(original image taken by my nephew, used with his permission)
Growing up near the Canoochee River in South Ga, this ↑was↑ the type of terrain that was near the river bank, but usually even more dense.
Some History
In High school, I was into many different and strange things, compared to yer average redneck.
I read Sci Fi, Mythology, I was into witchcraft and spiritualism and yoga.
I had a reputation as a freak.
I'd found this place in the floodplain of the river that sorta formed a circle of bare white sand and bramble/scrub oak all around, and a few feet away was a shallow slough (a channel where water only flowed at certain times)
My imagination filled in the image
↑Screen shot from aerial view of our property↑
!pinmapple 32.18856 lat -81.84406 long witches circle d3scr
The "Circle" had growth in the center (where the fire would have been) and was broken on the side near the slough
So my story was:
200 yrs ago, there was a coven of witches in this area that met using this circle.
13 is normally the number in a coven, but little did these people know that one of the 13 was a good guy, so that where he/she stood the circle was broken.
He/she betrayed the group and they were arrested and disbanded. All that remained was the bare ground of the circle and the bones of their sacrifices. (I had moved some animal bones to the spot 😈)
Of course, being the silly person I am, I had shared this story of the "Witches Circle" with everyone at school.
Now, we had only recently fully integrated both Black and White Schools, and I found that my new black classmates were very superstitious, especially the big football players.
They wanted to see the Witches Circle!
So I arranged it that several car loads of these guys met at my house, we drove as far as the fishing trail and walked the rest of the way.
I'd also arranged that this happen just at sunset.
Getting to the circle from the fishing trail required that you push through the brambles, that caught on your clothing (I'd told them that these plants were stunted by the evil magic, and would let you IN rather easily, but didn't want to let you OUT, so they caught on your clothing worse going out)
We started walking, with me telling the tales and emboldening it as I went.
When we got TO the circle, it was getting dark, and these guys were SPOOKED big time.
Something moved in the bushes (I had nothing to do with that) and it was all over, when the first one began to run, the rest took off running back to the cars.
It was HILARIOUS!
To this day back home, some people still consider me a witch.
A True Story from my past
By
Jerry E Smith
©09/15/2023
Everything is my original composition.
The screen shot is sourced
