Browse:HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS (Volume 1, entries 1704–2402)
HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS
Volume 1, entries 1704–2402. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1704
A wood louse is good fo' yallah ja'ndice. Yo' take nine wood louse an' put it in sweet milk an' feed it to de person an' dat kill de yallah ja'ndice.
Entry 1705
A wood rat. You can take that rat's skin and dry it and make him eat it and that'll stop him from wetting the bed. [The more usual folklore remedy is eating a mouse prepared many ways (Nos. 6308-6309); similar cures being a head louse eaten (No. 6306), or drinking tea from "white droppings of a dog" (No. 6302) - FACI,2ed., 1965, p.289.] [New Orleans, La., (855), 1352:6.] [What is a hand? A hand is a magic helper, an object or act, which aids a person in obtaining a desire. Aladdin's lamp was not a hand because anyone could rub it to activate the indwelling spirit. Quite otherwise a hand concerns known user - it being dressed, powered for him alone, usually toward a single purpose.] [We have already examined many hands: the Black Cat Lucky Bone (pp.74-97); healing hands in Cure and Protection (pp.4lO-519); divining hands in Diagnosis (pp.165-217), particularly the talking hand, Jack (pp.190-193). Talking hand reminds me that hand has other names, among them - toby, guide, shield, roots, mojo, jomo (transposition of syllables in mojo), and hoodoo bag.] [Of interest are what I name battery hands - those that lose strength and must be recharged or they weaken and die. Recharging is called feeding and substances fed are whiskey, perfumes, urine and other liquids. Spirits do not eat solid food. A spirit of course never dies; it merely deserts its temporary dwelling place. Similarly, desertion happens to a lost hand - some informants believing the hand returns to its maker!] [A hand can become a fetish, even a part of oneself. Most instructive here are living hands - the unfortunate chicken (No. 205, p.58), and the two wandering snakes (No. 239, p.66.]
Entry 1706
An' ah got somepin right chere now in mah pocket - course ah'll show it to yo'. [He shows it.] (What do you call that?) Ah couldn't tell you exactly. (It's wrapped up in a piece of cloth with rubber [elastic band] around it - like a little bag.) Yes sir, an' yo' tote that in yore right pocket an' anything yo' go in you will be successful - 'fore yo' git there yo'll know it: if it on yore mind to don't do that, don't do it; if it on yore mind to do it, go ahead an' do it an' yo'll be successful.
(Do you know what's in the bag?)
No sir, ah don't know.
(You bought it from somebody?)
Yes sir.
Bag is the interviewer description; the informant says he cannot name the object exactly or identify its contents.
Entry 1707
You take an old toadfrog and you gut him and you spread him on top of a house and you let him dry, and then you take him and grind him, mash him up real fine, and then you sew that in a little sack about this size, sew it up good. If anybody tries to harm you, all you do is put this in your pocket and tote this here along in your pocket and then that will drive the enemy away. He can't harm you at all.
[Informant shows small bag.]
(What is in that sack there? What is that for?)
That is dried frog feet.
(What is that for?)
That is to keep all enemies down.
(You have that in the shape of a triangle.)
No, that's in the shape of a heart. [See margin-title Heart-Shaped Hand.]
Entry 1708
[Informant tells this story backwards - first part being "de ole folks would say," and second part his own experience. This sort of thing happened often (see No. 10, p.7). Sometimes the impersonal or anonymous part containing no essential information could be omitted. Here the first part has important details, which show what retelling a story does to it. The identity of Adam-and-Eve root is discussed in No. 1092, p.410.] De ole folks would say yo' would take a Adam-an'-Eve root - dat's whut ah understand yo' gotta have. Yo' take a Adam-an'-Eve root if he had a girl an' he want her. An' he would take that root - one is name Adam an' de flat one is name Eve, an' de roun' one is Adam. An' he would take that an' he would wear it on him fo' three mawnin's an' he go tuh runnin' watah. An' he would put Eve in runnin' watah an' put Adam in runnin' watah up above Eve. Den he gin tuh talk to it an' tell Adam whut he wants Eve tuh do. An' he would take that back out aftah he stays there three hours, an' he would take that an' get it back on his person, an' that would control her. [This is one of many, many love hands.] One time dere wus a fellah said his wife left home an' co'se he went to a fellah an' ah carried him to him, an' de fellah told him, says, "Well, yo' have to git some of her clothes dat she wearin' next to her body." So he went an' he got a piece of garment dat she wear next to her body, co'se he carried it right to him. An' he says, "Now," he says, "ah'm goin' tuh take dis heah an' ah wants a piece of yores. An' he tuk dat an' he tuk de Adam-an'-Eve root, an' den he Wrapped one up in Adam, [I mean] dat Eve in her garment. An' tuk his'n an' put dat in his garment.
(Put Adam in his garment.)
Put Adam in runnin' watah up above that, an' he put Eve down below that. An' he tole him tuh carry it tuh runnin' watah that would nevah go dry, an' tie a weight to it an' jes' let it stay there until it rots away, an' she would come an' nevah go away.
(Now, he put Adam in his garment.)
An' put Eve in her garment, an' put Adam in his garment an' put it up above dat, an' made his wishes.
(Where did he put the man's garment?)
[These tiresome repetitions when everything is quite clear often produce the added detail, as here; also show my deep concern - see Introduction.] Put de man garment up above in de runnin' watah, so it wus runnin' down on the othah, where he would control her. An' dat woman come back to him an' dey livin' together today. Dat's de facts."
Entry 1709
Yo' carries lodestone or yo' carries garlic in a bag - yo' sews that up in a little bag. Git chew a piece of garlic an' git chew some lodestone an' some of dis anvil dust an' a little sugah in there, an' yo' jis' sew that up together in dat little red cloth an' yo' keep it in yore pocket an' yo' po' whiskey on it, an' when yo' goin' in why yo' rubs that in yore han' an' keep it in yore pocket where yo' kin git chure han' on it.
(That's for luck in gambling?)
Sho'. [Lodestone = drawing power, forcing anything (money here) toward you; garlic = protection against evil, specifically, against anyone in the game trying to kill your gambling hand (see margin-titles Salt and Sex later for killing a hand); anvil dust = durability, strength, and ability to attract anything toward user; Sugar = peace, here the sweetening of competitive and sometimes combative dis- positions round you; red = symbol of life within and a warning against intruders; po' whiskey = feeding a hand, technical term for maintaining its life; whiskey = the spirit within the hand likes whiskey (see No. 77, p.32; No. 411, p.122, and Index); rubs = rubbing Aladdin's lamp, which signals the spirit within the hand to act.]
Entry 1710
(They take anvil dust and keep it close to them like lodestone?)
Uh-huh an' jis' lak, yo' know, dey keep dat in dere pocket an' jis' lak dey gamblin', dey run a han' down in dere pocket where dat dust is. Well, dey pick de craps up an' roll 'em on de table. Well, yo' see dat anvil dust is jis' lak lodestone. Well, it'll draw dem craps an' make it fall on 'leben or any point dey's trying tuh git. It'll make 'em fall on dere.
