Browse:"CHANNEL DE WORLD" (Volume 5, entries 10604–13458)/Part 13
"CHANNEL DE WORLD"
Volume 5, entries 10604–13458. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
1 listed entry is unavailable here.
Entries
Entry 11564
Yo' write chure name in it 'cordin' to whut chew want done. (In this foot track. AND TALK LOUDER.) Yo' write chure name in de foot track an' stop it up. Put in a snuffbox an' stop it up an' go throw it in a run- nin' stream of water. An' it's 'cordin' to whut chew wanta do, run 'em off or...
(Yes, what will that do, if you do that?)
That will run 'em off.
(Well, what do you write this name on?)
On the track.
(How do you write it on there?)
Write chure name on dere...
(With what?)
Lak ah'm goin' write mah name, ah start wit a "D"...
(I mean do you write it with pen and ink? Or do you write it with a stick?)
No sir, write it wit yore finger. (If you want to send me away, you write my name in my foot track, take it up and throw it in running water to send me away. I want you to give me all those details. I cannot read your mind!)
Entry 11565
Put new needles and new pins in foot track with sulphur, red pepper and bluestone; throw into running water - "keep you walkin'!" [Richmond 302:7.]
Entry 11566
Pick up man's left foot track towards you, put in white sock, pour on 9 drops of perfume, bury at his [her?] door. [Wilmington 163:6.]
Entry 11567
"They take this dirt out of 9 of your tracks, and take it and tie it up in a little piece of cloth, and keep it fer 9 days. And they kin carry it and throw it in a river: if it swims upstream, why you go crazy; and if it float down de stream, why, you know, it won't harm you much." [Wilmington 91:1+85.]
Entry 11568
Pick up 9 gravels [grains of sand or larger pieces of stone from foot track and throw into running water to run person away. [Richmond 304:1.]
Entry 11569
"Take 9 pinches of it [dirt] out de middle you foot [track] an' a make a woosh [wish] an' pu-tit [put it] in a train, and 9 days af' dat, dat customer [victim] will be leavin' this town." [Richmond 365:4.]
Entry 11570
Either 9 spoonfuls of dirt from going track in paper thrown into run- ning water, runs you away; or the same amount of dirt from coming track buried at house brings person close to you. [Washington, D. C., 812:3.]
Entry 11571
"I'll tell you w'at they tell me. They kin git a-hold your foot track [the left one] and git choo nine grains of salt and put nine drops spirits tur- pentine and put it under your doorstep. [This is my original pencil transcrip- tion made soon after rite was collected. What happens I forgot to add; surely nothing pleasant.] [Wilmington 215:4+85.]
Entry 11572
"If you don't want anybody to come to your house...get their track, take it up in a paper, put it with some sulphur, some salt, burn it in a pan, and take the ashes and throw it northward and say: Don't come no more." [Fred- ericksburg by Ediphone.]
Entry 11573
"He'd put cayenne pepper in his [an unwelcome visitor's] tracks and he won't come back there no more." [Richmond 391:4.]
Cayenne pepper is explicit. The visitor identification is editorial; no actual placement or achieved nonreturn is established.
Entry 11574
"Take a man's track and turn it just the other way, opposite to the Way it was going when you picked it up [by shovel, shingle, etc.], and regard- less of where he's going, he'll turn around and go on away from dat place [back the way he came]." [Norfolk 479:2.]
Entry 11575
"If a person come to your house and you don't want 'em there, jis' like when dey came up de steps - like dis way [demonstrates], w'ere de track, de left track - well w'en they're leavin', you kin take a shovel an' lift that track up and turn it back round, and they won't come back." Wilmington 171:8+ 85.]
Entry 11576
"Take my wife for example: if I don't want her to go away from home, I would get a shingle and follow behind her and run this shingle right under her foot track and turn it back towards home." [Mt. Vernon, Md., by hand.]
Entry 11577
Woman took husband's foot track to root doctor who dressed it. Then she took it home and buried it under the door. [Wilmington 83:5+85.]
Entry 11578
Sometimes a person will get your footprint and carry it to a root doctor and have it fixed. [Wilmington 155:4+85.]
Entry 11579
Get a person's foot tracks and cause 'em to wander away, and that they don't want nothing atall.
