Browse:Dead: Bone From (Volume 1, entries 1811–1815)
Dead: Bone From
Volume 1, entries 1811–1815. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1811
De bones of a dead man - yes, dey showed me dat in my studies. [This small-time doctor now tells me how to make and sell bone rings.] You take de bones of a dead man and if you kin get it and dry it and if anybody wanta do anything to you - anything in any way, you take that bone of a dead man and have ring make of it and wear dat ring. A bone ring dey call it - and nobody kin harm you. And if you git de bone of a dead man and make dat ring yourself, you kin sell those fer five dollars apiece - each ring is five dollars. Then everybody come to you and you say, "Now you put this ring on - it cost you five dollars" - be sure and make them give it to you first - "dat's a real ring - give it special to you and nobody kin harm you." You git dat bone - you speak to de undertaker when he begin embalmin'a body. He embalm de body and get a bone for you. You see dat's de spirit. There 206 bones in every parts of de body.
Entry 1812
If yo' take an' make a place up in yore chimley, where yo' kin place yore whiskey, see, an' yo' kin take an' git chew dis heah dead man's bone. An' yo' take this dead man bone, yo' see, an' beat it up fine, yo' see, an' at de hearth, yo' take an' dig up around de hearth, yo' understand, an' yo' place this around there, an' they claim dat de law can't go ovah de dead man's bone. [Here is the great theme of dead men guarding buried treasure - see pp.111-135.] [Fayetteville, N. Car.,
Entry 1813
Ah heard 'em say, take a dead person's bone. If yo' can't, yo' know chop it up as small as yo' wanta, why yo' jes' wrap it up yo' see; an' if yo' can't git under de house, git some small chile tuh put it right middleways of dat house an' it'll break yo' [them] up.
Entry 1814
Yo' kin sew it yo' see, aftah it's petrified - yo' kin sew it in a rag.
(This bone from the dead person?)
Yes, an' dress it ovah wit whiskey an' oil of cinnamon an' yo' be lucky fo' anything that chew be's trying tuh run.
Entry 1815
Take a bone from a dead person an' drop a penny at de side of de grave, an' yo' kin take dis an' bury under yore step an' he'll come to be a spirit dere an' come to be jest; in other words yo' can't live dere. Somebody will be coming all de time - somebody be knockin' on de do'. Ah hear mah grandmother talk a lots about dat - knocking on de do' an' jes' disturbing. Yo' can't live dere.
(That is another way of making a person move out? Out of the house?)
Yes suh.