Entry 1711
Well, I'd say for 'n-instan' [an instance] a man - a woman's not much, but a man you know is the top piece of the earth. In other words, if you get a dead man's hand and take it and put it in alcohol and let all the flesh come off of this hand, that will molt, that hand will get jes' like that; see, the fingers will be drawn togethah, they'll go right in like that. That alcohol will draw it togethah. And then you take it and sew it in a piece of red flannel. And when you sew it in a piece of red flannel, then you tote it on you daily - care it in your bag. You'll make a bag, tie it around your waist and care this and you'll always have good luck. And you do a baby's hand the same way: The best hand is a baby. You get the right hand of a man. The baby's hand is the best. If you can go and git a baby's hand, you got something. [See later, Dead - Hands From, Thief's Candle.]
Entry 1712
Yo' kin git baby's slobber an' put that in a pocket hans'scuff an carry it with yo' - lak yo' wipe a baby's nose, a little baby. Co'se it'll kill de baby, but chew kin do that an' git luck. An' then yo' kin ketch a leatherwing bat. (Wait a minute. Do you mean the slobber from a baby's nose or from his mouth?) From his mouth.
(Well, why would it kill the baby?)
Well, it will kill de baby cause when de luck take effect on yo', well dat kills de baby - that throws bad luck on the baby an' kills the baby. (When you become lucky in gambling, the baby will die. What about the bat now?)
Entry 1713
Git it rented agin? Yessuh, yo' cer'inly kin. Now, yo' know whut yo' would have tuh do tuh git it rented? Yo' would take - jis' lak now if yo' want this house. If yo' wus in a house an' yo' wanted it rented, well de way yo' would do, yo' would jis' make a wish lak this, yo' say, "Well, ah want this house rented, an' whoevah takes it ah want 'em tuh pay the rent fo' it." Well, yo' would take then an' you would say then, 'Well, ah know whut ah'll do." Says, "Now ah'm goin' git me a piece of sweet basil." An' yo take that sweet basil an' let hit git dry an' tote it in yore pocket an' make a wish to yoreself, an' yo'll git yore house rented.
Entry 1714
Ah've heard - course ah've had a lotta dealings wit root peoples yo' know, ah kin boast jes' as well. Yo' kin see why ah knows as much as ah know. Ah jes tellin' yo' zactly whut ah know from mah brains, yo' know. If ah didn't know it ah couldn't set chere an' tell yo'. Now yo' kin take a bat - dey says de leatherwing bat. [A bat is often called a leatherwing.] Yo've seen dem ah guess - dey kin' dat brings bed- bugs in yore house. [It is sometimes believed "bats are full of bedbugs" (FACI, 2ed., No. 2007, p.79).] Yo' kin ketch one of dem an' git de heart of him. Jes' take de heart of him an' jes' wrap it up in a little somepin - let nobody see it vo' understand - an' jes' put it right round yore wrist wit a string an' wear it dere. Dat's successful in gamblin'.
Entry 1715
Yo' take an' kill yo' a bull [male?] bat an' yo' take him an' cut him Open. Git his heart an' yo' git dis bluestone an' salt an' put it in a new piece of cloth an' sew it up, an' yo' tote it in yore pocket, if yo' gamblin' an' yo'll win.
Entry 1716
Some peoples ketch one dese flyin' bats yo' know, one dese leather bats an' cut him an' take his heart out 'fore it - yo' know, while he's warm - while his blood is warm an' wrap it up in a piece of cloth an' den put a needle in dere - git three needles, cross 'em. Den sew that up in anothah bag an' - den git chew a piece of cotton ah mean, an' wrap it round dere an' den sew it all up together. Ah know dat's good cause [I] see dat used wit success.
Entry 1717
Well, yo' kin - yo' ain't gotta keep de whole bat. Yo' kin git jes' even de two right wing off it, yo' see, an' yo' jes' kin sew it up. Keep it yo' see an' use dis same Heart Cologne.
(What is that good for?)
Good fo' luck - good fo' gamblin' - good fo' success in work an' all lak dat.
(Just the wing?)
Yes sir - de right wing - or yo' kin git two or three of dem, yo' see, jes' enough tuh make a little package yo' know - dey ain't large nohow. [Brunswick, Ga., (1249), 2123:7.] [These bat hands with many variations are everywhere and too numerous to catalogue here.]
Entry 1718
The water that you take a bath in. Well, you take that when you takes a bath - just like if you, your husband or your wife, if you want 'em to go, you are tired of them and don't want to be bothered with them, and it seem like they just a knock to you. You take the bathwater and take a piece of saltpeter, just about half as big as a teaspoon, and put it into that water. Get a little of his chamber lye and put in there, and then you take a bath in that water - right straight down from here [demonstrates while I describe the action].
(Right from the top of your forehead.)
Yes sir, from there on all the way down.
(Down your face and down your body.)
All the way down. Take a bath all the way down - don't never rub up like that [demonstrates].
(Why?)
Well, if you rub up like that, you see, that will make him come back to you, if you rub up. Don't never rub up - down, just like that.
(And why do you rub it down then?)
Rub it down, you see, that's washing his care and everything he had away from you. And then you take it and put it into something and keep it in there nine days. Then you take it and go and pour it out in a running stream, or either take it and pour it in a barrel and keep it closed for nine days. And then he gets on away from you and keeps, you know, from worrying you to death - just seem like he's a knock to you.
(He's a what to you? A knock? Knot?)
Yes, sir - keeps you from - look like he keeps you from getting holt of any- thing, and he's just there and he's not giving you anything hisself - he just be a knock to you.
(Knock - k-n-o-c-k - like you knock on the door?)
Yes sir, like a knock on the door.
(Be a knock to you?)
Yes. [This is a send away or get-rid-of hand.]
Entry 1719
At night befo' yo' go out tuh gamble yo' bathe in some bluestone, salt- peter, sugah an' yore chamber lye, an' bathe from de head heah all de way down an' yo' say the Lord's Prayer three times, an' yo take dat an' put any kinda oil whut chew believe in an' rub it on yore.ca'ds lak dat.
(What kind of oil would you use for that?)
Well, ah tell yo' whut ah do's, believes in - ah believes in de oil of rose. Yo' buy it at the drug sto'.
Entry 1720
Or yo' kin take nine needles an' stick up ovah yore do' in a leaf of a Bible, an' dat'll keep de law away. (How do you stick that leaf of the Bible up over the door?) Yo', jes' like if yo' tear it [out] an' yo' stick it up, yo' know, straightways, long way, right up 'fore de do' an' stick nine needles straight - de points down, nine of 'em in dat crossways.
(How do you mean crossways?)
Yo' know, straight up an' down. Jes' like de paper stand dis way, jes' stick 'em yo' know like dat." Jes' like ah pin - jes' like ah pin it dis way. (Just straight in a row - those nine needles - you just stick them right up over the door - that keeps the law away.) Yes.
Entry 1721
If a man runnin' round wit wimmin an' she want him tuh stay home, yo' go off an' git chew a bird nest. Jes' git yo' a little common thing as a bird nest an' yo' bring it on to yore home, an' yo' take dat bird nest an' yo' put it as near de center under yore house as yo' kin git it - undah de center of yore house. An' if he don't stay dere, it because dat bird nest ain't under dat house. He'll stay home.
(You don't cover it up or anything?)
No, jis' throw it undah de house - don't cover it up 'tall, jes' push it undah de house. He'll stay.
