Browse:SPIRITS GUARD BURIED TREASURE (Volume 1, entries 373–429)
SPIRITS GUARD BURIED TREASURE
Volume 1, entries 373–429. Source context: SPIRITS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
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.]
Entry 416
You have to use them too, for treasures.
(Hunting treasures?)
Hunting treasure. Take a piece - not take the whole [tomb]stone, but take a piece of it. Supposing we were going to dig money here. We come down and locate the treasure right here. All right. Now, you are the party got a headstone. We knew he died - when he died and passed out. He did good things all of his days. Well, we take that along with us and we dig a hole in the ground so the people passing wouldn't see that light, and we'd light that light there - a pure white candle at that headstone. We'd light that light there, then we'd go ahead and we'd make a circle round there after we locate the treasure - to keep the spirit from entering the ring, and we'd go to work and we'd sprinkle all around there mustard seeds, mustard seeds all around there. Then we'd go ahead down in and we found - we done found the treasure - we got the sounding rod right on top of the treasure. Now, after we'd go through that process, why, then we'd go ahead right on down and dig. That have a tendency to keep the spirit away and the treasure won't move.
Entry 417
Go to the graveyard at midnight. But chew have to go by yourself and you take a penny. You got'a give 'em, take something with you 'cause then - when you go walk round the grave two or three times see, around the head and you walk round the foot two or three times. And then you go back - well, about nine times all together, and then you kneel down. But yo' have to put yore hand - dig down, put chure hand in and git the dirt from this, right off the coffin. See. But then, when you do that, you have to leave a penny or some vinegar or something.
(Why vinegar?)
Well, that's to keep the spirit from hurting you. You kin even have whiskey on you, see, to keep the spirits from harming you; you see, so they don't be disturbed [see Spirits and alcohol, in Index]. Course ah never did this but ah -
(I know, you are just telling me what you heard.)
And then when you go out, if you don [leave a gift] when you git to that gate, they will rassle [wrestle] with your soul. Even if you call spirits in here now, you make a circle and call spirits; you'd have to fortify that circle, because if you don't - course you do that around twelve 'clock at night. You fortify that circle. You kin call the spirits and when you - they scare yuh to death, but if you fortify it and sit inside that they can't harm you.
(How would you fortify that circle, then?)
Well, you have to make crosses you see - make a circle for yourself to sit in. And then you make a gate like and you put - make a cross there and then you have to use holy oil and holy water and candles, and then you set inside of it and then you can call de spirits and sit there quiet and pray and they'll come. But you has to have a dozen candles. [Washington, D. C. (627), 804:2.]
Entry 418
Anybody that finds money has a hard time. If you talk one word, it will go away. They have an iron rod. When they get over the place where the money is and they dig and get down, they stick it down through the earth. And you can hear the rod when it touches the pot. They hold the rod on [the pot] and they go to digging around. If they are successful, they will get it; but if not, this money will start going right on, if it's not for you. You can hear it going through the earth. You know a ground mole in the earth? It makes a road just like that. Then it comes back to that same spot after you leave. You can go and do the same thing to it.
Entry 419
When you dig it up, don't say a word, don't open your mouth; if you do, it will sink down into the earth - it will keep on going right down. No, you can't try for it again. You'll never see a sign of it any more. They say what makes it go, the spirit what buried that money will come back if you speak. It will take the money right away from you. I remember once in my father's time [before the Civil War] a man plowed up some money and he said, "Uncle Pompey, I found some money." And when father got there the money was gone.
Entry 420
The way it started, twelve o'clock every night a noise would come in the hall like you throw something down. So my father decided there was money some- where under the house and he used the same thing [method described in No. 418] tc locate the money. So he took up part of the floor of.the kitchen floor. Well, he put his rod on it, but it [the money] would go away every time. One Saturday morning, he was away, and my little brother [a man!] started to dig. And he dug until the sand was all off the pot and the little handle that was on it. He stuck his finger in it, started to pull it up, and he got so excited he called my mother. And the pot went: away.
