Project #-1655
Cassels R. Tiedeman
Charleston. S. C.
12/3/37 trans

FOLKLORE
Ghosts

OPHELIA JEMISON

Opehlia was asked if she believed that spirits ever came back to see their loved ones.

"I knowed sperrits come back. I seen um. Ef a pusson die mean an wicked an' want you, he come back an' git at you sure ting. You jes' go up to de grabe yaad (graveyard) at at sun down, an' hold you head close down to de ground you kin hear em comin' up louder an' louder an' ef you don't git way, you'll be snatched down in one ob dem graves.

"I see me husband one time. He stan' by me side but he bery little in size wid a big head, 'bout lak dat waiter ober dere on de table, an' he hair parted on de side jes' as natural. He all dressed in white wid long flowin' sleebe. You see, he killed sudden lak widout he hab time to tell me nuttin', so he come back to hab he say. He say it all right, but I ain't catch what he say, den I wanna talk to em but he banish. May be I too wicked to talk to a sperrit."

"But Ophelia how can spirits come back to this world?"

"Lord miss, sperrits ain't fasten down, dey freer den we. Dey come back when ebber dey lak but some don't ebber come back any. Tom an Alice, two ob me fambly been talkin' to me dis mornin', cause I been hear a buzzin' in me year an' I knowed dey want to know how I come here wid you."

"Did they find out?"

"Oh! dey come agin an' agin till dey satisfy dem self. Dey know by de way I talk when dat buzzin' aggregate me. Sperrits all obber, dey 'tract you 'tention when ebber dey lak."

Source: Ophelia Jemison, Addison Court, Charleston, S. C.

Text from: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection