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Glenwood is not without her mighty ones.
— Avalanche Echo, March 14, 1901
William Hood's mother was overcome with grief and uncertainty. In the evening of Jan. 8, 1901, her son, and a fellow miner, William Steiner, had been working in a New Castle coal mine owned by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. A buildup of dust, combined with the shots set off by the miners, created an explosion that essentially sealed the mine.
It took a rescue crew 11 days to reach Steiner's body. However, dangerous conditions prevented the continued search for Hood.
Mrs. Hood knew her 25-year-old son was dead. But the prolonged waiting only increased her anxiety. She needed answers. For those answers she turned to a trusted source. That source was an African-American woman named Ella Ellis.
Born in Louisiana, Ella Ellis was described as a fortune teller and soothsayer. But this 40-year-old woman's talents ran deeper. As a Christian woman, she was a devout member of Glenwood Springs' African Methodist-Episcopal Church at 1112 Blake St. However, from accounts, she may also have been a hoodoo practitioner. Through hoodoo, she blended several religious philosophies — European, Jewish and African-American — with Native American herbal medicine practices, creating remedies designed to alleviate physical and emotional suffering. Additionally, she was a master of interpreting events, foretelling the future, and acting as a medium between the living and the dead.
With the discovery of Steiner's body, Mrs. Hood visited Ellis to her Palmer Avenue home. As a woman who had an interest in spiritualism, and especially the spiritualistic belief that the living could communicate with the dead through séances, Mrs. Hood probably felt that Ellis would provide the answers to her nagging questions.
It is not known if Mrs. Hood provided any of her son's personal effects to Ellis to aid her in conjuring a vision. But, after listening intently, Ellis said, “Mrs. Hood, they will find the body of your boy sooner than you think. I see him lying on his back close beside something that looks like a large black log, with some green thing hanging above his head.”
The rescue crew resumed their search some days later. Digging a short distance they discovered the body of William Hood. As seen by Ellis, lying beside him was a large iron pipe, and hanging over head was an airshaft.
That same year Ellis saw a man who had traveled to Glenwood Springs seeking relief from rheumatism. No doctor or treatment at the famed Hot Springs seemed to help. Reportedly, Ellis successfully treated him by unknown methods. The unnamed man “could not speak in terms sufficiently strong in recommendation of the colored woman.”
Undoubtedly, Ellis possessed a magical gift. Through her confidence and the convictions of her faith and her practices, she provided solutions and opportunities that empowered those seeking her wisdom to heal themselves and to follow paths toward emotional and spiritual peace. Even upon her death in 1915, she was considered one of Glenwood Springs' mighty ones.
Willa Kane is former archivist of and a current volunteer with the Frontier Historical Society and Museum. “Frontier Diary,” which appears the first Tuesday of every month, is provided to the Post Independent by the museum, 1001 Colorado Ave., Glenwood Springs. Winter hours are 1-4 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For more information, call 945-4448.
— Avalanche Echo, March 14, 1901
William Hood's mother was overcome with grief and uncertainty. In the evening of Jan. 8, 1901, her son, and a fellow miner, William Steiner, had been working in a New Castle coal mine owned by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. A buildup of dust, combined with the shots set off by the miners, created an explosion that essentially sealed the mine.
It took a rescue crew 11 days to reach Steiner's body. However, dangerous conditions prevented the continued search for Hood.
Mrs. Hood knew her 25-year-old son was dead. But the prolonged waiting only increased her anxiety. She needed answers. For those answers she turned to a trusted source. That source was an African-American woman named Ella Ellis.
Born in Louisiana, Ella Ellis was described as a fortune teller and soothsayer. But this 40-year-old woman's talents ran deeper. As a Christian woman, she was a devout member of Glenwood Springs' African Methodist-Episcopal Church at 1112 Blake St. However, from accounts, she may also have been a hoodoo practitioner. Through hoodoo, she blended several religious philosophies — European, Jewish and African-American — with Native American herbal medicine practices, creating remedies designed to alleviate physical and emotional suffering. Additionally, she was a master of interpreting events, foretelling the future, and acting as a medium between the living and the dead.
With the discovery of Steiner's body, Mrs. Hood visited Ellis to her Palmer Avenue home. As a woman who had an interest in spiritualism, and especially the spiritualistic belief that the living could communicate with the dead through séances, Mrs. Hood probably felt that Ellis would provide the answers to her nagging questions.
It is not known if Mrs. Hood provided any of her son's personal effects to Ellis to aid her in conjuring a vision. But, after listening intently, Ellis said, “Mrs. Hood, they will find the body of your boy sooner than you think. I see him lying on his back close beside something that looks like a large black log, with some green thing hanging above his head.”
The rescue crew resumed their search some days later. Digging a short distance they discovered the body of William Hood. As seen by Ellis, lying beside him was a large iron pipe, and hanging over head was an airshaft.
That same year Ellis saw a man who had traveled to Glenwood Springs seeking relief from rheumatism. No doctor or treatment at the famed Hot Springs seemed to help. Reportedly, Ellis successfully treated him by unknown methods. The unnamed man “could not speak in terms sufficiently strong in recommendation of the colored woman.”
Undoubtedly, Ellis possessed a magical gift. Through her confidence and the convictions of her faith and her practices, she provided solutions and opportunities that empowered those seeking her wisdom to heal themselves and to follow paths toward emotional and spiritual peace. Even upon her death in 1915, she was considered one of Glenwood Springs' mighty ones.
Willa Kane is former archivist of and a current volunteer with the Frontier Historical Society and Museum. “Frontier Diary,” which appears the first Tuesday of every month, is provided to the Post Independent by the museum, 1001 Colorado Ave., Glenwood Springs. Winter hours are 1-4 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For more information, call 945-4448.
