I have been excited to write this post ever since I first saw the topic for week 44! Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I love all things spooky and mysterious. The two stories I will write about here have fascinated me ever since I was a child, but they always left me with more questions rather than that satisfying, just-heard-a-great-story feeling.
Despite the strange behavior of the animals, I suspect that Cora was no witch at all, but merely a woman who was a little eccentric and didn't play by society's rules. Many a woman before her had been called a witch for less. I've often thought that she actually had a lot in common with some of the accused women of Salem. At any rate, the rumors did not keep her from having a Christian burial; her funeral was held at the Witcher Creek Baptist Church, and she was subsequently laid to rest in the Witcher Creek community cemetery.
As strange as Cora was, she was not the only witch association tied to my Grandpa Hunt. Grandpa's first wife, Lutecia, was 30 years his senior and was also said to have these mysterious "strange ways." More than 20 years after Lutecia's death, Grandpa Hunt came to his daughter-in-law, my great-grandma Madge, with a box of old books. He said that the books had belonged to Lutecia, and that they were "full of evil and witchcraft." He told Mamaw to burn them, and she did so without question.
I remember hearing that tale of the mysterious books "full of evil and witchcraft" as a young child, and asking anyone I thought would know anything about it for more details. Mamaw told me much later that she had never looked to see what was in them, what their titles were, or even whether they were printed books or hand-written ones. She had simply done as Grandpa Hunt had asked, and burned them. If it had been me, I don't think I could have kept my curiosity in check. I am adamantly against burning any kind of book on sheer principle; but even if I would have ultimately done as he asked, I don't think I could have helped but take a peak at them first.
I would give much to know more about these books and their origins. Were they printed or hand-written? What were the titles and subject matter? Where did Lutecia get them? Why did Grandpa keep them for so long before deciding to get rid of them? Did Lutecia actually believe or practice anything contained with them, or did she merely keep them because she found them strange or interesting?
Everyone who might have ever had the answers to these questions is now long gone, and all that remains is a family mystery often told around Halloween. Two strange stories, featuring two strange women with "strange ways," and the strange man who connected them.
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My connection to Cora Mae Hunt is as follows:
Cora Mae Hunt 1889-1946
1st cousin 4x removed
Sylvanus Hunt 1846-
Father of Cora Mae Hunt
Samuel Hunt 1808-1866
Father of Sylvanus Hunt
Andrew Jackson Hunt 1848-1920
Son of Samuel Hunt
Andrew Jackson Hunt 1882-1968
Son of Andrew Jackson Hunt
Earnest Zacharias Hunt 1921-2008
Son of Andrew Jackson Hunt
Phyllis Carolyn Hunt
Daughter of Earnest Zacharias Hunt
Lora Quinn
Daughter of Phyllis Carolyn
Allison Quinn Kessinger
You are the daughter of Lora Quinn
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