Customer Reviews

Oracle of the Ages: Reflections on the Curious Life of Fortune Teller Mayhayley Lancaster

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4 star:		(2)
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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.

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.

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.

Meyhaley Lancaster is truly the most weirdly interesting creatures to come along in the 20th century. what makes it more interesting, is that her nephew and i was very good friends .Joe Arrington was the son of Marvin and Mary Arrington ,born about 1927.There was nothing weird about joe but he said years after mehayles passing the locals kids were still finding coins under her cabin.

ORACLE OF THE AGES, REFLECTIONS ON THE CURIOUS LIFE OF FORTUNE TELLER MAYHAYLEY LANCASTER is a winner! The author, Dot Moore,
went to Savannah, Georgia in April of 2002 to receive the Hawes Award from the Georgia Historical Society. The Award is given each year for the "best book of local history" for the State of Georgia!
I understand that she researched this character and her background in Heard and surrounding Georgia rural counties for more than 20 years.
This book is easy to read. It is fun to read. I highly recommend
this book to anyone who enjoys stories about eccentric charachters and likes a good story.
ORACLE is in its THIRD printing, I hear.
Order it now!

I read Dot Moore's book purely on a whim, since Dot Moore is a local writer where I live. The only contact that I have ever head with Heard County, Georgia, is passing through on I-85 going to Atlanta. What I found were a hell of a lot of good stories. Whether they were true ot not seemed irrelevant, because they were told via hearsay and who-said-what. This woman seemed so enigmatic and even told lies about herself. For fans of hoodoo folklore and mysteries of the old South, this one is a good read. For folks looking for "just the facts," it might not be so good because no one, not even the people interviewed, seemed to be terribly sure what was and wasn't true about this woman, but that was the reason she is still talked about today.

"Oracle of the Ages" is a fascinating collection of tales about a mysterious lady from rural Georgia! The authors spin a web of spooky stories that should be told around the campfire on Halloween eve! Miss Mayhaley the fortune teller is strange, to say the least. And best of all, this is a true story! A must read for anyone interested in a real Southern woman - both psychic and eccentric ! Marjorie Jones, Birmingham,Alabama

I ordered "Oracle of the Ages: Reflections on the Curious Life of Fortune Teller, Mayhayley Lancaster" simply because I live in LaGrange, Georgia which is the next county over from Heard County where Mayhayley lived.

I remember as a child my mother and aunt talking about going to visit Mayhayley because my aunt had lost a ring and felt Mayhayley would tell her where it was. When they returned, my aunt immediately went to her house and to the place Mayhayley told her to look; the ring was there. I also remember them being somewhat repulsed by the appearance of her house and yard.

I'm not sure this would be of much interest to anyone not living in the South and familiar with eccentric people.

Mayhayley also appeared as a witness in a famous trial in Meriwether County. The trial of a man who had murdered one of his farm workers. Unbeknown to the convicted killer, Mayhayley played on both sides of the fence and helped convict him. This notoriety contributed to the legend that she became.

I enjoyed reading about details I had not known before but I would hesitate to recommend the book to anyone else for the reasons I have already stated.

The book was enjoyable, informable, and easy to read. It was very entertaining to read. John Rice

I think that the person who wrote the review from Sharpsbug,Georgia is an absolute priss. He had no right to insult my best friend Dot Moore.If the priss is reading this then
I'm telling him that he is a very impolite young man and I hope he learned a lesson from this. So priss, next time think before you say something in public. By the way I read the book myself and it's a mind boggling thriller.