Mrs. Betty Brown of 74 Butler Street, N.E. says that when people die
angry with someone they usually come back after death in the form of a
witch and then they ride the person that they were angry with at the
time of their death.
According to Mr. Favors who lives at 78 Raymond Street, when a witch
rides anyone it is a sign that a man, a woman, or a dog, is after that
person.
Mrs. Julia Rush says: "De old folks uster call witches hags. Dey wus
some kind of sperrits (spirits) an' dey would ride anybody. My
grandmother uster sleep wid de sissors under her pillow to keep 'em
away."
"I once heerd a woman dat a witch come to a house one night an' took her
skin off an' went through de key hole. Somebody foun' de skin an'
sprinkled salt on it an' when de witch come out she could'nt git in de
skin an' she started saying: 'Skinny, Skinny, don't you know me?'"
Regarding witches Mr. Leonard made the following statement: "The old
folks b'lieved dat any house a person died in was "hainted" and dat de
dead person's spirit was a witch dat would come back at night. They used
to put a pan of salt on de corpse to keep it fum purgin' an' to keep de
witches away. They burned lamps all night long fer about three weeks
after de person was dead an' they sprinkled salt an' pepper 'roun too to
keep de witches away."
Another informant claims that if a person sleeps with his or her shoes
under the bed the witches are liable to ride him.
Mr. Strickland says that when the witches are riding anyone if that
person can say any three words of the Bible such as: "Lord have mercy,"
or "Jesus save me" the witch will stop riding.