The Boo Hag: Trapped in Its Grasp

Many stories in South Carolina folklore come from the Gullah Geechee people, including the legend of the Boo Hag. The Boo Hag comes in the night to steal your life force. The color haint blue is believed to have protective powers. But who or what is the Boo Hag, and how can a color offer protection?

What is a Boo Hag?

The Gullah Geechee are the descendants of West African people who were enslaved on plantations along the Sea Islands and coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. The Sea Islands are a chain of over a hundred tidal and barrier islands along the southeastern U.S. coast, between the Santee and St. Johns rivers.

The story of the Boo Hag is just one South Carolina folklore tale spun from the Gullah Geechee. The Boo Hag is a “haint,” the Gullah word for malevolent ghosts and spirits. The Boo Hag is said to be a spirit or entity that attaches itself to its chosen victim. It is always referred to as female but is able to feed on victims no matter their gender. 

Gullahs believe that people have both a soul and a spirit. Souls leave human bodies upon death; if they’re good, they ascend to Heaven. A person’s spirit is different. A good spirit stays behind to watch over their family, like a spirit guide. A bad spirit is called a haint.¹https://spellcasterghosttours.com/boo_hag/

Unlike other demons or ghosts in South Carolina folklore, the Boo Hag is unique because it’s not a spirit in the traditional sense. It’s said to be a human-like entity that sheds its skin to reveal a raw, bloody form, with both blue and red veins visibly throbbing across its body. In some accounts, the Boo Hag is described as an old, bald woman with glowing red eyes. 

In some versions of the story, she is able to live a somewhat normal life during daytime hours. It is only at night, when she goes hunting, that her true nature is revealed.

It’s unclear how she chooses her victims, but once she has someone in sight, she sneaks into their home at night. Before entering, she sheds her skin, which makes her able to enter through very small openings, such as the slightest cracked window or even a keyhole.

What does the Boo Hag do?

She “rides” on the bodies of her victims while they sleep. Its main goal is to drain their victim of their life force, leaving them weak, sick, or in rare circumstances—dead. She is said to do this by sitting on the chest of the person while they’re sleeping. She sucks their breath and energy away. This stolen energy allows the entity to continue living. The Boo Hag is similar to a vampire, except instead of taking blood, it takes breath. She has to be gone before dawn or risk being destroyed. If she’s not back in her skin before the sun comes up, that’s the end of the line for the Boo Hag.

In essence, it is a creature that feeds on the life force of its prey, leaving only a hollow shell behind. Their energy and vitality are both gone. If you wake up feeling unusually exhausted or with strange rashes or unexplained marks on your body, you may have received a visit from the Boo Hag.

There are warning signs that a Boo Hag is near. First, the air becomes hot and damp. Second, it smells as though something is rotting.

To move freely among the living without raising suspicion, they steal a person’s skin and wear it like clothing. To stop a Boo Hag, its shed skin must be found and filled with salt. The skin will be dehydrated by the salt and therefore impossible to re-wear. 

In her book, God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia, Cornelia Walker Bailey talks about another way to rid yourself of the Boo Hag.

“You could put salt in an open bottle and leave it near the bed and the hag would fly into that bottle with the salt. The salt would hold her there and she couldn’t get out.

In the morning, you’d put a cap on the bottle and you’d say, “I gotcha now,” and you could actually hear the hag screaming in the bottle, “Let me out, let me out.” You buried the bottle in the ground then and the hag wouldn’t bother you no more.” 

Origins of the Boo Hag

One idea about the Boo Hag’s roots suggests that it stems from the African belief in jumbis, malevolent spirits that could possess and control the living. These spirits were often seen as vengeful and capable of stealing one’s breath or energy. They might appear in different forms—sometimes as apparitions or strange creatures—in addition to having the power to possess people or animals; they can also cause illness or bring about misfortune.

The Boo Hag, in its current form, is likely an adaptation of these beliefs, blending them with African folklore, Gullah traditions, and the brutal realities of life for enslaved people in the South.

Haint Blue

For centuries, the indigo plant has been valued across cultures for its spiritual significance and as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Indigo was one of the crops grown on the plantations where the Gullah’s ancestors were enslaved. Extracting the blue dye was a grueling process, one that plantation owners imposed upon the enslaved. The Gullah used the leftover residue from the indigo vats, combined it with lime, milk, and other pigments to create “Haint” blue.

The color “haint” blue is one way to prevent a visit from the boo hag. It’s a serene bluish green color and is used on porch ceilings, front doors, and shutters along the coast. Haints are said to be afraid or unable to cross water and could be confused when looking at the blue ceilings above them and think they’re floating upside down. The color also might make them think they’ve tumbled into the open sky. They’re afraid of being swept away by the wind or killed by the sun. 

