Browse:INTRODUCTION (Volume 1, entries 1–121)/Part 2
INTRODUCTION
Volume 1, entries 1–121. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 81
Years ago in the days of my grandmother - my grandmother died before freedom was declared. I never saw her. I only heard her story from my mother. They built their houses out of logs. There was just a front door. They had nothing on the floor but the dirt. The logs were laid close together on top of each other to form the walls. They didn't even have shingles then. The logs were hewed on each side and laid close together for the roof so the water would run off. Then they made little beds in each corner, like a shelf, near the ground. We would call them bunks. In one corner they would have for a table. The chimney Was in the back of the house opposite the door. They had no windows. They [the chimneys] were made of clay. The clay was mixed up, pine straw put in it to make it stick. Just daub it. And they made the chimney like a pen with small sticks, two rows going this way and one in the back, and this [the fourth or front side] was left open. That was the fireplace. When they got up a cer- tain distance [above the fireplace opening left in the form] it was a pen with four corners. They made it as high as the house was. They filled it [the double walls of the pen] with clay and straw. In the fireplace was a iron oven and an iron pot. They had something in the middle of the fireplace [crane] they hung the pot on, with the fire under it. The oven had a iron door. The ovens were iron and made flat. They put bread in there and bake it, and potatoes. This house whenever it was completed they killed a calf. If they had sheep, they would kill a little lamb to let the blood go wherever it was killed, let the earth drink it up. This lamb was barbecued in front of the door. All of their friends and neighbors would come and have a feast there. They did that entering a new family to the house. They kill it right near the house. The blood wastes on the ground, the ground drinks it up, near the house they were dedicating to the family. Now that I have been reading the Bible, I can see that the olden people were taking that from the Bible. It was on the lines of the Bible but they didn't understand it as they do today. The Israelites were told to kill a certain lamb and put it on their door faces. The olden people were just doing it in their way the best they could. In our neighborhood [Orangeburg County, South Carolina] in erecting a home, building a new house to live in, you always are supposed in one of the front pillows [pillars] of the house to fold the Holy Bible, wrap it carefully in oil cloth, that will protect it, put it in a stiff pasteboard, and lay it in the holler [hollow] of the front pillow of the house. This is supposed to be a pro- tection sent from God on your home. And you are supposed to live happily there. This is one of the customs.
Entry 82
This happened in 1917 in the City of Petersburg, Virginia, on Whych [?] Street in a section of the town called Glanville [?]. I was in the custom of coming home each night - after finishing work - and getting to a particular corner and waiting on a friend of mine. Then we would both proceed on until we got to Clutchfields Laundry. That's where another friend worked. Then the three of us would proceed on home together. This boy that worked at Clutchfields was killed in an automobile wreck. Several months after, on a rainy night we were coming home and we heard footfalls. They were following us. We looked and could not see anything. Then we thought the reflection on the street lamps hid the person from our view. So we stopped and tried to look under the glare of the light to see if we could not see what it was that was following us. We didn't see anything. We walked a little further and we stopped again. As we stopped the footfalls stopped. We walked about three more blocks and these footfalls continued. They followed us until they got to where this boy always used to turn. From there we didn't hear it any more. So I spoke of this when I got home to an old man, a man that had fought in the Civil War, and he said that's something people hear anytime. That there's a crater that's on the right hand side of Whych Street and there were many soldiers killed in there. People see things and hear things most any time of night.
Entry 83
I went to Pittsburgh from Staunton, Virginia, and my husband had rented me a house there. So one night while I was setting there sewing, I was very much disturbed about my children, so I sent the girl I had living with me upstairs to look after them. She came down and said, "Mrs. Baker, what is the matter with you?" She said, "The children is all right." So after awhile in about ten or fifteen minutes I heard someone put the key in the door and unlock it. But no one had a key but my husband. So I heard the tips [tiptoes] going up the steps - you could hear the steps cracking. So I said to Mr. Davis and Mr. Walker, they were boarding with me, "Do you hear that?" And they said, "Yes." And Mr. Davis said, "That ain't nobody but Bummie" - that's what they called my husband. And I say, "Oh, he would not do that." So we got up and we went upstairs to look and see what was going on. Well, I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything up there. I said to Mr. Davis and Mr. Walker, 'I guess that's a token of the man who lives on the third floor, for his wife." She had gone to the hospital. In the meantime then I had forgot my own people. And in a week's time my husband was sick and died. And I never believe anything that that was a token of his death.
