Unnamed Half-Crazed Woman
Character Key Number:
1845
Display Name:
Unnamed Half-Crazed Woman
Sort Name:
Unnamed Half-Crazed Woman
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?:
Yes
Biography:
This "old half-crazed white woman" in Sanctuary is one of Jefferson's most eccentric inhabitants (200). The physical description of her is equally striking: her "lank grayish hair" hangs beside "the glittering collapse of her face" (201). She is reported to make her living by "manufactur[ing] spells for negroes" (200), though her house was also once raided by "officers searching for whiskey" (201). Horace arranges for Ruby to stay in the "lean-to shed room" attached to her house. (This woman may recur as "Mrs. Downs" in Intruder in the Town; at the very least, the two women are essentially the same character.)