Beware of the Boo Hag
The Gullah (or Gullah Geechee) are descendants of the enslaved Africans who inhabited the coastal areas and Sea Islands of the Carolinas, Georgia and northeast Florida. Research has shown that anywhere between 60 and 80 percent of all Black Americans have Gullah roots, my family included. I’m not particularly superstitious myself, but Gullah folk tend to be. As a result, our culture is steeped in the supernatural, and a prominent figure in our folklore is the boo hag.
Traditionally, the Gullah believe that people have good or bad spirits, and those with bad spirits can become boo hags. Descriptions of the boo hag vary by region, but it is generally a skinless creature who steals the skin of the living so that it can move around undetected during the day. At night, it stores the skin in a safe place and goes in search of new victims. It enters houses through cracks, crevices, holes, or open windows. The hag then “rides” the sleeping humans by sitting on their chests and feeding on their breath and energy.
A boo hag preparing to ride a sleeping victim
This renders the target unable to move and induces hallucinations and/or a deep sleep filled with vivid dreams, which the person may experience as sleep paralysis. If the victim does not struggle, they simply wake up feeling exhausted or “hag-ridden.” However, if they do manage to fight back, the hag might steal their skin.
Ways to get rid of a boo hag include sprinkling sea salt and placing a straw broom near one’s bed. The idea is that the hag can’t resist counting the straw strands and salt grains and will become occupied until sunlight.
A blue bottle tree in South Carolina
The William Simmons House on Hilton Head Island, SC
Haint blue refers to a number of shades of the color thought to ward off spirits (or haints), including the boo hag. All over the Deep South, and especially in the Charleston, South Carolina area, one will find many houses with porch floors, ceilings, front doors, and shutters painted blue. Haint blue was originally made using dyes produced from the indigo plants that grew wild and on local plantations. It is said to confuse haints by mimicking the color of water, which they cannot cross. Blue bottle trees also stand sentry in many Southern yards. According to legend, curious haints enter the bottles at night, only to be trapped and destroyed by the light of the morning sun.
The American South is a haunted place, figuratively and literally. So, if you ever find yourself in the Lowcountry: sleep tight…and don’t let de hag ride ya.
