Shannon Scott interview with John Enioch Proctor

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. Please note that this recording contains graphic description of suicide. In this recording, Shannon Scott interviews John Enioch Proctor about life on St. Simons Island, Georgia, as well as local history, superstitions, and ghost folklore. To start, Proctor recalls possum hunting and shares the superstition that it is considered bad luck to disturb a grave. At 3:00, he remembers ghost encounters, including seeing a white woman in a cemetery when returning from Fort Frederica and hearing a horse-drawn wagon while walking home late at night. Then, at 8:40, Proctor reveals his fear of rattlesnakes and describes techniques to prevent their venom from spreading, such as cutting off blood flow with fishing line or quickly removing the affected tissue with a sharp tool. At 14:20, he remembers a shadowless old lady asking to enter his home, and a professed witch named Nanny Long teaching him how to catch ghosts by scattering flax or sesame seeds. At 20:16, Proctor describes a house on Union Street in Brunswick, Georgia, which was transported fully assembled by motorboat. He then recalls some of the locals, such as Mr. Falley, who hired Proctor to manage his shrimp boats and later sold his house to the Sea Island Company. At 22:05, he speaks about an older woman named Miss Gramling whose daughter took her own life while her husband was away. Next, at 24:29, he recalls when he and a friend accidentally hit an overhead plane while hunting on Sea Island. At 27:03, he remembers serving in Paris during World War I, including the capabilities of the large-caliber artillery that the United States used, and when he walked into camp after being presumed dead after battle. Then, at 30:43, Proctor talks about building a new house away from the road after his former house became worn out with leaks in the bedroom. At 32:52, Scott asks about Dunbar Creek, where enslaved West Africans died in a mass suicide in 1803. Proctor responds by sharing a superstition that you shouldnt walk on the left side of the road, then changes the subject. From 35:09 until the end of the recording, he compares his knowledge of the area to other locals and names people who often visited him to ask questions. John Enioch Proctor (1889-1974) was born on St. Simons Island, Georgia, to Adam Proctor (1851-?) and Minor Proctor (1853-?). He worked on a shrimp boat, managed a whiskey bar, and served as a United States Army private in Paris during World War I. He was wounded in action and honorably discharged in 1919. Additional biographical information has not been determined. This tape is an interview with Mr. John Enioch Proctor (85 years young) of St. Simons Island, Georgia, He was born and raised on the island and has spent most of his life here. He claims tot< be the second oldest man on the island, the first oldest doesn't know "anything" any more, He grew up with the island and should long be remembered there . Her home to ______ and thi.s , this ainl t her home but she been here so long that she thinks it is her home, but 1 t not, its mine. This ls my home, so I know all of this,th's what 1 said about tl'lat man he carried his whole house to town, The house is still on Union Street, the bed is stone, all the furniture._.c_ _ _ the bed that mal,e up the bed in there. He has a man he bought a bi,:,: ole bar,s,:e?/boat from Brunswick, he jacked the house up and rolled the house down to the water, put the house on the riVP;r', and a motor boat a motor boat -,--,-- and carried 1 t to Brunswick, And the house is on KiYJg Street its a two storey one room wooded hn use Ane just li'{e I tell you it wasn't ,it was'nt but three house on St. Simon or Brunswick*-white person, that Mr. Rafel he was the engineer on the Warner-Coonie-Pa:eker boat, the boat the boat it was named the Coonie ... '' T'' ,, i ,:; _\,',/ -~' The Coonie and uh and uh, and th~t man had'a house on Sea Island he name was Mr. Falley and I work for him. He had two, um, two IDil s61enes ( , ""' ) and I was the only one knows, who know how to manage it so he hired,he hired, he hired me, so