{"id":3958,"date":"2018-09-20T15:32:18","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T20:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/?p=3958"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:34:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:34:04","slug":"ozark-magic-hoodoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/2018\/09\/20\/ozark-magic-hoodoo\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozark Magic & Hoodoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 1.<\/span><\/strong> A simple bonfire takes on otherworldly tones, hinting of a darker past.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ozark Magic & Hoodoo<\/h1>\n

by Joshua Heston<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our rational, scientific world filled with textbook knowledge and an overabundance of electronic equipment has little room for the unknown or inexplicable.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaith\u201d is carefully relegated to quiet, predictable corners of our lives where it won\u2019t interfere with the larger, homogenized world around us. And old beliefs \u2014 let\u2019s just call it superstitious folklore and be done with it \u2014 are left in the increasingly dim past or the pages of a dusty library book.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3973″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 2.<\/span><\/strong> A decayed sparrow, trapped in netting, presents a macabre image.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

North America is an amalgamation of peoples \u2014 and an amalgamation of beliefs. It is common knowledge many Europeans \u2014 Protestant sects and Catholics alike \u2014 fled to the New World to avoid religious persecution.<\/p>\n

But how many escaped Europe only to be persecuted for their beliefs here \u2014 beliefs animistic and pagan? We\u2019ll likely never know the real numbers for people hiding in the shadows rarely keep accurate roll calls.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3976″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 3.<\/span><\/strong> A Devil\u2019s Darning Needle walks down a wall by night, deep in the backcountry of Shannon County, Missouri.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA moment after he said he could see a great serpent moving about the room, and became considerably excited. I saw nothing with any definite shape, but thought that black clouds were forming about me. I felt I must fall into a trance if I did not struggle against it, and that the influence which was causing this trance was out of harmony with itself, in other words, evil.\u201d<\/span><\/em> \u2014 page 34, The Celtic Twilight<\/em>,<\/span> W.B. Yeats<\/p>\n

Across the world, oppressed peoples have oft-retreated to the wild places for safety: the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Forest, the mountains of Haiti, of Appalachia, the bayous of Louisiana, and the rough hill country of the Ozarks all became \u2014 at one time or another \u2014 refuge for those civilization attempted to destroy.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3968″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 4.<\/span> <\/strong>Cattle bones eerily litter Cupp Cemetery in Taney County.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And it is there the lines between dark and light, magic and faith, heaven and hell, can become thin indeed.<\/p>\n

The Ozark Mountains were a meeting place of diverse and underground cultures: Native American tribes (the Delaware, Osage, Cherokee), African-American slaves, wild, tempestuous Pentecostals, and dark, Europeans sects rarely found in the history books.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3969″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 5.<\/span><\/strong> The abandoned places of the world invite speculation as to their beliefs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An amalgamation of ideas \u2014 some secret and hidden away, some loudly expressed \u2014 came together in these hills ultimately populated by a sequestered people not in the habit of sharing their ways with outsiders.<\/p>\n

Vance Randolph would write, sometime in the 1940s, \u201cSome of them [Ozarkers] will even deny that they ever heard of witches or witchmasters. The truth is, however, that a great many Ozarkers do believe these things. I meet people everyday who are firm believers in witchcraft, and I have been personally acquainted with more than a score of so-called witches myself.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3975″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 6.<\/span><\/strong> Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus<\/em>)<\/span> was sought after by a number of Ozark cultures for its healing properties.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To modern sensibilities, this is the stuff of legend, of mythology and pointless folklore.<\/p>\n

To those who believe, however, it is life and power.<\/p>\n

The tangle of cultural influences hang like a mass of river vines over dark water. Truly, how different is the interpretation of Mark 16 \u2014 \u201cThey shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it will not hurt them\u201d \u2014 and the rituals of Vodou\u2019s Damballah, a snake loa celebrated in New Orleans for life and wisdom?[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3971″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 7.<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>Deserted church piano detail.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we had our snake-handlers too. Those who took up serpents, they were called. They were good people, and I noticed others seemed afraid to say anything against them, because they showed such love, and wore such sweet countenances. You\u2019ve got to walk a straight walk, walk a good walk, walk with real faith if you\u2019re going to pick up one of those rattlesnakes fresh out of the mountains.\u201d<\/span> <\/em>\u2014 page 26, Up On Melody Mountain<\/em>,<\/span> by Betty Jean Robinson<\/p>\n

Into this land came dispossessed Christian sects, European witchcraft cults, faith healers, Indian medicine men, hoodoo practitioners (the \u201ccountry cousin\u201d of vodou). Join with that the Ozarks\u2019 dark places of the earth \u2014 deep and mysterious holes in the mountains and dim, shadowy coves \u2014 and you have a hidden culture no less real than the supernatural religions of West Africa or Southeast Asia.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3970″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 8.<\/span><\/strong> A somber reflection of oak tree in a gray Ozark sky.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These old mountains are littered with place names reflective of a darker past: Devil\u2019s Den (Notch), the Devil\u2019s Backbone (Ozark County, Missouri), the Devil\u2019s Kitchen (Cassville), the Devil\u2019s Racetrack (Welcome Home), Devil\u2019s Well (Aker\u2019s Ferry), Devil\u2019s Rock Pile (Douglas County, Missouri), Devil\u2019s Half-Acre (Mena), Devil\u2019s Promenade (Joplin).[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3974″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 9.<\/span><\/strong> Unused store near War Eagle, Arkansas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThou shalt not suffer a witch to live,\u201d reads Exodus 22:18 and more than a few back country churchgoers took that word literally, giving strength to what Vance Randolph would record as \u201cwitch masters, white witches, witch doctors, faith doctors goomer doctors and conjure folks,\u201d \u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cI once knew a man who spent half-an-hour or so every evening playing with a wooden spite doll, which was dressed to resemble a local woman who could \u2018do things.\u2019 Time after time he would thrust the little image into the fireplace, until the feet touched the glowing embers, and then snatch it out again. The expression on his face was most unpleasant. I am quite indifferent to the ordinary superstitions of the hillfolk. I visit graveyards at night, shoot cats on occasion, burn sassafras wood without a tremor. And yet, something akin to horror gripped me, as I watched the witch master\u2019s sadistic foolery. I should not care to have that man burning a poppet wrapped in my undershirt.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 page 289, Ozark Magic & Folklore<\/em>,<\/span>Vance Randolph[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3983″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 10.<\/strong> Eyeless lamb statue looks out from a rural garden.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is a history of persecuted peoples \u2014 the lost and wandering \u2014 despised and misunderstood by the civilizations around them, all hidden away from a larger world. It is a story of quests for power and security, love and revenge.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this is a story of choices between light and dark, heaven and hell, all in those strange in-between places where the lines are inexplicably blurred.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is not just old timey folklore after all.<\/p>\n

