The Witch of Cedar Mountain

Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Haley. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Welcome back.

Hi. Hello. How are we tonight? Well, we're good because we're back in my house this week.

Hey, are you? And I put Haley to work. She did. I purchased a new rug to go underneath my bed.

And I could not get that son of a bitch under there. It was a chore. Yes. And it was because I had to have someone help me pick up a bed slide, you know, do all the things I couldn't do it myself.

So luckily, Haley came and I said, I've got a project for you if you're willing to help. It involves heavy lifting. How do you feel about this? And she was game.

She did. And we figured it out. And now it looks beautiful. It's perfect.

Yeah, it was one of those like weird sort of, really just needed to look at it from all angles to figure out what we needed to do. Turn out a flashlight on a flat. I was at one point fully flat on the floor. Yes.

I was trying to literally take things apart. I figured it out. My son was trying to help. He was trying so hard.

He was. And that caused more issue. It was also stressful because we knew we had to pick up this heavy bed. I didn't want it to fall on him like all the things.

And so as much as he went to help, I said, it's bedtime. So he went off to bed and we were able to fix it. And so I paid Haley. I repaid her with breakfast for dinner.

Yes. So good. Yes. So, you know, come any time.

Help me move stuff. I do have to mount a TV on a wall. So I didn't ask her exactly. I just said, and the next thing I'm going to have to do is mount that TV on the wall.

And she said, not it. That's not for me. Yeah. Yeah.

So the power tools me. But at the end of this podcast, if you want to come help, I also need my deck redone. Oh, like sanded? No, I need to replace boards.

I want to, you know, some of the slats I need more put in so they're not as far apart just because my kid could like squeeze through. And it's a high level one, you know, so I don't want him to fall. And that's just all things. Yeah.

Yeah. So at the end, we'll let you know. We'll show how that goes. Have an email lesson, you know.

Pray. Yeah. All right. But this episode this week, oh, I heard that.

She got a good neck popping. Good. Good. Good.

Good. If we're going to talk about the witch of Cedar Mountain. Oh, no, it's not about me. I know.

I know you thought. This is a folktale from Northern Georgia. I love a folktale. I do too.

And Northern Georgia, I mean, we don't go to Georgia that often. So it was very exciting. I love folklore and love tales that have been passed down for generations. I also wonder how much they've changed.

Right. You know, it's kind of like the game of telephone. So this story in particular was one that was shared by word of mouth and passed down for years until it was actually written down and published into a short story in 1875. Nice.

Yeah. And I'm glad that this is a way to preserve these stories because so many times those stories just sort of, I mean, if people don't keep them up, they just die out. They do. Stop telling them.

Exactly. Yeah. We have a lot of them are preserved in ballads. Yes.

Muse. Yep. Yeah. A lot of our stories are told.

And actually with this one too, there is a song related to it. Yes. So we'll get to that. But here's the story.

So there was once a young woman named Trulita who was a stunning beauty that many folks envied. Definitely understand that. Okay. I got that.

Please. So I'm going to be in the NBA. I'm going to be prone. Well, which I mean, which you self over here is like, like a grown, nice body and reluptuous hair.

Yeah. Where would that go? I don't really know. It's in sweats today and not a spot of makeup on my face.

And I'm a lovely zit on my left cheek. So we're just rocking it. Yes. But Randy was still very excited to see you.

So the great guy died in the tornadoes. I think he was happy. I think he was. I think he was.

I just thought if it was about my starking good looks. Your voluptuous hair. You said, oh god, you're alive. And I usually try to tip Randy.

So I know you tipped it. Yeah. I never give him. Well, I mean, yes, we give him money.

He'll be paid each way. But like, you know, I appreciate the job that he's doing. So I try to like, like some money. It happened in a while.

Just try to tip. I hope you didn't listen to this. I try like, tip you. I just try to tip like anyone that like provides a service.

You don't tip me. I made you food. That's true. I helped move that.

