Browse:Opposum (Volume 1, entries 234–237)
Opposum
Volume 1, entries 234–237. Source context: SPIRITS → SPIRITS AND ANIMALS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 234
This colored fellow used to hunt a' night for 'possum and 'coon. He said one night his dogs were on a cold track and they continued to follow this 'coon track until the track began to get warm. After awhile they bayed and after they bayed he to-ld [took hold] his lantern and went to see what the dogs were after. He went to the dogs and there was something on the ground that looked like a 'possum. He picked it up and put it in his bag. He started to trail another and he almost reached the dogs when the thing in the bag began to cry. It sounded like a baby crying, so he had to take it out of the bag. He took it out of the bag and he hurried home as fast as he could. He left it there. He didn't know what it was.
Entry 235
I heard one about a 'possum. Some people went out 'possum hunting that night and when they got out in the woods they looked in a tree and see what they thought was a 'possum and they [shot] at him and missed him. When they started to cutting on the tree they cut it until they cut it down. When the tree fell they looked all around with their lanterns and the 'possum Was gone. Right behind them then they heard a noise splashing in the water. They thought it had gone in there. They never did see the 'possum. It was real funny the 'possum got away. When they come to find out an old man told them it wasn't a 'possum but it was a spirit in the shape of a 'possum.
Entry 236
Well, dey say it's useless to go 'possum huntin' or varmint - any kin'a varmint - on a Friday night. As a rule, de dogs will run ha'nts.
(Where did you hear that?)
Oh, ah've heerd dat all mah days.
(What part of the country, I mean?)
Well, I heerd dat in north Florida an' south Georgia.
Entry 237
Another fellow used to hunt and his dogs treed something. When he went to cut the tree something like a sheep fell but it fell like it weighed fifteen tons. This land on which the tree stood belonged to an old fellow who had for- bidden hunting on the ground and after he died anybody that hunted on there would always see something or hear something peculiar.