Bad blood can stay with a family for generations. Legendary feuds like that of the Hatfields and the McCoys have become a part of Appalachian legend as families battled over land, mismatched love, religious differences, or simple animosity.
A little further South, the Tilleys and the Stanleys were enmeshed in a battle of their own, one that stretched back a dozen years across the Blue Ridge Mountains. A series of vicious attacks between the clans resulted in more than a dozen deaths and gave rise to the legend of the Tilley Bend Witch.
While Elizabeth Jane Tilley Bradley was a real woman—in fact a healer of Creek and European descent, much of the narrative can be taken as a folktale, one that underscores the damage done when families can’t settle their differences like good neighbors.
Today, Elizabeth Bradley can be found in her grave at the Tilley Church Cemetery. The oak from which she was allegedly hung spreads its branches over the Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery in nearby Ellijay, Georgia.
The Legend of the Tilley Bend Witch
A mother’s blessing offers a light in the darkest of times. A mother’s curse can be just as deadly. Back around the turn of the century, Elizabeth Bradley lived with her husband, Jason, in a modest home in the back woods of Fannin County. Elizabeth was born with Indian blood in her veins, and her ancestry gave her a knowledge of the natural world. Over her 60 years, she grew into a gifted healer whose talents were much prized by the other settlers near Tilley Bend.
Although blessed with a large family of healthy children, Elizabeth lost her luck as her daughters blossomed into young women. One daughter fell in love and married a young man from the Tilley clan, and the other married a Stanley boy. These two families, however, had long been at odds, and the bad blood between them only continued to boil over.
Early one Sunday, as the Tilleys worshiped at Tilley Bend Church, several Stanley men rode up on horses. They opened fire through the windows and doors of the church, and as the dust settled, several of the Tilley clan lay dead in the pew. Among them was Elizabeth’s oldest daughter.
That night, the survivors plotted their revenge. Under the cover of darkness, they rode onto the Stanley family farm intent on killing their enemies as they slept. When the sun rose, several of the Stanley men were dead, including the man who had married Elizabeth’s other daughter. That daughter, already heavy with child, soon died from grief before giving birth.
In her anger, Elizabeth placed a curse on both families. Denied the joy of watching her daughters grow into motherhood, the devastated mother made a vow. She swore that neither family should know the happiness of a child’s laughter.
While the scars of those two attacks ran deep, they soon forgot the old woman’s words. Until, that is, the first Tilley child of the new year was born only to survive a few short days before dying in his crib. Then the first Stanley daughter arrived stillborn. Both families along the Toccoa River began to fear that Elizabeth’s curse was stronger than they knew. For more than a year, no baby born to either clan lived for more than a few days.
United in their grief, the men of both families dragged Elizabeth from her home despite the pleas of her husband. When she refused to recant, they hung her as a witch from a tree in the old churchyard cemetery. The following day, both the Tilleys and the Stanleys breathed a sigh of relief. Together they looked forward to welcoming the next generation.
Although claimed by death, Elizabeth’s presence still haunts Tilley Bend. Folks say that if you visit her grave on moonless nights, you just might see her walking among the stones. For the most part, she just leaves people alone, but if you’re a child, beware. According to legend, her ghost enjoys jumping out from behind graves and dragging young ones away.
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