Elaine Day interview with Katherine Kirkwood Scott and Forest C. Wade (part two)

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. This is the second of a two part interview, it starts with Forest C. Wade recalling a story about his wife's uncle, Jasper Pinion, telling a bawdy joke. His next story is about his grandfather, Charlie Bannister, who lived in Forsyth County, Georgia, in the early 1900s. Local law enforcement caught him distilling moonshine whisky, but they set him free because he amused them with his antics in the courtroom. 6:30: Next, Wade tells a story about a farmer who worked in a gold mine at the turn of the century; his employers tasked him with working on the steel tram cars, but he ended up causing an accident. Wade tells a few additional stories about his grandfather; one about killing hogs and one about his sons spiking his stew, which caused him to become so drunk that they called the doctor. 18:58: Wades next story involves foot peddlers and their wares, such as eye glasses, which they carried in a suitcase. One peddler, after spending the night at a local house, woke up to find his suitcase missing. He cursed the man who stole the suitcase, causing the police to place a warrant on him for profane language. 22:43: At this point, Wade tells a funny story involving two old maids fighting. His last story takes place in 1948, when a farmer dug a ditch to bury a dead cow and found old Indian relics. He notices an Indian nearby, which spooked him into refilling the ditch; afterwards he visited a doctor, took sedatives, and two days later his hair turned white. 28:11: In his last story, Wade talks about Mr. Tumlin, who sold land to the Georgia Historical Commission because it contained Indian mounds with marble statues valued at over a hundred thousand dollars. A noise was heard coning out of one of the mounds, the source of which was never discovered. Katherine Kirkwood Scott (1894-1988) was born in Milledgeville, Georgia, to Albert Blackstone Scott (1859-1906) and Mary Lewis Howell (1858-1929). Scott graduated from the Georgia Normal and Industrial College with a teaching degree in 1913, from Columbia Teachers College with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology in 1916, and a Master's Degree in English in 1921. She taught English at the Pape School for Girls in Savannah, Georgia, from 1916 to 1918 and from 1921 to 1922. Later, she taught at Georgia College and State University, then the Women's College of Georgia, from 1924 to 1958. Scott published "The Land of Lost Content" in 1975 and "The Land of Loving Children: Memories of Four Years' Teaching at the Pape School for Girls in Savannah" in 1976. In addition, she wrote, but never publichsed, manuscripts about her familys famous haunted house. She was a member of the Milledgeville chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, as well as the Daughters of the Cincinnati. Forest C. Wade (1914-1974) was born in Cherokee County, Georgia, to John N. Wade (1892-1971) and Gertrude Wade (1890-1923). His grandfather, W.M. Wade, was part Cherokee Indian. Wade studied Cherokee signs and symbols and published his findings. In 1937 he married Dorothy Howell (1918-1985) and they had three children. rhis interview was trped on lon. Nov. ?7, 1967 by Niss El aine Day for 01arence Day, for !,lr. John Burrison 's Fng. 307 ('lass. 7fvt -(LWk~.e~.- ~.-v-.' ~~~.~~~.~ 1-~ ~- ,/I!-?--.- .... ~~~ r-IJ .J-.~~ /lL~.h./~4.k:>' ~4rU(r--'~,L,'~d/'7~~,: j,//t-f-d ~le ~~;r 'ft.>'Y- ~,,?t!?t-aL/A., n. U~ Miss K therine Scott who lives at 201 . Jefferson street, Ii ves in a three-story eray house 1.,ho is said to be haunted ,.,i th a who killed his son. She lives in this house with a 40 year old retarded woman whose family is said to be cursed. This young woman is the owner of tois house and another house on the other side of t01ffi which is also said to be haunted. Every member of this girl's family has had some sign of insanity. This young woman inherited 100,00 "Iith both of these houses and until she was said to be mentally unbalanced they could do nothing with her. After awhile she became so unbalanced that she took all of the money out of the bank and went up and down the streets of Milledgeville with a young alcholic, telling everybody to see what she had and pulling out the money and rlacing it on the counter and then putting it back in the en~elope. The Sheriff then picked her up and took her to the Mental Institution here in Milledgeville. Miss Katherine Scott was asked to be her guardian and from then til now, Miss Katherine has looked after this woman. This oune .oman lives up on the third floor of the house and lives in a world of her o,m with dolls and doll houses. Niss Katherine lives by herself with this young girl and two dogs and a cat. She lives a very lonely life but says she is very happy. The house is full of antiques and other old furniture and she collects fans. She has a fan from before Queen Victoria's time, fans from ladies-in-waiting to Queen Victoria, and she has box lockes on the door brought all the way over from England. The frOnt door is inlaid with placques of wood from every known tree in Georgia .--------_~ .... ........