HAPPY FRIDAY POU!
We continue our series on African-American Ghost Stories.
GHOST STORIES FROM THE FEDERAL WRITERS’ PROJECT
From Wikipedia:
Established on July 27, 1935, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) operated under journalist and theatrical producer Henry Alsberg, and later John D. Newsome, compiling local histories, oral histories, ethnographies, children’s books and other works. The most well-known of these publications were the 48 state guides to America (plus Alaska Territory, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.) known as the American Guide Series. The American Guide Series books were compiled by the FWP, but printed by individual states, and contained detailed histories of each state with descriptions of every city and town. The format was uniform, comprising essays on the state’s history and culture, descriptions of its major cities, automobile tours were one of the important attractions, and a portfolio of photographs. The Federal Writers’ Project was funded and put to work, as a Public Works in and around the west coast, through Washington, Oregon and California.
The following are several stories collected by the FWP in South Carolina between 1936-1937:
“It was about seven-thirty one winter night in the country when a friend and I were going to visit another, ts had to cross a ditch which led to a long line of thickly clustered bushes and vines. Then we were approaching this thicket, and about five feet from its entrance used by pedestrians, there appeared in the center of the path a man about nine feet tall and whose feet were about a foot from the ground.
This man had no face but stood erect like a soldier. We grabbed each other and began to run and scream when all of a sudden a strong wind came and blew us to the ground before we could raise our voices high enough to be heard. It was about ten 0’clock when we were discovered by a group of people passing while our nerves were still shattered* This was not far from a graveyard. When we told of the tall man we saw, an old lady told us that that man with his feet above the ground was said to be the tallest man in the world when he was alive, and that he guarded that place for it was there that he had lost a girl be had loved.” — As told by Joe C. Williams, age 86, on Federal Relief, Charleston, S.C.
A Tormented Man: On Johns Inland, South Carolina, there was a man who was walking for many days and occasionally he stopped to rest when he had walked a long distance. So he stopped, stopped and stopprf; for his journey was a long one.
While he was going through a thick wooded section, he thought to rest again; so he did. There was an old oak covered with moss under which he stood a minute and then sat down. When he had wiped the perspiration from his brow, he said, “This journey is a long one.” The object on which he sat and thought to be an oak tree, but instead it was an aged rattlesnake, said, ‘You bet it is.” When the man turned around to see who was commenting, he saw the snake looking at him. As tired as he was he took to his feet and did not stop running until he was out of the woods.
Then he stopped near where a cow was grazing but he did not see the cow. Then he said aloud as though talking to someone, “I have never yet heard of an oak tree talking.” The cow said, “Me neither”. The man turned again to see who was commenting but no one was to be seen, but there stood a cow that looked him right in the eye. He took to his feet again end ran almost a mile
Then when when he was too exhausted to run any more, he stopped to rest. He was sitting no longer than five minutes when he said, “I have never heard of an oak tree talking nor a cow.” At a little distance from where he sat stood a dog from which came the words, “Me neither'”. When the man turned and saw no one, but the dog, he got up this time more frightened than ever and took to his feet. The poor man ran and ran until his breath was almost gone. The man stopped near a ditch by which was a large rook. The man yet puffing and blowing said, “In my whole life I have never read nor heard of an oak tree talking nor a cow talking, nor a talking dog”. Just as soon as he was through, the rock said, “Me neither”. The poor man started to rise but was too weak and fell—dead. — As told by Abram Ward, Johns Island, S.C.
“I was living at 123 Bull Street when I was terribly frightened by something nearly took all of my nerves away. The people with whom I lived told me not to go out and stay out late at night; but I thought they were selfish and jealous, and I did not pay any attention to what they said, Night after night I went out and stayed until 12 o’clock. Then one night came when my going was stopped without having to be told.
The house in which I lived is next to Avery Institute with a yard of beautiful shrubbery which makes it very haunted-looking at night. Very seldom are people seen passing in that somewhat secluded section of Charleston at night. Night after night, I would be the onky one walking along. Then, on an eventful night just as I turned to go into the side entrance to my room in the rear, in the tree under which I had to walk I saw a cat which did not frighten me until it turned to a calf of about two years old. My hair stood straight on my head and I became so weak that my voice was just above a whisper. Swaps of perspiration fell from me. When I had recovered from the shock I ran and the animal must have followed me; I could hear it galloping behind me as I ran home a few rods from the scene. Looking back as I almost burst down the door, the peculiar thing was no longer visible.” — As told by Mrs. S.C. Lanson, 36, occupation, maid, Charleston, S.C.
(SOURCE: University of South Carolina Digital Collections)