Browse:FOLK MEDICINE (Volume 1, entries 963–1706)
FOLK MEDICINE
Volume 1, entries 963–1706. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
1 listed entry is unavailable here.
Entries
Entry 963
Yo' take a toady - rock toady frog and kill it and let it dry up and den grind it up and put it in any meal [food you eat]. And every time de tide come up, you will swell; when de tide go down, you body will fall.
The instruction describes killing and drying a rock toady frog for a preparation; its claimed tidal effects are unverified.
Entry 964
Dere somepin did to mah sistah. She go fo' a ice cream sodee on a Friday night an' de othah girls dere didn't like her at all. So she went dere at night an' dey served her ice cream an' dey fixed her a saucer of it, an' after- wards she remembered dey speci'lly bring her saucerful. An' after- ward, purtty soon after she leave, de side of her laig all commence painin' her all de way up. An' purtty soon dey had taken an' carry her home, couldn't walk, where she got sick an' de doctah 'tended her [and could not help her]. An' dat laig had swole so, jes' to de knee - swole so dat it jes' be a bag of skin dere an' yo' see somepin like somepin wus crawlin' up an' down her laig. So mah father, he goes an' git him a ridge bass - a root worker, an' he looked at her an' he give her some tea, some kinda tea in a jar an' tole her she'd be all right in about eight or nine days. Didn't [give] her no 'tenshun an' she seem to be gittin' worse an' worse, an' in about a week an' a half he came dere - it wus in de mawnin', said, "Ah come tuh cure de girl." Father say, "Ah hope so - she didn't rest any last night an' she not restin' now." An' he give him three little tablets 'bout de size of an' aspirin tablet but they were black. He tole us, say, "Git the slop jar." She taken de three, an' in about five minutes time she commence gaggin' an' she gagged up a pure green frog: She re'lly did dere in de slop jar. Ah wus standin' right dere.
(End of 1429.)
(That story he told me about the envelope - throwing it up in the air and having it disappear - he said that the root doctor was old Doctor Harris down in Florence, S. Car.) [Fayetteville, N. Car., (1429), 2579:13.] [Folk Medicine I will divide into two subsections: (l) Principles of Healing, beginning here, and (2) Cure and Protection, which begins on page 410.] [A considerable amount of material about principles of healing, cures and protection has already been given. Here I would like to emphasize two things - folk cures about which we have heard little; and the fact that disease, sickness, pain, bad luck, everything in witchcraft and hoodoo is a spirit.] [The problems of health are many, difficult and expensive. It is unfortunate that they should also be encumbered with prejudice and superstition. Concerning the latter - believers in witchcraft, hoodoo and magic throw a halo about their heads, claiming as their authority the Bible, the Word of God: - (l)he [Manasseh] observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards (2 Ch.33:6) - (2) Saul had put away those that had faniliar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land (1 Sam.28:3)- (3) Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live (Ex.22:18).] [One informant expresses the attitude of witchcraft and hoodoo believers as well as the view of Biblical fundamentalists:]
Entry 965
Any man that don't believe in witchcraft don't believe in God. [Richmond, Va., (402), 350:1.}
Entry 966
I was sitting to my machine sewing when I taken sick in this arm and in the spine of my back; felt just like-a chill begin to run over me. And from there my heart begin to beat too fast and I thought once or twice that I might just had a dumb chill when it first struck me. And my mind just lead me to get up and I'd gotten up from my machine and I walks to my front porch and I sits down. And then another spirit told me to pray and I prayed. And whilst I was doing that I walked on a ways and I come back and had taken some medicine. From there on I rang-ed [rang = telephoned] up my brother that I thought that I had a stroke or was taking one from the way I was and he came to me. And from there they prevailed with me to go to someone that knowed a little more than I did. And they [the doctor] told me how come that I had it; that my [sewing] machine was dressed on this side. [For another bewitched sewing machine, see FACI,2ed., No.16337, p.875, white person.] And the chair that I setting in, it had - liquid was poured in it and from there I lost the use of this arm, had no use for it. And when I'd stand up my heart would just go so that I had to lie down. But it wasn't but one thing cured me and that was that ammonia and cooking soda. And then they told me how come I to get it. I got it through a piece of meat and by my machine was dressed and chair. And the minute that I begin tc take it and begin to read the Bible, it begin to leave me.
(You did what?)
I read the 7th Chapter, Psalms of David, in the morning and the 7th and 8th of Psalms, I read it in the afternoon, and before noon I'd taken that teaspoon of soda and ammonia. You don't drap the medicine, cause when the Bible speaks of witchcraft you shouldn't drap it; you should pour a certain amount instead of drapping it, cause if you drap it, it'll do you just as much harm if you hadn't taken it. You pour it.
[Whether to drop or pour medicine - not in the Bible so far as I know.]
(Well, how do you pour it then?)
Just hold it and pour it - a certain amount as you think you should take into the glass, instead of drapping it. Well, that's what I'd taken and then from there on I begin to rub this arm with alcohol to help to gain the strength back and by reading the Psalms of David - just taking it right back to the one who put it on me. (Did you also take this medicine in the afternoon when you read this chapter in the afternoon?) I'd taken the medicine in the morning and read the chapter right along with it
(You didn't take any medicine in the afternoon?)
No, just in the morning.
(Once a day. I see.)
Entry 967
[Someone begrudged] me because ah was gittin' 'long pretty good and dey didn't wanta see me git along, you know, and so dey used some kin' of insex [insects] on me. (What happened to you?) Well, ah got so ah could hear things hollerin' all de time any - katydids was in mah haid, those ole katdydids - frogs was hollerin' like dey does in a pond yo' know - ever' kin' of thing was hollerin' in mah haid - jes' had me goin' crazy.
(What did you do then, about it?)
A fortune teller lady come dere and made me use dis here cow water from de cow on mah haid and she killed 'em.
(Well, just how did she use that?)
She had me tuh git it - ah don't know whut she did with it, but she give it tuh me and ah had to wash mah haid; took mah hair all out mah haid it did and ah commence gettin' bettah. She killed 'em. Ah could see 'em all runnin' about in mah flesh - yes sir, dey was jes' runnin' about in mah flesh - could see 'em - people could look at 'em.
(How long did you use this cow water?)
Ah had to use if off and on about six months 'fore ah got results out of it.
(Did you bathe your head every day?)
Ever' other day one - one the othah of 'em - but she told me to bathe ever' day until they got bath-ed down and when they got bath-ed down, she started to use it ever' othah day.
(Did that happen round here in Mobile?)
No sir, ah was in Marengo County, Alabama. It's been now jes' about twenty- five years ago.
[I must have asked how these live things were put into her.]
Take a frog, yo' know and tie him - tie all his feet, tie the frog hog-fashion [= hog-tie = tying all 4 feet together]. Dey take 'im an' put 'im somewhare down whare he can walk over 'im, an' dey say in 9 days dey come alive an' be in yo'. Dey say dat's how dey put dem in me. Dere's a [another] lady come an' tuk it up right whare ah walk out over 'im. (You have to walk over this before it gets into you. That's supposed to go into you.) Dat's de way she [an enemy] had me fixed up.
(How would you get rid of a thing of that sort?)
Well, dat's whut [why] she had me us.in' dat cow chamber lye. An' she had me to use de othah, too; make a pad an' put on heah - dat whut killed 'em.
(What other do you mean - the dung of the cow? Put it where - on your head?)
[This is not a leading question because she had pointed to her head when saying put on heah, but I want her to say head for the record.] Yes, she had me a big round thing made, an' I had to wear dat up on top of mah haid. An' I tole 'er ah hated to wear dat stuff on top of mah haid. She said ah had to do anything to get well.
Entry 968
[Since doctor medicine or medical medicine is worthless in hoodoo
(pp.217-218), a doctor must make his own:]
About 1934 I was livin' at Mt. Olive [North Carolina] and I married a man up there and we married and stayed together around six months all right, and there was a woman, she claimed to be a friend of mine, she was likin' mah husband. And [after] about six months I went to feelin' bad - all stirred up in mah stomach - and the seventh month I remembah dey was something moving in my stomik like a baby. I suffered with that for quite awhile. I stayed sick a long time and nothin' couldn't seem to me no good. I went to a hospital. De doctor say I wasn't pregnant or nothin' - couldn't nothin' do me no good. Mah father-in-law went and got a doctor from Florence [South Carolina]. This doctor said that I had been - somebody had put a spell on me. He said if he couldn't get it out in less time than a year, that I would die. So this doctor stayed around and worked on me for quite awhile. He gave me some medicine. The numbers on that medicine was 876 [numbers backwards]. It was some black tonic.
[See Black draft, in Index.]
(Do you buy it in a drug store?)
No sir, you don't. It's a medicine he made.
(Was it in a bottle?)
Yes sir.
(Did he have a label pasted on the bottle?)
Yes sir. And so I took that medicine off and on three times a day before ev'ry meal. And in about - after I taken de medicine I was sick fer fo' months, then I began to feel better, gettin' up and walkin' around. And it seem like that feeling it went to goin' down in mah feet, to work workin' out mah body. And he rubbed me with some medicine called Do Easy, some white tonic - it wasn't licrice [liquid], but it was like a salve. [Notice the magic color change, black to white.]
(Did you buy it at the drug store or was it his own medicine?)
It was his own medicine he had.
(How did he spell that?)
D-U-E - I don't know exactly how that was spelled. But the name of it was Do Easy. And he rubbed mah knees wit dat medicine. And he say, told mah father [-in-law], he [the root doctor] say, "They's a root under the step." And he vent out there and dug under the step leg [post or stake holding up step], and there was in de bottle - about dat high, about dat long I mean [demonstrates].
(Six or seven inches long.)
Yes sir. And it was half-full of something white. I don't know what it was. And in there was something shape round like a root, and hairs on one end and clean on the other. And he say, "This is what cause zhoo to be sick." And he took that on back with him, he didn't leave it. And he said - I was sick then after he left fo' aroun' about three months, and then I got up and was walkin' all right. I came down here [to Wilmington] and lived. That was 1936 when I moved down here, last year round about May. And I took sick again. Well, I went - ev'ry time - it seem like ev'ry time in de night I go to baid I would seem like unrest- less. So it was a man stay roun' on Campbell Street, He say, "I know what's de matter wid choo." He say, "It something under your mattress. Well," he say, "it cos' aroun' fifteen dollahs to git rid of that." I said, "Well, I haven't got a penny now - will you wait on me?" He said, "I don't know." "Well, I'll send mah husband over dere and talk wit jeh." He went on in then an' got somepin from under mah mattress. It was flat - 'tween two mattress - it was flat, right on the side I laid on.] It was 'tween the two mattress wrapped up in a papah. And what dat was I don't know. I seen him when he took it out. I haven't been troubled wit mahself now since he took it from out de baid. [See George Jackson margin-title for an old-timer making, singing, his medicine.l
Entry 969
[Everyone has heard of the double-cross; here is a triple-cross - three crosses in a row or the letter X repeated three times:] I went to see what they call a two-headed man. And this particular man prescribed to me, he says, "Take you three tablespoonfuls of saltpeter and put in your bath water ev'ry time that you bathe. And whenever you have an intercourse with this particular individual, be careful to Wet that rag - you see, because that have the tendency to tie you, to have you tied to a woman - continually using that rag and you sleeping on that rag ev'ry night and not wetting it."
(How do you mean? What would she wet it with?)
Well, just the water - plain water, you see, because it soaks that fluid off of there and it doesn't leave any danger of any harm being done. Then, he gave me what they call [he calls] the Three X's package.
(The Three X's package?)
Three X's package, yes sir - call it the Three X's - they just the common, no more than three X's.
(Three X package.)
The Three X package [magic of repetition]. He told me to take the Three X package - it consisted of a little powder in a can - just exactly how it was - it consisted of a powder substance - the powder seemed to have been in there but it would come like a paste. Well, at that particular time I couldn't have an intercourse with any other woman other than my woman - the woman that I was living with [see No. 796, p.269]. He told me to take this stuff and place it under the head of my - just at the time that I could get ready to have an intercourse with the one that I was tied to, and that it - and in the course of time, and washing in this saltpeter and in the course of time, why I found that I could go out and have other women.
(Now, what was on this package - this XXX package?)
It - it was just the XxX package. The directions he gave me those himself, because no doubt those secrets have to be carefully guarded and like.
(Was there three X's on the package?)
Three X - yes, sir.
(And nothing else on it at all?)
That's all - three X.
(Was it drawn on or printed on?)
Printed.
(Printed on. Nothing - was it a white package or something or that sort?)
No, sir - it was just - you've seen these pill boxes haven't you?
(Yes.)
Well, the box was white trimmed in blue. It was just like you would have a pill-box.
(And then it had a sticker on there with three X's on it?)
Three X - yes, sir.
Entry 970
[The preceding doctor was original only when boxing and labeling his medicine; the three crosses being an old folklore device:] By making a crossmark - prob'bly if they had some kind of a boil or somepin on 'em, making a crossmark on it an' then marking it with spit to carry it away.
(How do they mark it with spit?)
Jes' mark it three times crossways.
(That would take the boil away?)
Yes, sir - remove it. ["To remove a wart make a cross over it at three different times on Friday and do this three Fridays in succession" (FACI,2ed., No. 7006, p.324).]
Entry 971
Now, I had some of that in our fam'ly. I remember, I an' mah aunt's boy rode eight mile from the'ah to play a game of baseball. Well, we go over the'ah. After the ball game wus over - those days whiskey wus in that country an' bein' wild, we thought we drink a little whiskey wit de boys after we win de game. We played with those boys an' they give us a real nice time. All right. So that night when we get back - we live in a little country town at that time out from Sewanee [Tennessee] - it wus a supper. It wus on a Saturday night. So we puts our horses up an' we go out to the supper. And one our niece's daughter's wus runnin' for a watch - a prize, and she says to me, she says, "Cousin Rob, '' she says, "give me somepin on mah prize." I says, "All right." When she got around to the other boy, Johnnie, she says, "Cousin Johnnie," she says, "give me somepin on mah prize." He says, "All right. He give a dollah, I give a dollah. At the main time, he says, "Alice, I don't feel good, like I'm gon'a live to see you wear it." And she wus for winnin' the prize that Sunday - takin' up a collection. The one who had the biggest collection won the prize. About ten minutes after he said that, he set down. Well, he gets dizzy head he said. All at onest he fell ovah. When he fell ovah, ever'body in the church, somepin like a church supper, they rally [really] had things to sell - well, I'm gettin' scared - thought perhaps - well, our people didn't know we drank whiskey and I thought perhaps he'd got too much whiskey, you know. Now, I'm scared now, and didn't want nobody know that we evah taken a drink. And all at onest - it wus an ole man there wus somepin like whut they call a two-head man, a witch, he comes up and he says, "Miss Howard," he says, "your boy's hurt." And another one of our aunt's boy had driv out there [to church supper] that night in a buggy. And this ole man say, "If you go to Tullahoma" - guess you heard of Tullahoma, Tennessee - "and get ole man Jack Cleveland and get him to come here and see your boy, 'cause he's hurt." He wus a fortune teller, this man who's tellin' it. And it wasn't anyone to go, and it just somepin came to me, said, "You go." I'd nevah been to Tullahoma, the dirt road, in mah life; but I'd been through there several times on the train. I knowed nothin' about the dirt road. And so mah cousin said, "There's the buggy and mare." He says, "If you drive 'er," he say, "and try to git there," he says, "you kill 'er, we got some mare." And I jis' gits in de buggy and - goes right out through de supper and gets in this buggy. And I drives as fur in de country as I knowed. When I got in this [unknown part of the] country somepin come to me, says, "Slackin' your line." I give this mare the line. She goes right straight to Tullahoma, three mile on de other side of Tullahoma, and walks up to this man gate and nickered. And when this mare nickered, this man come to the doah. Nevah seen 'im before in mah life. He called me directly by my name, told me directly before I got out whut wus the trouble. I came in the house. I'm scared after he told so much. He sent one of his girls to take the mare and put her up. He says, "Come in." I set down. I'm scared. He taken a silver dime, he filed this dime up into a glass of water, some of it, and he says, "Take a drink of it." I drank it, scared to not drink it, [being] young. I drinked that. He says, "Now," he says, "You've driv your mare purty hard," he says, "it over eighteen mile." He says, "In the morning we'll go." And he says, "Your nephew [cousin] is poisoned. He's poisoned about a girl, they tryin' to make him marry her, and the girl said he's not guilty of whut he's 'cused of. And he's poisoned in eggs." So it wus that next day, it wus Sunday. That wus Saturday night. We rest easy that night. Next morning we gets up and hitches up and we drive. When we git to our house, mah aunt's house, he say, "You go ahead and put your mare up. Well, when he step in de house - in those days we had those ole muzzle-loader shotguns, it wus up over a rack; but, he takes this gun off of the rack and gives. it to mah aunt, but tells her nothing. All right. He says, "De one that poisoned this boy, I'm gon'a bring him here so ever'body Will see 'im." And white people knowed de boy, and there wus several [white] people there to find out how he got, 'cause he's awful bad. By me drinkin' this silver killed de pains in him and ease him till he gits there. Well, after he did that, he calls this man [the poisoner's] name three times. This is true. This ole man name wus Sam H. [a white manl. He come runnin' down the big road, a lane, with his shoes off, barefooted, in his sock feet, and bare- headed and no coat on. He runs right up in de yard. He says, "Miss Howard," he says, "How is Johnnie?" And she says, "He's restin' purty well this morning, Mr. H." He turn around and he breaks right out up the lane just as - an' I reaches up after the gun and he pats me and says, "I taken kear of that." All right. He goes under our steps, but I don't know whut it wus. He taken out a little red sack about so long. In those days we'd saw a gum tree down and split it and make steps out of it. And he raises up that step and he takes it out. He takes this boy and put a tin tub under him, and he ask ever'body to come in de house. When they came in the house he taken a tin wash tub and set it by de bed. He retch over and he got this boy and he spoke in de Name of de Lord. He rubbed him in the back of his head and he commence throwing up. Jis' what he said that he wus poisoned on that night, he threw up - nothing but eggs clogged in him, eggs what would been cooked. He had ete those at this man's [Mr. H's] house. After he did that he laid back, laid back on the bed, and he rubbed him. And he says, "Now listen, ' he told 'em, ever'body, he says, "I don't put no spells on nobody," he says, "but I do mine in de Name of de Lord," he says, "but I don't know," he says, "he's got sich a holt on him," he says, "he may live five years, he may live ten." All right. He [the patient] gits up [well]. We ran together, we played ball a year or two together. One day him and I were at the woodpile cuttin' wood. This man [Mr. H.] came down de road - he'd been passing right by de house that they said poison him. He came down de road and this boy when he seen him coming, you never heard him cuss around before, he said, "Yonder comes that God damn bald-headed son-of-a-bitch" - commence to dancin', jis' dancin'. When this man gits to be even with him, he runs out and jis' splits his head wide open with this axe, killed him right there before anybody git a holt. And he jis' commence dancin' aroun', and says, "Oh, I told jah I'd git yah; I told jah I'd git yah." They caught him and sent him^to de 'sylum. He lived three days in de 'sylum. And before this child that he wus 'cused of being with this girl, before this child wus born, he [the conjurer] told directly who would be the father. And the girl never did 'cuse de boy of wrong. Her father and mother were bad black folk. He say, "When this girl bring this child it'll be a white-man child." He told de people's name. And it was true. He's a grown man today. He's livin' today.
Entry 972
Dat was in Roanoke, Virginia. Dere was a fellah over dere called Doctor [Somebody]. See, he was a negro - he was called de best root doctor in de world, Doctor Pitron, Peckrum. (Doctor what?) Doctor Peckrom - Roanoke, Virginia - Pinkerton. (Doctor Pinkerton?) Dat's right. Well, befo' he died, ah heard dat he had a house there which was called - and it was a red house, and they wouldn't let nobody go to that house. And if a patient come to him for anything, he'd send them to that little pool he had dug in there, and ah've heard several say that when they got into the pool, de pool was jest kinda ordinary water, you say for instance, but when dey come outa de pool de water would be black as de back of my han'. And he called that a consecrated healin' water from a root dey call four cormers of de world - dat's a herb. All right, but ah didn't see dat myself.
(What did he have that pool for? What did they go into that pool for?)
Dat was a place dat he had dere - people come to see him and if they had any kind of a disease or any kind of - anybody hurt 'em, dey'd cure 'em in dat way, and dey said when dey come outa dat pool, dey would nevah be bothered agin.
Entry 973
There was a man once he got into some trouble and he went to Elizabeth- town [North Carolina], and it Was way out on the hill some place, about ten miles out [from the town] on de place, and he came to this lady's home. And whenever she alive [while she lived] she [her voice] sounded like a turkey. [A voice sounding like a turkey must not be too rare - see a doctor called Turkey Gobbler, No. 848, p.294.] She carried him on in a little place and they had a pump - and a little place it shape like a bathtub, but it's made out of cement [a drinking trough for animals?]. And she carried him in there and pump water out of de pump and sprinkled him with it, and got some kin'a salve and some brown-lookin' dust and put on him, and gave it to him and rubbed it in his hair and hands, and tole 'im to go on back home. And he never got caught [by the police].
Entry 974
Ah was hoodooed in 1895 - ah were in de white-folks kitchen cooking. At home on de night befo' ah got blind. Ah seen a woman, yo' know, goin' down on de groun' makin' a mark - making a mark and she say, "When she come 'long she goin walk right ovah this" - in mah dream yo' know. So when ah went on that morning she was at de kitchen do. And ah walked in de kitchen do' an' opened de do' an' made a fire in de stove, and when ah made a fire in de stove ah made mah biscuits and put dem in de stove and put on mah coffee and put on mah grits, an' got mah bacon ready to fry.
(Where did this happen?)
In Camden, Alabama. Yes, sir - dat's mah home. Yes sir, Camden, Alabama. After ah got that all ready, ah went to set mah table. Got mah table all set an' everything and come back to de kitchen, ah was taken wit a swimming in de head so bad ah jes' couldn't hardly see. Ah says, "Whut's de matter?" Ah pulled de line[?] off an' then ah went on back in de kitchen. Ah went tuh stoop down to open de door to git de biscuits out de stove an' fell an' dey had tuh carry me home. Dere's a ole man name - let see whut was dat ole man name. Uncle Nase. Well, mah mother sent fo' him and he come an' tole her she jes' did send in time tuh save me, and he went in de woods and got some of these green cuckee [cockle] burs, made a poultice and put it all ovah my head - jes' wrapped me up in it chew know. An' den de next morning he was tuh bathe me. He give me some saltpeter and some sody and salt to put in water - those three things an' ah bathes with it an' every morning throw it to de sunrise. Yes, sir - every morning throw it sun- rise. An' after that ah begin tuh git all right, until ah got chere in Mobile. One day ah was working agin out heah on Montgomery Street loop in Mobile heah. Well, dat ain't been about five years ago.
(Government Street and St. Luke?)
Yes sir, that's right, and this leg swole up on me so bad, yo' see, ah thought it was broken an' ah sent fo' a doctor and no doctor - dey worked on it and dey couldn't do it any good. And so ah bathed it in salty water - yo' know that always is mighty good. Couldn't do nuthin with it. Well, it begin to burst and little ole bugs ran out of it. So ah went to a man dat was called to be wise, yo' know, and he tole me tuh git me some saltpeter and some sody an' vinegar, an' mix them all together and bathe it in. Ah did an' it's all right now.
Entry 975
I get out of bed. I broke down so blue over the condition. I said tuh him to git away from the house. I had sent the children away with de jar in case he might have raised sand and [have become] superstitious [suspicious] that I had it. So I said to him, "Ah'm goin' tuh the drug store, I'm so sick, an' git me some medicine. Ah'm going on Clay Street and git me some whiskey." Had no idea or I had no intention of getting it, but that was to get away from the house. So ah went to where I had told the children to go. I get a top and put on the jar and come on back home and locked it in the chifforobe of the front room. The next morning ah went about mah work, didn't show him any superstitious[ness = suspicion = any indication I had the iarl, and around one 'clock ah left home with the jar and ah taken it off and ah went to a woman's house, 商 and ah said to her, ah said, "Please tell me what is this and what is it fo?" She took the jar gracefully in her hands and she shook it this way [demonstrates]. She laid it on de floor [demonstrates]. She pick it up agin an' she shook it and she looked through it this way [demonstrates]. She laid it back on de floor [demonstrates]. She gits up from me and she goes into a extra bedroom.
(Her extra bedroom.)
[The doctor is putting on one of many possible acts. The case is so difficult she must read for it - consult the spirits. Information in fortune-telling comes from spirits.] She came back with a deck of cards and she begin to shuffle the cards jis' holding her hand - the cards was holded in her hands. She said tuh me -
(She held a handful of cards.)
He held her hands fulla cards this way [demonstrates].
(Two hands of cards.)
She had the cards in both of her hands an' she said to me, she said, "It's a man that's doing this." [This is one of a fortune-teller's stock statements for a woman client or patient.] She says, "How could a man have such a mean heart to do his wife like he's doing." She says, "That's your husband that's doing these mean things to you." She says, '"Yo're sick, too," she says, "the-son-of-a-bitch ought to be dead in hell fer taking such advantage of his wife when she has put forth every effort to make him happy." She taken the deck of cards down and holding them into two hands an' she held 'em in one hand, an' she went an' she got a bottle - this bottle.
(That bottle you have in your hand.)
This bottle that I've got in my hand. She filled it with a liquid oil and the color was nut-brown. She says to me, she say, "Ah want chew tuh go home this afternoon." Mah eyes were so they seemed to have a skin over them that ah couldn't see - they were very sore. When I went to look around ah had to turn all around - ah couldn't roll mah eyes because they hurt so bad and mah face ache and I couldn't close my hands. I washed an' ironed and I got to the place where I couldn't hold mah irons in my hand. She says to me, she says, "In this bottle" - when she came back to me after getting up with the cards and going into another room - she says, "You take this and you.see my hand?" I says, "Yes." She say, "Tonight when you go home, git chew a teacup of warm water - let it be real hot boiling water." She say, "Yo' po' that much of it [oil - demonstrates] in the: cup of boilin' water and then po' it into a wash basin." She says, "Take any ord'nary clean rag and, '' she says, '''noint chure face." She says, "Start this Way with the rag, with your hand open, jis' with the rag you know, to help your [almost closed] hand." She says, "Let it come gracefully over your shoulders [demonstrates]."
(Now wait, you come down the left side first?)
Yes, from the left side first. (With your open hand - with the rag on your open hand - over your face, down over your left shoulder and down your left arm.) Right on out to the end of mah fingers. Taken mah left hand and did the same way, going out mah right hand. (You take your right hand and go down your left arm - then you take your left hand and go down your right arm out to the fingertips.) That's right. After doing that, she says, take the remains.
(Do you do that just once?)
Jis' once. After doing that take the remains of the water, start beyond mah knee - mah knees were swole up - one swole up about like that [demonstrates].
