The Legend of Elizee-Mae Henry
Terry Hayes

Elizee-Mae married Jasper at the age of 13 under the urging of her daddy. Her dad, who had been sexually molesting her since the age of B, believed that she was no longer of use and wanted her out of the way.

Elizee-Mae could not have children due to a ruptured uterus, at the age of 12, because of her daddy raping her; she had almost died, but Elizee-Mae was strong and survived. However, she never knew she could no longer bear children because of this. She already had 2 children with her daddy, both stillborn, and in her young mind she believed she could have more. This unknown fact surfaced after the marriage of the Henrys. The fact of this made Jasper feel cheated and angry. He did so want children, a son in particular, and he had felt hers was as good as any other womb to carry a child. He believed a man really wasn't whole till he had a son to carry on the family name. He wanted an heir and Elizee-Mae could not provide him one, but there was one who could.

Jasper began treating Elizee-Mae badly. He would beat her till she would bleed; she would plead with him to stop, but he would not. After beating her to a pitiful, crying mass of flesh, he would knock her unconscious and then rape her. This became Jasper's way with Elizee- Mae. He never really did love her; he only wanted to control and dominate her.

Mr. Henry was a notorious cheat who usually sleazed around the "Swamp Chatty," a shady blues and poker bar, with the specialty of the house being red-light girls and rot gut.

Jasper took a fancy to Miss Lilah O'Shea, an Irish floozy who loved three things in life: A man to sexually please her, a man with money and a man she could easily manipulate. Jasper Henry fulfilled all three of Lilah's loves.

After a drunken night of passionate sex with Miss O'Shea, Jasper Henry decided she was the woman for him, the womb to carry his child, and Elizee-Mae would have to disappear. On that hot July night, he went home with one thought on his mind - to kill Elizee-Mae.

Jasper arrived home at 12:15, July 21,1922, drunk. Elizee-Mae was still awake and working, seaming up clothing for a Mrs. Clayton, a wealthy heiress, who hired her at the rate of 5 cents per article. Mrs. Clayton so loved the work Elizee-Mae did for her in the past, she surprised her with a gift, a white gown with embroidered magnolias trimmed in lace. The gown came from France. Elizee-Mae, being proud of the gown was wearing it when Jasper arrived home.

Jasper slammed the door wide open, startling Elizee-Mae.  

"Ain't you the jumpity one tonight," said Jasper with a crooked smile. "Hey, that dress you have on, where the hell did you get it from?"

"Mrs. Clayton," replied Elizee-Mae sheepishly.

"Mrs. Clayton gave you that dress? What did you have to do? Sleep with one of her sons or something? You would do something like that, because you ain't nothing but a floozy anyhow. Nothing but a stupid dog face, good for nothing nigger woman," said Jasper as he walked to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Jasper grabbed a knife out of a drawer - a long, sharp filleting knife and turned back to the front room where Elizee-Mae still sat, sobbing, quietly, with her back to him, finishing up the last article of clothing for Mrs. Clayton. Jasper came up silently from behind her, and with one fast upward slash of the knife; he gashed Elizee-Mae's throat wide open, spraying dark, red blood outward everywhere. Elizee-Mae's beautiful dress streaked in blood. Elizee-Mae dropped to the floor, gasping for air, drowning in her own blood, looking surprised at Jasper in horrific terror. Jasper, however, wasn't finished with her yet; he took up the knife, plunging it several times downward into her chest, slashing it open, only to cut out her heart, causing the life and light to fade from her forever. As one last deviant act, Jasper raped her lifeless corpse. Afterward he went to clean himself up and figure how to dispose of her. As Jasper was washing up, he began to smile; he was happy he had killed her and now was free to woo his beloved Lilah O'Shea.

Jasper returned to the front room were Elizee-Mae's bloody body lay motionless. Jasper, scared of being caught decided the best thing would be to cut her up into small pieces, 60 the remains could decompose faster in the hot July weather and not be found. Jasper, being a butcher, started with the toes and fingers, then the larger parts of the body. The big bones that he could not easily saw or hack, he crushed with a huge steel hammer. Her head was the hardest to dispose of; he had to place it in a vice. As he turned the handle, he watched her face open into a silent scream. This unnerved Jasper a little, as Elizee-Mae's eyes gazed at him in a condemning stare, but he still kept revolving the handle till he heard a loud crack.

