JAMES HAUGHT RECALLS SPANISH FLU EDIDEMIC OF 1918

(02/11/2026)

By James Haught In 1947 my family was considering moving back to Calhoun County. My parents were looking for a place to live. There was a house and farm for sale just south of Minnora. Across the West Fork there was a cemetery. My mother (Gwendolyn Hoskins Haught) said. Jim, lets go over there. We crossed the bridge and went up on a little knoll. We went over to some tombstones. Here were the graves of five children. I believe their names were Knotts. Mom said. these five children all died of the Spanish Flu in 1918. My mother, her mother and two sisters all had the Spanish Flu. My Grand Father, James Hoskins, did not. He took care of the family. Mom said, our skin turned blue and your lungs filled with liquid. Dad was not a very good cook. We ate lots of corn flakes and batter bread. He would fry us some eggs and ham. Doctors came by but they could do very little. The only medicine was Asprin. Our neighbor, Homer McKey, would come by each day. He would look in the window and ask Dad if anyone had died. Before he left he would leave a pile of fire wood on the porch. All of my family survived the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 but a great many people around Arnoldsburg did not. My mom said nearly everyone wore a "Asafoedida" bag tied by string around their necks. It smelled to the high heavens and was suppose to keep the flu germ away. She said that it did keep people at a distance.

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