(Well, what would they do with that track?)
They take about nine pinches of it from your right foot and that causes you to gettin' worried, you wanta go. And in nine days, if somebody don't do somepin fer you, you'll just wander - you ain't satisifed no place you go.
(After they get the dirt out of the track, what do they do with that?)
Well, you see when you [they] get those nine pinches of dirt out of the track, they take it and they sew it up in a bag. Well, the person, you know, don't care for you, they'll wear that with them. Well, you can't get it, but if someone gets ahead of you [some- one tries to get it for you], like you go to some witchcraft person [who] is ahead of you, they [culprit] can avoid [him] by throwing it in running water.
Entry 11580
A lady [doctor came here and] rub his feet...she said somebody had got his tracks. And she come here and ketch him and [had him] take and make a track out in de door. And she'd taken de track up and taken de track and put it in a bag. She put de track in a bag and carried it to a old log in de woods and buried it under dere. He got well from dat.
(But who got this track under the log, the woman that was curing him?)
De lady dat was doctorin' him, and she was named Minnie Begrun, de same lady dat cured myself.
(That's all she did to cure him.)
Entry 11581
Take up a person's track and put it in a hole at your home, and put roots on it. Put a note with it. You can say: "make person lose mind, die, et etc." Right track. [Wilmington 151:1.]
Entry 11582
Why dey'll jest chip off a piece from de toes or de heels [foot track from informant's preceding rite] dere. An' dere's somepin dat dey has dey put it in [it in, a cloth] and dey sews hit up tight wit a brass pin. An' dat sup- posed - an' dey jest put dat anywheres in de house, or buries it underneath de steps. An' if dere is anybody around dat dey don't keer much about, why yo' won't go back to dat house no more.
Entry 11583
Mix foot track with salt and pepper, throw into running water over left shoulder, don't look back; separates you from some person, the evil doer doesn't want you to be with. [Norfolk 493:11.]
Salt is explicitly named in the instruction; its directions and separation claim remain source content rather than verified acts or effects.
Entry 11584
They kin pick up yore track and throw it behin' yore back once, and that'll "loosen every teeth" in yore mouth. [Charleston 641:3.]
Entry 11585
Take foot track from toe back to heel, put in bottle - carry to river - throw over left shoulder - they'll go. [Memphis 1568:4.]
Entry 11586
Pick up dirt from right-foot track, put graveyard dirt with it, go to a river, then throw dirt back over shoulder into river, saying Go. "That'll put choo in the road, start choo to goin'." [Memphis 1560:5.]
Entry 11587
Sift foot track into running water to send away. [Vicksburg 1067:2.]
The printed instruction names running water as the destination for a sifted foot track and states only 'to send away'.
Entry 11588
Wear a dime [silver] or a copy [copper?] either around yore waist or around de laig to prevent anybody from tricking 'em: taking up dere tracks or putting down somepin or burying somepin under dere.
Entry 11589
His foot track in his dirty sock, into running water, he'll leave.
[Vicksburg 1031:4.]
The source prints this as a short instruction. Its opening notes assign unbracketed text to informants; a verbatim recording is not established.
Entry 11590
Ah hear'd of 'em pickin' up de tracks, zhoo know, way [where] people galks along. An' dey jis' take up de san' [from the heel of both tracks, right and left] in de han', zhoo know, an' take a piece of chewin' gum, jis' lak yo' git out de sto', an' chew it. An' take dat an' wrap it all up togethah, yo' know, an' go to a tree an' bo' a hole in de tree, an' put it in dere, an' close dat tree up. An' de nex' day dis person will be gone, dead and buried.
Entry 11591
I heerd [heard] in dis mannah [manner] way. Dey say let 'em Walk outside de dōah damp weathah in spring, dat w'en sap arisin', see. An' aftah dey walk two step, go in de left-foot track, aftah dey make de third step, an' git dat piece of mud out it. An' go to a peach tree w'ich jes' begin to have sap in it. An' mix it up togethah wit de strengk [strength] of dat. Dey tie it [dirt] up in a sock an' keep it till Friday. Dis is a bad unluck day. An' den dey walk t'ree [three] steps from dere doah an' care [carry] it to a wondrin [wandering] stream [throw it in] an' [as] it goes up or down. Dey say it'll make him go away.