Entry 1722
[The Black Bottle rite appears to have been confined to the New Orleans area. As the dark greenish-black bottle disappeared, any dark bottle was used - beer bottle or even a bottle blackened with tar as in the following:] I said you kin take, after a man go outside - you know they have a action and you kin watch him and get that and put it in a black bottle, and carry it to the cemetery and bury it de way the dead is buried in the cemetery. Ah knowed that to be true - a man died from that, after that buried in the graveyard dirt. (I see. They get his dung and they put it in this black bottle and they took the bottle out to the graveyard. And they buried this bottle on the grave or buried it like a grave?) Buried it like a grave. Dig a grave for the bottle and buried it jest head and tail, the way the body is laying in the cemetery, and he will die. I've seen that done.
(I see. Must they use a black bottle? Couldn't they use a white bottle?)
No sir, it's to be a black one - you see, jest something like you get a bottle that have tar in it; dey black bottles, just black.
Entry 1723
[Several of the following examples illustrate aspects of preceding rite though a black bottle is not always used.] I see a hoodoo woman did that to a man [man's wife] - a woman that went off from her husband - didn't stay [with him] - he was staying right where I was. She [hoodoo woman] taken her [wife's] mess out of the bucket and put it in a bottle and stopped it up [in a tree]. I went my own self and I knocked it down. And I say, "Do you know you can kill this woman? You oughtn't to do that." I say, "Me my own self, I knows a plenty - I'm my mother's seventh child." And I say, "I'se born with luck." I say, "I can tell you a plenty." And I say, "Don't do that." And I say, "In nine or ten days that woman'll be dead. Don't do it." So she [wife] told me, she say, "I suffer very often with my head." Well, because her bowels didn't move, you see. So he had the mess stopped up and I went and broked it down from the tree and that made herself all right. And I went back the next day and she say to me - that was in the country, she say to me, "Dinah [informant], you know, I sure do feel good." I say, "Do you?" And she say, "Yes." She say, "My bowels is all right." All the medicine the doctor gave didn't do no good, although she did have a little - they give her enema. That's the only way she could have her passing. Otherwise, he wanted to kill her 'cause she had run off from him. I said, "Well, why don't you go to some hoodoo, if you believe in good - try to get her back?" Well, he say, "I will - I'm going to burn those little candles." I say, "Well, go ahead and go to church, else make you a novena." He say, "And then I'll try to get her back." I say, "That's right - don't kill her." I say, "She don't want - or if you don't want her, maybe you can get somebody else. Don't take the woman's life.` He say, "Yeah, I'd rather see her dead than have somebody else." I say, "Well, you go ahead and have somebody else." He say, "Oh, no, I want her." I told him though, I say, "Don't kill her."
A man in the reported dialogue plans to burn little candles; neither the burning nor its intended result is verified.
Entry 1724
Well, you've heard of people being stopped from having their real actions. Have you ever heard about it? Well, now it is very true about that. Jest say for n'instance chew know someone - course it is not always you can get things like that unless it's in a country home, but if you know someone who uses that spot or go some place where you can get their actions. You go and bore a hole in a green tree - some tree that's not dead - it's gotta be green, and you get some of this and wrap it up, jest a small amount of this, and wrap it up in some new cloth and stuff it into a tree and jest force it back in dis tree. Get chew a piece of new tin and nine tacks, new brass tacks, and nail dis down and then paint over this tree - after you got, jest say a piece of bark or something of this tree - paint over that. That stays in this tree, which it will. This person's bowels will never move. Now, I know a lady right here in this town now - her bowels won't move, it moves out of her side. It is said that that caused this woman to be like that. Well, ah know 14 years ago that she was just as well as I am now, and no doctor that have ever diagnosed her case have been able to tell her whut's wrong. But they say for a fact that she was treated that way.
Entry 1725
I talk about doing it the other day down here at my toilet. And dey'll go in dere and dey'll mess it up. I told 'em if dey didn't stop, I'd tie it up in dey belly; cause I could take some of that and put it in a bottle and stop it up and bury it, and dey'll get bound up in dere belly.
(Why did they do that?)
Do for meanness - to be mean to me. I tol' dem de other day dat I would do it to some of 'em, if dey didn't stop messin' my seat up; that I'd take it off the seat, don't care who 'tis. I'll take off that seat and I'll put it in a bottle and stop it up; and if I do that, they know their bowels will stop up.
(Did they stop?)
Certainly they stopped; stopped because dey scared of me.
Entry 1726
Could take your chamber lye and stop it up in a black bottle and put cayenne pepper, red pepper, in it and go to an old bridge.
(An old what?)
An old bridge where automobiles run across.
(An old bridge?)
Yeah, and take it and shoot it up under there and it has a tendency to.
(Just throw this bottle up under the old bridge?)
Throw it up under an old bridge.
(Just leave it there?)
Leave it right there - an old sloppy place where sewage and silt stops under there. Just leave it up under there - it's already in the slush and why.
(What did you say that does to you then?)
Well, it has a tendency to make you lose your nature.
Entry 1727
Well, ah tole him [my contact man] that if yo' wanted tuh break up any- one - yo' understan', separate anyone, yo' git some graveyard dirt an' yo' git dirt dauber with the holes in it, yo' understan'. Yo' roll that dirt dauber an' yo' git nine pods of red peppah an'.yo' git cayenne peppah an' yo' git vinegar an' yo' put it in a black bottle an' turn it upside down, an' in any corner of their yard. Ah guarantee it'll break anybody up dat chew Wanta break up.
(You put this bottle in the yard of the people you want to break up?)
No, in yore yard, right where yo' workin yore - yo' put that bottle. Dat'll separate anybody.
(Well, how would I know that I am separating the right people?)
Well, suppose yo' workin' fo' a person - tuh separate a party. Yo' know whut party yo' workin' fo'. Well, yo' know when dey separate. [You will know by your intention.]
Entry 1728
Say fo' instance now, yo' an' a fellah's had a little run into 'bout a girl an' yo' is scared of him an' yo' know he's a guy dat'll hurt chew. Yo' say, "Well, ah don't wanta git in no trouble. Ah'll git him outa town quick." Yo' git chew one those black quart bottles - dose brown ones, yo' know. All right, yo' git chew de indelibin [indelible] pencil an' write his name thirteen ways that way, an' nine thisaway [demonstrates].
(That is nine across the thirteen - make it like an' "x", a cross?)
Yassuh. It matters [not] which way yo' put 'em. Yo' kin put nine one way an' thirteen de othah, an' thirteen one way an' nine de othah - jes' so yo' make it lak a cross dat way. Yo' fold it. Yo' take dat on a piece of papah an' roll it from yo'. See, roll it from yo' an' put it in dis bottle an' git on a boat an carry it de center of a rivah that's where de watah is swift, de current, an' jes' drap it ovahbo'd. Stop it up tight wit de name in it an' drap it ovahbo'd. In twelve hours he's gone.
Entry 1729
If you got a bootleggin' still out in de woods and if you don't want de law to come near it, you kin git a lot of black cats and you keep em tied round in diff'rent spots in dat woods only at night - dat law wouldn't even come round dere in night er day atall, dey'll come jest about dat far. It seem like dere's always a sort of a heavy black mist to keep 'em away from dere. But chew always have to keep dose cats fed offen nothin' but jest daid rotten catfish dat dey ketch in de ribah heah. If you don't keep 'em well-fed wit dat catfish, dey'll soon die right quick on yo'. But always keep 'em tied - nevah turn 'em loose, keep 'em tied dere all de time in diff'rent spots.