he stayed, stayed, stayed on that water he got tired, tired give it, give it ;a;i ve 1 t corroany, so he sold hi.s htmse to Sea Island CompaYJy bought it. Sea Island Company got \t. And, and it was another woman named name is, name is Steep she still, she still live by the, by the wheres school too. And another and another lady, another, another old lady named Mrs. Gramling, she s5::111, ah she still living but she old, .she old, she old, her husban left , she got a dlii~:f one ner daughter got, one her daughter killed herself directly by the sea packs. , "How's that?" Ah, oh wowan sick along time, and she, and she must of, she must of got tired, tired of 'em, so she, her husband worked, her husband named Mr. Knob, MR. Knarr. Mr. Knob he live in, he live in ah, he live in the and ah so he w~nt off, he went away, when he, when he come home;, when he come home, he went over, over to the hoc.:se, his wife, she must have, she must ave a automatic pistol, she shot, she shot herself in the forehead and it come out, the bullet come out in the backa, the backmx of her head, She must have had one of these little 25 Automat1.~i. cause steel bullet, steel. steel bullet. You know a, ah steel .steel, steel ain't gonna stay in,~ stay in ya, cause steel come out, come out, co,Je out one way,come out one way or the other, cause ah, ah, when I wa.',when I was, when Iwas in Atlanta ( Y) steel, steel was _____ -on-that ah , on that ah, rifle range, sh":J":Jting, shooting at ah, at ah that target, cause we shoot through a pine tree, a pine tree 'bout that big. That bullet went, went, wem:t right on through the tree, went r:le):;ht on through, goin, , goin,:,: going right on, right on, and that why they don't allow nobod>y to S1..6d; in this direct ion or that diredtion or any direction. You lillow ___ you can shoot in that water, see, see that water gonna draw, gonna draw tf1at bullet. That water gorma draw it. And it ain't g0ing through sandJsXli$XXX see that sand gonna stop it. See that sand gonna cut,itgonna cut the speed of that bullet, and that water too gonna draw it, I don't care what kind, what kind, what kinda gun you shoot that water gonna draw. Yea, the same bullet t,he aamei water that in ocean, Atlantic Ocean. that water gonna draw'ft through. It ain't going too far. Ah, but anyhow the government has some planes, the government has some planes and they had ah, they had a long,te< a lonfgj tau; bet as long, as long as the molding up there (*pointing to the ceiling ) and that airplane was shooting outa the sky and it hit it and thet airR_@ine was --- cause I couldn't , I couldn't, I couldn't stand to see it with my own eyes, Sometimes,sometikne the plane, them planes go under like this, go under like that and some of them go up on top and each one them planes had a machine gun. That machine gun shoots eight hundred, eight hundred times a minute. Just like that clock "tic, tic, tic," Eight hundred bullet bullets done gone. Now YlillU ask any boy,that, ask any boy, white, colored, or anybody. You ask anyone,. Shoot eight hundred ok time a minute. You got a velt, you gotta belt, and all them bullets goes Nin like that, and you put it in like these, and that gun must 'ta got some kind of automatic pusher. And they have ah, and they have a this color. They have some ll!Mi< blue, have some red, I mean the ends of them, pretty red, cause you could tell who hit it, you can tell who l:1it it, INTERVIEWER: "Afterit foes in something?" Doesn't it blow=up"/? Yea, red, blue, white, There was two of us shooting onie:e and a bullet, the bullet must 'ta , must 'ta hit a man ----- In the top of Sea Lsland hit a bath-house, came down on the floor and he went ------and that man-----he took it up, it went about that deep, that bullet, and that plane was, cause I standing, standing, standing in the yard, looking, looking, looking at the thing. Looking at it. She was gonna dive, she was gonna dive, they open, they opened on the machine guns. No telling how many bullets come out that gun., .