Browse:CURE AND PROTECTION (Volume 1, entries 1090–1706)/Part 5
CURE AND PROTECTION
Volume 1, entries 1090–1706. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1410
If they was going to cross my house, they could do the same thing to cross my house. And if I'd find out that they got my house crossed, well then I would go and I would get me some sweet milk and I would get me some parsley right out of the ground. I'd boil that together - the sweet milk and the parsley. I'd scrub in this corner, that corner, that corner, and this corner - that's the four corners. I'd scrub the four corners of the house first. And after scrubbing those four corners of the house, I'd throw that out and I use me some fresh milk and parsley and scrub the center of my floor. And that's all over with.
Entry 1411
Then I seed a woman taking a frog from a woman. She got some peach tree leaves and she boiled them until they was real, real strong, and then she'd taken table salt and put in it and saltpeter and bathed her. And she put twenty drops of turpentine in that and give her a dose of castor oil behind it and it passed through her. (Now, what did she make to wash her with? And what did she give her to take inside, now?) Peach tree leaves - just an ordinary peach tree. Well, she just got those leaves and she boiled them until they were real, real, real strong; and then after you know, she got 'em boiled clean and cooled out, she put twenty drops of turpentine in it, and she put so much saltpeter in it and table salt. Did you understand me? [I was supposed to be somewhat deaf - for recording purposes.]
(I understand.)
Then she bathed her with it and also give it to her to take.
(Oh, there's just one liquid - you bathe in it and you drink some?)
Yes.
(I understand now. I see. And that got these frogs out.)
And afterwards she give her purgative behind it, and it worked it all through her.
Entry 1412
Jes' lak if yo' got a boil or anything come on yo' dat de doctors can't cure it. (It usually comes from what?) It's some witchcraft or somepin lak that. Well, yo' use a penny.
(How would you use that?)
Well, yo' take dat penny an' for instance jes' lak yo' fix a poultice - it may be a salt poultice, it may be a poultice of snuff, or [corn] meal, or either a piece of bacon; well, yo' lay it on dere - or either a frog. Yo' may even cut a frog open an' lay it on dere. A frog supposed tuh draw out any kinda poison or a sore or anything like dat dat's not nachur'l. [For frog in cures, see No. 1263, p.441f., and Index.] Well, yo' take dat penny an' yo' lay it next tuh dat place where yo' place dat frog or anything [poultice] whut chew put ovah it - on top of it - hit will draw it out.
Entry 1413
If yo' had de cramps so bad yo' can't hardly walk, take a nail an' drive a hole in a penny an' tie it roun' yore laig an' go on. Long as yo' live dat cramp'll not worry yo' no mo'.
Entry 1414
Heard of 'em usin' a penny for such as drawin' poison out of yore feet, if yo' stick a nail or somepin in yore feet. Yo' set a penny on it an' dat will draw it out.
Entry 1415
Say fo' instance anybody wanted to harm me. Ah would take a penny an' place it into de middle of mah foot an' ah would wear dis penny all de time. Ah would put a dime - a silver dime up above mah knee, see - an' dere ain't nuthin yo' kin do. Ah kin walk ovah anything wit dat dime wit a hole in it round mah laig.
(Would you wear that penny, too?)
Could wear de penny - could keep de penny in de bottom of yore shoe, see. Yore left shoe.
Entry 1416
Now, jest like someone is harmin' you, you kin take a penny and take it and knock a hole troo it and have a frog. Ah don't know if you know what a frog is. And cut dis frog open and place de penny in before you knock de hole in it. Cover de frog back together tight, and after covering de frog back, you let it stay fer about thirty or forty minutes. Den take dis frog out - [I mean] take de penny out of de frog, bore a hole in de penny, take a cord and take dis penny and tie one round yore ankle and tie another one around de other ankle. Jes' like the wimmin keep people from hurting them - they take a dime and bore a hole in that dime and put one dime on one laig and one dime on the other laig, and then that will keep anybody from poisoning them or any kind of thing. Protection to the body. An' dat's de way wit de penny.
Entry 1417
Suppose that someone did something to you. You nail a penny to de head of yore door or you sleep with three pennies to de head of your bed - any bed [in which you sleep]. You gota take a piece of cloth and sleep with de three pennies at de head of yore bed when you go to sleep and you'll wake up and den you move that away from you. See, jest like I'm speaking to you now, de man [who hoodooed you] will come to you and rap - speak to you and tell you dey [there] by de mattress [I mean] by de three pennies to de head of yo' bed. (He will tell you what he has done to you. He raps. How many times does he rap?) Three times.
Entry 1418
Now, ah have got de perfume weed mahself - it's home. Yeah, it's a vine grows in de woods lak dat [demonstrates]. Yo' pick it [a leaf] off at de [growing] end. De leaf on it is jis' lak a heart, yo' see. Now, ah want show yo' dis. Yes, heah 'tis in mah pocket. Ah stick it in dis pocket. Dis is a sanitary pocket han'scuff. See. An' dis pocket han'scuff is got dat perfume odor on it, don't chew see.
[Evidently I did not ask to smell it.]
(This perfume weed?) [For its possible identity, see later.]
Yeah - de vine. Well, ah carry dis, don't chew know jis' all de time. But it's must be a sanitary piece dat's not used at all - it's gota be used on me, yo' see.
(Why do you carry that?)
That keeps anyone from harmin' yo'. Dat's whut chew ast me, don't yo' see.
(Has this perfume weed any other name?)
Yeah. It's jes' call perfume weed, but yo' dress it yoreself, yo' see.
(How do you take the perfume out of that weed?)
Well, listen, it already smells sweet when yo' go an: dig it an' de little leaf is made, it jis' grows lak de shape of a heart. Yo' git that yoreself. Yo' know it grows kinda long.
(On the ground?)
Yeah, an' yo' git that an' dress that yoreself. Yo' dress that wit whiskey an'perfume.
(How do you dress it? What do you do with this weed?)
De roots, put 'em into a quart bottle - jis' as big a bottle as yo' want, if yo've got that much yo' see. An' see yo' po' jis' perfume, but de root always smells nice befo' yo' put it in dere. It smells lak perfume itself. An' yo' put whiskey an' half perfume an' jis' put dose roots - put jis as many roots in that bottle as yo' want, an' fo' two years, or twelve years it'll be jis' lak yo' fixed it there. Now, that's when yo' dressin' it.
(You just use that on your handkerchief?)
Yeah. [His perfume weed could be the heartleaf (see Index), common name for several American species of Asarum, all having aromatic roots; informant's root possibly being A. canadense, used as an aromatic bitter and flavoring agent.]
Entry 1419
Yo' take 'simmon trees an' bring yore eyesight back - dat's all ah've heard. Take it - take de 'simmon tree an' yo' take dat fresh coat offa de first wood. Den yo' scrapes right next to it - jes' dat 111' fresh skin- wood dat's on it - den yo' scrapes right undah dat an' yo' git dat out from undah dere, an' den yo' take dat an' bathe yore eyes in it when yo' blind. Say dat will bring yore sight back. Mah mother tried dat once.
