Old Gods of Appalachia - Part 2

Polly Barrow and her boys make another special delivery, this time to the Underwoods of Oak Mountain. Discoveries are made.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Glynn Washington?

  I told him what I told him, and I told him not to tell. He told me that he wouldn't, then he ran away to tell. I told him if he did it, then I'd tell him what he hid. He told me that I couldn't, or tell him what I did. You frost over the spooked. Stay tuned. Spooksters, you have spoken. We want more spook, you said. We want the support to show, you said. And, can we please, for the love of all that is holy, please get rid of those ads!

• 0:49Glynn Washington?

  Well, prayers answered. Spooked Plus has risen. Ad-free spook. The entire library, no interruptions. Just you and whatever's lurking in the shadows. Exclusive bonus stories every month. Fresh nightmares you won't hear anywhere else. The Spooked Plus community, listen together. Chat in real time, because no one should face the darkest alone. And, and, ask me anything for yours truly. If you've got questions, I've got answers. Maybe. And we're just getting started. Spooksters, we are a small team, chasing down the big mystery. Your support keeps this flame burning, so come on in.

• 1:34Glynn Washington?

  The door is open. Spooked.supercast.com. That's Spooked.supercast.com. Spooked Plus. Don't turn out the lights.

• 1:53Glynn Washington?

  Spooksters, welcome back to the Holler, to Old Gods of Appalachia, Part Two, if you haven't heard Part One yet. I am jealous. Go back now, listen to that one first, we'll rate right here. And if you recall, these mountains are the ones that are not on any map. The names may be wrong. The years, they don't sit still, but yes, there are monsters. So pull the curtains, tell everyone to go away. It's just us folks here now. Spook returns to the Holler, starting now.

• 2:33Speaker 01

  Old Gods of Appalachia is a horror anthology podcast, and therefore may contain material not suitable for all audiences. So listener discretion is advised.

• 3:03Speaker 01

  Oak Mountain sits like a jewel amongst the glory of West Virginia's mountains, lush and green and untouched by the destructive hand of industry. For three generations now, the Underwood family has made it their home, and they tend it well, protecting this land from the avarice of loggers and big coal alike. When the logging company had knocked on Marigold and Doc Underwood's door with an eye to stripping the mountain of its eponymous oaks, the couple had politely declined. And when the slick lawyers from Barrow and Lock came sniffing around, looking to expand the Kingston mining operations into the coal deposits beneath their feet, making their

• 3:48Speaker 01

  promises, and later threats, the Underwoods had stood firm. In return, the mountain had helped keep them safe through all manner of troubles.

• 4:05Speaker 01

  Today, trouble has found its way to the family's very door. In the deepening shadows of an autumn dusk, a long, black Cadillac winds its way up the twisted mountain to the tidy, well-maintained wood-frame house that Marygold Underwood and her late husband Doc built decades ago in the early years of their marriage. Its white-wood cladding and blue front door and shutters are clean, painted within the past couple of years, and the picket fence that stands around the yard street. A red mailbox rests at the gate set onto a sturdy iron post.

• 4:49Speaker 01

  The porch is lined with well-tended beds seated with flowers and fragrant herbs. A child's rope and board swing hangs from a stout oak in the front yard. Soft, welcoming light glows from behind sheer curtains hung in the windows on the first floor. It is a place that speaks of comfort, of safety, of home, and of power. It's a subtle power, though. The Underwoods are not showy or flashy folk, and thus it goes unremarked by Polly Barrow and her hollow men as Mr. Churchman pulls their car to a stop just by the mailbox.

• 5:33Speaker 01

  Down the hill from the house proper, it's a sizable house, Polly muses, on a good piece of land. A foreman, maybe? Well, there was nothing about it in her notes, but perhaps they'd uncovered a traitor in management. The thought makes her smile. The three are silent as Mr. Crane steps from the car. He reaches back inside to heft a woven basket laden with what at first glance might be a load of blankets. He wraps himself in shadows and proceeds silently up the drive to deposit their unexpected gift on the Underwoods' front porch, just as he's done before.

