know what's wrong with iilin." The doctor said, "'Well. I wish you'd tell me." JI..nd then he told him the experienoe. And the doctor tcld him said, "Well, you frightened him almost to death." Marcia: "Are both of these supposed to be true?" Dr. Smith: "Both of them are absolutely true." (Pause) "This Particular inoidetlt happened-Qh- fifty years ago or more down in the lower edge of Gwinnet County. A new girl had moved into the community frcm another neighborhood and, of oourse. all the teen-agers were interested in her. This partioular teen-ager -uh- had a date wi th her one night. Didn't have a buggy, before the days of automobiles, So he rode one of his fathers mules. r.e tuAS And the mule had the bad habit of ohewin the tie-rein that ~ 1>& hitohed with ir~ and goin back home. So, -uh- this young man had a chain in the place of a leather rein to tie the mule to the hitchin post. An -uh- aft.,r the date was over, ah- he unhitched the mule ,put the t ie-ohain in his pocket and headed for home, rather frightened ~<\Y}~ he passed right olose C e. /Yl e 1Q.Q/ .' to a big oountry cn t I Y with a lot of -uh- marble monuments. And, he told me e-e /7/'1o-fo-r-V the story himself. He said it was about three miles from the aems &Fy home, on4 UL"'':t.k~ aM he said when he got just about even with the $_ . he heard somebody or somethin or other walking behind him. And he said he -uh- amtched the mule a little bit and the mule -uh- increased its pace, and whatever it was behind him increased its pace. -uh- increased its pace. And the fatter he went the faster whatever this was --~._~-- And he said (clears throat) that he bent OVer as far I I as he could and was expectin every moment for somethin to grab him. And he finally got the mule runnin just as i'ist as it could run. And this, whatever it was, -uh- Was follerin. the faster he went, the faster it came. He could ~ Rear it behind him. And as he approached home. he wondered what in the world was he going to do. because he just knew that when he stopped T{hat ever it was would grab him. And he said the mule (clears throat) ran right up to the locked fence and stopped dead still. And when he stopped. whatever it was behind him stopped also. An he realized that the noise was the tie chain that he had in his -uh- pooket. And that he d idn' t notice -uh- that it rattled a G"I>1 (l +c r 'f . bit until he got close to the _,9"9' an his fright caused him to not ice the noise of the chain. And th" faster the mule traveled the faster the chain rattl"d. And he told me that -uh- it almost frightened him to death. And you can easily imagined that it did. "Ah. Another incident that I have remembered with a lot of interest through the years. MY uncle in Gilmer County. along with many other inter"sting stories. told me this. H" and a number of other tMn-age boys roved the country pulling practical jokes on on" after another. Many of the people in Gilmer County at that time did most of their tradin It at Dalton. Ga. About 20 miles away. And this particular farmer -uh- had accumulated a numer of things-uh- that h,,'d take to market- some country cur"d ham. -ah- some -ah- beans. eh- some chestnuts and chinkapins. uh- half a wagon load of North Ga. -uh- cabbage. An in order to get started early the next morning because it would take a couple of days to make the trip to Dalton. he loaded his wagon. and got up early in the morning long before daylight. went out and fed his little mountain mules and -uh- wife got up and prepared his breakfast. and some food for him to eat on the way. And -uh- before daylight he went out and caught his mul"s. put the gear on. Went out to hitch to the wagon and the wagon was gone. And -uh- he went down the road lookin 'II\. One direcfion.., } 41> -JAe.. r~J(zd lookJi,.