Browse:FOLK MEDICINE (Volume 1, entries 963–1706)/Part 8
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 1524
A dime on dere laigs or either tie it roun' dere arm or wear it around dere neck.
(What is that supposed to do?)
Well, dat keep down de pains fo' heart trouble.
Entry 1525
I hear 'em said that anybody don't want nobody to hurt 'em, to give 'em nuthin, hurt 'em inside, why they kin take a dime, but no one dime of his own. They got a dime, take it an' swap it with somebody else, git another dime. Well, they kin take that an' file it up an' put it in a - file the whole dime up an' put it in a teaspoonful of sulphur an' take that, put it in the mouth, take some water an' wash it down. Well, if you eat anything, if anybody put anything down in somepin to eat for yeh, you kin eat an' it won't hurt yeh.
Entry 1526
He got poison in some whiskey. Don't know what he [poisoner] had in there, but he'll pour it in your liquor. Well, another fellow gave him [poisoned man], sent him a dime, a silver dime unaware to him - he didn't know anything about it. This fellow's wife cut this silver dime with a file and gave it to him to drink in sweet milk. [This is the magic rite of the unknown remedy, one of many devices for hoodwinking the disease spirit within.] That helped him awhile, until they got him to an old lady and she gave him some - some blacksnake root and rose water and May-water (see p.381) together. You take the blacksnake root, a package of blacksnake root from the drug store, and you pour it in your water, in your - or anything you going to put it in and then pour it - put this May-water and rose water in thataway and let it get hot, good and hot, and then when she cool down you drink it. And this poison in you, it'll pass up and down, from this way and that way [from mouth or bowels]. You understand. If it too hard here, well it come from up above. And through the rose water it will go through the lower bowels - it'll pass, all be gone. And the fellow will become well - that sickness will leave him.
Entry 1527
Like someone put somepin in your food, joo can - when you go to eat, joo put a dime under your tongue to keep 'em from hurting you.
Entry 1528
Take a dime made in 1898 an' yo' kin place it under yore tongue an' if anyone is tryin' tuh give yo' any poison or anything, yo' kin drink all yo' want an' that dime will take that poison from it - yo'll nevah git poisoned wit it. Then, when yo' take that dime from under there an' drink dis stuff, yo' kin take it an' wear it round yore laig an' yo'll never - nobody never could poison yo', jes' long as yo' keep that dime round yore laig. Let it be a silver dime though.
Entry 1529
I remember one time of a gentleman in our home taken violently sick and what was the ailment nobody knowed. They had the medical doctors to come to him and they seemed to do him no good - the medicine they gave him put him in a rage. So then they decided to go and get some root doctor and see if they could do any good. So at last one day they found a man named Doc F., who came to see this man how he was. And after getting there he walked into the room of this sick man and asked his wife, "How's his urine?" And she told him the best she knew how. So he asked her did she have a Canadian piece of money. She told him yes. So he asked her for a dime of Canadian money. She got it and gave it to him. And he compound this piece of Canadian money into dust, mixed it with whiskey and gin and vaseline, and gave it to this man to drink. He dranked it. He stayed with the man all night. And during the night he gave the man two doses of purgative medicine, and the next morning the man was under complusion to have a discharge; and after having this discharge, they found ground puppies, frogs and snakes, and everything of this kind in his urine pot. [Old Point Comfort, Va., (27), Ed.; Dinwiddie Co., Va.,1916.]
Entry 1530
Cut yo' a silver dime into fo' parts wit a file, if anybody have given you any poison or anything dataway. Yo' take an' cut de silver dime into fo' parts, an' yo' take yo' some fresh beef lard an' take de cow milk an' drink that, an' yo'll vomit everything that chew took - fight it right now, in about fifteen minutes everything will come up. (You just take the dust of the dime. You don't cut the dime all the way throughthen?) Yo cut dat dime all de way through see, because yo' goin' tuh swallow that silver.
(But you must cut the silver into four parts.)
Yo' cut into fo' parts an' den roundin' it so it won't irritate de entrails, makin' it very round so yo' won't have no sharp point on it atall. See. Take an' mix it with that milk, that cow milk, an' that fresh lard an' drink it down. Anything that chew take that won't kill yo' in de co'se of twenty minutes, it comes right back up.
(You don't use the dust?)
No, not de dust - dat's very dangerous, de dust. If de dust git into de intestines dataway, yo' understan', an' settle - why, yo' understan', yo' got'a file it aroun' an' make it small enough tuh swallow de same as a pill yo' know. Not de dust. [Sometimes the whole dime is swallowed - see Dime in Index.]
Entry 1531
And there was a lady that live right in my block. She's been sick a long time. She been going to the hospital and the doctors and things, and she said maybe something was done to her. I say, "I don't know whether anything's done to you or not, but actually if it is," I say, "it is something simple - you can tell 'fore day's dying out if it is." So I made her get two dimes and I made her have the man to grate them dimes up right fine, fine, fine. Well, she grate those dimes up and I say, "Get you some sweet milk." Well, she got some sweet milk and I made her put them dimes in there and just a little pinch of aloes and she drinked it. She passed nothing but worms - long worms and it - she's right there, right where I'm at now. And she called me for to see the worms what - when she went to urinate [frequently used for defecate]. Then I made her take a dose of oil on top of that, you know, for to work her. And she took that oil. I bet they was calling me next morning to see those - how they was running from her, just trying to get away. She's right there in the block now.
Entry 1532
Ah heard dat chew put two dimes around yore laigs, but git two dimes of de same years - 1912. Be sure dey both of 'em is de same year an' tie dem round yore laig an' yo' walk ovah anything an' it won't hurt cha.
(You tie one around each leg.)
Entry 1533
If someone is tryin' tuh do yo' evil, well yo' begin tuh take yo' some prayahs. Yo' takes a prayah outa de Bible. Yo' takes one pod of peppah, red peppah, two silvah dimes - dat's twenty cents. Yo' takes de pod of de peppah an yo' puts it into a cloth an' yo' grinds dat peppah an' salt togethah jes' as a powdah an' yo' sews it up in a bag an' yo' keeps it undah de bottom of yore feet always - don' nevah go without it. Take dat dime [two dimes] an' dat peppah an' put it all undah yore foot an' always wear it, an' de ones dat is trying tuh do it, if yo' git their name, yo' kin write their name down, which is nine times, an' put hit in yore shoes. An' wear it jes' with that peppah an' it's no harm dat dey kin do to yo'.
