Browse:Doctor Washington of Charleston (Volume 1, entries 428)
Doctor Washington of Charleston
Volume 1, entries 428. Source context: SPIRITS → SPIRITS GUARD BURIED TREASURE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 428
(Have you heard of candles in your work?)
Candles? Yes sir - dat's goin' out on hidden treasure.
(Hidden treasure? Now, can you locate hidden treasure for somebody?)
Yes sir. (Well, how is that supposed to be done - locating hidden treasure with instru- ments and things of that sort?) I kin call de spirit and let him show me where it is. That spirit should work dat. Ah've got a compass - dat's from de catalog... [The recording is bad here and there but my comments give the sense of what is lost.] (You have to get in touch with the owner spirit and the spirit will find the treasure - the spirit will get in touch with the watchman. The [owner] spirit will find [locate] the treasure and then you can do something.)
(You get them by giving them whiskey? How do you do that?)
Well, those kind of people wasn't nothing but a drunk all dey life, you know that.
(For finding the treasure?)
Yes sir, you git de badest man in de world to do dat - don't want no good quiet Christian mind to do dat - de badest kind, one who was...
(Whom do they put to guard that treasure?)
Well, dey takes me and my character - dey know it. Dey raise me and dey know I don't min' killing and don't care fer God nor man, and don't care about dying dead, don't care about dying, and let 'em kill me. Dey will take me ovah to dat tree yonder and make me dig a hole dere. All right, gimme some corn-crazin' drink [whiskey] and show me how to do it. And I gits me how to do. All right, dey bring dat [money] safe out dere in a ole cart, a rale [real] one, pulling and carryin', and set it on down dere. Dey'll set de chest in dere [the hole]./All right, dey'll set nails in dere. Now, dey must call living people fer guardin'. Dey say to me - my name might be Washington [it is Washington]. "Well, listen, Washington. Well now, we goin' off to [do something else], so don't leave [until we return]." Dat's whacha call de sandman [getting ready to put you to sleep]. Many people don't know what de sandman is. [This.is a mock burial. Washington, made drunk, believes he is watching a dead body, not money.] "Listen, Washington, as you live and die, dis here body dat layin' befo' you and you got'a be good to dem. Hasn't we been good to you?" "Yes sir." "Well, has you been listenin' to your boss or your missus?" "Yes sir." "Have you done make a vow? Raise your han' on your heart." "Yes sir." "Over your other arm." "Yes sir." "You swear by all de Great Good and God dat you'll mind dis body until de Resurrection Mawnin' and hear dat you do?" "Yes sir." Bam! Den I'm shoot chah. I'm right behin' yuh and shoot yuh, and walk dere and cut my [your] throat, and dey got somethin' dere to ketch de blood and rubs it all ovah dat casket.
(That the money is in.)
All ovah dat casket - rub 'em all over it. And den the - the other party will come quickly and seal me up jest like a wall - right in dere and I'm guardin' - nobody kin git dat money. But you got'a mind me.
(You qot'a manage the spirit?)
You got'a manage my spirit - can't git dat money, 'cause I made a vow. Well, I kin go out dere and stay dere like dat. I go out dere on de full of de moon - t'ree days befo' de moon rise and t'ree days after he rise - no one around. T'ree days after you rise and t'ree days before it going to bed - dat's on de full of moon - t'ree days before de full and t'ree days after de full. All right - ah got it right. T'ree days after you rise and de new moon come out - t'ree days after de moon is full - when de moon is full up to tiptop - then I go to work and git de owner. You got'a git to somebody - got'a find out about it. Then I question her. And what I done question her [about] and she done [tell] me that how she come by de money. I takes her with me and I makes her go and git me four hens. Out'a de four hens. one must be a rooster, and I want ey'ry drop of de blood out of him, ey'rv one little drop - cut him neck off and ketch de blood - and a drop from each one of dem. Dat's a ceremony. Let 'em ketch de blood and put dat blood aside. Then you'll pick dat hen and when you done picking, you gut: 'em and have another basin and you ketch all de blood that drip; everythin' that drop, ketch it - dat blood, ketch it. All right, dat two blood ain't it. De third blood, when you wash it, ketch that. That three jahs [jars]. "Father, Son and Holy Ghost" - that master de world, dat work dat man with de trunk [treasure chest]. If you ain't got dat [guardian] you got no business [hunting buried treasure].
(That's the spirit that man is looking for?)