(Huge.)
Then ah'd taken it from just above mah knee and squeeze the water and then put de bottom of mah feet in the remains of it. (I don't quite understand - after you finished with your hands, then you do what?) Pull mah dress up and put mah feet in de basin and taken de same rag an', yo' know, run mah hand into de basin, pulls it up and jes' squeeze the water with mah hand and let it run down mah laigs.
(Which leg do you begin with?)
Mah left laig - mah left laig first like I did with mah left arm.
(Up your leg to your knee?)
No, ah went down - start from ovah mah kneecap and go down. [She had already implied this but I wanted her definite statement, "Ah went down."]
(Then what do you do?)
Then after I did that -
(You squeeze that water out you say?)
The rag - an' let de water run down mah laig. Then ah'd taken that feet out of the basin and taken mah left hand and did the same thing on mah right feet. Ah didn't dry them - jes' sit by de fire. Then she says, "Take - (Now wait a minute - you take the right hand and you put it down in the water and fill the rag full of water. Then you squeeze that water over your left knee and let it run down into the pan.) That's right. (Then you put your right foot into the pan and take your left hand and you dip that down and wet the rag and then you squeeze it out over your knee and let the Water run down your right leg.) That's correct. After doin' that, she says, "Yo' take the remains of that water and go to your front do' - go through your front [room] - keep [walking] right out of the middle room - ah was in de middle room, and go through to your front part [yard outside] of the house and throw it over your front gate," she said, "an' Tuesday morning, ' that was Monday night, she say, "Tuesday morning you git up very early and git chew tin tub and git chew enough water" - she didn't measure it - says, "Jes' git chew enough water that chew kin start from yo' back steps" - and says, "Po' the remains of that liquid," that she gave, that brown-nut liquid, "in the Water. Don't put any soap or anything in it." She says, "Start at chure back steps and go through yore house, scrubbing de floors and keep on out through de front porch - on down the front steps - and what remains left of de water, she said tuh, "Throw it on de gate and let it run out," she says, "an' go around de house and come in," She says, "Wednesday night."
(You go round the house and come in the back door.)
Come in the back door. She says, "Wednesday night," she says, "have a ten-cent box of saltpeter" - says, "git chure bath water ready an' don't use any soap and git in thare and git a bath all ovah from your neck down, and let de water stand befo' de fire or behin' the stove-heater."
(You mean, you bathe from the neck down.)
No, ah bathe mah left side first.
(Oh, you bathe with this the way you did the other thing.)
Jes' all over agin - den ah taken mah hand an' squirted it over mah back this way - the same hand. Then ah'd take this hand and squeeze it over mah back and let it go down mah back that way.
(Well now - after you had washed your arms or after you had washed your legs?)
Ah mean that was after ah had did all the mopping and all the washing of the legs - this come along de last bath dat ah had. When ah had the last bath, it Was Wednesday night, coming up from Monday. Ah'd taken the water after ah had bathed and stood befo' de fire an' got dry. Ah put mah clothes on and ah po'd the water out of the tub into a smaller basin - that's so that ah could carry it through the house. An' ah throwed it ovah. An' she said to me, "Make de remarks when yo' po' it over de gate, 'Let me have peace, success and luck - mah sickness and disease all pass away. I did that. After ah had did that - the next following morning I got up - I felt well as ever - ah didn't have any of the trouble - mah eyes Was not sore - ah didn't cry that day - I use'lly would cry, jes' cry, jes' wash down in tears and hold mah head down. She says to me, she says, "Yo'll find a new spot - a spot on your floor that had a lot of new nails drove in de flo'." She say, "When you wash the house," as I have first related of the mopping, she says, "that will take the dressing off of those nails" - said, "that was to make yo' hold your head down and not look up to be happy when you were home." She says, "Your husband has one of your stockings and that he'd taken it to someone and they had dressed it fo' him - that was to keep you down in yo' laig and vo' feet." Said, "He has a piece of yore underclothes which was one of yore sanitary guards." That was to cause me to have the trouble ah had in the lower part of mah stomach, and ah would have a very bad sick headache, an' mah eyes would begin tuh hurt.... Now that ends that story. (Well, I just want to get something absolutely certain. I want you to 'tell me about the other bath - that last bath you had.) That last bath. Well, de last bath ah took, ah'd taken it on a Wednesday night. I had a teakettle, an old fashioned kittle - that's what I used to warm mah water in to keep on the stove. I po'ed the kittle of hot water in the tub. I had taken de whole dime box of saltpeter and po'ed it in de tub. Then, I mixed it around with a rag to absorb de saltpeter. I gits in de tub of hot water. I'd taken mah right hand and begin bathing mah left side first [demonstrates].
(From your shoulder down to your.)
From mah shoulder down to mah feet. (This time all the way down to your feet. All de way down to my feet.
(That was your left side.)
All de way down to mah feet ah'd taken mah left hand and I began from heah bathing mahself all de way down to mah feets.- on mah right side. Then when ah got through with that ah'd taken mah right hand an' begin putting the rag ovah mah back this way.
(Qver your left shoulder.)
Ovah mah left shoulder - that the water would go down the back. An' ah did de same thing with mah left hand over mah right shoulder - that the Water would go over mah back.
(So the water would go down your back.)
Yes.
(Then after you got that down over your back, then what did you do?)
I got out of the tub - stepped out of the tub and stood before the fire and let the water - turned around, yo' know, that the water would dry on me without taken a towel and wipin' it off. When ah become dry ah put mah nightclothes on to git ready fo' bed. Then ah taken the water out of the tub and po'd it into a bucket - that was to carry it through the house instead of carryin' the tub - and ah po'd the water ovah the front gate this way - ovah the top of the gate to let it run down.
(Let it run down the gate.) [This is the magic rite of.transference.]
Then I comes back up the steps an' comes on back in the house. That was Wednesday night. Thursday morning when ah got up - all the trouble, mah swelling from mah knees and my defect from mah eyes [were gone]. [Mobile, Ala., (693), 929:1.] [So complicated is this bathing rite, I will illustrate and support it with the following quotation:] [(No.976 mistakenly put before this bracket is now omitted.) The rite which I now quote from Adams County, Illinois, used among white people can be even made more complicated than the preceding rite from Mobile, Alabama:]
Entry 977
" [Several years ago [1936?] my sister and I [[Harry Middleton Hyatt, the author]] while in the country heard of an erysipelas cure that had been worked with an Indian arrowhead by an old woman formerly well known as a healer. Our informant, who was related to the healer's family, did not know any details, but said two of the old woman's sons, elderly men, were still alive - the one, a nearby farmer, professionally engaged in the healing tradition of the family; the other, a business man, the owner of a hardware store in the small town a few miles away. I decided to visit the business man first. The purchase of a dipper, which I actually wanted, served as an excuse. After the usual talk about things in general - the weather (it was about ninety-five in the shade), people on relief, business conditions, prospects from the approaching harvest - I told the man who I was, explained my work, and offered what credentials I could muster. Fortunately, he knew a boyhood friend of mine who at that time lived on a farm in the neighborhood, and he had also known my father. He became quite friendly. Our conversation ended something like this: "So you're going over to see my brother about that old cure of my mother's." He seemed amused. "Wait a minute." He went over to his desk, opened a drower, took out two implements, held them up and asked, "what do you think of them?" One of the objects was an Indian arrowhead; the other was a piece of steel shaped like this - u-shaped - two prongs sticking out from a handle. "Wonderful! May I hold them?" "Sure." "Your mother's?" "No, mine. Fact is, I've done that cure for years. Not so much recently. Just do it as a favor. Only cure I know. But that's good for any kind of skin trouble; not only erysipelas." "Why is the steel in a shape like this?" "No reason. I had it made like that years ago by a blacksmith. Easier to hold. See, I put my hand through here and let these two prongs stick out. Just like a handle. Those prongs are like a guard. No danger of skinning your hand." "Must you use an arrowhead?" "No, any kind of flint will do. But my mother used an arrowhead. I found this one myself." "Have you ever told anyone how you use these?" "No." "Could you?" "Yes, but I couldn't tell you. Have to tell a woman. And I have to tell a woman younger than myself. And she could only tell a man, and he would have to be younger than her. If you don't, you'll lose your power." "Suppose you gave this secret to a woman younger than yourself and she abused your trust, say, by telling it to another woman or to a man older than herself?" "That wouldn't hurt me. She would lose her power, I wouldn't." "Would you be willing to give the secret to a woman younger than yourself?" "I might." "How old are you?" "I'm x. years old." "See that automobile out in front? see that woman in it? that's my sister. She's younger than you and older than I. Suppose I go out, send her in, and you explain everything to her?" After some hesitation he agreed to the plan. So I went out, explained the hocus pocus to my sister, and she went into the store while I stayed in the car. In about a half hour my sister came out. We had the cure. Wrote down the details immediately. Here they are. You must hold a piece of steel in your right hand and strike dowmwards on a flint held by your left hand - our informant called this striking fire - as you go through the following four actions of the complete rite: (1) Start at the top of the patient's head, in the center, begin to strike down on the flint, making sparks; then, come down, slowly, continuing the sparks, over the right ear, shoulder and arm, to the finger tips; and, while striking these sparks from the top of the head down to the finger tips of the right hand, you must repeat three times: "While fire flies away; Tame fire devours you." This whole act must be done three times; hence, the incantation is repeated nine times. (2) Start at the top of the patient's head, in the center, and strike sparks down to the left finger tips while repeating the incantation three times. This whole act must be done three times. (3) Start at the top of the patient's head, in the center, and strike sparks down over the face, nose, mouth, center of the body as far as there is pain or the disease can be seen, even if it extends to the toes. The incantation must be said three times and the whole act repeated three times. (4) Start at the top of the patient's head, in the center, and strike sparks down the back of the head, down the middle of the back, and as far as the pain or disease extends, even to the heels if necessary. Repeat the incantation three times and the whole act three times. The complete rite - containing the four separate acts, each of which, as already stated, is repeated three times - must be performed after sunset or before sunrise, and it must be repeated on three different occasions as follows: if you commence after sunset, perform the complete rite at that time, then again just before the following sunrise, and then again after the next sunset; if you comnence before sunrise, perform the complete rite at that time, then again just after the following sunset, and then again just before the next sunrise. Now, if the complete rite performed on three separate occasions fails to cure the patient, wait awhile, three days or a muiltiple of three, and perform the rite again; then wait once more, and perform the rite for the third time. Therefore, in this extreme case, the complete rite is performed 9 times and each of the 4 acts 27 times - which means going down the body 128 times and repeating the incantation 324 times. And if this fails to cure the patient, I do not know what happens. Probably the healer will need a healer for himself. This remedy, which has been worked in the community since about 1850, was brought over from Germany by the informant's grandmother. With our arrowhead cure safely bestowed, and with high hopes, we next went out to see the other brother, the professional healer. He refused to tell us anything. It was another of the hundreds of disappointments and failures one meets while collecting foZklore.] [From FACI,2ed., No. 5826, Pp.264-265 - see comment at end of No.975, p.372.]
Entry 978
Earthworms - you know earthworms that you fish with. That's an experi- ence of myself - I did that. I was hurt. A lady wanted my husband. She caused me and my husband to get along bad. Well, I was working for some white people doin' days work. (She had what?) [Her word caused like cuzed or cussed.] She had I and my husband living disagreeable and we could not get along: I was finding a child every year and he was very whore-ish about running around at women. Now, I had days work from white people I was working for since I was a little girl. So she buried a bottle at my gate and I goes in the gate that evening from my work, a pain struck me in this foot. Well, I rubbed, I rubbed, I bathed and the more I rubbed the worser it'd get. And my foot busted open on top and worms like - you've seen wood sawyers, haven't you? Well, they's crawl out of my foot. [These beetles probably pine sawyers.] Well, there was an old man - he was a two-headed man - old man Ellis Perdue. He's dead now. He lived that far from me - from here [to] across the street.
(Here in New Orleans?)
No, that was in Alabama.
(What town in Alabama?)
Atmore, Alabama. He's dead though, now. He comes to my house and look at my foot. He takes a hoe and goes into my garden. He digs as many earthworms as you could: hold like that [demonstrates] - just as many as you could hold up in your hands. He puts 'em in a pot and boils 'em. He goes and buys this first hog lard - you know, the leaf like you buy and dry it up [render] yourself. He dried that up with some saltpeter - a nickel of saltpeter and a nickel of red pepper in it and made a salve to bathe my feet in. Then he told me to save my urinate. I saved my urinate until I got about a quart and I put that on with nine pods of red pepper and a nickel of saltpeter and a box of table salt and boiled it. That's to bathe me in all over, I start from here down [demonstrates].
(From your head down.)
For nine mornings, bathe me down in it to my feet. Then rubbed me down with that salve after he done made out of those earthworms, and on the ninth morning he say, "Now when you bathe yourself on the ninth morning, go in your back yard, facing the sunrise, go but turn your back to the sunrise and throw it over your left shoulder and don't look back and you'll walk." And I've been walking ever since. That's just the experience of me. My feet was layin' open, just like you about that far [demonstrates], like you take a knife and split it open and those worms crawled out. And he told me, he says, "Long as you live, you get you two silver dimes and wear 'em on your legs, to keep anybody from putting anything down for you. But I've been hurt since then because I got jealous. The strings of my dimes rotted and I lost 'em in the bed. Course I put 'em up but I never did put 'em back on, but I've been hurt through my minastratin'. Yes, sir, I was hurt here in New Orleans - next month it'll be five years ago.
(How did that happen?)