(You wear one of those pods under each foot then?)
Under each feet. (Each has a dime an' each has a piece of pepper and each has some salt in it and their name?) Yassuh, each one of their name in dat shoe.
Entry 1534
Yo' take three dimes, if anybody do anything to yo'. Well yo' take three dimes an' put 'em in a quart of watah an' boil 'em down to a pint. Well dat spell will git off of 'em.
(What do you do with the water then?)
Yo' drink it.
Entry 1535
Three dimes made in the same year - three pieces of silver, but'they must be silver dimes and they must be a dime dat de woman settin' upon. Let me show you. [He shows me a dime.] It mustn't be that, just de neck and the head it must be the whole woman. Well, you must git three pieces of dese and they must be made in the same year, and put 'em into a little vinegar and you take three swallows for nine mornings off of that. And then dose things will begin to worry. And after dey work, den you kin tell whether they're [live things] in you. Den you kin go and git you some mulleins, git you some broom sedge root, git you some siZkroot [silkweed]. You mix all that together, make you a tea. Then you git you some potash, mix that with it. You git a little wormwood and mix with it too.
Entry 1536
I fell in my flower garden an' they taken me in de house an' by that night I couldn't walk on one of my legs an' I didn't seem to be sick any at all before. An' that night dere came some little black pimples, pizen places on it, three of 'em on my leg. An' another woman come dere an' tole 'em in de house whut to fix for me to cure it. She tole me to get a tablespoonful of salt an' a tablespoonful of sulphur an' three dimes an' ten cent worth of Brown Mule Tobacco, an' boil that together an' bathe in it. Take de tobacco when it get cool enough, that wus in it, an' jis bathe my leg from my hip on down and from my feet on out (see pp.369-377) fer three times. You bathe in de same water three times - you bathe tonight, well jis' sit it aside an' de next night heat de same thing up an' bathe in that the second time, [and] de third time do de same thing the nex' night. That's fer three nights. An' de las' night at twelve o'clock throw it - take de dimes out an' throw dis stuff, cup an' all in de middle of de street an' tell it, "From de devil you come from an' de devil you go back." That's whut they tole me to say an' so I did that. [To "take de dimes out" of the bathwater before throwing it into the street is unusual - cf. No. 997, p.384 and No. 1552, p.491 - but "de devil" may make this a rite of turning back spell on culprit rather than a rite of transference to a stranger.] Then I got nine dimes an' boiled them from a quart to a pint an' then drink de water off that. Made two drinks out of it, choo know - drink one half one time an' the other half another time. An' before I did that, the first thing they gave me was a pint of milk. I drank that, sweet milk.
Entry 1537
Jis' like anyone got poison through liquor or anything like that, you take some dimes, seven dimes an' put 'em in gas [gasoline] an' water, an' you take 'em out gasoline an' put 'em whiskey, [take 'em out of whiskey] an' then boil 'em, an: then when you done boil 'em you drink the whiskey an' that'll kill poison. [For gasoline as protection, see p.446.]
Entry 1538
If a person got dem live things in 'em, you kin git chew nine dimes an' take an' git chew one dose little cornered file an' git yo' a piece of newspapah. Yo' file one-half of each one of dose nine dimes an' git chew half a pint of sweet milk and take dat dust an' po' into dat drink of sweet milk. Let that silver lie in yo' all night long till de next mawnin'. Den yo' git up an' git chew a brand new bottle of castor oil an' take. That silver, dat kills that thing, and oil jis' - it'll all pass out. Silver kills poison.
Entry 1539
One time I was poisoned an' I taken with a pain in my stomic an' head- ache. Well, I taken real sick. I begin to throw up an' ev'rything I throw up was jis' as green as grass an' bitter as gall. Well, they sent fer de doctor. The doctor came. He give me a 'scription of doctor medicine. Well, I taken a dose of de medicine an' de medicine stayed in me I guess about two minutes. An' de medicine made me awfully sick, made me worser than I was. An' I threw it right back up. Well, we had twelve doctors[il!]. [Twelve doctors like every doctor in town is an exaggerated expression not mean to be taken literally - a hyperbole.] They didn't any do me any good. They did me worser instead of good. De medicine would do me worser all de time. So after that, they said, "Well, dere must be something to do." So I sent my sister to the store an' got a box of Squibbs soda an' a box of sulphur. I taken a teaspoonful of that. And that stayed in me. It gave me a little relief. After that I got nine silver dimes. I boiled them dimes good. Then I let the water cool. I drink nine swallows for nine mornin's. An' I improved an' began to get better. Then I got some Eve- an'-Adam [Adam-and-Eve] - that's a little roots. I boiled de Eve-an'-Adam an I drinked de tea of that an' I got better.
Entry 1540
This wus my daughter. Well, it wus give her in a apple an' this apple wus poison; we think it wus dressed. Well, she'd take sick on the young of the moon every moon. The poison would swell her - sick in the stomach an' her laigs. An' that went on. Then I went to a doctor an' the doctor says he give her up. Well, he didn't know whut wus wrong. The medicine he used, you know, instead of gettin better, for a year she got worse. An' so one of my brother-in-laws from Brunswick wus here. He would insist, you know, on sendin' me to a woman an' this woman I went to she liveded on Second Street. She wus one those ladies, you see, a woman that knowed how to cure folks, you see. An' she explained it to him whut it wus. She said this child wus poisoned in a apple. I remembered after[ward]. She ate hit I didn't [think anything about it at the time].
(How old was your daughter?)
She wus eighteen months old.
(When she ate this apple?)
Yes. An' after, one of my frien' speakin' with this woman [doctor]. An' she said, her name wus Lucy, she [following woman doctor's instructions] told me whut to do with child. She told me when she got crampin' at home - an' I explained to her how long this child would been like dat - an' she said dis child wus poisoned from me not givin' her no [root doctor] doctor medicine. Then she tole me whut to do. She tole me to take thirty-five cents in silver - twenty-five centsea [a quarter] an' a dime, an' boil that in a quart of water down to a pint. An' then she tole me to take it out de water an' scrape some of it an' boil that [in another quart of water] down to a pint, and then when I cooked 'em [each of these separate quarts of water] down to a pint, she told me to put a teaspoonful of table salt.