Entry 421
Dese olden-time people - yo' know, yo'have heard tell how dat is. Dey say if dey come to yo' an' tell yo' where dat money is, yo' kin go dere an' git dat money, but yo' has to be by yoreself. [To be by yourself is rare in treasure hunting.] An' when yo' start digging dat money yo' couldn't say nuthin' - it'll be all kinda things comin' fo' tuh run yo' away. But yo' jest be diggin' dat money, jest don't pay 'em any mind - jest don't say nuthin'. If yo' say anything dat money will jest keep goin' deeper an' deeper an' pretty soon it apt to git away from yo'. But yo' jest got'a go an' dig it by yoreself, dig dat money up by yoreself. An' den, after yo' git through diggin', den yo' kin git someone den to help yo' bring it home.
Entry 422
Ah thought ah could tell a story of once ah went to - it wus about some money. It wus one night mahself an' mah fren' an' another lady an' her fren' we went to a place to dig some money an' de older couple dey give up dere nerve, an' mahself an' de othah boy we's de younger couple. So we's supposed tuh hold out, but den ah heard such a lamentation, so ah got frightened an' so ah screamed an' so ah begin tuh run, so dis boy he begin tuh run with me. An' dere wus a awful noise, but dey still got'a stick an' git de money.
(You said she couldn't get the money because of what?)
She looked roun' every time she hears dis - looked roun' at dis lamentation - dis draggin' an' dis noise of dis chains. She said it sounded lak a chain and it be right close to her an' she would look roun' tuh see wus it on her. An' co'se de man dat wus doin' de diggin' he claim he nevah did see it, but she would see it. It wus her father an' her stepmother dat died an' left her dis money buried under de tree. We heard about it an' we went tuh diggin'.
(So she never got it because she looked away from the money?)
Yes - she looked aroun' lak dat - she didn't nevah keep her eyes on it.
Entry 423
When I was a child I hear'n of the old folks say they knew where there was some hidden money and they come to the conclusion that they would go and look for it. They wasn't positive sure it was there. And they appointed a night that they would go and try and see if something would happen. The leader was a woman. And when they got there they stop and draw a large circle on the ground. They drew that circle right around the money, where they had ideas to believe that it was there. And they was to come inside of that circle. And there must not be any conversation here at all inside of that circle. So she [the leader] said, "Lets try it." And so they got inside of that circle, and she took her stand about here, [demonstrates], and she was reading a lesson from the Bible. After that was over they had to go to work. She put her spur [spear] down into the ground, a rod, a money rod, right in the center of the circle. And there was something else they did but I can't think of that. But anyhow, this rod, after it got to a place so deep, it looked like somebody dancing - it just shivered. Then they start to dig and they got down to the money jar. They were.about to put it on top of the ground, and just as they reached down to get a hold of the jar, the woman said, "Up, up." Boom! it went back into the earth and disappear. So they didn't get it. But they say a fellow came back a couple of nights after that and got it. That happen sixty-four years ago [1872] down here near Snowhill [Marylandl. [Ocean Citv. Md., (16), Ed.
Entry 424
After I married Mr. Banks, there was a big crowd went out one night to hunt money and they were getting to the box. They had a woman reading the Bible. They always say to read the Bible to keep down the spirits. They had one man that was digging in there, he had one leg, and he had on a red shirt. And they say everything came in the shape of dogs, hogs, and everything. The last thing came was like what they call a red devil. He had to tail to him, long ears, and a spear in his hand, and spoke. And he said he wanted the man with the red shirt on. It so scared them all they all run away. And they left this poor man in the hole by his own self and he had a hard time getting out because he only had one leg: That ain't no lie. They went digging in there and all got scared and left. A lot of the men are dead and a lot living today. They never got the money. I don't know how they located it. They seen the box all right when these things came. There's certain Scriptures you read for spirits, they say. I don't think this woman could of been reading the right one or the spirits wouldn't have come so fast and scared them.
Entry 425
First of all, take fo' instance if dere a treasure down de cellar dere. Well, yo'll git dis treasure - it's accordin' to de kind of individual dat chew are. If yo' a Christian, well it's a certain verse dat chew read; now whut verse it is ah don't know. All right, when yo' read dis verse, someone supposed to be dere. Yo' not supposed to make any fuss, not supposed to talk at all, jest continuation of digging an' continuation of readin'. All right, if he have anything to say to yo' after yo' start diggin' an' walk off, ah'll hole yo' right whare yo' are. Well, if different spirits an' things fall in dat hole or throw de dirt in it or throw something down while ah'm digging, well ah'm not supposed to say nuthin' - jest continue to dig right on until ah git where ah want. An' ah can't say anything until ah git it outa the hole an' git it away from de hole. Then ah kin talk. Got'a wear red all de time to keep de spirits away [yet, see No. 424].