Entry 84
Ah knowed a lady one time, her son he got killed on de railroad out here and nobody knowed how he got killed, and she always believe dat a fellah dat he had put in jail one time did it - see, had pushed him in front of de train. So she would go out to some grave ev'ry night and git at de head of dis grave and dig a hole right at de head of dis grave and put her hands down in dere and she would give all kind of prayers - prayers fer him to come back alive and haunt dis man. Well, it's a man he was night watchman out here at de railroad yard himself. Well, one night, he would sleep like, he would jest seem to go to sleep on de switch all de time and nearly wreck de trains all de time. See. And he never did befo', but nights she wouldn't go out dere, like nights when it rained, he Would be all right. But ev'ry night she'd go out dere, he would always have some kind of accident happening to him. So one night she was there and he was walking down de railroad yard and she was out at de graveyard. People says she was out dere, dey'd seen her out dere, for she lives right cross from it, out heah on Union Street. And they said that he was walking down de railroad yard when he had stepped in a hole, a big deep hole, and he kept fallin' and kept fallin' and nevah seen him no more. But dey always said when de walked through dat yard on a dry night dey always could hear him hollering dey really could hear him hollering nights like that.
(He actually disappeared right there?)
He disappeared - dey found his lattren [lantern] an' all by a hole dere. De people dey tried to fill dat hole up but dey never could fill dat hole up. [Here is the bottomless pit of Revelation (King James Version), 9:11, 11:7, 17:8, 20:1&3.]
Entry 85
This woman lived on the same street I lived on. Her husband was sick and dying, and he told her, he said, "When I cross Jordan River I am going to let you know." And she asked him how she was to know. And he said his whole frame was going to shake when he was crossing. And when he died, he was dead about one-half hour, and just shook so hard until the bed shook with him. [New York City, (1), by hand; about i910 in Wilmington, N. Car.]
Entry 86
There was a whipping post at the Bloody Angle before the [Civil] War. Slaves were sometimes whipped to death there and they would come back singing. It was about a mile from Spotsylvania Court House. [Informant, thirteen years old when Civil War began, was born in what became the Bloody Angle during battles of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, 1864; battle at Bloody Angle, May 12.]
Entry 87
I'il tell you this one, it's an actual fact. A family of people that had two boys, they were poor people it's true, and the city in which they lived you could sell most anything to the junk dealer - rags, bones, iron, tin, glass bottles and the silver paper in cigarette packages. This boy had a habit of picking up bones. Where he went to get his bones was an old burying-ground that had went down and he did not know it. Everybody thought that when they changed this burying-ground they removed all the bodies but it wasn't so. So one night this boy had been out collecting bones and he had it in a crocus bag - that's the same as a potato bag [gunny bag or sack] - and he wanted to hide them, so he put them under his mother's bed. Around about midnight his mother and father heard a moaning and groaning all over the house. They couldn't locate it. They came back in their room and it was still moaning. So they looked under the bed and there was this bag. They pulled it out and the father shook the bones out on the floor and they were still moaning. That's the way he recognized them as human bones. So he woke his son up and made him take those bones out that time of the night. The next morning he asked him where did he get them from. He showed him. He tole him from now on don't never bring a bone from here near the house for this used to be a burying-ground.
Entry 88
I heard of a woman, she wanted people to move out de house next do' to 'er, cuz dey always kep' too much noise. She used to at night git up an'.go out to de graveyard an' come back with dis yere graveyard dust dat ah tole yo' befo'. She used to take it an' take an' sling it all up against de windahs on de porch an' dat would bring such a damp an' musty oder into de house until it made all dose people re'l sickly feelin' all de time. De always wus hearin' a lota screams an' noises in de house until dey had to move out.
Entry 89
When I was a little boy [in 1860] I was praying an old-fashioned prayer the colored people used to pray. They went to the graveyard to get their souls converted. I went and prayed on a man's grave that was buried that day and I heard him moving and knocking on the coffin. I never paid no attention. [The knocking or beating on the coffin, once a common expression, survived in a few love divinations also about extinct - see FACI, 2ed., p.391. For praying in the graveyard and conversion, see my experience at Tyree Church in Introduction.]
