Browse:SPIRITS (Volume 1, entries 16–544)/Part 5
SPIRITS
Volume 1, entries 16–544. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 336
I've heard that if they would go to a forked road and stand straddle of that forked road, there is something he would say, and after he would say that he done sold himself to the devil. For seven years he could do anything he wanted to do. When them seven years run out you would have to do that over again. You do that around twelve o'clock at night. You go three nights.
Entry 337
I've heard about dat but I don' know if it be true. But one thing about it - you have to visit the four forks of the road for nine mornings. On de ninth morning that you visit dere, you'll find de devil. He'll meet you at de four forks of de road and yo' and him'll git together, and then you'll have a good Wras'lin' [wrestling match] and he'll ast you what you want. And you'll tell him that you want the world's gifts for twenty years or thirty years - just how long you want 'em. Now, when de time runs out, dat's when de devil's coming for you. Well, when he comes for you, you might stoop down and cut off a piece of your shoe sole and hand to him, and he'll tell you that you got de world again and you kin go, and you sure enough got him if you kin stand to face him. And you do anything that you Want to do, wras'lin', fightin' - anything of the kind.
(I see - but you have to fight him out there at the crossroad?)
Yes sir, fight him dere - then he turn you loose and tell you it is all right, go for yourself.
[A few minutes later my informant added a musical note.]
Go out to de four forks of de road for nine mornings and he'll play something; play the guitar, play a banjo. He'll visit de devil out dere for nine mornings and he'll give you de world's gifts. Just ask [for] anything - a gold-finding hand - or you kin play all de music you want, nobody kin beat you playing.
The informant reports a fighting episode in lore introduced as heard and of uncertain truth.
Entry 338
I know a man, he was a woodcutter, that sold hisself to de devil to do whatever he wanted - right around here. Every Sunday morning for nine mornings, early in the morning, he met him at nine forks of the road - it's [the road with nine forks] right around here - and shake hands with him. The devil appears each morning. And the last morning he gives him a hand for whatever he wants to do wit it. This here man I'm telling you about fooled him. When he come after him, he gave him a shoe sole. Instead of giving him his soul he gave him his shoe sole. [Mt. Vernon (near Princess Anne), Md., (134), by hand; no electricity.]
Entry 339
They says, after - twelve, at exactly twelve 'clock on Friday night, you go to a crossroads, any crossroads, and there you are to kneel and say you make vow to stay wit de devil and do whatever he wants yo' to do - hell, raise destruction - what not - from now until long as yo' live - and that's the vow to de devil. Has to do dat to de crossroads. And to overcome this and to change, why you have to go right back to the same crossroads and make a vow to reform. (That's all you have to do is to make the vow there - nothing else - face any particular direction?) They say you turn your face to the east.
Entry 340
Jes' lak if yo' wanta learn some tricks yo' know, yo' kin take a black chicken an' go dere fo' nine mawnin's, to de fo'k of de road. Have yo' a further road - both of 'em public roads each way, not no blind roads yo' know. Both of 'em have tuh be public roads, forkin'. Yo' take dis chicken an' go dere fo' nine mawnin's an' on de ninth mawnin' de devil will meet chew dere. An' he will learn - well, anything yo' wanta learn.
(Do you do anything with that chicken?)
De chicken, he have tuh be 'live. Yo' ketch him alive an' carry him to de fo'k of de road an' yo' go fo' nine mawnin's, an' on de ninth mawnin' he'll meet chew dere.
Entry 341
If yo' wanta learn to pick a guitar, go to a road nine Sunday mawnin's - de fo'ks of de road, nine Sunday mawnin's. But 'fore yo' evah go tuh de fo'ks of de road to learn yo'self, dey way fo' yo' tuh do - git a rooster, an' if he ain't blind, have some de young ones to knock his eye out. It won't.hurt him yo' know. Don' do it chewse'f but have somebody else tuh do it - lak yo' ketch a rooster, put one his eyes out. Ah reckon yo' heerded dat ole song - dey say long time ago it wus named atter [after] [what a] root worker done, chew know. Dey says, "De Ole Blind Rooster, When He Comes." Well, dat's de way dat is. See, yo' take dat rooster one eye. Den yo' kill him an' yo' take his drumstick when all de meat is done 'way - done eat de meat off yo'self. Take dat drumstick an' yo' go ahead an' yo' put it in yore pocket.
(What do you put in your pocket, the eye or the drumstick?)
No, not de eye, jes' de thigh an' let somebody else eat de meat off it. [He calls the thigh bone a drumstick, a term usually reserved for the leg bone. Thigh in old-fashioned country-fried chicken was never called second joint, a carving term; the chicken being completely disjointed and cut up when fried raw.] (What do you do with that eye that you took off the rooster, what do you do with that eye?) Well, yo' see -
(You just blind the rooster?)
Yeah, jes' blind de rooster in dat one eye. Den yo' take dat othah eye an' put undah de back do'step yo' know. An' so whenevah de mawnin' when yo' goin' tuh learn tuh pick de guitar, an' cut. tricks, yo' know, yo' got dat rooster drumstick in yore pocket.
(You kill the rooster and eat him?)
Uh-huh, kill de rooster an' eat him, but don' eat none of it yo'self, see: Yo' git de drumstick an' de eye - take de eye time yo' kill him an' bury it undah de do'step an' let nobody know whut chew done wit it. Den yo' take de drumstick an' yo' go down to fo'ks of de road Sunday mawnin 'fore day, jes' right round 'bout three a'clock an' when yo' git down dere, yo' wanta learn tuh play de guitar. So de first Sunday mawnin' yo' go dere, well, yo' don't stay but 'bout eight or ten minutes - give yo' eight or ten minutes. Well now, whenevah yo' 'cide tuh leave dere, if yo' go dere fo' dat business, yo' know, well, yo' drop dat bone down right in de middle of de fo'ks of de road, near as yo' know, say, "Well, dey ain't nobody heah dis mawnin', thigh, but me, an' so's yo'." Now yo' ain't goin' say nuthin'. Well, yo' start to pickin' yo' guitar an' whenevah yo' startin' tuh pickin' yore guitar, the corner of that bone round dere would be heah, an' it will keep changin' but yo'll nevah see it change dat mawnin'. Yo'll look at it - one end of it's small an' de othah end large, yo' know. Co'se it be larger up heah, yo' know, den it would be down dere, but that end will be round, that end, an' ever' time yo' pick a tune, it will be changin' - yo' know yo' comin' on den wit de guitar, yo' know whut chew done. An' when it quit changin' yo' know it time tuh go.'Well, '' yo' say, "nex' Sunday mawnin'." If yo' want it be at twelve a'clock, yo' say, "Twelve a'clock an' it change agin. Not watch it yo' know, an' whatevah yo' see it comin' at de change, yo' jes' hold it at dat hour an' yo' come de next time dat hour an' - so - on whenevah Sunday mawnin' come agin, yo' go back dere. Well, whut yo' do dat time, yo' go back dere an' yo' set right down, right up on de - sit down dere an' pick. Say, "Dere's nobody tuh worry yo' ah ain't got but one eye." An' yo'll see a sheep - a sheep will come up cross de road an' git right in de road an' face yo' an' look mournful an' pitiful, an' yo'll look at dat sheep an' keep on pickin' an' dat sheep atter while will vanish away. Atter while yo' see somepin black comin'. Well, dey'll pass on by, won't stop dat time. Well, it's time tuh go den. Yo' goes de nex' time. Well, de nex' time yo' go dere, yo' guitar will git pickin' bettah an' bettah. Well, whut'll drive yo' 'way dat time, yo'll heah a cow come 'long. Well, yo'll nevah see dat cow dat time, an' fore yo' leave - yo stay dere 'bout a hour dat time befo' yo' leave, an' if anybody on de road kin see yo' or anything, den dat cow de las' time she'll low, she say, "Aah-aah-do sound lak she say. An' it's time tuh go den. An' so yo' go dat time. An' de next time yo' go dere, dere a lil' ole funny boy will come out an' yo' speak to him an' he'll play all dumb, an' yo' not know a thing about him. Well, it natural sometime yo'll run up on people yo' nevah knew. An' yo' git picking de guitar till yo' git tuh messin' wit him, an' quite natural yo' think he'll not keep it, keep it down. Well, at least it wus wit me. An' ah got tuh playin' an' fust thing ah knows he had two lil' ole sticks yo' know, an' keep playin' it on, dat bark got to ringin', yo' know, good, an' ah kept playin', kept playin' an' ah wus playing one tune an' when de guitar got playin' anothah, ah change back. An' den ah didn't have tuh go no mo'. Ah didn't have tuh go no mo' 'tall 'cause ah got playin' so's ah could play anything ah want. Ah have been where ah could lay de guitar upside down an' stan' beside it - it would ring right on. Dat's true. But ah laid off of it. Way ah wus doin', ah'd be a speck mo' den ah is. Ah went dere 'bout - ah missed two Sundays an' ah got off on de guitar a lil' bit, an' ah went back den on a Sunday mawnin' an' ah met somepin dere. Well, people say yo' meet de devil, but tell de truth 'bout de thing, ah don't know if it wus de devil or not. It wus a black something othah jes' 'bout dat high - sorta 'mind me of a dog. He had han's lak a dog when ah fus' seen him but fust an' last his han' wus jes' lak mine only it wus jes' as hot as could be. Well, ah wus drinkin' putty ha'd dat mawnin' tuh hol' mah nerve, but ah warn't drunk, an' he took dat guitar an' got tuh pickin' an' he changed it back tuh me. Well, atter while ah got tuh de place ah could pick anything. An' de bottom of mah shoe, ah had had a sole an' hit wus 'bout tuh come off, yo' know, an' he says, "Gimme yore soul" - whut he says. Ah wus gittin' ready tuh leave yo' know. Ah say, "Well, nobody knows." An' ah says, "Good-day" - jes' lak dat an' turn roun an' he say, "Gimme yore soul befo' yo' goes." Ah went an' pulled de half-sole off mah shoe an' gi' him de sole, yo' see, an' he disappeahed. Well, ah went on back tuh de house an' ah got tuh play - ah got tuh pick de guitar extra good. (Were you supposed to do anything else the rest of the times you were supposed to go out there?) De nine days?