Jasper gathered up the butchered bodily remains of Elizee-Mae, packaged them up in the now blood soaked white embroidered dress Mrs. Clayton gave her, along with the knife that so harshly ended her life, and then headed off to bury her in the heat of the night. He hurriedly buried her, now dissected, remains in the muddy shallows of the Okefenokee Swamp, only 500 feet from his back porch. He couldn't even spend enough time in the proper disposal of her many a pieced corpse as he ordinarily planned. The alcohol was wearing off and Jasper was becoming sober. The more sober he became - the more frighten he was.

The realities of his actions were coming into focus for him. Jasper became panicky. His mind raced.

"Got to cleanup the mess - What will I say to people?"

Jasper went back to the house and cleaned all night to hide his and sexual debauchery. His last act before closing his eyes for the evening, was to fold the seamed clothing for Mrs. Clayton, whom he knew would be by in a few hours to pick them up.

A knock on the door woke Jasper. It was Mrs. Clayton stopping by to pick up her seamed up clothing and to pay Elizee-Mae.

"Jasper, I'm here to pick up my clothing. Is Elizee-Mae home?" queried Mrs. Clayton.

"N - N - No, ma'am," Jasper stammered nervously, half asleep "Elizee-Mae was ... ugh suddenly called away last night to be with her ailing sister in Savanna, but she did tell me to give you these clothes.

"Well, I hope her sister will be all right and Elizee-Mae will soon return. I'd hate to lose her as my seamstress; she does such a wonderful job. Here is her money; please be sure to give it to her for me. Now you be sure to tell Elizee-Mae thank you when you see her for me," said Mrs. Clayton as she was leaving.

"Oh, I will ma'am!" Jasper said smiling. "You bet I will."

After a few months of Elizee-Mae being gone, and people asking about her whereabouts and when she was coming home, Jasper fabricated a sappy sob story, telling everyone who asked that Elizee-Mae used the excuse of her sick sister to run off with another man; he lied.

With suspicion out of Jasper's way and off his back, he felt free to wed Lilah O'Shea.

Lilah, being a new bride, didn't like the old house that Jasper shared with Elizee-Mae. She felt uneasy all the time. She believed the windows followed her every move, as if, the house were alive and the windows were its eyes -- eyes that looked into her soul and watched her every move. The house was so close to the shallows of the swamp that the least of noises sounded as if they were in the same room. The sounds frightened Lilah.

The stories of long dead rebel soldiers, roaming the swamp, still fighting the war against the North didn't help. The locals believed that you could still here the musket fire and the wailing of the wounded and dying echoing in aberrations permeating the night air.

Lilah did not like the country at all. She insisted they move to town into a two story flat just down from Jasper's butcher shop. She told Jasper that it would be to his benefit to live the lifestyle of a successful businessman. Not to mention, she also told him, it would be closer for him to come home to her for an afternoon "romp in the hay."

Their move became the talk of the town. It was the most expensive place in town to live. He had to buy new furniture, of course, and clothing to dress the part of a successful businessman. In order to pay for these extravagances, he raised his meat prices. He and Lilah went through money like water - to the time the new butcher shop opened in town.

The new butcher shop was doing well, with charging 1/3 of the price of Jasper's shop. It was raking in the business and taking Jasper's livelihood.

Due to non-payment of rent, they were forced to move back to the home Jasper and Elizee-Mae shared in the country. Ulah didn't like this, but being 8 months pregnant, she went with Jasper reluctantly. A month later, Lilah bore a son, Kale O'Shea Henry. Jasper was truly happy, he had a son, an heir to carry on his name, and a pretty wife that pleased him well. Life was financially hard for the Henrys, but it was good. The town folk's memory of Elizee-Mae was fading, making Jasper feel at ease, confident that he would never be caught for his crime.

July 4,1924, at 2:30 in the a.m. Jasper, Lilah and baby Kale were fast asleep when Lilah was shaken awake and heard a woman's voice in her ear.

"Why are you in my bed!?" Lilah jumped up startled and screamed.

"What's wrong," Jasper asked half-awake.

"Someone woke me up and asked why was I in her bed?" Lilah said.

"Yor dreaming, Honey, now go back to sleep" Jasper said, falling back to sleep.

Lilah just lay with her eyes opened for the rest of the night, not daring to sleep.

