As of
tomorrow it will be October. Since tomorrow starts the official countdown till
Halloween I decided to share a bit of spooks and history today (thanks to my
Mother’s idea).
After hiking
or spending a glorious day riding thrill rides and gorging our bellies full
with Smoky Mtn. fudge and other goodies, we were exhausted. And even though
sleep beckoned us, we refused to give in; because the most anticipated part of
our day was the drive back. In the hours long drive back home we were surrounded
by darkness and the little beams of speeding lights outside, along with the looming
shadows of the trees on the other side of the windows.
It was Gigi’s
moment to transform into a Master storyteller. Weaving and retelling memorized
folklore that had us clinging to each other as goosebumps crawled across our
arms and the hair on the backs of our necks stood. Trust me – she was that
good. Still is.
So let me
share a bit of her stories.
The Golden Arm (our favorite)
There once was a man who married a
woman who had only one good arm. Her other arm was solid gold. The man loved
the golden arm more than his wife because he saw wealth in it. But the woman
became sick and before she died she made it clear that she was to be buried with
her golden arm. Finally, she did die and so she was buried with her arm. But
her husband couldn’t bear to have something so valuable buried and not put to
use. So he dug up the arm.
But that night, after crawling into
bed with the lights out and the doors all locked, he heard a voice. A voice so
quiet he had to strain to hear it call out in the distance, “Where’s my golden
arm?” The man ignored the voice, blaming it on the wind.
But the next night, after he crawled
into bed with the lights out and the doors locked, he heard the voice again.
This time it was closer, just outside the front door on the porch. “Where’s my
golden arm?” It was just a bad dream he told himself.
But the next night, after he crawled
into bed with the lights out and the doors locked, he heard it again. And this
time, the voice came from inside. It was downstairs and he could hear the
footsteps crossing the floor. “Where’s my golden arm?” The stairs creaked as
the footsteps crept up to his room. “Where’s my golden arm?” The door knob
turned and the footsteps crossed the floor to his bed. The voice getting louder
with each step. “Where’s my golden arm?”
As the voice seemed to be right next to his bed,
it shouted, “Who’s got my golden arm…You got it!”
I did a
little research. The Golden Arm is
actually a popular folklore story that has been passed down in many variations for
at least 200 years, but possibly even longer. Mark Twain was famously known for
telling this story in his own variation during a reading tour in 1884-1885. He
often featured his “Ghost Stories,” in which he would tell the story of the
Golden Arm so enthusiastically that he would have the audience jumping and
screaming in their seats.
Originally the
folklore was created to teach listeners how to be respectful of the dead, and
also, to not be greedy. No one is sure where the story originated. Many
countries tell the ghost tale and each one has its own variation.
The Bell Witch Legend
Many years ago, there was a man named
John Bell, who purchased some land to build a home for his family. After many
years, he obtained more land, increasing his property and fields. John became a
very respected man in the community, was an excellent father and husband, and a
religious man. But he was also known to be a hard business man. He was always
looking for ways to make a profit.
One day, while out in a field, John
came across a strange looking animal. Shocked and frightened by the animal that
had the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit, John shot at the creature. But
it vanished. John Bell thought nothing of it for the rest of the day, until
later that night, when he and his family began to hear strange “beating” sounds
on the outside of their log cabin.
Each night the sounds returned,
growing more frequent and louder. Bell and his sons always tried to catch the
culprit, but they never found a soul.
More strange things began to occur. An
invisible source began to yank the bed sheets off the sleeping family at night.
More strange sounds, like gulping and lip smacking could be heard in their
rooms. And finally, they began to hear whispering that resembled the voice of
an old woman humming hymns. One daughter, Betsy, endured even more of the
nightmare. Her hair would be pulled and she would wake with hand prints as if
she had been beaten. One night, the voice returned and they questioned the
whispering voice, asking for its name. It answered, “Kate.”
Years later, John finally died. The
family discovered a small unidentified vile in the cupboard. After John’s
death, the voice of “Kate” exclaimed, “I gave Ol’ Jack a big dose of the last
night, which fixed him!”
The Bell
Witch legend is one, if not the most, popular in America. The Bell family
actually did exist. They resided in Adams, Tennessee and because of their “haunting,”
Robertson county is frequented by tourist hoping to catch a glimpse of Kate –
the Bell Witch. Records state that the pioneer family was tormented by the
sinister witch between 1817 and 1821. The Bell family was not the only one to
claim witness to the strange events. Others in the community visited the home
during the haunting and reordered their experiences.
The full
story is actually quite long. My grandmother has always told us a condensed
version. But even so, the story is creepy and will make your arm hairs stand.
Whether or
not the story is true, I think I’d rather stay far away from any and all evil.
At one point in time, I might have been stupid enough to try to scare myself by
visiting local “haunted” sites. However, with maturity, I think the lesson to
be told is that evil should not be messed with. Ghost stories are one thing,
but seeing them is another.
“For where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” –
Matthew 18:20
What are some of your favorite spooky stories? Did you have anyone ever tell you folklore stories? Do you have a popular local folklore legend where you live?