Well, my daughter died. My enemies through the death of my daughter come in my house. I was minastratin', you know, like women will pull their pieces off and be careless sometimes. I left one of my pieces and I put it down and the woman got my piece and buried me in the graveyard. Well, she stopped me up. I Was stopped up fifteen days before I could minastrate. I was took with pains in my stomach, in knots like that and I was turning dark. So on a Tuesday at twelve o'clock I was cutting some turnip greens at my table. I had boarders, you know - I was selling lunches and selling liquor - bootlegging. And a pain hit me right in here and right back here and throwed me just like you would knock me down. In the bottom part of my stomach, right down just above my cross-bone and just above my rectum back here, and I fell just like you would, you see, just somebody knock you down. So they come and they picked me up and they put me in the bed and I rang up for the doctor. He come and he give me a hyperdermic. That hyperdermic set me on fire. I looked like I was - I just clawed everything, my pain was so severe in my body that I just wanted to tear up everything I could get my hands on. So I had a white doctor - it was a colored doctor that come [the first time] - so I got my insurance doctor, a white doctor, and the more medicine he'd give me the worse I'd git. So there was an old lady in the block. She come to see me. She lives in the block where I live now. She told my mother, she said, "That girl is hurt." She said, "You go to the drug store and get ten cents of jumaca ginger," 'you know what that is, "and you boil it and you give her that tea, just as hot as she can drink it, three nights straight." I drank that tea. And then she said, "You soak her feet in that saltpeter, red pepper and table salt and her urinate." My feet was white as cotton without a drop of blood in 'em in my feet. I was burning up from here down to my feet and up here I was freezing to death. So my mother did that and when my minastratin' come on it Was black as that coat you have on [see Coat, author's black, in Index]. I stayed that way a solid month. I was weighin' 164 pounds - when I got up I Was weighin' 92. And 100 pounds of ice a day I used. I had a foot-tub and I had to crush that ice and lay on the side of the bed like this with a pillow at the foot of my bed to try to sleep with my feet in that tub of water until I was burning up. If I didn't have 'em in that ice water, it looked like you just had fire made against my feet, burning me up. I was burning up from my knees down and I was freezing here [from knees up]. And when I'd get tired of laying like this, my mother would put me in the bed and I bought one of these big hot-water bottles, and I'd crush the ice and put it in there and lay it against the foot of the bed and rest my feet on it, so I could rest my body. You see I'd get tired of being cramped like this. That's just the experience of me since I've been here. And after that, the old lady told me, she say, "Whatever you do, every month you come like that, you Wash your pieces as fast as you use them and don't leave away from home and leave them hanging outdoors; always keep your pieces in the house, 'cause another rap like that you'll never make it. Now, what dose medicines was she give me, I couldn't tell you because she didn't let me know that. But I do know about the Washing of my feet and my urniate in that tub of saltpeter and table salt, 'cause I had to do that myself.
Entry 979
I've been hurt once by a woman. Well, I wus poisoned in good fashion. I liked to died. I had Doctor A., a medical doctor and his medicine went against me, it didn't do me no good. And the erbs dat I kep' home, which I keep some now, you boil them and then taken some and put on the whiskey in the bottle. I jis' plumb blind, jis' broke out all the way. And that's whut got me on my foot. And I, see, I keep that tea.
(What else did you do?)
Jis' roots and teas: silk root, blacksnake root, and devil-shoestring root. You see, the first time you take de silk root, and you cut it inch long and you steep dat in overnighti water [water overnight] and put a cover over it. Well, it's bittah and you'll throw up everything in you. De stuff come out of you green as you ever seen, as green as grass you ever seen. De devil-shoestring and the blacksnake root you steep dem togethah and you drink that. Den when I got so I could walk I goes in the Woods, take my hatchet, I gits some cherry bark, red oak bark and dogwood root; and bathed [with] that - make a wash of this water you know and use it to wash with. And bathe right down, bathing that for nine morning: And den when you git ready to throw it away, you throw it to sunrise. ["This little fellow sold hands - a cripple" - note made when I did original transcription soon after collecting statement; happened in Wilmington, 1912, but remedy came from Scotch Hill,12 miles from Wilmington on the Newbern Road.]
Entry 980
Ah was kinda tricked - ah had sores - somebody done a trick tuh me and had me so mah feet was swelled and ah couldn't walk. Mah feet got jest 'bout like - every time ah would get up to move it feeled like pins and needles was sticking in de palms of mah foot and ah jest had to go down to de floor and stay where ah was without moving dat time, pricked me all ovah. Well, ah went to see and went around to diff'rent people to see whut de trouble was and dey tole me ah'd been hurt. Well, ah come back and went to New York and a fortune-teller told me, said, "You've been hurt and the best thing you kin do is to get somebody to work on you - tuh [work on] de person dat tricked - de man dat's been working on you." Well, individual [eventually] - anyhow ah went and had a salve - a salve was mixed up for me - it was mixed up. De first thing they told me to bathe with mullein - dis mullein tea - take dat an' boil it and keep mah feet in dat and always bathe it down and say a prayer over it.
(What kind of a prayer did you say?)
Ah said, "Lord, taketh the one that put this misfortune on me - to move this pain away from my foot - turn dis evil spirit away - amen - in Thy Name." Ask the Lord to remove this evil spirit - bathe it down.
(Why did you bathe it down?)
Dat's to rub it out, out - see, it was come in [through the foot] and want it to go out from de toe. Start down from de head and carry it out - that's to make de pain go out of mah foot - each stroke I gave it out. Jest put it in dat water with mullein, carrying each stroke out. Well, dat 'gin to do a little good. Den dis person made a salve, it was fer me. They made it with snake oil - ah mean, you know, de snake's liver. And [they] made of dat grease - grease from de snake, saltpeter - an' mix dat up and a little of de mullein - it was boiled down and mixed with dat and mutton suet. That mutton suet - and made de salve, and ah rubbed dis foot and dat's whut kinda got me up so ah could walk. But time after time ah couldn't go nowhere. De foot turn kinda black jest like something had bit me.
Entry 981
Ah wus hurt an' when ah wus hurt ah wus cured, an' ah dunno whut kinda [rubbing] medicine it wus. He strip me necked an' po' [pour] dat medicine in his han' an' jes' rub me down three strokes, an' somepin othah [usually a ''live thing in you"'] follow his han' down jes' lak dat an' bust out de end of mah toe - right de same where it went in. When ah first got it, ah got it in mah toe. Well, it wus somepin jes' lak a needle dat stick in mah toes an' dat needle jes' work right on - jes' keep aworkin' roun' till it got [inside].
Entry 982
Now listen, mah pastor, he wo'a little black cap on his haid, see. All right. He often walks along de streets 'sleep. He couldn't git his health back no way, see. All right. De doctah had ordered him tuh diff'rent parts of de country tryin' tuh raise his health back agin. He couldn't git his health. See, he lived on de othah [New Orleans] side but de doctah ordered him on dis [Algiers] side - see, fo' his health. De doctah didn't do him no good.
(On the other side of the [Mississippi] river, you mean?)
On de othah side de rivah. See, but dey [doctors] all came tuh Algiers. All right. So one day he wus passin' on Crownlet[?] Street, dat's ovah de rivah, an' it was noon when de people standin' in front of a do'. It wus a man dere, see - a colored fellah tellin' fortunes or tell yo' 'bout whut's de reason. So he said tuh de othah preacher dat wus wit him, say, "Let's go down dere an' take a look." So when he walked in, by him bein' so tall, he wus standin' lookin' in de do', de man looked at him an' beckoned tuh him tuh come heah, see. He said tuh de preacher, "Dat fellah tellin' me tuh come 'head." He say, "Well, go see whut he wants." See. All right. So when he walks in, de man says, "Let him pass." So when he went in, de man shook han's wit him an' tole him who he wus. He say, "Yo' been sick a long time." He say, "Yes." He said, "Yo' cain't git chure health." He say, "Yo' been travelin' diff'rent places dat de doctahs been sending yo' an' yo' cain't git health." So he say, "Yo' see dat little black cap yo' got on yore haid?" Yo' see, he had his hat lak dis on his haid. See, he say, "Yo' wears a little black skull cap on yore haid." He say, "That skull cap is got so many diff'rent grains of stuff in it, an' fo' gold-haid needles crossways in dere."
(What kind of stuff did it have in it?)
Diff'rent kinds of stuff, see. So he said it had some lodestone, red peppah - dat upstirrin', see. So he said, "Yo' go home." Yo' know he had a church on dat side an' he lived on dis side, but back in de back. He said, "Yo' go home an' look undah dat front steps goin' tuh yore dwellin' an' yo'll find yore underwear, de drawers part, a left-foot sock, undah there, in a shoe box." So he say, "Yo' go back into yore alley, by de step goin' up in yore house, if yo' look undah dere, it got a shoe box got yore left-foot shoe, an' got a left-foot sock." Say, "Go inside an' yore wife got two moss mattress [two mattresses stuffed with Spanish or long moss] on de bed - two moss mattress on de bed." So, he said, "Yo' turn dat mattress back, de first one back," an' he say, "it's a little box an' yore picture whut chew had taken tuh put in de church, dat picture got away from yo' an' yo' didn't know whut become of it?" He say, "No." So he say, "Yo' has yore little black skull cap whut chew dress jis' lak de preacher will dress wit chure Bible in yore hand." He say, "She had dat picture taken in a small picture de same way. She's got dat picture put in a little box in de shape of a casket." He say, "Yo' lays on dat little casket [coffin] all de time an' yo' cain't git chure health. When yo' lays down yo' almost passes out." See. "She fix everything to make yo' convince." He say, "Yo' don't drink coffee, yo' don't drink chocolate - yo' drinks tea." Den he say, "Every time yo' tells her yo' wants a cup of tea, she takes a teaspoon of black-looking medicine an' puts it in yore teapot, makes yore tea an' gives yo' dat tea. Dat's tuh ruin yore inside tuh hurry yo 'way from heah.' An' he say, "Yo' has a dresser set between de middle do' an' de backroom do'." So he say, "Set dere an' yo' call her an' yo' tell her tuh fix yo' a cup of tea fo' yo' an' de othah brother. So she say, 'All right.'" He say, "Now yo' watch her when she goes tuh fix dat tea yo' goin' see de act." So mah pastor say when he call her, says, "Sally, come heah." So she say, "Whut chew want?" He say, "Go fix a cup of tea for me an' Reverend Brown." So she say, "All right." So she went on through an' he say he took his chair an' he sat dis way. Sho 'nuff he could look through dat mirror-glass right to de kitchen. So she goes an' takes a little bit of teapot an' she puts de tea in it an' she reaches ovah behin' de pots an' things she got an' she got a little bottle an' measured a teaspoonfulla dat. An' he call Reverend Brown tuh look at it. See, dey both wus lookin'. Say she stirrin' it up, an' say she steeped de tea. All right. So she took anothah teapot an' put a little bit of tea in it an' po'ed watah on it an' steeped it up. So she took de waiter [demonstrates] an' put it dere [on the table] but a cup dere an' a cup heah [on the waiter]. She put a small cup dere - she put de small fo' Reverend Brown an' his [her husband's cupl wus a large cup cus' he drank plenty tea. She put it dere an' she put de sugah an' milk dere. See, when she started in wit it, dey both turned deyself lak dey wus [before they looked into the mirror]. When she come in she walks tuh Reverend Brown first an' had de waiter. She say, "Heah, Reverend Brown, yo' take de small cup cus' yo' don't drink much tea, ah know." He say, "No." See, she didn't put none de stuff in his cup. So Reverend Brown took de tea an' so she say, "Heah, Henry, heah yo' tea." So her husband took de tea an' sot to be side wit it, wit de sugah an' ever'- thing. An' she wus standin' dere talkin' - dey wus busy talkin' ovah things. So she.say, "Whyn't yo'all drink yo' tea, it's gon'a git cold." Dey say de wants it git cold, it so hot right now. So she left an' she went tuh de back. So he turned an' he brought all de stuff up to de church. He had de shoe box tuh show de members whut she wus doin' tuh him. So she had her bed made up pretty nice an' everythin', so he searched through de bed an' he looked at de bed. He caught de mattress, bedclothes an' all an' whirl it ovah de foot of bed, an' sho' 'nuff, dere wus de little casket - de black casket trimmed. Somebody musta made dat fo' her - trimmed a black casket, a little small one jis' about that long. An' sho' 'nuff dere it wus layin' right in de center of de bed - see, between de mattress.
(What was in that casket?)