~ I know one thing they had in the war the war the war I was in, I been in World War I, World war, and it had the same guns and it had the same kinda a,:15< gunsr,,:: go in World I/Var I, cause I am a i< old vetern. We had the same kind guns, we had a machine gun, we had a automatic, automatic, we had a single shot rife!, we got, we had just any kind gun you can mention, name/. We had a gun that threw a shell four feet, four foot long and three man got together, three man got together, you got to load that gun by electricity, because you got a chain, yol you got a chain and fact that chain run out that bullet. When you get it a certain, certain certain distance and you shove itin, shove it in load, and beleive me that when that bullet come out and you can bet your life, you can bury, you can bury fifteen houses in an hour, They make a hole as big around, big around as any house, big awound as this living room and that way we bombarded Pais de Corte in Parias, and I, and I the only man from St-/. Simon i!li~ been in that country. I was staying in the hotel, that twenty= nine stories high, That hotel belong to the government and after I leave, after I leave, aft after I leave the battlefield, so I walked, I walked, see I leave the battlefield, ole Enich proctor, when I got, when I got where I was going to it was daylight, daylight, and they missed, and they missed, missed, missedme and they thought, they thought, they thought they thought I got killed but ah I Stayed, stayed now, stayed in that city for three weeks, so I went back to camp, I went back, and they said well "I thought you got killed" and I told them "I didn't come ovef here to get killed", I told them I come over here to see the cities. But anyhow I think. I thing you ought to have enough, enough about me talking. INTERVIEWER:" Well its good, if you got anymore"?. Yea, yea I got pleaity more. I ain't ..... INTERVIEWER: "I got as musch as this tape." "Till it runs out" Oh yea, I"d the only one,I'd the only, I the only , only, only, colored man, you can ask ask anything, but this mistake , you~~ any one of them men,they don't know,they don't know why, they don't pay no attention. They donjt pay no attention. See I pay attention to everything I see. Whether its good or bad. I pay special attention, thats always the way, ain't it''? you got to pay attention to everything. But anyhow .... INTERVIEWER:" Thats why Mr. Hightower told me about you cause he knew you'd know." Yea, he know. He, He - We had one on them .,one of them , we had a house here out by the :I.< Oleanna tree and uh, the house was getting kinde of old and soft and spotty, and start to leaking, we'd be inthe bed, the water would drip, dripi. in the bed, we had to put pots and pans in the bed to catch the water to keep it from wetting us and so I just got, we just got tif3ed of it, and we just build this one. But we had to:botl build it, we didn't want it beside the road anymore, we set it, we set it baclj:, back back from the road. She (*his wife) said "I don "t know how we've been near the road", cause you couldn't, ,oyou could't move three steps and be in the house, but now we just set this hosuse back, back back from the road, and anybody coming, we, we saw when you coming and ah, an ah, nobody ain't gonna tell me Salty, Salty send you here, send you here to me. You didn't tell me but ... INTERVIEWER:" You knew"? Yea, you didn't, didn't tell me, but I had an idea who et:,: send you.here. INTERVIEWER:" He's a good man". Yea, he is , he is, he don't care when he see me, if he be over, or he been that place, place ofver there l!lffl!!j'I\ one part that is the Sam Cofer place he don't care what he be doing, he ssee mee he go "HI" to me no matter "HAY". How wa do, how ya do?" I pass his house, he got a house up there and he call, he will stop me and talk, cause he know I know, I know. This one, this one colored man who knew. I don't tell nothing but blelive me I know, I know everything. I know everything. INTERVIEWWER: "He told m.e to ask you about , ah, Dunbar creek " *< place for a gt:lOG'I:~ 'ghost ship ) Yea, yea that down at ah, at ah,at the end of, down at East Beach. Thats Dunbar, NO, Dunbar Creak, a creak over there on the other side uh,Lh, the head of Sea Isaand road. You don't wanna, you don't wanna walk left hand side of the road.