Browse:Consultation Technique (Volume 1, entries 869–888)
Consultation Technique
Volume 1, entries 869–888. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 869
[How Hippocrates began a consultation I do not know, but his descendants in ancient Rome, the Greek-slave doctor, always started with, "Do you drink white wine or red wine?" Two thousand years later their modern descendants, Doctors of Medicine, still ask a similar question, "How many packs do you smoke a day?" Yet my root doctors and witch doctors, colored and white, have kept the longest healing tradition, one predating Hippocrates, "Scare hell out of them!" Without primitive mask and rattle we will now learn how the scaring is done:] Ah hear dey use de fish - dey take live fish aigs an' dey give 'em to whatevah individual dey kin put 'em on in watah, to drink it down, an' dat will cause live fish to come in 'em. An' dat fish goes to worryin' yo' - dey'll grow until some- body take dem outa yo'. Den dey use snakes - dey use snake's blood. Dey got'a kill de snake, 'cause he daid, his blood is good. Or jes' bruise him enough to git a grain or two of blood. An' dey stretch it out fo' de person whatevah dey goin' aftah. An' de snake will live right on an' long as he live dat blood will live in him. See, dat woman or whosomevah dey be, it will cause snakes to form in 'em.
(Is there any way that you can get these live things out of a person?)
Yessuh, dere a way we kin git 'em out. We goes then an' we find a ole sorcerer - whut we calls ole witchcraft. We tells her - she tells us tuh come in an' we don' have tuh tell her nuthin. She says, "Somepin wrong wit chew." Den she goes on down an' she carries us to de room an' she says, "Someone has did somepin to yo'." Yo' tell her how yo' been actin' - say, "Yes, it feel lak dere somepin jes' movin' all about down in dere." Say, "Ah went to de doctors three or fo' times - six or seven time an' he don't seem to be doin' me any good." She say, "No, de doctor can't reach yore case." Say, "Ah'll have to cure yo but chew like tuh waited too late to give yo' time tuh git it up. Well, den yo' git scared an' say, Yo' reckon ah waited too late?" She say, "No, prob'bly ah kin reach yore case. Den she goes back an' she calls 'em.
(Calls whom?)
Calls dis heah plague dat chew have in yo' - she calls 'em by name, she have de name. De sorcerer have de name for it. Yo' kin find only 'bout a few of 'em. Dere's very few now. She calls 'em an' she takes her han's an' she carries it an' she holds one on de top yore haid an' one right chere - de back of yore neck right chere. An' she calls 'em an' she gives yo' some watah an' tell yo' drink three swallows an' hold yore mouth ovah a pot, an' he comes out. Den she gives yo' somepin tuh take.
(What comes out?)
Dis heah plague whatsomevah it may be - it comes walkin' right out - dis live thing comes out. She shets him up an' shows 'em to yo' an' she axe vo' - she axe yo', "Whut yo' want done about it?" Say, "Do yo' want me tuh put it back on de party whut put it on yo'?" She calls de party name whosomevah may be did it - she say, [whoever] did it, say, "Ah kin have them fixed that way by night, if yo' wanta." Well, yo' might feel at first, "Yes, let 'em have it." Well, yo' go den an' yo' leave dat house an' yo' go dere an' find dat person in de same shape. Dat's whut dey do. But lotsa times, yo' see, it kinda raw yo' know tuh turn de trick back on de person dat pulled it ovah on yo'. But first dey got'a git somethin' in yo' to do it completely. Dey do it through anything dat chew love - sometime dey do it through a friend. (You say the fortune-teller and the sorcerer are different?) [Sorcerer = a witchcraft said informant.] Dey entirely different - dey both obtain de same thing, but de sorcerer, he have de power to take things from 'em. Lotsa fortune-tellers doesn't have dat. De fortune-teller an' de sorcerer, dey have de power of tellin' yore fortune. He kin tell yo' whut happen to you an' tell yo' who done it, de way dey did it an' whut chew wus doin' when yo' wus did. An' de fortune-teller he kin tell yore fortune - tell whut yo' lost an' where yo' stole dem goods at, tell yo' whatsom- evah yo' lost an' whatsomevah yo' ain't, love cases. Dat's de fortune-teller - he reads yore fortune.
Entry 870
They said what they give him in the whiskey - it was a bird was in it, a bird grown in him and it laid and it done hatch. And after the bird hatch up, then the boy died. The root man told him.that if he'd got him a little earlier he could of saved the boy 'fore the bird hatched in him. [This is one of many excuses either to explain failure to cure or refusal to accept the case.] [Wilmington, N. Car., (245), 242:4; near Pinewood, S. Car.,1934.]
Entry 871
I was hurt myself - I was hurt in whiskey and I started with a little pain back of my head. And it keep hurtin' and hurtin' and I thought it was from a - I caught cold. And so I went to the doctor and I got some medicine but that made me still worse and so I got down in the bed. And so they keep gavin' me medicine and that wouldn't do no good, and so my aunt went and seen a root doctor. I was so sick I couldn't go myself. Well, she got him and bring him up to the house and he look after me. And he went and got some mustard and got some salt from the drug store, and some black pepper, and take a little bit of dat salt and black pepper and put it in the mole [mold] of my head, and when he put it in there he said, "In the Father and in the Son and Three in One." And when he did that he took that mustard and some black pepper and salt and a little flour and mixed it together, and he take it and made a plaster and he put it under the bottom of my feet. And I was so I couldn't sleep that night. And after he did that and I got relief in less than thirty minutes. If he hadn't of done somepin to me under twenty-four hours, you see, I would of been dead [thig is what the doctor told her]. He said I get it in this whiskey give me by my friend.
