There is, or was, a “mud volcano” in central Georgia, a place known to the indigenous Creek Indians as “Nodoroc”. Basically their concept of Hell. They would allegedly execute criminals and prisoners of war there and dump the bodies into the volcano. Today the volcano—which was powered not by molten lava but by decomposing organic matter and which had its big “eruption” some time ago, is *mostly* dormant. From the linked article: “Mr. John Gossett lived nearest the mudhole, as it was called. He cleared a large field that almost surrounded Nodoroc. One morning when he and his good wife were in the field they noticed an unsual amount of fog hanging over the swamp. As the sun rose higher in the heavens they noticed that it did not dispel the supposed mist. But on the other hand the “fog” grew denser, until about 9’oclock Mrs. Gossett saw a great volume of smoke burst forth from the swamp. She called her husband, who was plowing, to look. Both heard a loud rumbling noise, somewhat like that of distant thunder…. All at once the whole surface of the mud hole seemed to rise up into the air…. It appeared to rise so high and the air was so full of the small particles that it darkened the sun for a few moments. Then came the hot stuff back to the earth, falling all around Gossett and his wife…”
The Indians believed the Devil rose up out of Nodoroc on occasion to prowl the countryside. They called the Devil the “Wog”.
Now if you’re wondering why a culture that had yet to encounter Christianity would have stories featuring the Judeo-Christian Devil and the Christian concept of “Hell”, good for you. They of course would not have believed in those things. But it seems that Nodoroc *was* seen by them as an unholy place, a place to avoid, and they *did* believe in an entity called the Wog that emerged from Nodoroc or haunted the countryside thereabouts.
Methinks it’s time to hit the road to visit this place.
I can show u the wog