*( superstitio of ghosts there) (He evades the question ) ANd there one ah, and theres one name of East ah, gort a funny namee, Hampton river, and got one named Tobay, and got one one named Sampleton. Got one named, anmed St. Jasper and go one named Orsebow' that goin, that go in Savannaha. That go, that go in there, and this one here named Demere Bridge, Demere Bridge, oh , it start real close to the house but, but its so crooked, you even, you even won't know it the same place, the place so crook ed . Now? INTERVIEWER:" Js that the place where there was a ship" * (inferring the ghost ship) Yea, but anyhow, but anyhow, um, um, um,(* again evasion)-------Anybody coming here want , want to know about the land, the land, the landm< too. A man named., a man named Cordmore, Cordmore , he don't live here, he's a stranger, and he been here so long he'a at home but he ain't! He thinks he knows but he don't, he don't know half, half, half as musch as me. He'd be, he may be swift on his foot but thats before my time. This what I know you got to come here ands ask l'IK me, different, different things. INTERVIEWER: " You kno3 alot:" If I, If I feel like telling, I tell lit, if I don't hear nothing I won't tell it. I just won't tell "em. So I tell him not to come back here and ask me, go ask tp another man on the Demere Road, named, his name is, uh, Charlie King, Charlie King, and he don't know all of it, he;s home is in Quiton, Quiton *(Quitman) going on the way to Jacksonville. And he don't know l'la:14xnotheing, he k don't know musch Jacksonville He don't know half as much as I do. She knows . *(!,,(!'Ix points to wife) Shes' wise, she even, even raised and born here. ::II;. But anyhow, huh, ,now you want me to tell you 'bout th~at lighthousl:. INTERVIEWER: "About what?" The lighthouse. well theres a man, a man= and his wife, see the lighthouse was., the lighthouse still belongs to the government but the government had a man named Champagne. He went after the turn of was-war, he went to Havanna , Cuba-------and his chauffer lived with, his chauffer named Grover Greenway , and everytime he, caSilse he come, he come here to ssee me, cause he know, I know, I know. He don't, he don't ask nobody else but me. He don't do it, ain't nobody else but me, theres nobody else but me, Only, only the wife, my wife you know, wife would know me, she won't ask~ nobody come in the house, she come and t:e<>S: ask me. Ah, that lady stay on the left hand side of the roall, named Mrs. Carter, she got a daughtter. She come here and ask me different , differnt things and if I know it I, I tell her. Yea. Salley Goforths' daughter come right down here if I know it, know it, if I didn't know it I didn't know it and Sam !!J Goforth, I know his daddy, I know his mother, I know his uncle, ah, I know his sister-in - law., his great, great uncle, I know all of "em. I know the whole l familly. Yuu, you, you looking at me, I guess you say " Has that man, has that man, has that man been telling me lmar:x thats a>l:ax lie, but it ain't! INTERVIEWER: "I beleive you, I have no reason to disbelieve you//.' It is. It is. If it wasn't, if it wasn't true I wouldn't, I wouldn't go, I wouldn't go telling it. NO. And just e>e what I tell you is sol And ju, t what I tell you, you can just bet your life is x S:le< So! Now. Cause I know. . . . . . . . . . . When you , when you got off that road my min<!!l wander, ain't ,no body send you here but, but Mr. Salty Hightower And I go. I intend. See when I go, when I go hunting, possum hunting, I I always carry a shotgun, shoot 'em out ,)f the tree, I dog,.... if the tree too large for her to try him. Icarry a shoot gun aud shoot em out of the tree and, and this girl, this gi~l, this girl was sure, she was, she sure was had the possum, she would have had the possum for Sunday dinner, the possum ____ that big ole, big ~le, big ole black,black dog. Afte~r, after, after, she in the top, half the tree break, break. It was dead anyhow and see half of it fell,fsll on the, and she intended to go up and get that ah,ah get that no good,she was gonaa climb,climb, climb that tree, .. if the~es any climbing to be done she always let me climb it cause, but not you. The girl was named Anne Roberson, Roertson, her mother was named. __ Robertson, her father was named Samuel Robertson. And so we married ..... me and that woman over there*( pointing to his wife) told one another, another, another thing. 