Entry 1730
[The well-known dead hand from a black cat, the Black Cat Lucky Bone, has been given (pp.74-97).] (How am I going to keep the law away?) Well, yo' kill him, de real black one - find one ain't got a [white hair on him], a black cat. Kill a black cat an' bury him under yore do'step, 'cept don't let nobody see yo'. When de law come by heah, dat'll banish him - keep him right on away.
Entry 1731
Tuh git a job. Well, now yo' git chew some lodestone an' yo' set down an' yo' git chew a screenin' wire - lak dat screen up dere. (The screen in the window.) [Hotel window.] Co'se it take yo' a long time tuh do it but yo' set down an' yo'rub it an' rub until dat lodestone come tuh dust an' yo git chew some cologne - yo' know dis heah Jockey Club. Yo' take it an' put it in a bottle lak ah got heah now. See, dat lodestone. [He shows a small bottle.]
(What is the liquid you have in there?)
That's that Jockey Club Perfume. And den yo' could put yo' - if yo' wanta, yo' kill you a black cat an' git his bone an' grind dat up jis' lak yo' do de lodestone. Put it in dere an' den yo' kin go to a man, talkin' to him, an' he'll git ovah tuh yo' - give yo' a job.
(You have that black cat dust in this bottle? Both of them together?)
Yessuh.
(Any bone from the cat?)
Any bone? Yo' see yo' gotta git a bone from roun' his shoulder - up heah, de left shoulder, from in front. Grind it to a powder an' take dis heah bone an' rub it on dis heah screenin' wire until it comes [to a powder]. It goin' take yo' a long time tuh do it. But hit'll do it. Ah use dis fo' luck in gamblin an' luck an' successful in meetin' mah fren's an' everythin'. Ah make fren's, ah don't make no enemies. [If this man had black cat powder in his hand, it was surely a talcum or similar powder with a label showing a black cat and reading Black Cat Powder (see No.1377, p.459).]
Entry 1732
Wal, dey say it's something whut you could fix uP as a bodyguard, but chew fix it up in a bag. Take a piece of shamry skin, something like hide, like dis shamry skin gloves - you know jis' tough skin. Take that and git diff'rent kind of roots and bark. All right, you git de John de Conker root. You git de lodestone and git de devil's- shoestring root and de black cat wishing-bone, and den you take de John de Conker and a piece of dragon's blood and take all of that and mix it up fine - yo' know, beat it up, mostly powder enough to go in a bag. And den you take that and after you git all that fixed up good, git whut chew call dis here Seven-'leven Oil and put seven drops of that. And mix it up all together and put in dis bag and sew it up. See. And take it and put it - and git a piece of red flannen and sew dis bag up in dat red flannen and jes' put a string around it and tie it and wear it around yore waist or around yore neck and dere won't nothing bother yo'.
(That's to keep people from bothering you.)
That's pertection fo' you.
(Where do you buy this Seven-'leven Oil? Where do you get that?)
You supposed to could - de woman told me that she got some from New Orleans but whut part of New Orleans ah don't know. [All black cat bones are hands (see pp.74-97) and therefore they are also in a sense wishing-bones. But wishing-bone here means form as well as power. As to form, one informant said the black cat bone was "made lak de breast of a chicken" (No. 316, p.94), meaning the furculum or wishbone in front of but not a part of the chicken breastbone. Similarly, another informant described black cat bone as "gon'a have three forks [prongs or tines]...two long forks an' a little small fork" (No. 299, p.88). I suggested this three-pronged fork could have been a 'devil's trident." Actually the "little small fork could have been the hypo- cleidium - the end adhering to the winning half of the broken wishbone. Despite informants, wishbone appears only in most birds; it appears in black cats only by the grace of hoodoo merchants. Among other black cat products I should mention black cat oil (No. 1121, p.417), black cat powder (No. 326, p.96), and black cat water (Nos.328-329, p.96f.).]
Entry 1733
Yo' take gunpowder an' yo' take a black cow's milk an' yo' compound, yo' know, yo' mix all that together - that's really lucky an' yo' scrub with that. (What sort of luck is that supposed to give you? What do you do that for?) Yo' do that fo' jes' fast luck - yo' know, spo'tin' luck an' all lak that. An' it's good fo' gamblin' han' too, an' yo' wash yore han's - jes' wash yore han's in de black cow's milk an' jes' keep it. Jes' do lak that if yo' want to, yo see, jes' ovah yore han's when yo' git ready tuh gamble. Dat's really lucky.
[Here a liquid is a hand.]
Entry 1734
Go tuh de chimley an' mah'k cross de chimley lak dat. (They would come to my chimney.) Yassuh, an' make a mah'k [demonstrates]. (And make a cross mark like that, and I would have to move out. Well, where Would they leave that mark? On the wall or on the black stuff?) On de black stuff. [Cross mark is made in the soot - see Marks, p.254.]
Entry 1735
Ah heard dat chew kin use some Black Diamond Perfume which yo' orders from de company - git dat Black Diamond Perfume an' spread it on yo', see. An' yo' walk up an' 'proach de man an' he'll git a whiff of it, an dey say dat will make him come undah yore command an' give yo' a job, if dere a openin' anywhere fo' yo'. Dat Black Diamond Perfume.
Entry 1736
Ah went to a man fo' dat, too. He went an' gi' me a root - it wus a white bone. It wusn't a root, it wus a white bone. He give me a white bone whut chew call a blacksnake bone an' he said, "Yo' take dat bone an' yo' wrap it up in yore - put it in yore pocket an' tote dat bone." An' he say, "Fo' every nine mawnin's, yo' take some Hearts Cologne an' dip dat bone in it an' yo' have plenty of customers an' won't be worried. An' de law will come up an' yo' always know whut de law does." Ah taken dat bone an' kept hit until dat bone broke an' ah kept de bone on. An' he come back an' he give me anothah, an' he give me whut chew call a black- snake root de next time an' anothah bone. It's a little bone jes' about that long - jes' 'bout big as, whut yo' call a small little bone. Ah taken dat bone an' kept it an' de law come an' taken me. Dey come an' taken de jar of whiskey out de house an' dey tole me to meet co't. An' ah tole him ah didn't have no money, ah couldn't meet co't. He say, "Well, if yo' ain't got no money," says, "ah'll have tuh lock yo' up.' Say, '"But ah won't lock yo' up now." Said, "Go an' meet me up there next week." By de next week come, dat Sunday, ah taken de car an' went to anothah fellah an' he tole me - we went back to dis same fellah [first doctor], an' he said, "Well, '' says, "ah'm goin' fix yo' up." Says, "Then the only thing yo' kin do is jes' go outa town an' stay fo' three days an' come back an' he won't bother yo'." He give me that bone an' ah went outa town an' stayed three days, an' ah come back heah in town - dey had fo' cases against me an' dey laugh off ever' one.
Entry 1737
Yo' go to the woods an' git a piece of blacksnake root an' tie it up in a little hand'chief, put it in a cologne bottle and tote it in yore pocket three days and den take de bottle an' bury it. After three days yo' take it out chure pocket an' bury it under yore doorstep and dat will give you good luck. [Here is a buried hand.]
Entry 1738
Git a blacksnake root an' chew it lak chewin' chewin' gum an' if they were on dere way to yore home, dey would turn roun' an' nevah git there. (That would keep the law away if you were selling liquor or something of that sort?) Yes. [Here is one of several pieces of evidence that chew root (John de Conker) was originally a snakeroot.]