That is true. That was true. That was tip enough. You with your voluptuous hair, you cut off the dead ends.

It's so sexy. All right. So she was so lovely that many folks envied her and she lived on Cedar Mountain in Georgia. And she was actually part of the Cherokee Nation.

Nice. Yeah. There was an old medicine woman, some called her a witch who lived nearby and was pretty taken with Trulita and her magnificent beauty. It wouldn't be.

The medicine woman bestowed upon Trulita a special formula that when mixed with water from a pure spring would grant her eternal beauty. I'm going to need some of that. What? What?

Switch being so nice to her. I guess she was like, wow, you're so gorgeous. I want you to stay gorgeous forever. Maybe she was a like early plastic surgeon.

Oh, I like it. Yeah. Yeah. Just like how much I hold on to that beauty.

So Trulita wanting to stay a young and vibrant accepted the medicine woman's help and followed her to the spring where she makes the formula with the water. And I have no idea what was in this formula. Okay. The woman told Trulita that she would have to continue drinking the mixture all the time in order to maintain her beauty.

Isn't that the gimmick, though? Yeah. Like you have to do this. It's not a one time fix.

It's like, I'm sorry, you're going to have to keep coming back to stay beautiful. What happens if she misses one? Like, oh no. I mean, you mix the Botox and then suddenly you have 50 ring balls.

Right. Or like, you know, when you miss the birth control, you just take it to the next day. So you just double up on the tonic. Yeah, you just double up the next time or like, I don't know because I don't know what's in it.

So if you double up, it could potentially kill you. Don't double up on your miss on your miss medications without doctorable. Look at your birth control. Like, I could do that.

So if I missed one, like before I could take two the next day, or maybe she didn't say, I mean, she said take like I could take two in at like that day. Like, I take it in that, like I could take one in the morning and one at night. If you're a doctor and you know how birth control works, maybe, you know, because I'm like, you can get correct. It sounds like in nine months, you go and get surprised.

So I think you need to learn how to do you get the correct. Maybe something tell me how to take that correctly. You're gonna get, you're gonna miss a pill and you're gonna get a small child saying, I'll help you move the bed. So I'm really good about now.

I'm usually really good about it. But you let them know. So now worry. So, Trulita was like, okay, I get it.

I'm gonna be responsible. I'm gonna do this every day. I'm gonna do this every day. I'm gonna make sure I mix it with a pure spring water.

It's gonna be great. I'm gonna be young and beautiful forever. So when the community heard of Trulita's unfading beauty, all the male suitors started to come out of their villages and want to marry her. They were lining up pretty much.

She was beating them off with sticks. And she always denied the request. Even the best looking and the most virile guys would say, I want your hand in marriage. And she was like, oh, another one.

Not today. And I have this image of her maybe running her fingers through her hair, you know, like, oh, such a curse to be this beautiful. But nonetheless, I gotta keep drinking the water. So one day, a Cherokee warrior named Wasita would attempt core Trulita, which I mean, it sounds like they just have matching names.

So who wouldn't? And do know I could be pronouncing these completely incorrectly. So most likely. So he wanted to make her his very own.

Trulita, like she did with the others, told him, no, no, you can just go on. But the problem was he wasn't good at taking no for an answer. 100%. And this is even more a red flag.

He chose to kill that her. I know. It's very, it's toxic behavior. It's very arrest worthy.

I mean, we're talking centuries ago, but maybe then it was like, God, that's sexy. He kidnapped me. But today, it would be like, Holy shit, the guy's going to jail. Yeah, like, this is not good.

This is not good. All of the protection orders. Yes. And I mean, clearly, the best way to a woman's hardest to kidnap her and force her to marry you.

That seems that how romantic. I mean, I do like a man that's direct. That direct? Yeah.

I kind of like games. Like we don't need to do the whole, you know, lead them on, ghost them for six months, pop back in, make plans, never appear, then you end up drunk in a bar with your ex boss. And it's just a thing. Tell me about this good puppy.