• 6:20Speaker 01

  He returns to the car and closes the door quietly. There's no good place to hide the car on Oak Mountain Road, a narrow, twisty mountain track that winds itself up around the mountain and back down the other side, but the house is isolated. The Underwoods, as it turns out, own the whole damn mountain and have permitted no other settlement here. No one will hear any disturbance in the night and come running to investigate. And thus far, all has gone precisely to plan. They've grown confident in their methods. So Polly, Crane, and Churchman drive back down the mountain and into Kingston for the

• 7:02Speaker 01

  night. From behind the curtains in her foyer, Miss Marigold Underwood watches the black car drive off down the road. When its taillights have faded, and she can no longer hear the crunch of gravel under its tires, she opens her door and steps out to see what the three strangers in the caddy have left behind. Her daughter Nina hovers protectively inside the door, eyes sweeping the darkness for any further signs of mischief.

• 7:36Speaker 02

  Well now, I've had poison pies, boxes of roaches, and all manner of nastiness left on my doorstep, but this is a first.

• 7:47Speaker 03

  What is it, Mama?

• 7:48Speaker 01

  As Miss Marigold kneels down and carefully lifts the swaddled bundle up from the basket, Nina Jennings hears the unmistakable sound of a baby's curious babbling. Surprised, she peers over her Mama's shoulder.

• 8:03Speaker 03

  Oh, sweet Jesus, is that?

• 8:06Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm. Somebody's dumped a little white boy on our doorstep.

• 8:27Speaker 01

  These old hills call For the blood of my body.

• 8:35Speaker 01

  I pound the flesh for a ton of coal.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  So down I go Into a dark hell waiting.

• 8:49Speaker 01

  My lungs turn black and hearts grow cold.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  And I'll take to the hills and run from the devil To the dying sun.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Something wicked my way comes.

• 9:09Speaker 01

  It treads off my friend into these shadows Where the old ones roam.

• 9:17Speaker 01

  Where in these hills we die.

• 9:23Speaker 01

  Alone now.

• 9:45Speaker 03

  Mama, get inside before somebody sees.

• 9:48Speaker 01

  Ms. Marigold carried the baby into the house, and Nina grabbed the woven basket from the porch and hurried inside, casting one long, measuring look around before quickly bolting the door behind her. The fancy black car was gone, and she saw no one else around. She felt no gaze upon her. Still, her senses were tingling. Aside from the fact this was obviously a trap of some sort, the latest in a long line of attempts to run the Underwoods out of Bauer County, or worse, something was not right here. Not right at all. She could feel it. A subtle tickle of dread just under her skin.

• 10:35Speaker 01

  Her mother had taken the child into the back of the house where they could get a good look at him under the bright kitchen lamps. He was a sturdy, healthy-looking baby, just past the one-year mark if Nina was any judge, with fair hair and green eyes. And something weird on his skin. Miss Marigold had peeled off the boy's shirt and was peering thoughtfully at the spiky, swirling designs that stretched across his back and down his arm.

• 11:06Speaker 03

  What is that, Mama? Is it... paint?

• 11:10Speaker 01

  The two women looked up at the sound of an engine chugging up the driveway. Nina peered out the side window anxiously but relaxed as she saw a familiar green truck rounding the corner of the house and the glow of the back porch light.

• 11:50Speaker 03

  It's just Tobias.

• 11:51Speaker 01

  Tobias Underwood was Miss Marigold's nephew, one of Doc's brother's sons. He'd lost his parents in a house fire when he was 12 and had come to live with his Auntie Marigold and Uncle Lee. He'd gone to work in the mines in Kingston when he was grown, though not at his auntie's insistence until after he'd finished school. Although lately, like so many others, he'd accepted a job at Barrow and Locks' operation over in McDowell County. Once a thriving community, the Kingston Mine had recently begun to decline. Years of excavation had destabilized the local mine shafts, leading to a few unfortunate collapses in the past few years.

• 12:33Speaker 01

  There was more coal to be had, but it would take time to reconstruct and reinforce those tunnels, sending folks looking for work elsewhere. Tobias had rented a room in a boarding house near the mine in McDowell County, but his address of record was still the house on Oak Mountain. And lately, he'd taken to driving up after work. Sometimes he'd just stay for supper, and other nights he'd bunk down on the sofa in the front room.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  Word had gotten around about a series of unexplained deaths around Barra County. While Auntie Marigold always assured him she'd be fine, just fine, well, it didn't hurt to be cautious.