Entry 426
Ah ain't nevah seen dem hunt money but dere was money gived to me twice through de spirits - see, whether ah was hoodooed or whut, but anyhow it was give to me jes' lak if ah'm laying in dat bed dere 'sleep. Somepin come tuh me an' woke me up and tole me, says, "Right undah heah dere's $12,00 buried right down heah in de ground three and a half feet in de ground," and says, "ah give it to yo'." Well, ah got in tech wit a man in Ocean City, New Jersey - a hoodoo fellah and he come down dere. Hit was a man dey called to put people, yo' see, together when dey separate - he kin put em back together lak dat. [He is not talking about a marriage counselor but about a hoodoo fellah who uses hoodoo methods for putting together or back together - both technical terms.] Well, he come down and he tole me, "Say, Boy, if dere's money heah, it ain't gon'a cost yo' nuthin'. It was not right whare ah was standin' den, but ah knowed where it was.
(Where were you then?)
In Augusta, Georgia, an' dis happen sixty miles from Augusta. Well, we comes on down dere den to dis place. So when he got dere, was some peoples in de house an' so ah tole him, ah say, "How we goin' git dat?" He say, "Ah fix dat." So we went on in dere an' dis man talked wit dis man - de colored fellah what had de house and de was staying in de house - he was just. renting it, see, but it was a white fellah's place. So, well, we goes to work dere den, and dis man said, "Well, ah'll git all de peoples out from roun' heah tuh work, then ah'll let yo'all go inside dere." So we went in dere and de man took de needle and went over searching fo' it to see was it dere. So he searched all round dere and when he got to whare ah tole him where it was, the needle pointed right there - see, went to drawing his hand right on down to de ground. So he bowed his haid, said, "Us mustn't talk." An' so us went on off den. He said, "Yo' kin go off an' talk all yo' wanta." So we went on off dere to de car and he said, "Well, now, ah'm going dress yo' first," an' say, "an' yo' ahead on dere and go to digging right straight down." Say, "But if it's under de house, right at dat man's pillar whut holds up de house" - you see, we had tuh kinda dig [to keep] from undermining dat house, throwing it down, to ketch up with it [treasure]. An' so ah went on an' dig and when ah got through digging, ah had tuh beg - when ah got tired ah had to beg fo' another fellah - wit chure finger - yo' can't talk. An' so he say, "Ah'm goin have tuh dress yo'all. Yo' rub dis ovah yore face [demonstrates], 'cause somepin will come through directly big [as] a cow an' scare yo' to death." Said, "Ah have to dress yo' wit dis heah stuff to keep yo from being scared."
[For another example of a doctor curing a person of fear, see No. 16.]
(And where did he put it, over your face like that?)
Oil - some kind of oil [holy oil - oil the doctor had blessed].
(He rubbed it over your face?)
Yassuh, he'd taken an' jes' rub it ovah his face jes' lak dat an' his hands, yassuh. An' so dis fellah go back to digging. So, well it looked dat - he come back 'gin an' he put dat needle back dere 'gin and it pointed and draw right up under dere where dat block was. An' dat's where de money was under dat block, but chew see, we couldn't git to it. So he got a wagon axle and stuck down in dat ground where dat money was buried, an' covered it up, an' tole de fellah, say, "We are coming back." Jes' lak dat. But ah believe he double-cross me. See. He went to work den and de fellah tole him, said, "Ah'll burn de house down" - see - "an' let chew know. Ah'll stay in touch wit chew so yo' kin git to dis here stuff." See. He say, "Yes, 'cause yo' git good pay if yo' do dat - yo' won't lose nuthin'." So we never did go back. So we went to de other place where de money was gived to me - see, de money gived tuh me twice. An' we went to de other place an' we couldn't git up to it cause dere some white folks staying dere, yo' see, an' we couldn't talk tuh 'em lak we wanted to, so we wouldn't bring it up atall - jes' wait till dey move out.
(This root doctor, did you give him any money or anything?)
Didn't give him a penny - he wouldn't charge me nuthin' - an' de expenses cost him 'round about $12 'cause we made two trips down dere. But he didn't charge me a penny - give me all ah wanted to eat, an' ah's wandering why he did dat. Dat's why ah figured he double-crossed me. He went back an' got it.
