A cruel slave owner beats a man to death due to displeasure over a piece of carpentry. This sets the stage for a series of misfortunes for the slave owner’s descendants and the legend of a cursed object. This story is steeped in American folklore traditions and cannot help but be soaked in the racial politics that continue to influence Americans to this day.
This episode was written by Matthew Armstrong with music by Matthew Armstrong and production assistance from Kaylia Metcalfe.
A transcript of this episode can be found here.
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Show Notes and Sources
Crawford, Byron. 1982. “Chest Came With Curse That Brought Owners Grief,” The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky, 28 Apr 1982, Wed • Page 4
Crocket, I’Nasah. 2018. Twentieth-Century Voodoo: Black Culture, Cultural Geographies, and the Meaning of Place, in The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History, pages 1-17. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA.
Dickey, Colin. 2016. Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places. Penguin Books, New York, NY.
Hudson, Virginia. 1966. Flapdoodle, Trust & Obey Harper & Row, New York.
Waskul, Dennis and Marc Eaton. 2018. Introduction: The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History, in The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History, pages 1-17. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA.
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