A frequent source of spirit intrusion upon the living is to be discerned in the notion that “the spirits retain their bodily forms,” and apparently they retain too their former ideas of propriety and modesty. At any rate, they confront the living, usually in dreams, with complaints about their mistreatment by living beings, especially when the grave has been tampered with. More commonly, however, the plaint concerns, of all things, dress! A girl whose father had been too poor to provide her with a shroud could not come out into the open to foregather with the other spirits, and begged that her nakedness be clothed; another spirit, who had been buried with the sleeve of his shroud torn, said “he was ashamed before the others, who had whole garments, while his were torn.” Visits of this nature were repeated until the grave was opened and the defect remedied.’
– Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Myth and Superstition
In Yazoo, Mississippi there’s a strange legend which may have more truth to it than skeptics would like to believe.
According to legend, an old witch lived on the banks of the Yazoo River where she lured fishermen into her hut, tortured and killed them. When word finally got around to law enforcement, the sheriff came looking for the men and the witch fled.
By the time the witch was tracked down, she was found stuck in a pit of quicksand. As she slowly sank, she put a curse on the town of Yazoo stating that she would be back in 20 years to burn to the town to the ground. This happened on May 25, 1884.
The witch was later buried, with a chain placed around her gravestone to keep her from escaping. However, on May 25, 1904, the town of Yazoo caught fire. A news article states that the fire started around 8:30 AM and burned until 5 PM, destroying a total of 200 houses and 36 city blocks estimated at $2,000,000 (about $56,000,000 in today’s money) worth of damage. One man was killed in the fire and another, Mayor Holmes, was badly injured.
While stories vary about how the fire actually started, with some saying it was a young boy playing with matches and others saying it was an electrical mishap, the true source of the fire remains unknown.
After the fire was extinguished, the witch’s grave was visited and the chain around the grave had been broken. Today, the Glenwood Cemetery can be toured where the witch’s headstone still lies, encircled in chains.
