Stories about hard times, growing up in the Applachian Mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia USA in the 1930. Memoirs of her life growing up as an Appalachian child. One that will make you laugh, cry, and bring you joy all at the same time. A look into a women's heart.
Genre: FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / GeneralDaily book sales from Facebook marketing, unsure of the ranking.
PART FOUR
The Devil and Mr. Johnson
I would like to relate a story told to me by my Grandmother, who swore it was true. First, you have to picture the time and setting. It was in the early 1930’s in the hills of Western Virginia. There lived a man by the name of Harold Johnson, who had the reputation of being the meanest man in this country.
He and his family of six children lived in a three room tar paper shack, heated with a wood stove. Their only light was from a coal oil lantern. The children left home early, being as they could no longer take his abuse and their hunger. He was too lazy to work, so their only income was from making illegal moonshine, of which he drank up most of the profits.
Finally his wife died from neglect and abuse. He was left alone with only his coon dogs for company. He didn’t treat the dogs any better; he starved and beat them regularly, and kept them chained up.
One cold and dark winter night, he got to feeling sorry for himself and started to drink his profits.
He sat down at the kitchen table and began to curse his fate and God. The more he drank the more the howling wind blew rattling the window. Suddenly the wind died down and he could hear this scraping noise, back and forth across the porch. In his drunken state of mind, he probably thought the devil was after him.
The next morning, two men who were out hunting stopped in. They found him sitting in his chair dead. His eyes were wild with fright.
What he probably thought was the devil turned out to be nothing but his old coon dogs dragging their chains across the porch.