Entry 1420
An' if ah got a wart on me, a large wart on mah han' or on mah face an' ah wanta git rid of it, ah'll go an' git me nine stickin'-pins. When ah git dese nine stickin'-pins ah'll pick dis wart until it bleeds. Well, den ah take nine drops of blood on each nine pins an' take it an' put it in a pretty white han'kerchief an' carry it to de fo'ks of de road an' throw it down; an' when ah throw it down dere'll be somebody come along an' see dat pretty han'kerchief layin' down dere an' dey pick up dis han'kerchief an' walk off wit it. Well, somebody else will be ketched
[by my warts].
The informant describes a hypothetical wart-transfer rite using nine pins, blood and a white handkerchief left at road forks for another person to pick up. Hyatt supplies the bracketed explanation of being caught by the warts. The transfer is a reported claim, not medical evidence.
Entry 1421
Yo' uses red peppah an' fo' pins crossed in a stah [star] in de bottom of yore shoe an' it's no way fo' them to do anything to yo' or hurt chew by no cunjuration or nuthin dey put down fo' yo'.
(You get four pins and cross tHem in the shape of a star. Show me how.)
Yo' take a pin - dis is one pin heah. Yo' take that an' cross it dis way an' yo' take de othah one an' cross it dis way; take de othah one an' cross it dis Way an' den yo' take that an' cross it dat way. Make it jis' as a stah in de sky. An' take dis peppah an' put it in both of yore shoes at de bottom - hot peppah pods an' take it an' put it in both of yore shoes at de bottom an' wear those pins in it an' dey cain't do yo' any harm - don't ca' where they lay something down fo' yo'. [My penciled note on original transcription reads, "Cross in each shoe - so 8 pins." What he have in each shoe is not a star with eight ends, four sharp (pin points) and four blunt (pin heads); instead, each shoe contains two crosses, one on top the other so that the four sides of the upper cross bisect the four sides of the lower cross. This rite is a double-cross. For Double-cross, see Index; for Triple-cross, see p.364.]
Entry 1422
Fo' rheumatism in de laig, all ovah yore laigs dere in yore laig, dese bones, yo' know - well, yo' kin take a Irish potato dey calls it an' tote it in yore pocket. Hit'll be evah so large, but chew tote it in yore pocket till it come to be 'bout big as a marble. Well, dat'll cure de rheumatism out yore joints. [Waycross, Ga., (1136), 1850:7.].
Entry 1423
Pain such as rheumatism and things like that, he kin do somepin simple to get rid of that. He kin pass some grocery store, any kind, or in his home if it's your brother and he's in your home and you got de Irish potato - natch'ly you have one in your kitchen or in your pantry or some place in your house - not ask you for it but they call it stealin' - and jes' put it in your [his] pocket, any pocket you [he] got and jes' wrap it so it won't soil his clothes too much. Keep in there and let it ferment and that kill any rheumatic pain he has in his body.
Entry 1424
If anybody have tricked yo' any way, in a case like dat yo' kin git chew one. Go in a store an' steal it, a Irish potato. Don't let 'em give it. Jest steal it an' put it in yore pocket an' when it gits hard - it git hard jest lak a brick - an' whenevah it gits hard, why yo' take it out an' eat it. It be hard but eat it, an' whatevah is wrong with yo' why it will kill it.
(That would kill any poison that anybody has got in me in any way?)
Yes.
Entry 1425
A woman lived aroun' heah on - been about ten yeahs ago [1927] - lived aroun' heah on McCreary Street, on de cornah of McCreary an' Campbell Street. De nex'-doah neighbah an' huh fell out. An' she comence hangin' de clothes on de line, on de clothesline, an' de woman tole 'uh not tuh hang on theah. But she said it wus much hern as it wus hern becus she had put 'em up dere. Well, dis woman when she hung 'uh clothes out dis veek, she [other woman] didn't do nuthin to 'uh, but de nex' veek befo' she hung de clothes out dere, she [other woman], had dressed de line. An' when she hanged de wash up, done huh washin' an' hung 'uh clothes out - an' de nex' veek huh han's commence swellin' an' huh han's swelled clear up troo 'uh ahms - so [until they was] outa shape. An' all dis troo heah wus jis' as sore as it could be. An' you know, dat han' it turned black an' it look like scales of a fish [see No. 1000, p.384] - scale all on huh ahms an' 'long heah. An' den dere come a sore on 'uh laig - come den. An' she didn't know whut to do. She went to a doctah. She spent ovah $40 on it tryin to git some salve or somepin or othah to cure it. She couldn't git it. An' den she git on de train an' vent down tuh Florence. Looked lak dat de haidquartahs [for root doctahs]. She vent tuh Florence, South Ca'lina. De ole man tole 'uh whut tuh do. He said, "Lookee heah, you don't know how tuh git rid of dat complaint choo got. It's somepin someone have put it on yuh. Yuh eat de same thing ev'ry day, ev'ry day yuh eat de stuff dat yuh have tuh git tuh cure dat han' an' dat laig. He said, "Yuh go git choo a big I'sh potato an' yuh cut off each side of it an' make it kinda flat. Den yuh take a knife an' cut all aroun' in it, leave a hole so da' choo tie a string troo dat hole. An' tie de string tuh de ten-penny nail an' let it hang dere till it jis' git dry up. An' den yuh git choo a potato an' scrape it - git choo anothah potato - an' make it a salve an' den bind it on a new piece of cloth, an' put it round dat sore on your laig an' dat'll cure dat. Den you go git yuh some alum an' burn it till it quit blubblin' an' den burn yuh some bluestone until it would turn kinda whitish, so you kin mash it all up into powdah. An' den you git some gourds an' some vaseline an' make a salve out it, an' den you rub dat on wit dat salve vaseline. An' let dat potatoes stay up dere till it gits dry an' yuh take dat potato down an' mash it all up an' make it a powdah, an' yuh take dat powders an' anoint dat laig where yuh had de plaster on it. Yuh take dis salve - you take de [second] potato off den, yuh put de [first] potato on dis new piece of cloth an' bind it aroun' dat sore on de laig, an' den you let it stay on theah nine veeks. Den yuh take it off an' put de salve - jis' wash wit dat salve an' dat'll cure it."
The selected instruction is quoted as another speaker’s words inside the informant’s narrative.
Entry 1426
[Psalms are often used in rites - see Psalms in Index.]
Well, now, I will give it to you out of the Bible. You can read the 9lst Psalm and read it in the morning at twelve o'clock, and when you go to bed [this is three times a dayl and I don't care what they put on or how they fix it or what they do, read that Psalm and after you read it, ask God to take care of you and nothing will never harm you.