Entry 1739
Yo' use black stars an' oil of cinnamon an' oil of bergamot an' mix that together, an' rub it in mah han'. Jes' lak ah'm goin' out now an' ah wanta, ah open mah han' an' ah carry it back that way. Ah'm goin' out fo' good luck now, ah put a drop or two in mah han's heah - ah'm goin' out fo' luck. Ah put dem three things - mix 'em together.
(That is for luck in gambling?)
Yessuh.
(What is that black star?)
That's - hit's black but it's incense.
Entry 1740
And then you know, your decacal [index] finger, you see that's your blood right from your heart.
(You do what with your finger?) See, that's the finger - that's the blood that comes right from your heart. [Points to right index finger.]
(Which finger?) )[I doubt index finger.]
Your decacal finger.
(Oh, this one right here?)
Yes.
(Which hand?) [I am still doubtful about hand.]
On your right hand.
(Oh, your right hand, I see.)
You prick that with a silver needle - have never been sewed with, a goldeye, understand.
(I understand.)
You'll take that blood and you'll take a sheet of paper - not lined paper but your writin' paper what is unlined, and you write your name at de top with your crimson blood. You write his name just as small as you can and you - with dat needle but not wid a pen - and you make nine circles around that and then enclose that and you bury it at the ninth hour at night under your front steps. Really, that's why sometimes you see people try to break from the county road [chain gang] and the penitent'ry. If that is done, they goin' break away and come to yuh. There's nuthin 'tall kin hold 'em from you - they'll take any chances they can and come to you [see No.77, p.32].
Entry 1741
You have to have black pepper and salt - see, black pepper and salt, and any time a man have a toby or anything of the kind that way he have to be very careful, and if it isn't charged up with the right material, it don't do him any good. For instance, he'll put the fifteen cents, which represent money - silver dime and nickel in the toby. He'll put nine needles and nine pins. He will use some cinnamon powder in there with Cashmere Bouquet perfume to 'noint it with. See, writing his name and diff'rent names, the players' names that he plays with, on parchment paper - the sure enough one. They have the imitation and they have the sure enough parchment paper - it's kind of imitate [imitation] of sheepskin - having the name on the parchment paper, putting it in the toby and wearing it in their right pocket. Now, you got steel dust in there, you have a certain amount of lodestone. Now, whensomever anything going to happen in there - like a fight or any killing thataway, you will take a fearful feeling: That's time for you to leave. If any cutting or anything, any blood is drawn around in there near that it don't work any more.
(It kills the toby?)
Yeah, if any blood is drawn, you see. Any blood is drawn, you understand, it will have to be renewed again.
(I understand.)
So that's why any time anything is happening around thataway, you always have a fear feeling, you leaves out. See. And the same as a battery or anything of the kind, after a certain amount of time, you have to recharge it again, because it don't holds up - it goes away the same as a battery on a automobile. [The preceding fifteen cents is the magic of odd number - see margin-title Money - Uneven.]
Entry 1742
Yeah, yo' git a bluestone [see later] - a little stone about lak dat an' yo' take that an' yo' blow yore breath on it and put a little yore chamber lye on it, an' rub it in yore han's an' blow in de cards an' wrestZe 'em, an' yo' don't fall aftah dat. (What do you mean by bluestone? Do you mean the ordinary bluestone that you buy at the drug store?) No suh, ah mean de main bluestone - ah mean lodestone, [de] lodestone lak dat.
[For bZowing and breath, see p.400.]
Entry 1743
It's a practice dat most of de women in dis part of the world, if dey can get a man to cut his fingernails or his toenails anywhere in dere presence, or clip his hair, dere [they are] going to save dat for dat purpose. I've seen dat practiced, too, right down here in de South - in Florida dere. I had it proved right out and out. A woman told me she could make any man come dere dat had ever been dere, and she could make him call her name at any time - dat she pluck a hair out of her head, if she know de direction de man is, and by her calling his name three diff'rent times and turning around, wherever he's at, he'll call her name. (What did she do? She pulled this hair out of her head, then what did she dc with that hair?) Just take de hair and hold it up and blow it in de direction she know dat he's gone, and by calling his name, regardless of what he's doing at de moment, he'll call her name. From then, he begins to get restless. He might be aboard of a steamship or train, or whatever, but when he gets off he will make his way right on back. Because anything she's got belonging to him dat ways, she believes she can wish him back and will do it.
Entry 1744
They takes a new shingle and cuts it like a boat you know, like a ship sharp at each end, and when the tide's going out - they writes your name on that too, nine times - and when de tide's out they throw it over- board and that person will die.
Entry 1745
You can cut that little bow out and put this stuff on that little bow and put it in your pocketbook or a little toby - make a little toby and you keep it in your pocketbook and you'll keep him following you all the time. You'll never get rid of him.
(Well, how do you dress that little bow?)
The little bow? Well, you get the good luck stuff that I just told you about. You sprinkle that on that little bow and you put a little piece of Conker Root on it. You pin that in there, sew that up and put it in your pocketbook. You keep it - somebody just think it a little toby: And you always have good luck.
Entry 1746
Take de bow out de back of yore hat an' make yo' love 'em.
(What would she do with that bow?)
She takes an' puts it into a bag an' puts Hearts Cologne on it an' she wears it roun' her neck jes' lak yo'd wear a neckpiece or somepin lak dat.
Entry 1747
Yo' could take de bow out of a man hat an' put dat in a bottle of perfume an' keep it or either wear it in yore shoe an' that'll make 'em love yo'.
Entry 1748
Sew it in a - you see, you can take ribbon - have a red and yellow ribbon for luck, and you take it and put it [bow] right between the ribbon with steel dust and sugar and wear it there, and he gives you lots of money and all. And it always be night when he come in, you press it. You take the little bow, and put that in one of the garters and put it on the left leg. You see, you take and sew the elastic - you know, you take the ribbon and put another piece under- neath that and make it like a ruffle on it [garter], but you put it in there. That's to keep him from paying attention to where it is. (It's hidden in that garter, inside where he can't see it.)
Entry 1749
She takes an' cut dat little bow out of de back of a man's hat, any- thing, an' she puts her urine, her water, in a bottle too. An' she gits a strand of yore hair if she can. If she can't git it, why den dat bow will do de same, cause it come from de back of yore haid an' yo' been wearin' it an' sweat. Jes' 'long as she gits somepin 'bout chew. An' she take an' put that in a bottle an a lil peppah, an' den wrap it up in a flannen cloth an' keep it in de flannen cloth an' carry it roun' with her, somewhere roun' 'bout her waist. An' yo' cain't git away.
Entry 1750
Whut a woman do tuh make him come back to her? Well, ah'm goin' tell yo' somepin. Ah've tried this mahself an' yo' see ah know whut ah'm tellin' yo' 'bout is strictly true - dis heah ain't no story. Mah husban' left me an' ah tell yo' whut ah did. He went away from home. Ah got him tuh come back. Ah save some of his urine, see. I hate to say this to You. Ah got some an' put it in a half pint bottle, an' ah got me a tablespoon fulla sugah an' put it in dis urine of his'n, an' ah buried it undah de steps. See, dis is true - ah know whut ah'm talkin' 'bout. Ah could git him right now if ah wanted him but ah don't want him. An' he come home an' tole me, said, "Honey, ah been treatin' yo' wrong, but ah wants tuh come back home tuh stay. I buried dis mahself right undah de do'step - ah had de pint bottle of his urine. See, he made it in de slop jar an' ah didn't urinate in it with him. An' yo' see, yo' have tuh take his'n off, an' ah put this tablespoon fulla sugah in dere, an' took an' buried it at de do'step, an' every mawnin' ah say, "Lawd, yo' know whut ah did. Ah did it, In de Name of the Father, Son an' Holy Ghost, an' hope all mah wishes come true in mah happy hour." An' he come home tuh me. Ah did that mahself, an' ah learnt it from anothah man.