~"'...I'_r~....._ .... _ -2- Miss Katherine was a Professor at the Woman's College for 43 years. She got her Master's Degree in English and her BA in Psycholof-Y. She sometimes rents out a couple of apartments in the house to young college students but most of the time people refuse to spend the night in the house because of the ghosts. Miss Katherine Scott has never said that she has ever seen the ghosts, but she claims to hear steps going up and down the stairs at night and doors that shut without anyone being there. A man from the Atlanta Constitution went to do a story on the ghosts of the house but he refused to stay in the house over nieht because of a bureau in the room that walked across the floor and back. This bureau, with a logical explanation, has a little piece of wood under it that works itself out sometime and the bureau curiously walks across to the bed and back again. Miss Katherine Scott has about six or seven complete sets of China that are antiques and has about six or seven service sets that go vri th it. The other house that she is guardian to, but is across tow~, is said to have a friendly ghost in it. ThiS house has a complete house set beside it that is said to be the kitchen. she plans to recreate the primitiveness of this kitchen and show it to all the people that want to see it. She is always glad to talk to anybody that comes to her and asks her about these ghosts. Mi s Katherine is well knovm allover Milledgeville for these stories of ghosts. Miss Katherine keeps art beauties in her house at all times. There was once a Rembrandt in the old house which was stolen. She has many art collections and many pieces of fine art. She has two very valuable art pieces, paintings, that people have been trying to collect for years and years. -3- Miss Katherine hrs many, many stories about the things that she has seen and heard but dislikes to tell them on tape because she says it cramped her style. She has manuscripts and manuscripts allover the house but refuses to write them into a book because some of the people that are in this book, she wants to be able to tell their real names but they still have relatives living in Atlanta. The young woman that lives with her upstairs has reI tives living in Atlanta but none of the relatives would take her because of the curse on her family. She will probably stay here until her death as many of her other families hrve. She is the last member of her family and they hope that after she dies that the curse will soon die out. ~iss Katherine has a history of her own in her own family. Her father was an Indian fighter in the old west and has original portrait and pictures of Geronimo, which she says we pronounce wrong. It's supposed to be "Heronimo" and many other Indians 'Thom he knew personally. he has swords from the Civil war, from the First world War and from wars that we had never heard of. She keeps all of the swords tied up on the landing of the stairs. She said this is to prevent children from playing with them, but then she slowly added that it might be the ghosts who would get them before the children. You miEht say that Miss Katherine lives in a world of her own as well as the young woman upstairs. She keeps to herself most of +he time and only sees friends occassionally. For Thanksgiving she invites all the people in Milledgeville who would normally be alone that have no family, over for T~anksgiving Dinner and they h ve just a regular good ole' time. In her spare time II she helps the yount' woman upstairs furnish a doll house \hich she had from her childhood. This doll house is really the most beautiful -4- antique she has in her house. It has the most intricate little fifUres and furniture. She hopes someday to give it to some little girl that is worthy of it. It has been passed down through three generations of little girls -ho have added their o>m touches to it. She has really converted the house into a beautiful house. She has taken all of the secret closets that were there during the Civil War and made ~hem into bookshelves and things that could be useful. She took the steps that le~ding up to the upstairs and made them into a bookcase too, but left the steps there in case somebody would ever come, or would come to need them again. She also said that she was afraid she would make the ghosts go away if she tears the stairs up because may be where he comes do>m. Miss Katherine hopes to restore both of the houses to their original beauty and write all of her accounts and s+ories into a book before she dies. The stairs are on the right or North side of the five STORY NO. I foot wide hall. There are thirteen steps to the landing and six steps from there to the upstairs hall. There is a fantastic story about the landing, but before I go into that I would like to go on about some of the other changes made in the house. The next change he made in the hall was to put up a metal ceiling much in vogue in the 70's and 80's. He put another one in the Northwest front room and he cross-crossed the ceiling in the other front room with wooden moulding making a succession of diamonds and at one time he painted all the diamonds different colors and shades of color, putting the most blaring differences next to each other so that one was careful not to look up. He did not disturb the beautiful waist high wainscoting in the siX original rooms. He put a beautiful black marble mantle in the South front room. An equally lovely carved wooden mantle in the other front room but added a Victorian elaborate over-mantle which could fortunately come off. The tall room .which I will call the dinning room is the only plastered room in the house. The plaster has been on for over 90 years and I live in constant terror of the ceiling falling. The dinning room has a lovely curved mantle and the chimney is curved to match it. Most of the hearths are tiled but some of the tiling has had to be take out on account of the danger of fire from open fireplaces. Rarely do all the tiles (meet) match) There are only two rooms which still have the original and wide board ceiling. The ceilings in the two front rooms upstairs are sealed with narrow strips of wood because of a fire somewhere near JIl the turn of the century. (Cleared throat.) Eh, Now this one really, the fantastic story about the landing should perhaps come next. His first wife was from Eatonton and she bought him a plantation about .......