The story of Homer and Sadie Mae
Ican remember a lot of stories the old folks told to us kids as we were growing up. Storytelling was like going to the movies on a Saturday night.
Supper over and the kitchen cleaned up, my mother would come out and get in her favorite chair to relax. We would all gather around her and she knew what we were waiting for. She would sit silent for a few minutes, then she would ask, “Have you heard the one of Homer the ax-toting ghost?” It went this way: Homer was a woodcutter who lived in the neighborhood. He sawed down trees and split them into firewood. Most of the people in the neighborhood bought their firewood from Homer.
To hear my mother describe him was something else. Homer stood 6 foot 6 inches tall, without an ounce of fat on him. He was single and most of the young girls that lived in the area would let out a sigh when he went by.
All the people that knew Homer knew he was in love with Sadie Mae Hopkins, who lived in the big house on the hill. Sadie Mae was known by all to be the most beautiful girl around. Homer and Sadie had to slip around to be together. Her father, Burrell Hopkins, had swore to kill any man he caught with Sadie. But young love has no boundaries, so Homer and Sadie had a meeting place — and every chance they got, they would meet.
Homer kept the woodpile high, and in the winter it was known that he made good money. He was well-liked by all the people and would boast that he had a lot of money saved up. Was money the cause of the fate that fell upon Homer? No one ever knew. He was around one day with his wood, and the next day he was gone.
The people in the area would go by to order wood, but Homer could not be found. It was reported to the sheriff and an investigation was made. For several months they searched, but could not find him.
Homer had been missing for about a month when Burrell Hopkins reported that Sadie Mae was missing. The people in the community just assumed that she and Homer had run away together. It was known how they felt about each other. Time passed — weeks turned into months and months into years — but no Homer and Sadie Mae were ever found.
Time ran out and Homer’s house was sold at a county auction for taxes. The once-fine house now needed repairs. A couple bought the house and restored it back to what it looked like when Homer lived in it. They moved into the house one week. And back out a few days later.
They told the people in the community the house was haunted. It stood vacant and was again sold for taxes. The house was rented and my great-grandfather and great-grandmother moved into it.
Grandmother was pleased with the house and bragged about it. But things aren’t always what they seem to be.
One night, a noise in the kitchen brought grandmother from her bed. She walked into the kitchen to find a man with an ax in his hand standing there. She stopped in her tracks and said nothing. The man slowly turned and looked straight at grandmother. Then he raised his ax and ran at her. He passed though her and went out the back door.
Grandmother was a small woman but, as Grandfather would say, “Susan was not afraid of old Billy Hell himself.” She stood her ground and watched as the figure went through the door and outside. She ran to the door and opened it. She looked around outside. It was a bright moonlit night, but she could see nothing.
After several more incidents, she told Grandfather what had begun to happen.
There began a vigil in the kitchen. They would take time about sitting up to catch the man with the ax. Grandmother would tell their family, “They can’t hurt you if you don’t let them.”
The way the story goes, they were sitting and drinking a coffee after the rest of the family had gone to bed. The man with the ax came through the door. They kept on drinking their coffee. He gestured with the ax for them to follow him. They followed him outside. He went to a small rise at the back of the house and began to dig with the ax. They watched as he said one word: “There.” Then he disappeared and they went back into the house.
At breakfast the next morning it was decided they would try to get the sheriff out to dig in the spot that Homer’s ghost had showed them.
Rather hesitantly, the sheriff brought a trustee with a shovel from the jail. He thought he was on a wild goose chase. The trustee sank the shovel into the soft dirt. A few shovels full and human bones began to appear. It was determined that there were two bodies buried in the shallow grave.
The sheriff took the bones back to the jail and examined a ring they found with them. The skeleton remains turned out to be of Homer and Sadie.
With pressure put on Burrell Hopkins, he confessed that he had shot at Homer and Sadie jumped between them. Sadie fell to the ground with a load of buckshot in her. He then turned the gun on Homer. They fell side by side. My mother would tell how you could look up the hill to where the bodies were buried and see them on a moonlit night. They would stand at the oak tree embraced as lovers would. Burrell died in prison for the murder of Homer and Sadie Mae.