Case file · Folklore / legend
Dr. Buzzard and the High Sheriff
Stephaney Robinson, the root doctor known as Dr. Buzzard, worked on St. Helena Island near Beaufort, South Carolina, and was said to help young men dodge the World War II draft with potions.
1947 CE · 32.39, -80.55 · status: account
The account
Beaufort County's sheriff J. E. McTeer, himself reputed to work roots, clashed with him for years and later wrote 'Fifty Years as a Lowcountry Witch Doctor' (1976). Robinson died in 1947.
The sceptical view
Draft cases were explained by men taking substances that made them temporarily unfit, not by magic.