Entry 90
My mother died and I didn't like to stay with strangers and I went to this lady's house to work. And while I was getting supper one night, this noise, something fell very hard upstairs and jarred the house so, that Mrs. J. and her mother, her sister-in-law and a fellow by the name of Ed and myself, all armed and went up, thinking because there were valuable things ir the house, that someone had broke in, but there wasn't a thing could be seen on the floor anywhere. Lots of times when I used to go up tc make this young man's bed I had to pass a room they called the Red Room. Every- thing in there was red, partly red. Every time I got against this door, thie dooı would open. But I didn't see no one come out. And I was afraid to go down\be- cause I would have to call some of them down there to see me down the steps. Anc many many times they used to see soldiers marching across the garden. And that house Was supposed to be han'ted. They used it for a hospital in the time of the [Civil] War. That's about five miles from Brandy Station [Culpeper Co., Va.].
Entry 91
If your door opens and shuts, some of your [dead] relatives are passing through the house.
The source brackets dead as an editorial insertion; it remains separate from the unbracketed conditional belief.
Entry 92
If you leave the house and lock the door and go away and come back and find it open, after awhile you'll wonder, "What's the matter? I'm sure I locked that door. Every time I come back the door is open." You get it in your mind somebody has died here and they didn't want anyone to come back in here to live. It wants it to remain just as they left it. Their family has got out and they feel the house should stay empty.
Entry 93
On the Old Dominion Lines a boy, a room steward, stopped a passenger and told him to go forward, for what reason I don't know and the captain met him on the starboard side and asked him what did he want. And the man that [was] told to go forward said he was looking for a room. The captain sent the boy back with the passenger and he went down to the second deck and opened the room, left the passenger outside, put the baggage in, locked the door and left the key in. The passenger stopped and was talking to someone right near there. When he went to the door the door was locked and the key gone. They never did find that key. They accused the boy of taking it. They sent for the chief engineer to open the door. When they opened the door the baggage was scattered all over the room and the beds unmade and everything upside down. And everything Was all right when the boy left the room. Here's what the boys thought about it. That was the Jamestown under Captain Tapley. She got into a big storm and around Boston Light, before they got to Boston, this Was several trips before this [the present story} happened, and they lost two passengers and they were in this room. And they thought the ghost of those people done it.
Entry 94
If yo' kill a man - he's lookin' yo' in yore eyes an' yo' kill 'im - an' he lookin' at yo' an' dey come back, yore picture will be in his eyes an' dey kin tell who done de deed.
Entry 95
(About those eyes?) I made a mistake - I said a nickel, I wanted to say a silver dime. Like it be - you'd kill a man and you'd start on off. Somebody done get to him and take and roll his eyes back and put a silver dime on each one of his eyes - this man he cannot get out of existence. He'll try, but he'll get caught before he can get away.
(Well, who - oh, they put these dimes over the dead man's eves.)
Over the dead man's eyes. [New Orleans, La., (866), 1404:1.}
Entry 96
Jes' lak if ah walk in heah an' shoot a person; well, all dey have tuh do is look at de person's eyes - take mah picture from his eyes, an' evah which way he be lookin' dat's de way ah'm goin'.
(The way that dead man's looking, that is the direction yo've gone?)
Yes.
Entry 97
If yo' kin git de blood, if yo' kin git a shirt - [anything] dat got blood on his garment where he got killed - if yo' kin git a piece of that, take it an' git a aig, jes' a aig, an' bury it in his han', an' open his eye up first an' look in his eye, den take that aig an' put it in his han', an' dey say dat de person whut kilt him will appeah befo' yo' in his eye, will appeah befo' 'em in his eye. An' put dis heah piece of his garment whut's got his blood on it - say, yo' tack it to de no'th side of yore house. An' dat person-will come back whut kilt dis person, dey will come right to yore house.
Entry 98
Sometimes it looks like they [a corpse] are looking. Their eyes are wide open. I have heard people say they are looking for their loved ones. [New York City, (7).]
Entry 99
Don't visit the graveyard and look upon them too often. They say it disturbs them. Shortly they will come back after you. If you keep a looking and a looking, they are coming back after you soon. You soon go. That's very true. You'll soon go.