(If you keep on going out there what happens?)
Yo' keep on goin' dere? Well, yo' see if yo' keep on goin' dere, yo' kin go dere eight mo' days on Sunday mawnin' an' yo' git to de place, de devil will give yo' a root. Dere's somepin come out lak a dog an' he'll come by an' he'll drop somepin down - it's 'bout six inches long, jes' 'bout lak dat. He be runnin' jes' lak a dog or somepin an' drop somepin yo' know, an' quite natchral yo'll pick it up yo' know. An' yo' pick it up an' yo' keep dat. If yo' offah tuh show it tuh somebody, dey cain't see it - [dey] say, "Yo' ain't got nuthin' in yore han'." Yo' cain't see it. Well, if yo' try tuh show it to dem, dey don't hardly believe yo'. So yo' keep dat in yore pocket till yo' git to de house an' git a chance tuh go down 'side de spring an' bury it. Well, de day yo' bury dat, if yo' bury it deep enough, yo'll nevah find it yo'self, but yo'll have luck de longest day yo' live. But chew go' tuh dat crossroads nine Sunday mawnin's. Well, dat ninth mawnin' yo' know, yo' done made dat aftah yo' done learn tuh pick de guitar. Well, yo' don't have but seven mo'. An' yo' go dere seven mo' Sunday mawnin's. Well, yo' beat right on de guitar. Yo' kin cut all kinda tricks den an' de devil will show yo' how tuh manage tricks. Yo' kin see the police dere an' everything in close places, an' how tuh git out chew know, an' ever'thing.[ Fayetteville, N. Car.,
(1438), 2581:1.]
Entry 342
I did hear once [of a man] sellin' hisself to the devil with a black chicken, you understan'. He wus, seemed to be kinda unlucky - you see, couldn't have any luck country-fashion an' so he went to a witch. She tole 'im, she says, "You're crossed with bad luck, you can't have no good luck." Well, he ast her how she could do. She said, "Well, I'll tell you wha' choo do. Now, you go to work," she says, "now, you git a black rooster." She says, "You take this black rooster, take 'im to a runnin' stream, an' you cut his throat, you see, an' hol' 'im up over de Water like that, an' as that blood drips, say, "Nick, Nick, black cock, over the Water, please to teach me to be one quarter as wise as thou." An' repeat that over nine times while the blood runs. An' you can take the carcass an' throw it away if you wanta." An' they say from right then you're sold to the devil - you're supposed to belong to him body an' soul. Yes sir, that was a ole sayin' at home in Tennessee.
The rooster occurs in a witch's reported instruction within a heard account involving animal harm; its effects are unverified.
Entry 343
Say, if yo' kin take a frog outa God an' put 'im in man - an' build yo' a brush heap an' stand in de smoke of it, say de devil will appear befo' yo' lak a nachur'l man, an' he'll talk wit chew, an' den he'll tell yo' whut chew kin do.
(You take a frog out of what did you say?)
Take him out God hide an' put him in man hide - now, ah don't know whut dey meant by dat.
(You take this frog out of God hide and put him in man hide.)
[Burning a frog takes the animal out of the hide God gave him and by means of the smoke puts him within man's hide. The smoke, as in ancient burnt offerings, is the spirit of the sacrificial gift. Once inside man, the spiritual smoke could become a frog. Usually, live things put in a person is done by using the blood or powdered body of the animal in a person's food or drink.] Yes, an' then build a brush heap an' set it afire an' git in de smoke of it.
(You put this frog in there alive.)
De devil will appear befo' yo' lak a nachur'l man an' talk wit yo' - tell yo' whut all yo' could do.
Entry 344
I heard you have to go to a runnin' stream whare the water runs clear an' go thare nine mornin's, an' read a certain chapter somewhare, the Bible, on ever' mornin'. An' when you go the ninth mornin' you meet the devil thare on the ninth mornin' an' he'll give you a test. An' if you kin stand the test after you git thare that he puts on you, says you kin do anything you want to an' he'll defend yo'. You kin go out an' kill a person almost an' he'll clare you.
Entry 345
Dey tell me dat chew take a Bible an' go to de crossroads on a Sunday night at twelve a'clock an' yo' read, but chew have tuh read it backwards - an' when yo' read one verse, dey say yo' hear de voice of de next verse somewhere in de woods; an' when yo' finish it up, dat chew have sold yoreself to de devil. Dat's all ah know 'bout dat.
Entry 346
You meet there every morning regular for nine mornings at the same hour or late at night [to] get [learn] your music. And I was told you get on yore knees and prays backwards, but pray not to God but to the devil - see, you pray backwards. And the devil will assist you along dat line, if you kin stand there. If you kin stand the test, den you would get graduated. But I did never go out - don't know whether you get graduated or not.
Entry 347
I had a party to tell me tha' chew could go to a four crossroad - what is called a four-way road [a crossroad] - for nine mornings at one partic'lar hour in de morning, and dance and sing and put on a little program such as you're able to do, and on the ninth morning the devil'll put in his appearance or some of his imps and give you the power to accomplish what you want to do. And this one boy did do it, but he - and also you can do it by goin' to the woods. And there's a certain location in the woods tha' chew kin do it. And this boy did do it - had he carried it out, he was on his ninth morning. And when a big black man came from behind a pine tree and come to him a-laughin', he couldn't stand it and he run and left it.
Entry 348
Dere wus mah ole granddaddy, ah used tuh hear him tell it de way he had a uncle doin' it - dat he wanted to be good wit his boss. He would go out to a road-crossin' [crossroad] befo' day in de mawnin' at fo' 'clock - well, when it is winter in de fall of de yeah. An' he'd go dere fo' so many mawnin's an' stan' in dat road-crossin' an' make his wishes. He'd go dere de first mawnin' an' he'd make his wish an' he would go back fo' de second mawnin' an' make his wish; he went back dere de third mawnin' an' he made his wish an' he didn't see anything. He went back de fo'th mawnin' an' made his wish an' he wus tole tuh turn aroun'. When he turn aroun' he seed a man, a great big black man, an' dat man ast him whut did he want. Said he tole him dat he wanted luck. He said, "Well, go back, an' come back fo' nine mawnin's. An' he went back an' de ninth mawnin' he met dis man dere agin an' he ast, "Whut chew come fo'?" He said, "Well, ah come fo' luck." He said, "Well, it's one thing yo' will have tuh do." Said, "Yo' will have to not serve nobody but me." An' he ast him, he says, "Kin yo' say, God isn't all?" An' he tole, says, "Well, ah will serve yo'." Dat whut wus called sellin' yo'self to de devil. Well, de devil ast him, says, "Do yo' believe in God?" He says, "Yes." He says, "Yo' cain't serve me." Den he went back an' ast him agin. He says, "No, ah believe in yo'." An' he tole him den, says, "Ah'm goin' make yo' a part ruler ovah de whole earth as long as yo' serve me, an' yo' must cuss God three times." Say he cuss God three times. An' he tole him tuh go then an' git a black cat an' throw dat black cat into boilin' watah. He tuk dat black cat an' throw it in boilin' watah, an' de bone dat come on top, he took it. An' he says, "Now, when's [when it's] de time tuh git ready fo' a piece of money, git where it is, an' says yo' jes' take dis piece [bone] an' put it in yore mouth an' go an' git de money an' walk on out." An' said, dis uncle [went] down dere [a bank?] one day an' dey all wus sittin' in dere countin' out money, he put it [bone] in his mouth an' walked in dere an' git de money an' walked on out. An' well, ah 'member de time - lota people used tuh tell it dat he used tuh go down to de sto's an' git things in de name of G. Berry. His name was G. Berry. Said G. Berry would go down to de sto's an' git shoes or anything he wanted an' come on out an' de wouldn't see him till he take dat bone out his mouth. See. Dey git atter him an' put de houn's on him, de dogs on him. An' he'd ran an' ran an' put dat thing in his mouth an' de dogs turn roun', dey nevah could run him back. He'd run an' de dogs couldn't see him. De dogs jes' runnin' an' howlin' an' jes' goin' on. An' one time dey put him in jail - dat wus in mah days when ah wus a boy. An' dey put him in jail an' when dey come out - dey locked him up an' come outa jail, dere G. Berry sittin' right on de steps.
(Where did he live?)
He lived in Tifton, Georgia.
Entry 349
If you want to know how to play a banjo or a guitar or do magic tricks, you have to sell yourself to the devil. You have to go to the cemetery nine mornings and get some of the dirt and bring it back with you and put it in a little bottle, then go to some fork of the road and each morning sit there and try to play that guitar. Don't care what you see come there, don't get 'fraid and run away. Just stay there for nine mornings and on the ninth morning there will come some rider riding at lightning speed in the form of the devil. You stay there then still playing your guitar and when he has passed you can play any tune you want to play or do any magic trick you want to do because you have sold your- self to the devil.
Entry 350
If dey go out dere, dey call dat prayin' to de devil or do somebody a dirty trick, yo' know. Well, ah heard dat yo' go out dere nine mawnin's an' bo' a hole an' git some graveyard dust an' put in it, an' dey say yo' git down on yore knees ovah dat graveyard dust fo' nine mawnin's an' pray whatevah yo' want to be done, say dey'll do it. Bo' a hole right at de fo'k of de road.
Entry 351
A man once, he sold hisself to de devil. So he got ready, he went in de cemetery, he stepped across sev'ral graves, you know, an' he cursed an' he sold hisself to de devil. So ev'ry day at dinnertime when he go for his lunch he'd go off to hisself an' eat. So at last one time he wus settin' off to hisself, he wus talkin', he wus feedin' somepin. They say it wus a little black thing there an' he wus feedin' it. It looked like a little dog, like. It had long ears an' de ears hung down on de groun'. So after that, well, he got ready an' he said he thought this thing got more than he did to eat of it. So he chopped this concern acrost de haid wid this spoon w'ut he had eaten out of. So when this thing came again it told him, it said, "Next time I come, I'm gon'a care [carry] you with me." So after that, well, when this thing came again it smacked de man. An' when it smacked de man, it jis' burnt de whole side of his face [see No. 103]. An' de man went when he [this thing] went.
The burning is narrated within the story; the adjacent cross-reference is editorial.
