Browse:MURDERED PERSON'S GRAVE (Volume 4, entries 7547)
MURDERED PERSON'S GRAVE
Volume 4, entries 7547. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → DEATH AND BURIAL AND GRAVEYARD → HOW TO OBTAIN GRAVEYARD DIRT → DIRT FROM WHAT TYPE OF GRAVE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 7547
Graveyard dirt kin be used fo' sich [such] many things. Well, grave- yard dirt kin be used tuh bring luck. Yuh go tuh de graveyard twelve 'clock at night, if yuh kin find somebody dat has been murdered, jis' lak de boy wuz shot an' yuh bury 'um. Yuh do dere dat night an' yuh carry a dime. Yuh put dat dime be- tween de forefingah an' dis fingah heah [demonstrates].
(Of the right hand?)
[My mistake because informant's left hand was right, facing me.]
No, on de left hand - it's de left hand.
(Put that dime betveen the thumb and the index finger of the left hand.)
Well, yuh reach dat dime down as fur as yore arm kin go intuh de grave. Yuh leave dat dime down dere an' yuh bring up dis dirt in dis hand. Bring it up tuh yuh - yeah, in de left hand [informant making certain I do not see backward again!]. An' dat dirt kin be used fo' most anythin'. It's val'able - dat dirt is val'able, ah know. Graveyard dirt, yuh kin use it fo' evil an' yuh kin use it fo' good. Yuh kin use graveyard dirt - if yuh kin git dat graveyard dirt intuh a person's house it'll stir up evil. An' den yuh kin use dat graveyard dirt fo' luck - yuh kin use dat graveyard dirt fo' gamblin'. Yuh kin win in any game.[ Waycross, Ga.,
(1116), 1791:1.]
Hyatt records a right-hand misunderstanding and the informant's correction to the left hand. Stage directions and bracketed clarifications remain editorial; the source reports both beneficial and harmful uses without establishing the claimed results.