Entry 1427
Now, dat'll go in spiritual [work]. Yo' read de 30th Psalm fo' dat three times befo' sunrise an' three times befo' sunset. An' then if yo' don't perceive [see some result], then yo' read de 5th an' 6th an' 7th ten times - see, befo' sunrise an' befo' de sun set in de evenin', an' yo' will become - come wise an' yore spirit will breathe on any job dat chew work on dat it's necessary - dat need joo. [This is personal advice to me from a doctor.]
The Prayer link refers to instructed Psalm reading; the claimed spiritual results are unverified.
Entry 1428
[Quicksilver sometimes means quicksilver and at other times tin foil; which, it is not always easy to say. The latter is occasionally called silver paper. Scrapings from back of mirror is a well-known quicksilver - this probably in the following:] Take de quicksilver, yessuh, an' sprinkle it ovah yore house from dis corner to dis corner, to de corner of de do' dere to each corner of de do' dere, an' see dey cain't come ovah quicksilver.
(That keeps ghosts from coming in there.)
Entry 1429
And should you not want anyone to harm you in your home, you get chew some quicksilver and put it under your doorstep with a stick of dragon's blood - you know what dragon's blood is - and just bury that under your doorstep and no one will ever bother you.
Entry 1430
They call it quicksilver. You wear it in your shoe, both of them. Nuthin will harm you, nuthin can hurt chew by walkin' across anything. But be careful how you eat. I've heard them say that they could draw a cross mark across the road. They tell me they put quicksilver in that mark and cover it up. If you cross over that, why you'll have to crawl until you have this spell taken off. [This quicksilver is scrapings from the back of a mirror. I have discussed through-the-looking-glass magic under Horseshoe in subsection Hands. In inform- ants first statement guicksilver is a reversing agent, reflecting evil back upon itself; in second statement guicksilver causes lameness because it is magically pieces of broken glass from the mirror - see margin-title Part of the Spirit Equals Whole of Spirit, p.21.]
Entry 1431
That how they use the toadfrog. (How do they use that?) The toad - you know what the toadfrog best to do? You can take a toadfrog and burn him - take him alive and put him in something and burn him till he turns to real coal, and powder that up and feed that to a person. I'll bet you, if they won't have more little diff'rent things in their stomachs than you ever heard of and I'll betcha a doctor can't cure em.
(Is there any way of getting that out at all?)
Yes, you can even get that out of a person.
(How?)
It's a simple thing to get out of 'em. There's but one thing you can get it out of them with, that's pure sugar and rain water; but you must not get no water out of anything 'cepting glass, no kind of metal.
(How would you fix this rain water and pure sugar?)
Just ketch pure rain water like when it's rainin' - just put something out there to catch it - any container - and just fill that full of rain water and just keep that rain water, and instead of getting that person water that come from the hydrant, feed 'em that pure rain water. That's all they gotta have.
(That will bring these live things out of them?)
Bring them live things out of 'em. That's all - just pure, pure rain water - nothing else used but that rain water.
Entry 1432
I hear'd ole man settin' down tellin' dis - said dat she [an old woman] got anothah ole woman [root doctor] to doctor on 'er. She said dat she had a - she had sweated 'er. She said she had a somepin up 'er liver in 'er skin. It crawled all over. She fis' feel it crawlin' undah de skin. [For a live terrapin hanging on to a person's liver, see No. 10, p.7.] An' dis woman tol' der dat she wus hurt - she said she wus tricked. She goes an' git some ratban [ratsbane] roots, an' git a he ratban root - git some of dem - an' a she ratban root. A he is got streaks up it, white streaks on de leaf; an' de she is jis' a solid small green leaf. She boils a tea out of it separate, an' take de she ratban-root tea, give all of dat; an' jis' a half of de he. An' dat cured it. [It is quite likely that had the patient been a man, the doctor would have prescribed all the he tea and half the she tea. All of one and half of the other is a diminishing amount rite.] [The plant here is not the ratsbane of European witchcraft but an American substitute. Its identity? What a botanist and a root doctor who digs her own roots call ratsbane can be different things. Besides, she is surely using two separate plants; the one with "white streaks on de leaf," the other "jis' a solid small green leaf." The former, the "he ratban root," appears to be either the rattlesnake plantain (Peramium pubescene), an orchid with checked or mottled leaves supposed to resemble rattlesnake hide, or spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) with white-mottled leaves. The latter, the "she ratban root' - as a sheer guess I would say it was a. plant growing in the vicinity of the "he."]
[Baltimore, Md., (153), 62: l+85; this cure in Charlotte Co., Va.]
Entry 1433
She got holt of a thing - some kind of a snake got in her - de rattle- snake, de rattles of a snake. An' when she drink de watah from it she went blind an' she sent fo' mah mothah an' mah mothah had tuh go to her. She went an' she went an' she carried her fifteen miles from Danville, Virginia, to [somewhere] Virginia, to a man. Den he went out an' got a rattlesnake an' put him in a bottle, put him in dis thing alive an' po' s whiskey on him. See, dat cooked him an' den dey taken de whiskey an' fed mah aunty on it fo' nine days - give her nine drops, give her nine drops fo' three times a day fo' nine days, an' de ninth day she come back to her sight. An' some of these bells [buttons or rattles] wus undah her do'step an' some wus found in de spring. Dis man found 'em afterwards[!!!]. Her sight come back to her. She got well. [This is a remarkable example of like cures like (see p.394); it is also an original and brilliant piece of therapeutic thinking by a master of his craft!l (Now, what did they do with these drops? Did she drink them or put them on her eyes or what?) She drink them, she drink nine drops fo' nine days.
(Who was this?)
This mah aunty.
(And what was the name of the town?)
Danville, Virginia.
Entry 1434
Ah heard of 'em usin' de rattlesnake rattles fo' a hemorrhage. Well, yo' only Wet it - dip it in watah an' stick it to de place where yo' hemorrhage. Even if it in yore nostrils, yo' jes' stick it inside of yore nostrils; an' if it yore bowels, yo' stick it down yore lower part an' hit'll stop it right away. Ah used to tote one all de time.
Entry 1435
Yo' kin kill a rattlesnake an' kill him an' take de three buttons off him an' - after dey corner de rattlesnake, yo' know. Yo' take dem rattlesnake buttons an' sew it together an' make a belt an' put it round yore waist. Ain't no one can't do nuthin to yo'.
(They can't harm you in any way?)
No sir, can't harm you. Ah weared one a good while mahself. Ah got 'long purtty well. Well [why I don't wear one now], why ah never done no great novelty dat anyone would hate me so much, but den [in my younger days]. [St. Petersburg, Fla., (1021), 1652:6.}
Entry 1436
Do you know what rattlesnake marster is? (I have heard of it, I have never seen it.) Well, you get a small piece of that and a small piece of John de Conker root - de High John de Conker root and a new dime and a piece of lodestone, and yo' sew dis into a little bag called a toby [another name for hand]. Sew it up and yo' kin either put a piece of red flannel or shammy skin - sew that up in it and keep it into yore left pocket always and never let anyone touch it. If you do that, 'that is a Wonderful thing.