His picture. So he took it out an' he open it an' she had had his picture drawed in a small size picture jis' enough tuh fit in dere, de full length of 'im. Dat's why ah nevah git a picture took full length - see [they can't lay you out in a coffin]. See, she had him wit his Bible an' his black cap jis' lak he wus wit fo' gold- haid needles crossed. So he say, "Well, look Reverend Brown, look dere." So she wus busy talkin', so he shut de do' an' latched de do'. He wanted tuh git all de stuff. So he went out dere an' he looked up undah de steps an' he didn't see nuthin, an' Reverend Brown say, "Do lak de man tole yuh." So he got a shovel an dug down up undah dat little shelf an' say, sho' nuff he dug up de pastebo'd box but it hadn't got rotten yet. It wus still dere an' so he shook it up an' he Say, "Well, dis is mah shoe ah been lookin' fo' an' ah couldn't find it" - de left-foot shoe an' de sock wit gold-haid needles. See. So he put dat in de room an' he went undah de front an' his underwear, a pair of sho't underwear an' a left-foot sock wus undah de front steps. He got it all. So Reverend Brown, he say, "Well, man, is dat de kinda wife yo' got - dat's how she got chew tricked up. So he say, "Dat's why ah cain't git mah health back." So he say, "Whut's chew goin' do?" He say, "Now, ah'm goin' call her." Dey had a back entrance. Yo' could see out de back way of her place cus' ah went dere. (Wait a minute now. At the front door they had his underwear and the left- foot sock; at the back door she had a left-foot shoe and left-foot sock.) An' see, he open de do' an' he call her. See, he had all de things on de table - dey hadn't teched de tea, see. He say, "sally." She say, "What?" He say, '"Come heah." So when she walked in she looked at de bed, he say she change color. She wus a bright umber [amber] - say she got blue-lookin'. So she say, "Oh, but chew upset de bed!" He say, "Yeah, we upset de bed. Whut should yo' doin' wit mah picture in a casket ah'm layin' on it. No reason ah almos' passes out at night. Dat stuif yo' got ovah behin' dat pot shelf whut chew put a teaspoonful of it in mah cup an' didn't put none in Reverend Brown." Say she didn't give him chance - she whirl, she left. She didn't give him chance tuh tell her nuthin else. She whirl an' she flew tuh de back. Nobody didn't know where she wus. Dat Friday night he came tuh church an' we had church dere. He come wit de shoe box an' he say, "Well, members," he says, "it may be mah last time ah'm tellin' yo' all dis, but ah wants every member, every friend tuh come up in de rostrum." He say, "Dem who's unseen, let othahs see whut mah wife had me layin' on. How she had me fixed de reason ah couldn't git mah health back, an' ah wus dyin' off." So he say, "Dis underwear an' left-foot sock, yo' all know how mah house situated, ah got dis undah de front steps. Dis left-foot sock an' left shoe, got dat undah mah back steps, comin' in mah do'. Dis little casket wit mah picture [I found] in de mattress - ah wus layin' on dat sleepin'. A cup of tea," he say, "de tea whut chew see in dis bottle." He had po'ed de tea in a bottle. She put a teaspoonful of some kinda black stuff in it, but de tea whut he brought up dere dat night looked blue-lookin'. It didn't look lak tea, it looked blue- lookin' - see, from de stuff she put in it. He say, "Dis whut ah been drinkin'." Dat man tole me, "Ever' time yo' drinks tea, yo' drinks yore death." An' he say, "Ever' time yo' eats, yo' eats yore death." See. Well, yo' know whut it was. He had a lot of property an' brown stuff. He had one boy. See, she wus aimin' to git him out de way, so she could have ever'thing fo' herself. He say, "Now, members an' friends," he say, "ah'm goin' an' ketch de ferryboat in de mawnin', fo' 'clock an' ah'm goin' let dis whole box go down in de middle of de rivah." "An'," he say, "mah property an' stuff, befo' ah leave de world, ah'm goin' fix ever'thing fo' mah boy. She don't git a pinch from me." When he died that boy had everything in his possession. Dat wus mah pastor.
(Where was his church?)
On D'Iberville[?] downtown an' Rochambeau - de French part of town. Den he had one church up on Crown. It settin' dere right now - a concrete church on dat side an' it's got a Catholic church behin'. Dat's de church he built. All right.
Entry 983
[To throw objects into running water as in the preceding story is among the great magic rites, but this throwing must be done in various specified ways:] Now, aftah it's been discovered - whut happen tuh put chew in de luck yore in, tuh make sick - take dis thing whatevah it might be an' go to the runnin' watah, an' turn yore back to it an' throw it ovah an' nevah look back an' come on away. Dat supposed tuh be gittin' rid of dis fo'evah.
Entry 984
It's a very broad expression, yo' can't - dere blood unless yo' put a person, unless a woman, yo' know - yes, her ministration.{She was uncertain about using the word.] Well, once in a while - this is mah experience with mah- self. I'm not givin' you an' idea whut ah hears. I had a cotton mattress yo' know - yo' didn't pack dem, an' my ministration was taken up from my - ah worked at a hotel, see, an' it was taken up an' that piece was cut clean out an' honest, it was fold jes' lak this - 'bout five times an' outa de five times, they have five needles in it, an' beside the five needles they have something it looked kinda like a black snake, it had a little teeny head like this - like that. I found that in mah mattress. An' then they had another one to go 'cross that an' dis little head was in dere. [Two snakes were crossed.] Then they had that wrapped up - it was sprinkled with something - it had been there so long. Then they had it wrapped in one cloth, yo' know, white duck. Then the next was red flannen. An' those things ah didn't see myself at all until ah found it an' ah'd taken it to a doctor. He says, "Oh, they had jure ministration." Ah didn't take it to a medical doctor - ah took it to a root doctor - ah had never believed in them [medical doctors]. An' they had lotsa my hair in there with it - ah had long beautiful hair - an' how they got it I does not know, but I guess from combing mah hair an' leaving or de dresser.
(What did this doctor do for you?)
Whut did this doctor do? He'd taken it with him. Ah say, "Now, what is yo' goin' do with it?" He says, "Ah tell yo' whut ah'm goin' do. Ah'm goin' take it to a runnin' stream an' ah'm goin' put it in there an', '' he said, ''the same person that did joo like this, they'll come an' ast chew the next morning, How yo' feelin, Miss Davis?" Anhe say, "Now, don't look ugly an'don't look nasty, jes'say, "Jes' dandy an' how yo' feelin'? Ah did so. An' he say, "In nine mornings when it come yore time, yo'll jes' come jès' lak yo' always." So it has - ever since ah never had no mo' trouble.
(He cured you?)
He did - but he done something else, but he did it to himself [he did not tell her what he did].
Entry 985
Well, this party had a shawl and she loaned it to another friend of hers and when that friend brought it back - she Worn it over her head and whutever was in that shawl caused her to lose all of her hair. She became bald and blind. And she went to a so- called hoodoo doctor and that doctor gave her something to take, and then she went to running water nine mornings and washed her eyes, and threw that bag over the left shoulder and in the running water, and she began to have sight. She was to wear that for nine mornings but she must Wash her eyes in this running water with this bag around her neck.
third-person report of repeated eye washing in running water. The bag differs from the earlier borrowed shawl. Preserve the source sequence including left-shoulder disposal without rewriting its timing. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 986
(Tell what you told me coming over on the ferry about the day in May.)
[While collecting hoodoo in Algiers, I lived in New Orleans where we had been working: Each day Edward, Marshall and his taxi and I went back and forth across the Mississippi River. After I had set up my Teledi- phone on reaching Algiers, I had Marshall repeat the story; as usual details being lost in the retelling.] Ah - ah dunno zactly. Ah think it's de first day of May. No, de first day of April. No, it's May. If yo' have any trouble, worry, any hard burden an' yo' couldn't git rid of it, jis' been worried all de yeah, jis' up an' down, sickness or anything. Well, yo' go tuh de rivah dat first day [of May]. An' yo' go an git down tuh de watah an' yo' wash yore han's an' yore feet good, an' face, an' let de watah drip from yo' lak dat - jis' throw de watah from yo' lak dat, shake it off. An' as dat watah hit's de stream an' - it carries it off.
(Do many people do that around here?)
Many folks still do - ah dunno heah lately, but ah know yeahs ago. Now, dis late generation, dey don't fool wit it so much. But ah remembah about eight or nine yeahs ago, an' yo' know, life an' people wus bettah den. Dey wait till May tuh git rid of dey troubles.
(You used to see them at the river?)
See 'em at de rivah - each fellah jump ovahbo'd. He [an ole felZah] stepped ovah yo' know an' ovah balanced, an' de rivah wus a little bit low dere an' de [young] fellah had tuh run lak anythin' tuh ketch de ole fellah. [The preceding rite was picked up on a Mississippi River ferry. Somewhere I have material collected from my Pullman porter on a Pennsylvania train near Baltimore, Maryland.] [At the end of an interview I often made a comment to my microphone, just in case my memory failed or my notes were lost:] (That was Marshall talking, who just told me about the first of May. He is the man that I hired as a chauffeur here and in New Orleans. End of 1599.)
Entry 987
Lak a baby got de stretches.
(What's that?)
Lll' baby jes' stretch - like yo' do early in de mawnin' 'fore yo' git up, yo' stretch lak dat. Well, yo' take dis baby to runnin' watah an' take a thimble. All right, when yo' go tuh sew yo' sew with a thimble. Yo' give 'em some watah wit this thimble out dis runnin' watah, out of a creek. De first watah he go 'cross, yo' goin' stop an' give him some watah out dat creek or branch watah - whut it is, runnin' watah. An' dat will cure de stretches.
Entry 988
Then I hear of a man having a cap. Where he worked at a man didn't like him on account of his job and every time he put this cap on his haid - see, he kept this cap where he worked, he wore his other hat home. And the minute he come and put this cap on his haid, he'd fall out with head trouble. So he went to an old man and this old man told him to take this cap and in crossing dis Water throw his cap over his left shoulder and don't look back - cross the water, cross the bridge. So he did that and that head trouble went away.
(That cured him?)
That really went away - 'cause that was my husband did that.
(Well, did he use the cap again or just - )
He used it - he tried it once more - he put it on his head that morning and the pain came back.
Entry 989
Go to do' an' throw some water, dey say, in de east or either in de south - jes' which way yo' think yo' are hurt, see yo' throw dat watah dat way. In de mawnin' early, jes' de way dat chew think dat yo' was hurt or de stuff was put out fo' yo', yo' throw dat way.
(What kind of water - plain water?)
Plain water in a glass - clean water.
(What will that do?)
Say dat is drivin' it away from yo'.
Entry 990
Yo' kin cut chure hair out an' burv it in de leak of de house, an' it would make it grow - make yore hair grow.
Entry 991
My grandmother tole me, "Son, ah tell yah what yo' kin do." [She] say [see later]. Ah goins to ole lady, ole lady stay across at de branch, and she tells me git some dishwater - water what you washin' de dishes, and wipe dat whole hat good; wipe dat hatband roun' an' roun' in de hat, no mind de band, and den says, "Don't wear de hat fer about three-four days and you'll git rid of dat dizziness in de head." [Grandmother previously had said] "Dey give you guinea sickness in yo' head - can't keep you mind - you start on dis and jump off - an tell me somepin and you go tell anodder person somepin [else] - and none of it won't be de trut'." Dey ain't in dey right mind, yo' see. Dat's somepin like de strike off yo' brains [brain stroke].
(They take that bow out of your hat?)
Take de bow out chure hat and bury it. [That gave him guinea sickness.] It blows bad luck to you to take it out. [It is bad luck for the man to remove his own hat bow.]
Entry 992
They was fixed - she was near blind. Somebody had passed their hand on her head. (Had what?) Had passed their hand on her head with something on their hand.
(Had done that?)
And had her near blind. And she goes to a lady and the lady give her some Water, clear water - clear water, blest water. She blest de water and give it to her and made her wash her face and head all the time in it, and she got her sight back all right and she got all right, and the lady turned it back on the person that put it on her.
Entry 993
Now the spiritual people when yo' go to 'em an' if yo' got any kinda disease or anything wrong wit yo', they would pray ovah this watah - dey call it de holy watah. They goin' pray ovah this watah an' yo' drink three swallows of that watah three times a day, an' when yo' drink the first three swallows it goin' make yo' sick, but chew keep on drinkin' it an' finally yo'll feel bettah. They do's that fo' some kinda sickness or fever complaint or anything lak that.
(Is that holy water that each person makes himself - these spiritual people?)
Yessuh.
Entry 994
That holy water is to bless your house and keep what is supposed to be dead people away and make success in your house, especially after you scrub, and keep one [bottle] tied up behind the door or on your bed open and the other one you close it up - take it as a tonic, some medicine, you know, when you feel bad, drink that. That's success, too, that holy water. It keeps all imps and every- thing wrong from around your house - that brightens it up, you understand.
Entry 995
My aunt been tricked and I carried 'er to a lady. We was living next door to a woman and she didn't like my aunt. And she put something down on the plank-walk, but it used to come every evening about three o'clock. It did look like ice-cream salt but it was saltpeter, and it come up every evening at three. [See subsection Time and Hoodoo Spell, p.349.] And when it melts away it melts away like dew. You ever seen like dew melt away and leave everything wet? Well, my aunt walked over that.
(You mean like in the morning it's wet on the grass?)
Yes, sir. Well, my aunt she walked over that - it was on the plank-walk. Well, after that she walked over it - she was big and fat - she weighed 250 - then she had one big leg and she had one little leg. Well, after that she began so she couldn't walk. So I carried her to a lady [a spiritual] and the lady took some holy water and rubbed my aunt's leg with that for nine mornings and made her pray an' take the holy water and that holy water cured her. That holy water is really good - that holy water cured her.
(Made her take it? How do you mean take it?)
She used to drink three swallows of it every morning, and the rest she used tc bathe her leg in, and now she got all her health and strength back again.
(Where did you take her - somewhere here in New Orleans?)
Yes, sir. I take my aunt into her house. Well, when I brought her in she tole my aunt, she say, "OoH, '' she say, "you're hurted." But my aunt tole her, "Yes, but nothing don't hurt me." But you see, by her body being so big - she had a little leg and a big leg - 'cause that woman had put the stuff down for my aunt, well, she had put it down to paralyze this one side. Well, she was really paralyzed in that one side. Well, she made my aunt drink three swallows of holy Water, and she bathed her leg nine mornings in the holy water, and she made her repeat the Lord's Prayer three times a day. But she told her she had to believe in for it to do her any good. So she believed in it.
