The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-08-17
Superstitions in the CumberIands.
From Harper,s Magazine.
FTUIH E1dTptI'S MdB dLIIt'
mo~untainaar 10 a great belieV

The m~ountaineer is a great believer
in signs and %portents. Personally, i
confess / never happened to meet n
one who claimed to be a witch or a
wizard. though 1 knew several who
were said to possess charms OF one
sort or another. There was still living
not long ago, in one locality which l
visited, an old woman who asserted
that she could cure almost anything,
including cancer. She said that in or
der to work a cure. however, she must
first know the fuli name of the person,
together with the mater" Of the trou-
BILE, and that then she had to go out
and look at a green apple tree, saying
q few words Of ceremony
Thes were her secrets. She could
not reveal 1t to another woman with
out losing her power. For a woman
could tell 1t only to three men, n a
man to three m h herself had
been TAUGHT the charm many years pc
fore by an old man who, in turn, may
have received it from another woman,
or from the devil himself. For there
are those in the mountains who are
supposed to have sold their souls quite
in accordance with the best Faustian
traditions.
In the Cumberlands there a never
been felt any Of tina odium theology
cum toward witches found elsewhere
in modern times. They have, 1t is true,
been feared; and, If we are to credit
the tales current in the country, indi-
vidual witches have, when taken, been
|, subjected to cruel punishments-even
put to death. But there never, so
far as / nave heard, been any system
attic persecution Of those suspended OF
diabolical practices; and this accords
with the simpler and more natural
sentiment on the subject in primitive
Catholic, rather HI Protestant, u
tries, where there are always adequate
means with which to combat this par
ticular spiritual evil.
There are, Of course, no priests in
the Cumberlands to make the sign Of
the cross, sprinkling a little holy water
on the infected place or on the person
suspected Of suffering from a malefice.
But there are almost as many witch
doctors as there are witches, n their
charms a 1t very dangerous for the
latter to attempt anything serious
against human life. Besides, witches
are always liable to painful accidents
in the pursuit Of their unhallowed pro-
fession.
Many years ago a mans wife. who
was a witch, went one night to attend
a meeting Of the witches. In the guise
of a black cat she came home to where
her husband w,s sitting by the fire.
side n threw her paw upon his
knees. Not especially in o with the
ss~lutation Of this strange visitor, he
chopped one of her paws off, and i'm
mediately the hand of a woman lay
upon his knee. The next morning his
wife complained Of sickness, and was
not disposed to get out Of bed. The
husband was suspicious and asked her
to reach out her right arm. She did
so, and the hand was missing.
/ have also heard another story of
the same sort, concerning a woman
who every night turned a young man
INTO O horse, and rode him so hard that
the following morning he was ex-
hausted. A stranger who happened to
be staying in the house where this oc-
Cured observed the young man vast
ing from day to day, and suspected the
woman OF sorcery. So he lay awake
one night and saw her come to her
victims bedside, shake q bride over
him and nay three times, up devil;
put on bridle!" Then, as he changed
shape, she leapsd on his back and
dashed through the door. The next
night the stranger turned the tables on
the enchantress: and, whom he had
changed her into a mare, rode her
straight up the creek 10 q hAsxsnith's
shop, where he dismeunts&sSn and gave
her q full set OF shoes. Then, after
riding her al night. he brsssht her