Browse:ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS (Volume 5, entries 9441–10605)/Part 13
ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS
Volume 5, entries 9441–10605. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 10401
Man mixes snail slime, snuff and butter [3 ingredients]: rub on woman's vagina; any other man approaching it will fall [Petersburg, 417:8].
The vagina is explicitly named as the application region. The source-stated fall of another man remains unexplained and unverified.
Entry 10402
Man mixes snail and grease, rub it on his penis, has intercourse with the woman, any other man approaching that woman will fall [Richmond, 341:3].
The penis is explicitly named in the account; the described actions and the prediction that another man will fall are not established events or effects.
Entry 10403
Put snail slime on woman, any man entering will get stuck [Norfolk, 466:2].
Snail slime is explicit; the text names no body part and leaves entering and getting stuck unspecified. No actual application or result is established.
Entry 10404
Dry snail [in cloth], rub down 3 times over privates, bury; 'as long as that be down, you vill [be down] too"' [Mobile, 845:4].
The instruction explicitly names privates. Its 'down' wording and quotation marks remain unresolved, with bracketed explanations kept editorial and no verified effect.
Entry 10405
Rub snail on woman's vagina, 'dat'll tie her up' [if she has another man]. [Mobile 881:2.]
The vagina is explicitly named. The quoted tying-up claim and bracketed condition remain distinct source context, without a documented action or result.
Entry 10406
Rub snail over vagina; "next man will get stuck" [Vicksburg, 990:9].
The instruction explicitly names the vagina; the separate quoted prediction about the next man getting stuck remains unexplained and unverified.
Entry 10407
"Take a snail shell [not the snail] and rub it across her stomach just like when she asleep, and wrap it up into a rag and carry it in your left-hand pocket, and she'll never have a man until he come back [Vicksburg, 1059:3].
Entry 10408
Dry up a snail and mix this dust with fluid from bitch in heat - put on woman, man will stick to her [Norfolk, 516:7]. [Beliefs about The Hag and Witch in Hag Form will be found in the section so named, numbers 429-544, pages 135-164, volume 1. Similar beliefs are scattered through the complete or partial interviews, volume 2, etc. Theoretically a hag disturbs a sleeping person, rides him or her; an old-fashioned witch does not - yet see No., etc.]
Entry 10409
[The words witch and witchcraft are used many times in these volumes, words common down the Atlantic coast from Maryland through Florida. Here are several more to add to the long list: de man who do's de evil verk is called de Vitchcraft, and same informant adds, jis' lak if ah wan'a witch yuh now. [Wilmington, N. Car., 88:4+85.] Another informant says: huntin' fo' a job, go tuh a vitchcraft an' git a lucky "hand."
The editorial note reports wording about evil work. Its source forms remain literal; no person, universal term equivalence or actual effect is established.
Entry 10410
"'They tell me witches have those [a black cat lucky bone] wit 'em an yo' kin go right where yo' wan'a an' not be seen a heap of times." [Here we have hag, witch and owner of black cat lucky bone grouped together. There is not too much material telling us how a witch or hag changes shape or disappears.]
Entry 10411
Bible under head in bed [under pillow or mattress] keeps witch away.
[Wilmington, N. Car., (206), 113:8+85; also informant 31 at Hampton, Va.]
Bible under head of bed [on floor] keeps witch away. [Baltimore, Md., (near 142), 46:4+85.] Bible under bed and hang sifter overhead. [Deal Island, Md., (108), 16:3+85.] Bible and 3 pins to keep hag away. [Richmond, Va., (343), 287:2+85.] Bible under pillow and 3 stick pins [ordinary pins] underhead. The hag turned into a little piece of red meat, found next morning. Stop the meat up and the hag [unable to breathe] will come. [Richmond, Va., (343), 287:2+85.] Bible and stub of a broom [the straw part of a worn-out broom] at head of bed to keep hag away. [Wilmington, N. Car., (about 249), 161+85, diffuse story not worth copying.]