Entry 996
[Everything in witchcraft and hoodoo is spirit - even bad luck (see Hard-luck Spirits, No. 895, p.328; also Spirits in Index). Since you cannot kill spirit, you are unable to cure or to destroy disease, sickness, body disability, or symptom like headache - you get rid of it normally by transfer- ring it to something else. This is very dangerous work for the doctor-yourself addict; it is quite hazardous for the doctor him- self. Heed the words of a Master of Spirits:] ["If de evil spirit (here, your control, the spirit working for you) take yo' misery an' yo' troubles away, well, he goin' want somebody else to put it on (transference) - he turn right round (unless you are careful) an' put it on you (the doctor). Well, if you ain't got sense 'nuff to protect yoreself, why he'll take de misery offa de person yo' (the doctor) cure an' bring it right back to you" (Doctor Yousee speaks on p.ll81, line 43f., parentheses author's).] [There are many kinds of transference; the most usual probably being turning back (reversing) the spell onto the person casting it. Equally common is any type of trouble transferred to a stranger.]
Entry 997
A silver dime in the bath-water - taking a bath in the tub at nighttime, not no day - zinc tub, a washtub. After bathing, keeping the water in the house all night, throwing it out in the middle of the street where someone pass at. The man or woman passing picks that up, picks up all your bad luck and everything that went wrong with you. You git along fine, you as anybody else.
[I stop the machine to ask for a clearer account.]
In the bathtub that you goin' bathe in, you see, you take de water, you put the silver dime and a nickel which is fifteen cents, odd money. Heat the warm water, pour it on the fifteen cents. After takin' this solution - with parsley, granulated sugar, with Karo syrup, ammonia and Jockey Club perfume, see - pour it in the water and bathe from head to feet, leave it stay in the house all night. That next day you throw it out in the middle of the street near to 4 o'clock that morning with the fifteen cents. Of course you know, if anybody passes money on the street, they will pick it up. The one who picks it up, well they picks up your bad luck and you start a new true life again. [For cures, see Transference in Index.]
Entry 998
[In the following whooping-cough cure a mean trick is played on the spirit causing the disease:] Everybody else in the family when they ben' ovah with they han's on each othah's back directly in front the first person, [each person] right behind a person put his hands on his back [the back of the person in front] and - go right behind each, put his hands on my [sick person's back] and the person won't cough no more and the whoop will go down the line to the last person and go. [This is my original transcription in pencil; a note on it reading, "Whooping cough cure - final transcription." The person with whooping cough bends over - behind him a line of bent-over persons forms, each laying his hands on the back of the person in front. The spirit of whooping cough is interested and enters into the spirit of the game. The diseased person whoops and the spirit makes his first mistake. Instead of reentering the diseased person, the spirit hops into the second person. Then the second person whoops and the spirit jumps into the third person and so on down the line. When the last person in line whoops, the spirit jumps backward into the air - he is homeless and the diseased person is cured.] [How can a spirit having power to change form and to go anywhere be so easily fooled? Why doesn't he quickly reenter the last person in line? As I previously remarked, a spirit is a simple-minded creature (No. 505, p.152). He had had a delightful experience playing the new game jumping-backwards; it would never occur to him suddenly to jump forwards. Besides, every' person in the bent-over line was intending and willing or wishing him out into space. Man's increasing ability to think has permitted him to trick the spirits, overcome the obstacles of the universe.]
Entry 999
If you have chickenpox, go into henhouse, lie at door or under roost, and let someone shoo the chickens out so that they will fly out over you. [This cure is based upon the magic law of like cures like (see margin-title so named) - chickenpox being symbolically connected with chickens. The homeless chickenpox spirit, evicted by patient's intention and the enticement of mystically related chickens, may select one new home (a chicken) or split his spirit personality to grab several.]
Entry 1000
It kinda makes me feel funny to tell it. It was at Norfolk [Virginia]. That was in 1917. This woman had been sick for quite some time. The doctors did not seem to understand what was the trouble with her. They did everything they could for her but nuthin seemed to do her no good. Finally they got a different kind of doctor. It was a woman who was supposed to understand all about it. When she came she looked at her and she said, "Can't you see this snake?" She meant she was tricked by a snake. "Why, the time is past when she should die. She should have been dead a month ago. It is only her vitality that kept her alive." She said she would try to do what she could for her. She [the sick woman] said she didn't want to make nobody else in the condition she was in. [She did not want her condition turned back on the person who had caused it.] So she [the doctor] got a chicken she could throw this disease on instead of throwing it on to a person. They kept it upstairs in the room next to the woman. "Keep it well fed [said the doctor]." She didn't want the chicken to die. "Don't let no one touch the chicken [said the doctor]." If anyone got a hold of that chicken they would kill it. They didn't want the people downstairs to kill it, for they knew what it was there for. They thought these people were causing that sickness. After they got this chicken, sure enough the girl began to get better. At that time they use to get at least a quart of bran every day from that bed. It came off of her skin. It looked like - you seen husks of the meal after corn [maize] is ground. After they used to take that up from the sheet they used to put it in a paper bag and carry it and throw it into the river. They said that would help to get her well. It came off of her body each day - the skin rubbed off. You have seen the scales rubbed off of a fish. Her skin looked just like that, just like people begin to peel around the nails in scarlet fever. The woman told her she would have to cross water. The doctors they didn't want them to bring her away. They didn't have a case like that. They wanted to follow the case to the end. She came on here [to New York City]. She didn't live long after she got here, her condition was so weak. I guess it was the change of climate, too. I don't know what happen after I left. home to the chicken. That chicken walking around, I tell you what it was like - it got on my nerves. The stuff from the bowels of that chicken would be just as green as grass - poison. [The doctor correctly diagnosed this severe case of desquamation as caused by a snake; correctly, hoodooically speaking. Doesn't a snake shed it's skin? Much more is involved. We have here a rare situation. A snake tricked into a patient fails to create; that is, fails to develop into a snake from a swallowed snake egg, or to reform the original snake body from dead-snake powder. Had the snake egg or powder created a body, the living body of this snake within the patient could have been removed easily (see margin-title Live Things in You, p.227, and Index). Instead of a living snake we have a snake spirit. How does a snake spirit display itself? A patient will act like a snake: crawl, dart out tongue or run it round lips [as a snake is supposed to do), have long sleep periods (hibernation), and peel off skin (ecdysis). Our doctor combines three rites, the magic three: if the healthy chicken fails to attract the snake spirit from the patient, the fish scales (snake scales) when thrown into running water will carry away a part of the snake spirit (Part of Spirit Equals Whole of Spirit, p.21); and if these two fail, the patient crossing water will loose the snake spirit - spirit cannot cross water.]
Entry 1001
You taken a man or woman subject with astmee [asthma] - you make 'em passage, you go to a tree and you dig a hole, bore a hole in the tree and put that down in there - bore a hole with a auger and put that in there and stop that up. He's got no more astmee. [Stopping up a person's passage a dangerous rite - see Excrement and Black Bottle in Index.]
Entry 1002
De ole people say if yo' have hemorrhage - yo' know whut a hemorrhage is - well, yo' take dat blood an' put hit in a bottle an' stop it up an' throw dat in runnin' watah an' don't look back. Dey say dat will stop de hemorrhage. [Fayetteville, N. Car., (1397), 2516:7.] [The magic rite of confinement - as in drawing a circle - is also involved in the two preceding rites.]
Entry 1003
Yo' let 'em bowels move an' put it in a bucket or can an' go to de rivah an' throw it in de rivah. Go dere fo' nine mawnin's.
(What will that do then?)
Git chew straight so yo' kin git out an' git tuh walkin' an' do an' talk to yo'self. (If a person is hoodooed and you want to cure him, you take his stool and put it in a can in the water?) In de watah. Throw it in de rivah. Co'se he kin walk ovah dere an' jes' throw it in de rivah.
(But he must do that for nine mornings.)
Nine mawnin's, throw it in dere.
(Do you throw it in there any special way?)
No way - jes' throw it in dere an' walk right off - away, ain't gotta stay round dere.
Entry 1004
Ah've learned dat chew kin go to de fo'k of a road an' yo' carry two needles with you an' cross them, an' if dere's anyone - (How do you cross them? Where do you cross them?) Jes' cross 'em at de fo'k of de road, jes' lak it's a road goin' disaway an' one disaway. Well, den dis is de fo'k comin' heah.
(When you cross them, you just hold them in your hand or what?)
Jes' lay 'em on de ground an' cross 'em an' yo' cross de needles in de fo'k, right at de fo'k. Yo' lay 'em down an' cross dem an' if dere's a person - dey call it a spell, jes' lak somebody has hurt yo' someway or 'nothah, an' yo' cross ovah those needles, why it will take de spell offa you. (Well now, if I would go out there and put those needles down, you mean I would have to cross over them or what?) De person dat's hurt would cross ovah them - if yo're hurt, if yo' feel dat yo' have a pain dat de doctors cain't cure, an' yo' take dose two needles an' yo' jes' cross dem at de fo'ks of de road an' jes' walk ovah dem. An' dat will take de spell offa yo' den.
Entry 1005
If yo' havin' chills like dat, why ah've heard of they cuttin' off they fingernails and dropping it at de forks of de road in a sack; jest tie it in a rag and somebody comes along and pick it up, why the chill will git off you and git on them. [Jacksonville, Fla., (608), 786:9.] [This is also part-for whole transference.]
Entry 1006
[Before leaving the subject of transference I must give here a remarkable case of disease transferred from the dead to the living:] Well, a man died with the T. B. An' another woman didn't like him [a living man]. She fell out with him because she like him an' he liked another woman. Well, she went to de graveyard [the grave of the man with T. B.] an' she got someone dat knew about dat stuff [graveyard dirt] an' on a certain moon dat bottom sand comes to de top. Well, they knew about dat. They knew jes' when those things would be, so she got this graveyard dirt an' she put it with something else an' she put it in a drink an' gave it to him. Then he begin to pine away jes' like he had de T. B. If yo' want a person to have heart trouble or something like dat, jes' like a person tuh die, why yo' go tuh de person that chew knew died wit dat, an' on a certain moon dat sand comes to de top - de top sand goes to de bottom an' de bottom sand comes to de top. An' yo' get dat sand an' put it in something - put it with something else an' yo' give it to them - an' they'll die with de same thing dat de person dat de sand come from died with. Dat's why lotsa people have such peculiar diseases an' we think it's one thing when it's another - it's not nachural. [Disease is not natural - see No. 647, p.218.]
(It's something that you put in some sort of food or drink.)
Yes sir.
(What do you mean by certain moon?)
Well, witchcraft mostly comes on a young moon.
Entry 1007
[This man spoke so rapidly I could repeat only snatches of his conver- sation to my Ediphone. After his departure I pieced together a few beliefs such as the following:] [The informant and another man quarreled about a woman. Sometimes later, not suspecting any evil motive, he accepted a drink of whiskey from his rival. After a few days came four paralytic strokes in his left side, one following the other and all on the same morning. Failing to be helped by five doctors, he went to Norfolk, Virginia to consult a conjurer. This healer, stating that he could rid him of paralysis, demanded a fifty-dollar fee in advance. The patient offered to pay twenty-five dollars down and the balance on recovery but these terms were refused. At this point my informant became so skeptical orally, the conjurer defended his power by claiming he could take the paralysis upon himself - absorb it into his body. Negotiations collapsed.]
Entry 1008
He had a aunt named Aunt Rachel and she used to cook for Mr. S. at Lake Waccamaw. And she had a friend and this friend wanted her iob and she didn't know how to get it honest. It was Jis' like she knowed she couldn't get it honest, I guess, and so she worked a scheme to get it. Well, she went to work and - of course we didn't know what it was all about until she taken sick. But after she taken sick dey had several doctors to her, dey didn't know still about de matter - de doctors couldn't found what was de trouble with her. So one day she swoll all up. She swoll, look like she gon'a burst all her skin, had this fit, and pant for breath. She jis', you know, like every breath would be de last. She couldn't do anything but jis' lie dere and shake and hold her hands like dat. Dis is a real story that I'm tellin' yah, I know about it. She took like dat and dey couldn't do anything atall. De doctors couldn't do anything with her. And so one day Mr. S. told his waitress aroun' there, he says, "Ed," he say, "suppose we do some work aroun' the yard today." Ed said, "Well, Mr. S.," he says, "what will be the first thing on the docket?" He says, "I tell you. I spect we'll move that pump, tear it down and put a new platform and all aroun' it." So they began to move de pump and to taken down this platform all aroun' de pump. And right under de pump after dey begin -.dey take up de pump - dey was two bran'-new saucers and a dozen brass pins, and some stuff and some hair was pinned up in this two bran'-new saucers. Dey [saucers] were plant one over de other, plant together, and dey were placed under de pump. And she was - that Was her dose under de pump. And jes' as soon as that pump was moved and these saucers were removed from this place she got all right. They burned 'em up.
[Wilmington, N. Car., (256), 252:3; Lake Waccamaw, Columbus Co., N. Car.,1896.]