Entry 352
Yo' kin go to de fo'k of de road an' ever'body's mad wit chew. Yo' go dere a rainy bitter night an' set down, an' jes' lak ah lak a dead man - if yo' know any murderer, yo' call his name. Well, heah will come a cat sweepin' aroun' an' aroun', talkin' cat, and - yo' take peppah an' salt with yuh, an' [while] dat cat turn aroun', throw dat salt on him. An' says, "Yo' son of a bitch, yo' come out heah." But yo' go out dere agin de nex' night, an' dis man will be settin' right dere. Yo' goin' kill him or do whut chew please with him. He be right dere to de crossroads.
(You throw this salt on the cat?)
On de cat.
Entry 353
If yo' wanta be a professional gambler, why yo' git chew a deck of cards an' go in de cemetery aftah hours in de night, jes' aftah twelve a'clock, an' go to de first man grave in de cemetery an' straddle de grave. When yo' straddle de grave, somebody will come dere an' play a game or two with you, until you see a light comin' 'cross de cemetery an' dat'll be de ole devil. "If yo' kin stan' de temptation till he git dere wit dat light, den he'll play wit chew, an' when he git through playin' wit chew, why yo' be a 'fessional gambler. (Who plays with you first? Or do you just pretend you are playing with some- body?) Well, it'll be - dat bad fellah down in de ground dere, he'll stay tuh play wit chew, until de devil git dere.
(Well, do you call that bad fellow's spirit up in any way? Or what?)
Well, yo' kin call it but it's not necessary.
(You just go to the grave and play with this spirit?)
Yo' git company time yo' straddle de grave - time yo' straddle de grave an' shuffle yore cards, dere'll be somebody dere tuh take de cards up, den start playing wit chew.
Entry 354
If ah want tuh go gamblin', go to a crossroads 'fore de sunup an' have de dice in yore han's, an' look at de sun when she start tuh peepin' up, an' yo' stay dere an' shook dem dice at dat crossroads until de sun gits up where yo' kin see it. Ah'll do this - thrown 'em out, thrown 'em out. Ah'll do this In de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost. An' ev'ry time yo' throw 'em out Pop yo' fingers - "Dat ah may be lucky in my travels [quotation?]." Ev'r time yo' throw 'em out pop yore fingers an' aftah while yo' see de sun rise. It will rise jes' a little bit up, after yo' done say de names - yo' see, it will rise jes' a little bit up. Ah used to be a gambler but ah quit it.
(That will teach you how to be a good gambler?)
Yes.
Entry 355
He wanted to become a dice-shooter, an' he was to go to dis holly [tree] nine mornings an' play, you know, [with] whatever come. An' I think prob'ly de firs' mornin' come was - prob'ly - I think it was a rooster, a big dark rooster. Well he played craps with him. An' then the nex' [second] Sunday come - why a -
(He had to go nine Sunday mornings?)
Nine Sunday mornings.
(Any particular time?)
I think it was nine o'clock. An' de nex' [third] Sunday mornin' he played with a drake. See, wouldn't be no females; always be males there they played with - would come to him. An' the nex' Sunday mornin' 'twas - it went up a little from a fowl and went to - a dog come. An' at de fo'th Sunday mornin' he says a - it went a little futher - he said a bull come. An' he said he played with him an' he was gittin' along good; said he won all - they played craps. An' the nex' Sunday mornin' he said a white horse come with no head, an' eyes at de shoulders. He said he hadn't got scared yet. An' he said he played craps with him. An' de nex' [sixth] Sunday mornin' he says a - I don't know - he says de image of a man came but he jes' couldn't zackly figure out. But anyhow, he jes' took a chance an' played right on' an' he said he beat him. An' he said he played on an' on till de ninth Sunday mornin' an' when de devil came hisself, he didn't git scared. He said he heerd a great - act like de win', you know, comin' in a whurl [whirlwind]. He says, "I know," he says, "that mus be de Ole Man hisself." Well, then [he] shuck his dice an' throwed eleven - that was a winnin' pint [point]. An' when he got there, he said, played craps with de devil; said he was a lucky man gamblin' ever since. [For devil in whirlwind, see Nos. 167-183, and No.361.]
Entry 356
Now, de fo'ks of de road - now, in case dis is whut chew wanta do, if yo' wanta learn hoodooism. See, if you wanta learn hoodooism, you go to de fo'ks of de road. Go dere - yo' leave home zactly five minutes of twelve an' make it dere at twelve 'clock - make it dere zactly twelve an' have yo' a fo'k. Git chew a bran'-new silver fo'k an' git to de fo'ks of de road an' git down on your knees an' stick dat fo'k in de groun'; see, an' anything on earth yo' wants tuh learn an' know, things will come 'fore yo an' tell yo' what to do. See. But chew got'a be dere zactly twelve 'clock - go dere de third day but it's got'a be in de night, twelve 'clock in de night.
Entry 357
Well, whatevah yore desires is, yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road - one goin' yonder way an' one goin' dis way, lak dat. Well, dat's a fo'k, see. Well, yo' stand direct in de fo'ks of dat road an' look towards de sun jes' befo' it rise. Yo' makes yore wishes an' whatevah yo' wants done or did why yo' say dat an' den make a wish In de Name of de Father, an' de Son an' de Holy Ghost. Dat's de climax on whatevah yo' wish fo'. Do dat fo' nine mawnin's befo' de sun rise. Be shore yo' do dat befo' de sun rise an' yore wishes will come true.
The informant describes standing at road forks facing sunrise on nine mornings, expressing wishes in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The account gives a promised outcome without specifying a devil encounter or applying neighboring rites' requirements.
Entry 358
Whenever somebody wants some help, dey go to the forks of the road for nine mornings and carries some kin'a music piece with 'em - a banjo box or either some, you know, record. And the sun'll move jis' like dis here [demonstrates].
(Sun swings back and forth like a pendulum.)
You'll meet de devil dere every morning for nine mornings and de ninth morning dey'll be some form dere to show you da' [dat] chew want. And after the nine mornings you'll have anything you want and you'll be lucky. If you be gamblin', yo' go to a skin game and you'll win every time, see. But, if you turn back and startin' doin' any, you know, things dat de Lord would wan' chew to do, you can't ast de devil for nothin' else. You couldn't curse and get nothin' else da' chew want [one relapse and you are unsold to the devil].
Entry 359
You go out under a holly tree for nine Sunday mornings and whatever you wanted to be or to play, on de ninth Sunday morning de devil would come himself. On the ninth Sunday morning if you wanted to be a dancer, the devil would come himself and strike a step. But he [a man known to the informant] couldn't stand it. The pressure was too heavy. I heard him laughing about it many a time. [For holly tree, see also No. 355.]
Entry 360
Take ever' Sunday mornin' before sunup, about seven [Sundays] I think, an' go out in de woods an' go to a ole dogwood. Do ever'thing you kin do mean - say anything you kin to it [the tree]. You bury your face up [against the tree] an' de devil'll send his imps. An' de seven years up [the seven-year period for which you sold yourself to the devil], you can't rest, you can't stay in de house, you jis' have to walk all de time. Den, after a while he come an' git joo an' care [carry] you away.
Walking is the claimed later compulsion in the account; its cause and effect are unverified.
Entry 361
They say you kin go to the huckleberry bush - the devil's huckleberry bush - ever' Sunday morning fer nine Sunday morning, an' on the ninth Sunday morning, why, when he goes theah, he stays theah a while an' he cuts up [clowns] an' waits an' sings songs, an' aftah while the devil meets 'im. He hears a great ruslin' [rustling] in de leaves an' things, then the devil comes up. [A great ruslin' in de leaves shows the devil arriving in a whirlwind - see Nos. 167-183, and No. 355.] The devil comes up - him an' de devil has a talk - an' dey talk togethah, stayed theah an' talked togethah a while. Then aftah dat he sells hisself to the devil. Then the devil tells 'im he kin do jis' whut he please - nothin' won't hurt him, he would not have to work hard, an' de likes of that. Then he goes back [home]. An' den when he goes to work, why some ole man hires 'im - some white man hires 'im to work fer 'im. One day he wus settin' in the woods, cuttin' wood, haulin' logs, an' one thing anothah. Well, he goes in the woods an' goes to work. An' he works theah an' goes up that night an' he tells his master how much wood he had cut or how many logs he had mauled [split with a maul and wedge into cordwood]. Well, he didn't believe he had done all that work, so he makes up his mind that he would watch. So one day when he went out to work, why the man that bossed, he kin'a watched at 'im. So, aftah he went to work, why he went out theah an' hid himself. An'. he heard the axes a-goin', cuttin', an' chips a-flyin', an' de logs an' wood a-bustin'. He watched an' he start to creppin' [creeping] through the woods an' got a little closer to 'im. Seein' 'im, he wus settin' upon a stump whettin' his axe, whistlin', singin' - he had some little things theah playin' with. Well, them boys wus workin'! He had a crowd of 'em theah workin'! The logs wus a- flyin', they's pilin' up wood an' cordin' wood. It scared the ole man. He couldn't see nobody with 'im until he got right theah. He could see all these here little boys theah a-workin'. When he got there all these scattered. He went back - went back in the house. An' aftah while he come up, he tole 'im whut he had done. So this ole white man he got scared of 'im. So he discharged 'im. [FeW present-day readers can appreciate the activity here, the cording of wood. I have never cut a cord of wood but I have watched axmen cut and cord, and I have carried many cords cut up into the usual three sticks. Those devil's imps began work by driving down into the ground two solid stakes about two feet six inches apart and four feet high; then, eight feet away and parallel, two similar stakes were driven down, thus:--------: Wood was then cut into four- foot lengths - smaller logs round, large ones split - and stacked between these four stakes, so that the stack or pile filled this 132 cubic feet space; 128 being wood, the other 4 air space.]
Entry 362
Dey go to de fo'k of de road if yo' wanta learn to do any trick or to have people, or to win some goal or 'nothah. Yo' go to de road an' lay flat on yore back on a Sunday mawnin', an' anything dat yo' wish fo, it would appear, an' yo' could perform de action whut chew wish fo'. Ah heard that once there was a man he wanted tuh learn jes' tuh be a banjo picker, an' he undertake to try dat same trick at de fo'k of de road. He went tuh de road undah a tree an' he lied flat on his back, an' fin'lly he got so he could pick a tune on his banjo. An' de folks didn't wanta believe it dat he had learnt that way, so he made de second trip in order to prove it, an' his han' become tied to his banjo at de fo'k of de road on a Sunday mawnin'. [Tied to log, see No.75.]