• 13:14Speaker 03

  He's come to join us for supper. Nina, baby, can you check on that chicken in the oven while I look after this little man here?

• 13:23Speaker 01

  Miss Marigold settled the infant on her hip and went over to the icebox to see how much milk they had on hand and what else might do to feed a child his age. Nina grabbed a pot holder from a peg near the stove and peered into the oven, filling the kitchen with the heady aroma of a family favorite. Chicken and rice bubbled away in a creamy sauce under a golden layer of cheese. Cornbread and biscuits baked on the lower rack. It was rich fare these days. Times had grown mighty lean in the past couple of years, but Nina and her husband raised chickens, and a local dairy farmer had brought Marigold a good block of cheese after she helped with his wife's latest and most difficult baby.

• 14:05Speaker 03

  I give it another five minutes or so, Mama.

• 14:08Speaker 01

  Heavy boots clumped across the back porch, and a key turned in the latch as Tobias Underwood let himself in through the kitchen door. He was a solidly built man in his thirties, just over six feet tall, with smooth, light brown skin, warm eyes a few shades darker, and a trimmed beard, which was unusual for a minor. Most of the men who spent their days digging up coal for B and L kept their faces clean-shaven on account of the dust, but Tobias was mighty proud of that beard, so he didn't mind the few extra minutes it took to clean. He had an open smile, an infectious laugh, and a kind heart.

• 14:48Speaker 01

  Of all her cousins, Tobias might be Nina's favorite, at least of the menfolk in the family.

• 14:55Speaker 04

  Mmm, mmm, something smell good in here. Evening Nina, Auntie.

• 15:02Speaker 01

  The cheerful greeting stilled on Tobias's lips as he caught sight of his Auntie Marigold sitting at the kitchen table with a little white child bouncing on her knee.

• 15:11Speaker 04

  What the?

• 15:12Speaker 01

  Miss Marigold shot him a look.

• 15:15Speaker 04

  Heck, what's going on here? What baby is that? What is he doing here? You taking a babysitting Auntie?

• 15:21Speaker 02

  No, I am not. And we don't know who he is or where he came from. Somebody left him on my porch like they dump a stray kitten.

• 15:30Speaker 01

  Tobias eyed the two women. Auntie Marigold sitting calmly at the kitchen table playing peekaboo with the napkin to entertain their unexpected visitor. His cousin Nina pulling plates and cups down from the cabinets and setting them on the countertop as if the only thing she had to worry about was an extra place setting at the supper table tonight.

• 15:50Speaker 04

  And y'all don't find that now bit suspicious?

• 15:54Speaker 01

  Nina favored him with a look that suggested he just asked if they knew that water was wet.

• 15:59Speaker 03

  Well, of course it's suspicious Tobias, but what do you expect us to do? Just leave him out there in the cold?

• 16:05Speaker 01

  Tobias lifted his hands in surrender.

• 16:08Speaker 04

  Fair enough. What's he got all over him?

• 16:12Speaker 02

  From what I can tell, it's paint. A very particular kind of paint.

• 16:19Speaker 04

  Can you get it off him?

• 16:20Speaker 02

  I can, but I think we'll leave it where it is just now. I'll take a closer look after supper. We'll have to be careful if we want to remove it safely.

• 16:33Speaker 01

  Tobias knelt down and peered at the strange symbols painted on the boy's skin. The child gazed back at him curiously out of clear green eyes. He frowned up at Miss Marigold.

• 16:47Speaker 04

  This some hoodoo shit, ain't it?

• 16:49Speaker 02

  Don't buy us Underwood's.

• 16:50Speaker 04

  Sorry, sorry Auntie. Hoodoo stuff.

• 16:53Speaker 02

  And in front of this child. I ought to wash your mouth out with soap. But to answer your question, and you know I don't like it when you call it that. Yes. It looks like somebody's worked a curse on this boy.