------------------------------ STORY NO.1 (Cont'd) six miles South of Eatonton. She had one son and according to the neatrow stores, the father did away with his wife shortly after the child was born. The child lived and when he was about 17 he was sent to Mercer to College. (Can I go on?) (Cleared throat.) By that time, eh, the owner was living in the Jefferson street house wi th his third wife and her niece, a Iittle girl named Alice, whom he loved far more than his 01'll son. His son, in fact, had aroused his father's hatred by discovering and reporaching him for some of his wicked acts. Mercer was closed on account of the outbreak of an epidemic and Joe was sent home. The overseer on one of his father's numerous plantations was ill. So the father sent the boy out in the hot september weather to oversee the cotton picking. At noon the boy came home and told his stepmother, who was extremely fond of him, that he was' sick. He had a high fever and the good woman put him to bed. But when his father came to dinner he accused the boy of malingering, refused to let him have a doctor, milk, lemons or ice. On the third day after ~he boy had been taken ill, his stepmother met her husband at the front door and told him that in her opinion the boy was dying. Her husband angrily refused to believe her and was leaving when he heard his name called from the landing. There the poor boy stood. He had staggered down from his bedroom and stood holding on to the bannisters and patently dying. When his father saw the boy's face he told him to go back to bed and he, the father, would go for the doctor. The boy turned to obey, staggered and fell, his head striking the third step above the landing. His father ran up the steps to him and the boy said, "You see father", just before. he died. The story is that every night the scene is re-enacted. We often hear steps going slowly up the stairs, doors fly open when no one is there and the old house sighs and talks to itself. But we have never seen the STORY NO.1 (Cont'd) father or his murdered son, the former I hope is safely in Hell and the latter in Heaven 'ofi th his stepmother. The stepmother outlived the boy only a short time. She and the little AliCe succumbed to the disease the boy had, a disease which might have been Typhus Fever. The father was undoubtedly insane. Why the citizens of Milledgeville, who seemed to have beena hard living, hard fighting group, let him get by with all the awful things he did, I cannot understand, but they did. He was frequently Mayor of the town and seems to have consorted with no difficulty with the best people, practically all of whom owed him money. STORY NO. 2 This story was told my Mother by JUdge D. P. sanford. He, the owner of this house, and two other gentlemen were playing cards in the lobby of the Baldwin Hotel one night. The lobby was ill lit with smoky kerosene lamps and there were deep shadows everywhere. Suddenly the old man dropped his cards and stared behind JUdge sanford. "It's my boy, Dan", he said, "he's standing right behind you and he is looking at me". JUdge sanford said it gave him a creepy feeling but when he turned his head, all he saw wa$ a little curl of smoke. "Nobody's there", he said, "look". The old man took his hands down from his eyes, "You"re right", he said with relief, "but I saw him just as plain". Judge sanford said he ,,rondered if it .lere his son or another boy that he saw. Years later it leaked out that this man had betrayed the hidden cotton in Milledgeville to Sherman and his property had been given immunity on account of the betrayal. A little colored boy heard the transaction and the owner of this house had taken the child out in the rivver in a batteau and thro'rm him in. When the boy came up and clung to the side of the boat, the old man STORY NO. 2 (cont'd) cut him so fiercely ~Ii th a boat hook that the boy let go and was drowned. STORY NO. 3 There were many other stories about the Sadist. Many of them centered around his cruelty to his slaves. I have ~Titten the story of "Aunt Dorcus" ,'iho was one of his slaves. He vias a loan shark and among other things, eh, and among others, \'las captain Whittaker who lost his plantation through this man' machinations. One of his last exploi ts was but was also sli{'htly comi c in character. In the latter part of the 1890's he wished to put a private. telephone between his house and the capitol City Club where he had his office. He had one of his economical fits at the time and asked the Catholics to allow him to nail his wire to the cross on top of their church. they 'tJ refused with horror, df course, and he got even by putting up a number of poles in the park of Jefferson Street and nailing a cross on top of each. To the arms of the cro'ss he nailed his telephone \'lire. One can almost see the gentle Jesus smile at the futility of the sacrilege. STORY NO. 4 By this time he was a very old man. He had married a fifth wife and had