That just went in a whole another direction. Okay, back to our story. You don't want to know anymore about him. All right.

So back to our story. He took it to his tribe in the West where she lived with him and his people. And over time, Trulita learned to love him. This is not Colm Center.

100%. Well, I have no way out. So I guess I'm going to love you because you have told me to. And this is just it.

And kind of fell in love with his extended family and friends. And they in turn fell in love with her. I mean, who couldn't she beautiful? She kind of was the whole package.

But I've actually read mixed things here. So some say that Trulita was actually super homesick and desperately miss her family in the village. And then some say she actually fell into a depression, which I could see, you know, if you're away from your home, you would be very depressed. The one issue with her leaving her village besides homesickness was that she didn't have access to the spring in order to drink that mixture to serve her.

How are we getting the mixture? And here's the thing. Trulita, by this point, was years older than her husband because she had lived for so long because she kept drinking the mixture. She just kind of, you know, didn't get any older.

So slowly, the lack of potion started to take a toll on Trulita. She quickly began aging and her health began to fail. Trulita begged her husband to take her back home so that she could sit from the spring. She feared that she would die and wanted to be buried in her village.

Yeah, I get that. Feeling desperate, her husband agreed to take her back home and the two made a long journey. They were on foot. So the journey took a long time.

It wasn't a quick thing. And it really took its toll on her physically. She didn't have much left to give. So I guess if you think about it, when they married, which I don't know how long they were married, but when they were kidnapped and married, she probably was like a 20 year old.

And you know, now she is aging so quickly, kind of like a, almost like a Benjamin Button situation. She's aging so quickly that time really is passing them by with every step. So at one point in the journey, she began to cry. But her tears were actually made of gold.

Oh, which her husband didn't go chitching. All right, just keep on crying. Let it out. Let it out.

But exactly. But that actually was a real turning point because it was her body's failing. She is actively dying and a mile away from the spring that could have restored her health and beauty, truly to collapsed and subsequently died. Her husband dropped to his knees and cried out for the great love he had just lost.

Did you love her? Love you enough to kidnap you. Yeah, maybe you're going to be mine. Okay.

He buried her and marked the grave with a stone right there. You didn't take her back to the family? Apparently not. Okay.

Yep. And so today, this area is known as Stonepile Gap. Okay. When the medicine woman heard of truly does death.

And again, remember the medicine woman is old as hell. She is, but she's drinking her own potions. She's got to live forever. She said no to the beauty.

She did. She said, I'm going to live forever. I'm going to be a witch. I'm going to commit fully to appreciate that.

I really do like that. She has a big war with hair coming out of it that she don't care. The wrinkles. Exactly.

Punched over a little bit. Yeah. That's not a stereotype at all. But I love it.

I'm going to go with it. So when she heard of truly does death, she was devastated. And like I said, she must have been drinking some of her own potion. The witch of Cedar Mountain, the medicine woman, made it known that anyone who was to put a stone on top of truly does grave would have good fortune.

Oh, however, if any stones were removed, she cursed them, which in turn would cause those who move them immediate death. Oh my God. Yes. It's kind of a catch 22.

Like put gently play do not disturb but gently place the stone. Give a little bit. But for God's sakes, if you take your gun die, that's a lot. So seekers of good fortune would drop by and you know, place a stone.

And truly does grave actually became a very prominent landmark in this area, Stonepile gap. Yeah, we're all piling rocks on this girl. I know. Just everybody keep on keep on.

So here's the thing about the curse. Depending on who you talk to, some say the Georgia Department of Highways has made some, you know, interesting faux pause because they attempted at one point to relocate the grave because they were doing road construction, trying to make things a little more convenient, traffic-wise. And hey, I'll die. Well, on the two occasions that they attempted this fatal accident.

Oh my God. Yes. Actually, yes. Yes.

