Grampa John and the Knocking Spirit

Gramma told me her father, my Great Grampa John, was a sort of shaman. He understood dreams, knew the signs of the seasons. He was mostly blind, so he spent his time near the house - in the vegetable garden, his chair on the porch, or cracking nuts at the kitchen table. He was a mesmerizing storyteller. 

Folks came from all around to sit on the porch and listen to his yarns of life in the valley before the Civil War, about skirmishes in this very creek bottom, about the dark spirits of the natives here long before us. Sometimes, to entertain visitors, Grampa John would hold a seance, and ask a Knocking Spirit to answer questions.

The Knocking Spirit knew what was in the minds of the guests.

Is Betty in love, Knocking Spirit?

KNOCK KNOCK

Is she in love with that Tillis boy?

KNOCK

No? Is she in love with that Adkins fella?

KNOCK KNOCK

Grampa John would thank the Knocking Spirit, and ask it to go away until he needed it again. The guests would laugh, assuming it was a trick, and most of the time it was. Just harmless fun!

Until the evening the knocking spirit didn’t go away.

It began knocking on the walls while he tried to sleep.

KNOCK KNOCK

Go on away, now, Knocking Spirit, our guests have gone home.

KNOCK KNOCK

It knocked on the table while he tried to eat dinner.

KNOCK KNOCK

There's no one here to ask questions, go away you foolish thing!

KNOCK KNOCK

It knocked on the porch rails while he was smoking his pipe.

KNOCK KNOCK

Would you leave me in peace?! I said GO AWAY!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

It pursued him to the outhouse, knocking relentlessly on the thin boards, and interrupting his business.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Grampa John fled the house to get away from the knocking. He took his hoe to work in the vegetable garden and think. As he hoed between the rows of beans, he considered what tack to take to send the knocking spirit away. He had asked it nicely, the way he always did, and still it knocked. When he asked it sternly, the knocks just got louder. He wondered if he should send for the preacher.

KNOCK KNOCK

The knocking spirit began knocking on his hoe handle, shaking his body until it shook the hoe from his grasp. The hoe vibrated as the knocking continued.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Grampa John threw himself to the ground in fear, and begged it to go away and leave him alone.

KNOCK said the Knocking Spirit.

He prayed, and begged God to send the knocking spirit away!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK said the Knocking Spirit.

He begged forgiveness for treating it like a plaything, and promised both God and the Knocking Spirit that he would not trifle with it any longer.

The knocking stopped.

And never came again.

After that, Grampa John limited his magic to smaller things like divining rods, reading signs, and interpreting dreams. When the folks asked for a seance, he would smile, and say it was best not to fool with such things.