Entry 427
(The Rev. Young is going to tell his story again about his experience in New Orleans.) [The preceding words are not for Mr. Young who heard them, but for the concealed microphone - a notation to remind me later that his story the preceding day had not been well recorded. My previous knowledge of his adventure is the reason why I can prompt the rerecording.] This man was named Scott - that lived at Moundville, Alabama - an' he came to New Orleans and was stopping at de Chicago Hotel, run by a man by the name of A. O. Smith on de corner of [name began with P] and Liberty Streets. He come to New Orleans to see one of these wizards as they call them [never so called], or either fortune-tellers or hoodoos, and he was talking to the proprietor, Mr. Smith, relative to having someone who knew New Orleans who would take him around. He [Smith] told him he knew a young man who was in school at Leland University, and that he would possibly be there and that he was just the man he was looking for. So, while they were talking, I happened up that afternoon. I simply happened up and Mr. Smith says, "Here's the very man we Was talking about" - introduced me to him and said, "This is Mr. Scott from Moundville and he wants to go with someone who knows New Orleans, to go about with him." Well, first thing he explained the nature of his business to me, and said whatever ah charged him for mah time, he would give it to me. He was looking for a man that Would help him to find some money that was supposed to be buried on his premises, on his property. The first thing he wanted to do was to find him some of those barrooms where he could find him some gin, and he claimed that gin was lucky to him, and after clearing about a quart of this gin - drinking it - why we went round sight-seeing in New Orleans and visited a deal of places up until about possibly ten-thirty or 'leven 'clock that night. Then we went out, way out Bienville - near Galvers Street - way out - seventy-five blocks away, possibly - way out in New Orleans, Way out to Bienville Street - dat's about two blocks from Canal Street, parallel to Canal Street. We got out there, ah suppose about ten-thirty or 'leven 'clock and knocked on a door and dey - mostly all downtown houses in New Orleans have dese blinds and shutters, and de people is very superstitious - it's a very hard matter to find anybody round New Orleans. If you knock on a person's door and dey'll ask you who you looking for and sometimes you's talking to dis party, and dey won't answer you. And if dey are somewhere else in de house dey'll call 'em and perhaps yo' gone, and if you wanta see dat person perhaps they'll call you back. So [before] we went in and - his wife said, "Oh, sure it's you, Percy?" Ah said, "Yes." She said, "Come on in." Ah said, "Ah got company, someone to see Professor Frank." She say, "Why he's in bed asleep." Ah said, "Well, this is rather important and I would be glad should you call him." She say, "All right." So she went and called Professor Frank and he came out dressed in a very gorgeous robe, seem'ly made of red velvet and large arms - had a cap on same as that which a priest wears, and had dis man to come and kneel. [Since I did not ask for a description of this cap "same as that which a priest wears," I evidently assumed that it would be a biretta rather than a zucchetto and that the color would be black; this article and color being more accessible to him at a Roman Catholic religious shop. But I had not yet visited New Orleans and had much to learn - the cap was probably red.] De room was lighted with two large candles on either side of the mantlepiece - red candles - de carpet on de floor was red, and then they had a large altar over in de corner. It seem to set the room off katycornered, and there was a stool [prie-dieu] by which a man could kneel down upon as the people do in some of the churches to pray. This man knelt down on this stool and he told him to put his right hand on his heart and his left hand on a book which was supposed to be the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses of witchcraft and superstition. Then he mumbled some words, turned his back to dis man and looked up as in meditation and mumbled something and turned and told him dat he would seek what he was lookin' fo'. This altar I didn't describe it as I had yesterday - the robe [frontal] on de altar was of deep, dark red velvet with fringe all round and worked wit gold and various colors of stars, and de moon. It had a large gold and silver horseshoe mingled with seem'ly various colors - ivory.
(You spoke of that awning [his word] being held up, yesterday.)
Yes, this awning [canopy] over the altar was caught up right in de center in front, seem'ly by dis horseshoe and den draped down to a point on either side and went almost round de - in fact, it covered de altar. This altar Was made very similar to that of a pulpit - suppose it was about two and a half or three feet and about eighteen inches wide - something like dat - and he stood with dis heavy robe on him - this large robe girded round him in fringes on de end.
