The Savannah morning news., 1901-08-25
WITcHcRAFT UP TO DATE.
TWENTIETH CENTURY wEAvERs
OF SPELLS.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
To speak of witchcraft in this TWEEN
tieth century seems mingling of ire
concilable terms. Yet to-day in the
mountains of North Carolina there is
a district peopled exclusively by ma
tive Americans which is as witch-rid-
den as was New England before the
Salem hangings. There aged hays. who
have fostered for themselves repute
for mystery and terror, hold entire
communities in subsection, weaving
spells and charms, blighting with the
evil eye and compromising potions Of
strange ingredients:
Fillet of a fenny snake,
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wood of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind worms sting,
Lizards leg and howlet's wing.
The black art in Macbeth" may well
be the prototype of this mountain
witchcraft, for there is a strong current
of Scotch blood in this part of North
Carolina, and at least two of the noted
witches are known to be part Scotch
and part Cherokee. The best known of
these is called Old Nance-but only in
whispers, and 1t is by no means certain
to the countryside that she does not
hear these whispers, so most people pre-
fer the safe side and refer to her as
Mother Nance. Five thousand feet high
in the mountains of Macon county,
amongst the roosts of the foul buzz
yards, her cabin clings to a windbeaten
ledge of rock, overhanging an abyss.
No road leads thither.
For a stranger to make his way there
is a matter of no little difficulty. First
of all he must find out where Old Nance
lives, which isn't as easy as it might
appear. No native will guide him. 1t
is difficult to find any one who will even
tell where the place is.
After considerable effort the writer
found a young woodsman who agreed
to accompany him on the road to Old
Nance's, but after some six miles Of
the hardest kind of tramping, from the
nearest point of the roadway the youth
lost his courage and refused to go any
further.
you can't miss it now," he said,
glancing fearfully up the mountain
side. 1T amt more'n half a mile.
There's the laidge o. rock, If yer sure
you want to go. Don't blame me if
yer friends don't recognize yer when
you come back-ef you ever do git
back" he concluded with startling
earnestness
Superstition is one Of the most conta-
gious of ailments. 1t was with a some
what daunted spirit that the writer
proceeded, and presently came abrupt
ly upon a small, one-roomed log shack
without window or chimney. Outside a
very old woman was stirring some
thing in an iron pot hung over a fire
She was bowed down with age and
| hideous with wrinkles and CRIME, and
her eyes were bright and evil. At the
sound of a strangers footstep she
whirled around with a swiftness that
was uncannily out of keeping with her
apparent decrepitude, and after a mo-
ment's study of the writer's face. spoke
in so cracked an accent and barbarous
dialect that it was hard to make out
| her meaning.
Yer kin some'it?"
Assuming the meaning of this to be
| You know something that has brought
| you up here" the writer replied:
| mo, mother, l came to hear some
thing that you know" at the same
| time producing a silver dollar.
! With the swiftness of a snake she
| darted forward, snatched the coin and
| hid it in her bosom.
Yer KEN hur fer wot?" she snarled.
ITO find out If you haven't something
to tell me; something about the days
| that are coming"
She squinted cunningly over the edge
of the rock into the abyss. Eyer come
fun below" she said. ''Yer'll go back
| ter below"
Isn't there some charm you could
| give me to make it pleasanter down
below"
At this a malignant grin distorted
! the deep lines about her mouth. With a
1 I'll -
| the cabin, returning with bowl of Ii
quid, which steamed and exuded a
| spicy odor. This she proffered. Now
| there are certain tales of people who
/ went to see Old Nance and never were
heard of afterward. This might be ex-
/ planned by the fact that they drank
| steaming liquid out of bowl. There
are many poisonous plants in the North
| Carolina mountains and it seemed best
to evade the drink.
ut isn't considered polite to drink
alone" said the writer to the witch.
| After you"
With a snarl of rage she dashed the
bowl to the ground, darted into her
cabin and barred the door. This SEEM
ed to indicate that the audience was
over. The writer returned to the viii
lage whence he had started, and was
| welcomed as one from the dead Also
I
some of which were so specifically cor
roborated by witnesses to the fact that
| il was difficult not to believe them
and impossible to believe that the ma
| tives had anything but the fullest faith
in them. Here is one: A woman had
a daughter who was in love with a
| South Carolina youth whom the moth
| er hated because he came from another
state, quite sufficient reason in that
| region. AS the girl threatened to
elope, the mother took her to Old
Nance. Now, for some reason, possi-
! bly, connected with an evil or unfor-
tunate past, the witch hates all mar
riages, and will do anything to thwart
one. BY her orders the trembling girl
was left with her. The witch, accord
| ing to the story told afterward by the
girl, scraped turnip, which she gave
to the girl to eat. Hardly had the
girl tasted 1t when her nose began to
pain her, and soon it had grown far
around upon her cheek, almost to the
| ear. She was taken home, and now
come the strange part, for there are
scores of people in the town who are
ready to swear that they saw the hid
ecusly distorted organ. Her lover de-
| serted her, between disgust, ridcule
and horror. Again she was taken 70
| the witch, and this time ate willingly of
the scraped turnip, whereupon her nose
| returned to its normal shape and posi-
| ton. But the witch warned her that
if she ever tried to marry the same
mishap would befall her again.
| Similarly we'll authapticotad a. A. ID.