(What did you get from this peach tree and put with that dirt?)
They put High John de Conkah an' de devil shoestring wit it.
(Do they get anything from this tree?)
Yes sir, dey git de leaves, de peach-tree leaves; dat's de sap in dat leaf, see. An' w'en dey git dey foot step wit de sock - wit de strengk of de sock - so dey say dey got de sap rising. See! An' dey conkah him by his feet.
Entry 11592
"Take up your track and bury it in THREE CORNERS OF THE WORLD: north, east and south, not west - that will give you a walking spirit. [After ques- tioning informant said left track. Much more frequent is four corners of the world [not concerned with foot tracks] from Revelation of John 7:1.] [Vicksburg 1000:14.]
Entry 11593
Pick up 3 right foot tracks, 9 grains of red pepper put in these tracks [3 in each track], pray with it [the rite] each morning for 9 mornings, stop up everything in a bottle, but first bore a hole through the cork, tamp it in there, throw into running water, and victim follows. [Memphis 1550:7.]
The compressed account specifies three right-foot tracks; its stated following effect remains an attributed claim.
Entry 11594
Three right foot tracks as person leaves home, draw dirt back from toe to heel, bottle it, and throw into river to send away. [Memphis 1562:5.]
Entry 11595
Take 3 pinches of foot track - one from the heel, one from the mid- dle, one from the toe - throw into water running east to send away. [Norfolk 451:1.]
Entry 11596
'"Some throw it [foot track] ovah a train if dey want choo tuh leave town...de train pull out, you jes' throw it in de direction of de train."
[Hobile 895:2.]
The account first says 'ovah a train' and then describes throwing in the train's direction as it pulls out; the thing's foot-track identification is bracketed.
Entry 11597
If you drop person's foot track in bag, throw it on a train leaving toun, he sill follow the train. [Wilmington 72:5+85.]
Entry 11598
"Put it [foot track] with some graveyard dirt and if you want the person to go, jis' as the train go out of town you throwed [this mixture] at the train an' hit the train good." [Wilmington 231:2+85.]
Entry 11599
A person's left foot track placed in the grease box of a railroad engine sends him away. [Wilmington 65:3+85.]
Entry 11600
Keep a pod of red pepper in the toe of each shoe if someone is trying to harm you. Or take enemy's footprint or footstep and tie up in red flannel with cayenne pepper. Or bury footprint under your doorsteps and that will keep them away.
Entry 11601
To make peace in the house, tie up some of the person's foot track in a piece of flannel and wear. [Charleston 549:1.]
Entry 11602
Enemy's foot track tied up in cloth and put over door to make them [him or her] stay away from house [it is unhealthy or dangerous to walk under anything belonging to you], or throw into running water to run 'em crazy.
[Wilmington 76:2.]
Entry 11603
Carry person's right foot track tied in handkerchief. [Wilmington 144:2.]
Entry 11604
Well, now, if you wanta, anything like that; who it on, you or who? I says who is de spell on, you or who de spell is on [because] den I have to work on you to take it off you. (Well, how would you take that spell off?) Well, how you would take it off, you go to work, you'll git de person track; de track you understand, foot track. You'll take up nine steps of de right foot - de track fer nine steps of de right foot. Den you go to work and den you put dat in a bottle. Cork dat up and you bury dat to the foot of your steps. And dat person dat - as I say, try to do anything to you - he is coming to you and you'll know 'zactly who he is. He'll come to you, see. He'll come to you, understand, and then if you want any - to turn this thing back to him, you, all you gotta do, you see, you turn de bottle upside down and bury it. Turn the mouth down and turn the bottom up...
[Here I turned off machine but restarted it to record informant's words.]
(That turns the spell back on him?)
That will t'row it back to him.... (I see. Well, now whose tracks do you get? Do you take your own tracks or take this man's tracks?) Take up dis man's track.
(The man who is trying to harm you.)
Entry 11605
"Dey take dat foot track and put it in a piece of clot' and sew it P and take it to a rivah an' t'row it overboard...you'll mostly have to follow dat foot track. You go ovahboard and drown." [Charleston 574:3.]