Entry 1751
(The women do what?)
They take it an' swallow it.
(This little bow?)
Dis little bow outa de [man's] hat.
(What do they do that for?)
Jes' so that yo'd love them.
Entry 1752
I heard my father tell about boxing hands, where they get bees, flies, ants, wasps, cow ants - the great big ants - hornets, thousand-legs, all that kind of stuff, and they put that in a bottle and fill it with hot water. And that was used to put on their fists - just a drop or two. And when they struck a man he had a great pain and swoll up, and he couldn't fight back he was hurting so. [Here again, a hand can be a liquid.] [St. James, a Negro community 5 miles from Pocomoke City, Md., (104), by hand; these hands of 1870 decade in Wicomico Co., Md.] [Cf. margin-title WrestZing Hand at end of this subsection.]
Entry 1753
Go an' git a brass ring. Ah kin go an' git a brass ring an' wear that ring on yore [my] finger - what they call the ring finger on your right hand. (On which finger of the right hand?) The ring finger - the second finger - next to the little finger. The brass ring there. An' that will help yo' git a job.
Entry 1754
Yo' kin take de gunpowder an' de brimstone an' put dem together an' yo' kin tote dat - put dem together in a little sack. An' git a piece of John de Conker root, put dat in dere wit dat an' a little sulphur an' sew it up. Put dat Heart Cologne on it an' tote it wit chew. Dat's luck. If yo' go tuh anybody an' ask fo' anything dey won't turn yo' down.
(If you ask for a job or anything of that sort?)
Dey won't turn yo' down.
Entry 1755
(What makes confusion?)
Brimstone. Yeah, yo' jes' take that an' if somebody dey are angry with yo' an' dey fussin' or quarrelin' an' yo' don't like it, why yo' put dat where they have to cross ovah it or pass by it - jes' put dat down fo' 'em, de brimstone.
(What will that do?)
That will make the two peoples angry with each othah - jes' say fo' instance, ah make it plain fo' yo', Doctor, so yo' know. [For the many times I was called doctor, see Hyatt, H. M., in Index.] Now, for confusion, lak de neighbors next do' - ah don't want 'em, lak dat. Well, ah'll put down dis brimstone where they have tuh cross ovah it an' they'll git together an' start fussin' an' quarrelin' - they nevah live in peace.
Entry 1756
Git brimstone an' burn it with some feathers an' yo' have good luck.
(Good luck for what?)
Anything yo' wish to. (You have to make a wish when you are burning them?) [Informant had said so while Telediphone turned off.] Yes, yo' kin parch it - it be a kinda brown stuff, yo' powder it up. Ah wish ah had some now.
Entry 1757
In 1931 ah owed a big furniture bill and wasn't working and didn't have anyone to help me. Well, I had a brother, too, was in trouble - supposed to been in trouble. So I went to Jackson [Mississippi] over there to a man, and he told me about how ah could do - that he would fix up something for me and he said the furniture man wouldn't worry me and neither would the rent man. Well, ah was behind in both and ah was afraid. And so I went over with another girl - she was telling me about him. Well, he told me - when I went back home - he. gave a little old piece of bottle with some dust in it - hit was broken off - he said he usually did fix them that way - broke off - empty it in your hand, you know, and sprinkle in your front door. Well, hit was some kind of brown-looking stuff - kinda looked like it had little black spots or something in it, and he told me that I could sprinkle that a little before the rent man and a little before the furniture man got there and [he] say, if they come, they wouldn't ask for money at all. And so I did that. And so that Saturday morning [rent paid by the week] the rent man came down and he passed my door and went to another girl and asked for her rent. He didn't do anything but just speak to me. But I don't know what that stuff was - but I know he gave me that, and I didn't have no trouble until I got a job out here on [?] Avenue.
(You went over to Jackson to get that?)
To Jackson to a man named A. J. Williams.
(Williams - a colored man?)
A colored man.
(What did he charge you for that?)
Charge me for it? We only give him three dollars - was all I had. He said that he charges round ten and twelve dollars but he told me in the next two or three days if I could get a job, then I could send him a dollar along like that. [Brilliantl 'I am trusting you, trust yourself. Stop worrying - this will work" Also good business.] He didn't never charge much. But I never did pay him but five dollars after I worked. [The breaking of bottle could be magic act (No. 1015, p.389) or trademark of handnaker.]
Entry 1758
In de 'bacca country, yo' heah of certain - yo' jes' have harm 'ginst 'em, yo' go out dere an' cross dem sticks [broonstraws] - take one dis way an' one de othah, cross 'em lak dat. An' if he [a worker] an' de boss- man is gittin' 'long purtty good an' yo' want him [worker] to leave, yo' or de othah man [worker] want [to influence] dis foreman, why he [you] lay de straws. An' if he [worker] step across 'em an' not knowin', well fo' de yeah is out he an' his bossman dey crossed up, yo' know, so bad he have tuh leave his home. Dat used a whole lot by de country peoples - gits far from one 'nothah. (He just takes these two broomstraws and crosses them out here in road for this fellow to walk over. You say that is used a good deal in the tobacco country?) Yessuh.
Entry 1759
Ah hear talk of that. Yo' kin work lawsuits with that even much. Take 'em an' tie 'em in de center - de broomstraws, dem short pieces. Yo' git a piece - Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft.- Rootwork - of shame brier root an' put in between dem straws, an' if yo' wanta come out ahead in anything lak dat, an' yo' got de broom straws, yo' tie 'em together. But yo' always lay it - if he killed an' yo' wanta win, yo' gotta come up higher. Dem othah joints gotta be shorter den yours. An' when yo' git 'em up dere high, yo'll be above, an' even yo' above dat shame brier root. Den yo' kin take de rattlesnake master or a piece of root of hit an' yo'll hold them right together, an' then yo'll tie nine knots in dat string an' yo' tie 'em well. An' then yo wrop it up. Yo'll fix them things an' yo'll tie 'em up. When yo' tie 'em up den yo'll wrop 'em up in a piece of red flannel an' yo' tie it up: An' all you have to do den whenevah yo' go, always, if yo' have to meet a lawsuit or anything, yo' put it in yore pocket an' yo' nevah have to be tried. Ah seen 'em work that.
Entry 1760
Say yo' go to some kinda tree in de woods an' git somepin whut dey call a buckeye an' carry that with yo' all de time. Yo' have good luck.
(Good luck in what?) In gamblin'.
Entry 1761
Git chew a buckeye. Yo' know whut a buckeye is - it grows in a hull like a chestnut, great big one. Git chew one of them an' contin'lly carry it in yore pocket an' yore employer will always - seem like yo' nearer to 'em than any other one.
(Which pocket do you carry it in?)
Carry it in your right pocket. A buckeye - dey hard to git. That keep yo' job.