Entry 10412
Dey call yo' like when yo' sleepin'. An' dey has de bottle fixed an dey calls yo' an' soon as yo' answer, den dey put dat stopper in an' knock it down tight. Well, dat's supposed to be if a hag is ridin' dem an' dey think it's yo'. Well, dat's de way dey ketch chah. [For catching person's spirit in bottle, see Nos.38-41, P.24f., v.l; in the latter of these rites, performer substituting his own breath for victim's!]
Entry 10413
My mother told me once there was a woman, she had another woman. This lady took a bottle full of water. She [hag] came in that night. The lady put the stopper in the bottle and caught her in there, and she didn't live very long.
Entry 10414
Do somebody dat way - take a bottle an' put a green leaf in it.
(Any kind of a green leaf?)
Any kind of a green leaf. Call dis fellah an' he answer yo'. Stop it up, den yo' got his voice in dere. Take some runnin' water an' throw it in dere [throw the bottle into run- ning water], an' he'll be gone. (But the fellow must answer you, you call and he must answer you?) [He had said this on first giving the rite.] Yes.
(Why do you put that green leaf in there? Do you know why it's done?)
To hold his voice.
Entry 10415
She caught it [hag in a bottle. She put the bottle under her bed, turned the mouth of it toward the bed - under bed - it was a black bug [in the bottle next morning]. The first person coming to the house next morn- ing and asking for a match or salt or anything, if she give to her, won't get rid of the hag. [For loans to witches, see NEVER LEND TO WITCHES, No.16338, P.875, in Folklore from Adams County Illinois, 2nd ed., and elsewhere in witch- craft section.] If you don't let the bug out the bottle, the person will die.
(Story rather disconnected, if nothing better may transcribe for a footnote.)
[This was my note shortly after transcribing cylinder. Never got back to it.]
Entry 10416
Story how to catch a hag with needles in bottle. Check later and copy if wanted. Hag turns to jelly-water.
[Rite following gives number.]
The collector's work-note names needles in a bottle and says to check and copy the story later if wanted. It does not supply the full story or establish the reported capture or transformation.
Entry 10417
Keep hag away - 9 needles in bot- tle. [Caught hag] looked like jellyfish. Sot much of story.
Entry 10418
[They tole me. An' dey kept aftah dis fellah tuh go to de house wit 'en an' stay wit dem dat night, but he would nevah go. So dey kept on asking hin to stay wit dem. Well, dere some stealing down to de sto' an' dere had been se stuff [taken] outa dere an' dey nevah did ketch up wit 'em. So eventually dey kept on aftah de boy an' he decided he'd stay wit 'em dat night. So late dat night 'bout de middle of de night, 'bout one 'clock dey got ap. Well, he didn't sleep any. He watched dem. An' dey had a fiahplace an' dey went an' got eight bottles. Dere was eight of dem [8 people]. Dey went an' got eight bottles an' dey sot [sat] in front of de fiahplace. Dey blowed in de bot- tles and dey said sompin an' dey went up de chimley. So he see 'em. An' he went, got 'im a bottle. He 'cide [decided] he'd try it. He went an' got 'im a bottle, an' he said de same thing dey said, an' blowed in de bottle, an' he went up de chimley. Well, when dey come out, dey come out on de street - see, right in front de sto'. So he come out in front de sto', too. So dey all standin' dere an' dey showed him de way dey went through de keyhole - went through de keyhole in de sto'. So he said de same thing an' he went through de keyhole, too. Well, dey got what dey Wanted an' dey come on back through de keyhole. Dey said de word, dey come out, but he forgot de word. He forgot de word an' dere he was right dere de next morning when de man [store owner] got dere.
(They caught him?)
Yeah dey caught 'im.
Entry 10419
If witches start to ride you, all you've got to do is lay a new broom at your door and she has to count every straw in it before she passes over it. By that time you'll be out of your bed and gone on to work.
Entry 10420
Dey use a new broom. Dey take a new broom an' put it cross de do' an' dey ain't goin' step ovah it.
(That will keep them away.)