The informant reports lying at road forks on Sunday morning to gain abilities, with a hearsay story of a banjo learner returning to prove it and becoming tied to the banjo. Hyatt cross-references a log account; the differing object is not reconciled into this story.
Entry 363
You go out there [to the forks of a road] aroun' about four a'clock - jis' commence dawnin' day, jis' about crack of day - an' start a-pickin' at de guitar. You go jis' onest. An' they says de devil came out an' take it - jis' somepin will pull it from you, you jis' give up to it. An' he'll tune up an' hand it back to you and you start to play. You can pick any song you want to pick.
Entry 364
There was a man who wanted to play an accordion and he didn't know how to play it. And someone told him that if he would go to the forks of a road nine Sunday mornings in succession, one after the other, at four o'clock, and on the ninth morning if he could stand what he saw, he would be a musician. So he went those periods of time and the last morning as he went across the field he heard a noise. When he was sitting in the forks of the road he heard an accordion playing a long time before it got to him. He said the accordion was about the size of a horsecart body. He was coming across the field playing the accordion. And just a little before he got to him, he began to sing Darling, where have you been? Where have you been so long? I'm on my way to the Old Shell Road. Then when he got to this man he clicked his tail on the ground, the same as a whip, and presented him that accordion. The man couldn't stand for it and jumped up and run. [old Point Comfort, Va., (27), Ed.; happened in Elizabeth City Co. Va.,1918, so informant says.]
Entry 365
Now a man kin get about as high as he wants to by going to de forks of de road. You kin go to de forks of de road, if you wanta do anything - you wanta become a professional musician or a man to do slight of hand or anything or walk out of people's sight. You kin go to de forks of de road and instead of praying to de Lord like most de people pray dey sins away, you pray to de devil. Well, de first morning you is there, it prob'bly may get a little windy. You do that for nine mornings. The next morning you may meet a bunch of birds, chickens or something like that. And the ninth morning you go there, you'll meet the devil himself. Well, if you got guts enough to stay dere and face what he's going to tell you, you'll be all right - you kin do anything you wanta do.
Entry 366
If you want to learn to play music or a fiddle, a man told a fellow what to do. He told him to go down to two roads [crossroad or fork of road] before sunup and turn his back to the sunrise and lay on his face, and no matter what noise he heard, never to turn around, never to raise his head and look at it. If you can stand that you can learn to play music. The fellow was laying down. He heard something, he was laying there, the sun was rising, and he looked behind him. It was a big blacksnake. He jumped up and lit out. He didn't learn how to play the music. Then he went back to the man that was learning him and he told him he couldn't learn him. So he went there again the next morning, real early, with the sunrise on him. He was laying there and something run out of the pasture, it was a big black bull, and run directly at him, and he jumped up and run. And he couldn't play the music. He didn't try to do it any more.
Entry 367
The piece he wanted to play was called The Fisherman's Hornpipe - seeming that he couldn't git right on his wyolin. So an' ole feller' tole him one time, he said, he says, "You go to a crossroad at twelve o'clock at night" - it's a road goin' that way and one goin' that way direction - and he said, "Take your wyolin wid jeh." And he says, "It will be a man will come. You set there and play till twelve o'clock. It will be a man will come," he said, "but don't chew mind," he said, "that." He was supposed to go nine nights. The ninth night the devil would come and start to play. He could play anything he wanted after the ninth night. Of course, he said he went. He set there and played this wyolin till twelve. He said he thought a man, but it was a bull come. No, it was a lamb. The first thing come was a lamb, the first night. He said, he passing along wery carefully, this lamb. The next night, the second night, he goes back again, sets and plays till twelve o'clock at this crossroad. The second night, he said, there was a breeze, and wind come as though the whole woods was falling, every tree was falling. And he goes back the third night and plays. The third night, he said there was a bull come through a-slinging fire, wid eyes just as red as could be. And he still set there and played. The fourth night he go back again. He said it was a band of six men come up with a coffun, set this coffun down, begin to take the leads off. Well, he couldn't stand that. He said he had to leave.
Entry 368
Go out to de fo'ks of de road an' stand when yo' git to the fo'ks of de road. Yo' goes out there an' meets - somepin comes to 'im. Dey say somepin comes tuh yo' an' tells yo' to come to de fo'ks of de road fo' nine mawnin's an' meet jes' whatevah he wants done. Jes' lak if he wants tuh be a musician. Well, yo' take an' go to de fo'ks of de road fo' nine mawnin's, if yo' wants tuh be a piano player or guitar player, yo' take that guitar an' go to the road fo'ks fo' nine mawnin's. When yo' git there then start tuh playin'. Well, dere somepin comes up 'cross de field behin' yo' lookin' jes' lak a cow. Well, maybe it have great big eyes when it git there. Why heah come snakes - a snake will come up there. Heah'll come a cat up. Heah'll come a dog up. Heah come a lion. Heah come a beah. Maybe a big smoke drop down ovah yo - drop right down ovah yo' an' yo' stand there an' meet that fo' nine mawnin's an' aftah de nine mawnin's, yo' supposed tuh leave an' go play any kind of music dat chew wanta.[ Fayetteville, N. Car., (1422), 2562:5.]
Entry 369
He [informant's father] was a great violin player - guess he wasn't a violin player, he was a fiddler in them days, you see. So he was a great fiddler and he fiddled and he was de best dey was around in de neighborhood where he was. I think it was in Westmoreland County, Virginia. So, after awhile another fellah come aroun' dere, could fiddle as good as him and he didn't want dat; he wanted to be de king bee, he wanted to be de best one. So he heard de ole people speak, you understand, dat if he went to work and went to de crossroad, you see - either crossroad or three forks of de road - twelve a'clock on a Sunday night, and take his violin and set down there and play, why de devil would come and learn him how to play. He made up his mind he was goin' to do it. So he said one Sunday night he takes his violin and goes to - he didn't go to the three forks, he went to de crossroads, one way go here and one go here. He said there was a big line- stone [boundary stone], so he set on this linestone and begin to play his violin. And de first he heard was. a - it sound like to him that it Was someone coming down de road on a horseback, coming like somebody galloping on a horse, you know. So he set there and he begin to play right smart. So dis horse kept comin' and gallopin'. De horse don't git no closeter. Well, he was setting on this line- stone, you understand, with his back to some little bushes. So after awhile dis man stopped on dis horse, he don't hear him no more. He kept playing, wondering why dis man don't come up, and there was a noise in the bushes behind him. He turned around and looked. My father said there was a black dog. The way he said it was half tall as a man. He said when he turned around the dog looked him in the face with great big eyes. He looked at it. He said he believed if de dog come up even [in front of] him he could have made it, but this dog come up behind him. He didn't like that. Of course he got up and left. But he told me, 'If you don't believe it, you try it."
Entry 370
If a man wants to sell hisself to the devil, why - if he wants to play a banjah [banjo] good, he's to go to a four-corner road [crossroad] nine mornings. You go ever' morning till the ninth morning. He sets along there playing de banjah until after awhile a lot of things would come up. They'll go around him nine times. And after awhile the last one behin'll ast him what would he rather do, do what dey doin' or serve de Lord. The man said do what they're doin'. He can bang his banjah up and he'll play on de ball anywhere.
Entry 371
Dey goes to de fo'k of de road to learn how to pick a guitar, an' dey goes to de fo'k of de road to do all diff'rent works.
(Do you know what they do when they get out there?)
Yes sir, dey goes to de fo'ks of de road - on de guitar pickin', now, ah'm goin' give yo' first on dat. When dey goes down to de fo'k of de road fo' guitar pickin', dey take a guitar - dat's a person nevah have know how to pick a guitar. Well, in goin' tuh de fo'k of de road at twelve 'clock at night wit a fifty-cent piece in yore hand, wit de guitar in yore hand - well, de devil walks up dere an' takes dis guitar outa yore hand an' picks a piece, de piece dat dey's tryin' tuh pick yo' know fo' months or somepin like dat. An' then dey lays de fifty-cent piece down an' he picks it up, an' after he picks de fifty-cent piece up, den he picks de guitar up an' he picks de same piece dat dey been tryin' tuh learn. Den dey [pupil] - de devil supposed to be backin' his life - den he [pupil] picks de box up himself an' after picking de box up, he'll pick dat same piece an' any other piece dat he wants tuh play. Ah knows a fellow right chere now done de same identical thing, in Waycross.
Entry 372
This man came out on the little end of this one. He sold himself to the devil. This happened right here in Snow Hill. I heard a man say that he wanted to play a banjo better than anybody in Snow Hill. A man came to him who could beat him playing a banjo and he went to see a man to see what he could do to learn how to play a banjo better than this other fellow. The man told him to go and get himself two tin plates, and go in the woods eight mornings straight and kneel between two tall oak trees, and rub these tin plates together, to sell himself to the devil, and pray to the devil that his heart would be as free of Jesus Christ as these tin plates are of rust - brand-new tin plates, too. And he did that thing. He got so he could play a guitar [banjo]. He done it seven mornings. And the eighth morning he went out there with these two bright shiny tin plates, playing a guitar, to be as free of Jesus Christ as these two tin plates were of rust, and one of these tall oak trees started to twisting around, you know, and moving. And he jumped. And the time he jumped, one of the limbs fell off. He left there - and the guitar, too.
Entry 373
Ah've heard dat yo' go to de fo'k of de road between midnight an' day an' yo' take with yo' a violin, an' whatevah de person wants tuh do at de fo'k of de road between twelve an' one a'clock in de night, dey say they will play that violin an' whatevah evil dey wants done, why that evil spirit will come tuh dem. An' dey will have a conversation wit de evil spirit an' dey kin call dat evil spirit to dwell around an' aggravate de person dat dey want dis evil thing done to. An' will cause dis person, yo' know, to lose his mind like yo' know, an holler things in de night.
