Browse:Final Preparation of Lucky Bone (Volume 1, entries 308–322)
Final Preparation of Lucky Bone
Volume 1, entries 308–322. Source context: SPIRITS → BLACK CAT BONE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 308
Jes' take a black cat in de house an' jes' have a hot pot of water on de stove an' jes' stick him in dere. An' dey say when he boil up, say yo' jes' take it out an' go to de water an' throw de bones in - in runnin' water. De one float up de stream, dey say yo' git dat out an' dey say have it dressed an' dey say - yo' know, was luck. (How do they dress it?) Say, well, yo' take it to a root man an' have him to dress dis bone fo' yo'.
Entry 309
Get that bone right from back here.
(Right from in back by the rectum?)
Yes. Right there. It's a kind of crooked bone - and that's the black cat bone - anybody that can carry that in their pocket - it's worth something to 'um 'cause anything they do or get in, it sucks them out. When this is gone - when some person is fixed, you know. They [doctors] done fixed this bone and give it to you - not just picked it ordinary out of the cat.
(Well, how do they fix it, I wonder?)
Oh, well, you take this bone. You get a saucer. You got to pray over it. You got to roll this in that steel dust, roll it in this powder they call the come back powder. All the drug stores down here got all this I'm telling- sells all that down on Rampart Street.
(Would they sell to me?)
Correct. Everything you want. (You mean that I couldn't just go out and get this black cat bone? I would have to get it from somebody that had them fixed up - prepared?) Yes.
(I see. Well, where would I get that?)
Here. [So far as I knew, informant was not a professional worker, hence my note after the interview - "guessing at how it is prepared." Had informant been a doctor, the bone could have been dressed in this way or any Way.]
Entry 310
Sho' yo' git at the drug sto'.
(You get the black cat lucky bone at the drug store?)
Pantages Drug Sto', yessuh, right heah in Pantages, yo' kin buy the black cat lucky bone.
Entry 311
Well, mah aunt had a little black cat. Ah don't know if yo's heard of 'im - dere wus a man used tuh be heah in dis town, dey called Sweep, de Monkey. Dey claim he had one. Dey say he cookeded de cat - a black cat without 'ary [nary] a white spot on him, anything [white] - he couldn't have one white hair in his mustache, no white furs on him at all. Me an' mah brothah, we tooken de [aunt's] cat - take him down tuh de swamp an' he'd put on a can of watah - a large can an' we started de watah tuh boilin' - down side a stream of runnin' watah. We put de cat in - tie his feets togethah an' put him in dere alive an' shet de lid down on him. An' whensomevah we put: de lid on de can an' shet de cat up in dere an' it start - yo' know, jes' when it start tuh cookin' him, yo' understand, like he wus meat [beginning to cook], dere come up a big ole thundercloud [lightning and thunder]. Ah wanted tuh go an' mah brother he wanted tuh stay. He keep coaxin' me until ah stayed with him until all de meat boiled offa de bone. An' he takes de can an' turn it into de stream of runnin' watah - a place dey call Jeffer's Creek, a creek dey got right down dere to de Coastline [Railroad] pumphouse. An' he always hear dat de bone dat dey po'd in de runnin' watah - all de rest of de bones an' de meat would go down de stream, but de lucky bone would come back up de stream. An' dat's de one dat he got. Ah didn't git it, but he git de bone. An' he taked it to a lady dey called Doctor Campbell in dis town an' she dressed it fo' him. She wrapped it up in some red flannel an' he used de bone until he leave heah in 1921. He got into a murder scrape heah an' he leaved heah an' dey nevah did look fo' him nowhere tuh put him in jail. Dey couldn't keep him in dere, dey nevah would. Then Columbia would git him. [If they could have caught him, he Would have been sent to Columbja.] He's be gone ever since 1921. Dat's all fo' dat black cat bone. Ah suppose dat's whut dis man Sweepin' Monkey [did to get his bone] - he used his'n fo' gamblin' - an' dey nevah could shoot him an' hit him or nuthin'. Course mah brothah didn't git in dat roundup [raid] an' shootin' cause he run away - he slip through, nobody seen him. Fo' me usin' it pusson'lly mahself - ah didn't, but ah have done de cookin' proposition.
Entry 312
Ah heared dat yo' kill nine black cats an' yo' put 'em in a pot an' yo' boil 'em an' till dey drop off de bone. Den yo' take dese bones an' throw 'em in runnin' watah an' de lucky bone will come to de top. An' yo' take that an' tote it in yore right hip pocket - yo' carry it an' have it dressed - tote it in yore right hip pocket. An' then yo' kin do anything yo' want to.
(How would you dress that bone?)
Well, ah don' know.
(You get nine cats?)
Yessuh - nine cats.
Entry 313
Yo' take a live black cat an' throw 'im in a hot oven - yo' know he'll soon be daid. Let him cook down. It's a certain bone, ah disremember now - ah have heard all about that. It's a certain bone dey pickin' out dere an' dey git red flannen an' dey wrop dat bone. When dey wrop dat bone, they wrop it to 'em this way - coming to them [demonstrates].
(Coming to them.)
Now, they had that fo' luck way back in those days, if they had hard luck.
(Did they use the black cat bone back in slavery times?)
Yes sir.
(Did you hear about it as a young boy?)
Yes sir - dat's why ah knows.
(I see, you were born in '58 [1858].)
Entry 314
Well, ah heard dey ketch de black cat an' dey'll kill him an' dey take it outa his rib, de bone. An' dey'll smoke dat black cat bone an' dey'll wear it den. Dey'll smoke it an' wash it. Aftah dey washin' it dey gits some devil's [vinaigre?] out de drug sto'. Dey soak it in dat agin. Den dey'll take it an' dey'll wear it an' dey'll make lak a bag an' put it in dere an' wear it.
(What is that supposed to do?)
Dey would do anything dat dey wanta do. Dey'll come in heah an' yo' won't know it an' dey'll go out chere an' yo' won't know it. Dey'll do anything dey feel lak doin'.
(They just take this cat and they take one of his ribs out.)
Yeah, one his bones out.
Entry 315
In de gambling line dat yo' cud [could] git chew a black cat but yo' have to ketch dat cat when he 'live, an' put him in a pot of water an' boil him an' boil dat cat till all de meat boil off his bones, an' go to a runnin' stream of water an' throw him in dat water. An' all dat bone will gone down de stream but de lucky bone will come back up to yo'. Den yo' git dat bone an' git chew a little sack an' take a little bottle of heart's coZogne an' put dat bone in dat sack an' yo' keep dat bone jes' wet [feed it] wit dat cologne, yo' know, 'bout once or twice a week. [This is a hand or mojo or toby.] A boy tell me dat - said he did it an' when he went to a skin game. He broke up every skin game he'd git into.
Entry 316
Fo' luck, if it's a woman or man - a man, he kin take de bone from a black cat. It's a bone made lak de breast of a chicken bone an' it lie somewhere between his - think it's somewhere through his side, ah think it is. It's a forked bone jes' lak dat [like a chicken wishbone - no such bone in a cat]. Dey git dat cat an' kill dat cat an' boil him; jes' let him boil all to pieces an' take dat cat jes' as he is an' put it into a pail of watah, an' in dat watah, let it be high enough fo' it tuh come tuh pieces. Yo' know, jes' git all de meat offa dem bones. Put 'em into a tub an' dat lucky bone of dat cat, it will come up to de top an' de rest of dem bones will stay in de bottom. Well, he gits dat bone an' he gits him a bottle of Jockey Club perfume. Take dat bone an' keep it in his pocket an' when he goin' anywhere he goin' to gamble, why he takes dat bone an' he rubs it thoroughly while it got dat perfume - dat perfume will be all in his han's. An' quite natural, it goin' bring his luck to him until he let somebody else know he got it in his pocket. Well, if he go tell somebody else about it, it ain't goin' do him no good.
Entry 317
Take a black cat an' take a pot of hot boilin' watah an' take dis cat alive. Yo' mus'n't kill 'im - yo' take him alive an' put him in dat hot boilin' watah live an' let him boil all to pieces. An' take dem bones an' hold dem 'fore de mirror an' de one dat shake in de mirror dat's, yo' know, dat's de right bone. Or yo' either take it to runnin' water an' de bone dat go down de stream dat's not de right bone, but de bone dat go up de stream an' de water running dat's de right bone. Take it an' put it in a black bag - sew it up in a real black bag an' jes' when yo' wanta do a trick or anything, put on a real black shirt an' yo' kin go in a store or anywhere an' git anything yo' want - nobody will nevah see yo', yo' disappear. (Now when you hold that bone in front of the mirror - what happens to that bone when you hold it in front of the mirror?) It will shake in front of de mirror.
(Oh, the bone will shake.)
De right bone will jes' shake in front of de mirror. (You do either one - you either hold it before the mirror or you go to running water.) Yo' do either one of those an' yo' git de right bone.
Entry 318
Yo' kin take a black cat - ketch a black cat an' kill dis black cat an' git her right foot bone, de front foot. Git this bone an' put dis bone in a sack an' wear it roun' yore neck. Yo'll be lucky in jobs, lucky in anything yo' go fer. Jes' wear dat black cat foot bone - de right foot bone, de front bone.
Entry 319
Ah don' know how dey git dat separate, but dey say dey take de left leg an' yo' boil it, an' den yo' always - yo' boil it an' tie a red string on it an' tote it in yore left pocket. Dey say that will give yo' a lucky hand.
Entry 320
Then yo' kin take him [black cat] an' cut his feet off alive - jes' cut [off] his left feet 'live an' turn him loose. An' if dat feet heals up - yo' see dat's jes' de chance yo' take - if dat feet heals up an' if he live de length of a year or something lak dat, yo' kin go in any bank, any place, anywhere, git anything yo' wanta git, 'long as dat cat still stirring. But when dat cat dies, dat kills de foot. (The foot is no good then when the cat dies. You cut off the left foot, you say?) The left hind feet.
This historical account involves animal harm; its asserted effects depend on the cat's survival and remain unverified.
Entry 321
Well, dere ain't but one thing ah know about this black cat bone - dis superstitious way yo' git all of these black cat bones. Yo' keep this black cat bone undah yore haid an' yo' keep it there nine nights. Yo' sleep with it undah yore haid nine nights. An' after that then yo' take this black cat bone an' yo wear it on yo'. In case yo' go to make a deal or somepin lak dat, why yo' put in yore han' an' yo' squeeze it an' yo' make yore wishes. Den yore wishes come true.~
Entry 322
You kill a black cat, you get the rectum bones, dry them, put them in a towel, mash them up into a powder, put them in soup, anything with vegetables a woman wants to eat. Then in the spring of the year when the sap begins to rise and the she cat meows for the tom cat, the woman will do the same thing - they [a cat] goes in heat twice a year - and want you.