Browse:Disappearance or Invisibility (Volume 1, entries 834–840)
Disappearance or Invisibility
Volume 1, entries 834–840. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → THE DOCTORS THEMSELVES: BIRTH TO DEATH: DESCRIBED BY LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 834
A fellah wus - he wus in jail an' he [the doctor] comes up from [some- where] an' he sent word for his brothah tuh kill him a buzzard an' bring him up there. An' so his brothah killed dis buzzard an' fixed him in a box lak his lunch, an' dey taken de buzzard, taken de box an' all on to jail, where he wus in jail. So dat night when de jailer goes in, he locks 'em all up in dose little cells, an' goes on out, an' de next mawnin' man come tuh clean de cell dere's no one dere but de buzzard. An' de jailer tole dem dat he locked all three up in de cell dat night.
(How did he get out?)
Ah dunah [do not] know, suh, how he got out. [This is possibly a story about the amazing Doctor Buzzard (see Index) of Beaufort, S. Car; another remarkable disappearance, see No. 845; invisibility, see No. 849.]
The account narrates killing a buzzard, boxing it and taking it to jail; how the prisoner left is explicitly unknown.
Entry 835
I have heard by having this root bag they can disappear and a shot won't get them, strike them, and the one that is shooting them will miss their shot.
Entry 836
Yo' take dat bone, yo' see, an' yo' kin carry it. Put it in yore pocket an' anywhere yo' go - jes' lak if yo' wanted to make a deal anywhere or goin' to a bank or anything, yo' take dat dead man's bone or one joint of his fingah, see, an' jes' 'fore yo' git dere yo'll kinda stick de end of it in yore mouth. When yo' put it in yore mouth why yo'll disappear, be nuthin den but jes' a shadah - see, yo' be nuthin but a shadah. Well, now, den yo' kin go ahead on den an' do jes' anything yo' want. Yo' kin walk right up to a person - dey'll nevah see yo' until yo' relieve dat bone out chure mouth.
Entry 837
Now, I've heard old people down in my home [near Chattanooga, Tennessee] say dat, but I don' believe it. Dey say dat you could take a piece of a coffin - you understand, after de coffin had begin to decay, you know - take a piece of dat coffin and wear it anywhere in your clothes and you could walk right past a man huntin' fer you and he couldn't see you.
Entry 838
This boy's name was Harold and his home was supposed to be at Newport News, Virginia. He was supposed to be a boy that could walk the street beside a person and suddenly disappear and become visible again on the other side of the street. I can't account for this, only, they say he was a seventh-month child with a veil over his face.
Entry 839
Ah heered 'em speak of lodestone. Say yo' kin take a lodestone, git a piece of lodestone an' if yo' wanted tuh go in de bank dere an' git two or three thousand dollars, yo' take dat lodestone an' take it an' hold it in yore hand lak dat. An' say while yo' walk in, yo' walks in de shadow [you look like a shadow], an' yo' walks on it an' yo' gits whut chew want; but yo' still got dat lodestone in yore hand when yo' goes in. Why de people, dat draws - dey says dat draws dey eyes, dat lodestone draws de eyes so yo' can't see. Well, yo' walk ovah dere an gits dis money with dis lodestone in yore hand an' yo' come on out an' git off to yoreself, why yo' takes dat lodestone out of yore han'. Yo' don't have tuh do anything but walk on to de do' an' dat lodestone is so strong, dat it draws de money from through de bars into yore hand. Dey don't know - yo' haven't been behin' dem tuh [yo'] seem nuthin but a shadow. Yo' standin' from de front heah talkin' to de man an' yo's drawin' de money from 'im jes' de same. Yo' drawin' his money an' when he go tuh look round to hand yo' some change, well, he haven't anything - yo' drewed it all from his han's.
Entry 840
Durin' dis same last war [World War I] - ah wus in dis last war fo'teen months, an' me an' a fellah went tuh Camp Wheeler together, an' he said to me, he said, "Ah think ah wanta go home tuh see mah family - ah want chew tuh walk down heah tuh de woods wit me. Yo' see, ah didn't know whut he wus goin' do. He walked tuh de fo'ks of de road, crossin' of de road, an' he take three nickels an' bury it right in de fo'k of de road, an' he leaved me an' went home an' stayed home thirty days out de camp befo' dey pertake - he come up heah tuh Savannah an' stay heah thirty days an' went back befo' dey know dat he wus home.
(They didn't know he was gone at all?)
Didn't know he wus gone at all. He wus in mah company, Company 15. (They didn't know he was gone at all. What did they do to him after he got back?) Dey didn't done nuthin to 'im yo' see, because we didn't get de reg'lar soldier clothes yes - we wus wearin' dis overalls yo' know, we didn't draw no service clothes yet.