(It was the kind of a robe that a priest throws around him?)
Yes sir. And he had the bottom of his hand up this way - his right hand - he was seated in front of a table. Now dis table was something similar to a living- room or a parlor room mahogany table, seem'ly about four feet possibly and about eighteen inches in width, very heavy carved, de legs - I didn't say dat yesterday but it was large ole antique furniture. On this table was a large red covering with fringes that went up and down in the center. It didn't exactly cover the table. On this table was a large reading lamp with a shade seem'ly probably of gold, and he went behind dis table and sit down in large reclining revolving chair. But before he sat down in this chair - no, after he sat down in de chair, he pulled out a drawer in dis table and got out a kind of pipe - seem'ly it was gold - had a little crooked pipe stem to it [surely a calabash - my first pipe] - got some what we call moss tobacco or cut-plug - something similar to cut-plug tobacco and filled his pipe with tobacco continuously looking at this man, who sat dere and seem'ly half out of his wits and trembling - looked upon dis man as some supernatural being or some man dat was extraordinary - out of the ordinary person. He continuously looked at him searchingly, and dis man would look up at him guardedly. After he had filled his pipe with tobacco, still looking at dis man, he got out a - out from underneath his robe - the robe was lined with heavy satin - ah don't think I said that yesterday - he pulled out dis gold match- lighter and some way pushed a spring and out come a blue flame which seem'ly had something else in it - resembled that of lightning - still continuously looking at dis man. After lighting his pipe, put this cigarette lighter out and stuck it back in his pocket. He sat down and looked at this man and told him what he came there for. First he told him that his mother was dead and that he lived with his father; that he Was in a business and that he was very successful in this business, and he had a large amount of money and had come to New Orleans looking for him and that he Would find there was heap much money on this property of his buried. Seem'ly it was probably buried there by the Indians who seem'ly had formerly owned - lived in that settlement before it was thickly inhabited or populated.
(Then he sent you away for the night, didn't he?)
Yes sir. He had us to leave with the understanding that at ten 'clock de next morning he would come back and not say a word to anybody and bring $75 with him, which dis man did. We meets at de hotel and de next morning ah brought him back, since he didn't know New Orleans, and we came back - made it our business to be there exactly at ten 'clock. Came there and then he took him in his back yard. They had a rod that resembles a lightning rod, something like a lightning rod.
(What was the shape of this rod?)
Hit was round and at the ends it went down in an inner case and was made so it went down in an inner case and was made so it would go up and down at a certain length, a certain depth.
(Yesterday you said it was like a drill.)
Yes sir - it was like a drill in one end and it was curved like curved wire - like a curved lightning [rod] wire.
(How long was it?)
Oh it was possibly - probably six feet near as ah kin judge. And he went in his back yard and had some wires attached to it [the drill] - he apparently had these wires [also attached] on de wall of his house [in] back- yard, but it seems he attached them to some other wires connected with, possibly the electric wires, and place this machine out in de middle of de yard. Had it to drill itself - worked it a certain way that it worked itself down in de yard, and stood off from it, waved his hand like magic and said some peculiar words three different times, and then flames of fire like lightning flamed up at the top of [this] rod - flamed up three different times at de top of this rod. Well, the man as well as mahself, we stood there amazed because it was - well, now you understand it. We, when we went out of his house - dere was a little alley between his house and the next house - the houses in New Orleans are built very closely together - went out in the street and right in front of his home was a gutter that jes' carries off the Water, a ditch, very seldom cleaned out and there was Water in it, stopped up - stagnant water dere most all de time. Stuck dis rod down in de Water, but he never left the rod off the wire as he went through the yard - that wire was coils you know.
(He kept on to this wire - the wire was still attached to the house?)
Yes sir - still attached to the house and he uncoiled it. as he went on through the alley and sent this same rod - it was made to go down in de ditch of water, and said those same words he said in the back yard and waved his hand over this wire and then the flames came up seem'ly out of the.water through this wire. Jes' how it was [done I] don't know [!ii]. But after that he said to this man that regardless of where dis money was buried, if it was an old well, if it was in Water anywhere, or it was on dry land, dis machine would be sure to find it. And this man gave him the $75. He gave him that when he first went in the house the second day. And he was to go to this man's home at Moundville, Alabama - this side of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, up on de Alabama Great Southern Railroad between Meedan [?] [Meridian, Mississippi] and Tuscaloosa [Alabama]. And sometime that afternoon they left all of a sudden for Moundville where he was supposed to go to find dis money.
