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"Raw Head and Bloody Bones"

© Meg Greene Malvasi

Don't have no Sunday moans, for fear Ol' Raw Haid Bloody Bones! -----Tennessee Folk Rhyme

"De air am full of 'em," asserted John Daniels. Daniels, a slave, wasn't talking about birds, but ghosts. For the slaves on Southern plantations, ghosts were an ordinary part of life, "as common as pig tracks." In most African traditions, being a ghost was a natural stage of existence that almost everyone experienced at one time or another. For Africans and African-Americans there was nothing supernatural about ghosts.

Ghosts were not usually a source of fear either. Some spirits, called "duppies," were not evil or dangerous, just annoying and mischievous. Duppies returned to haunt the living and loved to eat rice. Little goblins and devils who schemed and played tricks on unsuspecting humans were others. Often ghosts were actually a welcomed presence. The ghosts of relatives or loved ones sometimes returned to help or protect the living. Spirits of ancestors could appear in visions or dreams to give advice.

Africans and African-Americans did not, of course, believe that all ghosts were friendly and benevolent. "Dere is good spirits and bad spirits," observed Henry Cheatam, a slave from Mississippi. Among the evil spirits were the ghosts of cruel masters who returned from beyond the grave to continue to torment their former slaves. Lewis Clarke recalled "I was actually as much afraid of my master when dead, as I was when he was alive." In his autobiography, ex-slave Charles Ball told the story of "Murders' Swamp," an area where a horrible murder had occurred. Blacks and whites alike who knew the area believed it "to be visited at night by beings of unearthly make, whose groans, and death-struggles were heard in the darkest recesses of the woods." But slaves also received satisfaction from stories of the ghosts of dead slaves returning to demand justice from the whites who had abused or killed them.

Slaves like Lewis Clarke and Charles Ball used numerous rituals to protect themselves from these evil spirits. Burying a corpse face down would prevent its return from the grave. Placing a broom or a Bible at the front door of one's dwelling would keep evil spirits from entering. Scattering mustard seeds on the floor of a room would confine the spirit there until every seed was picked up. Slaves told ghost stories not merely to entertain one another, but also to teach their children the necessary lessons of life. At work in the fields or the plantation house, slaves were separated from their children for much of the day. They not only relied on the teachings of the Bible but on folk beliefs and ghost stories to instruct their children on the differences between right from wrong and to encourage them to behave properly. Tucked into each tale were such messages as "Don't be too proud," "Don't be too greedy," "Don't be too selfish," and other lessons.

The copyright of the article "Raw Head and Bloody Bones" in History For Children is owned by Mary M. Alward. Permission to republish "Raw Head and Bloody Bones" in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.