It’s True from Talbot County
As the story goes; the Burt family was a very prominent family in the Woodland area of Talbot County. Mildred Owen Burt was 37 when her husband passed away leaving her to care for their children alone. She still managed to send the children to school and to Europe, which was no small feat in her day (mid-1830’s). [Talbot County was created in 1827 by Georgia General Assembly from lands once part of Muscogee County.]
 Her daughter Isabella was said to be extremely introverted. After returning from Europe Isabella begin to suffer from insomnia and would take to roaming at night. She was said to have dark shaggy hair, small eyes with bushy brows and pointed teeth. Soon after there were reports of strange cry’s in the night; sheep and cattle were being found killed but not eaten; the body’s drained of their blood. Isabella seemed to take a great interest in the news of these killings.
One night her mother decided to follow Isabella on one of her nightly wanderings. Sarah, Isabella’s sister, also had decided to follow Isabella and now mom (Mildred) that same night. The farmers had also formed a posse to search and track that night for the werewolf killing their livestock. Mildred caught Isabella with a knife in her hand about to spring on an unsuspecting sheep. Mildred called out and Isabella turned on her in anger! Two shots rang out, Sarah fainted and Isabella was wounded in the left hand.
 The Doctor that attended Isabella told Sarah that Isabella’s hand had been shot by one of the men in the posse. The men stated that Isabella got caught in the middle of the werewolf they were tracking. Mildred too was carrying a pistol and suffered powder burns on her hand as the pistol had misfired when she stumbled and fell. Mildred recovered and Isabella was sent to Europe.
The family told the locals she was sent to visit relatives. In reality she was sent to a specialist who treats people with a psychological disease called Lycanthrope. This disease causes an emotionally disturbed person to believe they are or have become a werewolf. Isabella returned to Woodland after several months of treatment and lived the rest of her life there.
She died in 1911, at the age of 70 she is buried in the Owen and Holmes Cemetery in Woodland. By the way, Isabella is a cousin of Miss Emma Owen who was murdered by Dr. Ryder and they are buried in the same cemetery.
I will be writing on the Emma Owens Murder Next. Thanks Ron
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