These Stories I Lived
Growing Up on a Plantation Farm in South Georgia
by
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Excerpt from “The Dancing Ghosts” “With the house in view, Epp herded us into the semi-darkness of several large trees across from the house itself. He told us we could see everything that went on upstairs and for us to all stay together on the patch of grass where he had placed us. All in all, there were about twenty-five of us. Most, like myself, were fourteen or fifteen. But a few, like Epp, were eighteen or older. Epp told us we should sit very still and remain quiet; the dancers would not come if they knew we were watching. You could see big, frightened eyes everywhere. Everyone was scared to death, including Epp. “Because we were sitting on the grass, many of us were even more scared than we might have been. For we knew rattlesnakes liked to sleep in warm places. Had we stayed on the ground, we might have had a lap full of rattlesnake! Soon, however, somebody brought benches. Who these people were, or where they got the benches, we had no idea. All we knew was that we were off the grass and could worry about ghosts rather than snakes. “So here we were on the benches high as a kite due to fear and anticipation. We wanted to see the dancing ghosts but were nevertheless terrified at the prospect. That is when I found out ghost hunting produces a special aura. It’s something that surrounds you, gets in your hair, and the hair and features of everyone around you. I can’t explain it really, except that it’s physical, as well as psychological. “As we waited, Epp instructed us to watch the ballroom window on the upper floor. Consequently, all of us had our eyes riveted on this part of the house. Suddenly, Junior, a favorite cousin of mine who was sitting directly behind me, pulled my hair. I screamed, then whirled around and slapped him. Just as I did, the first light in the ballroom appeared. Then came the music. And a sound like a groan or maybe an exclamation was heard from everyone who watched. But before anyone could recover, another light appeared, then another and still another. We kept watching as the upper story of the house gradually became illuminated. At first there was nothing but the lights and music, but soon beautifully dressed people came into view and we actually saw they were dancing! “So there really were dancing ghosts!!! “At that moment, all of us seemed frozen in time, every eye glued to the lighted ballroom. And I’m sure the spell would have captivated us a very long while had not my cousin Frances jumped up screaming, trying to run away. Obviously the experience was too much for her. Of course it had always been my impression Frances lived in a land of make-believe; the very idea she could out-run a ghost was ridiculous! But no matter how silly, her action was like a spark in a tinderbox. Epp tried to save the situation by running after her. But before he had gone very far, everyone, including myself, was running and screaming, several of us colliding in the darkness. “Only now it wasn’t as dark anymore. The lights in the ballroom were descending! Looking over my shoulder, I saw the dancing ghosts were no longer in the ballroom but appeared to be coming after us! So we all ran faster, screaming till our voices gave out, each of us trying to reach grandfather’s house about two miles away. There we knew we would find safety and shelter, for that is where we were supposed to be spending the weekend.”
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About the Book
These stories by Hazel Juanita Winters Collins will take you back to a horse-and-buggy time, the early automobile, prerefrigeration, moonshine, and the one-room schoolhouse. For this was the time of Ms. Collins’s youth, a time when she was between the ages of five and thirteen, the period 1924 to 1932. From recollections in her mature years, we learn about the many people she knew and grew up with on her parents’ plantation farm in South Georgia—parents Ruth and Clower; sisters Claudene and Sarah; black Irish aunt Min; a specially gifted child named Angel; uncles Clarence and Willis; cousins Epp, Ellick, Junior, and Frances; and the many black people she loved and admired, including Isabella and Allen, Uncle Gus and Aunt Mary, Mousie, Ed, Sugar, Alice, Lizzer, and Uncle Alp. Then there were the Bruces, who arrived from New York City. Like Uncle Gus and Aunt Mary before them, and Mousie and Ed later, they took up residence at the Creek House. For the year they were there, sons Ben, Bo, and Boaz got into so much trouble for their lack of knowledge about undomesticated animals, it might have spelled their doom.
About the Author
Hazel Juanita Winters Collins first experiences in life came by way of growing up on a plantation farm in South Georgia. Her parents, Ruth and Clower Winters, owned and operated that farm, raising five daughters to be both ladies but also women with practical knowledge in growing crops, raising livestock and assuring proper and humane relations with the white and black families who worked on the farm. A graduate of Morven High School, Class of 1936, Ms. Collins attended a year at Valdosta State, hoping to become a social worker. But she soon discovered her future husband, the “handsome giant” from Quitman, Wilbur G. Collins, and married him the day after Christmas, 1937. Being a graduate from the Colorado School of Mines, a diesel engineer by trade, Mr. Collins had his own ideas about social work, and with the birth of a first son some nine months later, Mrs. Collins devoted herself to becoming a full-time housewife and mother. Only after all three sons were grown in the 1950’s did she decide to become one of the first female realtors in Georgia - a very successful one it might be added - and later still, in 1968, a proprietor and operator of Grandview Lodge with her husband in Waynesville, NC – a popular resort for people from Florida. Ms. Collins became sole proprietor and continued to operate Grandview after her husband’s death in 1980. Because of her culinary talents, and by popular request, she wrote “How We Cook at Grandview Lodge” (still in print), and, following her retirement from Grandview, “These Stories I Lived!,” the childhood memories you will find in this collection.