Entry 872
Dat happened heah once. Dey said he was buried. Two preachers had a diff'rence ovah a church. An' one succeeded de other. Dis fellah dat lost had taken a pin - a wooden peg an' shahpened [sharpened] it, an' whut he did to it aside from dat I don't know; but he took an' he drove it three licks right under dis fellah's doorstep. An' de fellah had taken sick an' grad'lly pined away - kept pining, kept pining. (All you remember is that he just put this peg in the door. And then you say he went to some doctor?) Dis fellah went to a hoodoo doctor and explained it to him.
(What did this hoodoo doctor say to him?)
Tole him, 'Yo' go home an' look under de left-hand corner of yore doorstep, yo'll find a peg driven undah yore step." He say, "Yo's pinned down, say, ''but it's too late now - yo won't git ovah it, but," he say, "yo' take it up. He say, "De first man that comes to see you, after you're home, will be de fellah dat put it dere." Dat's whut chew call pinnin' down or bearin' [burying] jist de same.
The interviewer says door in a recap; the informant account specifies doorstep or step. These locations are kept distinct.
Entry 873
Ah kin [tell] yo' whut dey say about dat 'cause mah husband - he was then with a woman. Ah kin tell you whole lot 'bout dat, because he tole me this on his deathbed over there in de hospital - me an' him had been separated fo' about ten years, an' so - (Tell me the whole story - how that began.) Befo' he began to git down lak he was, he came to me to mah home. He said - asked me for some alcohol. Ah say, "Well, ah haven't got de alcohol, but ah have a dime - go out chere to doc an' ask him to credit me for a nickel an' ah'll give you a bottle of alcohol." So ah went out there and got de alcohol and brought it back in to him and give tuh him an' ah said, "Now when yo' go home" - he was tellin' me whut part of him Was daid. He says, "Mah toe is daid right up to where it joins tuh mah foot." Ah said, "Well, what caused it to be?" He said, "Ah have high blood pressure." Ah said, "No, ah have high blood pressure fo' de last ten years - yo' know that." He said, "Well, hit's a stroke." Ah said, "A stroke don't come like that, it comes right now - it don't come by degree an' by degrees." So he'd taken dat alcohol and he went home and he rubbed hisself with it once or twice - begin to do good. So fin'lly he rubbed again and it begin to git worse. When he came back tuh me agin he said, "Mah laig is daid down tuh mah knee." Ah said, "Deah me, whut on earth is de matter?" Ah say, "Why don't chew go to someone know mo' than yo' do and mo' than ah do?" He says, "Ah don't know where tuh go." Ah says, "Go 'cross de creek down heah tuh Madam Kay," like dat. He says, "Well, ah don't know." He says, "Ah can't git mah mind to do that." Ah said, "Well, all right, yo' jes' keep on an' fin'lly yo' may be dead you can't trust such things." People have sense - people have sense like that. So, when he came back again - he was goin' down to de shipyard tuh work and he come on back agin, he had fell down dere. His cousin said fo' me tuh come there, that he had fell. Ah went on ovah there. Ah says, "What's de matter now?" He says, "Ah'm jes' done got to de place where mah limbs is no good tuh me - ah can't use 'em. Ah said, "Well, ah can't see what on earth is de matter wit chew." He say, "Ah don't either - ah don't know whut's de matter with me." Ah said, "Do you think somebody's got anything dat belong tuh yo'?" He said, "No - haven't anybody got anything belong tuh me." He said, "Why don't chew bring a doctor fo' me?" Ah called Dr. Edmund. Dr. Edmund come an' he examine everywhere - all - down there and everywhere. He said tuh me, "Ah can't see what's de matter with him - without his blood's wrong." Ah said, "Well, Doctor, yo' say his heart's good, his kidney and everything - mah mind tell me if his heart is good and his kidney's, his blood cannot be wrong." Then ah said, "Cause de blood that penetrates through de heart - look like it ought to 'fect the heart, don't it tuh yo'?" He said, "That is the truth." Well, de week befo' he died - on a Sunday - he sent fo' me to come out there. Ah went on out there, he said tuh me, he say, "Yo' was a good wife to me but ah didn't have sense enough to know it - ah couldn't help mahself." He said, "Ah found those bottles in mah bed tick, ah found that piece that ah was laying on," he say, "an' Willie" - de woman was named Willie - "she had some- thing around her waist. She tole me it was to keep yo' from hurtin' her." Ah said, "Well, dat's somethin' ah don't believe in. He said, "An' that have killed me." He says, "Dey have got tuh de place now," he says, "ah'm no mo' good." He'd lost his use - he couldn't move his hands and he couldn't move his feet, he couldn't do nothin' but jest do that [demonstrates a slight movement]. When he told me that, ah went to a man, a spiritual man - called to be a spiritualZy man. An' ah didn't have any money an' ah sit there and ah begin tuh cry. He looked at me and he said, "Yo' is in trouble?" Ah didn't say anything because ah was scared to. He says, "Yore husband's funeral was arranged at de start." I said, "Mah husband." He says, "Yes, but yore not with him." Ah said, "Whut's de matter with him?" He says, "A wuman - two of 'em - a dark-brown-skinned 'un and a light-brown- skin man have got de toe of his sock - his left-foot sock and de seat of his drawers." He said, "Now it's too late. Ah said, "Can yo' do anything?" He said, "Can't do nuthin - if you had come jes' a week befo' yo' put him in de hospitai." Ah said, "I didn't put him there." He said, "His cousin did," he say, "ah could have cured him." Ah say, "Well, if I go there and ask the Sisters can yo come in an' rub him, would yogo?" He say, "Can't do any good." Ah said, "Well, whut did they take." He says, "Nuthin but de seat of his drawers and de left toe of his sock," he says, "though they got somepin on de inside with whiskey." (Well, what did they do with that piece of sock? What did they do with it - did he tell you what they did with that?) No sir, he didn't never tell me what did he do with it. Yes, yes he did - one that ah went to, tole me to go inside de graveyard gate jes' about fo' steps.
(Who told you that?)
It's another [man] called to be a hoodoo man.
(Did you go to another man, then?)
Yes sir. So ah left that man and went to dis one. And both told me de same thing, but dis man tole me where to go find it. He said go right inside de Magnolia Cemetery into the white side and jes' as yo' go in de gate, he say on the left-hand side.
(You said something about taking four steps, didn't you?)
"Jes' 'bout fo' steps inside de gate," he said, "an' yo' dig down there and you'll git a cloth wrapped tight with needles and pins," he said, "but if you git it up thare he will die right now." Ah said, "Well, if ah git it up but [or] don' git it up, he's goin' die." He says, "Yes, nuthin can be done, now." Ah says, "Well, ah jes' as well leave it there, '' ah said, ''because ah don't want him to die if he will stay here a while longer. An' ah went on ovah to de hospital an' like tomorrow was Saturday, he died the next day.
(Did anything ever happen to these people that put that spell on him?)
Not yet, there hasn't.
Entry 874
(I see. Can you tell me what happened - just how it was done or how they were cured? What happened?) Was no cure to dis.
(Oh, I see. You know how it was done, though?) Yes. (All right - suppose you tell me that?) Hit was - (Go ahead - go ahead.)
It was a girl friend of mine. She was hurt. Well, she went to a doctor and the doctor say she have to be operated on. Well, she went through the operation and come back home and about a year - she lingered and lingered about a year after the operation. Well, her father say, "Well, I'm going to take you to a lady that I know could tell me something concerning your trouble." So he carried her.
(Where did this happen - here in Vicksburg?)
No, sir.
(Where did this happen?)
In Louisiana - way over in Louisiana. And he said, "I'm goin' carry you to a lady that kin tell me more about your trouble. And he carried her to the lady and she told him, say, "Look, you twelve months late with this girl," say, "her insides is eat up - her insides is fulla holes just like a sifter, and it's done into her by brass pins." She'd taken them there rags, you know.
(A woman's rags?)
Yes, sir.
(Monthly rags?)
Yes, sir. She took them pins and that brass pin in there and buried it and eight-penny nails - about twelve eight-penny nails. That's what she told him.
(How many brass pins did he put in?)
Twelve and twelve nails.
(Well, what did he do with that rag then, after he put those nails in it?)
Buried it.
(Where did this happen in Louisiana?)
Near Leesville, Louisiana.
(Near Leesville, Louisiana. How many years ago would that be?)
That was in '29 [1929].
The reported account names brass pins and separately nails. The alleged practice and injury are not authenticated, and pins are not relabeled as needles.