Originally published JUNE 11, 2014<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3972″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

PLATE 11.<\/span><\/strong> Roosters figure predominately in many cultures\u2019 ritual sacrifices.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

QUANTRILL:<\/h3>\n

\u201cWilliam Quantrill was a dark, romantic-looking young man with hooded blue eyes who as a boy in Ohio was said to have enjoyed nailing snakes to trees and torturing dogs and cats; after he grew up he emigrated to Kansas and then for unsavory reason of his own crossed the border into Mr. Truman\u2019s Jackson County.\u201d \u2014 page 77,\u00a0<\/em>Plain Speaking: Oral Autobiography of Harry S. Truman<\/em>,<\/span> by Merle Miller[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

CHICKEN GUTS:<\/h3>\n

\u201cIn some sections of Arkansas there are people who bury the entrails of a black hen under the hearth on \u2018Old Christmas.\u2019 This is said to protect the house against destruction by lightning or fire. A gentleman at Hot Springs, Arkansas, told me that people used to do this when he was a boy, but added contemptuously that it was \u2018just an old n—-r superstition,\u2019 and that he did not believe it was taken seriously by any white people nowadays. However, I know that some \u2018peckerwood\u2019 families did bury chicken guts under their hearths as recently as 1935, not far from the enlightened metropolis of Hot Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 page 72, Ozark Magic & Folklore<\/em>,<\/span>Vance Randolph[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

NEEDLES IN THE DARK:<\/h3>\n

\u201c\u2018Have you ever seen any of these hexes work? I pressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thinnest farmer answered. \u201cI used to laugh at all that when I was a young man. But I seen too much to laugh anymore. I seen people go crazy and then found out one of the voodoos had put them under a hex. I\u2019ve seen deaths and heard worse. Killing babies, even cutting cattle in horrible places as part of their rites. I still don\u2019t believe it, but I don\u2019t mess with them either. One of our neighbors supposedly had a cleaning lady who was one who claimed to have the powers. A lot of bad things happened to that couple when the wife began getting into voodoo.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 page 91-92, The Walk West: A Walk Across America 2<\/em>,<\/span> Peter and Barbara Jenkins[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

BERLIN DIARY:<\/h3>\n

\u201cAbout ten o\u2019clock tonight I was caught in a mob of ten thousand hysterics who jammed the moat in front of Hitler\u2019s hotel, shouting: \u201cWe want our F\u00fchrer.\u201d I was a little shocked at the faces, especially those of the women, when Hitler finally appeared on the balcony for a moment. They reminded me of the crazed expressions I saw once in some back country of Louisiana on the faces of some Holy Rollers who were about to hit the trail. They looked up at him as if he were the Messiah, their faces transformed into something positively inhuman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 page 18, Berlin Diary<\/em>,<\/span> William L Shirer, Galahad Books, NY 1940, 1941[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”Photo Credits”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Hoodoo & Magic: State of the Ozarks<\/h1>\n

Photo Credits by Joshua Heston: <\/b>Plate 1, Campfire, rural Peoria County, Illinois, March 14, 2010. Plate 2, Decayed sparrow, Appanoose County, Iowa, April 19, 2014. Plate 3, Walking Stick, Shannon County, Missouri, November 8, 2009. Plate 4, Cupp Cemetery, Taney County, Missouri, March 3, 2010. Plate 5, War Eagle Mill, Benton County, Arkansas, October 17, 2009. Plate 6, Common Mullein, rural Taney County, June 16, 2013. Plate 7, Deserted church, Barry County, Missouri. March 7, 2009. Plate 8, Deserted church, Barry County, Missouri. March 7, 2009. Plate 9, War Eagle Mill, Benton County, Arkansas, October 17, 2009. Plate 10, Lamb statue, Appanoose County, Iowa, April 19, 2014. Plate 11, Inquisitive rooster, rural Peoria County, November 22, 2009. Photo by Donny M. Heston.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] PLATE 1. A simple bonfire takes on otherworldly tones, hinting of a darker past.   Ozark Magic & Hoodoo by Joshua Heston Our rational, scientific world filled with textbook knowledge and an overabundance of electronic equipment has little room for the unknown or inexplicable. \u201cFaith\u201d is carefully relegated to quiet, predictable corners of our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[180,945,582,581],"tags":[461,998,460],"class_list":["post-3958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arcaneozarks","category-darkozarks","category-sotoarchive","category-sotofeature","tag-hoodoo","tag-magick","tag-ozark-magic","category-180","category-945","category-582","category-581","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3958"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3994,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958\/revisions\/3994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}