This is the first of a three-part series.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains from the 1800s through the Great Depression there was essentially no health care in the remote areas of North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. So, the folks who settled here had to rely on home remedies and faith healing, as doctors were far and few between.
There are special people who can “heal” certain ailments with a skill that they believe to be a gift from God, and they can pass that gift on to others, if the healer believes they are with the faith. There are very few healers left and those with the knowledge of home remedies have all but vanished, leaving the mountain medicines to pass away.
When my daughter was almost two, she had been taking Amoxicillin for an infection and developed the “Thrash” or “Thrush,” and nothing the doctors gave me helped. She could not eat or drink, and my mother told me who could heal her. So, I took her to a family member, Irene Grindstaff, who lived just outside of Andrews in Valleytown. She had married my mother’s cousin and was a blessing to so many. She took my little one in another room and when she brought her out, Irene said she will be fine, and the next morning all the blisters in her mouth were completely gone.
My grandson had a cluster of warts on his thumb and his mom had tried everything from Compound W to freezing them off, but they would come back even bigger. He had so many around his little thumbnail that it looked deformed and we were worried because he would soon start school.
My cousin, Elizabeth, had a dear friend, who we will call Miss Lisa, and she has the gift of healing, and she took his warts away over two years ago, and not one of them has returned. My grandson calls Miss Lisa “My Wizard” because he believes “she is magic.”
I have been told many times that those with the gift can stop bleeding by reading a Bible verse in Ezekiel Chapter 16 verse 6. The verse must be read three times exactly like it is written, entering the patients full name instead of “you” or “thou.” And the healers claim it will work on animals as well. This is the verse: “And when I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you in your blood, live.”
In addition, there are those who have the gift of taking the fire out of a burn. The healers believe the fire must be “drawn out,” or some may “blow out” the fire, because they believe “the flesh continues to burn.” The most common method is to pass their hand with palm down over the burn three times, while softly blowing their breath on the burn, keeping in a direction that will blow it away from the healer and the patient. The healer is “pushing” the fire away, and at the same time, repeating this verse three times silently: “There came an angel from the East bringing frost and fire. In frost out fire. In the name of the father the son and of the holy ghost.”
There are believers and non-believers in faith healing. If you have never witnessed someone being healed, or seen the proof, you may be skeptical, but if you have seen it, then you will believe it.
Kandy Barnard is a columnist for the Cherokee Scout. To talk about the Andrews Valley, call her at 828-361-3268 or email kandybarnard@gmail.com.