Haley DiFruscio curated this story from the “Witchcraft” archive collection in App State’s Special Collections Research Center. The archived collections are available to browse in person during the SCRC’s hours of operation.
The Appalachian region has a rich history of folklore relating to witchcraft. A clipping from the Salisbury Sunday Post in the “Witchcraft” archive collection said that stories from European settlers about the “black arts” mingled with those from indigenous tribes to create a unique melting pot of witchcraft legends.
Stories have been old of “wise women” and “witch doctors” that live in the higher reaches of the mountains. These stories have continued into the 20th century with the tale of one woman, Joann Denton, a self-proclaimed witch who, in April 1976, was charged for accurately predicting the death of a woman named Dorothy Ramsey
The “Witchcraft” archive collection contains several local clippings detailing the progression of events in Denton’s case, as well as several follow-up articles.
According to a clipping from the Salisbury Evening Post, Denton held a seance with Ramsey’s ex-husband in which she predicted Ramsey would die on April 10 in an automobile accident.
Ramsey reportedly got into a non-fatal car crash in the week before she died, according to a feature article on Denton from the Avery Journal.
Ramsey’s daughter, Katherine Carpenter, who filed the charges against Denton, believed the prediction caused her mother’s death.
“I believe it worked on her nerves. She just kept taking pills and taking pills to calm her nerves down,” Carpenter was quoted in the Salisbury Evening Post clipping.
Denton was charged under a North Carolina law prohibiting the practices of fortune telling, clairvoyance and phrenology, which is the practice of making predictions about a person’s character based on attributes of their skull. This law has since been repealed.
Denton appeared in court April 27, 1976 and the charges against her were dropped.
In a press conference outside the courthouse, Denton refuted claims of devil worship, and said she had no malicious intent.
“Unless I am prohibited from doing so by the court, I will continue to exercise my special God-given talents of fortune-telling and clairvoyance in Burke County, N.C.,” Denton was quoted in the Asheville Citizen.
Denton later appeared in newspapers for a seance in which she tried to summon the spirit of Frankie Silvers, who was hanged for the murder of her husband on July 1, 1883. Silvers was the first recorded account of a woman hanged in North Carolina.
According to a 1996 clipping from the Morganton News Herald, Denton sued the town of Morganton for her removal from the 1993 Morganton Downtown Halloween Parade. The article also reported Denton ran for mayor of Morganton in the 1981 election.
“I know I would have made a good mayor,” Denton was quoted, “I believe in treating everyone fairly.”
Joann Denton celebrated her 90th birthday Jan. 25, 2023.
