Mississippi is land of mystery, unique unto itself. A sense of timelessness exists here, a slow-paced mesmerizing and deceptive calm that lulls the mind and dulls the will. Yet beneath the surface run dangerous undercurrents. It is a land clinging to the cultural and socio-economic values of the old South, yet struggling to claim a productive place in modern times.
The Southern mystique evolves from the land’s ethnic and racial diversity and its dark history of slavery and voodoo. The red clay seeps into one’s blood and the scent of honeysuckle intoxicates one’s mind until the outside world becomes a distant dream.
From the dark rolling hills of the northeast, home of Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha and Paul Rainey’s Tippah Lodge, to the delta and famous Blues Highway 61, to the southern and Gulf Coast regions, where Indian mounds and ancient forts whisper secrets of the past, the land reverberates with folklore and legend.
Perhaps the strange stories all have rational explanations. Perhaps the old Civil War and slave graveyards, the dark piney woods and swamplands only inspire overactive imaginations to believe in ghosts, devils and curses.
Perhaps.
But when the full moon rides high over Dixie and the cold north wind blows down from the hills on the wings of the night, it is easy to believe.
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Includes the story of the Witch of Yazoo, the Legend of bluesman Robert Johnson, the strange life and death of Paul Rainey and more.
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“…a well-researched look at some of the infamous myths of Mississippi (including) an interesting account of the life of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, reputed to have made a deal with the devil for his success.”
--Tangent Online
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