1922. :rhats a nice woman ... and I think he was ah grape, grape vine, ya know, big ole grape vine, grape vine gonna xx XD!XliliXl&.lltXXlOOCXXliX1inX!WieXQ;XfilfliX!'.Xii):;e rsX size of my, size of my two finger, and I calle him, him running in a circle, he run along in a circle, jast runnin' long in a circle. And um. there was, he was , he was :tlll!lmllx he was close, close to me as you, ah, fire fire and smoke was coning out of each, each, each one of his nostrals; and now he was a running, running ariund these bushes, for over twenty minutes or thirty minutes, and he was, was so cl@sle to me, I could have, could have put my hand on him and I decided I was to scared to handle him, handle him or fool with him, bujr, but I ain!,t a gonna shoot him, shoot him but I scared if I shoot that he was a. __________ . And that. _______ he was, and you know how come that thing haupened? 8ome boy had buried four hundred, four hundred and fifty dollars in one of them, one of them, um, one of them tomb, one of them tomb, cause the stone was made out of marble,, marble' ycm_.know marble and it had. a, it had a hight foot, foot, foot, foot you lmow how the foot and '.t had one for the head, and ah I andanother boy pulled that thing iii out the ground to hunt, to hunt, hunt them and, and that how come, that how come that thing happeded, happened to them cause it didn't belong to them. 0omething, something don't belong ain't belong to you,all kind of thing gonna happen, all kind of thing gonna happed, all kind of thing.(._._~...fire, break a arm, mountain lion or ah, water-log.s.,u._and see ... Iam going to tell you the last, the last ....... I had a daughter working, working for that ice house on George Street. There was no highway, so I came, I came to a man am named Mr. Nick Young, he live on that ah ---- Road, he live there now, and I had to walk, I had to walk all the way from the old fort, the old fort Fredrica, I walked, just before I get home, when I got by, when I got by that white, whrn I got by that whitecemetary, there was ah, there was a woman had a white sheet something like that ah, tucked to her and I come, I come, I had to walk all the way home, there wasn't B no way to get a ride, I have to foot it, foot it. You see beleive of me what there is of that night, and I didn't got, I didn't got home till quarter, to quarter, to quarter to one, cause I had to, I had ,a man to run a whiskey place and I asked him to work down the Landing, sure, I asked him, so he tell ya. (* the Landing is where there is a slave ghost ship!) and ah, when I got, when I got a dog, a dog runout, run outtl:Jere through the yard and that dog got tangled, tangled up between my, between my, looky here I couldn't, I couldn't get that dog out the middle of my legs to save my life. Oh I pushed, pushed, pushed him with b,th, both hands ad shbok. him off, shook him off and I couldn't get him outa. there, and I leave and I walk, I walk on further between the place they call ah, Bantist Mission. Mr Whitter, Mr. Whllter stay over on the right, see his house is way off the road I wo1Jld have h0llowered for him to here and help, to help, to help, to helpme/. I come, I comein,come in by the_ there was a, there was a, a wagan, it had a horses' foot, foot foot on the road, horses must have had their shoes on, yea, that wagon makin that noise but you couldn't see but you can hear but you can't see all you can see you feel that hot (*claps his face) feel that hot air, so I came on I didn't~ pay much attention, I didn't pay, I was so scared it done nearly scared me, nearly, nearly, nearly to death, I said to myself I H ain't know but one thing, one thing to do. Kill him, kill him if he is a live person, kill him or he kills me, I had one of these big ole great blades made of steel, ___ and it was sharp up before every meal. If that thing hadda put the hand on me I