a daughter. (Cough) This girl was beautiful, quiet and good. She eVidently was like her mother only. His property stretched from the corner of Jefferson and Mclnt?sh Streets, half-way down the block on either side. The old house, as was the custom when it was bUilt,was set flush with the street, with its gardens behind and to the North of it. In that Northern Garden the old man had a very beautiful rose garden and worked in it assidously and much more successfully that we have been able to~ One fearfully hot september STORY NO.4 (Cont'd) morning he worked in his roses till he was very hot and tires. Then he told his body servant, whose name was 'Columbus, to draw a tub of cold water and put a big chunk of ice in it. Columbus protested but the old man had his way and when the old man got in the ice water, had a stroke of apoplexy. He had always said he was not afraid to diei.f he just had half an hour \'1ith "Old Narster" he'd be alright. I'lell, "Old !<1arster II gave him three days and it took six men to hold him down in spite of his being partially paralyzed. He seemed to see his sins passing at the foot of the bed and he would cry out for forgiveness. The whole time he thought his boy stood at the foot of the bed and he would beg him to forgive and ask him to stop looking at him. At the end of three days a God more merciful than the old man had ever been, released him from his sufferings and I have never knolm if the whole town went rejoicing to his funeral. (Cleared throat.) STORY NO. 5 An old joker here in to\'ill told me that he dreamed once that he went to Hell and saw the Devil sitting on a big upturned black washpot. He asked the Devil why he wasn't going around like a roaring lion on the earth seeking whom he may (devire) devour and Satan said that he had this old man under the pot and was afraid to get up fo~ fear that he would get a mortgage on Hell. (Laughter) ,& Clarence Day Eng. 307 STORIES COLLECTED FROM FOREST C. WADE STORY NO.1 "I'll tell ya this funny stcry -- happened back several years ago -- uh - my wife 1s uncle, Jasper Pinion - he 'us al;;ays havin' his fun as he ,,'!lnt along th..-ru life and so, he said, when he got old, why I ast him one day what wuz the funniest thAng he ever run into in his life, he had so much fun in his life in havin' jokes with people, and he said the worst he ever got tickled ,ruz he lived over here on the Etorrah River out from Ball-Ground about 6 miles, said ever Saturday he wud go to t01m, hook up to the t1-TO horse ;;agun, and put the sprd.ng seat on it go tc tOrm to get the grocercies, and so he said one Saturday, he HUZ on his Hay to town, and after he got about haf-way to tmm, "hy, gain' along :. the country road, he looked an' seen somebody comin I a-foot over, "'E!!. comin do,m the hill 'bout a quarter-mile a,ra..y, and he said he ,rundered .,ho it ,ras, and finally got clost enough that he recognized him, said it l-illZ a boy, 'bout thirteen or fourteen years old, bare-footed, comin' along the road, and so he said, '~, just before he got to him, he got to thinkin' about what he could say funny to the boy "hen he met up with him -- said he couldn't thdnk a' an.;;.-thing and finally he got 'II on up even with him, and he pulled up on the reins and stopped the mules, boy stopped by the side of the >-lagon, said he looked dmm at the boy and the boy looked up at him -- he said he said the first thing that come in his mind to the boy, said he said, "son, did'ja ever see a skunk?" He said the boy kinda turned red in the face and looked back do,m at the groUL~d, took one of his big toes and doodled around in the sand (here Mr. ',.Jade ,rent through the motions himself .,"ith one of his arm toes!) he said he kept settiti# there ,raitin'g on a a.~S\,er and he s!jid the boy finally looked lea , up, grinned at him, and he said, "I've seen little girl skunks, I ain't never seen J. I no big girl skunks". " '1t4.' 7k. ~'/"'-<L ~...4 "...-<-<-J! ~~- ,,-<-'~,. J'<-<~ 0/./., Y'1I.(' eV~ .- ...0 " >c.A ,. - " " 0' i1..et.- -- .,-__ ~_ iI STORY NO.2 "Ahh - Itll tell ya a story that I've laughed about many times concerning my grandfather, Charlie Bannister. He lived here in For1!Lth County - I 'long in the early 1900's, and lib, I remember him beind a big tall man. He j...,'" didn't get any education Mach, sorta of a ditch-digger, ole dirt farmer, and f\ so back Hhen he was a young man, back before he married my gran 'mother, lib, he wuz out a-squirrel huntin', so he said, goin' along thru th' Hoods, and he comes up on this still, where theys' manufacturin' moonshine whiskey, and he 'uz all,ays fond to take a little nip, so he stopped by, and set his gun up agin a tree, hanging around there, getting him a feH snorts, and the la" come in. And the law come in from 'bout every side, und men skattered li.1<:e a -bunch 0' quail. \Vent ever Hhich-a-way, and all of 'em got moldY but him, they loJ1lZ 3 or 4 of the lalnnen got atter him and they run him d01om. He "mz a long-legged feller, but they run him do,m and finally caught him and they carried p~ back over here to Cumw~ng and locked'him up, and;so* he got somebody to make his bond, but thell'a.ll\!his frien's .t' Here very concerned about it. They told him, they said, Charlie, said, you'll go to the gang, I betchee, shore as the Horld, said, you, they never ~aught nobody but you and said, they're puttin' on you nOH, they're goin' to put it on you now that you'uz the O1mer of the still and "'as there manufacturin' "lhiskey and you're gonna hafta bear the ",hole burden. So, Granpal', he said, he never did 'lOrr.f about it, he .0=03';!;'$1> didn't thank the Courts 'd convict a feller Hhen he wuz innercent. So, finally the day come fur his trial. And, lib, so the judge, he called his case, and said, Mr. Bannister to the stand, and so Gr?Jlpal, he stood up, and lib, the judge ,.. said, "Are ya guilty or not guilty, Mr. Bannister?" He said, "Not guilty, you honor." And the judge said, "Hell, if you're not guilty the.ll__just one thing I wanta ast you. HOH come you to run Hhen the law come il'l?" He said, "BecazltI couldn't fly." And they said that, that the court, 00, one of his cousins HliZ there at the trial and he said he never heerd a court room roar so in his life, and the judge got N.