The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1877-11-03
OUR STORY TELLER.
THE WITCHES ACRE.
bombay Gazette I

bombay Gazette.
In the county of Chickasaw. Missis-
sippi, on what is known as the Houston
road, leading from Oakalona, the county
seat, to the village of Houston, there is
a lonely spot which has for years been
called the " Witches Rendezvous"
The name has its origin in a number of
traditions and wild superstitions con-
nected with the locality, and some of
these are of peculiarly weird and
thrilling character. The haunted spot,
which is perfectly barren of grass or
bush, does not include more than an
acre of ground, circular shaped and sit
uated on the slope of gentle hill and,
though it is surrounded by large trees,
it is said no leaf or twig has ever fallen
within the charmed space 1t is tradi-
ton that for over a half century witches
have come to the desolate place to dance
and indulge in their magic incantations
They come at midnight, and vanish with
the cock-crow. Twenty-Five years ago
the many ghostly stories which were
current at that time created considera-
bic public excitement throughout that
section of Mississippi, and the Jackson
Clarion commissioned Colonel Thomas
S. Gathright to visit Chickasaw County
and investigate the truth or falsity of
the reports. Gathright wrote very
elaborate account of his visit, which
was published in the Clarion. In the
course of his article he said there was a
tradition to the effect that tribe of
Indians had buried valuable treasures in
the vicinity. The account created a
great sensation, and number of people
went to the witches rendezvous and be-
gan to dig for gold. The deep holes and
trenches still to be seen in that locality
were the only results of their labors. A
remarkable feature of the soil is that it
is red-celored, while that outside the
circle is very dark, that country being
included in what is known as the black
lands. The phenomenal circumstance is
accounted for by thrilling story to the
effect that in early times band of
Chickasaw Indians, temporarily en-
camped on the spot, we're surprised and
massacred by the hostile Creeks; and. to
express his wrath, the Great Spirit
turned the soil to blood color and
cursed it forever, causing troubled spir-
its to haunt it and appal all who should
pass the uncanny neighborhood. In
dians, when they inhabited the country,
had great dread of the place, and
would never go near it. Spiritual me-
diums have frequently visited the
haunted circle and sat in the darkness
to commune with the witches, and they
assert that the truth of the above story
is confirmed by the in-essential beings
forced by fate to gather at this wild and
isolated place. According to the medi-
ums, one hundred years ago, one hun
dred and eighty Chickasaw Indians were
savagely slain by an overwhelming force
OF Creeks, and that after being scalped
the bodies were left on the ground to be
eaten by the wolves, and that the Great
Spirit, as an evidence of his displeasure
at the atrocity of the deed, decreed that
the neighborhood should be forever I'm
der the foul influence of evil spirits.
The peculiar manifestations which are
now and have ever since been witnessed
by those who pass there between mid
night and break of day consist mainly
of ghostly forms, dressed in white or
cleaning as with phosphoresent light;
old hays, exhibiting horrid charms or
engaged in unearthly dances; ghostly
Indian warriors, mounted on the
whitened skeletons of ponies; beautiful
maidens, appareled like brides; gigantic
human forms, gaunt and wasted, with
eyes glazing like balls of fire and gibber
ing with goblin voices; floating lodges
OF the red race, populous with wailing
squaws and papooses. Besides these,
there were other less notable demonstra-
lions, but all of a mysterious character
and all sustained by such strong evil
dence as to dissipate the credulity of
the most skeptical. As the midnight
hour arrives, " the witch laugh" wild. |
tremulous, discordant sound, breaks out /
on the breeze, and is heard quarter of
a mile away. These are followed by
hideous screams, echoed in every hill !
and hollow. Spectral lights flash and |
phantoms float through the air. Some |
of these wall like women lamenting.
while others gibber and gable like |
witches working an Internal spell. At |
times these sounds are not heard. and
the unholy circle is as quiet as a home
of the dead, but pale lights CLEAN and
spirit forms fit by, and the lone tray-
eler, on any night, will see enough to
make his blood run cold and his hair
stand on end. Few people have had the
to remain near by from mid
night to dawn, and those who have de-
clare that under no inducement would
they again subject themselves to the
prolonged torture of such prete-natural
'pectacles. No one passes the spot af-
or midnight if it can possibly be
welded, and even in daylight the way
arer travels in that direction with
more or less dread. 1t is related that.
hough no person lives within three
niles of the rendezvous, the Growing of
cock is always heard there as day be-
ms to break. At the sound nj the