Entry 10421
Well, it supposed to be nuthin but a hag ride chew. Jes' lak yo' can't sleep at night, yo' know. See, de hag jump on yo' an' will ride yo' an can't rest. If yo' gits up in de night an' put de broom, a straw broom, across de path right wheresomevah dey supposed tuh come in an' in de mawnin' when yo' go by dere, yo' be done caught de witch. It'll be nuthin but a ball of jelly dat look lak de watah [gummy sap] out of a peach tree.
(You said you put the cap what?)
Put a cap ovah de do' [the knob of door with man's cap over the keyhole]. [Straw broom for sweeping floor, has long wooden handle; hand broom is made of small twigs or long grass doubled together and tied at bend for a handle.]
Entry 10423
Take broom and sweep down [bed] to keep hag away ev'ry night before you get in; [sweep bed] head down to foot of bed. Do 9 nights.
Entry 10425
"Put a straw [broomstraw] or either a broom under your bed, under your head, or put it in your pillow...they [the hag] won't bother you."
The quoted instruction gives a broom as an alternative. The bracketed glosses remain editorial, and the claimed protection is not an established effect.
Entry 10427
Bucket of water under bed and flaxseed. Next morning you will find bug, the hag. [Story not worth writing out.]
The brief account names a bucket of water under the bed. An editorial note says the story was not written out; the predicted bug/hag result is not established.
Entry 10428
Put fork under pillow to keep hag from riding you [for hag or witch riding you see p.136f., v.l, margin title WITCH RIDES PERSON] at Petersburg, Va.,
(447), 423:6; at Wilmington, N. Car., (208), 114:5+85.]
Entry 10429
To keep the witch away, put three-tined fork under pillow (said wife); four-tined said husband (neither of course said tined). My assistant and I [his photo at end of v.2], and our driver who knew the place and people, collected this among the hills and woods some miles out from Fredericksburg, Va. It was the darkest night I had seen in years. Even inside the house the lamp gave just about enough light to see what I was writing.
The collector reports differing wife and husband statements about a fork under a pillow. Neither is said to have used tined; the reported protective purpose is not an established effect.
Entry 10431
Loops they put feet through in horse's mane. [Those loops made in mane of horse by witch, when she or he rides it at night, are her or his stir- rups. For this horse riding See WITCH RIDES HORSE, PP.141- 143, v.1]. [Somewhere near Princess Anne or Snow Hill, Md., by hand, from informant 102.]
Entry 10432
Git a strand an' tie it round yore wrist. (Strand of what?) De animal hair, tie it round yore wrist. Dey say dat keeps 'em back, de witches.
(The hair from any kind of an animal? What kind of an animal?)
Anything. Mule [or horse] anythin' [with long hair] like dat. Jes' since it's a hair yo' kin git round yore wrist.
Entry 10433
I've heard a gentleman say that you can take a piece of horsehair and put it under your doorstep, and you Won't have any trouble with anyone coming to bother you. An evil person won't come to your house. [This counter-magic is like the hair of the dog that bit you. If not the horse, at least the witch riding the horse will not cross the buried horsehair.] [Petersburg, Va., first visit, by Ediphone, No.33.]
The account predicts that an evil person will not approach the house. It is reported hearsay, without an identified person, a universal moral classification or established protection.
Entry 10434
A witch an' a ha'nt is a diff'rent thing, whoever yo' learnt it. A witch is a thing dey claim rides yo' at night. An' den if yo' bein' rided at night wit witches, yo' wanta git rid of de witches, yo' take a horseshoe an' nail it up ovah yo' do'. Write yore name in de center of de horseshoe, right up ovah yore do'; inside de house, not out. [In- formant anticipates my question.] Oh, outside or inside, either one jes' so it be ovah yore do'. Dat'll stop de witches from coming in. [St. Petersburg, Pla.
(1031), 1677:5.]
Entry 10435
Horseshoe or new board over door and spirits won't bother you [witch or hag at work has a spirit form].
Entry 10436
Horseshoe over door keeps spirits away [Mobile, Ala., 863: ll].
The account places a horseshoe over a door and claims it keeps spirits away. It establishes no particular door, observed placement or protective effect.
Entry 10437
Horseshoe over door "keeps peace in your house" [Vicksburg, Miss., (732), 1002:8].
The account places a horseshoe over a door and says it keeps peace in the house. No specific door, household event or resulting peace is established.
Entry 10438
Horseshoe over door, points up, keeps hags away [Mobile, 865:4].
This account places a horseshoe over a door with its points up and claims it keeps hags away. No actual placement or protective result is established.
Entry 10439
Hag looks like a lump of jelly [Jack- sonville, Fla., (592), 765:7. For similar beliefs see No.10421, p.3996 and elsewhere].
Entry 10441
Knife and fork crossed under the pillow to keep witch away [Mobile, 861:2.] or to keep witch from riding you [Fred- ericksburg, 67 by Ediphone].
Entry 10442
A witch will ride yo'. Yo' kin take a silver knife an' fo'k an' cross it, put it in yore bed an' dey won't bother yo'. Den yo' kin take a sharp knife, pocketknife, an' put it in dere - put it under de bed. Ah use one dese witchin' Knives undah mah bed all de time. Dat cut's 'em off.
Entry 10443
Dere a hag. You wake up an' dey been aroun' yuh, [you] say, Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Three times. An' den [you can] go to sleep in dere.
Entry 10444
New lumber keeps spirits or ghosts away - believed every- where [Mobile, Ala., 865:3].
The account says new lumber keeps spirits or ghosts away. The alternative wording and broad belief remark establish neither equivalence, measured prevalence nor a protective effect.
Entry 10445
Dese dey call such as witches. Ah heard de older folks say dat dat wus sompin similar to somebody dat wus an enemy to yo'. See, lak dat. Dey came dere an' worried yo'. Dey claimed dat yo' kin take sech as de mustard seed, carry dat in dere an' jes' sprinkle it all around de place. Yo' see, when dey came in dat [the seeds] dey would have tuh stop an' count each an' every seed befo' dey could interfere; an' befo' dey'd git through counting de seeds, why it's day would break on 'em an' dey would have to go.
The informant reports an older-folks claim about sprinkling mustard seed around a place; the counting and daybreak effects remain attributed.
Entry 10446
"Take you some mustard seed an' throw dem on de flo'...de hag dey gotta count ev'y one dohz seed" [Jacksonville, (597), 770:10].
Entry 10447
Mustard seed to catch hag, not much of story
The brief account names a hag as the intended target of mustard seed and notes that there is little story. It establishes no actual catch, identified being or effect.
Entry 10448
Mustard seed to catch hag; next morning kill anything "you see necked" - if ant, pull off leg; whatever you do to the ant will happen to the hag [Wil- mington, (204), 109:6+85].
The account gives an ant as a conditional example and alleges that what happens to it affects the hag. Neither that identity nor the claimed transfer is established.
Entry 10449
To keep hag from riding you: box of salt in bed, mustard seed down by bed [Wilmington, (315), 243:6].
The account states an aim of keeping a hag from riding the person, with salt and mustard seed in specified places. No riding event, sleeping condition or protection is established.
Entry 10450
Use 9 mustard seed and salt, next morning the hag will be a little worm in the room [Wilmington, 79:1+851.
Entry 10451
If ah knows yore name, well at nine 'clock at night ah call yore name through a black art, which is cause an' [which is the cause of and contains] a witch, calling yore name. Only three time dat ah calls yore name, but ah wills mah voice will ring in de back [of your mind?] dat will go to yo' in yore sleep an' cause a worriation upon yo' de next morning. Yo'll be worried over de one who dat chew long to meet or who it is dat wants chew - womans, wife or gurl, or whatevah it is. Dey want chew at one 'clock in de night, when you [are] worst. When dey are sleeping dat seem to me as a better time to get holt tuh [hole to] 'em.
(What do you mean you call them through the black art? What's the black art?)
Well, dat's at night. Ah have - was sold mahself to contain of a witch, work- ings of witchcraft onto de body of de person.
(Well, do you mean you become a witch when you do that?)