• 17:09Speaker 04

  Can you help him?

• 17:10Speaker 02

  I think so. But I need some time to look at it. You can do more harm than good if you're not careful.

• 17:17Speaker 04

  And then what? What are we supposed to do with him? You know whoever left him here only done it to cause trouble.

• 17:23Speaker 02

  I do know. Thank you Tobias.

• 17:27Speaker 01

  If this were a simple case of child abandonment, you might think they'd go to the police. But the sheriff of Bauer County was no friend of black folks in general. It had long been rumored that he was part of a certain fraternal organization fond of running around in bed sheets looking like fools. Nor the Underwoods in particular. If they reported their find, they'd just be accused of kidnapping the boy and arrested. Or worse. Those Underwoods up on Oak Mountain are stealing white babies was the kind of rumor that could get folks killed. This situation alone was dangerous enough.

• 18:04Speaker 01

  But the unusual symbols painted on the boy told Miss Marigold that this was more than just the latest in a long history of attempts to run them off their land.

• 18:13Speaker 02

  I have some ideas. But right now it's time for supper. Run down to the cellar and fetch me one of those old high chairs out of storage before you get cleaned up, would you?

• 18:25Speaker 01

  Tobias knew that tone of voice. Auntie Marigold had a plan. That much was clear. But she wasn't gonna discuss it till she was good and ready. He'd just have to trust her. Which wasn't hard in spite of his worry. In his experience, Marigold Underwood was rarely wrong. And usually operating about five steps ahead of everyone around her. So he went downstairs and rooted around the storage room, space filled with trunks of children's clothes, old cribs, toys, and all manner of things that would get passed to the younger generations of the Underwood as the need arose. And returned to the basement when they were outgrown. The room was neat and well organized and it didn't take him long to locate a sturdy

• 19:08Speaker 01

  highchair that had no doubt served countless dinners to Nina and her siblings when they were babies. He dusted it off with a cleaning rag, hung on a peg near the door, and took it up to the kitchen before heading back to the bathroom to get cleaned up. By the time he returned, the table had been set, and Nina was dishing fragrant scoops of supper on the Auntie Marigold's rose patterned dinner plates. The little blond boy had been settled into the highchair with a bowl of cereal, and Nina set a frosty pitcher of sweet tea out on a folded towel, and she and Tobias took their places at the table. Ms. Marigold said grace, and for the moment, everyone let the matter of their current predicament drop.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  They talked about Tobias's day at the mines, and the most interesting articles in the local newspapers, which Nina brought by for her mother every morning. Then the conversation turned to the beating heart of small-town life. Gossip, who'd been on the prayer board at church, and who'd been absent from services on Sunday, whose children were getting married and who was having babies. When everyone had eaten their fill, and Nina had given up fussing at her mama that she should eat more, Tobias volunteered to do the washing up and Ms. Marigold was free to turn her attention to the problem at hand. She asked Nina to heap water to fill the tub, and then went to the narrow room off

• 20:35Speaker 01

  the pantry that she used as her workroom, peering at shelves full of dried herbs and fresh ones hung up on pegs, and put a few things she thought she might need in a small basket. She pulled down a few jars of dried herbs, and added a couple of spoonfuls of each to a clean cheesecloth tea bag, which she tied tight at the top. She went back through the pantry, pulling a few items from those shelves, and added a good knife from the block in the kitchen. She looped the basket over one narrow wrist, gently pulled the baby up out of the highchair, and headed for the bathroom.

• 21:10Speaker 03

  Mama, you need help with anything else?

• 21:12Speaker 01

  Nina called as she passed through the living room.

• 21:15Speaker 02

  No, baby, I'm fine. You put your feet up. I can take care of this young man.