Entry 100
Dere wus a man in slavery time - he went, started to cross de woods. In slavery - mah cousin wus one de slaves, an' he come in de house an' he says, "Boss, ah see a head bone down heah in de woods an' dis head bone said, "Turn yore teeth towards de" - nuthin' dere but de head bone, all wus gone but de head bone. De head bone talked to dis colored fellah an' tole him when he passed - it wus layin' down on de ground as he passed - it say, "Tell [him] mah teeth called me out chere." Well, dat means - tell 'im [boss, overseer or master] de teeth caused de head bone tuh be out dere, yo' see.
(Caused the head bone to be out there?)
Dat's right - tuh be out dere. An' so he said, "Well, ah'm gon'a tell de boss, dat ah see a head bone out chere an' it say, "Mah teeth called me out chere." All right, he went on an' he says, "Boss,"' say, "ah see a head bone out yondah in de woods says, "Tell 'im mah teeth called me out chere." An' want chew tuh go out dere an' see." All right, [he] said, "John, if dat head bone don' say, "Tell 'im mah teeth called me out chere, ' ah'm gon'a kill yo'." "Yassuh, Boss, dat head bone will talk." All right. Den he went out wit de Boss - dis darky went on out in de woods where de head bone wus, an' dis Boss took de head bone teeth an' kicked de head bone an' de head bone wus silent. He says, "John, didn't ah tell yo' ef dat head bone didn't talk ah wus gon'a kill yo'?" He say, "Yassuh, Boss, hit gon'a talk good an' plenty." So he kicked de head bone an' de head bone didn't 'gin say nuthin'. Well, all right. Den he said, "Well, John, ah say ah wus gon'a kill yo' if dis head bone didn't talk." So de Boss turn roun' an' killed John. An' when he kill John, de head bone say, "So mah teeth called yo' out chere, too." So both of 'em wus dead. See, tellin' him his teeth called him out heah. [This device is frequent - the attribution of a well-known story or folktale to oneself or relative or acquaintance; here a cousin.]
Entry 101
De lady next do' tuh me - it's some kin'a man dat curses her, it's a evil spirit, an' wherever she goes he's always using bad language tuh her an' saying things to her, putting all kind of things into her head. She went to someone an' they told her that it's a evil spirit that someone had worked on her, an' she asked him if he could cure it an' he tole her, yes. Well, he went in de house an' he asked her fo' some salt, an' she gave him some salt an' she gave him some sulphur an' two drops of hearts coZogne. Well, he put that in thar an' he tole her to put it in de corner an' every night say some kin'a word over that stuff. An' so she tole me last night at mah home that she was gittin' rid of it - said she jes' kin hear him now whisperin', and she said the man tole her that in a few days she wouldn't hear him at all.
(She can't see this man at all?)
She can't see him but she kin hear him.
(Well, what - just what do they think this thing is that is bothering.her?)
Dey think it's a evil spirit that someone got from de graveyard.
reported nightly unspecified words over a corner preparation. Nested neighbor and practitioner report, not firsthand performance or direct formula quotation. reported instruction to speak unspecified words over the mixture. Unknown words and nested report remain; no invented quotation or observed efficacy. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 102
He said once when he wus young [about 1867] follerin' the water, he say there wus some man put bad luck on 'im. An' he say he fell overboard twice. An' he say he went to some place, he said, to a fortune teller. Said he [fortune teller] told him that a man had put bad luck on 'im, becuz if he fell overboard three times, he said, he would be drown. An'he told 'im when he come home for to go to the church an' to the freshest grave an' get a pocketful of new clay. He wus to wear that in his pocket until it wasted away. An' he went out there an' got a pocketful of new clay, an' when he left - he [fortune teller] told 'im that he would hear some- thing to the church for a long ways, he said, the further he walked - an' when he left the church, why, he heard a laugh until he got home. An' after he wus home, then, he said it disappeared. An' he said all at once sound like he heard some lumber fall right in the yard.
Entry 103
Once upon a time I heard the story that a man - two men were at variance with each other and one of the men died. After two or three months this living man was passing along the road near this house where the other man that was dead did live. And all of a sudden he imagined he saw something and kinda hesitated, and something slapped him, and his head became one-sided and he had to move through life that way. He was never able to turn his head around straight again.