(This man went with him?)
Yes sir, this man went with him. [As the reader has already suspected, when the professor "waved his hand like magic his wife inside the house pulled the switch!] (You were telling me yesterday about this candle-burning: You said it is very prevalent along the Gulf here and New Orleans to burn candles.)
[This was several weeks before I reached New Orleans on my first trip.]
Yes sir. (What was your idea about why they burn candles in other parts of the country; you told me that yesterday.) Well, because de religious idea seem'ly is borrowed from de Catholics who burn candles in their religious ceremonies. A deal of dese people are persuaded, some of them are Catholic persuasion and some of them belong to the Catholic Church. Those who do not belong to the Catholic Church, as the Catholics to some extent predominate along the coast and in New Orleans, through Mexico, down through Central American - these peoples ideas are molded by their religious worship. These superstitious get the idea that they use these candles - they use highly perfumed candles. (You were telling me about the perfume they use over there in New Orleans - what was that?) Van-van they name it. The name is van-van - it's a highly perfumed powder jest a little above the odor of oil of peppermint - oil of cinnamon. It has a Wonderful pleasing effect on people who smell it. The people around New Orleans, white and black, around certain districts use that in scrubbing their doorsteps and houses, and even pouring this van-van which is very expensive oil - perfumed oil in the water with which they scrub their floors and even sweept off the brick pavement around their doors. They claim that it brings good luck. Racehorse men and racehorse women who play lots on racehorses are known to use this perfume greatly on their clothes. It's a very frequent thing to meet people with their clothes highly perfumed with this van-van odor. (You were telling about the women in the fast houses; do they use that in some way?) Yes sir - very much so. How do they use that? They use it perfumed in their bath water - they use it also in having their maids to scrub their houses. It's also used in these candles. Some of these candles that they burn, they are very expensive and they are perfumed. They burn that candle and practically shut that room up practically all day. Well, everything in dat house is perfumed with dat incense or whatever they call it.
(What do they do that for?)
That brings luck - that makes dem very successful or lucky, and nine times out of ten luck comes their way.
[After my informant left, I comment to the microphone.]
(This is the Rev. Mr. Young telling some of the things he told me yesterday - I just wanted to make sure I got them down.)
supposed buried-money premise in a rerecorded treasure-search account. The story was rerecorded with prompts based on a poorly recorded prior telling; no verbatim-audio fidelity. narrator-described apparent flames in a wired demonstration. Preserve the rerecording and separate Hyatt wife/switch explanation; the editorial mechanism is not an independently witnessed fact. reported repeated unknown words during a criticized demonstration. Preserve staged/criticized context, narrator uncertainty, wires and Hyatt separate switch explanation. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 128) · Read full source (printed page 129) · Read full source (printed page 130) · Read full source (printed page 131) · Read full source (printed page 132)
Entry 428
(Have you heard of candles in your work?)
Candles? Yes sir - dat's goin' out on hidden treasure.
(Hidden treasure? Now, can you locate hidden treasure for somebody?)
Yes sir. (Well, how is that supposed to be done - locating hidden treasure with instru- ments and things of that sort?) I kin call de spirit and let him show me where it is. That spirit should work dat. Ah've got a compass - dat's from de catalog... [The recording is bad here and there but my comments give the sense of what is lost.] (You have to get in touch with the owner spirit and the spirit will find the treasure - the spirit will get in touch with the watchman. The [owner] spirit will find [locate] the treasure and then you can do something.)
(You get them by giving them whiskey? How do you do that?)
Well, those kind of people wasn't nothing but a drunk all dey life, you know that.
(For finding the treasure?)
Yes sir, you git de badest man in de world to do dat - don't want no good quiet Christian mind to do dat - de badest kind, one who was...
(Whom do they put to guard that treasure?)