• 21:21Speaker 01

  In truth, Ms. Marigold didn't want Nina or Tobias anywhere near when she started taking this hex off the boy. She hadn't wanted to alarm them, but she had a hunch that the runes inscribed on the child's body were, at least in part, some sort of spell of containment. They had been meant to suppress something. She couldn't tell what, but paint was an odd choice for this sort of working. Although she'd intimated to Tobias and Nina, it would be difficult to remove and thus require extra care. In point of fact, she thought she could wipe the stuff off with a wash rag and some warm water. Why would someone choose a method

• 22:06Speaker 01

  so ephemeral if there was something about the boy that required that sort of preventive measure? She suspected she was not going to like the answer. Miss Marigold set the boy down on a fresh towel on the bathroom floor by the big clawfoot tub. Then she began adding the various items she tucked into her basket. It was mostly simple stuff: white vinegar, song, fresh peppermint leaves, a bit of baking soda. Next came seven cloves of garlic, which she mashed a bit with the knife handle before dropping them into the tub. Finally, she added the tea bag she filled with herbs from

• 22:50Speaker 01

  her workroom. She said a simple prayer while she stirred the mixture together gently with her hand and let the herbs steep for a few minutes while the water cooled to a temperature she judged suitable for the little one. She asked the Lord to guide her hands to help her cleanse and purify this innocent child. And then she picked up the baby and gently settled him into the tub, watching his reaction. Miss Marigold wasn't overly prone to superstition, but a tiny little part of her had worried the boy might start screaming at the touch of the blessed water, but no. In fact, he seemed delighted at the fizzing concoction

• 23:32Speaker 01

  wrought by the combination of vinegar and baking soda. He smiled and burbled away like any other baby. Seven times, she scooped up handfuls of water in her cupped hands and gently poured them over the boy's head, reciting the scriptures all the while. He giggled and splashed. Then she grabbed a bar of soap and gently began scrubbing the paint from his skin.

• 23:58Speaker 01

  It took some time to get all the paint off, and the little one began to tire of this new game. As Marigold worked to remove the last of the stain from between his toes, she noticed the boy's attention seemed to be caught by... something. He stared into a corner of the room at, well... nothing, really. All Marigold could see over there was the little peg she hung her robe on when she took her own baths, but the child seemed to see something. And as she watched, he turned his head curiously and reached out a hand.

• 24:40Speaker 01

  The temperature of the room dropped. The hairs on the back of Miss Marigold's neck rose. She heard a low whining sound, which began to grow louder.

• 25:20Speaker 02

  Uh-uh. No, sir.

• 25:24Speaker 01

  She said sternly, as she grabbed the boy's hand and stilled his tiny, flexing fingers. The little one stared up at her with wide eyes for a long, frozen moment. And then he giggled, and the strange noise was gone, and the warmth rushed back into the room. And Marigold let out a shaking breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

• 25:47Speaker 02

  Well, all right then. That's fine. I guess we know what to do now, don't we?

• 25:54Speaker 01

  She said to the cheerful, good-natured, very happy, and very dangerous little boy. A few hours later, after she and Nina and Tobias had taken turns entertaining the child until he was well and truly worn out, Miss Marigold settled him into one of her grandbaby's old cribs and tucked a blanket around his sleeping form. And then she and Nina got to work. It took hours, and by the end of it, both of them were exhausted. Miss Marigold's head ached, but the binding would hold. It would be far more stable than the painted working someone had placed upon him, probably the folks in the car they'd seen on the road when he appeared on their doorstep, but

• 26:38Speaker 01

  all spells erode over time. A working needs to be fed to be sustained. They wouldn't be able to do it. The child couldn't stay here, that would be too dangerous for everyone involved, but Marigold knew someone who might be able to take the boy in. So in spite of the late hours, she picked up the phone and dialed some old friends. There was a woman over in Kentucky who occasionally took in foundlings with special challenges. She had a kind heart, and moreover, she owed Marigold Underwood a favor or two. She said she'd be happy to take the child, but she didn't drive, so Marigold would have to see to the travel arrangements, and that was fine.

• 27:23Speaker 01

  She made another call to some folks down in Tennessee she'd worked with a time or two. They were only too happy to help. By lunchtime the next day, the mysterious, nameless child was gone. Packed off in the arms, the people Miss Marigold knew would see him safely on to a new life, and all trace of his presence had been removed. The old crib and high chair returned to storage, the bathtub scrubbed, the tools and materials of their working cleansed and tucked away. It had been a long night and a busy morning, and Marigold and her daughter had just settled into the rocking chairs on the front porch with a couple glasses of lemonade and some

• 28:05Speaker 01

  pimento cheese sandwiches, when a long, black Cadillac turned slowly up the drive. The two women sat up straight as the driver pulled to a stop by the porch, and the windows rolled down. They could see there were three white people in the car, two men up front, and a woman in back. Marigold called out to them. Afternoon!