(Which water?)
An' after I did that this swellin', you know, commence to leavin'. An' I'd give her this medicine three times a day. The first time it passed through her, you know, it wus as green as grass; the second an' third time [the green was weaker] until it cleared up. An' she got her - this swellin' an' everything would leave her an' it continue on an' in six-month time that fixed it. She was all right but she tell me that she had this poison so long that she'd never be sound an' strong as if her normal self. An' so she lived then until the six day of de month last March. She died in the night.
(How old was she when she died?)
Seven.
Entry 1541
I heard of a lady - she wusn't none of mah people - an' she got tricked choo see by a snake. And they said this woman had got some ole snake sheds, joo know, an' throwed it into her water bucket. An' she drank water off it an' that create snakes in her flesh. Well, she goes to someone an' they tole her about it - told her whut it wus, an' told whut to get to cure her. An' she went an' got it. She told her to get three pieces of silver money - fifty cents, twenty- five cent, an' ten cent, an' some silkroot an' boil it. Put it in a quart of water an' boil it down to a pint an', you know, jis' keep doin' that an' drink off it. An' that cured it.
Entry 1542
Take five fifty-cents [five half dollars] if a woman got short hair an' let her boil it an' take de watah off it - off de [five] fifty-cents an' wash her haid with it an' make her have long hair.
The instruction aims at making hair long through washing; no growth result is established.
Entry 1543
Yo've heard people say dey boil eight halfa dollah [eight half dollars] in silver an' give that person the watah off it, an' dey say fin'lly, event'lly, dey'll git out chew. (That is to kill these live things in you.)
Entry 1544
Fo' poison yo' kin take a silver dollah an' boil it in a halfa gallon of watah an' boil it down to a quart wit dat dollah in dere, an' den when yo' take dat dollah [out] put a dime in dere an' drink off of it. But put chew a little sugah in dere, jes' enough to dress it, an' drink off it an' it will kill de poison. [Unusual use of word dress.]
Entry 1545
Git one of dese little three-edged file and git chew a silver dime an' scrape a little dat silver, and den take a teaspoonful of salt - I mean to say and sulphur, and jes' three drops of camphor and a glass of sweet milk. Dat will git de poison out of you, if dey's got dis dope by witchcraft in you.
Entry 1546
Ah know dis mahself - ah seen de man when he come out but ah hadn't seen whut had happened.
(You saw the man what?)
De man dat had went wit a woman, de woman dat anothah woman wus goin' wit 'er husband, an' she wus fren's wit dis woman an' she eated at dis woman's house - gi'ed her somepin tuh eat. An' den after gittin' somepin tuh eat, she wus sick, sick, sick an' in bed - in bed, stayed in bed. So after while, fin'lly, she feel things workin' up in her stomach - she see some things wus workin' up in her stomach. So she seen she wus sick, so dey went tuh graveyard an' git two tablespoon of graveyard dust, an' tuh git a quart of sweet milk, an' den dey put dis two tablespoon of graveyard dirt in de milk an' dey boil it. An' after dey boil it fo' a little while, dey take it out an' dey strain it an' take a new file. Git a new file an' git some silver.money, an' den yo' saw [file] some of dat silver money up in dis milk an' graveyard dust tuhgethah. An' den in two doses de maggots come from her.
Entry 1547
If yo' got anything in yo', yo' git chew some parsley an' some sweet milk an' a silver dime, an' yo' grates dis silver money an' yo' supposed tuh give 'em a pint of dat sweet milk wit dat boiled parsley in it an' dat grated silver dime, three times a day at six in de mawnin' an' twelve at noon an' six at night, an' yo' give it to 'em fo' nine days. An' den at the end of de nine days then yo' give 'em some kind of purgative medicine an' work it on 'em. Dat'll make 'em pass it. Whensomevah dey have any kind of insects or anything dey got in 'em, yo' see, dis heah sweet milk will kill it. An' den when de sweet milk an' de silver dime positively kills it in yo', den yo' gives 'em a purgative an' dat makes yo' pass it right out.:
Entry 1548
Lak when yo' come tuh mah house an' ah got anything against yo', if ah wanta hurt yo', ah'll fix somepin an' yo' eat dat an' yo' gits sick. So dis man, yo' know, he drunk some whiskey at a woman's house an' on de way tuh curin' him, somebody got a dime, a silver dime, an' took dat silver dime an' scraped it. An' den he got some gunpowder an' he got sweet milk an' mix it together an' give it to 'im. An' he puked dat stuff up.
Entry 1549
They say yo' can take de lodestone and boil it into de sweet milk and a silver dime and file it and git de silver from de dime. Yo' take de saltpeter and de sulphur an' yo' make jes' a medicine of it. Yo' put dat on de inside. Yo' take de poke root, de saltpeter and de sulphur and gunpowder and use it as a bath an' fish brine an' that will kill it.
(What do you put.inside you?)
You put inside you this saltpeter and the sulphur and the lodestone, yo' see, boil this into the sweet milk - inside. Yo' can take de gunpowder inside, tain't goin' hurt chew - gunpowder don't hurt anybody. Yo' use that into de inside. An' then tuh tell whether you've got the stuff in yo' or not, dey tell me yo' kin take a silver dime - a real silver dime and put it in yore mouth and it will turn black immediately, and then yo' kin tell if these things into yo'.
(How do you do that?)
Hold it into yore mouth until a certain - jest about an hour, and dey say if anything like dat in yuh, it certainly will turn black.
Entry 1550
They took some of her underclothes and bury 'em under de front step. We had to send to South Carolina to git a fellah to work on her mind. He said she walk over it nine mornings, dat was the cause of her be like dat. So he told us to git her some siZkroot and boil it with some money, silver money, and let her drink de liquid; and take a brand-new towel, dat nobody ever used, and wear it aroun' 'er waist next to the skin and dat would cure 'er. [Wilmington, N. Car., (226), 220:1; Savannah, Ga.,1929.]
Entry 1551
Well, they give her, made her use 'bacco [tobacco], money [silver], mullein and fish oil - that was all in it. She use it but all that had to be mixed together, but she would bathe her leg down in de mullein, money and 'bacco, and after using that, why she would - they called it eel-fish oil and it was eel- fish oil. Well, she'd have to get that and she been using that pract'ly up to now sometime. So we never did get her straight, but she went to diff'rent people and all, and they told her the cause of it, the woman that did it - why, had her tricked that way and why. She died from that. (And somebody down below Natchez told her to use this remedy.)
The eligible source wording is 'bacco; the earlier tobacco expansion is bracketed editorial matter.
Entry 1552
All right. You will take you some cinnamon powder, you will take some bluing, you will take you some Jockey Club Perfume. You.will mix that together. You will go to the market and get some parsley, you'll boil it well - after boiling it well, making a solution, putting that in their bathtub where the party bath at, leaving them bath in that tub, putting a amount of [silver] money in the water which you bath with. After that water - you bath with it, keeping it in the house overnight, 'fore day in the morning throwing it out into the street or the path wheresomever the people go to and fro. Leave them pick up that money and they will take your bad luck and you'll start off new again. [Cf. 997, p.384.]
(What will you do with that money then?)
The money that you throw out into the street?
(Oh, you throw the money out into the street?)
That's to keep them from passing by - anyone will pick up money if they practically see it in the street. Well, the solution that you see in the water, that's to wash all your bad luck off you, and the money draws it into the money, and throwing it out - well the one who picks up that, they picks up the bad luck.
(I see.) [For "the money draws it into the money," see No.1558, p.493.]
Entry 1553
Well, if dey had anything down, yo' could take a silver dime an' git some of dat silver offa dat dime an' make a wish - yo' know, yo' don't want no trouble or nuthin tuh come against yore place, or yo' don't wanta be swole up or whutnot. Scrape some of dat silver off an' yo' kin put it in yore shoe. Jes' sprinkle a little bit, take up dat sole in yore shoe, de first sole, an' sprinkle a little of dat silver - all dat in de hollow [arch] of yore feet, yo' might say. Den yo' kin take some cayenne peppah an' saltpeter, jes' about a quarter or halfa teaspoon, an' make a cross an' put hit in his shoe. An' hit won't hurt chure business whatevah they put down; it won't hurt chew or nuthin. It kills dat, whatevah they brought there.
(You mean you sprinkle this stuff in the form of a cross?)
[He reexplains, adding details.]
Yo' kin take a papah, yo' understan' - take some table salt that hasn't been used an' yo' make yore wishes. Always make yore wish to de Father, de Son, when- evah yo' want things tuh vanish away an' don't harm yo'. Yo' put some of that silver first in yore shoes [under first sole] an' then yo' takes that table salt that hasn't been used an' yo' kin take some cayenne peppah that hasn't been used an' then yo' folds it in a little papah, jes' a little thin papah wit jes' a little bit in it. Then yo' folds it like a fan. Then yo' take the peppah an' put up on top of that saltpeter as a cross in yore shoe lak that.
(You put each one in a little package - these two packages are crossed then?)
Dey crossed and you layi 'em cross lak that in yore shoe in the flat part of yore shoe, an' whatevah they brought there it won't harm yo'. [The silver dust and two packages of mixed salt and cayenne pepper above it are crossed first with saltpeter and then these are crossed with red pepper - this being two crosses, a double-cross.]
Entry 1554
Lak a spirit or somethin' lak dat, dat chew wanta kill an' keep 'em from messin' with yo', yo' take de balls out [shotgun shell] an' put chew a silver dime in dere an' shoot it, an' dey claim it won't bother yo' no mo'. (This spirit won't bother you no more?) [This repetition of his words is unconscious, not intended.] No suh. [A spirit cannot be killed as he admits later.]
Entry 1555
Ah've heard dat yo' could take a gun an' jes' lak anything dat was hard to handle [a spirit or hag], yo'll take a silver ball or sech as dat. Jes' take yo' a piece of silver an' melt it an' make a ball, somepin. Well, now yo' kin take dat an' jes' say kill - yo' kin kill anything an' it don't make no noise atall. Jes' lak a person could come right up heah now [upstairs where I was working in the hotel] an' go tuh kill one of us, if dey had a silver ball an white powder dey call it; dey could come right heah an' shoot one of us, why dere's nobody nevah heah de report of it.
Entry 1556
Sometimes in shooting a ghost or striking at it they shoot or hit themselves. The ghost may do something to them.
Entry 1557
Well now, you see, it's two kind - dere good spirits an' dere evil spirits, an' evil spirits is hard tuh control. If yo' don't know how tuh control 'en yo' cain't do much with 'em, dey'll run ovah yo'. But yo' kin take yo' a silver spoon an' yo' kin control 'em with dat spoon. Yo' kin take dat silver spoon an' put it up ovah de do' or anywhere round near de do' wherevah at dey come in at an' worry yo' - dey can't come ovah dat silver.
(The evil spirits?)
No sir, dey can't come ovah dat silver. Or yo' kin use a piece of new bo'd. Yo' kin take any kinda piece of new bo'd, jes' so it's big as my finger, an' tack it right up ovah where de do' where dey - ah 'magine dey come in at. Yo' usually kin tell where dey come in at - dey'll come in - yo'll hear de do' squeakin' or make some noise or 'nother. Whatevah direction dey come in from, yo' put dat up ovah dere - dat'll keep 'em out. [For "new bo'd, ' see margin-title Wood - New Wood Against Spirits; also Index.]
Entry 1558
[I will end this margin-title concerning silver with my only example of an unusual belief about a very common rite:] Hear of 'em usin' a dime fo' sech as poison. Says if dere's any poison an' yo' have a dime roun' yore ankle an' yo' walk in de poison, dat dime will turn black; an' if yo' urine in [on] dat dime it will gradually take all dat poison away, but if yo' don't renew it, it will go on to yore heart.
(But you will get well if you renew the dime?)
Yessuh. [Here the dime has taken over the qualities of a madstone, which have been described as follows: A madstone, according to an old farmer who once saw one used, is grey and resembles a hog kidney. Years ago someone living near him had been bitten by a mad dog, and the owner of a madstone was called in to work the cure. The latter began by putting his madstone against the bite, where it stuck for a long time like a magnet and could not be removed. This signified, said the operator; that the madstone was sucking out the poison: further, as soon as it was thoroughly saturated, it would drop off the wound. Thus the madstone eventually let loose, and he placed it in a crock of milk which turned grey immediately. This process of administering the madstone and then dipping it into the milk was repeated seven times. When it was applied for the eighth time, it no longer adhered, indicating that all the poison had been extracted: but to make certain, the healer asked for another crock of milk and swished the madstone in it as a final test. The milk remained white. ( (FACI, 1st ed., 1935, No. 4540, p.218;2ed.,1965, No.4709, p.204.)] [Any dime, worn as a protection against poisonous substances swallowed or roots walked over, will absorb the poison. This power of absorption by silver appears to be inexhaustible, but in the present belief my informant says a dime has a capacity for holding poison; anything beyond this limit will go to your heart and kill you. To be on the safe side, he continues, you must periodically cleanse the dime by urinating on it. Urine shows your contempt for the poison spirit; it leaves at once. Here the dime, the silver spirit, is treated as a hand which must be fed for renewed strength (see subsection Hands). How urine repells and attracts at the same time is no more mysterious than your intention. The skeptic may ask, "When a dime starts to blacken, why not substitute a new dime?" That question could be answered in various ways but the real answer is simple - if you believe substitution will work for you, it will work for you.]
Entry 1559
(Well, what kind of medicine would take that - get those things off - that snake out of there?) Well, ah tell you what you kin do. You ever hear tell of slippery elm, nightshade. Well, you take slippery elm and nightshade and running water, them's three simple things, and you kin take a tea- spoonful three times a day and run eny kind of poison out cheh, yes.
(Now, what do they do with that - steep it in there or boil or what?)
No, ah don't know anything about roots. I don't know anything about dat but jest the slippery elm [also called red elm], the nightshade and the spring water, and then that'll run 'em out cheh. And then when they'd come, you'd put that, whatsomever pass from you - ground puppies, frogs, in my instance I had a turtle was in me - and then you throws it in de running water. And as fer as that goes, long as that keeps arunning and molt in de river or in de canal, or wheresomever you put it at, long as that'll keep agoing, the person will keep agoing. Then when that lodge - you know, everything lodges in the water, in de seaweeds or something, you see - well, then that will be the end of the person what did that harm to you.
Entry 1560
My brother was sick for eleven years. And they say he were hoodooed but I say I don't think it such a thing as hoodoo, but he say, "Certainly it is such a thing as hoodoo. I've got it on me." (Wait a minute - talk a little bit slower.) I had a brother sick for eleven years and he went to every doctor and they couldn't cure him. He say, "Think it such a thing as hoodoo?" I say, "I don't think it is." All right, so I takes him, my mother and I, after the death of my father. He eats hardly anything and something came to me in the spirits, like me speaking to you and says, "Take and go to the rivah...and get some smart- weed and bathe him nine days with it." After bathing him with that smartweed nine days he get well. In nine days time he got well and he ain't been sick since. He living today. That's from smartweed. [A cure coming from the spirits is a frequent curing device. Does this come from the American Indian?]
Entry 1561
Ah knowed mah uncle. See, he's crazy in de haid - yo' know, jes' have crazy fits, an' he git unfixed wit a snail. Took a snail an' breaks him an' put him in bottle an' den git some sweet oil an' mix dat in de bottle an' den a fresh aig whut jes' laid an' put dat in de bottle. Stir all dat up at night, 'noint it fo' several days an' dat crazy spell he had went away. Fo' several days jes' 'noint his haid wit it.
Entry 1562
Yo' take nine snails an' cook dose snails an' yo' take de grease of dose snails an' jes' lak if yo' think if anybody done anything to yo' to make yo' lose de use of yore body, yo' rub yoreself with that, an' that will relieve yo', cause yo' to become super [supple] in yore process, begin come 'live.
(You do this if you think somebody has tricked you?)
Yes.
Entry 1563
Take de snail an' put it on a corn, an' jes' rub it on de corn when de moon's a shrinkin', an' dat corn will leave dat foot.
Entry 1564
Take a snake shed when yore nerves is bad an' rub it in yore han's like that - jes' rub it in yore hands until it git fine, jes' rub it all ovah yore hands. It will stop yo' from bein' nervous. [Since the nerve ailment shingles (herpes - creeping things or reptiles) is caused by a snake, nervousness is cured by a snake - like cures like (see p.394).] [See also Blacksnake, Rattlesnake, etc. and Index.]
Entry 1565
De snakeroot - well, yo' take dat snakeroot an' yo' pulls it up by de roots an' yo' shake de dirt off it an' wash it. Well, yo' put hit into a bottle. Well, then you kin put whiskey on it - hit's good fo' most any kinda disease.
Entry 1566
De spider webs is another thing. Ah hear dem talk about SPIDER webs. Well, dey jes' say, jes' lak ah tole yo' befo' - dey jes' say dey draws a spider [web] tea an' give dem tuh drink.
(What will that do?)
Well, dey say dat will cure de fits from 'em or whatsomevah dey have.
Entry 1567
You git a bran' new [corn]cob pipe an' yo' fill dat wit sulphur. Yo' smoke dat an' yo' inhale dat through yore nostrils. Dey all tell me dat relieves a spell by de haid - yo' know, in case dere somepin wrong wit yore haid an' yo' ailin', why dey say yo' git a brand-new cob pipe an' yo' put sulphur in dat. (What kind of a spell do you mean - that you have in your head?) Well, yo' know, probably jes' lak somebody may be gone off wit yore hat 'bout somepin an' probably put somepin dat's not right in yore hat. Dat will cause yo' tuh have haid spells.
(This would cure it?)
Yes, dat would cure it.
Entry 1568
Yo' mean if anybody try to hurt yo' - how yo' kin protect yoreself. Yo' kin take de least bit of sulphur in a teaspoon nine mawnin's, In de Name of de Father, de Son an' de Holy Ghost, an' yo' kin eat anything that anyone give yo' an' it won't hurt chew.
Entry 1569
Yo' go to de store an' yo' git chew a nickel box of sulphur - dat's a common way, an' after yo' git dat sulphur, yo' take dat sulphur an' yo' mix it up with a - take about three good heaping teaspoonsful or two tablespoonsful - yo' mix it up in some cream or milk an' yo' drink dat about twice a week. An' dat will keep anybody from harmin' yo' - nobody can't harm yo'.
Entry 1570
Yo' take sulphur an' black gunshell powder an' yo' put dem in a bottle, a pint bottle of watah, an' drink dat watah till yo' draw dat up. If dere snakes or anything live into you, take dat gunpowder an' kill all of it.
Entry 1571
Sulphur, dey tell me, if yo' burn three teaspoonsful on yore trash pile dat'll keep yo' enemies away.
Entry 1572
This is when they build a new house and you are getting ready to move in. They got old shoes, rags, sulphur, and made a smoke, fumicated [fumigated] the house. That was for to keep evil spirits away. And then they get a green pine bush and sweep the floor. That was the first thing they would sweep the floor with. That was for luck. [Ocean City, Md., (21), by hand; 40 or 50 years ago, before 1936, in Sussex Co., Va.]
Entry 1573
Well, yo' see, jes' lak if yo' jes' thought now that person had done something to harm yo' or hurt chew. Well, now yo' go to work, yo' take yo' some saltpeter an' yo' take yo' some sulphur. Yo' takes all dat an' yo' puts it in a bag an' yo' wears dat around yore wais' [waist]. Well, yo' see when yo' put dat round yore wais', dat saltpeter an' dat sulphur, yo' put hit in a bag an' wear. Well, yo' see dat kills all dat germ dat dey tryin' to hurt chew wit.
Entry 1574
If people poison yo', goin' poison yo', wear sulphur in yore shoes an' yo' takes sulphur.
(What will that do?)
That keep the poison out.
Entry 1575
They say, if you take sulphur and burn it - you know in de powder, you know it be's in a powder form - jis' put it in de fire and burn it, and put it in your shoe, and they say dat ain't nobody can't work no kin'a roots on you regard- less to what it might be. They couldn't harm yah a bit, see. This sulphur would keep down envy and keep de people from yah.
Entry 1576
Yo' could use brimstone an' sulphur in de bottom of yore shoes an' walk ovah anything - nuthin won't worry yo', won't hurt chew.
Entry 1577
Jest git chews - like ah said wit dat cologne stuff an' sulphur, an' sprinkle it around yore place. That kills all the bad luck an' de good luck comes in [cf. margin-title Begin Rite By Removing Hard Luck Spirits, p.328].
Entry 1578
Take the sulphur an' the bluestone an' mix it together an' yo' use it fo' nine mawnin's. Jes' sprinkle it around yore home that yo' dwell in an' say that will keep things from evah gitting bad - yo' know, yo' can't be bothered if yo' use that bluestone an' sulphur.
(People can't bother you?)
Can't bother yo' - interfere with chure business. [Wilson, N. Car., (1486) 2660:15.]
Entry 1579
A root doctor called one of his medicines swarproot medicine. [For other names of medicine, see Nos. 968-969, p.363f.]
Entry 1580
Take a swamproot. (Swamproot.) Yes, your back is weak and that strengthen your back. If you is not no breedin' woman, that'll make you breed. And they say you can take ginger root. Have you ever heard of that? And you can take ginger root, if you breedin' and done got caught - well, you can take ginger root and that makes you have a miss, you see. A hot, hot tea and you drink it at bedtime, and you get into bed and cover up and that begins to make your blood hot and you begin to sweat, and then the next morning everything there what you looking for.
Entry 1581
Sweat - frequently used in the form of soiled clothes for rites of love or bodily harm - does not occur often in cures or protection.] Well, jes' lak now yo' figure somebody dey done hurt chew or somepin an' yo' have pains, well yo' git up dat mornin' befo' sunrise an' git chew some water out de well an' drink it befo' it curify yo' know. An' yo' turn toward de east an' run yore hand down, yo' know, an' look toward the east an' spread yore hand - yo' know, smell yore hand an' look toward de west, look toward de north, an' look toward de south like that. While yo' doin' it an' smell yore hand jes' lak dat. Yo' won't have nary another pain.
(That will get rid of that pain?)
Yes sir.
[The implication without demonstration was sufficient for my comment:]
(You run your hands under your privates and smell them each time you look toward the four directions. And you should drink some of this water out of the well before what?) Befo' de sun rise, befo' it curify, yo' know. Draw it up an' drink it right den.
(Before it what? Curifies? What does that mean?)
Well, yo' know, dat means jes' lak yo' - jes' lak fresh water yo' know.
(While it is still fresh?)
Don't let it set no time - jes' draw it up an' drink it right den - dat's whut ah mean. [I think he is trying or means to say purifies = pure, fresh - don't let it stand. Water left standing overnight, for example, is dangerous (No. 76, p.32.)] (And after you drink that water, then you rub your hands between your legs and smell them and put them in the four directions.) Every time you look in a direction you turn an' smell yore hands an' look right straight up, yo' know.
(And that will take away any pain you have?)
Yes.
Entry 1582
If yo' got a swellin' or anything, yo' kin use de tidewatah, jes' git it when it's high an' den bathe down on it, an' when it goin' back, yo' throw it with it - let 'em go. (If you have a swelling, get tidewater when it is up and bathe down with that. Then, as the tide is going out, you throw this Water out in the same direction - the tide carries it out, the swelling.) Yes sir.
Entry 1583
[The opposite of the preceding rite is also given:]
Throw the article that cunjured you into water running one way; not into out- going tide but into running water. This will either run the evil doer away or harm him.
Entry 1584
Well, yo' - jes' lak yo' had germs in dis room heah, an' yo' wants tuh git shet of de germs, yo' take some tobacco an' put it into a pan or something an' set 'em afire, a slow fiah, an' let 'em smoke yo' see, but it will kill ever'thing in de world. If yo' ain't got no tobacco, take some ole shoes an' tear 'em up an' put 'em on top of sulphur - it kills. [Tobacco usually appears in compounds - No. 1551, p.491, and Index.]
Entry 1585
Ah tell yo' 'bout dat now, Doc [see in Index, Doctor, author called]. If somepin wus placed tuh de foot of de step an' yo' stepped down - step ovah it, yo' kin be harmded. But still, after yo' live an' yo' say yo' feel lak yo' haunted, yo' won't need but one thing. Know whut dat is? (No, what is it?) Yo' ought'a know. Well, yo' jes' git chew a ten-cent bottle of turpentine an noint chure feet an' rub it down, an' say, "Well, ah don't need yo' no mo'." Throw it ovah yore left shoulder an' go on 'bout chure business.
(And as they walk away - that will take the pain away?)
De pain's gone - jes' de same as snake oil.
Entry 1586
Dey say if someone bury somepin roun' yore house lak dat an' yo' got a idea who bury it roun' dere - yo' lookin' fo' someone tuh bury somepin lak dat roun' yore house - always keep yore bottle of turpentine an' keep yore shoes dampened inside with turpentine an' it'll nevah hurt chew. Yo' kin walk ovah it all yo' want an' it won't hurt chew.
Entry 1587
If you thought someone was tryin' to harm you, well I tell you about as good a thing you could do, if you thought somebody was trying to harm you. You just go to the drug store and get some turpentine, put nine drops in each shoe for nine mornings, and then get some aloes and work your stomach out good - cause nothing like that can't stand aloes.
Entry 1588
Well, you kin take ordinary spirits of turpentine an' wet cher finger in it like that, an' mahk on the bottom of yer feet, right from the toe right on back; an' then wet it again, shake it up an' wet your finger in there again, mahk it cross like that [across the hollow of the foot - in other words a cross is made on the sole]. An' then do the othern [the other foot] the same way. An' put shoo about five drops in yer shoe [shoes] where your lifeline, an' you kin go anywhere you wan'a go. You jis' do it about once a month.
Entry 1589
Well, fo' chills yo' take a raw cotton string an' wet it in turpentine, an' jes' lak yo' had two chills or three chills yo' - jes' as many chills as yo' have had - yo' tie that many knots in de string an' wear it round yore waist an' de chills will be gone.
Entry 1590
If anybody harm yo' or try to hurt chew in some way, yo' take a cotton string. Take dat cotton string an' yo' kin tie it in nine knots, see. An' yo' bind it around yore waist an' keep it thoroughly moist wit turpentine. Dat wus good.
Entry 1591
Go to the woods and get yourself some turpentine and get you some bark from a walnut tree. Take this turpentine and bark and put it in water and let it boil for ten minutes. Take this water and throw it over your left shoulder. When you get through with that take two teaspoonfuls in your body. And that will keep evils and all hoodoos away from you. Another thing, if you find a bottle underneath your door and don't know what's in it, never touch it, but go to the woods and get some turpentine [raw sap from turpentine tree - several pines] and some walnut tree bark and sprinkle it over that bottle first. Then you move it and you won't be cunjured. That's the best thing I know for cunjures.
Entry 1592
Like somebody put somepin on cheh [here] fo' yo' an' right along yore path and when yo' steps on dis, why you'd have a pain in yore laig. Well, yo' Wouldn't know what caused it but chew would go to someone and dey would tell yo' right away. Git sulphur, spirits of turpentine, put all dat on mah han's - spirits of turpentine [and sulphur] and take mah han' and go to de chamber lye and bath 'em in dat, and go right on dere [to buried cunjure] and take it up. [I can now] go over dere and dey won't ketch me, de pain won't ketch me atall. Ah'd take it [cunjuring object] up and take, carry it to de fork of de road and burn it. When ah carry it to de fork of de road and build a fire under it, why it sparks. Well, it's all gone - it go right back to where it come from, see.
[I now ask informant to repeat part of story I failed to record.]
(How did you say you knew this was laid down out there for you?)
Ah seen de spirit - jest like you'd dream, ah seen de spirit and dey go on showed it tuh me. Ah git up in morning and ah goes right straight to it. See. Ah goes straight to it and ah 11 take and bath mah face and han s in dat - dis urinate in de night, and den ah take de spirits of turpentine and ah saturate mah han's good with dat. See. Den ah'll take dat sulphur and saturate mah hands good and den ah'll go dere to de hole and dig it up. When ah dig it up ah'll pick it up and ah'll take it to de four corners of de road and put it in de middle of de street and burns it. When ah put it down dere and build mah fire under early in de morning or late in de evening, an' when ah do that why dat pops. When it pops it goes back to where it come from.
Entry 1593
A fellow once, named Brown, a root doctor - me and my wife was on de outs. Course I caught her wrong and I went away from her. So he [Brown] was working in the shipyards. He say, "I found a shoe." So I say, "All right, I'll take it." He said it was a right shoe - brand new shoe - just had a little - and he had got that snake's blood and put all on de inside of it. And I put dat shoe on. In nine days time my ankle give away and commence to hurt me and so I says, "Mother, since I been wearing dat shoe Mr. Brown give me," I said, "I been having trouble with my ankle. I think I'll go to de doctor." So she looked at de shoe. So then I went to Dr. Willis and took dat shoe and cut de top off it - the entire top and give it to him and he took it and put it in something and sterilized it and found out it was snake blood. That's Dr. Willis dere - chemistry.
(Dr. Woodard?)
Willis - in the drug store.
(I see - from the drug store and he found it was snake blood?)
Yeah - what he told me.
(What did he put that in to sterilize it, I wonder.)
I don't know. He used a lot of chemistry - you know how dey have chemistry, and it all up-separated off the leather, come off the sweat and ev'rything else. And he said, "That's snake's blood, boy." I said, "It look peculiar cause ev'ry time it rained it would freshen up just like fresh paint, red paint, but when the sun was shining it was dry and looked kind of scaley, you know, kind of brownish looking.
(How did you get rid of that then - from that snake blood?)
Well, I tell you, I got rid of it. My mother took 'bacco. She turned around and took a chicken and she put a chicken poultice on there first. And then she took tobacco and my water and boil it hot and let me put my feet right down in de hot water.
(Did she boil that tobacco and your water together?)
Yes, and put my feet in there. I put it in there ever' night and put salt brine in there and it came all right.
Entry 1594
I had experience of dis myself, I'm fixin' to tell yo' now. I wus goin' wid some woman once. Someone poisoned 'er in some fish an' dey did somepin tuh 'er. An' whutevah dey did, it went true [through] 'er han', broke out in bumps - big large ones 'bout dis size [demonstrates], right true de han'. Yo' could see it. If it hit dere [on one side of her hand], it would come out dere [on the other side of her hand] - look like dey connect wid one 'nothah. Feets an' han's. An' she couldn't put 'er foot on de floah [floor]. I goes me to work an' I got me some Brown Mule [trademark] tobacco. I got me some snuff, Railroad Mail [trademark]. I got me some sulphah. I got me some salt, some salts physic [probably Epsom salts], an' got me some of 'er watah an' some of mine. I mixed it togethah. I say, "Save me all de watah you kin fer de nex' hour or two, [that is] as much as yo' git fer de nex' night er [or] day." I mixes all dat togethah an' I boil it good. I set up wid 'er 'bouts couplea days an' nights er mo' bathin' [bath-ing, not bathe-ing] 'er feets. She couldn't touch de floor [her feet pained so much]. Well, I kep' bath-in' 'er an' kep' bath'in' 'er in dat stuff, an' kep' bath-in' 'er in dat stuff till fin'lly I cured 'er like dat. Den I went an' got some of dis potash fer 'er tuh take - jes' a little bita watah. Yo' kin take dat very easily in a little watah.
(How did she get this way?)
At someone's house she got dataway by eatin'. I know it. I went to a fortune teller. Dey tole me dat dat wus zackly how she got it. Dey even picked it out [while running the cards] an' it was some of 'er own people did it.
(Did the fortune teller tell you what to do?)
Dey didn't tell me. A ole woman tole me dis long long years ago. She always tole me, she says, "Yo' look out, '' she says, "whenevah dat to happen an' know whut tuh do fo' yoreself, if anyone hurt yo'. Git dat an' bath [not bathe] yore- self from de knees on down [see p.369] an' it'll nevah cause no swellin' in de knees." It didn't swell a bit.
Entry 1595
Ah heard that yo' could take chamber water, chamber lye - jes' lak yo' got sores anywhere on yore flesh or on yore skin, yo' kin take yore chamber watah an' 'noint 'em sores each day an' fin'lly at last yo'll git rid of 'em.
Entry 1596
If yo' got a bad cold an' yo' nostrils all stopped up - somepin lak dat, yo' kin jes' take yore chamber lye, yore own chamber lye an' wash yore face an' it will help yo'. Some people use it fo' rough skin, dey chamber lye.
Entry 1597
At one time I was off from my work and my wife was sweeping our back yard and she swept over a jelly jar. It was stopped up and turned bottom up in the yard. By the sun shining I see that jar and I stopped and asked her what was that shining. I thought it was a piece of money. So I went there and dug it up out of the ground in my back yard. I came to the steps and I opened it. It had some kind of powder.
(Do you know what the powder was?)
No, I don't know what kind - it was a brown powder.
(All right - go ahead.)
And something like a sponge was mixed up and stopped in there. When I opened it, it knocked me down when I inhaled it. [As I explain elsewhere, this sort of thing is a hyperbole, not a lie.] Later on, my wife's leg broke out - swole up rather, and my leg swole up. And we heard of a man who could tell you things, and we went there and he told me that I had stepped over something. And I asked him what could he do for it. He told me that he believed through the help of God that he could cure me. And I told him that I would be pretty glad if he would. And he got some ashes, some salt, some red pepper and some chamber lye and he mixeded that up in a pan - stirred it thoroughly well and he took and got us there to the pan and washed our leg down, washed this leg down. So later on, two or three days maybe, the leg went down, and it broke out little skin - little dry lookin' skin on there. Well, all of that come off and my leg began to get all right.
Entry 1598
Use chamber lye an' stop poison. Jes' take it an' boil it - grate a dime an' put it in it an' boil it wit red peppah an' wash, bathe it down. Dat'll kill poison. (You mean poison that someone has put into you like live things, things of that sort?) Yes sir, like skippers - something like dat.
Entry 1599
Well they claim, if you near-sighted or somepin like that in your eyes an' mis'ry in yore haid all the while, they say you take chamber lye an' heat wit salt you know for pains. You bathe the haid an' the steam that choo - hol' [hold your head] you know over the bucket like that. You put salt in it. Sometime it git ole. They say the older it gits you know an' smell [the better]. A man, his daughter use it one day. She was near-sighted. She couldn't see atall. An' she bathe in that for a week [7 days] an' when de week out after she'd used it, then she could see.
Entry 1600
My sister wus tricked. She wus tricked from water from a pump. Whut- evah dey did dey jis' put into de pump. An' it made her eyes sore an' she thought she wus goin' blind, an' so dey had de doctor. An' de doctor couldn't cure her. Everything he did for sore eyes it didn't do any good. So my mothah - de first whut started to heal it, she put a salt poultice to it with [corn] meal and salt. Well, dat kin'a holp a little. An' den somebody tole 'er de thing to get 'er to see wus to let a child have an action [of urine], an' den put it in an' ole cup an' put some salt in dere an' cook dat, an' dis [jis'] put de necked [naked or bare] thing right ovah 'er eye an' dat'd draw 'er sight back to her. An' dat's whut cured her.
Entry 1601
It's a way dey kin throw dere water [urine] befo' de sun rise.
(How do they do that?)
Well, dey takes saltpeter, dat's whenevah a person is hurt - ah knows dey take saltpeter an' red peppah an' chamber lye an' bath [not bathe] in it an' take it an' throw it out befo' de sun rise.
(That will cure them?)
Yes sir.
Entry 1602
[Here is a belief similar to the preceding and following ones but without the bath:] Ah heard 'em say yo' take yore chamber watah - yo' know, in de mawnin' 'fore sunrise take it an' throw it sunset an' it would keep all harm [away].
(How would you throw it?)
Throw it ovah yore left shoulder lak that [demonstrates] an' don't look back. (The water that was made that night and you throw it at [before] sunrise in the morning?) Yes.
The informant reports a chamber-water practice said to keep harm away; its effect is unverified and away is an editorial insertion.
Entry 1603
They told me to go to the drug store and get some saltpeter - saltpeter and take my urine when I, you know, urinate and put it in warm water.
(Put it in some warm water.)
And put my feet in that and wash my feet with it. Carry it to my back door. Throw it over my left shoulder and walk back in the house and don't look back.
(That'll keep them from harming you?)
Yes, sir.