Nah, ah wouldn't come [become] a witch [and fly away]. Ah stay home.
(You stay home, but...)
To my own house. Ah wouldn't have 'em dere. But using dere name, which you might call [like using] dis here 'lectric telephone. (That will make them do what you want or something of that sort?) Yes, dat will carry 'em to de house, but ah wouldn't tell you dat will make you stay when you git dere. (What would make them stay there?) Ah'm usin' dere name on it. Ah'd strip three verses out of de Bible, which ah would take de 2nd Kings, writin' dere name an' drawin' a ring round it with nine figures below - must be nine be- low dere name: dere wife's name or de woman's name down below dat. Put it into de mattress of de bed. (Then after this person has been called to go to this woman's house, that will keep him there?) Yes, got somepin to keep him off [away from home]. Whether he might wanta stay, ah don't know. But he [person I worked on] stay over dere yet. Dat's right heah in de city.
Entry 10452
New needles stick under [hag's] steps - couldn't leave - took sick - sent over to borrow salt - story diffuse - in lowland dialect.
Entry 10453
Take 12 needles in pile - put to head of bed - hag will count the needles - you catch her. Ev'ry time they count a certain distance they'll forget and must start over again.
Entry 10454
Peppah seeds on floor. When they [hag] comes in, must pick up each grain.
Entry 10455
Sprinkle red pepper [on their skin]. Why dey can't go back in de skin. Put it [red pepper] in de keyhole of de door and sprinkle a little all down on de floor. Red pepper will keep dem from goin' back in de skin. Yo' see, dey gits out de skin when dey rides yuh.
Entry 10456
Take red pepper an' grind it up an' put sulphur an' stuff in it. Dat's good fo'l hags. (If the hags are riding you?) Yes. sir.
Entry 10457
Take new ruler [folding six-foot rule] lay it open, extend it out, drives ghosts or hags away. [Here is a problem for ghost or hag to solve! Here is another numbers or counting problem.]
The account says an extended ruler drives ghosts or hags away; the counting-problem explanation is bracketed editorial matter.
Entry 10458
If a witch ridin' yuh, botherin' yo', followin' yo' aroun', yo' kin git salt, cookin' salt, an' tie it up in a little rag an' yo' kin git rid of dat witch. She can't stand salt. (What do you do with that rag then?) Yo' take dat rag an' yo' ties it an' yo' lets it stay right in yore room. An' yo' have tuh put a little lard on dat rag. Yo' know, have it kinda greasy. An' jes' hang dat rag right up in yore room an' dat witch ain't goin' tuh bother yo' no more. So, dat's de onliest time - look, lak de witch will bother when yo' in, yo' know, in yo' room tryin' tuh rest, be try- in' tuh ride yuh.
Entry 10459
"Put a box of salt in your bed wit chew an' dey [hag] won't bother you."
Entry 10461
Ah heard mah mother tell de story about a witch would come every night an' git in de girl's bed. When de girl went out [of room or away for evening] an' she [hag] come in an' would git out of her skin an' git in her bed. An' one night she came in an' de girl came in an' seen de skin dere an' she put [usually red] pepper an' salt on it. An' den when she come to git back in her skin it jes' runned her crazy. The witch left dere an' dey say never came back no mo'.
The narrator reports a mother's story involving discarded skin. Editorial glosses remain separate, and neither shedding, the alleged reaction nor later nonreturn is established.
Entry 10462
If you put salt and red pepper in empty skin of witch, she or he will be unable to reenter the skin. [This was a common theme down the Atlant coast- line.]
Entry 10463
"Put salt and pepper in yore chimley [fireplace] and keep your rooms sprinkle round in de corners, you know. That will keep them witches out." [Chim- ney or fireplace is used here because witches sometimes go up or come down the chimney. Since fireplace is the fifth point within the four corners of the room, we have here a quincunx rite.]
Entry 10464
Git chew a han'fula san' [sand] an' put down side yore bed an' when- evah he [witch] come dere an' mess wit chah, why he have to count ev'ry one dem grains of sand 'fore he go, an' dey say he gon'a keep on countin' dem ovah an' ovah until he try to count 'em all, but he nevah would count 'em all 'fo [before] dat morning. See, jes' count 'em ovah an' ovah.