Entry 374
[Years ago when the informant lived in Louisville, Kentucky, he did a great amount of gambling without much success. A friend offered to make him a successful gambler, provided he would participate in a certain rite. To perform this ceremony, both men one dark night went out in the woods, where the friend immediately made a large mud pie. Then, taking from his pocket a red-flannel ball which he began to roll round the outside of the pie, he asked the informant to cut the pie with a knife. But, before the latter could overcome his timidity, things began to happen. It lightened and thundered. Dishes dropped from the sky and broke on the ground. A cock appeared and began to crow. Knowing the cock to be the devil, the informant began to run and never stopped until he reached Louisville.]
Entry 375
(How do you sell yourself to the devil - what is the story?)
De way yo' sells yo'self tuh de devil, yo' got'a take somebody yo' dearly loves - a chile dat yo' dearly loves, if it's yore own chile or yore sister's chile dat yo' dearly love, an' not feel sorry for 'em an' kill it, an' go an' hide it an' bury it. Den yo've sold yoreself to de devil. Dere's no way atall fo' yo' tuh gain influence wit God agin, but still yo' goin' tuh live yo' days out. An' den de devil will learn yo' anything yo' wanta know - yo' kin do anything yo' wanta do. [For killing baby, see comment in No. 307.]
Entry 376
When I was a child we played a game as we touched seven telegraph posts then looked in seven alleyways you'd see the devil riding a white horse.
(What was the name of the game?) It was just a ghost game. We played it in Carlisle [Penn.].
Entry 377
If you run around de house seven times and look over your left shoulder you'll see de devil. [The devil is reduced to a children's gamel] [Deal Island, Md., (120), 33:3.] [Every night of the year hunters for buried treasure are out digging; daily all year persons seek hidden hordes in old houses and delapidated city apart- ments, ripping up a floor or tearing out plaster. Treasure hunting is something more than monetary value - it is a part of eternal hope, a mystical quest, the satisfaction of an unfulfilled dream.] [This endless search for desired wealth is very much the work of doctors, some of them being experts in the field - see margin-titles Treasure Expert fram New Jersey and Professor Frank of New Orleans and Doctor Washington of Charleston at the end of this subsection.]
Entry 378
This man was a very rich white man, jest about - oh, [my grandfather heard this] sometime when he was growing [up] - mah grandfather he did this [treasure hunted], too. That [hunting] was when he was about twenty some years old - [he] didn't go [back] to slavery too, yo' know [grandfather born after slavery]. All right, [grandfather] said dat dis man was very rich, and he was old an' he didn't need the money. He was old and he had an idea he would die soon. So he took dis chest of money out - way out in dis big - had a big plantation. An he took a Negro man out dere wit him - one of his best strongest Negroes he had on his place. Mah grandpa tole me about it. It took five or six boys to lift dis big heavy chest out de wagon - two wheeled wagon an' set it on de ground. All right, now. He say he wrote his sons three names - only three boys he had living, on a piece of paper an' put it in dis trunk; wrote de boys names on a piece of paper, all three names yo' know, an' put it in dis trunk. All right, den dey say, after he got de trunk set on de ground, he tole de other boys to go on away, "Go on back, Boys, or go on down a piece an' take de wagon" - go on back up dere an' being doing something to keep from being around. All right, it was sitting on de ground by a oak tree. All right now, he asked dis Negro boy, say, "Yo' promise yo'll take care of dis money fo' my boys, heah." De Negro said, "Yes sir, sure do - dat a good-weather job." He say, "Now, lookit heah, ah want chew to take care of de money for me." "Yes sir." So de man had, dey say, had a pistol in his pocket. So he showed John some- thing to 'tract his 'tention, jes' lak, "Say, John, whut's dat ovah yonder?" An' quite natch'ly when he looked to see, when John looked to see, why he pulled his pistol out an' shot him - see, shot him down over his money. An' dey say anybody in de world wanta go dere besides dose family boys, git near dere, someone start throwin' de trees on yo' - or somepin will happen to yo'. Git near dere an' yo'd hear some ringin' like bells or see somepin comin dere; see a snake or somepin that will frighten yo' away. Well, yo' see de other boys - co'se it is dere money an' dey kin go right dere an' git a dollar or two whatever dey want; lift de lid an' jest put it down an' go about' dere business. Nobody kin go dere 'cause dis Negro is there an' he kill dem.
(Because the names are there?)
Dat's right 'cause dose names are dere an' dis other fellah dat fell ovah dis money guards dis money - killed him at dis money - 'he tole me to take care of it." Anybody go dere that ain't one of them, fall a tree on 'em, or de wind will. start to blowing, or somepin will happen to make yo' frighten away from de money.
Entry 379
Well, to dress the house thataway, you see those paradise seeds. You take that paradise seed and you take you some parsley with paradise seed, you takes you nine rocks like off the railroad [bed of railroad track]. See. Tie that up into a sack. You put that, you understand, at your step but don't bury it - the same as you'd take a piece of stick thataway and tie it up on the side there. Everybody'll pass there, even the children - they'll look, their mind will tell them to stop there, but they'll continue by. [Stick and children I explain later.] The same as any treasure what's buried. In the olden time when they used to bury money, they would take a individual back to the place where they going to bury the money, he not knowing anything. The poor darky would be ignorant of the act. And he would stand there and they'd ask him, "Would you watch this money?" He knows it's money and he would say, "Yes" - for this reason, they worked him so hard, he thought he would just Sit there and watch the money, it would be a easy job for him. He'd say "Yes." They'd say, "Would you swear?" 'Yes." They'd make him raise his hand and swear. When he raise his hand to swear they would shoot him down. Now, to get that money - the evil spirit will come around there and worry you so. You have to know your business to get that money; if not, you will never get it, see, because he have promised, he have made an oath, a dying oath to watch it and he watch that money. You going to dig that money. They have diff'rent forms come there such as lions, elephant and diff'rent things. It don't be anything but a shadow but who's the man will stay there to see whether it's anything or not. Well, it's the same way. Whensomever you make a swear, make a oath that- away, you understand, it means something. It's the same as a law being made in the Senate with an amendment to it; see, not to be broken. Yes sir. (I see. That's the same thing, you say, as this little bag hanging on the stick by your gallery?) [This is a hand to keep children off the gallery.] Yeah. For instance, if there's money buried in the corner of this yard and - you kin have fifteen children, they'll never go in that corner and play; they'll play all over the yard, they may start that way but before they get there they will go to another direction.
(Why is that?)
Well, 'cause that money is there and the spirit is there and they have a good mind - the spirit don't allow no one there, he's there to watch it. They'll have a mind - they'll leave they house to go to that corner of the yard but before they get there, they'll go off. I saw the [this in] natural life - the thing happened at a place in a swamp [a spirit guarded a tree] - they had the skeeter pulling out some logs. There was a tree leaning towards the sunrise. They have a kind of a slot, look like, cut in the tree thataway - like it had been cut out of the tree, the tree was hollowed, and sot back in there again. [This treasure was buried in this slot.] Now, to make fast for the skeeter with that line, he'd have to go and cut the top off that tree for the rigger to tie his rigging there to pull the log with, and don't you know he couldn't go there. He put the axe on his shoulder and leave from the skeeter before he go there. He start thataway but before he get there, he come out the other way. So the white fellow said to him, "Well, skeeter, what's the matter - going to keep me all day?" Say, "Well, I can't go there - get in there." It doing the same thing - they never get there - have to make fast somewhere else.
(What's a skeeter - what's his work?)
That's pulling the logs out of the swamp, you see. They set here, you know, and they got a line pract'ly go to Canal Street - they got a line go to Canal Street, and they attach it to the top of the top bough of a tree. They got a bicycle runs on that cable and they got a tong to hook the log. And, gee, hit pull logs and there's them logs flying up in there just the same as a bullet.
Entry 380
When they would see the earth sinking in some place, they commence to visit that place and they would meet many many spirits, and that would make them take notice. They would say, "There's some- thing buried there. The spirits are watching over it. I'll bet it's money. Let's get together and dig for it." And they would start out. They said that many people used to find it and dig for it and they would get it. They say you don't dare jto talk. They dig. No matter how near you are there, don't speak a word. If you speak airy a word, it goes down. By keeping quiet you get the money. They say it comes back, but it's really gone so deep it takes time. It really sinks and it rises, it sinks and it rises. You keep on to [till] you get it. But you get it soon. You'll get it quicker by not talking. I used to hear the olden people say they had some kind of rod for getting the money, a certain rod. I don't realize what they were. They push that down into the earth until it comes along the pot of money. They use to strike it, too. They say when it Was placed there, there would be so many names called. They were buried with the money down into the earth. The person who buried that money Would say, "Now, I want you to take care of this money and see that no one takes it away. Stay here until I come for it." Then all of those names [are] placed there to take care of it; if you get to interfering, they come before you. That's to frighten you to make you get away. No, not dead people; only the names of people living, they say, for witness to see it buried there. All these spooks around a-guarding of it, I could say they were alive. They never dig for the money in daytime. I used to ask, "Why do you dig at nighttime?" "We have to do that when everybody is quiet in order to keep the money from going way way down."
Entry 381
I went out with some people - a white man and two colored fellows and myself. We went to a place by the name of Port Allen. That used to be a [Civil] War place. Lot of Yankees was running away from there with money - supposed to be buried there - which they had found money in different states. Well, we hadn't, didn't find that so far. We got near to it but we didn't git it. So we had a shovel and we had a money rod and also we had a radio. See. And test where the money at. So the closer we'd get to the money, the more the bell would ring - that arrow would go around just like a radio. So, we dug there and so we got down to a pot and one fellow, doing time before [in the penitentiary] Was in there. He got his for murder, and if you suppose to do any kind of murder or anything, you can't get it. So, it was twelve o'clock that night, so we could not get it. So we came back the next night and after we came back the next night we dug. We left that fellow - we found out that fellow had been in trouble, so We left him and picks up another fellow. So we had a preacher with us and so he said a prayer. So we dug again until we got down to the money but there was so many different things come in front of us we couldn't stand to see. First thing came, a horse with no head on it - a horse with a lot of fire coming out; a man with no head, and a lot of bells and noise. Well, we left it - we never did get it - a great big hole. We couldn't get the money. I could get that close and could almost reach to it down there - it was about four feet down.
