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Show The Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday, November 8, 1971 A9 Mysterious Hill Folk May Have Come 1,000 Years Before Columbus By William Endicott Los Angeles Times Writer SNEEDVILLE, TENN. Mountain legend says that if a man is fool enough to wander into Melungeon country and if he comes back without being shot, he is sure to wizen and perish with some ailment no body could name. The Melun-beod ns whose ancestors may have been in America 1,000 years before Columbus occupied rich east Tennessee bottom land, so the story ite settlers goes, and the wanted it. The more the white settlers looked at them good bottom lards, it goes, The plainer they saw the Negro blood in the Melungeons. So they passed a law they fixed it so nobody with Negro blood could vote, hold office or bear witness in court. Pretty soon, all the Melungeons lost their lands and were forced onto the high ridg- - es Newman's Ridge, 2.400 feet above the Clinch Valley, overlooking Panther Creek to the south and Blackwater Creek to the north. And then came the stories of murder and bloodshed, of Melungeons slipping down off the ridge and raiding and burning. There were tales of blood- devil worship and carryings on that would freeze a good Christian's drinking, spine, and whispered converil sations of Big Betsy, the she-dev- moonshine q".een. But the core of reality In the legend is not easily discovered in these remote east Tennessee hills and the mystery of the Melungeons persists to this day. A few weeks ago, it was given new life when Cyrus H. Gordon, professor of Mediter- d studies at Brandeis University, suggested new archaelogical evidence links the Melungeons with the ancient Hebrews, ranean MOW Tewish-founde- perhaps one of the lost tribes of Israel of the Muun-geon- s may have discovered America 1,500 years ago, he said, somehow finding their way across the ocean and moving through North Carolina and Virginia to settle in the Clinch Valley. But there are few true left now and Melungeons those few live for the most part down narrow dirt and gravel roads in Snake Hollow and Van Valley, separated from Sneedville by the ridge, They grub out a living on small farms. Where did they come from and who were they? No one knows for certain, but many guesses have been made. Miss Martha Collins, 76, and president of the Citizens Bank of sneedville, grew up on the ridge and has fond memories of her ancestors, but says', Ancestors The people who are foreign to this area know more about it than we do ourselves. IPIM Her uncle, she said, told her our people came from North Carolina and she believes they originated with the deserters from Dc Sotos Spanish expedition of 1540, when ex- plorer Hernando DeSoto is believed to have reached what is now east Tennessee. The bogeyman stories about Melungeons? There has been some exaggeration, she says. For instance. Big Betsy, the il moonshine queen, was Miss Collins great aunt. Her real name was Mrs. Mahala Mullins. She was a very kind old lady, and the house where she Hewn lived is still standing she-dev- Logs, a huge house, six rooms. A favorite story about Aunt and mostly true Mahala is that in old age she grew too heavy to talk because of a peculiar disease. She weighed more than 450 pounds She admittedly sold moonshine whisky but couldnt be . arrested because she was so large they couldnt get her out of the house. When she died, they removed boards from a wall that was left unfinished for a fireplace, wrapped her in quilts and gently rolled her down the hill to be buried. Because of their dark complexion, thei'-- straight black hair and their somewhat difwhich fering social habits set them apart from their typically Anglo-Saxo- n neighbors the Melungeons were subjected to the prejudice and oppression suffered by many is a mystery. Some say it is M e 1 a n g e, m e a n ing or the mixture, groups. Even the word Melungeon derived from the French Portuguese Melungo," meaning shipmate. Henry R. Price, an attorney and a historian, points out that the most popular theories one held by many Melunis that geons themselves UNIDAY! DOWNTOWN SALT LAKE VALLEY FAIR GRANGER Afro-minori- ty the people are oi Portuguese descent, related somehow to a long-ag- o band of shipwrecked sailors. Others say the Melungeons are descendants of Sir Walter Raleighs colony of Englishmen at Roanoke Island which m y s t eriou-l- y disappeared about 1560. Another theory, one that has gained much scholarly suppoit, is that the Phoenicians, highly skilled seagoing people who ruled the oceans before Rome was built, may have found the western world about 2,000 years before Columbus. Price says that in the most remote parts of Newmans Ridge perhaps as many as 200 true Melungeons, still live. But others have intermarried and lost their identity or moved away. Price doubts the people on the Ridge were subjected to as much and land-grabbi- oppression as legends say but concedes theie was piejudice against them. For many years, he says, Melungeon was a fighting woid. People didnt like to be called that. But it's changing somewhat now. One of the reasons for the change is a drama now staged annually in Sneedville depicting the story of the Melungeons. It was written by the noted author, Hermit Hunter, one of Americas leading exponents of outdoor drama. It admittedly is about 10 percent fact ard 90 percent fiction, but it tells a sympathetic story of the Melungeons, and this has done much to draw them out of their shell. The Melungeons went into a period of regression during the Civil War that lasted well into the 1930s, says Price, but many of them served in World War II and they are not as isolated as they once were. 12TOSP., COTTONWOOD MAU. 4 piece Mediterranean style bedroom suite. Fill your bedroom with summer warmth all year round. Rich pecan veneers with soft brown melon distressed finish over selected hardwoods. Brass medallion hardware. Set includes triple dresser, vertical mirror, chest, headboard. Reg. $55 Sale Prices effective thru Saturday Reg. 359.95 Sale 328 Penncrest 16.6 cu. ft refrigerator. Has 139 pound freezer capacity. 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