Entry 10465
Open new pair of scissors and put under pillow to prevent hag-riding [Mobile, (663), 872:?]. [For scissors under bed, Jacksonville, see No.529, p.156, v.l; over bed or door, No.542, p.161, v.1, Elizabeth City.]
Entry 10467
Witch gets out of skin. "Two witches witchcraftin' to- gether, riding people. When they go out the skin, they put on a shroud-like somepin with wings hangin' down. I'll say, Through de keyhole; you'll say Right after you etc."
Entry 10468
Well, dey tell me how tuh ketch 'em [hags] is [tol git a sifter yo see, an' dey'll come in dere roun' 'fore day, yo' see, an' dey count de holes dere an' right dere's where it be yo' ketch [her] countin' dem holes in de sifter. So dey caught a ole lady lak dat once. (What did she look like when they caught her?) Well, she looked lak sompin didn't have no skin on, jes' kinda like butter - not butter, jelly yo' know. So dey caught her an' dey beat her. De ole lady was staying dere herself [living in same house].
Entry 10470
Take a sifter - takes a sifter and turn it down on its face [open side of sifter down] an' 'fore he leaves he's gotta count every hole in dat sifter. (The hag.)
Entry 10471
"The old-fashioned sifter is supposed to have a thousand holes in it." [My only example of this, informant lOl, near Snow Hill, Md., by hand.]
Entry 10472
Take fo' instance if yo' in bed an' a witch begin riding yo', why dey calls it de witch; but my education place me in a position to know whut dey calls dose, but at de same time we calls it de witch. Well, yo' go to bed an' de witch rides yo' quite a bit, jes' put a sifter at de head of yo' bed, by a chair dere. [Why near or on a chair? Make yourself at home?] An' it's quite natural de next morning when yo' git up, why yo'll ketch de witch dere counting dose holes over an' over, cause dey afraid dey made a mistake an' dey count 'em over an' over until day.
[I ask a question too far away from microphone to be understood.]
Well, dey claim dat chew kin see it. An' then when yo' see this person - well quite natural when it sunup - yo' say, "Leave!" It will leave.
Entry 10473
[Here for convenience are two rites together.] Sifter under bed keeps witch from riding you [Vicksburg, (717), 988:5].
Entry 10474
"I used to hear them talk about taking a sifter and turning it bottom upward under the bed, and they would count the holes and it would be light [day would come] and you would be up and could see who it were, if she came to ride you." [Fredericksburg, Va., Ediphone No. 42.]
Entry 10475
Sifter beside bed, mustard seed by bed; protection against hag [double protec- tion].
Entry 10476
Put a sifter on your breast [imagine!] and they have to go through them holes. [In- informant 102 somewhere near Snow Hill on Eastern Shore of Maryland, by hand.]
Entry 10477
For people come to your house all the time and come and set too long, and see, you want them to go home. Say, you just take a sifter and put it up under their chair. And [if] they'll just sit, sit, and can't go, they is a witch; but after [if] they get up and go home, there [they] ain't witch. But they got to be real old, old people. You see, you do that with a sifter. [Usually a steel instrument is stuck into the bottom of the chair where it won't be seen by visitor. She can leave only after you remove the steel.]
Entry 10478
A witch is worser than a ghost, they tell me. You know these old hand sifters? You put that at the door of your room. He has got to go through every hole in that sifter before he can come in your room. And if daylight catches him, he was found in the sifter. Then kill whatever you find in the sifter and they kill the witch. [Old Point Comfort, Va., (21, from somewhere nearby), by hand, probably out on street somewhere.]
Entry 10479
If witch come in your room to ride you, sifter at front door. [Mobile, Ala., 863:3.]
Entry 10480
If they see a strainer [or sifter] at the foot of the door, a witch has to go through each hole before entering the house. By this time the night will have passed away.
The short statement follows the book’s stated textual-role convention; its recording notation does not establish verbatim wording.