Entry 104
(This is the old witch who wouldn't come around to see me?)
Yes sir.
(What did she do?)
She went to de graveyard an' went to a new grave, and she run her hand down in de dirt, way down about up to her elbow, and got her a handful of dirt, three handful of dirt, put it in a tin cup, an' then, she taken a penny an' put it down in de hole to pay de spirit fer de dust dat she took from de grave dirt, an' it had to be a wicked person wus buried dah. An' she went on den an' fixed de dirt an' made some bluestone dust. An' she put de bluestone dust an' de graveyard dust togethah, an' den she went to de church an' dusted it all around in de church. An' de people got so angry an' got so - an' she said to de ghost, "Go theah an' terrify 'em, terrify 'em." An' de ghost went to de church an' jis' kept ever'body confused all de time in dah an' de preacher had to leave. [A note on my original transcription reads, "Informant repeating a story he had just heard about a woman who wouldn't come to see me." This was just about the first colored witch or hoodoo who refused to meet me; also first boy friend or girl friend to investigate me for the professional worker - see Introduction.]
Entry 105
I heard a church member said dere's a ole man in de church where he were a member - he ain't got much confidence in 'em now 'cause dey did dat - ole man da'd [that would] git mad at anybody at church; you know, he'd fall out with 'em. Well, he'd go to de graveyard an' reach his han' as far in dere as he could, an' he'd git some dirt jis' off, jis' as near de coffin as he could, an' wrap it up, [and] bring it back. Well, he'd put it in somepin thin, cheesecloth or somepin or othah, an' put it in each pocket, in his coat pocket. An' he'd go to church you know, until de preacher git to preachin', you know, an' dat de people git to shoutin', why he jis' git to shoutin' an' go right aroun' near dis person [he's mad at], you know, an' jis' let dis dus' - it woula jis' fly so it'll, a 'hole lot of people would inhale it, an' dey'd git so sometime dey'd git to coughin' Well, dey say, if you git enough of it, it'd kill 'em. [Wilmington, N. Car.,
(215), 208:1; Darien, Ga.,1896.]
Entry 106
Well, you've seen dat in de graveyard - you seen where dere one stick standin' up on dis end [of the grave], de haid [the headboard], an' one on dis end [the footboard]. Well, she'll take his name - she'll know his name, an' I guess she'll get somebody to do dat, because she'll be scared to go dere aroun' two a'clock in de night, see. She'll get somebody to go dere an' jes' call his name - his name John, Will or somepin another - an' say, "Will, I take dat footstoll [footboard], ' an' turn it over an say, "Well, I turn you haid over heel, in de Name of the Lord, therefore, dat He'll find you an' bring you back to me, In the Name of de Lord" - (Say that slower.) [She was speaking this incantation so fast I could hardly understand her.] Well, dis way. "John, I turn you'" - you take dis footstoll [footboard] jis' like dis [demonstrates], an' you turn it over an' say, "As I turn you haid over heel, therefore I don't want you to refuse, an' bring you back to me an' make you love me, In the Name of de Lord, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ." Well, you stick dis one [the footboard] here [at the head of] de grave where de haidboard had been, an' you take dis one [the headboard] an' turn dis one over [and say], "I turn you haid over heel, therefore if you refuse, an' make you love me an' come back to me, In de Name of de Lord, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ." Well, he'll [the man acting for the woman will] run his hand down in de middle of dat grave an' he'll take some of dat dirt, a handful of dat dirt out de grave. Well, dat'll be about dat deep.
(A hole as deep as - up to the elbow.)
Take a handful of dat dirt out an' after you get a handful of dat dirt out, den he'll drop three pennies in dat grave jes' for the spirit, an' [say, ] "I's [I has] pay you to work for me, In de Name of de good Lord, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ." An' he'll walk right aroun' dat grave three times an' he wouldn't look back. An' he would take dat dirt an' he'd throw dat dirt up in de air an' say, "Go, spirit, an' worry 'em up, an' bring 'em back, In de Name of de Lord. Go to de west, east, north an' south, de four corners of de world an' wheresomever you may be." He'll come. An' if he right in dat town, you don't have to do dat but twice; if he's out dat town, you gotta do it nine times, nine nights. You go dere after twelve a'clock, between twelve an' one. Den, I don't care where he's at, he'll always contended [contented] with 'er on his mind. He'll come where she's at. I don't care where he's at, unless he's in jail.