Entry 11606
To throw foot track into running water gives you a "traveling mnd."
[Wilmington 96:1+85.]
Entry 11607
Right foot track in sack, tie in running water, you'll go crazy.
[Wilmington 213:3+85.]
Entry 11608
Throw foot track into running water to send away; sometimes wrapped in paper, sometimes put in bottle, sometimes thrown over left shoulder. [4 separate beliefs from Fredericksburg by Ediphone.]
Entry 11609
Foot track, inner sole [hollow of foot] in running water moves you.
[Said left foot after my question which? Vicksburg 981:2.]
Entry 11610
Foot track into a sack into running water, keeps you drifting.
[Vicksburg 1037:6.]
Entry 11611
Foot track [left upon questioning] into running water nms victim crazy. [Vicksburg 1012:8.]
The short account ends with 'crazy'; its linking form 'nms' remains unclear and unrepaired.
Entry 11612
Stop foot tracks up in bottle, throw overboard; if you don't drown yourself, you sure will leave home. [Charleston 623:2.]
Entry 11613
Sew up [left?] foot track in bag, throw overboard, runs you from town.
[Norfolk 492:7.]
Entry 11614
To throw right foot track in running water runs you crazy [had to ask which track]. [Richmond 323:1.]
Entry 11615
An' yo' kin take de foot track an' take it up an' carry it an' throw it into runnin' water an' dey'll run - dey'll go. [Sumter 2413:6a.]
The informant describes carrying a taken-up foot track before throwing it into running water; the later running/going effect remains a claim.
Entry 11616
A man is brought back by the woman wearing his foot track and hair, or a piece of his clothing, next to her skin. [Petersburg 422:4.]
Entry 11617
To bring a man back, a woman puts his left foot track in a paper bag and wears it on her bosom. [Wilmington 197:3.]
Entry 11618
Wear right foot track around waist. [Wilmington 264:1.]
The short item names a right-foot track worn around the waist; it supplies no aim or result.
Entry 11619
Measure person's foot track and carry in pocket. [Fredericksburg by Ediphone.]
Entry 11620
Put in bag 9 right foot tracks of man, add brimstone, wear around Waist. [Wilmington 115:4.]
Entry 11621
Sew up right foot track with gunpowder and wear bag on your right side. [Wilmington 271:5+85.]
Entry 11622
Measure man's foot track with handkerchief and wear in bag around waist. [Newport News 502:8.]
Entry 11623
SPECIAL NOTE: Since I thought it logical as well as convenient to let the preceding foot track rites follow fingernail and toenail rites, we must now return to normal alphabetical order with the fireplace and then the fish rites. Yo' kin take on a Friday an' take yore ashes out - out de fireplace on a Friday - but don't carry 'em out [of the house]. Let 'em sit dere, dat's good luck fo' yo'. If yo' carry 'em out it jes' bring bad luck.
After an editorial note about book order, the account distinguishes taking ashes from the fireplace from carrying them out; the house clarification is bracketed.
Entry 11624
Jis' like if yo' - like if you are separated from your wife and the man is always getting in trouble about it, you catches a live fish and you write his name on it. And cut that fish open while him alive and sew him up with that name in it, and throw it in the pond where you catch him from. The more the fish go, the more they going.
(What do you do that for, now? If I'm separated from my wife and she's what?)
And uh - you and your wife - this man is always keeping your wife on distur- ban', in confusion all the time, and always with him. Write his name and catch that live fish and cut him open and sew him back up with that name inside of him and turn him loose.
(This other man - that will send the other man far away from your wife?)
Yes, it will run him away.
(When the other man's running after your wife.)
Entry 11625
Just like if [you wants to make drift].
(Make them drift, you said?)
Yes, anybody you wants to make drift. Well, you catches a live fish, or any kind of fresh fish, and you take that fish and you split that fish half in two. Then you take a ink [pen], pin but let it be red ink. You write that name down in that fish and you take that fish.... (Wait! What do you write it on? On a piece of paper or on the flesh?) On the flesh of the fish. (All right.) Then you take that fish and throw that fish back. You use the three words: Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, and throw it in any running water. They'll be driftin, couldn't stay nowhere. Everywhere they go they're not satisfied.