Entry 875
I kin explain something that happened to me once in life, see. Well, see, I married, and I married - the husband I married, he was much older than I was.] I was only fourteen years of age and he was living with a lady at the time. Well, he left her to marry me. Well, in the meantime, she didn't care for me to marry him. Well, I married him anyway and course - we lived together, twas about seven months. And afterwards we commence to having disputes and I didn't know what it was all about. So one day as I was hanging up de clothes, I found in his pocket a little bag It was sewed in the bottom of one of his coat pockets. So I'd taken the bag out and opened it and it was lotta dust or something like that - pepper and salt mixed up and different stuff. Well, I didn't re'lly know what it was. Well, I opened this bag and I smelled it and I took on a fainting headache. Well, after that I was taken sick and with the headache. I never could get rid of it. I went to several medical doctors and I never could get rid of it. Well, I went to this doctor down here on Washington Street, named Doctor Spencer - he supposed to be a root doctor. Well, after I went to him, he put me up on the table and he examined me and he told me that I was sick. Well, ah wanted to know then what it was, and he told me, say, "Well, now, I'll be out to see you tomorrow." I was living on Adams Street. Well, when I'd gotten back home - well, my husband, he had left, but I didn't know what was de trouble. And so, then I went on to the place where he was stopping at and they told me that he had moved his clothes and everything; but he was not there, but he and the woman was together at another place. Well, then Doctor Spencer came out to me the next day, and he told me that he wanted to investigate round my house but he didn't wanta do it until night and he would show me something. That night he came back and he found a little bottle. [We] had a walk - we walked from the street to my house. Well, it was a bottle sitting up with a stopper in it. Some stuff was in it - the small bottle was sticking out and the big bottle was sticking in. And he said, "This stopper - as long as this big bottle is sticking in, you see, you would [will] never get rid of your headache." Hit was something in the bottle - kind of yellowish looking and he poured it out. It just, you know, just circle like. It didn't never look like water or anything - seemed more like it was oil than anything else. Well, he told me that that was causing my headache and when that stopper would have blew out, he said I would of died, if I hadn't of come to him no quicker. Well, he tole me that he would charge $25 for that and I would pay him. The next day I had a notice in my door for to meet court. My husband was putting in for divorce. I had a notice in to meet court. I went on to the [something] clerk and he told me if I wanted to file a suit against him, to sue him for alimony, that I could do it. Well, I didn't know how to go up against him - being young: Well, I went on out dere - it was a lady, they told me that could read cards and tell me things. And she charged me a dollar to do that. She told me that if I would enter a suit against him I could beat him in court, providin' if she would help me. Well, I asked how much would it cost to do that and she told me and she sent me to her lawyer - Lawyer Smith.
(What did she charge you?)
This woman, she didn't charge me but a dollar. But the lawyer he charged $50 but he got it from him [the husband]. It was during the time before the bonus was paid in 1931. Well, after de bonus was paid, then - before de bonus was paid we had our lawsuit at the courthouse. Well, this lady she was there, the lawyer, and he [the husband] was there. Well, ah beat him in de case. Well, after I beat him in de case - it was three or four days afterwards, this money came from de government. Well, she told me to go ahead on and take $50 - that was de best I could do out of it, and he paid my lawyer and his lawyer $50 which is $100. Well, then we stayed on separated and later he was shed of de woman that he was living with at the time. She came to my house one day and she brought a little cake for my baby - know, we had a child. And so I just broke [a piece] off de cake to taste it. I didn't think she was trying to do anything to me 'cause it was nothing I had did to her; but I just taste the cake for it was intended for my baby. And after tasting the cake I wasn't nearly anything else but under a letagy[? lethargy?]. Then they called de doctor again. Well, then he come and he bathed me off, and it was somethin' runnin' through my body, just like it was crickets or somethin' - you know, it was just like somethin' was crawlin' in me but you never could tell what it was. (How did he bathe you - any special way?) [I wanted to know whether it was the magic rite of downwards.1 No sir, he just took me and put some water in a basin and just stripped me off and just took that wet towel and just, you know, wrung it kinda dry and wiped me down. Well, I could feel - I could see - he told me. [He told me shows the crickets were not crawling about in her until after his suggestion.] (He wiped you down - he didn't wipe you up?) [Again, I sought the magic rite of downwards.] No, sir. he just wiped it down - he say, so hit - so it would cover my body - says it was coming up, and it was also dangerous.
(Was this Doctor Spencer that did this?)
This same Doctor Spencer. He supposed to be a root doctor. And so, after then, I commenced to feeling pretty good, but hit would sorta run up this laig and would go down.
(Go down the same leg?)
Come up one and go down the other one - it crossed the body like that. Well, he doctored on me that way for about six or seven months. I was - I had passed Walking at one time - I had lost my nerve - had run down so I just couldn't - and from worrying over my condition I just couldn't do anything. Well, that happened after the lawsuit was, and I beat him in the case and got this money out of him. Well, I had to pay the biggest of that out to the doctor. Well, I'd gotten better, then I went on to work again down to the cafe. I went to work at the cafe then and I heard about a lady in the same fix I was in, and I sent her to Doctor Spencer. She was telling me about that she had frogs - the shape of frogs would pop up in her skin. And so she said that he cured her. And so I sent several people to him since then. But that my own - I've been in that shape myself. And then I knows lots of others that re'lly have been tricked like that - in hoodooism like that.
(You finally got well, didn't you?)
Yes, I got well. Ah fin'lly got well and me and my husband stayed separated then nine years and seven months and then we went back together, and we living - fin'lly I got well and I don't have any trouble whatever now.
(Are you still living together?)
Still living with my same husband.
(Well, what did you do - have to get married again?)
No, sir. Ah divorced him to a clean sweep - see, they put the divorce in, but after we couldn't get the divorce..through - he was suing me all the same to try to take the child from me -.and so they didn't let the divorce go all the way through. Then, we never did get it through, so we just went back together.
(I see.)