Entry 107
Jes' lak if a person botherin' yo', yo' go to a graveyard where a sinful person is an' git dirt off their grave an' put it undah a person's step an' that hag will worry dem. Dat's whut chew call a jack mulatta. (You mean jack-o'-lantern?) No, jes' lak if ah wanta tantilize somebody an' ah know somebody died dat's a evil person, well ah go to their grave an' git dirt from there an' throw it undah de house. Well, dat's whut yo' call a jack mulatta an' it'll come in jes' lak a hag would - would ride yo' tuh death an' tantilize yo' an' de person fo' who ah put it dere couldn't even rest.
(But this doesn't ride you?)
It doesn't ride yo' but it jes' somepin dat tantilize yo' tuh death - nobody couldn't see it but chew.
Entry 108
Jes' lak dere was someone in de crowd dat yo' was trying to find out who did it, killed him, yo' could turn him on his face an' let ev'ry man tetch him, an' de man dat killed him, when he tetch him de wound will start to bleedin' agin.
Entry 109
Now, if a man was to get kilt in my house an' it was a crowd there. Now, if I want anybody found out who kilt that man, I wouldn't let nobody come out of my house. I git me a straw [demonstrates] an' break it an' make a cross - jis' lak this, right across his forehead, an' let ev'ryone of den step over this man whut's dead. Well, now, when de right one stepped over this man whut's dead, well then de nose begins bleeding - that's him.
Entry 110
A white man killed another white man in slavery time - had killed him for years. An' one day they was riding 'long an' he says, "Thare zem bones - I killed dat fellah ten or fifteen or twenty years ago." An' de other fellah says tuh him, "Aw hush, git down an' let's see yo' tetch 'em." An' dey say, when he touched de bones, de blood come out - out that bone, an' he had him 'rested. An' that was de evidence - dat blood.
Entry 111
Yo' take him lak yo' fixin' tuh bury him an' yo' turn him on his face. Well, yo' see if that man is on his face an' yo' bury dat man, de man or woman dat killed him, she's worried until she goin' soon come up an' it ain't goin' be ovah nine days 'fore she goin' come up an' give herself up.
(How did you say they carry him out of the house?)
Jes' lak if dere's a windah on dis side - well, jes' lak a windah dis heah, yo' take him out dis windah on dis side. No, don't chew take him out de do'. Carry him out either one dese windah but don't take him dis way. Let him be goin' dis Way, where de sun set at. Don't nevah take him where de sun rise - it's not goin' work as fast. But if yo' put him on his face an' carry him out de way de sun go down, it won't be nine days 'fore she goin' come back.
(You carry him out the door, though?)
No suh, don' take him out de do'. Yo' wanta put him out de windah - take his body out de windah. Let him be on his face an' take his body out de windah.
Entry 112
Well, you can find that out very easily. If I killed you and it seemed to be hard fer anybody to understand how it was done and who done it. See, you won't be naked, you bound to have some clothes on. They'll strip your clothes right off and put 'em to de side and get ready fer to lying you out as a corpse - you know, take 'em and stretch 'em right out right in de casket and lay you right on top of 'em. And I don't care where you are or where I am - if I've kill yuh, why I'm bound to be coming dere, and the moment I comes near, why the blood will gush out chure mouth and nose. It's not necessary to have the law do anything to me at all after dis, because I can't stay here. You bound to take me along with you.
Entry 113
Git chew a fresh yard aig an' tie it in his right han' an' bury him on his face. Now, dat happen right chere about fo' yeahs ago, right at dis basin [dock for ships along Mississippi River] befo' dey closed it in. A colored fellah kilt a girl dere an' got away, an' her mothah didn't know whut tuh do. So she sent ovah tuh mah house an' got me. So ah says, "Yo' got any chickens roun' heah?" She say, "De lady nex' do'." Ah says, "Tomorrah git me a fresh yard aig." Ah says, "Does yo' min' buryin' dis gurl on her face?" She says, "No, ah'll bury her any way if ah kin find de fellah." She put de yard aig in her han' dis-a-way an' shet her han' up on it an' tied a han'ke'chef ovah it an' buried her on her face. In twenty-four hours he come right dere where he chunked her ovahbo'd an' dis white fellah, de night watchman out dere, caught him. He carried him ovah dere an' called up de law at dis Union Station, an' the law took him ovah to the gurl's mothah's house. Den the girl's mothah went an' had de gurl redug up an' buried on her back. Dey broke his neck outen dis jail out heah.
