Browse:In Toilet and Flush (Volume 1, entries 2864–2865)
In Toilet and Flush
Volume 1, entries 2864–2865. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → SHRINES: ALTARS - CANDLES - SAINTS; NEW ORLEANS AREA → (2) CANDLES. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2864
To burn a black candle, you use the toilets - you know, like they build the sanitary toliet. You know a long time it used to be the old ones, you know; but now there's the sanitary toilets like they havin' now. Well, you set the candle right on the top of the water fount [flush tank] - you see, where the water flushes out, and you let it burn down, and when it burns out, you just take that and knock it over into the toilet and flush it three times a day. Well, they say it run him away, kill him.
[She repeats, adding several details.]
Take a black candle and write the name all around it, around 'at candle nine times, and just set it on top of the water - you know, where the water comes through, and when dat burn down you blow it out. Instead of pinching it out, you blow it out. And just rake it off about that much; rake it off and flush it into the toilet. Burn just about [demonstrates] that much of the candle each day and flush it down the toilet.
(Burn it down to about a half inch high.) [Burn one half inch each day.]
Yeah, and you blow it out and scrape it off and flush it down the toilet.
Entry 2865
How they burn the black candles? That's for death - that's to kill you.
(How would they do that?)
You take that black candle and you put the person's name - you see, the name or names means a whole lot. You could ruin a person with their name. And you burn it - you burns it in the toilet.
(In the toilet?)
In the toilet.
(How do you do that?)
You burn it every day completely and that name in the toilet, and - all right, for nine days, that's it. For nine days you get nine black candles and you name 'em and you burn 'em in the toilet. But you puts it in a tin can, you see. And that dripping - after it done dissolve and things, you supposed to flush it in the toilet. You see. That's all. And that kills them.
(What will it do to them?)
Yeah, they just be sick, they don't know what. Like they waste away to death, as the candle burn - they be sick and not knowing their condition or what's the matter with 'em. [AZs0 see 2859, p.823.]