Entry 876
The story's if you git a spider in whiskey. And she poisoned this girl and this girl said - told her before she found this lady. The lady doctor says, "You've waited a little too long for her." She say, "I kin take this spiders from you and scorpions but I can't cure you." She says, "Three scorpions will come out your legs: one will come in the back of your leg, and one on the side; and one comin' out cher right leg, two comin' out your left one - [if] them two would of been in your right leg, I could of cured, but it was in the left one." So, "The first one start out," she says, "he'll go into the fireplace; next one start out, he's goin' back under the bed; and the last one starts out, he goin' start for the door about three times." She says, "You goin live three days." And the three days were out, she died. This happen up here at Pender County [North Carolina] at a place called Rook Station about fifteen years ago [1922]. [Cf. these 3 scorpions with 3 ground puppies, No. 578, p.89.]
Entry 877
Well, ah know of a man once he wus poisoned. He got poisoned by his wife. His wife given dis poison to her two oldest daughters to give him. Well, dis man's life lingered a good length of time befo' he died. A week befo' he died dey went to git somebody tuh see if dey could do him any good. Well, after gittin' dis man, dey were too late - dis sick man he wus too fur gone, but this man tells this man's brother that wus sick, he said that his brother wus too fer gone, dat he couldn't do him any good now, but he could git dese two persons that give this man this trick, an' two yeahs aftah dis man was buried, dey would be buried. Well, de first yeah aftah buryin' dis man - nine months aftah dis man wus buried, dis man's oldest daughter wus buried, an' in de next nine months de nex' oldest daughter wus buried.
(Well, what about that casket - is that in this story?)
Yessuh, dat's in dis story. De casket, aftah dis man died, dis man dat come dere to see could he do him some good, took him a spool of thread an' put the spool of thread in de casket with the man an' tied de loose end to the porch, an' as the ambulance went away wit de casket, dat unwind de spool of thread till it wound it all out. An' then he wus buried an' them two parties that give this man this trick, in two yeah's time dey will be buried. So dat's about de casket.
(That is all he did to make these other people die?)
Dat's all he did.
Entry 878
[As the preceding examples indicate, the first part of a hoodoo consul- tation concerns time: either You came to me just in time or You came too late - depending upon whether the doctor thought his cure would succeed or fail. We now come to the second part of the consultation, which is always something like: You're on your way to the graveyard!1 He lived over on the same farm that I was raised on - I left there when I was four years old - and he claimed that he was one of these high fellahs [usually high man = root doctor or cunjureman on the Eastern Shore]. So he got his name out here as being one of those high fellahs. So he fixed the path between his house and our path, our house rather, and fixed this path up like he wanted it. In fact, he got himself a spool and he made some holes in this spool just about the size of a needle point. He takes these needles and he puts 'em down in here. And he goes and gits himself some muratic [muriatic] acid [commercial name for hydrochloric acid]. He bores [small holes] in the bottom of this bottle and lets the points of these needles go through this spool just where they could touch this acid. Well, the needle would stick up just above de earth where these barefooted folks walked. ["The heads of the needles touched the acid and the points stuck up above the ground" - my note made at the time of my transcription, a few days after story collected.] And then, naturally, when a man come along and stepped on one of these spools with his bare foot, you know what took place, with that muratic acid through that needle in his flesh. ["The acid is supposed to go through the length of the solid needle" - my note at time of my transcription.] And in two or three days time this man would be all swelled up and dey didn't know what was the trouble. Now, they had to send for him. [No high man, even a stupid one, would have used such a crude trick as exposed needles in a path. This piece of gossip is merely one of many versions of the buried-needle theme - a pain or swelling in foot or leg comes from walking over a buried needle. However, a person does not step on an exposed needle point; contact between needle and flesh is magical. Originally the buried needle was a buried root (see No. 718, p.239). The author or editor of our story has heard of hypodermic needle but he does not know that it is hollow. How he thought acid could flow through a solid needle I am unable to say.] He'd come around and tell 'em, 'There's first, one thing buried here around this post." Said, "I don't wonder tha' chew being swelled up - no, I don't." He says, "Man, you got somepin awful around your house here. I kin move it. I know right where it is and I kin take it away from here. Well, naturally, you want that thing taken away. You all swelled up there and didn't know what de trouble was. He'd go to work and he'd come there, and he'd git a bottle of hair, needles and pins, first one thing and then another, and bring it in the house, open this bottle, and there you'd find all this stuff. He said, "Man, you're ruined, you ruined for life. You've got to be worked on and worked on quick." And he just gone there and took those few needles up in the earth there, see [those he was supposed to have buried], and he'd know just what to do, you know, to cut that acid from hurtin' yeh or burnin' yeh to death. And you'd pay him your money. And the first thing, you know, he'd go in the pound [cattle enclosure] and git a ole dumplin' of cow dung, you know, and fix it up. And go out and git hisself a few leaves of ole field mullein and elder roots, and boil all of that stuff up together. Then he'd put that on a fire and boil it up, and put some rock salt in there and a little table salt, fix it up, in a few minutes have your feet in there up to your knees. And you sit there now until he tell yeh to get up in a certain length of time.