Dat what he looking for and dey ain't one out'a hunderd can't [can] git it. Oh, yeah. Good God dat what he died wit [the buried money]. Dat's what dey done when dey done dat to me [killed him in his illustration]. But git dose three things. Now, when you do dat, now nobody know - half pint a' liquor - there's at least a quart, at least. For four-five days go dere fer drinking Water and git some yourself - carry half a gallon. All right, don't drink a drop till you git dere. Set your compass - dat's one way, go on de compass, let de compass pull you and you goin' call de spirit out wit it, and go back [and] git de thing right. Jest lak I was dere - I go dere and take two drinks of liquor, screw de iar down tight and I point east, south, north, west and t'row de bottle ovah my head and let de bottle fall and wherever de bottle fall I go right dere and pick it up and pour jes' about dat much [whiskey] on de ground - about as much as I drinkin' - dat goin' in de sand now. I wait about thirty minutes and I'm going call, "He-ey, Samuel [a name for the devil]. Samuel, watchman on de watch, give me de hour - he-ey, Samuel." And whilst you is talking, looking right at de place, he and I be foolin', walking up and down by de place, like dat - right on down. I go dere and I make a ring [circle]. I done all of my working in dat way. All right, den I take dat blood - dese t'ree kind of blood - I set one east, I set one west, and I set one south and leave north off; leave a door open dere fer him to come out. And right dere down take a saucer - three saucers. Pour some of dat whiskey in it - each saucer. Broke a egg and turn in each one of dem [saucers] and set 'em on de three corners of de world. And I goin' in dere [the circle] and I go to work. Before goin' to work [for clients] I go through the ceremony the same as this [one described]. I talk my 'greement over - what dese four people agree on 'fo' dey left my home. And I'm looking right at one fellah all de time. I lookin' at him, at dat one fellah and talkin' to him. Dis man had come to me on Monday gone [last Monday], on the 17 or the 18, and he done 'clare [declared] to All Great and Good God that this [dead] man done [give the treasure] to him. I hope and trust that she will stand by him and have him and whatsomever dere [in the hole]. [The woman in the preceding paragraph is mentioned earlier - the woman to whom owner spirit or guardian spirit had given the treasure, the woman who supplied three hens and one rooster. Since she was unable to participate in the dangerous work of digging up the treasure, she with the spirit's consent chose a man to act as her proxy. I must add - to emphasize the danger involved - that Washington had come to me in a treasure-seeking mood, having taken a few drinks of moonshine whiskey from his screw-top jar. After he left me, he and a doctor waiting for me got into the altercation described elsewhere - see Washington in Index.] He's not 'toxicated now, but he soon will be.
[Who? Probably the guardian spirit or watchman.]
[Doctor Washington exorcises - preaches to the watchman's spirit through the owner spirit's voice:] "Dis body be'd [was] laid down here through de sand [sandman] ceremony: We come to take up dis body by and through dis ceremony, and we find no harm in him or anything, as I have known dat man in de flesh of his shape." And he'd [owner's spirit would] walk up to him [guardian spirit or watchman] and point [out] dat man to me personally, and I would 'cuse [excuse] dat person directly I see him - talking like you'd talk to man you wanta save. [The preceding rite at the buried treasure site is the sandman ceremony in reverse. The watchman or quardian spirit of the treasure - once an evil man, now a dangerous spirit - can not be killed a second time; he must be tricked or mollified in some manner if the treasure is to be taken from him. Once again he must be made drunk; the whiskey being poured on the ground where he can absorb its liquid or fumes. To show good fellowship, Doctor Washington drinks with the spirit. Then, using Owner spirit's voice, Washington proclaims, "We come to take up dis body (honorable burial is intended)... we find no harm in him." Even to say the words no harm magically reduces the possibility of harm. Meanwhile, that half-gallon of whiskey has attracted other spirits, but fortunately owner spirit now appears in person - taking his voice called him up - and identifies watchman for the doctor. The latter act automatically releases watchman from his oath to guard the treasure. Doctor Washington, now returning to his own voice, begins talking like you'd talk to (a) man you wanta save. He 'cuses (excuses) watchman, absolves him from his wicked human life; he excuses (relieves) him immediately of his treasure-watching duties. So restored and released, watchman comes up into the magic circle, goes out the gate, and disappears forever. We will fail to understand this rite unless we realize that a gifted doctor - we shall meet many similar ones - is a master of spirits.]
[They now begin to dig.]
I 'sign [assign] you [proxy and helpers] de work, all de work [of digging]. And by time I goes down dere [into the finished hole] - go down dere - don't find nothin' but a solid piece of steel or a solid piece of iron. Lot'a time I go down dere and find jewelry, nothin' but all silver - old spoons, silver forks, silver watch. [Charleston, S. Car., (509), 570:5.] [As in the preceding subsection Spirits Guard Buried Treasure, here also we have a subject in which doctors are very much involved - see margin-title Witch- riding and Doctors at end of this subsection.] [What is a hag? An elderly root doctor in Savannah, Georgia, says: "De hag is a ha'nt, a spirit. Dere's two of 'um (two kinds of hags). One of 'um is comin' so you can't sleep in de night - dat's ha'nts, dat's a ha'nt (spirit of a dead person). An' another one is a hag - a hag is a living person; dey've becomes a hag, dey deals with de devil."] [Quotation from my interview given later - Old Man, R.D., No. 540. R.D. = Root Doctor; parentheses are mine.] [The preceding spirit of the dead either comes of its own accord to worry someone at night (see No. 535) or is sent, usually by a doctor (No. 77). It is occasionally called Jack Mulatta (No. 107), a term approximating Jack-mu-la't' or Jack-ma-lantren, a corruption of Jack-o'-lantern (No. 128-136) - lantern pronounced lantren or latren by uneducated Negroes and Whites. Jack Mulatta, a hag or witch carrying a light at night, is identified with Jack-o'-lantern (No. 436). Traveling lights are sometimes spirits of the dead (Nos. 121-127 and see Lights, mysterious, in Index). Often a spirit of the dead is sent in a whirlwind (No. 142). A doctor can also send a dressed animal to witch-ride a person (No. 200).] [The preceding witch, the old man's living person sold to the devil - who hag- rides and casts spells and cures - is also called a witch-hag (No. 462); a reason for describing her or him in the subdivision title as Witch in Hag Form.]