• 28:32Speaker 02

  Can I help y'all? You lost?

• 28:35Speaker 01

  The woman leaned toward the back window and smiled out at them. She was pretty, beautiful even. But her eyes were cold and her teeth looked sharp. There was something unsettling about her. A darkness that Marigold could sense lurking beneath the polished surface.

• 29:01Speaker 05

  Yes, maybe you could. We're looking for the Underwood House. We were told their house is on the left side of the road after you turn down this road. But there's nothing there. These mountain roads, so many twists and turns and old hunting trails. And you know, men, they hate to ask for directions. Could you kindly point the way?

• 29:33Speaker 02

  Hmm, Underwood. Underwood. Was that that family that lived halfway up the mountain? It might be. But it's been years and those folks moved on ages ago. I heard they was headed up Chicago Way. Anyway, they been gone a long time. There's no Underwoods round these parts anymore, miss.

• 29:58Speaker 05

  Are you certain? We have it on very good authority that the man we're looking for, Tobias Underwood, to be specific, lives on Oak Mountain Road.

• 30:13Speaker 01

  Miss Marigold shook her head and smiled.

• 30:17Speaker 02

  I'm sorry. It seems like somebody's giving you bad information, ma'am. I know everybody on this mountain and there's no one by that name. Are you sure it wasn't Mountain Oak Road? Now that one's about eight miles back in the other direction.

• 30:35Speaker 01

  The woman in the car ground her teeth. But she kept the smile plastered on her face.

• 30:42Speaker 05

  Well, that's unfortunate for us then, isn't it?

• 30:49Speaker 05

  In that case, if you could point the way, it would be a tremendous help. We seem to have gotten a bit turned around.

• 31:03Speaker 02

  Oh surely, you just turn left out the drive there and go about half a mile. Then you'll come to another road that turns off to your left by an old barn. Take that turn, then drive another mile or so, and you'll come to a T-intersection. Just turn right there, and it'll take you back to the highway directly.

• 31:26Speaker 05

  Thank you, Mr. Crane. Shall we?

• 31:31Speaker 01

  Miss Marigold gave them a little wave, and the two women watched as the fancy car wound its way down the road and out of sight.

• 31:41Speaker 03

  Do you know who those people were, Mama? They gave me the shivers.

• 31:50Speaker 02

  Those were not people, baby. I don't know them, but I know who they are. Did you notice that Pennsylvania license plate? I bet you a dollar they from B and L. I think we know who been causing all this mischief round these parts lately.

• 32:10Speaker 01

  Marigold Underwood settled back in her rocking chair and sipped her lemonade and nibbled at her sandwich. She was pretty sure she knew why that baby had been left on their doorstep. And she had a feeling other folks around Bauer County had met the little fella in recent weeks. Folks who'd been trying to organize the workers at the mines owned by Bauer and Locke, just like her nephew. She didn't know the people in the Cadillac, but she knew they were trouble. They would have to be dealt with.

• 33:15Glynn Washington?

  Oh no. It's not done. On the next Spooked, the grand finale, Old Gods of Appalachia. If you like what you've heard, you can listen to the complete podcast. Many more characters, many more places, many more monsters. On your favorite podcast app, Old Gods of Appalachia is a production of Deep Nerd Media. Written and produced by Cam Collins and Steve Shell. Narrated by Steve Shell, the voice of Granny Underwood, with Stephanie Hickling-Beckman. The voice of Nina Jennings was Shasparey Irvine. The voice of Tobias Underwood was DJ Rogers. And the voice of Polly Barrow was Tracy Johnston Crum. To learn more about the show,

• 33:59Glynn Washington?

  visit oldgodsofappalachia.com and wherever you run, whatever you're running from, please do remember to never, ever, ever, never turn out the lights.