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Browse:SALT - SULPHUR - GRAVEYARD - INCANTATIONS (Volume 4, entries 7886)

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SALT - SULPHUR - GRAVEYARD - INCANTATIONS

Volume 4, entries 7886. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → DEATH AND BURIAL AND GRAVEYARD → WHAT TO DO WITH GRAVEYARD DIRT. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.

Entries

Entry 7886

Volume 4 · printed page 3378–3379 · Wilson, N. Car.

Yo' go tuh somebody's graveyard [private cemetery on a farm] an' jes' lak dey got somebody down dere, lak yore name is Jane or John or sompin, say, "Well, dere some people's [people is] givin' me trouble an' ah don't know whut could ah do tuh make 'em go 'way." An' reach down in dere an' git some graveyard dirt an' go right back tuh de house. An' put some salt an' sulphur wit it, an' tie it up an' put it right undah de do'steps. An' when yo' go an' put it undah dere, says, "Go, yo' son of a bitch." An' dat John, he'll worry dat house so, he come down de stairs, got a ball an' chains an' buckles an' evahthin', jes' causin' a rattlin', an' dem folks will move.

The informant gives a conditional account with prescribed addresses, not a record of a particular invocation. The bracketed farm-cemetery and grammar explanations are editorial; the rattling and departure remain source-reported.

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Related subjects: Graveyard dirt, Leave, Salt, Sulphur

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