Entry 1762
Git de buckeye and wear it in yore pocket. Yo' wanta sprinkle it though about ev'ry other day with some Hearts Cologne and wear it in yore pocket, and git dis incense and burn it around de house co'se, an' git some peanuts and put on de front [but not in the house]. Dat buckeye now, yo' need tuh git on de no'th side of de tree. Dere's a he buckeye and a she buckeye, yo' wanta git dose on de no'th side of de tree. A he buckeye supposed to have two eyes and de she one. Yo' wear dem in yore pocket.
(This is to bring in trade?)
Yes sir.
Entry 1763
Dey say yo' take a buzzard an' yo' kill him an' yo' bury him an' yo' let him stay buried three days. Then yo' take him up an' yo'll cook him down to lard. Jes' cook him an' jes' take his own lard, an' then yo' put that in a box. That's fo' gamblin'. That's a gamblin' hand.
(What do you do with that lard?)
Yo' take that lard an' yo' jes' mix it up - see, jes' mix it all up. Yo' don't have tuh put anything in it. Jes' mix it up an' put it in a box an' dat's tuh use fo' gamblin' - fast luck.
(How do you use it?)
Jes' rub it on yore left han' lak dat, an' then from yore left han' go ovah to yore right han' lak that. See [demonstrates], rub up this way - rub up all de time. (Rub up on the hands.) [For upward rite, see No. 1074, p.405.]
reported fast luck for gambling. No demonstrated success These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 1764
When yo' git ready to go up to de co'thouse - now, lak yo' got a case in co't an' yo' see all dem chairs yo' see - an' yo' turn down ever' one dese chairs, all de ones 'sposed to use, lak dis [demonstrates].
(You turn them down flat?)
Or listen, ah kin come lak dis with salt, lak yo' got ever' one down, an' put a little ovah there an' a little there an' turn 'em down an' go ahead on. Go out dat house an' don't look back when yo' goin' to de co'thouse. Yo' go right to de co'thouse an' yo'll win that case. (You put some salt on each corner of the chair after turning it down, and put salt in each corner of the room?) Each corner, too, an' den go right on, pay no mo' 'tenshun an' go right to de co'thouse, an' yo'll win dat case.
Entry 1765
When I went to the army [World War I] this blacksmith [a root doctor] gave me a little bottle, he told me, for to keep men away from the home. Before I got to the camp there was more men there than when I was in town. He sold her a bottle of medicine to keep me away from her when I came back. He hung around her himself. He charged me six dollars.
Entry 1766
[The idea of the chastity belt lives on.]
A man kin take - say for an instance he has a woman dat's goin' out an' he don't want her goin' out with other men - git him a lock.
(An ordinary lock?)
A padlock - an' ketch some of her discharge an' lets de lock open an' put it down in dat lock an' lock it up.
(That locks her up then.)
Entry 1767
[Here is a device used by George Jackson, a well-known doctor on the Eastern Shore before his death about 1900. This rite was told me by an old man who met prospective clients at the railroad station and drove them out into the country to interview the doctor. For some interesting information about this remarkable doctor, see margin-title George Jackson.] Now, if a man want to break his wife from some man, he steals this dishcloth an' when that he fools with 'er he ketches her nachure in this dishcloth. After he ketches this nachure in a dishcloth, he takes it home an' wraps it up tight an' buries it at his doah - right down under his doah. Fer nine mornin's he must git up an' walk over it an' make his wish whut he wants - never man can't enter. That's [a remedy of] Uncle George's. [Many persons called Jackson Uncle George.] That's called, understand, put a man down that he can't raise up courage fer that Woman, don' care how hard or whut he do. An' he can't. He made all the married, single, go to him, [even] captuns - go off, you know, on drudgin' [dredging for oysters in the Chesapeake Bayl an' leave their wives home. Of course, no man wanted a man to bother his wife while he's gone. He'd have her crossed before he left. [Princess Anne, Md., (130), 34: l; informant Joshua Wilson, age 65.]
Entry 1768
He'd [George Jackson would] tell you, you understand, "Bring me some of his watah, if you can, '' when a fellah finds anothah man gettin' purtty tight with his woman - you understan', although they may be good friends, an' she'd git to like 'im. Now then, he'll go to work, you understan', "You git some of his watah." He gits some of his watah, takes it to 'im. He'll take a bottle an' a cork, an' he goes to work an' he corks this water of his up in the bottle; an' he leaves a little place fer it to drip, fer it to drip out. You understan', take a nail an' make a hole in the top of it, so that it would drip out in the groun'. And you take this an' bear [bury] it right to his doah, right at this fellah's doah, an' this is called crossin' a man from a woman.
Entry 1769
(What do you do with that wasps nest now?)
Nail it up ovah de do' right up heah - lak if yo' wanta go away an' want, chew know, yore [wife or girl] gotta be true to yo'. Yo' wanta go 'way an' stay fo' or five yeahs, somepin lak dat. She won't have no othah man - she'll wait fo yo tuh come back.
Entry 1770
Wit sticks - you write de name of de person you wanta keep away.
(Well, now would you take two sticks?)
Yes, you jes' make a cross like that [X-crosses the two sticks] and then you write the name of the party [demonstrates].
(Down one stick.)
Yes, and de name of it on de next.
(On the other stick.)
Yes, on de fo' pieces [radiating from the crossing of the two sticks] - coming to each other Teach name is written towards the crossing] and drive dem somewhere by de front door where dey gotta come in de door, and they may come to the front and won't bother coming in. They'll look around and pass on. [Each stick is driven on a slant into the ground so that touching they form the letter X.] (That is, if this man is going away and this particular man doesn't want them
[other men] near his wife while he's gone, that will keep them away.)
Keep them from coming in.
Entry 1771
If yo' see somebody - some folks dat want a lucky piece, dey goes to work an' take a eggshell wit [from] a hen dat nevah went wit a rooster, see. Take dat hen dat nevah touch a rooster an' yo' boil dat aig an' after yo' boil it, yo' take de top offa dat shell an' yo' put it in dat little bag an' po' some Heart Cologne on it, an' keep it long as de money's wit chew - whut chew workin' in de game. See. Well, dat have happen - ah don't know whether dat's real but ah've seen it done.
(That's for luck.)
Yeah, dat's fo' luck. (Now, you take this egg and after you boil it, take the shell off the egg? Or do you take the egg out of the shell?) Yo' take de egg outa de shell an' eat de egg if yo' wanta eat it - throw it away if yo' don't want it. But take dis shell an' yo' kinda bundle it up yo' know an' mash it up an' put it in a piece of bag yo' know - leather bag or shoe tongue or somepin like dat. It jes' make a small thing. An' yo' po' Heart Cologne on it - somepin dat it will go through. An' keep it lingering round wit chure money. But dat aig - de rooster not supposed to touch dis individual hen. Yo' rubs it in yore han' yo' know like dat - dat little package yo' know.
(This little package you made?)
Yeah, rub it in yore hand like dat an' go off somewhere [to gamble]. An' yo' lay dat in yore han' an' rub it - rub it down yore pants if yo' want, an' yo' go in to gamble. Dat's all yo' do fo' dat.
(All you do is put some dirt on it.)
Yassuh, each time - jes' like yo' comin' in dis game now.
Entry 1772
Take a black hen aig an' open it an' take de yellah out of it an' close it back up, an' keep dat in yore pocket an' cain't nobody beat yo' in gamblin'. Dat's one de luckiest things in de worl' fo' gamblin'; jes' de yellah part, dat's de luckiest thing in gamblin'.