(What will that do then?)
That will prevent anyone from harming you.
[For rattlesnake master and knots, see No. 1126, p.418.]
[Rattlesnake master - a name for several plants said to cure rattlesnake bite: Liatris squarrosa and L. scariosa, and Eryngium aquaticum of southeastern U. S. A. All plants of the genus Liatris are called button snakeroot.]
Entry 1437
Well, ah heard if someone tryin' tuh harm yo', why yo' could git chew some Hearts Cologne an' rattlesnake marster root, an' yo' could take that an' put it in a bottle an' use it; an' as yo' go out, put that on yo' an' it would keep dem from hurtin' yo'.
Entry 1438
It's a commonest thing as a piece of root chew call rattlesnake master. Well, yo' kin git holt of a piece of rattlesnake master an' yo' could cut it up, a piece of it an' put it into a bottle, see. Yo' po' a bottle of cologne on it see, an' yo' stop it up an' yo' set it one side in yore corner. After nine days yo' kin take dat stuff. (You take this rattlesnake master and you put it in the bottle of cologne. Then after nine days what do you do?) Yo' take it if yo' goin' out round anywheres - yo' jes', every time yo' go out, well, yo' jes' po' some of dat in yore hand an' yo' take it an' rub it all ovah yore face. An' then yo' take anothah piece of it an' sew it into a bag take string then an' let it tie roun' yore waist an' wear dat. See. An' dat keep down all evil.
(If anybody's trying to harm you.)
That protection - dat's chure protection.
Entry 1439
If somebody goin' put somepin down fo' yo' tuh walk ovah or somepin like that, yo' could use salt an' red peppah in yore shoes, or either a piece of root by de name of rattlesnake conker - put that in yore shoes.
Entry 1440
He [a root doctor] fixed me some raid bay. It grows jis' like a - jis' like that [demonstrates] an' all de stems on it is raid. [The heartwood of this small tree in southern U. S. A. is also dark-red.1 You kin take that [stems] an' boil it an' bathe in it nine time, but don't po' de watah out. [Use the same water for the nine baths.] When you bathe dem nine time, dat kill all de swellin' out, an' it'll kill all de fevah out choo.
Entry 1441
[Red-brick powder is an ordinary red brick (soft baked) ground to a powder. Redding is sometimes used as a substitute. Both could be bought at a hoodoo drug store.] If you stay and that wouldn't work, wouldn't do no good, you take your lye water - you see, water that you urinate out. [This is usually called chamber lye.] Take that water and you pour it on your step, rinse your step down - Wash it, scrub it off with that and let it drip.
(And it what?)
Yeah, lye water - your pee water, you see. And you put it on your step and you wash it off with - rinse off your step with it and that [hoodoo] won't hurt you.
(And then sprinkle red brick around?)
Red brick all around - scrub your step with red brick.
(Oh, you scrub your step with red brick?)
Yeah, and you put your urinate water in - your water in, you see, and scrub. And that'll move it [hoodoo] away.
Entry 1442
(What kind of a tree?)
A red oak. Well, yo' go in de woods an' take yo' an axe or hatchet an' git on de south side of de tree about a foot from de ground, an' git de bark until yo' git to de meat - don't git no meat. An' yo' cut de bark off, den, an' yo' take de bark an' carry it back home an' yo' boil it an' yo' make a tea out of it. An' yo' drink de tea.
(What will that do?)
Dat's supposed tuh cure rheumatism.
Entry 1443
When yo' got a bad disease an' yo' go tuh work an' make yo' devils- shoestring, yo' red oak bark an' yo' take it an' put it on an' boil it good, an' then yo' go tuh work an' give 'em a quart of it tuh drink. Then yo' kin take it - take so much of it an' 'noint 'em with it - see, an' that is good fo' de bad.disease.
Entry 1444
After I came here, they told me it was 'bout some hoodoo or something. Well, this is a case which I had a stepfather. (Just a little louder, please.) My stepfather, he was terribly mean. Well, he and my mother separated. Well, he had been talking to a lady that believes in this stuff and he got her to come to my mother to talk to her, but when she got there, my mother didn't know the lady and naturally anybody would come to my mother and talk to her because she was a hairdresser. And she came and she talked and she said sh wanted her hair dressed and she asked what was the price, and she didn't bring all the money. She said she would bring the rest of it later. So my mother went on and fixed her hair, and before she went she asked my mother to give her something to eat - say she was hungry. So my mother got up and fixed her some dinner and brought it in there and gave it to her. So she' told her, say, "That's too much - take part of it off." And she insisted that she take part of it off, so she went back in de kitchen and take some of it off. Well, when she come back, the lady had gotten out of the dining room and she was gone in the bedroom, and she never thought anything about it because she was puttin' a drapery on the bed and she thought maybe she was looking at the time. Well, she come on back in the room and she sit down to eat and she tasted. She had a little boy with her and said, "Do you mind if I give it to my boy? I have enough." So my mother says it all right with her. She gave it to the little boy and the little boy ate it. So when she got up she went on home and then next week she sent the money. So my mother got sick. We didn't know what was the matter with her - she was just ailin' around, didn't any special thing hurt her, she Was just weak. She Was in the bed. She was talking to a lady friend of ours and just how she was feeling and telling her about her sickness.
(I see. All right.) [Something may have disturbed us.]
And she happened to bring up about dis lady coming to see her. And what made her bring that up, they was talking about - this lady [who had her hair done] spoke about her husband that she had been with [but was with no longer] and she was saying he was a good man. And my mother asked her [present visitor] did she know him, and she turned around and told her, no, she didn't know him. Well, they was wondering why did she [woman who had her hair done] come there with that kind of talk, so this lady asked my mother, said, "Don't you know she believes in that hoodoo stuff?" My mother said, "No." So she said, "You get up out of bed," said, "we are going to see if anything is around." So she came in the room and she called me and she say, "Let's look." And we took all the things off the bed and didn't see anything and looked all under the mattress and everything, and under the rugs and everything - looked everywhere we thought for and couldn't find anything. So, we stopped looking for awhile. And then she had a little drop rug on de floor right at the head of the bed and she turned the rug back and found this little black bag in there. There was something in it - it was black, it looked like charcoal and something in there like fine grains of salt or some- thing. I really don't know what it was but that's what it looked like. And so my auntie took it and carried it out on de back porch and we looked at it and so we took it and threw it away. So this lady told my mother to get some hot water and red pepper and mop de floors. She did and after that she was all right. It didn't hurt her or anything other than being sick and just weak.
(Where did this happen? Where?)
It happened right here in Vicksburg.
(Oh, in Vicksburg. How long ago?)
This was in the summer - wait a minute, I will tell almost exactly - summer, 1936.