~ in the other direction. and decided that somebody during the night had stold his wagon with his load of produce that he was d"pendin on to sell and get suppli"s for -uh- the winter and the next Spring. -uh- He was very aggra.vated. very irritated. Ready to caUSe the third person trouble that -uh- had done it. And th"s" young men. or three of them in particular. -ah was watchin. And -uh- finally he,went back in the house an waited until daylight and -uh- tried to look up the road and down the ro"ad to See if h.., could see the tracks of his wagon. And after he had searched in vain they came by and suggested to him: "We thought you were goin to Dal ton today." He said. "W",ll I was pUnning to go to Dalton. but somebody stole my wagon and my load of produce': They sympathized with h:Un. Said some rather,: harsh things about anybody that would steal a hard workin farmers -uh- wagon and load of produoe. :fqhl\. And durinf!!;)the night they hi.:d slipped and had ~ the wagon apart. unload" d the produce. The little barn was built on the side of a hill -uh- dug ",bout out on one side with a shed that wasn't mom than two f"",t ~ the bank. AnI they had put that wagon together on top of his barn, two wheels on one side and i two w~els on t~ other. And they had drug the wagon body up th!re, and put all his produoe baok in it. Well, when he saw what hhdyhappened he knew in reason that they were the oneS who did it. But, they ~lped him (olears throat) get it aDl down and he was delayed three or four hours in getting started to Dalton, -ahbut he didn't lose anything -didn't miss anything. "They were oontinually -uh- pulling some praotioal joke on -ah-the people who lived, not only in the inunediate neighborhood, but they travelled for miles, just to pull a praotioal joke. "A man livin in t~ neighborhood had developed typhoid fever early in the SUllIlller. The neighbors had gone in and wo rked his crop and they had done a good job of it. And when fall came along and time to pull foder and foder-pullin is pullin the long leaves of the corn -uh- tying them in little bundles and hAngin them up on the corn stalks to dry and when they're dry, tyin them in 'Tf-4,.. larger bundles, and usin -Hi- durin t~ wi nter -..lh- for feed for t~ mules or horses. (olears -Ah- when his foder was throat) Sot~e,;; -er-two ripe he still was not able -uh- to do any work, ring- leaders of the teenagers- er- got toget~ r an decided that -uh- in addition to pullin practical jokes that they ought to be useful -ah- when it was necessary. They got about a dozen of them together and slipped in there one night and pulled every blad" of his foder, tied it in little bundles -uh- hung it up on th" corn stalks. Man got up ('olears throat) the next morning, -uh- sittin by the winder and happened to look out an called his wife, and told her that sh!!'d better s"nd for the doctor. She want"d to know why. H" said, "Well, I-I~m fast gettin out of my head." He said,"Ifu seeing things that do not exist." Sh" 1J9.id, "Well, what do you se,,?" He said. "Well. I was lookin at that field of 00 rn late yesterday afternoon. \ 0.- >vi e'l-+'''- 1 h' 6 in the fact that the foder' s bumin up." And he said .'\ I looked out there now an I see every blade of it pulled. ,I And I know it couldn't have happened. She looked out the winder and said. "no. your're not selling things. It is pulled. Somebody must have slipped in last night and pulled it for us". (Pause) "Some of the -uh- remedies for illnesses practiced by older people up in the mountain s~ction of north Ga. -uh- one of them was -uh- the practice of -uh doin a little operation on a tiny baliy that they call "soarifyin." Uh- They had what they calhd a cupin horn. They took a cow's horn and cut off about three inches of the big end of it. And -00- put a woodin block in lUoO c(en... one end of it and smo'ofued the other end off. And bored a hole in this .....liin blook. an -uh- inserted a small reed. An -uh- they put that on the small of a child's back. after they had made three little incisions. An'-uh- they would suck until -uh- a few drops of blood had come out. And they'd take a big onion and they\d cut it open and take out a little bit of the '-uh- heart of it. an put ii:';,.;#t'<!!