Uncle I. K.'s Goat-head "Ghost"
My Uncle I. K. (Isaac Kelly McAllister—April 17, 1917-?) was somewhat mischievous in his youth; and, as long as he lived, he never outgrew it.
My Uncle I. K. (Isaac Kelly McAllister—April 17, 1917-?) was somewhat mischievous in his youth; and, as long as he lived, he never outgrew it.
When he was a boy, he and a friend of his found a goat's head behind a butcher shop. They knew that a goat's eyes glowed in the dark when a light was shone on them, Uncle I. K. and his friend decided to play a prank.
That night, they placed the goat's head on a wooden box by a dark pathway and hid under the box. Later that night, a feller who was as drunk as Cooter Brown happened to come along. Uncle I. K. or his friend made a ghostly, moaning sound.
The drunk pulled out a pistol and began firing at the box, sending the boys hoofing it for dear life. When Uncle I. K. and his friend checked the box the next morning, they found five bullet holes in it.
Uncle I. K. laughed when he reached that part of the story.
Ringing the School Bell Ahead of Time
When Mama was a little girl in what is now Camp Branch, South Carolina, she went to school in nearby Coward. In those days, school bells were really bells. You rang the bell by pulling on a rope.
Once in awhile, some mischievous youngster would slip out of the classroom about fifteen minutes before time for school to let out. Then he’d ring the bell and make a run for it.
Since that was during the Great Depression, kids didn’t have watches to tell the time, so they ran for the schoolyard as soon as they heard the bell. By the time the teachers could restore order, it really was time to leave. The teachers then had no choice but to let them go home.
Mama never said how many times somebody had pulled that prank. From the way she told the story, I got the impression that it worked every time.
