Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-06-09
VIRGINIA WITCHES.
uNcANNy, Observation-Disclosures
,NHAeiT THE AlLEGHANlES.
Prophecies Believed and I'm
published Legends Illustrating the
Power OF Several Mysterious Women.
NAV Ymk HorAid.l

The superetitions OF the, OLD Oshonihi
times still survive in the mountains OF
VIRGINIA. do not refer to the Voudoo
worship OF the colored people, but TO the
beliefs that are common among the white
folks of the region. Among the Alle-
rhanies "witchcrett celebrates pale He
Gates offerings" and within easy-reaching
distance of Fincastle there are number OF
withered hays who less than century ago
would have been burned at the stake for
the black arts they are supposed TO prac..
tice. They are reputed 10 be witches and
70 meet one Of them at midnight would
eppali the bravest inhabitant
At least two OF these women belonged 10
fne families IN the long ago, and were
noted for their beauty end their Jewels.
In the olden time wltchcraft was not con-
fined % the Puritans of New England.
Princessi Anne Courthouse, a little village
eoutheast Of Richmond, Va, witnessed the
ducking Of Grace Sherwood in the waters
OF Ilynnhaven bay for witchcraft. The
belief IN witches has never died out In this
vicinity.
Bally-due 70 the fact, probably, that one
Rally Slate achieved great fame in this re-
rion years ago through her internal arts
She was guilty of many ugly tricks before
she turned old Cgsar-her neighbor's hired
man--into horse and went foraging upon
his brawny back. He was strange negro
Slate.
SHE HAD RED BEARD.
But the very night he arrived at his new
home lie was visited by her, so he declared
when daylight came. Dress Gawd,
nassa." said he in relating his adventure,
san old 'oaman, wit red beard an hump
on her back came TO me las night, CIT
up she ses. an up hoped. Den she
straddled my back an i went pacin' on
eech rs never seen no hos do atore. She
rode me into q co'n-fel', an we didn't stop
for no fence, but trabbled up shaft O.
moonlight. She filed a yaller bag wit
CON and den make me kerry of her an de
CON to little house up yander. whar a
whole yardful o. black cats ed us q
Welcome. Den she GIN me a slash wit a
black-sDake whip an ses Scat, an tuck
20 my heels an paced home. Ioh can't
spec me to work to-day, massa. Pso too
tagged out"
Oh course he was allowed holiday.
Iidy Hughes, q noted witch, vet lives In
n destitute condition at the county poor
house. She has son moderately well to
do, but disclaiming her because OF her
wItchcraft.
She also hes been shot by proxy with a
silver bullet for the death of a cow. Her
peighbor drew upon paper, with juice OF the
p'coon root, and with the art of skilled
mountaineer, Lidy Hughes's portrait. This
he tackled upon O beech-tree in the woods
where the COW died, and upon shooting the
portrait with silver bullet Lidy next day
appeared very lame in the hip-i joint.
She is lame yet from the silver bullet.
Sometimes her evil genius gets angry
with her, as il did when she stirred soap
kettle not long ago. The matron OF the
infirmary left her in charge of the kettle,
which was boiling at ITS highest, out under
the sycamore-trees on the creek bank.
For few minutes all went well, and the
soap did its best TO odorlZe the country.
Then suddenly the witch was heard TO
yell. and upon running TO her 1t was found
that the kettle, firestones. and all the APP
paratus were sizzling in the bottom OF the
creek, while old Lidy cried with all q
witch's agony that she was burned. burn
ed. There was not drop of hot soap on
her clothing. The matron assured me
with all the candor she could summon that
Lidy positively had no sign of burn.
Yet her back and limbs were badly IN
iured.
SHE CAN BRIGHTEN ANIMALS.
Even the animals on the poor farm are
reported as afraid of hdy..
She can scatter a whole flock of sheep in
q field by merely standing in the cabin
door and pointing her oaken cane at them
half a mile away.
The paupers fear her more than death.
The whole county can testify to Q strange
power she possesses and TO the peculiar in
tuence she has over the ignorant.
The Virginia witches are poor, scant-
CARRIED, hunger-crazed creatures. They are
usually Of bearded chins and otherwise
bldeOus. That they possess power unu-
sual to the human being is without doubt.
Perhaps il is, after all, an undeveloped,
unconscious germ OF the occult science
yet 10 be explained away.
But here is one illustration that scarcely
comes under any science yet named. Sally
Friddly, living on Potts's creek, Allegheny
county, furnishes her neighborhoOd with
striking story. 1t is rather hard to say that
the story is believed, but so it is, for the
credulity of the mouutaineer in certain dl-
rections is altogether limitless.
Sally Friddly keeps behind her closet
door tow linen towel. Ii has hung there
for forty wears all told.
Now. when SALLY Friddlv wants a neigh
boris COW TO yield 10 her own milk pail, she
puts into said pail silver dollar--it may
be the rare dollar of 1901. Then she goes
TO the tow linen towel and repeats some
such jargon as this:
The milk for her,
The cream for me.
Saw, Brownie, saw
Or "Saw, Daisy" or any name her neigh
boris COW may possess.
considerate, and does not take milk from
one COW oftener than once in every two or
three weeks. This enables everybody to
fare alike.
THEIR BEDS WE'LL sALTED.
There are a great many people whom /
know-both white and colored-who never
90 TO bed on a windy night without first
sprinkling salt around their beds This
keeps the witches out. Another protec-
tion is to set up knife, fork. and spoon at
the head of the bed, and then, so say the
sufferers. one can see the witch that visits
one and tell exactly who II Is. Placing
bent pins in the track of a reputed witch
Is another method of proving witchcraft.
IL upon returning in the same tracks she
limps then the pins have struck home IN
their uncanny mission, and she Is witch.
The stories of modern witches are legion,
aud they are much more tangible pictures
than those of Queen Anne's reign.
Albert Lynch, respectable and reliable
colored man. tells of night in lonely
old-feld school-house, where a witch held
an orgy over his body and called in to her
assistance queer aud curious community
of unknown creatures. that danced by the
light of fox-fre. and at the first roulade
from the chanticleer the witch and her
retinue skedaddled up the wide old Chin
weymouth! We can explain this by call
Ing il a dream or the workings Of restless,
undisciplined brain.
But how can We explain the fact that in
one district q woman declares the witch of
another won't allow her butter to come"
or her life in other channels TO run smooth
ly? How explain the fact that witch de-
clares certain things will happen and a
year later they do happen?
Witches can nearly always name the cob
thief of neiGhborhood! They can trace
anything stolen from dull axe to a gold
ring. In early life they have, as far as
can learn, been subject 10 epileptic fits.
That woman Of this kind has strange
influence over her Acknowledgement,
unlettered, undisciplined though they be-
cannot be denied any more than it can be
explained. She grows up with the power
She makes prophecies and they are veri-
fed.
Ann Hotel. formerly Ann Croft, has been
afamous character in the county for thirty
years. She processes 10 have power in
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