Marvelous tales of a child born with horns because its mother spoke irreverently to a bible peddler have been stirring the imagination of simple minded people in Elizabeth City for the past week.
The “devil” child was first reported to have been born to a colored woman in Camden County, but that was so near home that the lie wouldn’t stick, to the newspapers have changed the birthplace to Washington County.
Of course there is not a word of truth in the story. It is an old, old tale that never had any foundation in fact and which somebody revives about once every 20 or 25 years. Such tales gain currency because there are thousands of credulous folk who think that the Lord who upset all the laws of nature to work miracles in Judea thousands of years ago is due to come back and perform a few stunts for the benefit of us moderns. And the newspaper man who is keeping the lie going is having a lot fun, laughing up his sleeve at the gullibility of fool mortals who take the yarn seriously.
From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, May 21, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83025812/1926-05-21/ed-1/seq-1/
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