Entry 11626
Like if I want a person to go on a drift and don't stay anywheres they go. Well, I ketch me a fresh fish and I cut him open. And after I cut him open, I take the full name and I write it upon this Venrick parchment and I puts it in that fish [a parchment-like paper made by or called Venrick (this may not be the exact name) and sold by a hoodoo shop]. And after I put it in this fish, I get some moving oil and I drap three drops on there. [And I goes to the river afterward.] And I sew the fish back up - put cayenne pepper in it and I sews it back up. And I goes to any - where it's a running stream, you see, and I throws it out in there and I speaks, I say, "As this fish go, I want you to do the same."
Entry 11627
Well, you can take a fish and make a person drift from one place to another, never will stay nowhere or know where they going. You take this fish and you cut him open, and you takes their name and you put it up in there, and you pours moving oil and cayenne pepper and vinegar in there, and sews this fish back up. And you go to any running stream of water and you throws it in there, and you use the three god- heads, which I mean are: 'God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: I wish as this fish float, I want you to drift the same way."
Entry 11628
Like someone you want to drift away, you write the name three times; ooman or man, three times. You go to running water, fresh water, and you ketch you a scale fish. (What kind?) A scale fish, any kind of fish that's got scales on it - a small fish. All right, you write her name down three times and you take that blood from that fish and you dot each one; you understand, dot them periods. You go to running water and turn your back on it and throw it away. Turn your back, don't look back at it - but turn your back until you get so many paces off from it and go. All right, they commence to drifting - you understand - they don't know. Just like you want 'em out of your way, you understand. They commence to drifting. (Now, look. You only put three drops - you put a drop on each one of these names - from the fish.) Yes, you know, just drop like that period; just like you writing a line, you know, you put a period on each one of them. Well, you dot a period.
(You dot each name with one drop of fish blood.)
Yes.
(Well, what do you do with the fish then?)
The fish? All right I fixin' to tell you. When you get through with that, you take that fish and stick that paper, that name in there and go to running water and throw it, and turn.your back. When you throw it, don't throw it with your face toward the water. Always when you walk there - if you [came] in your car or whatever you in, on the bridge, over the running water - you throw it backwards.
Entry 11629
You take this feesh, you split it open just like you gonna gut it. You open that feesh and then you take that feesh and you puts the man's name in there and you fix it. Put it...
(Wait a minute! Don't leave anything out. What about his name now?)
You take his name...
(Yes?)
And you put his name in de feesh...
(Wait a minute! What about his name?)
[I must have turned off machine accidentally because I repeat what informant says.]
(Ah, nine times. All right now. All right.)
Yes,1 nine times you puts the name in - on a piece of paper into the feesh.
(All right.)
You takes the feesh and you covers this feesh back up whole again. You takes the feesh and you takes a string - a piece of thread No.8 black - and you just tie it all over on that until you gets it together tight. Then you take the full length of the feesh and you put it in the ground just like it is. And then in the ninth day, if you see this party, he'll give you the tale about it, how he would be on the wandering on the drag. He'll never be able to make no kind of any way - no successful at all - with dat feesh.
Entry 11630
(What do you do with that red fish?)
Well, that's all I know, is a red fish.
(You mean he's colored red?)
He's colored red, that's his natural color, a red fish.
(And what do you do with that red fish now?)
After she get that name and that?
(Well, tell me the whole thing about it, the whole thing.)
She takes the red fish and puts your name in it wrote nine times. That's when she wants you to drag. And she throw that fish into this bayou or river, or lake, or wherever she want to throw it at, and you supposed to drift wherever that fish drift. See, this fish is dead. (Oh, you put that name into a fish that's dead?) Whilst he's dead. And then she throw it back into the water again. Now, he's going to drift and drift. Now, you - you never...
(Do you catch that fish or buy it or what?)
You kin buy 'em out in the market.
(I see.)
Entry 11631
If someone writes my name on paper, sprinkles gunpowder over it, folds and puts in catfish mouth, then throws overboard: "Ah'll run mah life out; ah won't live at home at all." [Mobile 881:3.]
