Browse:Gunpowder (Volume 1, entries 1325–1328)
Gunpowder
Volume 1, entries 1325–1328. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1326
Jis' lak if somebody got a spell on me or yo' an' yo' wanta git it offa there, yo' understan'. Yo' kin jis' take dat gunpowder, dat black gunpowder. Ah think it's a number seven - seven-'leven somepin such. But anyhow, de black powder. Spread it on a papah an' po' yo' 'bout a teaspoonful of turpentine on it an' light de papah, an' when de papah git up to de powder de powder will blaze up. An' whosomevah put dat spell on yo', it will jump offa yo' back on dem. (Don't you put anything else on that paper besides that?) [I was probably thinking of a name or incantation. Intention would be sufficient.] Nuthin but de gunpowder an' turpentine.
Entry 1327
You drink gunpowder and whiskey. They say that's good to keep 'em from hurting you. See, gunpowder makes you cross and that will keep the witchcraft work from hurting you. [Whiskey makes?]
Entry 1328
He used black gunpowder, and ah know ah was chafed in here and he tole me, he says, "I'm goin' fix you up something," says, "and I'm goin' tell you what I'm goin' put in it and then I'm going let you see." He says, "Now, you get me a half pint of whiskey." And I got the whiskey and carried it to him. He says, "Now, you see this ain't anything but black gunpowder." And he took that gun- powder and emptied the gunpowder into the whiskey and he shook it up right well, and he anointed me down there and all the way across and then, after that - after he anointed me, he gave me a little bag and he had asafitidee, bluestone and gun- powder in de bag. He said, "Now, you wear this bag next to your skin." And ah took the bag and ah put it on me. And, he says, '"And every morning and every evening," he say, "you anoint yourself with this gunpowder and whiskey." And I used this gunpowder and whiskey. And he says, "And you husband - you goin' get rid of your husband." And he was going to kill my husband for me and I didn't know it, you know, with this little bag he give me to wear. And so after mah husband got sick and stayed sick so long - you know how you kin just dream things. In fact, don't nothing else. I always dream things. And I just saw where my husband going to die, and something told me to pull that bag off and throw it in some running water. And I did, and after I throwed the bag away, then my husband got well. But that gunpowder and whiskey forever kept me from chafing and I haven't never chafed since.
(What caused the chafing?)
I don't know. I imagine just perspire or something - don't know what it was.
(Do you think that somebody did something to you for the chafing or what?)
Ah didn't know - that's why I went to somebody that I thought would know.
(I see. You went to a root doctor?)
Ah think so.