Cranks My Tractor

There are not many left. They are members of a club that closed its membership many years ago. To be able to speak with a member is a true gift, to find many from this dwindling club in the same place is no less than a miracle.

Those who live in Heard County, Georgia or Randolph County, Alabama have heard relatives talk about those who went to see her and the predictions she made. Mayhayley (Muh-hay-lee) Lancaster was many things, but the ladies I spoke to remembered her as the fortune teller.

Mayhayley was born in 1875 and died in 1955. It is said she was “born with a caul” or with the placental sack covering her face. I looked into this and found this is deemed unusual but not abnormal. It was believed that those born with this veil, mask or caul had special powers.

After speaking to these ladies, I must say that I believe this (she had special powers). Keep in mind that those who really experienced Mayhayley first hand are in their 80’s and 90’s now. The ladies with whom I spoke were all in this age range. They were all as sweet as they could be and more than willing to share their memories of Mayhayley.

My Mama is staying in a place for a while (until she can get around better) that is filled with ladies (and a couple of men) in the golden years of their lives. I have never felt so loved and so appreciated as I did by these folks who live there with Mama.

I enjoy talking to my Mama about her childhood and her memories. I want to be able to share these memories with my grandchildren some day. We were talking about children. She told me of her mother bragging about “fooling Mayhayley.”

It seems that when my Grandmama was young, she went to see Mayhayley to have her fortune told. This would have been in the 1920's. Mayhayley told her she would have three children and that she would have a son followed by two daughters. At the time my Grandmama was bragging about fooling Mayhayley, she only had two children. The oldest was a son and my Mama.

Then there was a surprise baby sister who is 12 years younger. My Mama takes credit for her baby sister much the way I take credit for my baby brother. She said she went into the woods everyday and sat on a stump and “prayed herself a baby sister.”

Mayhayley got the number of children correct; she even got the names of the first two correct and was just a little off on the third. Mama says that Grandmama did that (changed the name) in spite of Mayhayley.

About this time the door eased open and a lady in her 80’s followed her walker in. She asked “Are y’all talking about Mayhayley?” I said “Yes Ma’am, what can you tell me?”

She smiled, looked down and then looked away like a shy little girl.

“I must have been about 14,” she said. She went on to tell me that Mayhayley said she would get married and have four children and there would be two boys and two girls. I asked her if she had children and she said “Yes, two boys and two girls.” She smiled.

She went on to tell me about the marble Mayhayley wore in place of a lost eye and the hut where she did her fortune telling. I asked her if Mayhayley used cards or a crystal ball or something. She said “No, she just looked at your hand.”

I asked her how folks got to Mayhayley’s over across the Georgia line and she said by wagon or on foot. She got a little smirk on her face and said “No transportation and no birth control.”

The ladies I spoke with couldn’t remember how much Mayhayley charged. They thought a quarter or fifty cents. I found that her rate later on was $1.10 (a dollar for her and a dime for the dog).

Another lady with a walker stopped me in the hall and asked me if I was the one asking about Mayhayley. I said “Yes Ma’am, what do you know?”

She said at the time she went to see Mayhayley she was dating a man named Bill. Mayhayley told her that she would marry a man named Bill. I asked “Did you marry him?” She said “No, but the man I married was a Bill also.” She smiled.

Another lady eating lunch waved me over to talk to her. She remembered Mayhayley vividly, noting that she was scary looking and wore a burlap dress, Guyana sack apron and a police hat of some sort. In researching this a little more, I found out that Mayhayley did indeed wear some sort of military hat on occasion.

She also told me that Mayhayley burned dried corn stalks in her hut.  When I asked her why, she told me "fuh heat" with kind of a "are you stupid" tone in her voice.  I thought she might have burned them to invoke spirits or something.  I just laughed.

Mayhayley (picture) made a fortune by telling fortunes. They said she hid those quarters and dollars and dimes in the hen house, the pig pen and in the mattress. She lived in that old hut until a little before she died. They say she bought herself a big fine house.

She bought the bank also. 

If you find the story about Mayhayley interesting, you might enjoy “Oracle of the Ages – Reflections on the Curious Life of Fortune Teller Mayhayley Lancaster.” It was written by Dot Moore about ten years ago. She does Mayhayley more justice than I can do in a 1000 words.

This is a true story.  I know it’s the truth, the ladies told me and I saw it in their eyes.

BN Heard can be found on the internet at www.CranksMyTractor.com.