By 1955, the woman who had once been feared as a returned dead person was picking cotton and had many friends.

The community had found a way to live with its miracle.

What We Can Say With Confidence

After working through the evidentiary record and the various layers of story and speculation, it is possible to separate what can be said with reasonable confidence from what remains uncertain or unverified.

What is documented and reasonably well-established:

Essie Dunbar was a real person who lived in the Blackville, South Carolina, area.

She was born around 1885.