"The Lincoln County Witch."

Okay, I mentioned nervous breakdown, but I didn't know that was what was happening to me. and may not be appropriate word. Did not get medical help until years later. All I know was I began incessant counting (obsessive compulsive tendency) doing something like pill rolling with my fingers until they were raw. But I couldn't stop. I had an unnatural desire to yawn and didn't feel right in my system if I couldn't carry it off. I asked my mom about it one day, and asked her what it meant. She just kind of snapped at me and said, "Bad nerves, I reckon!" Did she not wonder why her 12 yr old had bad nerves?
I kept picturing that last encounter with Inez at the witch doctor's house. She had leaned over the front seat of her car until she was looking me and T squarely in the face. "If you ever tell anybody about this, I'll shove my fist so far down your throats, you won't be able to breathe! And I'm a witch, so I WILL know!" There was another person in the car with us that we had picked up on the way to Charlotte, but I absolutely cannot talk about her right now. That woman terrifies me to this day!

[edit on 10/5/2007 by janasstar]

Dawm it's a nice story! I did just let a tear drop down my face because i was really into your story, i copie and paste everything in WordPad to read it on another way so i can understand it better then reading 2 posts of you everyday and missing the half of a story.

Keep your chin up! and tell us more! PLEASE!

Peace

Originally posted by blowfishdl
I don't want to be disrespectful, but it sounds like a fairy tale your making up as you go.. Never the less I enjoyed it.

What a two-faced thing to say. And from my opinion, it doesn't sound like she is making it up at all. I have great literary analysis and reading comprehension and she seems spot on to me.

sorry folks, doing the best i can.
Any way, this thing kept eating at me, and I was hoping that since we had moved to Shelby that maybe I would never have to see her again.
One day while walking home from school with Laura and our sister-in-law, I couldn't hold it in any longer. I had never kept anything from Laura. And the topic was her hate for Inez, anyway. So it all came out. But I begged them not to tell anybody because I was afraid Inez would hurt me and T.
Laura kept her promise, but guess who didn't??
She went home and told my brother mark. It wasn't long before they were pulling up in front of our house. I could see fumes coming from Mark. He never cared much for Inez or demon seed either. He once knocked demon seed on his keister. (applause)!
Mark stormed his way into mom's room and told her how the cow ate the cabbage, more or less. Then he told her that she was crazy if she ever let us go over there again!
You would think that would have taken care of it, right? Wrong!

The following Carolina weekend had brought freezing temperatures and sleet into the area. Mom was on the warpath! I could hear her shouting at Hugh, "I don't want these kids under my feet all weekend in this weather!" Then we hear, "Laura, Get in here! Get Inez on the phone and tell her to come for you all!" I started bawling. I thought I would lose my mind. I couldn't believe she would betray me like that when she knew what was at stake!
Mom rushed at me with a fire poker, "Dry it up!" She looked insane! Right then I was more afraid of her than Inez. Maybe by some chance, Inez didn't have her witch antenna up and didn't know I had told.
I could hear Laura on the phone with Inez. It was not sounding good. I never thought that I would be praying for Inez to come rescue us.
Laura was shaking as she explained to mom that Inez's car was broke down and couldn't come. Mom screeched at Hugh to get the truck ready. He looked at her like she had lost her mind, and said, "Honey, that truck is only a single cab, how are we going to fit all these kids on there?"
Mom's answer was quick, "T can ride up front with us, Laura and J can ride on the back." He looked at her again to clarify and said, "But honey, it's sleeting and freezing out there! They'll die on that 20 mile trip to Lincolnton!" She tells him she does not care, that we are not running her crazy all weekend. So, off we go!

[edit on 10/5/2007 by janasstar]

I prayed for death all the way to Lincolnton. But it was so cold that I think my prayers froze before they ever got to heaven. But at least the sleet did stop at some point. Laura and I didn't own a coat, so we huddled together as close as we could for warmth. I don't think a coat would have helped much and at that point, I didn't care, I just wanted to die.
Just after we got onto the dirt road in Lincolnton and was passing by the old log cabin (where my grandpa now lived), I don't know what inspired me, but in one swoop, I bailed over the side of that truck in front of grandpa's and ran into his house.
I think I scared him half to death. He certainly wasn't expecting me. The next thing that scared him was the condition I was in. I had suffered a little road rash from my tumble from the truck. He could see I was shook up about something and had the decency not to push me to talk right away. He set about getting cloths and stuff to clean me.
It didn't seem anytime until the door flew open and there was mom! She stomped over and grabbed my arm and started to jerk me up, while she was telling me that when she told me to go somewhere, that was what she meant. She didn't get to finish. Grandpa grabbed a ladderback chair up and told her, "you're my daughter, but if you don't let go of that baby's arm, I'll cold-cock you with this chair! If She doesn't want to go down there in that hell-hole, she doesn't have to! She can stay right here with me! Now get out of my house!
Mom turned white, and she left!

GOOD for you and GOOD for your Grandpa!! I am glad he did that. You deserved someone to stand up for you then!!

Really this is riveting, I think you are actually getting better and better as you go, you know Stephen King says that one of his keys to being a great writer is simply to read 4 hours a day and write 4 hours a day. While that may be asking a little much when you are typing with one hand, I salute your bravery, I know some of this must be so hard. I will say a prayer for you and many mantras of om mani padme hum before I go to sleep. May peace be upon you and stand in the love of Gods light.

Originally posted by shearder
GOOD for you and GOOD for your Grandpa!! I am glad he did that. You deserved someone to stand up for you then!!