~ tickled hisself and _that "as the end of the case, turned him loose." STORY NO.3 "Ah, there I s a ole tim=r lives back over here north of me by the name of Tim Green, and uh, he usta to .1Ork over here at the old F'-i'i'''klin Gold Mines,. around 1900. And uh, he was tellin' me one day that uh, uh, they was another mine over there, north of the Fran.ldin Gold Mines, 2 or 3 mile that HUz knoml as the Cox /l'tine. This Hr. Cox, he come do,m from up north, he t-nlZ an inventor, he invented these coil springs that they used on railroad cars, and uh, made quite a fortune in it, he came do,m and opened up a gold mine. And he one of the natives, an old farmer that lived over there close to was tellin I about -..t;;(J..A, him.-.Be~ went over one over air, !'lr. day to the Cox Hines to see about gettin' him a job. And he got , cu.. Cox t-7UZ over at the minE?, and he walked up !:.? him, and he sai?-, uh, had his little dinner pail Hith him, carried his job, he said" uh, II1l1ell, I thought I'd come over ani dinner just in case 'F r'c:/ see __1 ;;. t'\; geUiIIiiiiJ~,a he got a job this morning." lL"ld uh, so uh, Hr. Cox, he said uh, "Yeah, I need a hand this mornin I, says, 'I need somebody to push off the tram car." You know these little steel tram .t' cars they use them for dQ'llping the dirt and rock and everyth4ng, you kno", come outa the tunnel or the shaft and this big bucket come up outta the shaft and dumped this ore and then Hent do,m and this little ole tram car sitt on a narrer gage track and it run off out on the tailing dump and you go out on it you kno" and the thing got higher and higher Hay on dmm on the hillside and they had it elevated just enuff dOt'll hill, they had a little ole scotch under hit and whenever the cart got loaded you'd just kick this little ole s'cotch out and walk along behind this little ole car and hold it back - ....*"and t,hen you gotl\d6.m~the dump pile, Hhy you tripped a t 2!f;: WD-'1 l'JI\ 0112- tl'f ofe stee.l little pin on the side of th;;Scar and dQ111p it over the side and the rock spilt down ,i -.(;' <de ch the hill. But this feller, not knmling anything about mintn' or nuthin', kinda goofy anyhoH, t.hen this thing got loaded, this little car got loaded, "hy he just kicked tre scotch and give it a big shove, shoved it off, and got it up some speed, and he, uh, he just hopped, uh, hopped up on it, ridin' backerds, tuk out his pipe:;-old man Cox standin I up there "atchin' him, you knot,,..,..tuk out his pipe, and filled hit up 1,i.th ~baccer, and about the time he struck the match there toJUZ a l STORY NO.3 (Cont'd) abuttment fixed on the end of this track do,m there at the end of that spilll-my, .:&. that car hit that, ,my, Hhen it hit that, the car ,mnt over one way, tumble end over end dOIID the spill.'my and he >lent off the other ..;ay, and this little ole tin building set off dOIVll below and he hit on top of that tin roof. Well, the old "Co ",10"''' man clem dOl'll, and he Halked back up the track, walked back up there~wePe ole man Cox wuz a standin '.; and ul"), he uh, he said, "What do you "ant me to do nOH Hr. Cox?" Hr. Cox said, "They ain't nothin' to do nOli. I don't know ho""e'll git that car back up there." He said, "Jest go on back home and Hhen I need ya, I'll let ya so he. know. " And he said, "All-right," s;;o;rl got his little dinner bucket and he ,-lUZ on a comin' back home, and he got'back on over the road 'bout a mile and he met up Hith ,f' one of his neighbors, he said, "Well, I got me a job this morning'." He said, "\'Jhear at?" He said, "Up here at Hr. Cox's Gold l-tine." He said, "Well, "hy ain't cha Harkin' nOH?" He said, "liell, the car got away, got off do..m the bluff, said Hr. Cox said, didn't know hOH he'd git it back, rrout he said, "he told me to go on back home and he I d let me knOl'1 Hhen he ne eded me", '!>nd he said, "I'm expectin r to hear from him soon, if not sooner. 1I Laughter." STORY NO, 4 "I ..mz tellin' you a "hile ago 'bout this uh, rrr:t- Granpaw Bannister in his young days caught at a still, now here's another story atter the old man got old. 0.1<- he uh, he HUZ a' q~ ole cuss, I never did know him to git intoY.icated, but he 'mz . , all'lays fond 0 I ginger stew, fond of it, maybe you knoH, mountain dew, ginger. So ,men the ole man got olt, jest him and the ole lady, Hhy he had several children married off - 2 or 3 boys, 2 or 3 girls - and uh, so he still continued on for a long time in there you kno" to raise his hogs, and they'd come in there at hawg-killing time, they'd gather in, and the men ."Olud kill the ha10lgs and the Homen "auld render up the lard and fix what-not, and 11-e. so boys, The.'1'.s j. ~a L.l:r, p;cs a1o;;rays fond of ginger ste1\f STORY NO. h (Contld) too so they come in there one time, the old man too, so