“Haint blue doors, windowsills, and porch ceilings create a safety barrier against the shape-shifters that lurk in the night, looking for souls to haunt or steal.” ²https://spellcasterghosttours.com/boo_hag

Bottle Trees

Another protection against the Boo Hag was bottle trees. The bottles can be haint blue or cobalt, although some also include clear bottles. Originally created by capping the end of crepe myrtle trees with blue bottles, they’re now widely used across the Sea Islands and low country. 

The legend goes that any nocturnal traveling evil spirits would be lured inside the blue bottles and unable to escape. The morning sun would destroy the spirits. You can tell when a spirit is trapped inside when the wind blows and the bottle hums.

“They believed spirits would get trapped in the bottles at night, and when the sun hit the bottles in the morning light, the spirits would disperse.” ³Curiosity Magazine 

Other Protective Measures

If the Gullah fear their homes are already haunted or a spirit may invade, they paste newspaper on the walls to ward off harm. This confuses the Hag, and she can’t carry out her work.

Boo Hags do have a weakness: They suffer from an obsessive-compulsive disorder that forces them to count. If they come across a broom, kitchen colander, or, say, a handful of rice thrown on the floor, they are compelled to count the number of bristles, holes, grains, etc. Many people keep an upside-down broom in the bedroom or hang a colander on the door for protection.

Folklore Representation

Folklore reflects the values, fears, and aspirations of the people who share the stories and traditions.

The Boo Hag serves several symbolic purposes within folklore. Some of them are:

1. Fear of the Unknown and Unseen—It represents the unknown dangers that can lurk in the dark, unseen world as well as how vulnerable we are while we’re sleeping.
2. Power of Women in Folklore: The Boo Hag is traditionally female, which can symbolize the power of women in culture.
3. Parasitic Relationships or Exploitation: The Boo Hag can also symbolize parasitic or exploitative relationships—where one person or entity feeds off the energy or life force of another.
4. Supernatural Justice: The Boo Hag serves as a warning to people who engage in deceitful acts, with the Boo Hag symbolizing a form of punishment for wrongdoing.
5. Cultural Identity and Resistance: In some contexts, the Boo Hag can also serve as a symbol of resistance or empowerment for communities that were oppressed, such as enslaved Africans in the South.

In modern times, the Boo Hag is seen as a folk representation of sleep paralysis and sleep apnea. Sleep paralysis is an episode during sleep where one is unable to move or wake up. Sufferers feel like there is a weight on their chest, shortness of breath, and a sense of impending doom. 

The Gullah Geechee

The Gullah Geechee are the descendants of West and Central Africans who were captured from modern-day cities of Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Angola. They were enslaved and eventually brought to the lower Atlantic states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia to work on the coastal rice, Sea Island cotton, and indigo plantations.

The Gullah people were able to preserve their culture, language, and traditions more than other enslaved groups due to the isolated nature of the plantations where they lived. The region’s common diseases, like yellow fever and malaria, were also present in their West African homeland, giving them natural immunity. During the warmer months, many plantation owners left their operations in the care of overseers, who were vastly outnumbered by the enslaved people, allowing for cultural unity and development.

Many aspects of Gullah culture—religious beliefs, cuisine, stories, songs, and farming and fishing traditions—were derived from African origins. They established a Creole language from English and African sources.

When the Civil War began in 1861, plantation owners and overseers fled the Sea Islands to escape approaching Union forces, effectively freeing the Gullah people. They then established churches, hospitals, and schools across the Sea Islands, especially Sapelo Island and the low country of Georgia and South Carolina. Many became the first African Americans to own significant amounts of land.

40 Acres and a Mule

In January 1865, General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15, which set aside 400,000 acres of land for formerly enslaved people, including Gullah Geechee communities. The plan promised 40-acre plots of land, known as “40 acres and a mule,” to help African Americans build independent farms. However, after President Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson reversed the policy, and much of the land was unfairly returned to former Confederates.

Despite this, Gullah Geechee communities pooled resources to buy what land they could. Over generations, this land was passed down. Unfortunately, some transfers lacked formal documentation, putting it at risk of being lost to developers.

Today, efforts continue to protect the Gullah Geechee people’s ancestral lands from being sold and developed. More information about these legal fights can be found at Daily Kos.

South Carolina Folklore

The Boo Hag remains one of the most unique and unsettling figures in South Carolina folklore. Its legend speaks to the blending of African traditions with the local superstitions of the Gullah people, creating a supernatural entity that is both fearsome and fascinating. The tales and legends created by the Gullah Geechee people are a testament to their resilience, creativity, and enduring influence.