the afternoon in the summertime, still light. And he walked, and walked down the stairs, and he walked toward the dining room. About then that guy, Richard, come rushing out. The footsteps stopped. Nothing else happened. And that bird, he ran all the way to that corner. He got a wheelbarrow, brought it back in, grabbed all his clothes and everything, put them in the wheelbarrow, and piled all his hats on top of his head. We looked out and saw him with that wheelbarrow, and those hats on his head, going down the road, and we haven't seen him from that day to this."

I've told this family story many times. Everett often repeats his family story of Mercy Brown. Of the several themes common to family stories,get the conversation back to vampires. David, Jr. and Paul said that Ronnie Jackson had told them lots of stories, and that their father had heard the vampire story from Ronnie and then passed it on to their mother.

I mentioned how odd it was that Nancy's body had not been exhumed.

Paul said, "They did stab the thing in her heart."

His younger brother disagreed, saying, "They took out her heart and burned it."

"Are you thinking of Mercy Brown?" Mary-Lou asked.

"No, no," Paul protested. "You see, all the people in this area were dying."

David, Jr. was attempting to talk at the same time. Trying to restore order, I said, "OK, let's hear Paul's version of the story."

David, Jr. would not desist. "One of the stories, they burnt her heart, then