St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1895-09-21
AMERICAN suPERsTITloNs.
Our Folklore Has Some Interesting Ones
in Snite of Ita InganeY.z -


Our Folklore Has Some Interesting OneF
in Spite of Its Infancy,
Naturally, and yet worthy Of remark
in passing, the tales OF Kentucky deal
almost exclusively with horses, special
or otherwise. The residents of Jessa-
mine county conduct the visitor to q
bit of woodland intersected by a much
Travelled road, about which he dis
covers no remarkable features until
informed that no horse, how
eyer old Or decrepit, unless
blind or hoodwinked, ever asses
through that remnant of forest
without running away with driver or
rider. The mystery has long ago been
given up as unsolvable,s but the fact
remains; and it is quite curious to see
sturdy old farmers alight and blind
fold their horses at the edge of this
haunted TIMBER
There is also great swamp IN. the
eastern part of the state which IS the
residence of an immense but fleet
footed phantom stallion, which seen
in daylight is coal black, but encount-
cred on the highway at night Is white.
as the proverbial driven snow. 5.ss
{ The most remarkable story emanat-
ing from the rege1ierated dark and
bloody ground is that which relates
that "a race, in the vicinity of Ieyi ing
ton, was once run by a ghostly horse
and jockey. There were twelve entries
and starters, but as the horses were
going down the back stretch the
tat tsa. CT a III
counted thirteen contest tants, the odd
horse being a black, three-year7Voll'd.l old
FLY, ridden by a diminutive negro,
which forged rapidly to the front and
came in first at the finish, nnysteriously
disappearing among the horses as they
were pulled up in the turn.
The highways seem to have become
favorite resorts for the eastern shore
ghosts. We have many times heard
the story of the Invisible horse-
man, who dashes along the road a a
mad gallop, and who makes his pres
sence known by a shout aud the beat OF
the shoefs of his horse. Occasionally
riding out in state, he drives a team,
and then the rattling Of wheels and
the crack of whip are accomplishments
of his passage. The whites regard
this phantom simply sas an eccentric
freak of the spirits, Che negroes profess
to see in It a more par tieuIar and onin-
GUS significance. In one elocality-this
was on the banks of the Susquehan-
ma river-our attention was directed
|. to q roadside quarry, and were re-
quested to notice on the face of the
rock at the back Of the excavation the
outline OF huge door. Having as
| sented TO the fact that certain cracks
and streaks upon the surface of the
rock did present something of this p
pearance, we were seriously informed
that this was the door behind which
the invisible horseman stabbed his
phantom steeds. and that at a certain
hour Of the night, moved by unseen
| hands, it swung open for his exit.
Other specters Of the. highway are
| s.The Blacksmith, a name Whieh,has no
appropriatenessf further than that it is
| used to describe a ghost with a heavy
hammer, .Lob1ofv William whose
supernatural professions are based5on
the fact that when encountered upon
i
those of one walking through soft
mud; Miss Phoebe, who has appeared
only once since the war, and whose
present existence is, therefore, some
what problematica1; and TO these the
negroes. who have noindfvidual names
| for particular ghosts, add the terrific
speeter which they call the man with
! the iron facen-ss
Owing to the loss OF hundreds o.
/ oyster sloops in the great bay. mum
Der of oyster superstitions have SPRUNG
up. Chief Of them is that of the
! "oyster lights, :. which appear on the
/ surface of the water and proceed from
lanterns in the masts of phantom
ships. They are said to be observed
In the hour preceding a storm. g
In$the same class we must place ths
black schooner which sails up. ane
down the Chesapeake, making signals
of distress but which, Whe1
approached by boat, sinks
i swiftly and silently beneath 4 thu
waves. An old steam boatman on TIN
bay informed us that this il1-fated yes
4 sci always flies the English flag, tis
inference being that she belonged tt
the British feet which aseended ths
4 Chesapeake during the war OF 1912
j and which, after meeting with stou
! resistance. captured and burned tn,
town Of Havre de Grace, at the heae
! OF the bay. 1t seems, however, tha
i the same schooner occasionally ap
]. pears on the ocean side OF the penin
sula,. where she flies a black flag
i the residents Of the beach believ
i ing that the phantom craft was orig
inaaIy one of those under the com
mand of the pirate Blackbeard, AM
that her ghostly crew is engaged IN
repeated but fruitless attempt to re
gain possession of the gold which thi
famous marauder is supposed to hav
1 buried IN the vicinity Of Green Rul
q beach. 1t is said that the schoone
when seen lis always headed direetI,
4 In toward the land, and that when sh
reachers the outer line Of breakers he
bow plunges beneath the waves an,
she disappears. ID. b. Fitzgerald. i
Frank Leslie Monthly ]:
Absorption of Jews.
Il That there are plenty Of Jews sir
q ping away from Judaism in this colr
s try is an indub bitab1e fact, but # is d
j. ~