Entry 1009
An' git, yo' understan', her ministratin' - a woman's period an' put it in wit lodestone an' some of her hair, rusty needles an' rusty pins, an' bury dat undah her do'step an' that would run her away. Well, de thing that ah saw wus a person had buried this undah a girl's house name Josephine. Well, this Josephine wus livin' in a house an' she wus goin' with a man an' de people wanted her 'way from this place. See. An' somehow or othah they got her stockin' top an' some of her hair an' lodestone. Wrapped that hair aroun' the lodestone an' then she had three rusty needles an' three rusty pins stickin' in through de hair; yo' understan', aroun' dis lodestone, an' buried that undah her steps. An' that wus tuh drive her away. Well, her sistah, Missus Malone, lived 'way on the south end, supposed tuh be one those so-called hoodoos could do things an' drive yo' away. See. An' she told her - she went tuh Miz Malone an' Miz Malone told her about this stuff wus buried undah her do'step an' she got this stuff out - out from undah her do'step. Ah saw de stuff mahself. An' she tole her whut tuh do with it de nex' day. She tole her tuh git up that mawnin' befo' sunrise an' had tuh git three persons tuh burn this stuff. Well, one boy dat ah remembered had burn dis stuff - co'se he's daid now. His name wus - an' he wus de one got de stuff out from undah dat step an' burn it fo' her.
(How do you mean three persons to burn it?)
She meant three persons that she knew - see, tuh git it out an' den each three of these persons do dat tuh see it burn.
(Well, about that piece with the blood - what did they do with that?)
Well, that wus wrapped in with the hair too. Dis bloody piece wus mixed in lodestone an' de hair aroun' de lodestone.
(Did they burn it at any particular time or do anything after they burned it?)
Ah re'lly don't know whut they did aftah dey burn it.
Entry 1010
If she get that [menstrual blood] on you, she's got you. She puts that in something you eat or drink and you can't get clear of her. I had that done to me once. There was a old lady that asked me to come over one Saturday afternoon - and I was going with her daughter and she seemed to think a great deal of me. Her daughter said she [the mother] wanted us to marry. On a Sunday morning she sent me to another daughter's and I went [there] and got her a jib bonnet - that's an old-fashioned bonnet made out of slats. So when I got ready to go home she [the mother] give me a molasses cake into [baked in] a tin plate. And her son who was a cripple fellow got on a stool and said, "Sam, give me a piece of your cake." His mother replied to him, 'No, he's [you have] had cake." He said, "Mine was cut-out cake [a slice from a large cake], not that kind." And so on going home I had to go on a road through a field of roasting-years [ears of (sweet) corn (maize) ready for roasting or boiling] - and I ete about half of it and I come to think what the old folks had told me. And I threw the rest [of the cake] off in the corn. And I had a time in getting clear of her [daughter]. I wasn't satisfied nowhere I would be except I was looking at her. There was an old man told me how to get shed of it by taking a brand-new shingle and carrying it to a sandy branch. And I drew her pitchure as near as I could. I was told, you draw the pitchure on the shingle and drive the pitchure into the sand, and I just jumped backwards and forth over the shingle - over her head, and cut her in the face with a switch. You have to do that nine times [once each] nine mornings early. And I didn't have much more trouble.
Entry 1011
If a fellah wanta cunjure yo' any way wit root work, if yo' knock blood outa him he can't do it - dey say that.
(If you draw some of his blood he can't hurt you?)
He can't hurt cha.
Entry 1012
Well, ah tell you, jes' like now if a person got a spell on you - well, you have to git next to his friends see and git his friend to pull off a job for yuh. Well, you will have to just take a knife and draw his blood see, and de minute you draw his blood, why that spell is all ovah wit.
Entry 1013
If one of these cunjures or hoodoo persons puts a spell on you, the only thing you can do is to cut a wild grapevine and make a walking cane of it and then beat them with it. By this time you beat all the cunjure out of them.
Entry 1014
What you do to break up cunjuration - you go out in the country and get a grapevine that has seven joints on it, hammer it over their head until blood comes and make a wish to the Lord [for it] to be overcome. I heard of an old fellow one time putting a spell on a man and the man heard of it and he got a stick for it, and by the time he got to whaling him over the head with the club, he told him if he let him alone he'd take that spell off. And he did take that spell off.
Entry 1015
Well, someone wus tryin' tuh harm 'er 'bout five yeahs ago. Well, ever since then she be diggin' aroun' de step - yo' know, keep lookin' for somepin, lookin' fo' somepin. So fin'lly one day she found a bottle undah our step an' she took it an' break it up - bust it up an' ever'thing. An' anyway, aftah she bust de thing, well, dis woman whut put de stuff dere, she got blind, ravin' crazy. Dey had tuh send her tuh de 'sylum an' ever'thing. Fin'lly aftah she got to de 'sylum she died.
Entry 1016
[In addition to the bottle catching of a spirit (p.24) a spirit can be caught while operator ties a knot:] Take a piece of string. Well, you may hear someone call yo' in yore sleep. You may be sleep or may be in my house. I'll say, "John, ' or whatever yore name is. Well, whenever I say John or Charlie, that spirit will answer me and I snap dat string and I've got yore spirit.
(You just hold a piece of string in one hand?)
Two hands - jest a small piece of cotton string and tie a knot in it but don't draw it tight yet. And I call dat name and as quick as dat name ah call it, "Charlie?" Charlie will say, "Hunh?" I'll snatch it, I've gotcha. (What would you do with that string, after you get that in there? What would you do, then?) What would I do after I gets it? Fasten it right down and tie it up and put it in my purse.
(And you have the spirit then. Well, what would a person do that for?)
What would you do dat for? When yo's in love. A woman would do that when she's in love wid yuh and she wanta gain yuh.
Entry 1017
[Another illogical result of catching a spirit or a person's mind is making it wander:] Take a pocket handkerchief and ketch yore mind. Tie nine knots in it and take dat handkerchief and tote it, and everywhere you go you carry dat handkerchief and dat's got de person mind. You ketch his mind when you talking to him, you see. He don't know what you doing you see, but all de time you talking you keep tying dem knots you see - tying dem knots, getting dem knots, you git him tied you see and getting his mind. And you got his mind and that makes him wander - you see, he be wandering from place to place. You see, he wanta go. I've been thataway, I've been in dat, under dat influence. (I see. If I wanted to make you walk, then all I would do, take his handker- chief and go on talking to you and just tie nine knots in it, and that catches your mind.) Catches my mind - you see, gets my mind.
(That puts you to walking?)
Put me to walking.
Entry 1018
[Instead of both hands holding the string or cloth parallel to the body, sometimes the left hand is against the body while the right hand extended in front of the body jerks the string outwards. This is called tying a knot away from you:] You take a new strip of cloth and tie nine knots in it - jerk 'em from you and you tie 'em, snatch 'em from you. If you got an enemy and you calls his name, you won't never be worried with him no more.
Entry 1019
[While tying knots in the following cures the operator need not call a name, because the simple-minded spirit causing the disease is so curious about the loose knot that he ventures too near. Suddenly jerked tight the hard knot grasps a piece of the spirit - part of spirit equals whole of spirit (p.21).] Tie nine knots in a string, soak in turpentine, tie around waist and no one can harm you...tie nine knots in a cord string and wet it with turpentine; hit'll stop children's fever - tie it around your [child's] waist.
Entry 1020
Take a string an' tie nine knots in it an' put it roun' yore finger - I mean roun' yore wrist fo' cramps. Dat's good fo' cramps.
(Any place you have the cramps?)
Any place - jes' tie nine knots in it an' put it roun' yore arm. Dat will certainly cure de cramps.
Entry 1021
Well, ah got tuh feelin' yo' know - jis' funny in de haid, yo' know - started wit a kinda runnin' spells like - jis' took me all at once yo' see - jis' got to runnin' an' screamin' an' hollerin' an' goin' on. Mah head got to hurtin' an' dey didn't know hardly whut ailed me - ah didn't know mahself. Jis' took, yo' know, lak at once. Had done swole - mah stomach had done swole up so. Well, mah brother-in-law knowed a fellah ovah in Augusta, Georgia, yo' know. Well, he'd taken me ovah dere. Well, dis fellah had put dem nine notches [knots] around mah laig - a cord, an' he say, "In de ninth mornin', '' say, "yo' take it off an' throw it in de fire." An' dat's whut ah done. An' ah got rid of it.
(Did you throw it into the fire in any particular Way?)
Yes suh.
(How did he tell you to throw it?)
Ah throwed backwards.
Entry 1022
Dey tell me tuh break de chills on anybody yo' take a cotton string an' tie nine knots in dat an' insert it in turpentine, but don't tie de nine knots all at once. Yo' tie one knot dis mawnin', put it around yore patient - tie de string around yore patient, around de body. De next mornin' yo' take it off an' tie another knot, but chew always insert it in turpentine every time yo' put it on till de nine mornings up. Dem chills is gone fo'evah from dem.
Entry 1023
If yo've got chills or anything lak dat an' yo' wanta break 'em on a person, yo' kin tie nine knots into a cotton thread an' tie it around his waist right next to his skin. If yo' tie it today at 'leven a'clock - if yo' have dat chill today at 'leven a'clock, yo' tie dat string round dere today at 'leven a'clock. An' den tomorrow at 'leven a'clock when dat hand gits jes' 'bout on dere at 'leven, why den he takes dat string from round his waist an' goes to the closest black gum tree it is to dat house, an' tie dat string around dat tree, around dat black gum tree, an' go on off an' leave dat. Dat'll break dem chills on him - he won't nevah have another one.
Entry 1024
People tie - hear of 'em take thread-string an' tie nine knots in it an' tie it roun' dey haid.
(What will that do?)
Well, dey claim dat stop de headache.
Entry 1025
Now, if a chile got de whoopin' cough an' nevah seen his father, he'll cut a patch de hair out de top of his haid an' tie it in a string an' hang it round his neck. It's good fo' de whoopin' cough.
Entry 1026
[As we had medicine taken by proxy, so can pain be shared - the spirit being made to divide itself:] If a woman is in fo' a labor, if she has somethin' of his about her, a sock, hat or somethin' lak dat - she has somethin' about her, why that'll cause him tuh have some of the pains, too. ["A pregnant woman by crawling over the husband can transfer her future labor pains to him," FACI,2ed., No. 2953, p.133; for psychic or pseudo-couvade - husband having morning sickness and ailments of pregnancy and acute pain during wife's delivery - FACI, p.133.]
Entry 1027
[An example of crossing pain was given in Crossmark Cure (p.365), where a boil was willed or intended away. In the following rite the operator asks the spirit to cross or remove the pain - this is prayer:] Ah wus hurt. Ah caught a pain in mah side an' ah stayed sick aboat - it wus t'ree veeks [weeks] befo' ah give up, you know, in de baid. An' ah got a veak [weak] an' ah turnt re'l black. An' ah vent tuh de hospital. Dey couldn't do me no good. An' ah get, you know, medical doctah, an' none of dey [not dem] couldn't do me no good. So I vent in baid on it, stayed in dere t'ree veeks, an' dey [family or friends] had a root doctah tuh come an' zamin me. An' t'wus somepin in mah side wit a pain. It seem lak it keep movin' up - you know, lak somepin turnin' aroun' in yer side. An' she [root doctor] said dat she didn't know no [internal] medicine or nuthin lak dat would of kilt it, but she could of fix an' rub it. She take a penny an' some sulphah an' gas'lene an' salt an' pu-tit tuhgethah an' tell it to cross de pain - yuh know, cross it, cross de pain wit it, zhoo know, jis' rub it. She had tuh mix it all tuhgethah in a jah [iar] an' sha-kit [shake it] re'l good. Yuh see, dat penny get right brown - I mean lak sulphah. Fus' [first] t'ing, she take [starts] to rub it - jis' do lak dat [demonstrates]; made a cross ovah de pain wit de medi-seen. Den she jis' rub it straight down fuh nine mawnin's an' tole me to stay in de baid aboat five days. An' aftah she rubbed it fuh nine mawnin's, den I would of been able to get up, you know, an' walk aroun'. An' it sure did help.
(Did you find out who had done this?)
Dey find it. It wus some needles tied up in a little claht [cloth] an' stuff down in a bottle an' undahneat' mah baid, you know, undah de house. An' den undah de [outdoor] step it wus some match haids an' some kin'a seeds. Dat wus in a bottle. Dat wus undah de step. She found it an' brought it in de house an' sprinkled salt ovah it an' take it wit 'er. [Sulphur, as well as salt, is used to sterilize a hoodoo object - see No. 897, p.328.] She tole me ah could of keep it an' pu-tit in a runnin' watah an' it would do de same good, but ah'd ruthah, yuh know, let 'er care [carry] it off. [Wilmington, N. Car., (231), 155:2+85; happened 1932.] [I would like to illustrate further this important rite of talking over disease or ailment among persons of German descent in Adams County, Illinois:] ["Ten or eleven years ago (1920-1921) I came upon a superstition which was quite new to me at the time. Questioning a little girl about the health of her cousin who was suffering from a badly infected arm I was told that his condition was very serious, "Grandma had to talk to him last night." On inquiry I learned that Grandna knew how to 'talk over' people who were afflicted with wounds or sores and made them well, and that she frequently exercised her art for all sorts of people. She had 'talked over' Marie herself, but Marie declined regretfully but firmly to tell what she said. "You dassunt tell or something bad will happen." The school janitor to whom all the secrets of the 'South End' Ithe Calftown in No. 214, p.60] are an open book, told me that he knew several old women who pretended to this skill, and he mentioned one within two blocks of the school, a radius that would include Grandma also. I mentioned Grandma's curious practice to Mr. B., pastor of K. Church. He received the tale without any surprise and acknowledged that the thing was comnon. Walter [informant's brother] asked several acquaintances of German parentage what they knew about it, and he found that old women who will 'talk over' you can be found in north- east Quincy as well as in south Quincy. No doubt this is an old German superstition. It is certainly alive and flourishing in Quincy." FACI, 1st ed., p.206; 2ed., p.199.] [Miss Ella Randall, one of my great friends, wrote this statement as well as others and also gave material orally. She was interested in my collecting for FACI but died before the first edition of 1935. A copy of the second edition I presented as a memorial to her to the Quincy Public Library, where she for years had been on the Library Board. We first met during high- school-freshman English; she the elderly teacher, I the young pupil.]