Entry 382
The people was afraid of the banks then [before and during the Civil War] and they would hide their money. They put it in a iron or copper pot and seal it, and then they would always take someone with them to where they would hide it, and then they would ask this person if they wanted to mind the money, and then they would kill this person and bury them with the money and they would always kept a watch over it. Sometimes they [the spirit] would get tired [of watching the money] and give it to someone. They are the only people who can get it. The spirit comes in and asks, "Do you want the money?" And they take you to this place. She was living out in the country and a white gentleman [he had been killed and buried with money to watch it, and had become tired of his task] came up to the gate. He was dressed in a long-tailored coat and high silk hat. And he spoke to her and said, "Good evening." And then he asked her did she want some money. And she said, "Yes." And he said, "I will be here tomorrow at twelve." And he vanished. And she got frightened because he went away so quick. And she went to bed. When noon [next day] came, he was right on the dot, knocked on the gate and said, "Are you ready?" She said she was sick. She was so scared she didn't want to go with him. And then he steps in the house. He made one step and went to the bed and rolled her in the bed and said, "Now you will be sick." And she was flat on her back for one year. He did it because she told the story.
Entry 383
A house set on the hill and a spring was in the bottom and a tree was nearby the spring. And everybody who lived in that house, the ghost would meet them on the way to the spring and would talk to them. This ghost would follow them to the spring and tell them about the money but they were afraid to talk to him. This was supposed to be the ghost of the person who put the money in the tree and died before he got it out. A fellow followed this ghost to the spring and the ghost told him to cut in the tree with an axe. He cut in the tree but found nothing. The ghost told him again to cut the tree down. And he did. He found a pot of money in the tree and became to be a wealthy man.
Entry 384
I know that when I was three years of age, we lived in the country. There was a big cherry tree out in front of my house. Every day about three o'clock in the afternoon I would see a man clad in a suit of armor, a helmet on his head, running out break-neck speed around this cherry tree. After he would run around the tree a few times he would run down the lane and disappear. I would call my mother and sister and try to show them this man, but they would tell me that they saw nothing and would wonder why it was that I would say I saw something. One day when I was trying to show them this, my grandmother came to my rescue and said there was money buried there under that cherry tree, that a man who had been a soldier in the Civil War had buried it there, and there was no doubt that it was that man's spirit who would appear to me every day, because maybe he wanted me to have this money. Later, my mother never consented to allow me to dig at this tree. My grandmother also tried to explain that the reason I could see and the others couldn't was maybe due to the fact that I was too young to be afraid of what I saw.
Entry 385
Well, he [informant's father who was a doctor] said dat chew could go to de fo'k of de road an' yo' could contact spirits an' dey would give yo' treasures an' give yo' information of people who've lived long. Den spirits would appear an' dey would give yo' treasures an' tell yo' where hidden treasures were. (Well, how would you contact them - how would you get in touch with those spirits - what would he do out there?) Well, he said burn incense - yo' kin burn incense dere, or yo' could take yore money needle an' it would lead yo' where de money wus of course.
Entry 386
He went right roun' an' roun' it [the grave]. He had had tuh had a red sack of sand. He had went roun' dat certain one grave, an' he had tuh be very careful of dem sacks - said he would of call up some animosity dere. He had a red sack of de graveyard sand an' a white sack, an' he taked an' empty it right aroun' de grave dere, walkin' right roun' an' roun' de grave of his wife [magic circle] an' emptied de red sack right around de grave dere an' after he empty de red sack he emptied de white sack. An' after he do dat, he stan' right in de middle of de grave an' his wife's spirit come up an' she tell him everything dat he wanted tuh know an' everything - an' anything she had done, where she had leave it an' everything.
(Where she had left this money?)
Yeah.
(Well now, this man, what does he do when he first goes out to the graveyard?)
He goes to dat certain grave - his wife grave an' goes roun' an' roun' dat grave dere - circle lak towards - lak de sun circle - twelve a'clock at night.
(Where did he get the graveyard dirt?)
Right in de heart of de grave - right in de heart of her grave right dere.
(He gets this dirt from her grave?)
Yeah. (Then he must use this red sack and white sack - then he sprinkles it back on her grave?) Yeah - he sprinkle it roun' an' roun' her grave - like de circlin' of de sun.
(And who told you this?)
Ah heard mah grandmothah said dat wus true. (The old man had done this. His wife had died and left some money and he did not know where the money Was. So he went out there to find it - to speak with her to find out where this money was buried?) Yeah. (He went out there and he circled around her grave and then he stood in the middle of her grave and got this dirt and put it in these sacks. Then he went around the grave again and circled it and sprinkled this dirt around her grave. Then he stood on her grave and she told him where it was?) Yeah.
(Your grandmother told you the story?)
Yeah.
Entry 387
There was a man who went to look for a hidden treasure because he had dreamed that in this particular spot there was a treasure hidden. He asked two men to accompany him on this journey but when the night came the two men didn't show up. The man himself became very determined to get the treasure and went on the trip himself. When he arrived at the spot designated in his dream, the Wind began to blow. But the old man paid no attention. He began to dig and dig and dig. Finally, the rain began to pour, thunder began to roll, lightning began to flash. But the old man dug just the same. After awhile his pick struck something that sounded like an iron pot. The old man felt that his troubles were over. It was not long before he could see the shining pot in the moonlight, because by that time the clouds had cleared away. The old man nervously took the pot from the ground and opened the pot. And when the pot was opened he saw that it was filled with gold and silver. The old man forgot that he wasn't supposed to utter a word before he got the piece of silver in the pot and the old man suddenly cried, "Lord have mercy! Look what I found!" At those words which were spoken before he had put the silver in the pot every bit of the silver turned to black charcoal and the pot turned to just a piece of clay. And the old man suddenly remembered that he did wrong in uttering a sound before he put the silver in the pot. He decided to go treasure hunting no more.
Entry 388
Well, in finding buried money, usually when yo' move in a house if there's some money buried there, see, it be's something always there. If yo' don't say anything, or ask it - say, "Do yo' want anything in the Name of the Lord?" Then, when yo' go to sleep, a dream will come to yo' where that money is. Then, yo' git up the next morning an' yo' dig. But chew can't say anything to anybody while yo' digging. Can't talk, if yo' see anyone coming - why yo' jest have to stop diggin', 'cause if yo' say one word why yo' can't git it.
Entry 389
I have heard that in digging money you carry some instrument and when you stick it down into the earth this money has a tendency to draw it and one will know that he has struck money. In the meantime something comes to one in the night and tells them about where the money is buried. They are supposed to be the one who buried the money. His ghost comes and tells you. This is made of iron something like a spear. And when you are digging this money, all the time something is around you - a ghost or something, although you may not see it you hear a lot of queer noises. Sometimes people when they want to avoid this noise or this ghost they say, "What in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost do you want?" And this ghost will disappear. And in the meantime I have heard, you will see ghosts all away around you. You say, "What in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost do you want?" They say that money is buried somewhere and they disappear. You go get this money and you will never see them any more. At my home there used to be a lot of people digging money. They used to have a lot of trouble digging it. They go there three or four times and they say they would get it. Every time they go to dig money they have big bad storms - windstorms, trees would blow over. You go out on a clear night and a storm would come up. You're not supposed to say anything. [Title Three Highest Names is informant's term, FACI,2ed.,1965, pp.746,787 etc.] [Place and informant number lost; by Ed.]
Entry 390
I'll tell you one thing that I have heard. A long time ago people used to bury their money instead of putting it in the banks. The person that buried the money believed that if they killed someone or an animal and cut the animal's head off or the person's head off and bury the head with the money that it would keep someone else from getting the money. At a place on the road [Maryland State Road No. 12] between Snowhill and Salisbury, near the Worcester County line, there's a tree, an oak I think, where they claim that somebody was buried. And this man - this was before the Civil War, killed a little colored boy and cut his head off and buried it with the money. Later on people heard about this money being buried there and a number of them tried to get it. Everyone who tried to dig up this money never succeeded and the belief was that this head protected the money and kept the people from getting it. They claim that on certain nights, especially dark nights, people going along this road from Snowhill to Salisbury see a little light like and this light seems to flicker and it is near this tree. They claim that that's the way you know money is buried there. Well, one man, I don't know whether it is true or not, tried to dig up this money. So he took some other man with him to help him. So they dug and dug under this tree and they almost got to the money and just as he looked up he claimed that he saw a sword suspended by a hair from the limb of the tree and he claims that he heard a voice say, "If you touch the money the sword will drop." His companions also saw and heard the same thing and they left him and ran away. But he stayed as long as he could but it seems that something Was holding him back all the time. But he didn't get this money. One night [1935] I was driving along that way and it was a very rainy night and dark and it seemed as though we could see this light twinkling. It might have been my imagination. They called it the money gold light.
Entry 391
Gwynn's Island [Gwynn on maps], it's up the [Chesapeake] Bay about forty-five miles up. A man there goes into the woods and by him going into this Woods he see some trees, and these trees look like they was in a diff'rent form from the others. There was a lot of green moss. and by this green moss being there he goes to work and commence digging. He dug up a chest of money.
Entry 392
I heard one time that a man went out in the woods, he went out to dig some money and while he was out there digging - four men were out there digging - a woman came and sit by them all in white. The one that was reading the Bible - he got frightened and started to run. When he started to run the fellows what Was digging started right behind him. When he got out on the road - the spirit had left them out in the woods and run ahead of them. They managed to get by some kinda way. One of the men he lived in the country, he was quite old, and the three young men left him behind. When they got up to the house he [the old man] was sitting on the porch laughing and talking. So then they decided to go back and fastened this hole up. They went back the next day and they claim they couldn't find this place when they went back. This was out in a hickorynut woods right near a big tree with moss all over it and they had a stick there. They say when you mark a place and go back you won't see it no more at all. That was just about three miles from Hampton. [The old man outrunning young men - a dog is sometimes added - is a folk-tale theme long since worn threadbare by comedians.] [Hampton, Va., (31), Ed.1
Entry 393
Now, another thing, in the fork of the road - for instance, we was going to a buried treasure, and when we got out to that buried treasure, the forces was so bad whensomever we would start making our surrounding round dere, why we couldn't get a chance to work on account of the evil force. Ev'ry time you'd turn around something would appear. Well, you would go to that point [fork] of the road and you'd make a real call - that is, to the astral force, to gather 'em together and then you'd make what you call a payday out there [pay off the spirits]. Well, some of 'em use what you call grigri [or greegree] out of candy and diff'rent things of that kind.
