Browse:Doctor: Personal Appearance (Volume 1, entries 849–850)
Doctor: Personal Appearance
Volume 1, entries 849–850. 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 849
(What did they call it when you were a boy?)
Dey call it hoodoo. Yeah, dey called it de hoodoo man, de cunjure.
(Did you ever hear any little stories about them?)
Ah had a first cousin - his name was Bill Bidgood. This was in Blacksburg, South Carolina, twelve miles from mah home. He was a farmer. He had made three or fo' bales of cotton dat yeah an' wheat but he owed de man dat he was rentin' [from] a whole lotsa money what took him all to pay fo' it. Now, Will tole me dis himself. He died in Cincinnati in 1906 about thirty-three years ago. He died - he was older'n me. He said he heard of a man in Charleston, South Carolina, from Blacksburg, that could he'p him out of a strain to keep de white man from taking all his cotton, so he said he went on down dere. He said when he went on down dere, he knocked at de man's do' - said he lived 'way out - cans was bent all ovah his house, de shingles was rotten - an' he said yo' wouldn't hardly see de ole man only - yo' jes' be looking round tuh go in de do' an' fust thing yo' know he be looking - stood right at chew. He said, "He would scare yo' tuh death, Cousin John - de beard hung on his stomach - he looked lak he had nevah shaved - an' his eyes was red as flame. An' he says, "Yo' wanta see me?" [Ah] says, Yes sir.'" [Cousin Bill] says he was scared tuh death - he walked into de house an' he said - dis is honestest trught, he said dis man WAS a cunjure - he knowed: He says tuh him, he says, "Yo' come heah tuh see me on some business to save from payin' yo' debts." He says, "I have." Says, "Ah owe 'bout three hundred dollars to mah man that ah have rented from." He says, "Well, ah'll tell you what yo'll do. Ah don't want chew to leave me no money heah. Be sure, ah ain't gon'a beat chew out of it. But, when yo' go home, yo' wrap it up in a rag an' lay it ovah de do' facing of yo' house." Dat was in Blacksburg he should lay dis money. "Then yo' go up to de sto' next day an' see yo' man. Yo' got a shoat dere?" He said, "Yes, ah got three bo' [boar] hogs. An' he said he went up to de store to see de man he owed an' says, "Ah come fo' tuh settle dis mawnin'." He says, "Well, we'll settle it heah, but," he says, "ah tell yo', Will, yo' got a boar there an' yo' got a sow." Said, "Ah tell yo' whut chew do, yo' gimme dat sow an' dat boar an' dem pigs, an' dat two small guinea shoats an' we'll call it off even - call it off even - we'll settle fo' new year - call de debt off even." So he gave him credit fo' dat. So he went back to the house an' de next day de money was still dere. An' so de next morning when he got up, he went an' looked over dere an' it was gone. He said, "Dat man musta knowed somepin how dat money got away out dat house." Will Bidgood, my name is John Bidgood - we were brothers' children - he tole me that.
Entry 850
Oider people thought that those people that were supposed to have had those powers acted queerly in most cases and looked differently from other people.
This short item reports older people's belief that certain people were supposed to have powers; it does not establish those powers.