Entry 1028
Yo' repeat de Lord's Prayer - that's great you know, Our Father, who art in heaven.... (Just once?) No sir, you do it nine times. [For three times, see No. 995, p.383.]
(What do you do that for?)
That's for to protect yourself. You know dey can't stand yo' calling de Lord's Prayer when dey trying to do you harm.
Entry 1029
Ah goes dere [graveyard or crossroad] an' gives God three prayers. At twelve a'clock in de night - don't go dere in de day. Give God's three prayers fo' all mah undertakin' an' different things - transactions in business. That means fo' sickness or death or anything interferin' wit me.
Editorial alternative locus: graveyard or crossroad. The source leaves the location unresolved; this is not a confirmed crossroads visit. The informant specifies midnight, not daytime, and God's three prayers; the source heading does not identify their wording.
Entry 1030
[Although the following rite deals with love, the doctor uses this coffeepot method for all sorts of cases:] Now, listen. Dis woman an' her husband couldn't git along. He's very noisy an' he has - naturally he is diff'rent from her an' he do things she didn't like an' always cause an argument. So he goes away fo' foah months, yo' understand. He goes away fo' foah months. Well, dis woman she got in love - dis is Anna - Anna wus so much, yo' know, so crazy about him an' loved him an' want to live with him an' all lak dat, so she goes to dis woman an' tole dis woman how, whut an' ever'thing. Dis woman said, "Kin yo' come down heah eleven-thirty? Ah want chew tuh go to de cemetery. Bring two pieces of money - two pennies, an' take up dirt from de foot an' de haid an' bring it back to me. Ah'll put it in a coffeepot." She fixed it up - she put sulphur an' peppah or salt - ah don't know jes' what, but we'll say peppah an' she give it back to Anna. She put salt an' peppah with dis dirt - she put it in de coffeepot an' she prayed ovah it. Ah don't know whut de prayer. An' she give this dirt to Anna an' she said, "An' yo' write his name on a papah three times a day an' burn dis papah six a'clock in de mawnin', twelve in de day an' six in de evening" - see - "an' do dat fo' nine days, an'in de third day write him a lettah."
(The third day during those nine days?)
Yes - yo' understand. After ah do dis nine days [she reveals the identity of the woman going to the doctor], den after dat three days, write him a lettah on de third day, yo' understand. "An' yo'll hear from him, an' yo' an' him will git back together in three days or three months." An' in two months time dey wus back together. (When she went out to the graveyard, what did she do out there? She took some dirt and what?) She took dirt from de graveyard - dat wus supposed to be at twelve a'clock at night, but Anna had tuh go to dis place an' be there at eleven-thirty an' talk to dis woman. She had to go to dis place alone - de cemetery alone. Well, Anna is very nervous ~ er - ah had a lot of nerve, yo' know. She goes to de cemetery an' she gits dis dirt from de foot an' de head. Yo' understand me? An' she bring it back to this woman. She put it in a coffeepot wit, we'll say peppah - put peppah in it an' give it to Anna an' said, "Yo' write his name on a piece of papah."
(When she put it in the coffeepot did she do anything to it in the coffeepot?)
Not anythin' - jes' put it in dere an' pray ovah it an' take it out. No - no cookin'.
Entry 1031
[In the preceding rite we warmed up or gave extra power to a fireless coffeepot; in the following rite we have a waterless bath powered by singing:] I was livin' [rooming] with a lady in this town here and she had a man she was livin' with. An' this man, you see, would go out and work but he wouldn't bring in money to suit this lady, see. And this lady went to some hoodoo lady and tried to find out some way of gettin' him to put his money in de house - you know, in de home. Well, this lady told her what to do. She told her to go somewhere and get a, about, you know, a cup of graveyard dirt from some place, and get and have some strands of his hair out of him, and mix it together, and get some more - some kinna roots, you know, out de woods. I don't zackly [know] what de name of 'em would be but I seen 'em, you know, seein' how she mixed de stuff together. She took de graveyard sand and roots and this strand of his hair - she tied it aroun' de roots see, put de graveyard sand in a little sack. Den she put dat in, you see, put de sticks [roots] in this bag too, and tied it up and wore it in her bosom up here. And de lady told her to get in de tub and face de sun in de mornin', you see, take a bath and holler and sing - you know, sing low to herself. There wasn't any water in it - jis' an empty tub. But she was suppose to do dat early before de sunrise rise, for nine mornin's and burn some kinna lamp behind de door - you know, a lamp jis' like we use. But I don't know whether it's true or not. I couldn't say that [she didn't see this part of the rite]. But that was de words she came back and told us. And she did it. And then she ordered off - of somepin from some firm, Johnson C. Smith, I think it is, in Racine, Wisconsin, and got somepin dey call High John de Conquer. But she wouldn't let me see that. I couldn't tell you zackly what dat looked like; she wouldn't let me see it. But I re'lly do know from myself experience dat he did change. He start to bringin' de money in and spendin' it in de house jes' like any other man. [Wilmington, N. Car., (261), 257:3.]
[For a doctor singing while making medicine, see margin-title George Jackson.]
Entry 1032
Git chew a ole shoe, git a man's shoe, an' git chew some sugah - yo' Want fren's yo' see, sugah makes it sweet fo' anything. Git chew some sugah an sulphur. [Sulphur is for protection.] Every Thursday in de week, yo' jes sprinkle dat [mixture] in each corner of yore house an' say - a song yo' sing [she sings]: Jesus invites yo' heah, Prayers come from hearts so deah, 0, won'( chew come? Almos' persuaded - come - come. An' yore house crowded lak dat. Ah us'ta do dat mahself: Jesus invites yo' heah, Angel is lingerin' neah. Prayers rise from hearts so deah, O, won' chew come? Almos' persuaded - come - come today. Almos' persuaded, turn not away. (I see, that's very good [the singing]. That will bring customers in to buy your liquor?) Shore.
Entry 1033
Some of 'em, dey take - lak if yo' been poisoned through a snake or Worms, yo' take dat worm an' yo' make a stew out of it an' yo' git dat oil up in dat watah. It get everything in de world dat oil will [see No. 978, p.374]. Yo' kin take dat oil from dat watah den an' make a poultice an' rub wit it. Yo' going spit up dose things. (They take these worms after they come out of you?) No, dey don't take these worms dat come outa yo' to make dat grease wit; dey git some othah worms. Dey cain't git dem worms out chew tuh make de grease Wit it. Dey go an' git some othah worils an' make de grease wit it. Dey make dat poultice an' dat make dat scent, an' dat live worm in yo' ketch de scent from de worm on de outside - dey comin' out.
Entry 1034
I had a - suffer with this myself. A lady went and got some - had a lizard and took the blood from this lizard and the boil of this lizard [the Water in which lizard was boiled] and took the boil of this lizard and mixed it with the blood.
(Mixed what with it?)
Of the boil - you see, had boiled the lizard low in hot water, and took the blood and put this in some whiskey and give to her by night - jes' like you was drinking liquor. And well, when she drink this liquor he took and had a lizard drin [drained into her] you might say. And she could feel somepin runnin' all through her head, jes' after taking a drink and well, when this would happen, she'd jes' get up and holler and she said somepin was runnin' all through her head. And this action was kept up for about - kept up for almost six months before they went to this - to my grand-daddy to see what was the matter with her. And so, well, they paid out a big doctor bill and the doctor couldn't - the more medicine they gave her, she just about go crazy. Well, he [qrand-daddy] told her what to do. He told her to actually take to go get a lizard and as many as she could and get the blood from those lizards and put some turpentine in and take some turpentine and salts - Epsom salts and drink this - actually drink it, and that stuff would run this out of her system. She actually done that and she got all right.
(She had to drink some of that lizard blood for that?)
She had to take that in order to get rid of it - to run it out of system.
Entry 1035
De mockin' bird aig - ah heard dat dey take de mockin' bird aig an' give it to anybody dat can't talk plain. (What will that do?) Say dat will make 'em talk plain [because the mocking bird is a great talker and as a mocker talks plainly].[ {Sumter, S. Car., (1378), 2448:16.]
Entry 1036
If yo' find dat anything occurs, yo' walk backwards three or fo' steps, backwards de same as yo' go farwards an' yo' walk ovah it, an' yo' cut de extents of it by walkin' ovah it, yo' know. Why aftah yo' walk backwards three or fo' steps an' then go back the same way three or fo' steps an' go on ovah it - dat cuts de extents of it, dere no trouble in it.
(You do that in case there is any harm in it - to protect yourself from it?)
Yes.
Entry 1037
If a person have did somepin tuh yo' an' yo' wanta try tuh git it off yo', yo'( come out every mawnin' a little befo' de sunrise an' yo' make nine steps backwards in de backyard - make nine steps backwards fo' nine mawnin's an' dey tell me dat will git off dem. Jes' lak if yo' have a spell - yo' havin' a spell an' if ah could git up nine mawnin's 'fore dat spell come on an' walk backwards nine mawnin's - make nine steps backwards an' forwards, dey tell me dat's gon'a leave me.
Entry 1038
[To fool the spirit by disguising a familiar object is a well-known rite:] They painted outside of the door and that will keep them [the spirit of a person recently dead] away. Most people use white. Well, after my mother died, my sister had a little baby that was ten months old. He was just beginning to talk. I walked when I was nine months old. And this baby of course knew my mother. He was always with her because she was sick. He always called her, "Mama." And after she died, my sister was holding this baby one night and he waved his hand and called, "Mama." He looked up and said, "Mama," and waved his hand at her. Then my sister got frightened. And she said, "Do you see mama?" And he said, "Yes." And she said, "How does mama look?" And he said, "Mama looks pretty." So after awhile he waved, "Bye-bye, mama." And then my sister say, "What was mama doing?" He said, "Mama, hum, hum' - sang like that. And every night at the same time he would see mother. So that was the time the people told my sister to put some paint there. Yes, she painted the door. She hated to do it. And he didn't see her any more. I think it was a sign my father was going to die soon, for he only lived three months after. [The spirit unable to recognize repainted door never returned.]
[New York City, (1), Ed.; Wilmington, N. Car.,1930.]
Entry 1039
I heard tell of a woman was taken sick and de doctor came. De doctor couldn't do her no good. She sent and got a high fellah, a hoodoo doctor. [He is also called high man, both names being confined to parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland - see Index.] So when de fellah came he say he couldn't do her no good. He say, "De party dat put dis spell on you is dead, but if dey was livin' I could turn it back on him and get chew well." So just before this woman died, why she gagged up all those frogs and things. [I suggest high fellah either he heard the woman could not recover or one look at her was enough to make him decline the case by quoting this common belief. Who said a spell had been put on the woman and the spell-caster was dead? He did! Who could prove the contrary?]
The narrator says the woman died in a heard-tell account; the editor questions the healer's claims about a spell and its caster.
Entry 1040
I have a cousin, first cousin of mine, she was hurt. A spell was put onto her about fifteen-twenty years ago and she never gotten over it at all because the man died that did it. He put scorpions and lizards in her and dey bother her now. They say they was put on her in through candy. [The preceding belief is known everywhere (see Doctor in Index). It shows the hopelessness of medical practice in hoodoo and witchcraft; you can never be sure whether person casting the spell is alive or dead, his identity being unknown.]
Entry 1041
Some people be wise enough for to bring 'em [live snakes] from 'um.
(Well, how could they get those out of them?)
Well, if ah'm de one dat put 'em in dere, no one kin get 'em out but me. And if I gets 'em out, I'll never be able to do no more.
(You'll never be able to do it again?)
No - ugh-awh. If I do my work fer you, den turn aroun' and do it against you, I'll never be able to do it anymore. [If this is the Hippocratic oath of hoodoo-conjuration-witchcraft-rootwork, I heard little about it.]
(That same thing anymore - you'll never be able to do it again?)
No, won't do anything - my hand be broke altogether, that's the one that is to take it off.
(He must take it off but if he does take it off, all his power is gone?)
All his power is gone. And then if he dies in the time, you'll never be cured and no one else can git it off you.
Entry 1042
Like I got to him to get something to hurt joo, why if you go to that same man to have it take off, why he can't take it off, you'll have to go to another man.
Entry 1043
They use snails jes' like they use wood lice to hurt people. Now you take, you get a snail, a wood lice and you take those things and cook 'em till they're jes' all to pieces. You put 'em in somepin and jes' rub 'em up, you know, through a cloth till they're jes' mush. Then you put 'em in some rainwater, jes' a small amount of rainwater and let it set there till - you know rainwater - those things will come when it sets there long enough. Then you take that stuff and strain it out and put it in either milk or whiskey and that'll make that person - they're supposed to after a period of time that scales will come in [on] their haid and they scratch it and those scales become little live things, either wood lice or little min'ature snails. [See Live Things in You, p.227; also Index.] They're so small you can't tell what they look like but you can discern the little shell on their back. They come right out of the skin, just first start like tetter. It'll itch and as you scratch it and people are supposed to have wood lice or snails like that in their haid the way they do that. You can turn the spell right back on them and they'll automatically leave.
(Well, how would you turn the spell back on them?)
Well, just get somebody else to do the same thing to them they did to you. Cook those snails up and give them to him in a drink and when the snails come in his head they disappear out of your head. [See Like Cures Like, p.394.] That's why they say you can't cure a person that's hoodooed if the person that hoodooed them is dead. There never is no cure for them but as long as the person is alive it can be reversed. [For turning back spell, see pp.333-334 and Index.]