Entry 114
Ef he killed dis man, you'd git chew a pint of likkah an' lay it right in his breast - crossways in de grave an' dat man cain't stay 'way from dat grave - right across his breast in dat grave an' de man dat killed him, ef he's gone away - don't keer where he done go - he kin go to de No'th Pole - dat's 'bout fer as yo' kin go, to de Eskimo. Well, ef he get ovah to de Eskimo den an! his life is spared an' he git back, he comin' right smack to dat same graveyard, an' he jes' walk around dat grave. Yo' ain't got to hunt fer de man 'tall - jes'
[take a] turn around dat grave.
Entry 115
To make him follow him, they'll go to the woods and they'll get a green switch, which they call a weeping willow switch. See. They place it into the dead man's hand and they talk to this dead man and tell him whoever killed him, in nine days time he must whip this person to death. Or, they'll bust a quart of whiskey on the coffin of the person and then they will also talk to this person and tell them whoever did this trick to whip them. See. And then after they bury the person, they'll plant maybe peas on their grave. See. And when them peas come up, wherever you are, if the law doesn't get you, why you are compelled to die.
Entry 116
I was going through a piece of pines one night - as usually in the summertime, I was tired and throwed myself down by the path by a tree. So this night I started out and I heard a stamping on the ground just as though it were a horse right by the tree I was going to. And I advanced a little more. It didn't only stamp and go like a horse, but it seems as though there was a quick flash around the tree. It seems though it jarred de ground. So I stopped. By and by I started again - the same noise. I started again - the same noise. Then I got out of there pretty quick. My hair was all standing up like that [demonstrates]. It was real. I didn't see anything. The moon Was shining so bright - like this electric light [in my study - late after- noon, March,1936]. I went to the nearest house I could get to. I told the old man about it and stayed there all night. He said, "How Pres, don't you know that place is ha'nted?" I said, "No, I didn't know." So I stayed all night. I don't know why that tree was ha'nted.
Moonlight describes the reported setting; the informant says they did not see anything.
Entry 117
The man was murdered on a certain spot of ground and a tree came up and grew there, and for years afterwards, anytime anyone would strike it or bruise it in any way, there Was a peculiar voice that they could hear. The tree would moan as if it were being mistreated. The people watched it and watched it, and after a long time an older person came along and told them, 'Right along here such-and- such a-one was murdered. There was no tree there then." That was why this tree Was so peculiar. [New York City, (lO), Ed.; Orangeburg Co., S. Car., see FACI, 1st ed., No.10,508; 2ed., Nos.15426-15429.]
Entry 118
This happened near Battleboro, North Carolina. My uncle - was my grandmother's brother - had to watch the team while they was eating in a meadow that was almost grown up. There was a giant oak tree that stood in the meadow. He used to climb in this tree and sit on the branches. One day while he was sitting in this tree and watching his master's team while they grazed, the tree started to moan. He jumped out of the tree and ran into the house just as fast as he could. His master built a fence around this tree and charged people to come in and grew to be a very rich man. People from all over the country would come to this tree.
Entry 119
I saw a ghost one night. I was going up the Riprap Road. A big mul- berry tree was on the ditch bank. When I got right opposite tree a man came out from under this tree. I didn't see no man when I was going up to the tree but when I got there he walked right out on this side, my left side. He said to me 'Where are you going?' I said, "I'm going?" home." He said, "It's a fine evening isn't it?" I said, "Yes." So then - he had on a brand-new pair of shoes, a brand-new broadcloth suit, a hard-bosom white shirt, a black high-top hat. I and him walked on. When I got up to Spring, I said to him, 'I'm going to turn into Spring Street." So then he said, "I'm going this way." And then he tipped his hat to me and said, "Good evening." So the house where I was going at, not being far from the corner, I went to the fence and called the woman to give her her lodge card. She came to the door and said, "Who were you talking to?" I said, "I was talking to a man." She said, "Where is he at now?" I said, "He's gone up the road." In the meantime he turns around and comes back and when he gets in sight for her to see him, I said to her, "There's the man now." She said, "I don't see nobody." I said, "You don't see nobody?" She said, "No." She said, "Where's he going?" I said, "He's going right back to the tree." And so when he got to the tree that's where he disappeared. Then I said, "oh, I've been talking with a ghost." And I commenced to running and I run until I got home and fell in the door. Mama said, "What in de world is de matter with you?" I said, "Mama, I've been talking to a ghost." And she said, "You're always out seeing ghoses."
