Serious Foretelling

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 44
#52ancestors
Prompt: Scary Stuff 

I don't think it is really so scary but rather cool to think that my family has "powers". I don't have powers but sometimes I know who is on the phone before I answer it. I also learned that I could witch for graves, sort of like water witching, but it worked for almost everyone in the group I was with so I don't know if that is a power or if it is some kind of science we just don't know yet.

 My grandfather, Thomas Osa (Ocie) McCarley, had powers and so did his Dad, Sidney E. McCarley.  I've mentioned before how Grandpa could find water by using a forked branch, but he also had some serious foretelling.  When my mother was young, they had a cellar in the backyard. The kind that had a small hill with a slanted door in the side. The kids would climb the mound of dirt to the top of the door and slide down it.  It was a regular part of their play to slide down the cellar door. One morning before Grandpa left the house, he told Grandma not to let the kids play in the backyard that day.  Mom thought it was strange, but they did what their Father told them and played in the front yard that day. That night while they were asleep, the root cellar caved in. 

 One of my Mom's second cousins told me about my great grandfather, Sid McCarley's powers.  When Ron was young, he had warts all over his hands and they had tried everything to get rid of them. His mother took him to see his Uncle Sid. My great grandfather, took Ron's hands inside of his hands and rubbed them all over very strongly.  Ron's hands got warmer and warmer as he rubbed until they were almost hot. His Uncle Sid then told him to go home and tomorrow the warts would be gone. The next day, the warts were gone.

I have never heard Sid called Leprechaun in my family but I was told that was his nickname. Maybe he had other powers, too.

 When my mother had a bad feeling about something, we knew not to even try to change her mind. What if she had the same kind of powers that her Dad had? She probably saved us several times by not letting us go somewhere that bad things were going to happen. To this day, I watch for a white car crossing Hwy 180 between Weatherford and Mineral Wells that she predicted would cross in front of us causing a wreck.