As most of the ex-slaves interviewed were mere children during the
slavery period they remembered only tales that were told them by their
parents. Two bits of folk lore were outstanding as they were repeated
with many variations by several old women. One of these stories may be a
relic of race memory, dating back to the dawn of the race in Africa.
Several negroes of the locality gave different versions of this story of
the woman who got out of her skin every night. Hannah Murphy, who was
once a slave and now lives in Augusta gives this version:
"Dere was a big pon' on de plantation, and I yeared de ole folks tell a
story 'bout dat pon', how one time dere was a white Mistis what would go
out ev'y evenin' in her cay'age and mek de driver tak her to de pon'.
She would stay out a long time. De driver kep' a wonderin' whut she do
here. One night he saw her go thu' de bushes, and he crep' behin' her.
He saw her step out o' her skin. Da skin jus' roll up and lay down on de
groun', and den de Mistis disappear. De driver wus too skeered to move.
In a little while he yeared her voice sayin', 'Skinny, Skinny, don't you
know me? Den de skin jump up and dere she wus again, ez big as life. He
watch her like dat for a lot o' nights, and den he went and tole de
Marster. De Marster wus so skeered o' her he run away frum de plantation
and quit her."
Laura Stewart, who was born a slave in Virginia, gives this verson of
the same story:
"Dey always tole me de story 'bout de ole witch who git out her skin. I
ain't know it all. In dem days I guess dose kinder things went on. Dey
said while she was out ridin' wid de ole witch she lef' her skin behind
her, and when she come back, de other woman had put salt and pepper on
it; and whan she say, 'Skinny, Skinny, don't you know me?' de ole skin
wouldn't jump up, so she ain't had no skin a-tall."
"Granny," Laura's granddaughter called to her, "tell the ladies about
the Mistis what got bury."
"Oh yes," Laura recalled, "dey didn' bury her so far. A bad man went
dere to git her gold ring off her finger. She make a sound like 'Shs'
like her bref comin' out, and de man got skeered. He run off. She got up
direckly and come to de house. Dey was skeered o' dat Mistis de res' o'
her life and say she were a hant."