Entry 1773
Well, yo' kin take a black pullet - ah ain't done dese things, ah'm tellin' yo' whut ah heard about dem. Yo' kin take a black pullet - well yo' kin kill 'im an' git his gizzard out dere, an' yo' know dat skin in dere whut yo' peels off, yo' take dat skin an' sprinkle some salt an' black peppah on it, an' sew it up dere in a little rag an' wear it next to yo' skin an' sweat it through, an' dat'll make yo' lucky.
(Lucky for what - anything in particular?)
Yes sir, in most anything. [Every statement made by this informant ended, "Ah ain't done dese things."]
Entry 1774
Yo' take dis black chicken - lak ah'd move, dis is a dwelling house an' ah'd move here an' sorta thinkin' somebody was trying to get me - get me a black chicken, take it round on de side where de sun rise an' kill him an' dress him an' eat de chicken. Take de head an' sprinkle it wit black peppah an' brimstone, bluestone an' salt, an' put it in a nice little sack an' bury it jes' like yo would somebody. Cover ovah [make a burial mound over] dat sack an' dey tell me dat nobody won't nevah interfere wit chew.
Entry 1775
Well, dey take a chicken an' kill 'im, a black chicken an' kill him, and take dis heah breastbone. They git de breastbone and dey take it and dey go together an' yo' pull dis end and ah pull dat. Well, when yo' do dat, it's fo' yo' to be lucky. De one dat pull an' break de most, splits de most on it, gits lucky, he's lucky. Well, if mine is shorter den yours, well, ah ain't goin' be lucky. See. Den yo' take dat - yo' takes it an' sew it up an' put it in yore pocket. Den, any kind of game yo' go in a'ter dat, you'll be lucky in dat.
Entry 1776
You runnin' a house or whiskey or anything, to keep the law away I hear'd people say you could nail on top the door a chicken bone up with some tacks under the doorsill. They say that keep law from you an' you won't have to go to court or nuthin.
(What sort of chicken bone?)
It's a little bone right on the backbone-like - join on together, whut people call a luck bone. Some people say if two people be right together an' break it, the one who had the longest bone has good luck.
Entry 1777
Ah heard dat yo' could go undah de house an' git some sand fo' that, an' evah whut chure name is, write chure name out dere in de yard wit dat sand. Dey say de fellah wouldn't pay no attention yore name - jes' write chure name out by de do' wit dat sand. If somebody [enemy] send him [policeman] dere, say he'll come up right in front of de do' an' jes' look in an' drive on off. He won't come in de house, jes' drive right on off.
(If you are selling liquor. Where do you get this sand?)
Git de sand right down side de chimley undah de house [hearth dust] yo' dig down a spoon deep. Yo' git a spoonfulla sand each time until you git enough yo' know tuh write chure name.
Entry 1778
Somebody wus livin' in yore neighborhood an' yo' didn't like 'em or somepin lak dat an' yo' wanted 'em tuh move, yo' know, yo'd write somepin an' put inside of it - make a little coffin an' set it at his do'. An' he'll git uneasy yo' know, upset - he'll move.
Entry 1779
Making a little box lak a coffin, to do evil with. Well, yo' make a little box lak a coffin an' yo' call yoreself buryin' a person. Yo' would git some of de hair or git dat [foot] track an' go an' git some things that belong to them an' put it in dis little box an' yo'd bury it. Dat buryin' dere luck an' everything. Yo' done bury it. Lak if ah'm goin' well an' yo' wanta bury me, "Well, ah'm gonna bury her." Well, yo'd git somethin' of mine - if yo' could git a piece outa mah underclothes an' put it into dat, dat would bury mah luck.
Entry 1780
All right. You take and you make a real coffin, but a small one - you know, a small coffin. You can make a big one too, but it would be unnecessary if it was big. Say, for instance, they really want to harm you. They can make a Coffin, well, say, about the size of this here - the top of this thing here [my recording machine]. Make a coffin fust about that size. They could bury you in that coffin.
(How would they do that?)
Now, they take that and they'll go to the graveyard, see. They get what we call graveyard dust, you know. They get this dirt, see, off of the tomb. They come back and they spread that into this coffin that I've made - I spread it into that. If I can get anything that you sweated in - if it's your socks, the band of your hat, your underwear, anything that you sweat into - I gets that and I put that in there, now, and when I put that in this thing, I'm going to put a cross in there and I put that cross in there.
(What kind of a cross?)
A cross - a real cross.
(A wooden cross?)
I can buy one. You see, I can buy crosses to put there - if it's a brass one, I'll put it in there, I'll put it into this coffin.
(What will that do?)
I'm going to put more dirt in there, you see. Now, I'm got that hatband or your socks or underwear in there, and I'm got that laying on top of that dirt, and I'm got the cross in there. I'm going to put more dirt on top of that. Now, I'll put that dirt on top of that and I'm going to take and I'm going to get salt and I'm going to sprinkle that salt in the four corners of the coffin. Then I'm going to carry this coffin and bury this coffin. I bury this coffin and if I know your name, I'm going to bury this coffin and put your name on top of it. But I'm going to put your name down on this coffin in red letters, but I'm going to put 'em, put your name down just about that big - just about that big, so it'll take a little time for it to come off, you see. And as your name wears out and that sweat is drying up - that sweat ain't going to dry right away because - your clothes I mean that's in there, they ain't going to dry right away because that dust going to keep 'em damp. But as this name be wearing out, that piece - well, I take [took] it from you - it's drying. Now as that's drying, you drying too. And now when that dries, if you don't die that day, you'll die sure that next day, because if that paint dry today, if you don't die today, you'll be dead in the morning.
Entry 1781
Dat's easy. You kin take an' make a little box. You know you kin git dese, any kind of little box you understand and make it - you know, shape it like a coffin. But co'se you have to have it shaped like a coffin, don't you. Got'a carry it to somebody if you can't do it yourself - got'a carry it to somebody an' have dem fix it jis' like a coffin. You gits some new linen cloth and you tack it around in there with shoe tacks never been used - git chew a nickel box of shoe tacks and you tack dat cloth around in dere, see. After you tack that cloth in there, you git some black dirt and put into it; git some pot salt and sprinkle onto dat dirt. Well, after you have sprinkle de salt, you git chew some clear sand. You know dese sand and gravel whut you mix concrete wit; git some clear sand like dat and put on top of dat salt, see. All right, and you git chew some chamber lye from somebody else - you understand, not yours. You have to git it from somebody else and you pour that onto that you understand and you carry dat [coffin] and bury it into de graveyard. And that will be the end of dem.
(Well, whose end would that be? Whom would you kill that way?)
Kill de person you want, see. (Well, how would you say that? "This is the person I want?" How would you do that?) You would jest have to call dere name - see, at de time when you buryin' it.
Entry 1782
A woman called Hester, she used to live aroun' there, but she don't live there no more. An' she said this man get a piece of pas'eboard, jis' shape it you know - looked like a coffin. [Look] like that he was mad with her. An' he tacked on this board an' put it down in the groun' at her steps. An' they say in nine days time she'd be gone. An' she said somehow or nother she went out an foun' it before them nine days. [Wilmington, N. Car. (309), 235:6+85.]
Entry 1783
You git a shingle and git de hair and put it in water and let it float away and then dey'll git so dey can't stay anywhere. That's for to git a man away from where he's livin'. Dey cut the shingle in the shape of a coffin, dey put it in water and let it float away.