Black Voice

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By Priscilla Wiredu 

African American folklore is a long-standing tradition amongst African Americans, dating back to the days of enslavement. African-American folktales were introduced as a means to preserveAfrican culture, as well as a form of hope and entertainment for the enslaved during hardships. These tales are often told orally, in flexible patterns, and with different meanings. They pass on information, give cautionary tales, and teach about morals and important life lessons. 

Taken from Spooky Wisconsinby S.E. Schlosser, “The Shrouded Horseman” tells the haunting story of spiritual karma, depicting how Black people who have escaped slavery and made comfortable lives for themselves, are still susceptible to brutal crimes that, with a glimmer of hope, can be brought to justice. 

When the Civil War ended, Jeremiah Jones became a free man. Eager to make a new life for himself, Jeremiah moved north to Milwaukee. For several years, he worked odd jobs until he earned enough money to purchasea big white horse and  wagon for himself. Shortly thereafter, he was hired by the Phillip Best Brewing Companyas a delivery man.   

Jeremiah began his delivery rounds, greeting everyone with a cheerful smile and a joke that delighted the brewery’s customers and established a good reputation for himself. He quickly earned enough to buy property on the outskirts of town, where he built a beautiful little cottage.  

Once he was settled, Jeremiah decided it was time to marry. He had his eye on a pretty girl named Lucille. Her parents were surprised by the match, but quickly resigned themselves to the situation, not wishing to alienate their only daughter. However,for Lucille’s brother James, it was another matter entirely. 

James thought Lucille had married beneath her, and he hated Jeremiah, the formerly enslaved man,for stealing his sister’s heart. Lucille left her parent’s home forever in the dray drawn by the large white horse, and she never set foot in that part of the city again. She and Jeremiah lived a simple, but happy life in their little cottage by the woods. 

Three months passed when Lucille returned home early one evening to find Jeremiah lying dead in a puddle of blood on the floor of the barn. His face was battered almost beyond recognition. His arms and legs were broken in several places. Half-hidden under his leg she saw a silver pocket watch — one that she had last seen attached to the waistcoat of her brother James. The white horse and dray had been hacked to pieces.   

Lucille’s brother fled the city by the time the sheriff arrived at his house to question him. A warrant was put out for his arrest, but James was nowhere to be found. Lucille put the cottage up for sale and left town. No one in the area wanted to buy the house, thinking a brutal murder tainted it. So, the house remained empty.  

Until one evening at dusk, when a phantom appeared in a dray drawn by a glowing white horse. The horse’s driver was a tall figure wearing a gray shroud that whipped and flapped under the force of an invisible gale. The spirit of Jeremiah Jones had returned to avenge his death. He would not rest until he found his murderer.  

About six months after the ghost sightings began, James, the murdering brother, returned to Lucille’s house. “Lucy,” he called. “Lucy, I’m back!” James staggered around the yard, having fortified his courage in the local bar. Suddenly, he spied the phantom dray careening down the road with the shrouded figure standing up in its seat, cracking his long whip ferociously. The white horse was wild-eyed with fury. It picked up speed when it saw the man who had killed its master, and it gave an angry scream that stopped Jamesin his tracks.  

The ghost snapped the end of the whip around James’s leg and pulled him off his feet. Then, the horse and dray drove right through him. James gave a sort of gasp before floppingonto the ground, dead as a mackerel, with a look of sheer terror on his face.  

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Priscilla Wiredu is a writer for this year’s Black Voice project. An alumni of York University, she graduated with Honors where she studied Social Sciences. She then went on to get an Ontario Graduate certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers, and a college certificate in Legal Office Administration at Seneca College. She is currently studying for the LSAT in hopes of going to law school. Her main goal as a Black Voices writer is to ensure Black issues and Black Pride are enunciated through her works.

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