Entry 120
Once an old man by the name of uncle Esham would go on a hunting trip every night, Sundays included. Friends tried their best to refrain him from going hunting on Sunday but the old man continued as if nothing was said. One Sunday night he heard a voice speaking from a tree, saying, "Esham, Esham, what is the matter with you? You hunt Monday night, you hunt Tuesday night, you hunt Wednesday night, you hunt Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. Poor 'coons [racoons] can't get no rest." The old man would just listen and go on hunting just the same. One Sunday night when the old man passed be- neath the tree, not only did the voice speak to him, but when he looked around he saw red eyes, a man standing with his tongue out, pointing down the road. And he also said, "Esham, Esham, what is the matter with you? You hunt Monday night, you hunt Tuesday night, you hunt Wednesday night, you hunt Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. Poor 'coons can't get no rest." Just as this was spoken the tree fell down and killed uncle Esham. He was found lying there the next day. The story was told by an old man who used to follow uncle Esham about a hundred yards away. And that was the end of uncle Esham. My grandmother told me the story.
Entry 121
An' ah'll tell yo' anothah one. What ah'm goin' tell yo' it's true, 'cause it happened 'bout mah brothah - whut he experienced, yo' see. Well, we were at whut dey call de Peedee River. Ah don't know whethah yo' know where dat is or not. Well, it called Peedee Rivah. Ah wus haulin' wood one time. Ah wus livin' in town but ah be keepin' roun' de stable an' haul de wood into de town. An' ah come in dere [to town] dat night. When ah come in mah brothah say - he say, "Ben, let's go see some girls." Ah say, "Well, ah don't care." An' whensomevah we got ready tuh go dat night, he says [to the man he was visiting], "Leave de fiah to yore home." He [de man] say, "Why leave de fiah?" An' he tole him, "Tuh go on dat day." An' he say, "Ah'm goin' come back tuh school tomorrow." Dat's de fellah wus seein' his own death. [He had been attending school (staying with this man), had dropped out, and had suddenly decided to return to school tomorrow - "Tuh go on dat day."] An' when he said dat den, jes' as he walk out de do'step, a light come this-a- Way an' come right down by de corner of de steps in a big ball of fiah - jes' lak down, an' it come right down by de corner of de steps an' it stayed a good while. So we went on to dis girl's house - it wus a big dance, a big dance. An' we went on tuh dance. An' he say, "Ah don't b'lieve ah'll dance tonight." He says, "Ah b'lieve ah'll sing," he says, "ah'll git mo' bettah sense outa singin' den ah will dancin'." He went tuh singin' an' he sing a lot - he sing - sing - louder. An' so he says, "Ben," he says, "let's go." Well, when we starts back on de southboun' track, train comin' south - we wus on de no'thboun' track comin' southwards. We went on de - ah mean comin' no'th- wards, de train on de southboun' track comin' no'th. An' we jes' walkin' 'long, an' here wus dis train. He begin to - he says, "Well, ah'm off till tomorrow." An' ah.wents ahead. [Two persons walking in the narrow space between the rails walk Indian file - one behind the other.j An' when ah look back he wus behin' me - jes' lak, yo' know, he not payin' any 'tenshun to anyone. He wus behin' me when ah look back. De train wus jes' dat close when ah look, de train wus jes' dat close. An' he look back, which-an'-why - when ah turn roun' an' look back, he turn roun' an' start lookin' back too. An' whensomevah he looked back dat train ketched him. See, de train ketch him, jes' clipped him - all de back of de haid off, broke all de ribs of his back, broke both laigs.