Entry 879
I went to a lady and I was crossed. I used to be very luckv and I got crossed. So when I went in there she told me, she says, "Girl, vou is crossed." So I didn't know what she meant. So she told me, she say, "You is crossed in money." She say, "You give a lady fifty cents." And I had give a lady fifty cents 'cause the lady didn't have nothing. I say, "Yessum." She say, "Well, when you give her the fifty cents," she say, "she took your money. You give it to her out of your hand, a piece of silver money, and she took your money and she got it buried up under the steps with a weight on it." And she said, "That's to keep you down. You'll never be lucky no more unless you get it up. S Well, I didn't know how to get it up myself. So I went to another lady [man] and he told me the same thing. He told me that I was crossed and I start crying and he told me, "You going to be in bad luck all the time." Ah say, "Well, could you tell me what could I do to help myself."
(Did he tell you how you were crossed?)
Yes sir. He tole me I was crossed in money. He tole me a lady what I had a lot of confidence in, I gived her my money. Well, I used to give her money. He say, "She crossed you in the money. Ah say, "Well, could you tell me how I can do to help myself." He say, "You get you some saltpeter and some ammonia and," he say, "you take a bath in it for nine mornings." And he say, "After taking a bath in it, you throw your water to the sunrise." And he say, "You meet me in prayer [at] nine, twelve and three," he say, "and you ought to get that condition off you." So I did that. That been two years ago. So I did that and I got all right.
Entry 880
I heard of a woman oncest - a ole man that loved her - she was a young girl. An' so he told her one day that she was goin' git hurt, an' told her that if she would trim her toenails an' her fingernails purtty close an' give 'em to him, that he could fix it, you know, where nobody could hurt her. But he wanted to hurt her hisself so she would love 'im. So he took her fingernails an' her toenails an' put 'em in - he was a married man an' he loved this girl but still he had a wife. An' so he took her fingernails an' her toenails - an' she cut 'em off, she had 'em ready, when he come back, an' give 'em to him. An' he took 'em an' put 'em [in] some kin'a little tube concern. She said a little somepin about that long - a little tube, it was leather. She said he put those fingernails [and toenails] in that tube an' he carried 'em home an' put 'em in his trunk. An' she say she look like she jis' los' her min' - it look like she didn't know what she wanted to do. An' she fin'lly said she [was] there stayin' with 'im an' his wife. An' she said she wus worried an' look like ev'ry night she could dream of her dead brother tellin' 'er to go back home becus you knowed it wasn't right. An' she said one day she wus lookin' aroun' in de house. She said he was gone off. She say he even had his wife crazy, too. She loved this girl, too. An' she was lookin' aroun' one day an' she looked in de trunk an' foun' this tube. An' say she took this tube an' she carried [was going to carry] it to her mother, an' said that she was goin' to get on the train an' said his wife ask her where wus: she goin'. An' she said she told her she was goin' home. An' his wife told her, she say, "You reckon" - I didn't know what de man name - "you reckon Mr. So- an'-So will like it about choo goin' home?' She tell her she didn't care if he didn't like that she was goin' home. So she took this tube an' carried it on home to her mother. An' it was a ole man that liveded aroun' there an' he could, you know, look after root an' thing like that. So he took this tube an' he looked at it an' he shuck his head. He told her this wus bad fix. He told her that he could 'cuse [excuse = release] her of this thing an' make her stay away from this man house, but it was goin' make her sick an' then it was goin' make this man go crazy. An' so he took this stuff an' he burnt it up with sulphur an' stuff. An' this man he went crazy by doin' this girl like that. An' she come all right. [Wilmington, N. Car., (299b), 223:5; "3 years ago [1934]] Silverton or Summerton, S. C., couldn't get [[under- stand]] name" - Note on my original pencil transcription.]
Entry 881
[The first two parts of a hoodoo consultation have been given: You come to me just in time or You came too late, and You're on uour way to the araveuard The third and final part concludes the omniscience of the Doctor: Don't tell me a thing, not a word; I knew all about your trouble even before you came - what caused it, who did it, and where to find it:] Somebody buried something in my yard. I went out to the line to hang up some clothes and I got a pain in my foot. I thought I sprained it at first. I sent for the doctor and he gave me some medicine. After awhile it come to hurt again. And my daughter she realized more than I did about such things, sitting around and reading, and she went to somebody and when she came back she say, "Mama, you're hurt." So she bought a bottle of medicine. I had to take it and rub with it. She got it from a root doctor. Then Iwent to his house. And he say, "I know just where they're at. They seem to be up your leg. You don't have to tell me. They're in the bend of your leg going down to your heel." He gave me two kinds of medicine. One was white to rub my head in and the other was green to rub mv body in. So then I got better. So he told me to take some salt and sprinkle in the back yard to the front yard and round to the back [make a circle of salt around the house]. I was to take this salt right from the store - you don't use that yourself, new salt - and he say, "Nobody will be able never to hurt you. You put it down there and when they come to throw anything else in your yard, they'll pick it up them- selves and it will turn right back on them."
Entry 882
(Yes, go ahead.)
In the little town where I was born, you know there was a lotta people there that believed in hoodooism. (I see - and will you talk slow, please.) There were a lotta people and they believe in hoodooism. There was a man, he was - before he married - he was courtin' another lady, and after he married why he still Sweethearted with her. And he moved next door to her when he married. And he took care of his wife and bought her everything that she needed as far as he was able, and his sweetheart envied her, envied his wife because he neglected her mostly altogether. And she tried a certain some way of getting rid of his wife, and she - she sought around, she found out that it was a man in another county that she could go to him and have this lady fixed to get rid of her. And she went - she caught the train one evening and went to this man. It was a man. She went to the man and when the man saw her coming, he told her to come in - he knew what her business was there. (Where did this man live that she went to see? What town did he live in, or near what town?) He lived in New Orleans.