(1936, I see. Your mother got well?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 1445
You kin take a pod of red pepper, ordin'ry pod of pepper, and take it and put one pod in each shoe. Leave it in the whole pod like it is. You put it in your shoe. You take a common newspaper and you'll cut a sole, and you'll put that on top of that pod of pepper and you know, that will make it too hot, nuthin atall will harm you - see, that will be too hot for anything they put down.
Entry 1446
Now, if someone's trying tuh trick yo' in de feet, yo' go an' git chew ten cents wuth of unbolted [not sifted] co'n meal - dat's de thin, de fine grade stuff. See. Unbolted, dat's de fine grade. Yo' parch dat an' sprinkle it in yore shoe, cover de bottom of yore shoe with it. Put two leaves of red peppah in each shoe, two pods - one in dis toe an' one in dis heel.
(That's two pods in each shoe?)
Dat's right. Yo' kin do anything dat chew wanta an' cain't nobody hurt chew.
Entry 1447
When you make a foottrack in the dirt, if you happens to keep from getting hurt - ah don't know what they put in the track, don't know about dat. But to keep from getting hurt, they tell me you take nine grains of red pepper - you know, seeds, and sew them up in a bag [thus making a hand] and wear it in your shoe. Then they won't hurt cha.
Entry 1448
Yes, ah heard about dat. Dey say dat If yo' think somebody gon'a work roots on yo' or somepin lak that, or somepin dey 'fraid tuh walk ovah, den yo' git chew some cayenne peppah an' put 'bout six swallows of watah in there, yo' understand, an' boil it down to three swallows.
[This is the magic of diminishing amount.]
Yo' take three swallows of dat watah dat night - see, dat first night. Well, yo' don't take nuthin dat next night - yo' skip a night chew see. [This skipping magic is a recurrent magic delay; not the same as alternating magic - left and right, up and down, forward and backward, etc.] Take yo' a teaspoonfula sulphur de next night, chew understand, an' do that fo' - lemme see, yo' take three doses of dis peppah an' den yo' take six doses of dat sulphur. [Here is the complementary magic of increasing amount. Both diminishing and increasing amounts are in multiples of three magic. The exchange between three doses of pepper and three of sulphur is alternating magic; the three additional doses of sulphur being repetitive magic.] An' dat will keep the evil roots an' things off of yuh, so nobody can't harm yo'or nuthin.
Entry 1449
Dere's a protection measure dat you do in order to keep anyone from harming you. You takes a little sulphur inter a little sweet milk and you drink it, you see. Use a little red pepper and a little sulphur to keep in your shoes, you understand, and you contin'lly walk wit dat, you see. Well, tisn't likely that dere is anything dey kin ever do you. Dey kin put down things that will take effect upon you, but you would always get a shock - you'd be over it before there would be any great thing to it. [The informant says that despite "a protective measure...you Would always get a shock when passing over "put down things," but "you'd be over it before there would be any great thing to it." Another informant says, if you walk over some- thing buried for you, the ground will come up like a wave (No.717, p.239). The most frequent indication that you have walked over something evil is an immediate pain in your leg (No. 718, p.239, and Index).] (You take this drink and you wear this stuff in your shoes at the same time? Or are these separate things you do?) Well, now, I tell you, you drinks dis milk fer nine diff'rent mornings into sulphur, you understand. Think it make you sick, but get it straight - it's re'lly purtty good. Drink it - it's re'lly purtty good. And fin'lly, de next nine mornings you puts dis red pepper into your shoes, you see. Nuthin kin be done to you.
Entry 1450
Take red peppah an' sulphah an' gunpowdah an' put it in yore shoe.
(What will that do then?)
That'll keep any evil spirits that are tryin' tuh harm you or something away.
(You could walk over anything and it wouldn't hurt you?)
Yes, walk over anything, wouldn't take any 'fect.
Entry 1451
Well, if they put this down and you walks over it - to keep it from taking effect to you - well, that'll be a spell that they put on you, see. Well then, to remove that spell you use brimstone, red cayenne pepper and then you put gunpowder in it. See. And you let it burn and you stand over it and that will remove that spell if you use it fer nine nights.
Entry 1452
Dey say if somebody is doin' something to yo' an' yo' wanted tuh stay, or yo' wanted tuh stay home. Well, yo'd git some sulphah, a little red peppah an' a little black peppah. Mix it together. Well, yo' git some of dis heah insene [incense] - yo' hear 'em talk about dat - mixes all dat togethah an' put it in a little bag [making a hand] an' sew hit round yore laig - sew it up an' pin it round yore laig. Why yo' is all right, see.
Entry 1453
If anybody's botherin' or worryin' yuh, yo' take saltpetah - yo' dress yo'self in saltpetah and peppah. Yo' put that into yore shoes. That's the old colored remedy that chew git saltpetah and red peppah. Mix that thing togethah and put it in yore shoes or on yore person.
Entry 1454
Yo' know dese roaches. Yo' see, yo' git dem roaches an' draw 'em. Yo' know, dey kill 'em an' den draw yo' a tea an' give to 'em tuh drink - say dat will kill [cure] de fits from 'em.
Entry 1455
"Story too long, too diffuse [to transcribe]. [This quotation is my note about it.] Make tea of St. John weed, bathe down on legs three different times - with same water - then throw towards sunrise - wood sawyers came out through toes - 'white worms with big heads' - over 50 years ago, before 1936. Cf. St. John's weed and European witchcraft." [This is a St.-John's-wort, but which plant of the genus Hypericum, I do not know.]
Entry 1456
Ah know a boy, a fren' of mine. Well, he wus goin' with a girl an' dis girl liked him but he didn't like the girl, an' she took the hair out de top of his haid, right in de mole of his haid an put it in a sody watah bottle. She puts dis bottle undah do'step undah her do'step. Ever' time she would go down de steps or come back in de house he would have convulsion. He had dem so until dey would put stones in his mout' an' he would jis' chew dem stones. Dey brought him heah in town tuh Dr. Crank - yo' might know him, an' carried him tuh Dr. Johnson, an' none of de doctahs couldn't do him no good. Dr. Jenkins said he had de T. B. Dr. Curlew said dat he had de high blood pressuh. An' dey had tuh take him outdo's an' 'bout five minutes apart he'd have 'em so hard until dey jis' mostly dey had tuh hol' him in de baid. An' a spiritual woman took 'em offa 'im. An' she give him - she got a box of table salt an' a box of [baking] sody. She take as much of dat sody as she could hole in her han', in de palm of her han' an' dat much salt an' put it into a gallon bucket of hot watah, an' bathe him in it ever' mawnin' fo' nine mawnin's - give him a bath in dat hot watah. Den she used iodine an' potash tuh clear his blood up. See, dat's tuh keep de blood from goin' tuh his haid. An' he wus so po' till dey fis' laid him out [for burial] - ever'body wus lookin' fo him tuh die. Well, he's up walkin' aroun' now an' have a wife an' kids. But don't nobody use outa dat salt an' neither dat sody but him, see. An' use all of dat until it's all gone. An' rub in olive oil.
