The Family Circus Freak

I was thinking today of a family member who died a few years back. Phillis, was my Dad's niece. She was a lifelong southern Pentecostal, who practiced the occult on the sly. She would go to church, pray, fast and quote The Bible. Yet, she'd quickly put a spell on you if provoked. Most of her life no one knew of this. My favorite Phillis story is as follows;


She once in the 60s, begged my Brother, who is a minister, to let her accompany him on a preaching trip to Charlotte NC. It was a week end meeting, and she offered to pay both hers and my brother and Sister In-Law's rooms if they would take her. At the end of the week end she begged them to stay over for a few days, again, she offered to pay for everything, they agreed. As it turns out she was prostituting herself. My Brother found out because the doorman, thinking that he was her pimp, complimented him by saying in his old man southern accent, "That's the hoinest ho I've ever seen."

Phillis lived on about two acres, outside of Riverside Calf. There were no neighbors, just orange groves around her, and eucalyptus trees surrounded the compound. This combination gave the place a very spooky vibe at night. She had an old woman who lived in one of two buildings just off of the main house. The old woman was never came out of her room. No one ever knew much about the mysterious old woman, she was just there. She had a friend, Let's call him "J", who years later was arrested for driving across state lines, to purchase a human being. She had another man living with her and her family, they carried on an affair under her husbands nose, That man, later turned out to be a multiple murderer. One night, not long before the last time I saw her, my Father, who was very centered, and not at all susceptible to "mumbojumbo" brushed past a childlike figure in her yard. As soon as he passed it he felt something very strange, a powerful feeling of dread came over him. He turned quickly, to find that there was nobody there. He walked into the house, only to find that all of Phillis' kids were inside. The last thing I ever heard of her was a letter that my Brother showed me last year. It was a prophesy of death on him for telling her she was a heretic. It was loaded with occult symbols.

-S