Swamp Witch

Black water Hattie lived back in the swamp
 Where the strange green reptiles crawl
 Snakes hang thick from the cypress trees
 Like sausage on a smokehouse wall
 Where the swamp is alive with a thousand eyes
 An' all of them watching you
 Stay off the track to Hattie's shack
 In the back of the Black Bayou
 Way up the road from Hattie's shack
 Lies a sleepy little Okeechobee town
 Talk of swamp witch Hattie
 Lock you in when the sun go down
 Rumors of what she'd done
 Rumors of what she'd do
 Kept folks off the track of Hattie's shack
 In the back of the Black Bayou
 One day brought the rain and the rain stayed on
 And the swamp water overflowed
 Skeeters and the fever grabbed the town like a fist
 Doctor Jackson was the first to go
 Some say the plague was brought by Hattie
 There was talk of a hangin' too
 But the talk got shackled by the howls and the cackles
 From the bowels of the Black bayou
 Early one morning' 'tween dark and dawn when shadows filled the sky
 There came an unseen caller on a town where road run dry
 You'd swear there was found a big black round vat full of gurgling brew
 Whispering sounds as the folk gathered round
 "It came from the Black Bayou"
 There ain't much pride when you're trapped inside
 A slowly sinking' ship
 Scooped up the liquid deep and green
 And the whole town took a sip
 Fever went away and the very next day
 The skies again were blue
 Let's thank old Hattie for savin' our town
 We'll fetch her from the Black Bayou
 Party of ten of the town's best men
 Headed for Hattie's shack
 Said, "Swamp Witch magic was useful and good
 And they're gonna bring Hattie back"
 Never found Hattie and they never found the shack
 Never made the trip back in
 There was a parchment note they found tacked to a stump
 Said, "Don't come lookin' again"