Document text
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
FORM
Circumstances of Intervi,2w
STATE NEW YORK
NAME OF WORKER Ellis William
mnaEss 852 Nicholas Ave. New York
DATE Sept. 13, 1938
SUBJECT FOLKLORE
1. Date and time of interview
2. Place of interview
3. Name and address of informant Zenobia Brown
415 W. 146t4
New York, N Y.
4. Name and address of person, if any, wno put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
Miss Brown occupied three rooms at the above address which was
very artistically furnished. Books and magazines neatly placed in
racks was indicative of her being meticulous. Things in place good
housekeeper.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
FORM C
Text of ioterview
STATE New York
NAIVE OF WOKhER Ellis Williams
mmriEss 852 St. Nicholas Ave. New York
DATE Sept. 13, 1938
sinIncT ZENOBIA BROWN'S STORY
(Unedited)
FOLKLOBE
NEW YORK
In a little hamlet outside of Wilmington, North Carolina,
about twenty years ago I had an experience which I hope shall never
be mine again and which will remain with me to the end of time.
It concerned my stepfather, a man of about fifty five, and
who was up to that time an extraordinarily heavy drinker who denied
himself of many comforts in order that his rapacious greed for drink
could be satisfied.
My mother, a woman then of about fifty, was a very kindly
and devout soul whose mature years were spent in the varied activitim
of the church and home where she laboured unceasingly to keep body and
soul together. Oft -times I would see her on her bended knees praying
for my dad to do right and change his bad ways. She would talk to
him continuously but her preachments always went unheeded. In her
every talk she would warn that the devil would get him if he continued,
but he always dismissed her lightly with a wave of the hand.
It was on a Sunday morning that Martin started on one of his
sprees, running it well into the night. He arrived home around
midnight in an almost helpless condition and had to be put to bed.
He was hardly in bed more than an hour when my mother attracted
-2
by an unusual noise in the room proceeded to investigate the
sounds which sounded like a combination of grumbling and moaning.
As we entered the room we found Martin crawling on his all
fours groaning and moaning with the bed covers around him and going
towards a locked door that led to the porch that opened upon a
running brook. As we endeavoured to get him back in bed we beheld
out of nowhere a huge animal with a dog -like appearance and with
the size
eyes of saucers standing inside the door. We stood petrified
as Martin crawled twice towards the object still moaning and
groaning. The third
screamed and grabbed
broken the spell and
time he started towards the object my mother
him by the foot. Her action seemed to have
the object disappeared. The screams brought
neighbours to the house who assisted in putting
From that instant Martin was very sick
until he died. He was never able to recall the
him back in bed.
and remained abed
incident. Were it
not true that my mother witnessed the happenings, and discussed it
with me over a period of years, I would have sworn it was an optical
illusion.
FORY
tra C etym.: nt
STATE New York
NAME OF 'AJMER Ellin William
ADDRESS 852 Si,. Nicholas Mr*
PATE Sept. 13* 1938
SUBJECT ZENOBIA BROWNS STORY
FOLKLORE
NEW "107-1.K
Zenobia Drown a woman of a bout thirty...eight or forty
was very reluctant to tell her story at the out set for fear
that it would be published 1 -*ally. Her reluctance was due the
claimed to numerous investigations by the Home Relief Bureau* W. P. A.
Housing Administration* and by Employment surveys sponsored by
the U. S. Dept of Interior. On being assured that she would not
receive unfavourable publicity* she related her story so convincingly
that the interviewer had little doubt of the truth of the story.