July 12,10:20 in the late evening, Lilah washing dishes glanced up to see, out the kitchen window, a white shadowy figure moving along the shallows edge.

"Jasper! Jasper! There's someone out back," exclaimed Lilah.

Jasper jumped up and ran to the window to look outside; glancing out, he stopped cold in his tracks. Fear gripped Jasper's heart, for the figure moved where Elizee-Mae's remains were deposited.

"Who do you suppose that is?" Queried Lilah.

"No One!" Snapped Jasper." It's just some Gypsy collecting bark. I saw an encampment just down the road. You know how these people are, they don't keep normal hours as decent folks."

"Oh, look now. The figure is gone," Lilah said.

"I thought for a moment it might have been a swamp spirit," she chimed laughing.

Jasper, still half frozen from fear, agreed.

July 21,1924, it was the dark of the moon, a night so black, even a candle was consumed by it. Baby Kale cried nonstop since 9:00, now it was 11:30. Nothing seemed to satisfy the infant. Lilah walked back and forth with the baby over her shoulder, patting and rocking him. Lilah walking passed the kitchen window saw a white glowing figure near the shallows.

"Jasper, Jasper," Lilah called, trying to get his attention. Lilah lay the baby in his crib and walked over to Jasper, who was is asleep on the couch. She shook his shoulder to wake him.

"Jasper, come look outside; it's back," Lilah said

"Wha - What's back," he said not comprehending fully.

"The white figure," Lilah turned to look out the window and faced a hideous puzzled, fitted apparition of a black woman through a thin pane of glass. The expression on its face was a frozen silent scream; Lilah shrieked in terror. Jasper was at full attention, ready to act. The baby cried even louder. The glass exploded inward into shards, striking the walls of the kitchen and Lilah as well. The ghost passed effortlessly through the outer wall and moved just inches in front of Lilah. From under the apparition's gown, the figure retrieved a long filleting knife and raised it high into the air. With one quick downward movement of the knife, the ghost laid open Lilah's chest, and with its mangled hand ripped out her heart. Lilah's startled expression of total fear and disbelief was quieted by her death. Lilah's body dropped to its knees and fell over face first, splashing into a pool of her own blood, The ghost of Elizee-Mae returned to offer her husband the heart of his white lover over hers. She held it out to him to take. Jasper, frozen in fear could not move. Elizee-Mae placed Lilah's heart into his hand, still pumping and warm with blood. Jasper screamed a ran, only to be grasped by a cold hand and held against the ceiling, nose to nose with Elizee-Mae. She said nothing to him: she just looked at him with her crushed stare from the vice. Pure ice fire fear poured down his spine and became excrement in his pants. Still pinned against the ceiling, he witnesses the ghost going to his crying son and picking him up. The baby was wailing loudly as Elizee-Mae's ghost began to leave.

"No Nooo," cried out Jasper. "Not my son!"

She turned one last time, hovering over Ulah's lifeless body and looked at him; her expression changed to a smile. The ghost of Elizee-Mae left wistfully through the window with the baby. Jasper dropped hard to the floor. He jumped up and stumbled over the body of his wife, slipping and falling into her blood. Still trying to get to the window, he made it in time to see the white wistful figure of Elizee-Mae disappear in the shallows with his crying infant.

Jasper began to shake violently and babble. He ran for help, tearing through the house and down the road to town, screaming all the way. Some local town men grabbed him and held him down until the sheriff arrived. Jasper was covered in blood. His hair was snow white and he emptied his bowels all over himself, but otherwise there was not a scratch on him.

The sheriff listened to his story and took his confession. The sheriff then took deputies out to Jasper's home and found Lilah as he had said. They even checked the shallows. Of course, they found no evidence to substantiate his claim.

Jasper was arrested and taken into custody for the murder of Elizee-Mae Henry, Ulah O'Shea Henry and Kale O'Shea Henry (even though the officials didn't find his body]. Jasper never made it to trial, however; the first night in jail, he hanged himself on a rafter in his cell.

As far as the police are concerned, Jasper murdered his first wife for sure. As for his second wife and child, he murdered them also. For what reason and why, no one will know.

Unofficially, the locals' view is as Jasper described it except now there is a legacy. Every once in a while₁ it is said you can see a woman in white down by the shallows, and you can hear in the distance, but not far away, a baby crying.