Maybe my prayers didn't get frozen on the way
to heaven after all, huh?

Personally, I never saw Inez again, I wish I could say the same for T and Laura. I experience a , I don't know if you would call it survivor's guilt, because, I don't know, I'm not a head doctor. Leave that for them.
But, someone said for me to get to Inez's witchy part. Where were you when she was dancing around the flaming barrel and chanting? Where were you when she was rubbing her magic charm between her bosoms and hanging out with her friend the witch doctor and more than likely, offering me as a virgin-sacrifice for some religious ceremony of theirs. Can't prove it. I seemed to have blocked most of it except for fleeting flashbacks.
I can talk about what happens to me just fine. But when you hurt someone I love, then you have hurt me. Anyway, don't want to start crying again, I have a story to finish.
The rest of the story is in details supplied to me by my sister Laura.

Originally posted by janasstar

Originally posted by shearder
GOOD for you and GOOD for your Grandpa!! I am glad he did that. You deserved someone to stand up for you then!!

Maybe my prayers didn't get frozen on the way
to heaven after all, huh?

Absolutely!! I guess they were definitely answered at that time! I am so glad you said that. Most people would blame God but no one seems to blame evil as much as they blame God. Good on you!

so you believe sorcery and witchcraft? if it even is real im sure a very small percent of people can do it.

My salvation escape with grandpa didn't last long. He became stricken with lung cancer and died. He didn't smoke. I used to wonder if Inez did something to him. So, I went back to Mom's, but she never forced me to go to Inez's again as long as I found somewhere to go. Laura didn't return back from there and wouldn't, for a long time. She was mad at mom! I got so tired of being locked out of the house on cold freezing nights. Sometimes Laura and I would walk to the library in the evenings or over to Mark's. And as soon as we walked up on the porch, mom slammed the door in our face and locked it. We would walk the streets until we were wore out, then we would curl up on some church steps where we felt safe and fall asleep.
It was about this time, Laura ran away after Mom jumped on her and beat her pretty badly. I had my first high school sweetheart by then and he was wanting to get married, and his parents wanted him to get married (to keep him out of Viet Nam). So at the age of 15, I got married.

Originally posted by masterchief117
so you believe sorcery and witchcraft? if it even is real im sure a very small percent of people can do it.

I don't really want to get caught up in the logistics of that at the moment. Maybe later. But if you wonder do I think Inez was a real witch at this point in my life? I would have to say no. I think that she was a witch wannabe, and I believe that she had a black heart. I also think, as you will see in a bit, that she tried to fool people into thinking that she really was, for whatever evil purpose she could gain from it.

Let me recap on that answer for just a second. Do you recall a ways back in the story, (the night before Inez was to go to court)? She made a point of having me and Laura spend the night down there and sleep in her son's room. His room had the only view of that blazing barrel! She meant for us to see that display and she meant for it to have an impact on us and terrify us!

Hey there Jstar, as a 15 year old kid in high school, i don't usually do much reading but your thread's have got me hooked! Your writing style just leaves us wanting more, and i am very sorry for all the things you have had to endure, but your doing great!

Originally posted by spurri
Hey there Jstar, as a 15 year old kid in high school, i don't usually do much reading but your thread's have got me hooked! Your writing style just leaves us wanting more, and i am very sorry for all the things you have had to endure, but your doing great!

Hey cool! does this mean I have a fan club?
Do I get to sign auddies??
Just kidding, Thank you, sweetie!

[edit on 10/5/2007 by janasstar]

Originally posted by janasstar
Hey cool! does this mean I have a fan club?
Do I get to sign auddies??
Just kidding, Thank you, sweetie!

yeah yeah yeah you HAVE a fan club LOL... and you deserve it after all this

I'm just sorry that I have to give that witch any notoriety here. But that is who this is about isn't it? I remember my Grandpa prophesying over her once when he was angry at her. He told her, "Inez, You're going to go down one of these days! And these poor old black folks you're messing over, are the very ones that's going to be, that do it! And this hell-hole you're living in is going to burn to the ground! They'll try to build it back, but it will burn to the ground again! Now, you just mark my words, 'cos it will be just like I'm telling you!"
I remember hearing her laugh and saying, "Oh Dick, now you know better than all that!" But she did look a little uneasy. But moving right along. The way that Inez was entangled with witchcraft, the black folks and false pretenses was like this. She knew certain superstitious black folks in Lincolnton convinced that as a witch, she had special powers to keep their sons alive in Viet Nam, and I think a few other things as well. All of this came for a price of course.
Things came to a head in about 1969, I believe. Black people weren't faring very well at that time. What little money they came by was hard. And this she-devil was over there robbing them blind. They got to the point that they couldn't pay anymore or something, I don't really know for sure what brought it all to a head, but to retaliate for non-payment, Inez was scattering something in their yards (knowing most of them were barefoot), and it was burning their feet.
Finally, an outcry from the black community got things rolling. Officials in Lincoln County kinda wanted to do something about her anyway, but she always slid through a loophole. Or she had something on somebody, more like it, my guess!

[edit on 10/5/2007 by janasstar]

Then came the arrest. It didn't take long for the local paper to get wind that there were accusations involving witchcraft, even though the charges were, false pretenses.
Then silly stories began to appear of accounts of a jailer telling her to sweep her cell and her snapping her fingers and the broom did the work all by itself!
You can Imagine the goofy stuff. So, let's bypass this and get to the trial and we will wipe out her and demon seed with one blow. Unfortunately, the blow that takes demon seed is going to take my brother Keith as well. Remember the brother that was at Hell House? This is how he got there. Ok, one step at a time.