Legend of the Boo Hag: Gullah Culture in the Southeast U.S.

     

From the sixteenth century until the federal law of The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807, British American colonies, or later the United States of America was importing slaves from Africa via the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. The southeast, notably Georgia and South Carolina, relied on skilled slave labor to uphold farms and the crops that grew there such as rice, corn, sugar, and of course: cotton. In this region, coastal ports such as the Savannah and Charleston ports played a huge role in importing Africans for them to be dispersed and sold. It is believed that up to half of the enslaved Africans transported into the British American colonies were brought through the Charleston port. And the Savannah port, beginning in the late 1700s, also brought many of the remaining enslaved Africans into the colonies. Most of the imported slaves in this area came from West Africa because of the natives’ knowledge of rice agriculture.

Today, many of the descendants of the slave laborers of the Southeast US have developed a unique culture. They are called the Gullah, and they have preserved much of their ancestral African culture, becoming a symbol of pride for many African Americans throughout the US. The Gullah have developed their own language influenced by a mixture of African dialects, and remnants of various other kinds of African culture can also be found in their medicine, weaving, ceremonies, songs, and cooking techniques. Of course, oral storytelling was preserved throughout generations as well, which includes the tale of witches or haunting hags, which are similar to forest spirits in African traditions. In Gullah culture there is one specific witch creature. They call it the Boo Hag. 

The Boo Hag is said to be similar to a witch. Its initial appearance is horrifying: a skinless humanoid with bulging veins; its color red from the revealed raw flesh. Boo Hags haunt the unsuspecting; at the dead of night, they intrude your home in an extremely creepy way: by entering through a small opening, whether it be a window open by a crack, your chimney, or even just a tiny fracture in a wall. Then it will sit on the victim's chest, and “ride” him or her, sucking the victim’s breath and energy away. Some variations of the tale say the hag will literally ride you like a witch’s broomstick. This will all occur throughout the night, and sometimes the victims awaken and witnesses the nightmarish event happening in front of them. When needed, the Boo Hag will peel off the victim’s skin and use it as its own, in order to live amongst us humans without suspicion. The hag can only “ride” you if it takes its human skin off. Legend says that if it does not return to its skin by dawn, it will either stay skinless forever or be destroyed all together.

In order to protect yourself from a Boo Hag, you must stock up on indigo blue paint and salt. The hag cannot cross a drawn line of either of these and is generally repelled by them too. If you feel as if a Boo Hag is still riding you every night even after you have used blue pain and salt, consider placing a broom in your sleeping room. Being compulsive and unable to resist curious objects, the Boo Hag will stay and count every last bristle on the broom. Thus, it will most likely not be able to ride you that night as it will be spending the whole night counting.

One way to discover if you were ridden by a Boo Hag or discover if there is one in your vicinity is to examine the air around you. Boo Hags cause the air to be hot, humid, and smell rotten. If you ever notice a family member or friend acting strangely or not acting as themselves, they may be a Boo Hag in disguise. The most compelling sign that you were “ridden” is if you are feeling incredibly exhausted after a night’s sleep. The Boo Hag steals your energy at night and uses you over and over again, milking you of oxygen and liveliness like a cow.


Some people desire to find a possible scientific explanation for the hag. Most symptoms of being visited by a boo hag, which mostly includes waking up to see it “riding” you, have been attributed to sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis occurs when you become conscious during REM sleep, or the stage of sleep when dreams occur. Because you have not left the REM phase, your muscles are incapacitated, so you cannot move or speak. On many of these occasions, people experience disturbing or scary hallucinations. Sleep paralysis will also most likely leave you very exhausted the next day.

"Don't let the Hag ride ya!"

A lot of people brush this tale off as just a well crafted fictitious creature, but to many Gullahs, the Boo Hag is real, exists, and can definitely haunt you. What is clear, though, is that the Boo Hag has long existed for centuries as a tale passed down through generations and generations. Today, there even exists a phrase in the southeast derived from the Boo Hag: “Don’t let the hag ride ya!”

To read (presumably) authentic, traditional stories about the Boo Hag, check these out:

A World of Stories Collection, PBS

Amino Urban Legends and Cryptids Community 

North Carolina Ghosts: Stories, Legends, Folklore