Entry 394
When they go to diggin' they say there's always something in the hole, a snake or a scorpion or something in there to try to scare them away; but if you keep on diggin' they'll go away and leave you be and you can continue to get the money.
Entry 395
(Who was this man?)
He wus a Powhatan - a mulatto, yo' know.
(That's down here near the water, isn't it?)
Dat's down heah cross de town.
(You say a Powhatan is a mulatto?)
[Momentarily, I do not understand him. A mulatto by dictionary definition is half Negro and half White. My informant calls this man - part Negro and part Powhatan (American Indian) - a mulatto.] Is a mulatto man. Someone killed him an' dey killed this man an' dey buried dis man an' at de head of his grave they buried $300 an' his cousin when he came from up in de country - he had found out about de money. He wus told dat de money wus buried there, which it wus. It wus said then that this man went there to dig up this man - dig up this grave an' git this money. He thought the money wus his'n. An' whatevah partic'lar time he goes there, an' when he got near to it, de place where de money wus buried - it wus silver money - dere jes' come a whirlwind or a storm an' about a dozen dogs, an' the wind blew an' he had tuh run away from dere immediately, with de hole open an' de money wus dere visible.
(He couldn't stand it?)
He couldn't stand it. De evil spirit or whut it wus, it wanted tuh git this money - he had to run off an' leave it.
Entry 396
They came by the house - I was working on a pile driver - they wanted me to go with them and I decided I would go with them. They put me on guard duty when I got out where the hole was. About a half hour more or less somebody came by there and hollered to them. We thought it was the owner of the property - I did, and another man came and he heard it. They were down in the hole digging, about seven or eight feet down in the hole. It must of been the spirit of the people that owned the money.
Entry 397
He and two men - there were three men together and they of course had located this money [informant did not know what method was used.] This man was telling my father. And when he went out and started to dig, they dug about an hour, and when they got a hole big enough for the three men to be down there, they heard these little heifers, these little calves; and they said they Was just jumping over the hole [in which the three men were] and making all kinds of noise. They Were not real - they was some kind of ghosts. Two of the men ran away and one stayed and dug until he got this little pot. He got it. And when he got up out of the hole, a woman appear in rags and tags. She was so ragged, and had no teeth, and her grey hair was standing all over her head. And she looked at the man and said, "Damn it to hell. You got it." And he said he walked on and he stumbled over a bag. one of those burlap [bagsl, and he said he picked it up and put [it] in the pot, and the woman disappeared. When he went home he opened the pot and there was five-hundred dollars in silver and gold. He gave the other men seventy-five dollars each. [New York City, (1), Ed., second interview, March 19, 1936; near Wilmington, N. Car.,1905.]
Entry 398
[The no-talking rule is absolute while hunting buried treasure. I do not consider Yo' kin go off an' talk all yo' wanta (No. 426) a violation of the rule. I know of only the following exception, which is confined to this one example.] Dey hunt money at night but dey say yo' has to go on de right moon to do dat; but yo' wouldn't have a word to say, not a word to say. Jest go dere an' den yo' start after it. Dere's two words you have to say when yo's in trial, "Help me, Lord, Our Father, to overcome 'em." That's all yo' got'a do when yo' go to digging.
(When you go to this place where the money is buried.)
An' let nary no man say nuthin'. Start to dig an' when yo' go ovah three feet den yo' kin talk. But don't yo' say a word until yo' go three feet.
(What time of the moon do you go there to dig?)
On de young moon.
(Well, how do you locate this treasure?)
Dey has a compass, but i' tain't all.
Entry 399
Yo' kin take a persimmon bush an' cut de fo'ked piece like dis [demon- strates a Y-shaped stick] an' yo' know, let de end of it be about dat long, an' yo' kin go anywhere it's money at an' hit'll turn ovah in yore han'. Yo' jis' hold it an' jis' point it right on de ground an' hit'll jis' turn - hit'll turn clean ovah in yore hand, it'll almost snatch out [fly out of your hand '- See No.400.
Entry 400
Yo' kin go out an' git a young hickory tree, git de fo'k of a young hickory tree an' split it in de fo'k an' put a fifty cents [coin] in dere, an' carry it any place dat chew spicion there is a treasure, an' gettin' to dis place, if there is a treasure, yo' kin hardly hold the stick. [This is the original treasure finder or a locator before commercial firms entered the field with many gadgets. It is the dowser's forked stick used in dowsing or witching for water; a piece of silver being added for buried treasure. The dowser's Y-shaped (or wishbone-shaped) stick should be about three feet long with the ends of the V about two feet apart so that they can be conveniently held in both hands. The short stem of the Y or the hypocleidium of the wishbone - holding the silver - points away from the operator. As the dowser or treasure hunter walks over the water or money, the end of the forked stick dips down ''yo kin hardly hold the stick." I have described a childhood experience in which a dowser fought his dipping fork (I should say fought himself) until it flew out of his hands with great force - see FACI, 2ed., p.526, No.11779.] Well, yo' don' have tuh talk - yo' shouldn't talk an' yo' should first have sulphur an' also a piece of silver money in yore pocket, an' in digging this treasure yo' shouldn't say anything to anybody. Of co'se there'll be winds an' ghosts an' diff'rent things comin' up, but jes' dig right on an' don' say any- thing because if yo' say anything it will go away.
(What do you do with that sulphur?)
Dat sulphur is tuh keep de ghosts from worryin' yo' tuh death.
Entry 401
[The informant's father, a clergyman, frequently attempted to locate hidden treasure at the request of both colored and white people. The fact that he had been born with a veil (caul) assisted him in this work. He employed the following method:] He used a switch. I think it was a willow switch. It was two branches out from the tree with an end on them like a wishbone." He put some kind of silver thing [holder] around that part [the jointure of the fork]. Then he put a hole in the top of it so money could fit in it, about the size of a quarter. It had to be silver money. You take each handle in your hand and you just hold that steady and follow it where it leads, because it will lead anywhere money is - not paper money, silver and gold. You walk and when you get to the money, it
[the fork] will turn down [see No.400].
Entry 402
I know a story about fellows went hunting hidden treasure. It had been once dug up by a steam shovel and it slid away back in the dirt again. In Way- back times they use to always kill a man. They get the hole prepared and put the treasure in, then they would ask him if he would take care of this money. He wouldn't know what was going to happen. He would tell them, "Of course." Then they kill him and turn him over in the hole and cover him up. Then, when you go there, that's his spirit that takes care of the money, and it does things to frighten you so you won't bother it. They are supposed to have a machine. It's a round thing like a clock and has three points sticking out. One was set for gold, one for silver and the other for brass. It has two handles of hickory. You hold them two handles and walk along like you witch for water. When you walk over hidden money one of them points goes down. As soon as you start to dig, no talking. You use signs. If you talk, it slid away in the dirt. Well, five men went hunting it again, that's after it was dug up by the steam shovel and slid away, and as soon as they hit the old chest that was in the ground, the wind begun to blow, the trees began to weep - they rocked like they were just going to blow over. And the men begun to run. One got lost. He stayed all night and began to see every kind of a thing like a ghost - men walking, men flying, beasts in the air. He never discovered the way out until daylight appeared. And he has been afraid of it ever since. I knew this man. That happen about thirty years ago [1906] in Sussex County, Virginia.
Entry 403
They have something they call mineral rods. [This is also called money rod (No. 423) and sounding rod (No. 416).] I have heard and have known people who had ideas where deceased people have buried money. They have been told in their dreams where they could find it. And when they would get what they call mineral rods, they had to go at midnight with only [one] person with them. And usually they had to be very brave, because I have heard of them digging for two hours and all of a sudden such a russelling [rustlingl, such a noise, like if it were a wagon and it was about to run over them. And if you got frightened you Would never find anything. But you had to stand still till the noise had passed. Hold to that rod, push it a little further and you would strike something: Then you had to be very calm, not speak one to the other, till the excavation was open and you had taken out whatever vessel the money Was in. If you speak before, they say it would go down and you would never find it. That noise they say is the spirit that will test you to whether you are the proper person to find it and to have it. If you re not, you will become frightened and lose sight of it.
Entry 404
Now, yo' take huntin' money - jest lak money's buried. Yo' go to work an' yo'll git a machine an' go where de money is. An' dey takes a person tuh read de Bible backwards - one who read it backwards. De other one takes de machine an' dey - yo' take a new shovel whut ain't nevah been used, a new pick, a new axe ain't nevah been used. Well now, yo' git to usin' dat - an' de one readin' de Bible backwards, dat's to keep de money from goin' any further down. As long as he reads an' de other works, why dey'll git to it; but if yo' don't go to read, de mo' yo' git to it, de deeper it'll sink.
Entry 405
Why that's a thing, yo' see, that's worked wit a machine, yo' know. Yo' have to carry sulphur 'long wit yo' an' dere's - ah don't know whut dat stuff is, but it's a kind of a thing like a saucer an' yo' burns dat when yo' out. It has a needle on it chew see, an' yo' place down dis-a-way, yo' see, an' as it goes round wheresomevah it stops an' points down, why it dere that yo' have to dig at. An' yo' not supposed when yo' commence digging - dere might be all kinda things, but if yo' don't see anything - can't open yo' mouth or anything - jest continue working, why then yo'll git it. But if yo' see anything why then you lose your whole hope on it.
Entry 406
Ah ain't nevah done none, but ah hears dey have a needle - a search needle.
(While you dig some fellow has to read the Bible.) [I repeat his words.]
Read de Bible - King Solomen - an' at de time dat chew is diggin', he have to read dat Bible. Den yo' have - have to have yo' a dynamo concern, an' yo' have to have wires connected round from dat dynamo - round dat place - an' den dat'll keep dat devilment from coming in dere. [The circle about the digging place has become an electrified wire!] So dey tell me.
