Memories of faith healing

Memories of faith healing

By Charles Shiver

I recently began writing about the divinations and healing practices of Ray City, Ga., seeress Molly Reddick Hall and her younger sister Stella Wright.

Ms. Hall was best known for using her cards to assist a murder victim’s nephew in finding the body: Susan Hinson Moon, killed by her demented son Melton Moon during early 1920 in Cook County. 

Some of my friends have posted on Facebook about how the sisters had helped them, too, with healing and finding missing property. Ricky Gandy remarked about his daddy going to Ms. Wright for help in finding a wallet that he had lost in a field. Gandy’s father also remembered the Sue Moon incident. She was killed on some land that the Gandy family used to own. Her body was found around near where the Micro Flo (BASF) plant is located now, under a pile of leaves.

In more modern times, I encountered an area family who believed a little girl’s recovery from a rattlesnake bite resulted from faith healing as practiced by a mother-and-daughter ministerial team and tapping into divine power.

I wrote about the girl’s story in the Aug. 16, 1995, issue of The Lanier County News (30 years ago this summer). The print edition of Lakeland, Ga.’s traditional hometown newspaper is gone now, destroyed after nearly a century of service to that small community. I am among the living memories of that grand old publication, younger sister to the Adel News, and no matter what some bad people may sneer, some of us did our best to produce good, inspirational quality work for the beautiful place named after Civil War-era Georgia poet Sidney Lanier, writer of “The Marshes of Glynn.” The Lanier County News still exists in an online format, but I am not associated with the current internet media outlet. 

According to the now three-decades-old LCN article, “the fangs of an enormous rattlesnake were no match for divine power, says a Lakeland woman. She believes her 9-year-old daughter’s recovery from an inflamed snake bite was hastened by faith healing and prayers.

“About 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, 1995, Ebony LeAnn Sealey was bitten by the rattlesnake while picking snap beans in her grandparents’ garden in Lanier County. The serpent was hidden in tall grass when Ebony’s sister apparently stepped on its tail. The snake then bit Ebony on the right back calf.

“A family friend rushed Ebony in a private vehicle to Louis Smith Memorial Hospital. Her family almost lost her. She went into shock, and her blood pressure dropped to at least as low as 50 over 40. She was next transferred to South Georgia Medical Center, where she was in the Intensive Care Unit for 24 hours. After she was stabilized, she was transferred back to Louis Smith Hospital so she could recover in her home community.

“Recovery was a painful process. Antivenin treatments reversed the venom’s effects, but, in a condition called cellulitis, Ebony’s right leg became inflamed – red, hot to the touch, and swollen – from the arch of her foot to halfway up her thigh.

“Then, at 3 p.m. on the Sunday after Ebony was bitten, what some describe as a miracle took place. Missionary Lola McCrae and Evangelist Ernestine Miller, Mrs. McCrae’s daughter, went to Ebony’s hospital room in Lakeland so they could help her.

“While praying, Mrs. McCrae waved her hands over Ebony from her chest down. Mrs. McCrae said she did this to ‘pick up her pain.’ Mrs. McCrae then shook her hands as if ridding herself of the pain, too. The two women also rubbed, or “anointed,” Ebony’s bad leg with olive oil. Mrs. McCrae said she had prayed over the oil so God would bless it.

“At 6 a.m. the next day, ‘every bit of redness in Ebony’s leg was gone, her leg wasn’t warm to the touch any more, and the bite marks had scabbed over,’ said Beth Sealey, the girl’s mother. ‘She was able to get up and walk to the nurses’ station. … I was prepared for the worst. Then, all of a sudden, (the bite) healed up.’

“Antibiotics were being used against the cellulitis, Mrs. Sealey acknowledged. But she said she is a nurse at Louis Smith Hospital and knows that antibiotic treatment alone couldn’t have made the inflammation clear up so quickly. She believes Ebony’s swift recovery resulted from divine intervention through the two women’s actions. She also says prayers from church people across Lanier County helped.

“Ebony said she is feeling all-right now. She thought at first when the snake bit her, a thorn bush had gotten stuck to her leg. She lost 16 pounds during her recovery because she wasn’t able to eat much.

“Mrs. Sealey said Ebony still has recurring episodes of nausea and fever, but she is able to play sports again because she has recovered her strength. She played with the 9-10 Girls Softball All-Stars when they won second place in the July 17 state finals. ‘It was just a miracle,’ Mrs. Sealey said. ‘She was leading the team in base hits.’ Ebony also went to the basketball camp in Lanier County two weeks ago. Mrs. Sealey credits much of Ebony’s quick turnaround to ‘just pure determination.’ ”

TO BE CONTINUED – “There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide”