Browse:Foot Track (Volume 1, entries 1863–1871)
Foot Track
Volume 1, entries 1863–1871. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1863
Yo' take de dirt out de hollow of his feets. (The boss's feet?) Yeah, de boss feet an' put it in a bottle an' put it right down at de steps - turn it bottom upwards an' dig a hole an' put it right down at de steps early in de mawnin' - see, 'fore anyone see yo' go dere.
(Whose steps?)
At de boss house.
(What will that do?)
Well, dat will put chew - put chure track an' de boss track together. Now, yo' see, dat will give yo' influence wit de boss.
Entry 1864
Well, if yo' comes to his house an' start away, dey take up de track an' chunk it tuhwards yo' an' yo' won't go back dere no mo'.
Entry 1865
Like if someone leave home an' you want 'em to come back, you take an' sweep dey track right back in de fiahplace an' dey're bound to come back.
Entry 1866
(Suppose a man is running around with another woman and his wife wants to break it up and make him stay at home. What would she do to make him stay around the house?) She would tie him to herself with footsteps; her footsteps and yours. She would tie him around her.
(Well, how would she do that?)
You get in there - some of de steps coming in, she ties that, takes de dust - I mean de track from your foot and she brings that in and takes her foot track and brings that in and she tacks dat under de carpet or at foot of de door. That holds you there. There's two spirits of two people.
Entry 1867
Hit wus a girl ah wus goin' wit an' ah been goin' wit her fo' sometime, 'bout a couple of yeahs, an' anothah boy come 'long an' got in 'twixt us, had her tuh de place she wouldn't pay me no 'tenshun 'tall. So ah goes to a ole fren' of mine dat wus a root worker, an' ah explained it to him an' he tole me, he say, "If ah kin git to it right at once." Said, "Soon as yo' kin git a chance, git some dirt out of de hollow of her foot track, at de left foot." Says, "Yo' ties it up in a pocket han'kerchief."
(That is your pocket handkerchief?)
Yessuh, mah pocket han'kerchief, an' he said, "Wet it wit Heart's Cologne an' yo' wear dat in yore pocket." An' so it wus about six or seven days, she wus in de field hoein' cotton an' ah walks close to de field an' ah got chance tuh git dis dirt, an' ah tied it up in de pocket han'kerchief an' goes on tuh town an' ah bought a bottle of cologne an' ah wet it. An' fo' 'bout a week an' a half ah say it wusn't any good, say, "Aw dere ain't nuthin tuh dis." But still ah carried - tryin' tuh see her. So dat Satiday evenin' ah seen her fatah an' he tole me, says, "Noble says she wants tuh see yo'." Tole him, "Okay." Well, ah try tuh stick out [hold back from going to see her]. An' so dat Sunday evenin' she came up on de church an' axed me, say, "Whut's de trouble?" Yo' hasn't been roun?" Say, "Well, yo' lak So-an'-So, didn't think dere's any use." An' from dat ah an' her start goin' tuhgether. An' ah went with her until she died an' dere wus no trouble atall. Lots of boys tried tuh go with her an' dey had lotsa money an' all, but ah didn't have any mo' trouble. Ah kept dat sack dere until aftah she died.
Entry 1868
Now at my home [near Yorktown, Va.] - I come [home] from West Virginia, and I got to my home and there was a fellow there that had a wife and she had been gone from home. So then she come to see her mother and - she was a married woman - she come to see her mother, and this husband of hers seeing an old fellow [doctor] had asked him could he stop her here. He said, "Yes." But he says, "If I was to go there, she'd think I would be up to somethin'." So he got me to go out in de road and ketch her track for him. I caught it - I went dere and I caught dat track. He told me to measure her track from her heel to her toe and say to her, "I take you back with me." And I went out and I measured that track and I spoke dem words he want me to speak, and I carried it to him. He taken them tracks and he put it - he'd taken that dust out de hollow of her foot and put it in a bottle, and when he put it in a bottle he'd taken three strands of her hair and put in dat bottle, and give it to the husband and told him to take it and bury it at de sill of de door. Well, he did it and she did come back.
Entry 1869
An' a man - de only thing to do to make him come back, when yo' be goin' out git de dirt out of nine of his tracks right in de palm of his foot - yo' know where he step on - de palm, an' take it, an' take de chewin' gum out of yore mouth, an' his hair. Yo' git close enough to git some of his hair out of his haid. An' put it in a bottle an' bury it under his room where he's supposed tuh sleep - yo' know, that's if he yore husband, an' bury it undah his room. An' then yo' go to that bottle twice a week an' tell it, says, ask it - close yore eyes an' ask if he wus really comin' back. An' they say them little things in dat bottle will turn round an' round, an' den nine days after dat, he be back.
(She puts this hair and his track and this chewing gum in this bottle?)
In de bottle an' bury it under his room.
Entry 1870
I heard dat dey could take your foot track, if you are talkin' to some- one an' they don't wan' chew to go. If you for example - you and your boy friend are together and he wants to make you follow him all aroun' the street, he'll turn you aroun'. He jes' take you by the hand and turn you aroun', all the way aroun' in your foot track, and take up your foot track he turnt roun' in and trow it over her [your] right shoulder and make you follow him fer der rest of your life. A boy does that to his girl or a girl can do that to her boy friend.
Entry 1871
They say that if you walk in the same track a person do, you'll give him a headache. Only children do that [now]. [Originally, adults did this, walking in someone's barefoot tracks.]