~it(. that blood -uh- in the onion an wrap it up in -uh- wet ciloth an put it in the fire. in the ashl!ls and roast it. An after it was thoroughly roasted, they'd take it out and ;'uh- thl!lY vo:>uld squ~I!lZI!l the juiCI!l out of thl!l onion and give the baby -aw- a dosl!l of that and tm t was to prl!lvl!lnt the child from havin "And. uh- OM oldl!lr man, an his wife that lived n"ighbor to us-er- made spring pills. uh- that -ub;i: thl!ly'd takl!l in the~pring cf the Yl!lar. -00- to get the old blood they said out of their systl!lm and reUl!lw the blood for thl!l spring and the SU~I~!'llr. . -:... Uh - thl!ly'd takl!l -uh- sourwood limbs -uh- all thl!lY could pack in a washpot -uh- fill it up w;j,thwatl!lr. build a firl!l around it. An -uh- some black lookin tar -uh- WDula boil.out -ah- thl!ly'd boil it awhile thl!ln they'd -uh- take these , .. -uh- pieoeS of -uh- sourwood "'uh- limbs out and keep on boilin that until they'd boil it down to where it was -uh- a oonsistenoy of pine tar. And -uh- they would add a little oopperoe. and a little blue stone. and a little turpentiner <U1d a right smart of sulfur. And they'd make puTty good sized pills supposed to be the size of a buok shot. And one of those (olears throat) at night and a next one-another one next morning was supposed to workwond.,rs- uh- either wi th man and beast. Uh- they took them and gave them to their hogs and to their mules. They offered my father and mother some. but they deolin..,d. !tAh.a lot of home remedies. One was a tea made out of the leav..s of a plant that gr..w in the SWlllllpS. And the name of the plant was bon",-set. And -uh- it was very. very bitt",r. And then they'd dig the root s of a tall holle r stem plant that grew in the swamp. and the name of that was Queen-of-the-Meadow. And they'd get out in the woods in the sUjljmerti~ and find a tiny little plant !Ihat had uh- uh- fair,ly good siz",d roats and they oalleJthat snak",-root. And there was snake-roat and then there was Big snake root. And if you got both and mixed them together. it made the brew that muoh better. If you mix those together and added a little ginger and then added a little turpentine -uh- that -uh- good an hot in the form of a tea at night was supposed to sweat the oold out of you and keep you from havin pne~onia. It might have done some good. beoause most of the peDpl!l:"I;~",(~"~n spite of the remedy. ~Pause) ItA few of th", -uh- North Ga. and surrounding mountain states sup.,rstitions And -uh... in on., way when w.e think about it -uh- it was rath.,r orulll -'uh- the rllal fai~h many of these people had in their superstitions. -Uh- For instanoe. always the first egg a pullet lays is a small Ilgg. And -uh- they oonsider.,d it very. very bad luok -uh- for a ohioken to lay a small egg. And the only way -uh- to av"rt the misfortun", was to throw that egg ov..r th.. house without breakin the egg. And -uh- they'd take some soft cloth and -hh- wrap the egg up. And then they'd take stronger cloth and -uhwrap it up more securely until they had a fairly good sized ball. And they'd get out and one group of them would be on one side of the house and another group on the other. And someone that could throw well -uh- would throw that .. egg over the house. And with quite a bit of fear and trembling uh- they'd open up that ball of cloth. And usually -uh- they':d find that the egg -uhwas s till in tact and they were v"ry much relieved to find it so. "Another superstition was that it was very, very back luck to burn wood that grows in North Ga, All parts of North Ga, and allover Ga. for that ''matter. And thatfs sassifrass wood. If you burn sassifrass wood -uh- bad luck would oVer take you without fail. sometime during the year. And of course breaking a mirror Was consider~d to be a tragedy. And -uh- to leave the hous" and forget somethin that you needed to carry with you -uh- that was very. very bad luck also. And -uh- to avert the bad luck -uh- you made a cross with -uh- your toe in the ground. And -uh- then you spit and (olears throat) -uh- if your spittle landed within the oircumference of that -uh- cross you ~ould go back and get what ~var you had left and -uh that c"r"mony had llantl"'lled -uh- your bad luok. "Uh- Another very, very cruel superstition was -er- that if a person di"s and the funeral mppen to fall on a rain day. that m"ant that the person ,had gone to the 'bad place. No matter what kind of a life the person had lived if' the funeral happened to fall on a bright sunshiny day Jthey had gone to the other place.It 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 inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.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 languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. 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