(Did she rub him in any special way?)
No.
Entry 1457
A person dat has been tricked in de skin, it's something dat is buried for 'em or laid down on de steps for 'em - de house been dressed. You take nine teaspoonful of cooking salt, you take one dime of saltpeter, use dat, an' eight quarts of water, hot water - just like water for a bath. You pull off all of your clothes, ever'thing you got on, you get in there and take a bath in dat same water nine times.
(What do you mean nine times? All at once or different times?)
Dat same water - don't throw dat water away, you keep it in something like you take a bath in. Never rub upwards - always rub from here down [demonstrates].
(From your face right down.)
From there down. A person whut's been tricked in de skin, rub from here down and use dat water nine times, and de last time you use dat water, take it and throw it towards de sunrise, soon in de morning before de sun rise, so you get rid of dat complaint. Ah'm telling you whut's done happened 'to me.
Entry 1458
Now, if - when yo' wanta be lucky an' stay lucky so yo' kin jest - yo' know, thrive an' have prosperity, yo' jest git chew a nickel worth of saltpeter an' take a tablespoonful of that an' put into yore water, five quarts of water an' take a tablespoonful of table salt an' mix with that an' let it boil down. An' after yo' git dat five guarts of water, yo' heat it. Whenever it start tuh, look like it gon'a boil, yo' jest stir this salt an' brimstone together an' then when yo' begin tuh lie down, yo' take yore bath wit it. An' when yo' take yore bath with it, yo' save dat water an' throw it east. An' every time yo' throw yo' explain lak dis - say, "Lord, moves thine evil influence." An' that [is called] putting de enemies under yore feet.
Entry 1459
The best thing you do, when you go out in the morning, if you got - before you leave your home, if you feel that such as that is carrying on around you, you take such an ordinary thing as - take salt, black pepper and mix that together in a bottle, and scrub your place out. Don't scrub it inward, see. Always scrub out from your place. And with that water you mix salt and black pepper and scrub every morning before the sun rise. Make that a habitual habit to scrub in the morning before the sun rise - every morning scrub out your door before the sun rise, and that will give you a natural protection against anything that's evil. Somebody's put something against you, down for you, that will give you protection against that. [Many scrubbing rites for protection are also given under subsection Business and Customers.]
Entry 1460
They was working at de new shipyard.
(You had thirteen men in your boarding house?)
Yes, and they were paying me well, and I was saving my money and keeping up with my expenses, and things were getting along fine. And I had a neighbor lived downstairs under me and she envied me so much, and she put so much bad luck on me - well, until I just - I'd just gone to nothing because a friend of hers - she Was my friend too - had a car and she would get the friend to always take her out and she told her friend - [who] told me because we been friends, been neighbors - and she says, "Miz Davis, '' she says, "let me tell you one thing, you be careful because the woman that lives downstairs under you, she's a great enemy for you." She say, "Every time we go to ride, she want me to carry her to some old root doctor 'nother," and she say, "I asked her one day, 'How come you go to those kind of folks so much?" And she say, "It's a old mess living up over me and I never let nobody stay upstairs over me but so long, ' an' say, "that old mess up there, she got a whole lot of men and things in her house and she just thinks she's the only thing. "" I didn't do nothing but work, cause I got up every morning at four o'clock and cooked for all those mens and fixed lunches - you know I didn't have much time for foolishness. Jest by myself too because I was a widow and I didn't have - my children were grown and married and gone and - but she would go [to] everybody [doctors] and she had one [root doctor] to come there and I re lly know that he was one. Dey say he come from up about Back River somewhere, and he come in selling vegetables - you know, claim to sell. Well, he wouldn't sell to her for I have asked him, I says, "'What you ask for so-and-so, '' and he wouldn't pay me any mind. And he would come - and one day after he left there, that night I had to go to church early to be at prayer meeting and I was going down by the door, at the front. I was upstairs over her. It wus a three-story building. I had the second and third floors, she had the bottom floor. Well, I d gone out and some- thing was on my door screen and it looked like where a snail or something had been, and I put my hand right in it to open the door. I said, "Ooh, I wonder what's this on my hand, and one mind caught me right away, says, "Run and wash your hands in some warm salt water, table salt." And I ran back upstairs. And they all say, "What's the matter?" I say, "There something bad on the door. I just come back to wash my hand - I got my hand in it." And they say, "What is that?" I say, "Ah don't know." But I'd taken some of that warm salt water and wring and washed it off the door. But do you know this hand got where it had went up in my shoulder and for a year or more I could hardly use this arm; I had to hire the most of my work done. But I kept a usin' it kept on my mind to use this salt and water and I used it and used it. And then it just come to my mind to sprinkle salt and I just kept salt water and sprinkled my steps and all around my door that way. And you know one thing? Fin'lly she moved herself. Now, she did. She moved herself and I didn't never bother her. We'd both belong to the same church and she was a choir member and I was usher of the same church. And while she envied me, I didn't never say anything to her - never had nothing to do with her nohow cause I worked all the time. But that's what happened to me, and she just throw bad luck on me. [Here is where this particular story ended. I thought so because I turned off my machine. But the old lady started off again, visiting a white fortune-teller before I could push the starting button.] She say, "Chile, you ought to move out of that house, you have so many enemies that.... [This advice is often given by doctors.] Her continued story not too promising, I again stopped the Telediphone. Suddenly I must have asked, "Who was this woman?" before I could maneuver to the switchbox. One neither jumps at the switch nor keeps his hand constantly on it
(see Introduction).]
A white lady and ole. And she was up there [in the country] and she say, "I would come down there and dress your house and you'd have better luck, and kill out of some of these things. Oh! if you knowed what we speaker and guiding spirit] saw over your house. You wouldn't even have no idea." And Isaid, 'But I don't bother nobody." Well, she say, "Those [are] the warnings. You tends to your business and work hard and they envies you, and you have a whole lot of trouble. You don't mind [if you are not careful] they goin' trick you." And they re'lly tricked me. You know, all those mens was runned away from there. And lemme tell you one thing, my own son run from mah home like - when he came from Philadelphia, he came from Philadelphia - because he told me because I wouldn't let him have his way, because I want everything to be quite among nice neighbors and things. He's kind of rough. He just come from Philadelphia, you know, and he wanted to keep up his old rough crowd and I wouldn't have it. And he said, "You'll just set around here and go crazy about a little money you is making here, but there ain't goin' be nobody here 'cept you." And it shore was and I always believed he did it. Now I shore does. I've had a hard time here, I certainly has, and I haven't no husband, not a soul, even I haven't a friend. I had a good friend and they even run him away from me, and we didn't falled out or nuthin - he just left. And that took all my help you see. You see, when I had no help, I just went down to nothing - jest So many spells and things. That lady told me, she said, "You cain't live here in no peace. Your house is ruined. You don't have the idea who come in there and dropped it [cunjuration] as they come in - pretend to be friends." Well, I said, "Well, I don't take nobody for no friend." " She said, "But you wouldn't have the idea." And I knowed my own son was one of them and he's living downtown today and he won't help me as much as anybody else. He certainly won't, because he envied me. And he ought not to because when his work gave out in Philadelphia he came home here and I'd taken care of him a whole year before he could get anything to do, because there wasn't any work, and soon as he got into the.shipyard he went on and got him a room somewhere else. He did that and he'd do that today.
