My Granddaddy said when he was a boy in the late eighteen-hundreds, white folks would tell their children if’en they didn’t behave that the Melungeons would get them. This was a traditional warning which was probably carried over from Gypsies who resembled the Melungeon race in appearance.
Most folks don’t know who the Melungeon people were, so let me give you a little history lesson. One story says that the Melungeons were descended from a group of Portuguese mutineers who appeared on the N.C. coast many years ago, probably in the sixteen hundreds. They intermarried with the Indians and black slaves later in the seventeen hundreds. Another version is that the Melungeon race came from survivors of the lost colony off Roanoke Island who intermarried with the Indians. Another version, which holds a lot of water, is that the Melungeons are descendants of Spaniards from DeSoto’s party who came into N.C. and the southeast in the year 1540. They were looking for gold but left the Indians with disease and some bi-racial children with olive colored skin, long black hair and blue eyes.
Being a minority race of people, the Melungeons were shunned by all races even to the point they were known as Devil’s Folks. They lived on the poorest, least productive land and basically did what they could to survive, even though it might not have been lawful.
A lot of the Melungeon people were forced to move into remote areas, such as the mountains of N.C., Tenn. and Virginia but some lived a Gypsy lifestyle.
An old Appalachian legend says to explain the origin of the Melungeons, is that the Devil was expelled from Hell for a time by his wife and he came to the Great Smokey Mountains where he took a Cherokee girlfriend and fathered the Melungeons.
In the eighteen-hundreds the Melungeons were politically called, “Free People of Color”, with common names such as Gibson, Collins, Powell, Goins, Goodman, Coal (Cole), Mise and Mullins.
Most Melungeons were secretive, kept to themselves and by all means didn’t want their pictures taken. It also seems their white neighbors branded them as thieves, lawless and evil doers. Some old time preachers even went to the point of calling them “ligions of the Devil” and accused them of using Witchcraft on folks. Why if’en anything bad or unusual happened in the community, the local Melungeons took the blame, no-if-ands or buts about it; they always got the blame. Why the local preachers even had folks believing all Melungeons were Witches and Conjure people. That they promised to worship the Devil and do zactly like he sez; and that was to spread the Devils ideas and spells on all the God fearing folks in the community.
There is an old story about a small family of these Melungeons that somehow just appeared and was living in a run-down lumber-shack way up in the hills of the Pee Dee Valley. Why nobody seemed to know from whence they came. The family consisted of an old man, his woman and a beautiful teenage daughter with long, jet black hair.
As time went by the Melungeon man began selling some of the best Moonshine in these parts. Folks that drank it said it went down rough but the feeling it left was out of this world, kinda like it put a spell on you.
Hadn’t many folks seen the Melungeon man ‘cause he’d hide the jug of so-called shine in a stump hole and folks would just leave the money in the hole. If’en you didn’t leave the money, for sure, things would begin to happen like your mule or horse would die or strange bugs would take over your crops or even your well would go dry.
Some local folks said at night you could see strange lights and sounds coming from the Melungeon’s shack. You know how folks will talk. They even said that the old Melungeon man and woman probably won’t properly married and it was just a “Broomstick Marriage”. Now what a broomstick marriage was – in the actual ceremony, a broomstick would be placed on the floor and when the couple stepped over the stick together, they were considered married. Why that sounds to me like a good and cheap way of git’n hitched.
As the story goes, the local preacher got wind of what was happening; whether it was true or not, and was determined to put a stop to these strange shenanigans once and for all. So the next day the preacher made his way up in the river hills, determined to have a strong talk with these Melungeons or whatever you called them.
Just as the preacher came close to the shack, he yelled, “Hello in there, anybody home?,” which was the custom in those days. He heard not a sound but could just feel someone or something looking at him from inside the old shack.
Being a brave and God fearing man, the preacher knocked on the door, softly at first but when nobody came or answered the door, he began to really pound on the door. Suddenly the door opened and a black cat pounced right into the preacher’s face, scratched him up good too, I want you to know. Somehow or the other, the preacher managed to throw the cat to the ground and it ran off screeching.
Having gone this far, the preacher won’t gonna turn back now, no-sir-ree. He carefully stepped into the shack and what he saw was a sight to behold. There on the dirt floor lay all types of animal bones; stacked in the corner were all types of roots and herbs; and on the table were small bottles filled with some type of potions. As his eyes peered farther into the one room shack, there over the fireplace was a large black kettle bubbling with a witch’s brew. Two frogs, one with black hair on its back, jumping in and out of the boiling pot.
The preacher had seen all he needed to see. This had to be the home of them dreaded Melungeon witches he had heard about and preached about.
Why that thar preacher turned around and flew out the door and hastily made his way out of those river hills. Why he ran so fast that he passed a rabbit being chased by two coyotes.
When he got home, he told everybody what he had seen and that something had to be done to stop them Melungeon witches.
You know back in them days folks round these parts knowed just what to do to keep them witches away. You see a witch is afeared of a forked stick and the towns folk placed forked sticks up over their cabin and barn doors to keep the witches away. They also painted hex signs on their ceiling for the same reason.
Several months passed and a hunter just happened up on the old shack where the Melungeons had lived. He opened the door and to his surprise the place looked like it hadn’t been lived in, in years. Why there were cobwebs everywhere but not a soul to be found.
Nobody ever knew from hence them Melungeons came from or where they disappeared to, but they had vanished.
So beware folks, them, Melungeon witches might still be holed up somewhere back up in them Pee Dee River Hills, just waiting to pounce on some poor unsuspecting soul like yourself!!!