they said, and the first thUlg the-.r done that mornin l , they had a big ole open hearth, fireplace, and they fixed a big iron kettle full of gir.ger steu. And the boys, they spiked it pretty w/,iII 50 high # mountain dew. it Has a bad, cold, Vlindy day and the old man, he didn I t Fell" even get out - he jest sit around by the fire. And so atter while, it come dinner time, theyld done killed one or two of the havrgs. Some of the uomen had fresh hawg meat for dinner. So from the living room to the kitchen they 1'lUZ a step d01m, you've seen rooms like that? (eh, huh.) So the ole man, he come on in, they called dinner, and he come on, Btepped dOim into the kitchen and drug a chair up to the table, set tJ,/.Il./ and eat, and they eat a big dinner and uh, fresh ha1'lg meat; ,men he got up from the 1\ table, one of the girls and done gone into the livin' room, wuz in the linn' room when he come back up the step up in the livin' room and got tangled up and he Hent plumb acrost the linnI ,room nearly a-tryin' to Ketch and "ent dO,ill his knees and ~Jt,. finally he got up on his feet and uh one of the girls said, "Lord-a-merc-.r Pa,v;~ is they somethin' wrong ,lith you?" vJhy, he said uh, uh, he said;;;!?, "i'Jhen I ,mz eatin l dinner while ago", he said, "I got choked on the grizzel." i'lell, \'That it \-111z tud that ginger stew you see and he didn't want to admit he ,nlZ about drunk. Well, the girl, uh, he wantn't use to drinkin', but the girl, the old man "rent on up to the fli.rWplace and set dmm, so the girl Hent in and said, "Paw got choked a whiJe ago," said, "somebody's gotta do somethin', just as well go git the doctor." Well, the ole man had never been sick in his life. And the f act of the business, he uas just afraid of doctors, but he had done got into Th , Well, uh. they sent somebody atter Doc PClure. Doc I~Clure, he used to be the mining doctor over here at Franklin Hines. They sent atter him. It fuz 3 or h miles. And so the ole man, he couldn't say nothin' - so they'd gone atter Doc I~Cl=e, so the ole man got "Tarried about that, and so "mile they "'liZ gone atter the doctor, uhy, the ole man got up and walked out of the house. They ,mz a little black-jack thicket off out in front of the house - 'bout - uh, I remember it, where he lived, and he uent out there and he got do,m on his knees in that black-jack thicket to pray. Well, the women folks ------- STORY NO.4 (Cont'd) thought he ';llZ out there prayin I because he thought he "uz gonna die in a minute, ,&. because he Has choked. ~lell, they had a ole pet SOH, big ole so'"', and she ,mz a pet, runnin' out -- and ,mile he 'fUZ out there prayin' this ole so" come up behind sIt~ him and finally got up to him andl'jost her snoot. under his back-end and jest . tossed the ole man over on his head. And "hen the ole man, he come up from thQI''' and reached and got his hat and he stood up -- he lfUZ a big tall feller, and he S1"JUDg his hat around over his head thru the air and this is ,,,hat he said -- he says - "It's got so I s that a man cain It even get out and pray for the damn haHgS." Vlell, they got him back to the house. Got him in the bed and so in a little bit the doc, he ~ere , come, and they 'III!I!: all settin I in the livin I room, but the ole man, he I1lUz in the back room in bed, so they said - "He's in yonder." So the doc he went in there and he set his satchel dOlm in a cher, and the old man "ras laying there in bed and he propped up on his elbows.And hlO cousins of mine~;;t young boys, they Hent in the ,.. room, they ,mz the only ones wuz in there "henever the doc ,mz in there -- so the doc, he opened up his bag and took out his pr6ngs and his probes, and so he rushed to the bed to see \-That, uh, get the ole man unchoked, and the ole man, he lOOked doc ~h.a-~) rr in the eye, jest as he got to the bed he said, "Doc - no" Hhatever you do, don't cl " strangle my strummin l ner strungle my gQGzle." (Laughter.) So :Clie got up there, /I and looked in his throat and seen there wan't nothin , l-.TrOng and he smelt that ginger sten and he caught on - but he never give thG ole man a"ray. He come on back thru I and said, "Well the ole man'll country that ole man Bannister , be allright nO\-T." So the nord got out allover the W$, tJ..,f lmz choked. l' People como in from allover the community and Bet up all night (end of tape.) \"lell that 'fUZ about all there "uz to it - he never did give him - he lmowed the ole man Hell. I told one of these BrO;mings, Doctor Bro,rrdng, his mother lTUZ a Bannister, he lTUZ h~re one time and I told him about that and ,-,hat tickled Doc Brol-rrdng wuz this part - lIhere the ole man HUZ . propped up on his elbmr ,men the doc started towardS him ,-lith his prbngs and probgs and he looked doc in the eye and lJhispered at him and he said - "Doc, l,ohatever you do", he says, """,j,~-<!kae:"'":.Jr<s;o-"".....llo'ee-r,' don It strangle my SruTJIlin I ner stru..'1g1e my go.ozle." STORY No.4 (Cont'd) NOH Hhatever that meant, I don't kno", but I reckon he thought "ith all his long probes, he 'uz gonna hurt his throat. (viell, maybe that "as an old saying.) Evidently mustabeen, I don't kno'i." STORY No.5 ~lJJ1l.