Dixie Haygood

Dixie Haygood (left) performing a trick in which three men appear to be trying to force a billiards cue to the floor while she prevents them from succeeding.

Dixie Annie Haygood (née Jarrett; 1861 – November 21, 1915) aka Annie Abbott, from Milledgeville, Georgia[1] was an American stage magician.

After witnessing Lulu Hurst performing as the "Georgia Wonder" in 1884, Dixie Haygood developed her own version of the "human magnet" act, under the stage name "Annie Abbott", the Georgia Magnet. Her act, like Hurst's, involved her displacing objects held securely by one or more strong men, and was also a huge success. Because Haygood was a small, slender woman (as opposed to Hurst who even at fifteen was large and physically imposing), her performances were regarded as even more miraculous. She was particularly noted for the "lift test", in which she easily resisted the efforts of several large men to lift her 100-pound (43.4-kg) frame from the ground. In 1886, her husband, whom she married when she was 17 years old, Charles N. Haygood, a deputy marshal, was shot and killed during an argument, leaving her the sole earner for their three children.[2]

Haygood was an inventive self-promoter, going so far as to claim that her "powers" caused her terrible headaches and advertising in newspapers for a cure. Despite numerous media outlets reporting on the physical tricks that made her act possible (especially the "lift test"), her popularity was undiminished. She herself never commented on the source of her abilities.[2]

In the 1890s Haygood was invited to perform in London, and her successful six-week run there led to a two-year European tour.[3] During this period she performed for numerous heads of state, including Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria-Hungary, and Tsar Alexander III of the Russian Empire.[2]

Haygood died in Macon, Georgia on November 21, 1915, and was interred in Memory Hill Cemetery, Milledgeville, Georgia.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Annie Abbott "The Little Georgia Magnet" and the True Story of Dixie Haygood,Authored by Susan J. Harrington Ph.D., Hugh T. Harrington Retrieved 2014-11-05.
  2. 1 2 3 Harrington, H. Remembering Milledgeville: historic tales from Georgia's antebellum capital. The History Press, 2005
  3. ↑ New Georgia Encyclopedia: "The 'Georgia Wonder' phenomenon". Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  4. ↑ Find-A-Grave profile: Dixie Annie Jarratt Haygood

External links

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