Entry 407
Ah've seen one - it's a little article that hangs on a cord that - the cord is made of 'lectric [wire] - it's got 'lectrified [needs electric power] - but chew hand dat cord an' dat ball dat hangs - it a seven-pound ball an' it hangs on it - well it's got a little iron stick - kind sticks jest dat way an' he hang that there. See, if dat money's anywhere roun' there, it got fo' prongs; 'two drops an' two still stays, but de two drops. Wal now, yo' jest put thar an' give it a turn, jest turn it jest de least bit dat-a-way an' yo' talks to it. An' wheresomever -
(What do they say to it for example?)
Well, dey says, "Spirit" - jest lak whosomever dey name that buried dat money, dey call de first letter of yore name. You say, "Point me to dis money." An' dat thing will jest wave an' wave till it git dere, an' when it settle hitself, those two down prongs, if that money is that direction out, they gon'a give they- self jest lak dat, if it close near. An' if it's way out, dey both gon'a stand off jest lak de two whut do stand straight up. An' if it's right dere, dey both gon'a come jest like dat, an' den dey gets up to set it until dey git right over it. [Whatever the contraption, it works on the Jack or dowser principle.]
(When you get over this money what do you do then?)
When yo' find it, yo' dig dat money. Yo' don' talk, don' say anything, an' if yo' git to it an' happen to strike it - dere was a fellah dat found some money, him an' two fellahs together, an' when he reached down he said, "Oh! ah got it, ' jest lak dat, and dey said dat jest lak to jerk him in two an' dey heard it [the money] fall right dere. Yo' can't git it. If yo' don' speak, don' say nuthin', den yo' kin git it.
(Where do people bury this money? Do they bury it in any sort of way?)
Bury it in pots - have to bury it in pots. If they bury it in anything else, it will sink. But dey buries it in a iron pot.
(Are there any spirits around money of that kind?)
Oh, yes, if a person buried money, that people will stay right there. Yo' kin go there, if yo' got nerve enough to stick - dere'll be a spirit come to yo' an' yo' ask it lak dis, "Well, what in the Lord, whut do yo' want - what in de Name of de Lord do yo' want?" He'll say, "Yo' go look such-an'-such a place an' git dat money, ' an' if he's got a wife or children, 'an' give it to mah children or give it to mah wife," or whosomever he wants. Well, he disappear. Well, if yo' go an' git dat money, that spirit won't be worried there no more. But if yo' don't go git it, he'll be at chew again, say, "Yo' didn't do whut ah ask yo'," an' he worry yo lak dat till dat money is moved. Then after dat money is moved, dere is no more worry from him.
Entry 408
[To discover hidden treasure, walk about holding a plumb line in your hand. Naturally, the sway of your body imparts an oscillating movement to the implement; but as soon as you stand over the concealed hoard, the plumb will begin to swing in a circle and then drop violently into the ground.] [This is a plumb line used as a Jack - see Jack in Index.] [New York City, (9), by hand and in my words; informant could not be recorded.]
Entry 409
De tree - it carries a po'tion of lodestone.
(What tree does?)
Git de tree out de cemetery - carries a reasonable po'tion of lodestone or somepin similar tuh 'lectricity - dat have a tendency tuh draw to silver.
(They use that for what?)
Fo' sech as huntin' money.
(What do they do - just take a stick or what?)
Jes' take a stick - see, it magnetism dat draws an' guides yo'.
(You say there is lodestone in that wood?)
Yes.
Entry 410
Lodestone is only for attractin' money, finding money, or something like dat - gettin' de location of treasure with dat if someone happen to be buryin' a treasure, died and left it.
Entry 411
(Suppose you and I are going out to hunt this buried money - well, you tell me all about it.) Well, ah'm goin' tell yuh. Ah lived in a place once up in Georgia that they told me there was some money buried, an' dere was a old bachelor, dey said that run de salt mill dere had buried his money. An' we went out to dig dis money an' we found - well, dey claimed dat it was. Sound [we sounded] down dere, sound like money - ah mean like a can or pot or something. We went to digging at it. An' it had - was growed up a little tree, a little hickory tree right where it was. We dug up dat tree - it was in de wintertime, cold up [had turned cold]. We dug up dat tree - it was solid, good an' solid, little hickory, an' a little ole rattlesnake run in de hole. So we came out of it an' went an' tole de white folks about it. Dey went there - dey got instruments an' went dere an' dey said dat it was something come like a big bull; looked like it goin' jump right in de hole on 'em. They run out. They went then an' sot little tumblers of whiskey around, filled 'em fulla whiskey, an' they digged then, an' dey tole me "cause ah'd known about it - it was much as one man could roll away on a wheel- barrow. They knowed de gentlemen an' knowed whut kind of whiskey he liked [see Spirits and alcohol, in Index]. (You were telling me something about killing a dog. You started to tell me about killing a dog.) Well, they tells me that yo' kill a dog or snake or something an' bury with that money, an' it will take care of it.
(That's to guard the money?)
Dat's tuh guard de money - or a man or anything lak dat.
Entry 412
This is one my grandmother told me. She was in slavery. She belonged to Tom Watson the man that the Tom Watson watermelon gets it name from. He was supposed to have been a good master. That was in the State of North Carolina. During the War [Civil War] he buried his money. My grandfather, being a man around the house and not needing any money, wasn't concerned where he had it buried, but he remembered seeing him one afternoon after he had made a sale - a man had bought something, he went to a certain place where there was an old walnut tree; when he came back there was dirt underneath on his hands. He suspicioned that that was where he had buried his money. Long after the War had ended and he had been set free, they were talking about money one evening and a man said he knew where there was a man who knew how to dig money. So he decided to go and dig this money. So they went to dig this money. He was put to reading the Bible backwards while his brother used the spade and another man had a long silver fork. He held that fork while his brother used the spade and he read some part of the Bible backwards. As he read he said there came a shrill cry from the top of the tree and a wind arose and they all started to run. I don't know whether that was a cry of an owl; it sound too shrill for an owl, but they didn't stay to find out what it Was. I remember that just before this cry, the blade of the shovel hit some hard object which seemed to be the top of a pot or something. Anyway, the next day he went down there. This money-digger had gone back there. He could see his prints in front of a place where a pot had been. And he always thought that this man that was the money-digger got the money, for he grew to be a very prosperous farmer. He had six head of team and a farmer and cattle. My grandmother was born out in the country near Battlesboro, North Carolina.
Entry 413
Or some people say yo' put de money in de ground an' yo' bury a chicken or bury a cat or somepin - whatever dey bury, ah don't know what. Why, dis thing will come back wit chure money. Or bury dis Negro - why dis Negro will be so strong, somepin to make yo' 'fraid an' keep yo' 'way. (Is there any way that a fellow can go there at all and prevent that and get the money?) Well, dey say if yo' git chew a Bible an' go to dis place readin' yo' Bible, when dis stuff start - yo' got chure gang an' yore shovel wit chew - go ahead an' dig de money up. Don't pay any 'tention, jes' go ahead an' yo' see de stuff fall, jes' walk right on lak yo' don't see it; reads yo' Bible - readin' God's word, yo' see. An' dey said, when yo' git to dis place, why yo' got an idea how much room it might take, yo' know, to dig dis money up - yo' know, yo' all stand round in a ring round dere an' keep on reading de Bible. Say, den one man will walk around dere dragging his foot chew know, an' mark de place out, while dey be reading de Bible. Why den when dey git through reading dis Bible, take dis Bible an' lay it down on de line, puts it de way dey came - come dis way an' lay it right down on dere where he came in; on dat land marked round dere, lay de Bible, an' dey say yo' git right down dere an' dig. As long as dey didn't talk - don't talk an' don't, yo' know, make a fuss. Git right down dere an' dig. Say all kind of animals - all kinds of mess will come right up dere live, but pay no 'tenshun to 'em. Yo' dig right dere, jes' don't make no fuss, yo'll git chure money. Git dat money an' sit right on de - all kind of animals will come right to dat line, but co'se dey wouldn't come in 'cause dat's de Bible - see, wouldn't come ovah dat Bible.
Entry 414
Ah have went out wit some fellahs tryin' tuh dig money. A gang of us decided tuh go out an' dig money. We went out one night. Ah taken mah old car an' driven out one night an' stopped it up at de edge of de woods an' we went all down - took our picks an' shovels an' went on down an' started tuh diggin' de money. Well, we supposed to have de money once right where it was. Well, yo' make a white mark. Git chew a bottle of sweet milk an' make two or three marks all de way round with this milk - all de way round dis place, jes' lak dis table, yo' makes yo' a round one [circle of milk round the treasure]. An' dey all gits inside of that place. Well, we started tuh diggin' money an' we dug there, an' dug an' dug an' dug, till we got close to it. An' as we got close to the money an' we listened out an' we heered somepin comin' 'long dat be's a-hollerin' an it wus a big cow come right up to de - right up close to dat line an' jes' stood up dere an' hollered. Well, he left away an' heah come a great big bulldog an he gone up dere. He went away an' aftah while he left an' nobody stopped. Well, on dis side heah come anothah - heah come lion up. He come up an' dere didn't no one say anything, dey stood a-diggin' right on. Snakes an' ever'thing crawled all de way round an' dey nevah did stop diggin'. We looked up an' dere come a big ball of fiah right down an' jes' look lak it's goin' drop right down. It come down so fur an' stop an' a man spoke an' said, "If yo' don' move, ah'm gon'a drop it. Ah'm gon'a drop it on yo'." An' one de fellahs got scared an' dropped out de line an' it musta been a great big blue smoke an' a big ball, an' de money went an' we nevah did see de money no mo' - it jes' bo'ed a hole in de ground an' went on out lak dat. We didn't see no money atall - it wus gone.
Entry 415
I really had experience of that my ownself. Another fellow and I went out one night to try and locate a hidden treasure. And after getting to the place, he drew a circle around it and made a gate to it. And after leaving the gate he sprinkled sulphur, milk and so forth all around, and then he began to sound with his apperrattox [apparatus] and he struck what he thought was money. That was a iron rod about six feet long: And we began to dig. And while we were digging - I had never been upon that occasion [adventure] before in my life - you can't talk - whatever you want you must make signs - and I was digging and I held up my head to ask him for something to work with, and I looked and he was gone and I was all there alone. The ring which he made was surrounded by lots of people, but who they were I know them not. And all I had to do then was to come out of the hole and make my getaway - and I beat it, too. [Old Point, Comfort, Va., (27), Ed.; Norfolk Co., Va.,1896.]