-5 "1,'11, :l,6.,;3; a hu.1-l, I don't guess I can tell it jest like it is, but I kinda got tickled, they'us a feller name of Reddish lives over here towards Nelson and he HllZ tellin' my ,>ife and brother Carroll, out here about it. They's a ole man Stancil. The Stancil boys, the-.f still run a store back up here, over here in Cherokee C01h'1ty, in the east#end, and u.1-l, you knoH 'fay back yonder they usta be fDot peddlers ,;ent over the country back years ago, selling one thing and another - among the things, some Hent over the countF.f selling eye glasses - specs'they called 'em - and uh, they had all their stuff, you knou, in a suitcase and th?y I-lent from house to house and ,,,hen night come, they, you kn01'i,ast to stay all night - and, if .. somebody'd let 'em, stay all night. So, they depended on that and that'.s the ,iay the-j" ;rent thru the countI"'J' T'nis ole man Stancil, he 1-nlZ a Justice of the Peace and he "ient barefooted. And uh, but any-,iay, but Hhut happened, this feller got up here in DaHson County this ole man did, selling glasses, 8nd he spent the night I>ith the Gilreaths -- And the Gilreaths, that set of Gilreaths uere, as most Da"son County ...... IL.c people, :Y-0u knolT, make 11hiske~r and Hhat-:not. So, he sta1-~ all nig~t there and IillZ gone. You kno,-r, had all his glasses and everything in it and the old man he got oJere. mad, he uh, I don't kn01i, they __ generally foreigners, you knmi. And the old man he lost his temper, and them Gilreaths considered to be pretty ruff kinda people. They dic!ri't ta.1{e too much off of enybocrj", but a.rJYlray, the;y had stole his suitcase 1/,4'1""" during the night, and they said that ole JP.an cussed them Gilreaths and he cussed up I' a storm until the Gilreaths got so mad at him that, u.h that, they 1-rent over to the old man Stancil's and uh, they give him back -- he cussed I em until they give hi.m back his suitcase full '0 glasses -- and he left, but they 1-illZ so mad about it, he cussed 'em so, that they \ient over to ole" man Stancil's and, and the;), u..~, t~k him "hd.th a STORY NO.5 (Cont1d) warrant - for using E:S'fane language in front of their .,omen folk. Well, they ,IUZ .' kinda a ole mountain feller over there, long-haired kinda bailtiflj aDd so-they set him on the old man 21ld he rufim guy that .IUZ, ,IUZ a.li.~-=g;: ()N" down, caught him some,ij:leres do,m the road, three cr four miles 2nd arrested him and brought hi.'7l back to bId man Stancill's house, and had his trial and fined hi.'7l $25.00 and so, they turned him loose then, and .,hen the old man went on dOlin the road they said he'notarated' and told every house,he came to , he'd tell 'em about ,;hat happened to him up the road-he said ...... he "~z prosacuted by a den of thieves, arrested by a scoundrel, and tried bEfore a bare-footed judge." " STORY HO.6 "Uhh, back several years ago, here in Forsyth County, I donit recall the names of the people involved, but they were tHO old maids had a fallin' out, and uh, " l"\ they got in a fight, and uh, and so one of 'em kicked the other ..-. in the belly, " and uh (belch) and uh and so that lmz the end of the fight -- th4t:' that got kicked, ~, IMI'~ ~~.:.t' ---d knocked her breath out and ..Iii!' she give up because she got .,hll_pped and she "'"Bnt and I.,. prosecuted this other ole girl~~ had a fight with and so the trial come, come up " over here in Clli"rlWing, and so the la'~Jer questioned this ole maid that got whupped, he wuz cross-questioning her about it and he, the la''Yer, he come and said to the 3c1t ole maid, he said, !lAnd you're the lady that kicked in the fracas", and she said, !fl1t "Naw sir, I..., kicked between the navel and the fracas." !l STORY NO.7 "Uh do,m here, uh here lives, uh do,m 4.t: Gofer, a little place d01m here eo.. in Cherokee, over here between Ball Ground and Canton, and he said in nineteen and uh forty-eight, they lruZ a man lived do,m there around Gofer, a farmer, a man named ''''- ',tl Wi:Lkes.lnd uh, he had a cow to die, and so he ,mnt off dOlm..t9 the edge of the bottom, edge of the bottom field, took a shovel do,m there, to dig a hole to drag the cow up there and put in, and he was digging this hole, and he dug dm-m so fer, he dug in, into some what looked like Indian relics, he said gold too -- he seen some gold -- ----------------------------~---------- STORY NO.7 (Cont'd) . a.Tld about that time he heerd somethin,'" Somethin;' He turned his head aIfY1J"Y 1 and there standin I close to him stood a injun -- and he wuz dressed like they do ,Jay back yonder, 1lith a tommy-ha>Tk in his hand)a..d it scaired lim. And so he jest turned around then and went to shovelin' the dirt back in the hole, filled it full, filled the hole bael, up and Vlent on to the house. JI.nd he 1,as shook up so bad, he got some of the folks to carr;y him and carried him down to Canton and uh, lIve got the name of the to forget names I made a note of it, I generally do on these things, 1 1m so bad uh, of the doctor's narr~ -- anY1,ay, I don't recall it off hand a.~~~ay, he went in do~n there tellin' this doctor about it - >Thut he'd seen, what happened to him and the doctor thought, you know, that'd he uz crackin' up or sOIncthin I -- and uh, so, he give him some sedatives and, and 1-Jhat-not and he come (1.>\;' h.o.... "back home, never slept none for two or three nights, >Tell, on the second day after 11 this happened they noticed that all of his hair, rat at the roots of his hair, uh rat at the roots of all his hair was white, and when that hair grm,ed out, it was ;. gray, uh, 'o/UZ jest as Hhite-headed as a sheep. (Ub-huh, turned "hite-headed in two days.) Jest shock, s~ock. (I've heard of that happening.) And so I, he ast me if I'd ever heerd the legend and I hadn't, I'd heerd, uh, I thought about all those legendS, bilt I'd never heerd about that," so I,",uz a-tellin' a fr1!nJIl of mine about it and uh, a feN days ago, and he ,-TUZ tellin' a friend of his ,.,.ho had lived d01m close to Gofer, and he asked him about it, if he remembered it, and he remembered it, it was true, you kno,-, -- and it was a feller Wilson, but he Han't acquainted ,lith the man, but he had heerd that legend dO'lil there, heerd people talk about it -- so (I guess eve:Fjbod-.f'll be afraid to dig that up, ,roll' t they?) 