Mayhayley Lancaster was many things through her interesting life: lawyer, schoolteacher, political activist, fortune teller, numbers runner, and self-proclaimed "oracle of the ages." In this new volume of creative nonfiction, the people who knew her reflect on her personality, her politics, and her passions, offering the reader a chance to delve fully into Mayhayley lore and legend. Oracle offers strange and often hilarious stories of the poor Georgia South in the post-Depression era, and how the eccentric Mayhayley's charisma and mysterious powers cast a spell on all the people who knew--and inevitably misunderstood--her.
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About the Author
Dot Moore has been working on this book for more than twenty years, spurred on by her own memories and encounters with the late Mayhayley Lancaster while she was growing up in Heard County, Georgia. She is a retired educator and Democratic Party activist, and lives in Montgomery. This is her first book
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stranger than Fiction,
By
This review is from: Oracle of the Ages: Reflections on the Curious Life of Fortune Teller Mayhayley Lancaster (Hardcover)
If you thought Southern Gothic was dead, forget it. Mayhayley Lancaster (1875-1955)of rural Heard County, Georgia, has got to be one of the weirdest people ever to walk the face of the earth. Despite being born missing an eye and poor as dirt, she strutted her stuff in high (if outlandish)fashion and died rich and notorious. Before it was over she had been a self-styled lawyer, schoolteacher, politician, fortune teller, psychic, and numbers runner. Her fame spread when her testimony in a sensational 1948 murder case led oficials to a body and sent the murderer to the electric chair. Author Dot Moore, herself a native of Heard County who as a child saw Mayhayley and heard some of the stories, has spent twenty years collecting information, examining the records, and interviewing people who knew the oracle of the ages." In straightforward prose, Moore combines fact and legend with invaluable collection of photgraphs to recreate a life that is almost too strange for words. The book is winning well-deserved prizes in history, for it is indeed the story of a time and a place as well as a life.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sharpsburg not too sharp.,
By Horace (Buffalo, Alabama) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Oracle of the Ages: Reflections on the Curious Life of Fortune Teller Mayhayley Lancaster (Hardcover)
Despite the whining of the disgruntled family member from Sharpsburg, Georgia -- Mayhayley Lancaster has been dead 50 years and some of her family members are still jealous of her! -- Dot Moore's book is fair and honest. I grew up in the area where Mayhayley lived and all the older members of my family knew her or knew of her, and they all think this is a great and wonderful book. More to the point, none of them have said anything about the book being wrong. I didn't know Lancaster myself, so I can only judge by the book. And the book is riveting. It brings to life a remarkable woman who lived in a fascinating time and place. Author Moore wisely recognized that much of Lancaster's life could never be documented and that there were conflicting stories about her. So she chose a range of people who knew Lancaster and let them share their varying views of her. It works very well, and the overall picture we get of this strange woman is probably as close to the truth as we're ever going to get. The story is well-written and gripping, both about Lancaster and her culture. The pictures are great, too.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mayhayley the Mysterious,
By Laura Hislop (San Rafael, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Oracle of the Ages: Reflections on the Curious Life of Fortune Teller Mayhayley Lancaster (Hardcover)
Dot Moore has made me think twice about the possiblilty of physic experiences being real. Her personal experience with the wonderfully wierd woman is what I believe motivated the author to gather stories of the legendary figure from true believers in Georgia. Even Mayhayley's relatives were in awe of her, along with the local policeman who seemed to tolerate her oddness and protected her from thief. "A dollar for me, and a dime for the dogs" was her fee, an excellent marketing tool for that extra coin, if you ask me. Her "future telling" proved to be right on the money. I totally enjoyed the country rythmn of speech that shone through the storytelling.
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