(And where was this town that you were born in?)
Taylor.
(Where?)
Taylor.
(Where is that?)
It's in Mississippi.
(Taylor - how do you spell it?)
Cary.
(All right - go ahead.)
And after she went there, he told her what she - he knew what she came for. And so she explained everything to him. So he gave her a little bottle about fo' inches tall with some kind of a liquid in it - it was a little green bottle with some kind of liquid in it. And he told her, like if - when she come back to bury it under her [wife's] steps. And she came back with it one dark night and took and buried it under the steps. And the next day the lady came out, you see, to go to the store to [buy] some- thing for breakfast. And when she came out, she came down the steps, and as she came down the steps, why something caught her - a pain caught her in the leg and drew her legs up and she couldn't walk. A man came along and he called another lady and he helped put her in the bed. And she was getting worse and worse, look like it would kill her and so her husband thought he would get, you know, consult diff'rent physicians and he couldn't never get any cure for her. So one day, he was long and sad, looking for someone and he met a man, and the man told him that he knew his troubles, and then asked him how long his wife had been sick. And he said about two months. And so he said he could cure his wife. So the man went on back to his house and told him - when he got to the steps he told him to bring him a spade. He brought him a spade and he dug up that little green bottle. The man what he met was a hoodoo himself, and he dug up the bottle and carried it to some running water and threw the - opened the bottle and threw the liquid into the stream, and threw the bottle into the stream, too, both of then, and didn't even look back and went on back to the house and he asked the lady how did she feel, and she said she was feeling better all at once. And so he made up some kind of a mixture of herbs and rubbed her up with it - rubbed her with it, and fixed some stuff in a bottle and told her to put it under the pillow and let it stay under there for about three days. And then after he'd taken it from under her pillow, well, he'd taken and diggin' in the front yard, you know, puts it and buries it in the front yard in front of the gate - opposite the gate, and buried it deep enough so that no one could dig it up or nothing could dig it up. And after he done that, why - after the three days he did as the man told him, and then the lady was getting along fine. And after she was getting along fine, the lady what tried to kill her came - you know, began to visit her. And she seen that she was getting better and when she'd get there; she came in one evening to see her. The lady Was getting along, around the house doing her work, and she was sitting up in the bed. That lady brought some fish, and she ate that fish and why hit kilt her.
(It killed her? They killed the wife, you mean?)
Yes, sir.
(That killed the wife?)
Yes, sir. (What do you mean about the three days - I didn't understand - you said some- thing about three days?) Yeah, he told her for to let that - he fixed some - a little old bottle of medicine - I don't know exactly what all the ingredients was, but he told her to put it under her pillow - under the lady's pillow and let it stay under three day and then take it out and dig a deep hole in the ground and bury it deep enough so that nothing could dig it up.
(He left it under the pillow for three days?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 883
[Two classes of persons were not included in the preceding margin-titles regarding consultation: the first being those who use religious shrines; the second those who approach the doctor by letter. Religious shrines I must present under separate subsection Saints-Candles-Altars. Material about doctors working by correspondence or at a distance is scattered (see No. 858, p.296, and No. 886 p.319, and Distance or Absent Treatment in Index) but here is an example:] Well, they say a man was livin' in Kingstree, South Carolina, could do that. You jis' had to write him - an' jis' write him an' tell him that your [his] wife had left him, you know, an' he wanted her back. So this man wrote back to him an' told him to give him seven dollah an' send to him. Sure enough, he sold chickens an' things like that an' hogs until he got seven dollah, an' he mailed it to him. An' he sent him a letter back - jis' writin'. He say, "That's all you got to do, jis' send me de money." He say, "I charge you seven dollah."] He say, "I even don't have to move' - he wouldn't come up dere. An' he say, "Your wife will come back." An' sure enough she did.
Entry 884
My great-grandmother was poisoned in some cabbages by one of her friends an' she gave her the cabbage to eat an' she ate it an' soon after she ate 'em she was swollen all up her feet clean in her hips. An' one of her friends went to see her an' she looked at her an' said she thought she was hurt - in fact this friend knew she was hurt an' she told her she's gon'a get a doctor, a root doctor, to do her some good. So she went to get the doctor an' when she got there he was so busy 'tending to somebody else he jes' told her whut to do for her. He told her to take lysol an' bathe in it in hot water all over an' take a dose of vinegar an' Epsom salt - make a dose of that together. She took it an' when it worked through her little green things come right out of her.
Entry 885
A lady that I re'lly know went and bought somepin - it was in a little box about that long, it was mailed to her from Conway, South Carolina. But she, you know, she wouldn't show it to anybody no more than show it in the box and take out one dem roots and show it. Some of it looked like little marbles and some of it looked like grass and sticks and diff'rent things, you know, come out de woods. But dis man told her - she went to see him and he charged her twenty-five dollars - told her to go on back home and everything would be all right. So she come on back home and when she get there, in two or three days de box came wit de things, you know, by mail. She opened it up and show it to mah wife. Mah wife came home and told me about it, and told me why don' I buy some of dat kin'a stuff even though I don' need it. I don' need any witchcraft, see, nothin' like of the kin'. And she's been in trouble many a time and it don' even cos' her dime. She gets out every time.