was with gonna rip him, rip him,~ rip him wide, ~ide open wth that knife and it was real sharp and how come I know it was sharp, I hang a piece of cord, cord, cord, cord on the boat, thatboat coming form Brunswick, we come from the boat marine in Brunswick. Used to be Hanson and Parker but it belongs to the government now, government got a ship yard th:ere now. So I hang the cord thereand I tipped it, I tipped that cord like that and cut it and I cut that cord myself. And if anything had of messed with my I would have, I would cut it in half, So, when I got home, I got home my moma was living, my moma was there, my moma said: "Whats matter with you?" "I thought you was working in ah, inBrunswick?" I said: "Yea, I was but I come holj;e to see, tossee if you had any thing to eat or see if you had any clothes,clothes, clothes,"0 I EillllXEJl!:S go back to the store in town and buy cause ah,I had a,a account ___ :,o she said, she said:'f You come by_yonself?" I said:"Yea," I said:"I got no one in Brunswick, Brunswick comewith, come with me moma". She said"You wasn't scared?" I said :"Whatof?" I said"YE"", yes I was scared but it wasn't, nothing wasn't gonna put their hand on me." And she got on her hands and she pre,yed and she prayed for me. That why, you see me living cause my moma prayed,prayed for me, she had boy but she like me the best, cause I used to buy all her clothes, buy all her food and buy everything, she want shoes and everythin, I was working working on Union, same place that man Kelly house, Union Street. But anyhow ________ Give me more, give me more, give me momm strenght and I ain't gonna be scared, so I ain't scared, the only thing I scared of tha,ts a rattler, thats a rattlesnake. 'fhats the only, I no scared of a human, a human. He does, he does have to do, he gonna make me believe, the :sm~ke make me believe that what he do, do to me cause I c8n do the Iii: same thing to him. He might, he might, can cut, cut me with a knife, or he, or he might haul off and knock me, knock, knock me down but when I get on my foot, cause he gonna get the same thing, he gonna get the same thing, he may get worse though! Cause I, cause I libel to kill him, being mad, see I be mad them, I libel kill him. So, I don't car~, you can go back to your home but you can tell anybody theres a, theres a old, colored man living in the first block house and l!fou can :s ask him anything and he goYlna tell you, gonna tell, tell you like it happen e,nd it e,in't no story in that head, and if it wasn't -'"O true Mr. Salty wouldn't have sen di you here. INTERVIEWER:" Thats true. Really" Yea. If it wasn't true he wouldn't go tell yon. I know. Cause he know I know, I know. An nobody, and nobody can take that away from me, if they kill me they just can't get it just can't take it. Cause thats it.(* He is talking about his memory) I know one th1ng, that the only I afraid of, I can't harftly see him; I might gonna see him,he may see me, but, but, but one thing a rattlesnake 1.s not going to bite you lessen he ring that rattle cause he ain't gonna bite, he ain't, He ain't gonna bite nothing, he ain't gonna bite a dog or he ain't gonna bite a rabbit or nothing XE lessen he give you a signal, signal or something, Cause he ain't gonna. ______ cause he can sure give the warning. Cause Be lei ve me when he do , when he do dra,w back with them *** open, youcoan oet you, you don't get , if you don't 1mow whRt to do, you don't know what to do,do that, rattlesnake bite you, you get that peice of, Piece of, piece ,f fishing line, 'bout that long, long as, long as that(a hand gesture) He bite you on your hand, he bite you on the finger, al], all you do is wrap that cord, kinda tight1t1 keep that blood from working the bo<!ly, yea , and you go to the doctor. See, see that blood couldn't circulate, see you gonna have thst thing tight, but you got to do that quick. Some people, some people get so scared though, that poison they keep it in there. Ah, I seen a girl been in i , a, a grape, grape black. @ne of these ah th~se black supernong grape you call it, black grape and that rascal bite,bite, bite that girl and that girl don't put that string, but the snake had been in the arbor too getting grape too and she, and she,the snall:e bite her on the finger. And she said she had a , had a a razor and she pllicked, she plucked that peice of me~t yea, yea and let it bleed.,! don't think I could do that, cut my, cut m,i: a plug of my finger or cut a plug of my,I wrap it tight, tight, tight where that blood can't, j'ast, jast like your vein, just like the vein, if cut that vein loose you bet your life you bleed to death, cause that vein run, run all parts your body, all part of your body. 