When they were attempting to move the rock pile, a lot of folks died. Yes. Yes. So immediately or like, so the power's kind of laying a little bit.

So we just have some like. And I don't know if it was like specifically the guys who were attempting to move it. It just kind of says that, you know, there were fatal accidents. Oh my God.

Yes. Yes. So they have kept that as a memorial for them. I think I would.

After the second time, the first time like, okay, maybe a coincidence. After the second time, I'm like, you know what? We're just gonna let that ride. Like that just is what it is.

Big pile of rocks. We've not done it. Well, it's kind of like you're just passing it by. So how it was explained in what I was reading basically said, you didn't even have to leave your car.

You just kind of chuck it out the window. And it's like, okay, I want to, I feel like that is like the cliff notes version, right? So you want an A plus in class, but you don't want to have to read the book. So you just read the cliff notes.

You fake it till you make it and you're like, so I'm going to get an A. So that's the same scenario. You don't want to get out of your car. You just want to chuck it.

You just want to be able to chuck it and hope for the best. I get that. Yeah. I get that.

So a lot of people were actually doing that. Actually hundreds of people each year were doing that. Leaving and eventually people were leaving like tokens and trinkets and anything that would appeal to the spirit of eternal youth and happiness. I kind of love that though.

I do too. I need that in my life. I feel like I might call the traffic hazard at some point, but whatever. Oh my goodness.

So what is this? What's just like that little bit of a freeway? So not really a freeway, but an inner sort of like an intersection kind of thing. And I'll talk about what they ended up doing to it because there are things that had to be you know, fixed about it because you can just like, well mama, I guess we're going, we can't drive through the stone pile.

I don't know what we're going to do. So they had to figure it out and be creative without dying. I'm so glad you said that. Oh my god, is it?

Yes. We'll get to it. We'll get to you. That's hilarious.

Yes. So the spring where she would go to collect her water and mix that potion is now known as Porter Springs and it's located about three quarters of a mile northwest of the gravesite of the pile. So some folks believe that her nando des Soto heard about the fountain's powers in 1540 and sent his conquistadors to investigate. So this is telling you that this story took place long before, you know.

So reports say a Spanish helmet was found close by the spring and it kind of offered his evidence that early searchers were there trying to seek out these like magical waters. But here's the thing. Yeah, the waters may have had some magical potion to it, but you also needed that whatever was in that mixture. Right.

Right. You couldn't see the waters. So couldn't just be the waters. But that also shows how much the story went like across the world.

Yeah. So Joseph H. McKee, a Methodist preacher who also dabbled in real estate. I mean, who doesn't really?

Those Methodists. I am a pastor. Would you like to look at this property? Can I go buy this home?

Sure. He took note of the springs in 1860 and upon testing the water, he found that it contained abundant qualities of therapeutic minerals. McKee published his findings and he ended up helping people who were looking for cures for like rheumatism and other different things and they started flocking to the springs. But if you think about it, there are springs that have healing properties, so that makes sense.

And you know, people would like camp nearby. They would go and bathe in the water. They would take some home with them. And you know, they were really hopeful that this would be like changing for them.

So before long, a hotel was constructed to accommodate all these visitors because honestly, you don't want people out in tents. That's just. We want this to be a tourist attraction and we've got to get them what they want. So let's build a hotel.

That feels so monotonically. Like, I'm going to put a hotel here. We'll pump the water into the pool. We'll tell you how to go in the woods.

Come to our springs. Yes. It became a thriving resort. What a shocker.

Right. So around the same time, the tale of Trulita had kind of circulated widely, like all these people knew about it, which really sort of added to the allure of this mountains bahas or it was like, Oh my gosh, listen, if I'm going to get to stay young and beautiful, I'm checking in. Wouldn't you? I mean, I would.

Yeah. There was sort of that potential part. I mean, that really just is waiting for my witch era to begin where I hear that. I hear that.

I've been waiting a little wench like you. Just kind of waiting for it. I feel like it's it's coming. Yeah.