Entry 1461
I have heard a old lady say that along about sundown that if one should go out to the front door and throw out a handful of salt, no evils will approach that house over the night.
Entry 1462
You take salt and put it down on the ground at your door and that would keep all evil spirits away. That's what the colored people used to do to over- come master and mistress. After the master and mistress walks over it, it scatters.their mind.
Entry 1463
If someone tryin' tuh harm yo' or put anything roun' yore house, jes' git up at night an' yo' thinkin' dey goin' do dat, every night fo' nine nights an' put dis salt. Put de pot salt - carry it round de house fo' nine nights an' talk to it, an' why, no one couldn't harm yo' an' put nuthin else round dere atall.
Entry 1464
If someone tryin' tuh do yo' somepin round yore home - maybe injure yo' or cumjure yo' tryin' tuh do yo' some harm, if you wanta prevent this trouble, you might read the 7th chapter of the Psalm of David and then walk around yore home about nine times during de night or in de morning between de sun setting and de sun rising, wit salt in yore han' an' call de name of yore enemies or those yo' think about as trying to do yo harm, an dey'll do yo no harn.
Entry 1465
Yo' kin dress yore home tuh keep evil away from yoreself.
(How do you do that?)
Well, now yo' kin take salt an' put it in de fo' corner of yore house, "In de Name of de Father, Son an' de Holy Ghost," an' make yore wish for good luck an' yo' know, good things, an' dat keeps dat evil from ovahpowahin' it. It's re'lly good. Ah believes it.
Entry 1466
If a evil person comes in your house, go to the back door with salt in your hand and throw the salt over your right shoulder with your back turned to the door and don't look back to keep from having bad luck.
Entry 1467
Lak if somebody come to yore house, which an' why yo' have a house of yore own - if somebody come dere an' yo' know people, if dey wanta harm yo', dey usually put somepin up undah yore steps. If they put somepin up undah yore steps an' yo' walk out, if yo' happen tuh see it or if somebody see it 'fore yo' do, de first thing yo' do, yo' go in de house an' yo' git chew some black peppah an' salt an' sulphur, an' yo' come back out an' yo' throw it cross yore shoulder, turn roun' an' throw it cross yore shoulder, an' throw it ovah de fence whut chew have, an' jes' sprinkle it all ovah yore yard. That'll kill it.
Entry 1468
Mrs. M., the person with whom I live [in Berlin, Md.] there's a family near her who throws salt after every one that comes there. And they throw salt and shake an apron after the person is gone. And they claim that if the person has come there for an ill intention, he won't return any more.
The narrator reports a family's claim that an ill-intentioned visitor will not return after their salt-and-apron practice; protection is unverified.
Entry 1469
If yo' wanta keep 'em from doin' anything else to yo', yo' git some table salt an' red peppah, jes' cayenne peppah, an' sulphur an' mix it together an' sprinkle it all roun' yore house. An' while yo' comin' in de path dere, dere where yo' turn off de street into de path, after yo' sprinkle it down, drive yo a ten-penny nail, a new ten-penny nail dere. An' if de path comes into yore house, yo' drive dem nail in dere an' dey can't git to yo' to do nuthin to yo'.
Entry 1470
Yo' kin slow 'em up fo' a while. Yo' kin git a peck of salt - a peck, one level peck. Not in a tin - don't let it tetch de tin if yo' kin - git it in a bucket an' strike it off as dey used to do long yeahs ago, yo' know. [To strike Off salt or grain was to level it across the top of the container by using a straight-edged board, back of saw, etc.]
(A whole peck of salt?)
A whole peck, an' jes' as much - ah guess a quart of sulphur an' mix it all up together. Dis is yore land now - yo' kin do whut chew want on it. Yo' go to de fo' corners of yore place - well, yo' plant it jes' level wit de ground an' cover it up so dat chew won't plow into it if yo's a farmer. An if dey trying to git it from yo' unfairly, why yo' kin stop 'em a while an' yo' kin git straigtened out. Ah've seen dis done. (That is to protect you if anybody is trying to harm you by getting your property? Or drive you away?) Yes sir - dat's it.
Entry 1471
To protect your things when you leave home - I've heard old people say, to keep anyone from entering your house while away, if you'll walk five steps from the door, throw some salt over your left shoulder, then over your right shoulder, then make a hole and spit in the hole and cover it with dirt, then walk ten more feet and make an X in the road, make a circle around the X, and then make a secret wish - if you should go away from home and stay two weeks, no one will enter your house while away.
Entry 1472
(Now, wait. In other words, you make a cross like that in your path. Then what do you do?) Fill it with table salt. Nawsir [not that] - jest sprinkle dose marks, right in dose marks.
(In the cross marks. What else do you do?)
You could put a little cayenne pepper in with that.
(What is that supposed to do?)
Well, anybody walks over that why it runs them - git rid of yo' enemies.
Entry 1473
Jis' like you wanted someone to stay away from you. An' you take a box of brand-new salt an' you git a box of this cayenne peppah. Well, now, you got to take the cayenne peppah an' measure it jist as high as the salt box [the salt pile from the emptied box] is make each one [each pile] even with the other one. Then you take them all an' dump them into a papah right togethah - jist mix it all up togethah good. An' if there's someone jist keep botherin' you or they's put something down for you - why, jis' like they'd come an' sprinkle acrost that doah, whutevah they have - you start from your doah an' sprinkle. Jis' take this peppah [and salt] an' sprinkle it backwards - jis' walk right backwards to it [what the enemy has sprinkled]; an' then you walk aroun', don't come back over it you'self, walk right on aroun', an' come in you' next doah. An' they can't come no further than that same place there.
Entry 1474
(If a person has crossed you?)
Yeah.
(You go to the stove?)
Go to the stove or place where a fire what's lit, and you take you some salt, you see, and just sprinkle it over the flame, you know, and you repeat the Lord's Prayer, and the flames quiver from de salt, you know, and then you do with your hand like dat and read the 37th Psalm [demonstrates].
(You hold your hands up in the air together after you said your prayer.)
After the prayer. You repeat the Lord's Prayer and ask the Lord to give you peace of mind and, "The Lord deliver me from mine enemies. ".