'rhe first thing you do is, so if you scared you take a pocket hanker' and tie it tight, draw it in tight, draw it from your body,. INTERVIEWER:" Are you more afraid of a rBttlesnake than a ghost?" Yea, yea cause, cause I cause I c2.n hardly, I can see a ghost usually but I can't hardly see ... INTERVIEWER:" YOU can see 'e!ll?" "really?" Yea, yea I can see 'iem, one night, I wasn't married, married o course, and I seen her, Iseena thing, a old lady, she asked,'' come in the house?" she asked me, ---- she asked me for a match. And I wouldn't give her. I tell her I didn't have any. She ran 'off,yea she slammed the door and she easell: back again, and I couldn't see the shadow, the shadow, look, justl like I see the shadow on that curtai.n I couldn't see her,zN~imwx I pray god cause I ~mwit be safe here, cause I had a ah, a baseball bat, a hOmemade bat', wasn't no factory bat so I always keep it keep it, keep it to the head of the bed, I a can just reach to the head of the bed and get it, if anything happened __ _ so, so another woman tell me how to catch 'em alive, alive, alive and xh"l she couldn't go, you ever see these seed they ca,11 flax seed, flax seed, EXH call benne seed or flax seed, I don't think they make them anymore, they put them in the eyes, they scratch ou the eyes, a put one in your eye, your ever get sand or Emything in your eye __ _ so I sprinkled, I sprinkled all parts over, its so, its so slick you can't hardly hold it, hold it in the hand, it something like grease while she, while she pick it up, she pick it one or two the light right I: and I see who she was,(all witches must pick up all benne seeds thromi--old superstition) /She the old lady, she a witch, old lady named Nanny Long. IN'rERVIEWER:" Nanny whaj1/?" Nanny Long, she had two sons one named George Long and one named Swedey Long, fact what you hear me tellin, that you can bet, you can bet your life. You may go, you may go, go home and you can tell 'bout you may say what that ole man tell you, that man tell you, just what I tell you is the exactly, exactly so. Just what I tell you, If, if if, if I didn't mean, if I didn't mean to tell you I wouldn't tell you to come, back, J:hats exactly. Ir I didn't meant to tell I wouldn t go telling you to come back, come back, I wouldn't go sayin anything but I tell you to come back,come back and I would. But I tell you to come back, see i got all, got all the chatting, cha.ting time I want gotl all day tomorrow and that not half, half, ha1f of it yet, I know I know a whole lot of people see me walking but they don't know what in my mind, they don't know my mind, they don't know my thoughts, they don't know my thinking they don't know nothtl'll11:, nothing, nothing but they see an old man, a old man, but the old man, old man know what~ he talking HE!ll!li!X talking, talking for, Ah, I got, I got another I got tied one with the go~ernment __ after I came back from Brunswich, but the government, the government had send me some ah, some them tickets government musta thought I had a a car, government send me nin.e gas tickets ______ ( War bond ration) _____ TAPE ENDS HERE . I I I ,I ;,,;-. --~-5 \ H~r!!",1:c~c ,, \ - l"c",,', ,,.,/ ~I G1,.:ne / i) / I JUNG Tl Ar Jom\er 1,. C Mills ~ - -, o...,. '- c~ ' ' TOI..L ' T0~~~5 q-' Morohes ol Glynn 0 u N New Hope 11.ll~HUJ $<)~1,[; 1:;..A"O TAC'4T YAP / / I T y Frederica 01 ,~ru,,c NAT'L .. ,,., German Vil loge 1,.&0,11011:, POt~T 7a < Seo ls 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. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailing reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.