Well, dey takes me and my character - dey know it. Dey raise me and dey know I don't min' killing and don't care fer God nor man, and don't care about dying dead, don't care about dying, and let 'em kill me. Dey will take me ovah to dat tree yonder and make me dig a hole dere. All right, gimme some corn-crazin' drink [whiskey] and show me how to do it. And I gits me how to do. All right, dey bring dat [money] safe out dere in a ole cart, a rale [real] one, pulling and carryin', and set it on down dere. Dey'll set de chest in dere [the hole]./All right, dey'll set nails in dere. Now, dey must call living people fer guardin'. Dey say to me - my name might be Washington [it is Washington]. "Well, listen, Washington. Well now, we goin' off to [do something else], so don't leave [until we return]." Dat's whacha call de sandman [getting ready to put you to sleep]. Many people don't know what de sandman is. [This.is a mock burial. Washington, made drunk, believes he is watching a dead body, not money.] "Listen, Washington, as you live and die, dis here body dat layin' befo' you and you got'a be good to dem. Hasn't we been good to you?" "Yes sir." "Well, has you been listenin' to your boss or your missus?" "Yes sir." "Have you done make a vow? Raise your han' on your heart." "Yes sir." "Over your other arm." "Yes sir." "You swear by all de Great Good and God dat you'll mind dis body until de Resurrection Mawnin' and hear dat you do?" "Yes sir." Bam! Den I'm shoot chah. I'm right behin' yuh and shoot yuh, and walk dere and cut my [your] throat, and dey got somethin' dere to ketch de blood and rubs it all ovah dat casket.
(That the money is in.)
All ovah dat casket - rub 'em all over it. And den the - the other party will come quickly and seal me up jest like a wall - right in dere and I'm guardin' - nobody kin git dat money. But you got'a mind me.
(You qot'a manage the spirit?)
You got'a manage my spirit - can't git dat money, 'cause I made a vow. Well, I kin go out dere and stay dere like dat. I go out dere on de full of de moon - t'ree days befo' de moon rise and t'ree days after he rise - no one around. T'ree days after you rise and t'ree days before it going to bed - dat's on de full of moon - t'ree days before de full and t'ree days after de full. All right - ah got it right. T'ree days after you rise and de new moon come out - t'ree days after de moon is full - when de moon is full up to tiptop - then I go to work and git de owner. You got'a git to somebody - got'a find out about it. Then I question her. And what I done question her [about] and she done [tell] me that how she come by de money. I takes her with me and I makes her go and git me four hens. Out'a de four hens. one must be a rooster, and I want ey'ry drop of de blood out of him, ey'rv one little drop - cut him neck off and ketch de blood - and a drop from each one of dem. Dat's a ceremony. Let 'em ketch de blood and put dat blood aside. Then you'll pick dat hen and when you done picking, you gut: 'em and have another basin and you ketch all de blood that drip; everythin' that drop, ketch it - dat blood, ketch it. All right, dat two blood ain't it. De third blood, when you wash it, ketch that. That three jahs [jars]. "Father, Son and Holy Ghost" - that master de world, dat work dat man with de trunk [treasure chest]. If you ain't got dat [guardian] you got no business [hunting buried treasure].
(That's the spirit that man is looking for?)
Dat what he looking for and dey ain't one out'a hunderd can't [can] git it. Oh, yeah. Good God dat what he died wit [the buried money]. Dat's what dey done when dey done dat to me [killed him in his illustration]. But git dose three things. Now, when you do dat, now nobody know - half pint a' liquor - there's at least a quart, at least. For four-five days go dere fer drinking Water and git some yourself - carry half a gallon. All right, don't drink a drop till you git dere. Set your compass - dat's one way, go on de compass, let de compass pull you and you goin' call de spirit out wit it, and go back [and] git de thing right. Jest lak I was dere - I go dere and take two drinks of liquor, screw de iar down tight and I point east, south, north, west and t'row de bottle ovah my head and let de bottle fall and wherever de bottle fall I go right dere and pick it up and pour jes' about dat much [whiskey] on de ground - about as much as I drinkin' - dat goin' in de sand now. I wait about thirty minutes and I'm going call, "He-ey, Samuel [a name for the devil]. Samuel, watchman on de watch, give me de hour - he-ey, Samuel." And whilst you is talking, looking right at de place, he and I be foolin', walking up and down by de place, like dat - right on down. I go dere and I make a ring [circle]. I done all of my working in dat way. All right, den I take dat blood - dese t'ree kind of blood - I set one east, I set one west, and I set one south and leave north off; leave a door open dere fer him to come out. And right dere down take a saucer - three saucers. Pour some of dat whiskey in it - each saucer. Broke a egg and turn in each one of dem [saucers] and set 'em on de three corners of de world. And I goin' in dere [the circle] and I go to work. Before goin' to work [for clients] I go through the ceremony the same as this [one described]. I talk my 'greement over - what dese four people agree on 'fo' dey left my home. And I'm looking right at one fellah all de time. I lookin' at him, at dat one fellah and talkin' to him. Dis man had come to me on Monday gone [last Monday], on the 17 or the 18, and he done 'clare [declared] to All Great and Good God that this [dead] man done [give the treasure] to him. I hope and trust that she will stand by him and have him and whatsomever dere [in the hole]. [The woman in the preceding paragraph is mentioned earlier - the woman to whom owner spirit or guardian spirit had given the treasure, the woman who supplied three hens and one rooster. Since she was unable to participate in the dangerous work of digging up the treasure, she with the spirit's consent chose a man to act as her proxy. I must add - to emphasize the danger involved - that Washington had come to me in a treasure-seeking mood, having taken a few drinks of moonshine whiskey from his screw-top jar. After he left me, he and a doctor waiting for me got into the altercation described elsewhere - see Washington in Index.] He's not 'toxicated now, but he soon will be.