Entry 1475
Get a bag of salt and put it under your pillow, open your window and put a spoon under it, and he [a ghost] can't cross that.
Entry 1476
Oh, well, yo' take yore shoes now an' a person try tuh wear it - jes' lak ah try tuh wear yore shoes an' try tuh harm yo'. Take it an' sprinkle salt an' peppah - keep salt an' peppah black peppah in dat shoe an' wear it right underneat' yore socks all de time. Ah mean not changin' dat - jes' let it stay in dat de same. An' den take yore toenails, de end of yore toenails an' trim dat an' keep hit in dere, keep it dere. He couldn't put chure shoes on fo' nuthin.
(Why would you do that?)
Well, dat tuh keep yore spirit in de shoes dat his spirit couldn't connect wit yores. (These are my shoes - whose going to do that? Am I goin' to do that to my shoes? Or some other fellow is going to do it to my shoes?) No, yo' do it to yore own shoes.
(Why am I doing that - to protect myself?)
Yes sir. [Place and reference lost.]
Entry 1477
You take some red pepper an' salt an' sulphur, an' put it together an' stir it up, mix it up, put in yer shoe [both shoes]; let it go clean back to the toe, heel an' all. Cut you a false [inner] sole - you ought to always git your shoes big enough to cut a false sole - an' put in theah. Put yer shoe on. They cannot hurt choo, an' you walk over anything you want an' it won't bother yah.
Entry 1478
Yo' kin take some salt - table salt an' sulphur an' red peppah, mix it together an' stir it with yore left hand. Sprinkle some of it in each of yore shoes an' yo' kin travel anywhere yo' wanta travel.
Entry 1479
Yo' kin put sulphur in yore shoe an' wear it in dere or either go to some root man or -
(How do you mean you put sulphur in your shoe?)
Well, see, yo' kin either put sulphur or red pepper - red pepper an' sulphur. Git chew a box of red pepper - ah hear mah mother say dat - git chew a box of red pepper an' brand-new box of salt had nevah been used out of. Sprinkle it inside of yore shoe an wear it in dere. Don't use it fo' nuthin else but that. An' that'll keep anyone from - or either sulphur, wear it in yore shoe - keep anyone from tricking yo' or anything like that.
(Do you sprinkle that in both shoes or just one?)
Both of 'em, either one. Either put it ovah de do'.
Entry 1480
Say if they put anything down fo' yo', if yo' wanta walk ovah it or go ovah it, jes' git chew some sulphur, some salt, black peppah an' take an' jes' make yo' a ball with it lak that an' jes' put it in a red flannel an' yo' kin go anywhere about an' it won't bother yo'.
[This is a protection hand.]
(Where do you keep that red flannel?)
Jes' keep it anywhere next to yore heart - in yore watch pocket or in yore shirt pocket, anywhere.
Entry 1481
Well, ah heard if yo' walk along - jest whut dey put down fo' yo' to hurt chew some way, yo' jest git chew some sulphur, a few grains [seed or pieces] of red peppah, a little gunpowder, a little table salt, an' wear it in yore shoe. It will eat up everything whut chew walk ovah.
Entry 1482
Dey go out dere and sprinkle some stuff down in front of the door and Sprinkle stuff where dey know you have to pass on dat, you see - some kind of powder. If you wants to kick [kill] dat, you get you some bluestone and salt and wear dat in your shoe. That'll stop any person - the stuff dey put down from affectin' you dat's ketching it in yore feet, you see, to keep you from walkin'. And if you ketch it yore feet, dey goin' set you down and you goin' be down in de house helpless and you can't do anything, you see, until - and if you don't know what to do, then you gotta go and get somebody that knows more than you know that get that off of you, you see. And if dey get dat off of you - but they ain't goin' tell you what they done, you see. But you always know dat they got it off of you, you know you wasn't in de fix you always was - they done something but they ain't going tell you. Dey'll give you some stuff to take - they won't tell you what dat is. If you don't know, you see, you just don't know.
Entry 1483
And den, how you dress yo' feet. Yo' through wit dat part. How you dress yo' feet, you takes bluestone, beat up fine - not so much, just a leetle bit of piece and sulphur and salt. Put in each one of your shoes, put it under- neath the lining in your shoes. See. Well, you know what dat is fo'? That is for to keep dem from hurting you. See, dey kin hurt chew all kind of ways and dey can hurt chew on your feet so bad, if you don't hurry roun' and use dat chamber lye and things, saltpeter, you shore will get hit - you'll be out dere in de cemetery, for dey re'lly kin do it. Dat's de only thing whut kin pertect yore feet.
Entry 1484
Anybody put somepin down fo' yo': to protect yoreself, yo' kin get yo' some sulphur an' ashes out of de stove, jest de ashes - sulphur an' ashes an bluestone an' tablesalt, an' wear it in yore shoes an' nuthin won't harm yo'. Yo' kin walk over mostly anything.
(Do you wear that in both shoes?)
Wear it in both shoes, nuthin won't bother yo'.
Entry 1485
Now dis salt an' brimstone an' graveyard dirt is used fo' many things - see, that salt an' brimstone. Take table salt an' sulphur an' brimstone an' burn it together - see, burn it together, an' den make a sack of that. See, that is called a bodyguard, body protection - make a sack of that. [This is a hand.] An' every nine days saturate [feed] dat good an' well wit camphor. That will keep - not sin, but will keep de evil spirits off yuh - using a little graveyard dust in dat.
(Nobody can harm you if you have that on you?)
No sir, can't harm you.
Entry 1486
Take salt, table salt, an' black peppah an' hone, an' mix dat together an' grease yore foot wit it an' use dat in yore shoe. Dat would keep dis offa yo' - lak if dey wanted to hurt chew, dat would keep dat off.
(If you walk over anything?)
Yes.
Entry 1487
He [root doctor] told her [his patient] she go in de house and git him some salt and he put hit on de place where he dug it [dug up the hoodoo article] and covered it [the hole] up. [Cf. No.897, p.328.]
Entry 1488
[They get some dust] from the grave and sprinkle it in yeh house, and that cause you to have disease - cause you sickness. But.now the way they get rid of that is to take salt see, if you see this dus' in yer floor. You kin see it, you see, becus [it] is brown, yellah - whutever [color] it is. And you kin sprinkle salt over that see and you take some pepper. And you sweep all that up together and then you go out de door see, and if there's anywhere any running water, you throw it in this running water. That'll throw it back on the person.
Entry 1489
A lettah from a person, a lettah already dressed fo' yo' - dey always tole me, say, don't nevah receive de first lettah in yore hand, say git chew some table salt an' throw it on it an' den pick it on up, say it can't hurt chew. Yo' kills dat right den.
(Any letter you get?)
Yes sir, if yo' think it.wus somethin' dressed fo' yo'. Jes' take yo' some table salt an' put on it an' dat kills all dat. Or use turpentine.
(Or use some turpentine?)
Turpentine is good.