In almost every Appalachian community, there are testimonies of fire-talkers and faith healers who would heal people with the strength of their belief in the Lord.
The tradition of "talking out the fire" has been around for centuries, according to unmaskedhistory.com. The healing practice has no magic involved, just the belief that it will work.
Many call it a gift. Those who know about the tradition also know that it is a gift that can be taken away.
Johnny Allen of Andrews recalls his father, Luther Allen, being a well-known fire-talker in Texana when he was growing up.
"He learned it from his daddy," Allen said. "He was going to let me know the words, but he passed away before he could."
Allen said his father intended to let him know the words, most likely a verse in the Bible, that would be used to take the pain out of a burn.
"If he told anyone, then he couldn't do it anymore," Allen said. "It's something that was passed down in the family."
Allen said his mother died when he was 5 years old, and his family was left with a working father and 18 children. He said while the older children were at school and his father was working, he was left to take care of his younger siblings.
"I was cooking on the wood stove and fell into the stove. I still have the scar on my back," Allen said, pointing over his shoulder. "I cried and cried, and when Daddy got home, he blew on it and said something, then it started cooling down."
Allen said he doesn't know how his father did it, but he knew if he told anyone then he wouldn't be able to do it anymore.
"He would walk everyday to town to work, and if someone had a burn, he would walk to them or someone would come pick him up," Allen said. "I don't know how many people he did this for, but I do know it was a lot."
Allen remembers his father as having long black hair. When he passed away at 75 years old, he knew he wasn't coming back home.
"I didn't know if he knew then when he was going to die," Allen said. "He had hit his leg with the tiller and gangrene has set up. The doctors took his leg off, and then he had a heart attack."
Much like Allen's testimony, Martha Van Buskirk of Marble has a similar one about her great aunt, Essie Ledford of Vengeance Creek.
Van Buskirk remembers burning the side of her thumb one time while she was cooking and when she went to see her grandmother, she insisted she go visit aunt Essie.
"I went to get Granny to take her to town, and she would not go anywhere with me until I saw aunt Essie. I was carrying a cold rag with me because it was still burning," she said. "So we drove to Aunt Essie's and she blew on my hand, then the pain started going away."
She said her aunt didn't say anything out loud, but more than likely recited a verse in her head as she blew on the burn. Like most traditions, Van Buskirk said her aunt passed down the ability to her youngest sister.
"I believe it's something you don't hear about much anymore because people don't believe in it or the people who had the gift didn't pass it down,” she said.
According to Appalachian blogger Tipper Pressley of Brasstown, it was easier to get burned in the old days.
"They used wood-burning stoves for heat, to boil water and cook food so there was ample opportunity for adults and children to get burned in their daily lives," Pressley said in a February 2018 post in the blog Blind Pig and Acorn.