Entry 11632
If someone ties a strand of your hair round the neck of a live catfish and turns it loose, "you'll be a downded man." [Wilmington 229:2+85.]
Entry 11633
They do this plenty of 'em if they want to start you to traveling, you know, something like that. Well, they take a strand of hair out your head or if they can't git it they git somebody what close friend to you to get it, you un- derstand if they can't get it themselves. A strand of hair from you, regardless of where it come from. Get something like a fish, you know and they'll thread it into his gills, like that, you understand. Leave the thread stay in there and throw that fish back into the water. Just like that fish go, you'll go, and the death of that fish will be the death of you.
Entry 11634
"A woman was poisoned [magically]. It was a fish under there, you know, up like a [hog] bladder. [Informant says blister looks like a bladder.] You could see it [the small fish] in the water of the bladder. A small fish was in a large blister on this woman's leg. And the root doctor took his knife and cut it [blister] and then he took it [fish] out." [Wilmington, S. Car., (2lO from near Pinewood, S. Car.) 116:5+85.]
Entry 11635
Pound up a fish head, dry to powder, mix with salt, give in whiskey to a person; creates a live fish in him. [Washington, D. C., 625:5.]
Entry 11636
Live fish blood in you creates a live fish in you. [This blood of course should be as fresh as possible and uncooked. A person's whiskey is prob- ably the best Way to administer it. Charleston 616:11.]
Entry 11637
Well, dey [some said] use fishheads fo' quick thinkin' an' dey [others] said dey use dat fo' brain food.
Entry 11638
It's a bone in a fish called a lucky bone...right up against de back part of a fish's haid... It's made something lak dat [demonstrates]. It's made in a "v" lak... (Like a fork?) Yeah. [This "v" shape is merely another attempt, as with the frog and black cat, to find a chicken wishbone elsewhere; a matter I have discussed several times in the preceding text.]
Entry 11639
You take the fish, you take the front part of his mouth and let it dry - dry good, perfect. And then maybe when yo're [yo'll?] be goin', it will come apt to be some kind of a rain, or somepin other like that. Then if you kin get [it] into the water where the woman drinks, uhen you [she] will come to love you too. The front part of his mouth, you know, iis' take the front part, that ring around his mouth. [Probably demonstrates by ruing a finger around the mouth.]
(Part of the upper and lower jaw there.)
Yea, that whole thing - jis' like that. And take it out, and then you let that dry. You put that away and let that dry. Then [put it into] the water that a woman drinks. Then you make wishes over that, you understand. Or any- thing that she drinks or eats, why then you use that fish mouth over that. Then she will come to love, too.
Entry 11640
Well, it's a powder dey makes. Yo' buy some of it outa de drug store - love powder. Dey call it love powder. An' den yo' git so much of dis same Hearts Cologne an' yo' gits three fishhooks. An' yo' put it together an' yo' rub it - rub it right close to dat powder until settle. After yo' put dat Hearts Cologne in dere, it sit an' it git dry. An' dey put it together an' den yo' sprinkle it. An' if yo' want de person to love yo', [he'll love you]; if yo' want 'im to hate chew, he'll hate chew.
Entry 11641
( Git chew some Red Devil lye, a[ [new] box, an' put a box of dat lye to each one of yore do'steps, an' bury it about dat deep [demonstrates] to each one of yore do'step. An' if yo' don't use de lye, den yo' kin git chew salt fish an' dey can't cross dat.
(That will keep the law away?)
Keep de law away from you.
Entry 11642
Now mah sister, she gambled - she used tuh gamble. She don' gamble no mo'.... But fo' luck fo' gamblin', tuh eat herrin's or sardines, dat'll give 'em [luck]. (Luck for gambling?) Yes.
Entry 11643
It all depends upon what kind of fits they have. (What for example?) Well, if they have what you call epidetic [epi- leptic] fits, of course, you have to take them to the doctor [M.D.] for that. But I tell you what I do know. Like I have a young baby and a woman come in my house be real sick and she hold my baby, she will give my baby what you call a string and he'll begin like that [demonstrates] to draw up, you know, like he Want - his bowels Wan'a move. Now, I'll go back to her and get a piece of her underclothing and tie it around my baby's wrist like that, and he will be all right.