'Jell, I don 't suppose he ever did -- I don't knOH if he ever told anybod;y where it was at or ,ihut, I doubt it, but, I had heerd things similar to that - but lL.'l, about people" seeing things - a.."r1d heering things -- you kno~J, Indian things, Hhere they uz buried in the earth. In fact, uh about four or five year ago I Hent to the Eddif\'Ja Mounds and uh they were doing their excavating wbrk then, uh, the -Historical Gmmission and uh so __ JJ STORY NO.8 "This TwrJ.in, Hr.Tumlin, that o;med the property, sold it to Georgia - Historical Connnission, you knmr, uh, his boy, Henr.f, he's uh, oh I don't, a man forty-year old I guess Ivell, in the deal of l'lr. Tumlin sellin' th I mounds to the State, he got Henr;y- a job for as ,long as he lived, he's curator of th' museum -- and so after I got acquainted ii"ith the Tumlin's, uh, I ast Henry uh, ",hile I i,as d01-m there one day, I said "Henry, you 've been down here w"ith 1 em, diggin' ~';!;J_1e up this, uh, diggin' these mounds up, uh, ", I said, uh "I never did, did fool w"ith nothin ' like that, I stayed in another field, and uh, uh, on Indian lore," and uh, I said uh, I Hanna ast ya. somethin', uh said, have you seen anythin' or heerd aJ"lY thin' that you couldn't aCCoULDt fer, or explain since you been here with these people 1-,hile they NUZ ta1(in' these things out of these Hounds? Uh, he says, "Well, I'll tell you one thing that happened", he said, uh, he said uh, "I iffiZ daim here \lith 'em with this Leias Larson, he \-Jas assistant archeologist to Dr. Kelly, "and uh, he said, "I WUZ daim there i1ith 'em when they dug into this bunch '0 stuff and uh, in one side of the moun4(/IfIIJ, uh, dOHll here where \-Je found these hTQ marble statues, uh, valu-ated at over a hundred thousand dollars, "most valuable find they ever found, but he said the-I iffiZ a lot of other stuff in there besides these marble statues, he said, "Tlmen He first dug in, Hhen "e first unearthed the f i'rst relic 'ur vessel, "hy", he said, "up on the side of the big mound started a big noise that ,ruz so intense that i,e couldn't hear one another talk", and he, uh, said, Larson said, ''Why, it's frogs or birds 'er somethin' up air, "and he sent a couple of boys to see i,hut it HUZ, and so they started up the side of this big mound and they got up jest a feH feet on the side and it hushed. Well, they Herit on up there, an'd thrashed around thru' the bush and all and looked and couldn I t find anything. They come on off do<m the big mound, or off i..D the bottom there, it starts agin, ani so, in a little bit, he sent another boy up there - done the saTne - quit ,men he started up. He couldn't find anythin: And so, he told me hit took three da;rs and nights, I meant three days. Hell, no, three dfiys, three days i,orle, you knoH this ,lOrk' s slo1'1 - to take out all this stuff - and all the time t.lJ.is Hork NUZ goin I on this noise i,'UZ gcing on up there, on the side of STORY NO.8 (Cont'd) thtlt mound, and he said, w-uz - ,mat the strange thin' to him 1-nlZ it started 1,hen they first unearthed the first thing and it stopped whenever they took out the last thin' - and he said, "I'll tell ya ..mat it sounded like more 'n anythin ' I kin tell ya'," he said uh, "it sounded like rain croHs, oP~y," he said, "it sounded like they "ere thousands of 'em." He said it Han't exactly like .rain croHs, but that's as clost as anything I've ever heerd, and he said I Has raised here on this river - (The EtOHah River) born here, raised here - hunted and fished, and lived here all my t\ 011\;'1.' life and he said, "I've never heerd a'"e'- hjpl that sounded like it before nor since that made a noise like it", so he said there HUZ no birds up there, there ,lUZ no frogs, there vlUZ nuthin', and he said it didn't matter Hho come up, a lot of people come, that noise, everybody heerd it, it Has so loud that you couldn't even hear, you had up to get right,.close to anybody and talk loud, they couldn't understaI1d you": (Well, I'll s<J:".f.) I'lhat,lUz it? (Spirits, I guess.) Laughter. Le"is Larson, I understand, is at Emory University nOvi, he teacherArche010gy and uh, you might ask him, if you run into him. (vlhat he thinks it Has, huh?) Yeah, ast him "hat he thought about iF Itt yt,ollj/ht that - uL; l! it "uz frogs or birds or ever vmat he thought about that. (Some things you can't explain, maybe that's the answer) Well, I wonder if he ever give any thought (I imagine he did, imagine he did.) 1'Jell, I don't lcnOH. (I think I would, 1-iouldn't you?).-Jell,. I thank one thin', probably caused this fellerttair Vie lffiZ talkin' about dawn here to turn gray, generally the kind of people that ,",auld believe, uh, T'1"e ("eF~S 111 you knoH, the 1 - .~ of person that believe anythin , he don't already knoH or understand, and uh, somethin' that goes beyond his, uh, Hhat he's done got his mind made up to believe, a tt>in', Hhy if it shocked him so bad,',lhy if they'd just keep their mind open, it Houldn't be so bad " &'1d of stor'J' 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. 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