Posted on 07/29/2014 5:51:21 AM PDT by the scotsman
'A quiet woman wearing a flowing, black dress and mysteriously strolling along busy highways in parts of the U.S. Southeast and Midwest has the curious wondering who she is and spurred a social media site to document her trek.
She has been dubbed the "Woman in Black," by TV stations, police and followers on the Web, including those on a Facebook page where she has been tracked on a nearly 500-mile journey with a black bag and walking stick in hand that has taken her from Ranger, Georgia, to Athens, Ohio, since July 18.
"If you meet this woman, please, offer her a drink, a meal, whatever it may be you feel she needs. Be hospitable. Be kind," said a post on the Facebook page, which has 19,000 followers.
Several television stations have covered the "Woman in Black" when she has passed through, reporting that some believe the woman, who rarely speaks, is on a religious mission.
An NBC affiliate in Sullivan County, Tennessee, reported she told deputies there that she is from an Islamic nation and worked at the Pentagon. Deputies later said neither was true.
Raymond Poles told Reuters he is the woman's brother, identifying her as Elizabeth Poles, 56, a U.S. Army veteran, mother of two children and a widow from Motts, Alabama.
Elizabeth Poles had been receiving treatment at Veterans Affairs hospitals to deal with the deaths of her husband in 2008 and her father in 2009, he said.'
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
“Several television stations have covered the “Woman in Black” when she has passed through, reporting that some believe the woman, who rarely speaks, is on a religious mission.”
Over/Under in days until she is beheaded by Islamic radicals?
She seems very sad. I hope nobody harms her.
My first thought was how many "women in black" this news report could create?
Sounds like a bit of emotional/mental illness. Poor thing - hope she’s not harmed.
Made me think of an old song “She walks this hills in a long black veil...” Hope she comes to no harm, and is able to come to terms with the deaths of her loved ones.
Probably a 90-day promotional stunt leading up to the product launch of Black Maiden Tennessee Sipping Whiskey.
La Llorona. Run for your lives!
Still, these self-styled news readers and even the writers can conceive of no more context for noting the woman's passing by than the interest seen in another medium.
The fluttering laughter heard in the woman newsreader's voice at the end of the segment seemed desperately hollow, perhaps even suicidal.
Were they even listening, or did they miss completely what Shakespeare wrote, about there being "more things in Heaven and Earth than are dream't of in your philosophy"?
THE BEATLES
“Baby’s In Black”
Oh dear, what can I do?
Baby’s in black and I’m feeling blue
Tell me, oh what can I do?
She thinks of him and so she dresses in black
And though he’ll never come back, she’s dressed in black
Oh dear, what can I do?
Baby’s in black and I’m feeling blue
Tell me, oh what can I do?
I think of her, but she thinks only of him
And though it’s only a whim, she thinks of him
Oh how long will it take
Till she sees the mistake she has made?
Dear what can I do?
Baby’s in black and I’m feeling blue
Tell me, oh what can I do?
Oh how long it will take
Till she sees the mistake she has made?
Dear what can I do?
Baby’s in black and I’m feeling blue
Tell me, oh what can I do?
She thinks of him and so she dresses in black
And though he’ll never come back, she’s dressed in black
Oh dear, what can I do?
Baby’s in black and I’m feeling blue
Tell me, oh what can I do?
IIRC, he wintered in Florida and would pass through Macon, GA on his way back north for the summer. He seemed quite old to me back then, but now I'd guess that he was in his 60's.
He had a small camping wagon pulled by goats. He must have had a dozen or more and probably worked them in shifts.
IIRC, (again) he would talk about the Bible to whomever stopped to chat.
Well, looky here! I just decided to try to look him up and found this article.
I thought of David Carradine in the 1970’s TV series “Kong Fu.”
I think you probably nailed why she is doing it.
I hope she finds a nice warm place before winter —
The Band covered it.
“Long Black Veil”
Ten years ago on a cool dark night
There was someone killed ‘neath the town hall light
There were few at the scene and they all did agree
That the man who ran looked a lot like me
The judge said “Son, what is your alibi?
If you were somewhere else then you won’t have to die”
I spoke not a word although it meant my life
I had been in the arms of my best friend’s wife
She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave where the night winds wail
Nobody knows, no, and nobody sees
Nobody knows but me
The scaffold was high and eternity neared
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil she cries over my bones
Sure do. It was huge news when he'd come through my small hometown in north Alabama. Everybody would turn out to see him.
I think you nailed it. We’ve become such a conformist society and using tv and the Internet to gawk at anyone different.
She has to be very hot walking completely covered in heat-absorbing black in mid summer.
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