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"[J]us’ as they was goin’ to bed, a big black bob-cat, black all over, you hear me, black, walked round and round that house and howled like forty…. The thing got Spunk so nervoused up he couldn’t shoot. But Spunk says twan’t no bob-cat nohow. He says it was Joe done sneaked back from Hell!"

Elijah tells this story to Walter and the loungers at the beginning of section three, to explain Spunk’s motives in suddenly moving Lena into his house and proposing to marry Lena. Bobcats are native to most of the United States, and the town of the story is surrounded by woods, making wildlife an ordinary part of people’s lives. However, the unusual color of this bobcat and its apparently threatening behavior towards Spunk convinces Elijah, the loungers, and Spunk himself that it is Joe’s spirit returned to earth. Their unquestioning belief in the animal’s spiritual identity shows Hurston’s theme throughout the story of the nearness of the spirit world. Spunk not only believes the bobcat is Joe but he also loses his nerve when facing it, suggesting that he fears Joe’s ghostly form more than he ever feared Joe in life. After Elijah shares this story, another man tells them about Spunk’s insistence that his close call with the saw blade was the result of someone pushing him. Since no one was nearby, the implication is that Joe’s ghost was responsible. These stories show the nearness of the spirit world to the living.

"Look, ‘Lige, you goin’ to set up wid Spunk?"

"Naw, Ah reckon not, Walter. Tell yuh the truth, Ah’m a li’l bit skittish. Spunk died too wicket—died cussin’ he did. You know he thought he wuz done outa life."

This conversation between Walter Thomas and Elijah Mosley takes place in the final section of the story, as the two walk to Lena’s house for Spunk’s wake. Elijah admits to Walter that although he is going to the wake, he will not be joining those who keep the traditional all-night vigil with the body. Elijah’s refusal shows his belief in the nearness of the spirit world, a theme throughout the story. He matter-of-factly tells Walter that he is frightened to sit with Spunk because Spunk was furious as he died, an indication that he believes in the possibility of Spunk’s spirit returning to the body and potentially causing harm to those nearby. Not only does Elijah believe this is possible, but he is also confident Walter will not second-guess his decision, showing that people in the story in general share a belief that spirits can return to earth. Spunk believed this to his dying breath, as he blamed Joe’s ghost for the accident that killed him. This scene demonstrates the widespread belief in the ability of ghosts to haunt the living. 

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