Entry 886
Yo' kin take dey underwear right in de seat an' take it out somewhere an' bury it an' dat'll give yo' pain all ovah, especially in all de joints - jis' pain an' continue hurtin' all de time. De reason ah'm tellin' yo' dis becuz ah had de same thing happen tuh me yeah befo' last, an' ah'd written a man a lettah an' mailed him one dollah in it an' he straighten it out fo' me.
(What did he do - send you something or tell what to do?)
He didn't send me nuthin - didn't tell me whut to do. Jis' wrote an' tole me, says, "Yore case will be okay. An' in fo' or five days dat misery wus gone.
(Did you write very far away from here to get that done?)
Yessuh, a pretty good piece - I wrote to Patterson, Arkansas.
Entry 887
Well, ah know a lady ovah heah in Tampa, that yo' kin go to, an' she'll set chew down an' begin tuh talk to yo' - anoint a little somepin in your head - (You go there and what does she tell you to do?) She tells you to go on back - say, "Well, jest want de name." Den yo' give her de name of de people dat yo' wants to do any harm to 'em. Den she'll get chew down an' she'll 'noint yo' wit some little oil in yore haid, an' tell yo' to go on back an' take it easy an' write her jest how things comes out. But she won't answer de letter. Dat's all she does.
Entry 888
And that's another experience I had. You see, I'm kind of old - I know a whole lotta things. Well, I had a friend once, years ago after I lost my first husband - I've had three husbands and they all dead - and you know, he was a drunkard. And when he got to drinkin' he was rough - he'd fight me, he'd bite too, he bite and knock, and he bit me on the shoulder. It right there to show for itself. Ah told a lady one day, ah say, "You know Vander and he was fightin last night," and I say, "Vander bit me.
(What was his name?)
Vander - Vander Graham. I say, "Vander bit me," and I said, "I don't like it neither," I say, "comin' bitin' me like I was a dog or nothin'." And she say, "Let me see it," and I let her looked at it and she say, "You got any chickens?" I say, "Yes." She say, "What kind of chickens you have?" I say, "I have all kind - I have no special, they all mixed up." She say, "You have no black chickens?" I say, "Yes, I have a black hen - and she settin' though." She said, "Well, that's more the better," she say, "come on and I go home with you." And we go on home and she went in and say, "Where is the black hen?" I showed 'er and she went and runned 'er up. You know, quite natch'ral you run a hen up and she been settin' there so long she do what she goin' have to do. Well, she did a whole lot. She say, "Well, that's all I want." And she'd taken it and rubbed it on this place [the bite] and do you know that all his teeth dropped out. Not a tooth did he have. He wus jes' as toothless as I am now - co'se the doctor had all of mine pulled out on account of my health, and that ain't done me much good 'cause i' tain't nothin' but that ole medicine, you know, they give you. And so he'd sit down to de table sometimes eatin' and he'd say, "Ugh," he say, "you know, ah believe I'm goin' lose ev'ry one of my teeth - they're all loose.' Ah say, "They is?" And he say, "Yes." He say, "Ah had a pretty set of teeth." He didn't have a decayed teeth in his head. But this old lady put this on me and she say, "Any time anybody bite you, you stop 'em from biting you," she say, "jis' git some black hen manure and put on that place and let it heal up with it. and they won't have nothin' to bit with nc more." I'm telling you it was true.
(After that what happened?)
And when he left me - now, I'm goin' tell you this. I runned him away from me because he was too bad drunkard and fightin', but he'd take care of me nice and everything. He would dress me nice and buy plenty of food and everything, and he bought a nice little home and everything for us, but oh! he Was awful drunk', you see, and fighting all de time - all de time he was drunk. He would work, he was smart, but from Sat'day - he would come in Friday from his Work, didn't go back till Monday. He worked de [that] way - all de time. And he'd come in with 'im a jug of liquor and he would drink and fight me - he would make me sit up all night long under a gun.
(Under a gun?)
Under a gun - have a gun on me and didn' 'low me to close my eyes. I just got sick of it. And this same Doctor Tiggers - I had him run 'im on away from here.
(How did he run him away?)
I don't know - he never give me anything, you see, but chew just tell him what you Want, write him, anything. Tell 'im what chew want him to do and when it's done - he'd say, you don't worry, everything will come around all right. He'd never write you much [see No. 887, p.319]. But hit'll come just like he say. He sent him away from me and I haven't seen Vander since.
(Well, why did he hold a gun at you that way?)
Well - me? Just mean to keep me from going to sleep. I'd be so sleepy I'd be just noddin' off and he'd say, "Wake up," and curse me. "Wake up - wake up or I'll blow your brains out." I got sick of that. But when he left me, he didn't have no teeth. I ain't got none now but the doctor's pulled mine - his'n dropped out.