But get this about the hotel by the early 1900s. It burned to the ground. Oh, however, the spring waters continue to flow. Love that.

Like, yeah, you know, guess it didn't make it. So there is actually a song about Trulita and it's called the song of Trulita and it commemorates the princess and her, you know, story and how, you know, what's interesting about this is it was a twofold thing. So it was like the witch had cursed it, but also said people would have good fortune. But it also had been mentioned that Trulita said whoever puts a stone in my, she told her husband, whoever puts a stone in my grave, she'd have good luck, which kind of doesn't make sense.

But in this song, they talk about, you know, past not by strangers, stop silently, bear your head, drop a stone upon her grave and make a wish straight from her heart. The spirit of eternal youth and happiness hudders near to grant the wishes of all who love the hills and valleys of her native home. That's part of the song. Yes.

So let's talk about the Stonepile on the road. So is it around about? Yes. So as I told you, attempts to move it were failed and people died.

So they were like, clearly we can't move the thing. So we have to work around it. So there were many accidents when trying to move it. So they said, okay, how can we do this?

So initially they had created roads around it, but they realized that it was kind of confusing and, you know, it was getting dangerous. So in 2020, in order to sort of keep the Stonepile preserved, but still, you know, help traffic, they put it in a roundabout. So, and there's pictures of it, which I will post one for the photo for it, but essentially it is in the middle of this roundabout and you drive around it. Now, I'm sure that people still throw rocks out at stones, I would say, out of their car window as they go through this roundabout, but that's exactly where it is.

And so what's cool about the story is it's like, here's this like ancient gravesite that has so many layers to it and so many stones. People just throw rocks at it and around about. Around about. It feels like, you know, one wrong move and it's there's somebody's windshield.

Yeah. But all right. Ancient times meets 2023. Yeah.

Roundabouts. Yeah. So open a roundabout. Anyway, that's my story.

I love that. Love it too. Isn't that a pretty cool story? The store exciting, the center of a roundabout.

Yes. And so I feel like we need to go, because don't we need good fortune? We do. The love of Pete.

We do. I listen, I'm going to two of my friends are getting married in the summer in near Atlanta, so I will be going through Georgia. I think you need to go. I think I may have to like detour it.

I think you should go through the roundabout. It'll be short and sweet, but you know, throw one for me. Yeah. Yeah.

And if you get near the springs, give me some of that. I'll follow some up with your present. I'll follow some up with your present. Spring water, I'm sure there's no pollution in it whatsoever.

No, no, no. We'll just do that. We'll take a shot of vodka afterwards and clear the bacteria. Oh, oh.

I like vodka. Same. I like whiskey though. Whiskey is my good whiskey.

Whiskey is my favorite, but I do enjoy a good vodka. Yeah. OK. Hayley, if they want to give us feedback and God knows they do.

They do. And if you're from here and you know more about this, please share. Can you tell them how to contact us? Yeah.

If you want to talk to us about my inability to take my medication correctly, or you know issues that we've had with past relationships and our pronunciation of words, you can send us an email at mountainmysteries.appleatcha.gmail.com. Find us on Facebook at mountainmysteries.tailotronavolatcha.com. Find us on our Instagram, mountainmysteries.dot.appleatcha. Or you can check us out on our Patreon for some bonus content at patreon.com.com.

Mountmysteries. Mm-hmm. I think that's it. You've mentioned a lot and I really appreciate that.

It's a lot. Thank you. But you're welcome. And I'm thankful that you got that all out.

And you got it right too. I did. I did. I did.

Bless you. Well, have you found a location for us? Yes, I have found a location. We are going to say a huge thank you.

I think we're going to go overseas this time. Oh, that's good. Yes, we're going to Morocco. Oh.

Yes, so thank you, Morocco, for listening. Yes, I'd love to go to Morocco. Thank you. All right, next time.

See you there. Have a good week, everybody. Bye. Bye.