[Who? Probably the guardian spirit or watchman.]
[Doctor Washington exorcises - preaches to the watchman's spirit through the owner spirit's voice:] "Dis body be'd [was] laid down here through de sand [sandman] ceremony: We come to take up dis body by and through dis ceremony, and we find no harm in him or anything, as I have known dat man in de flesh of his shape." And he'd [owner's spirit would] walk up to him [guardian spirit or watchman] and point [out] dat man to me personally, and I would 'cuse [excuse] dat person directly I see him - talking like you'd talk to man you wanta save. [The preceding rite at the buried treasure site is the sandman ceremony in reverse. The watchman or quardian spirit of the treasure - once an evil man, now a dangerous spirit - can not be killed a second time; he must be tricked or mollified in some manner if the treasure is to be taken from him. Once again he must be made drunk; the whiskey being poured on the ground where he can absorb its liquid or fumes. To show good fellowship, Doctor Washington drinks with the spirit. Then, using Owner spirit's voice, Washington proclaims, "We come to take up dis body (honorable burial is intended)... we find no harm in him." Even to say the words no harm magically reduces the possibility of harm. Meanwhile, that half-gallon of whiskey has attracted other spirits, but fortunately owner spirit now appears in person - taking his voice called him up - and identifies watchman for the doctor. The latter act automatically releases watchman from his oath to guard the treasure. Doctor Washington, now returning to his own voice, begins talking like you'd talk to (a) man you wanta save. He 'cuses (excuses) watchman, absolves him from his wicked human life; he excuses (relieves) him immediately of his treasure-watching duties. So restored and released, watchman comes up into the magic circle, goes out the gate, and disappears forever. We will fail to understand this rite unless we realize that a gifted doctor - we shall meet many similar ones - is a master of spirits.]
[They now begin to dig.]
I 'sign [assign] you [proxy and helpers] de work, all de work [of digging]. And by time I goes down dere [into the finished hole] - go down dere - don't find nothin' but a solid piece of steel or a solid piece of iron. Lot'a time I go down dere and find jewelry, nothin' but all silver - old spoons, silver forks, silver watch. [Charleston, S. Car., (509), 570:5.] [As in the preceding subsection Spirits Guard Buried Treasure, here also we have a subject in which doctors are very much involved - see margin-title Witch- riding and Doctors at end of this subsection.] [What is a hag? An elderly root doctor in Savannah, Georgia, says: "De hag is a ha'nt, a spirit. Dere's two of 'um (two kinds of hags). One of 'um is comin' so you can't sleep in de night - dat's ha'nts, dat's a ha'nt (spirit of a dead person). An' another one is a hag - a hag is a living person; dey've becomes a hag, dey deals with de devil."] [Quotation from my interview given later - Old Man, R.D., No. 540. R.D. = Root Doctor; parentheses are mine.] [The preceding spirit of the dead either comes of its own accord to worry someone at night (see No. 535) or is sent, usually by a doctor (No. 77). It is occasionally called Jack Mulatta (No. 107), a term approximating Jack-mu-la't' or Jack-ma-lantren, a corruption of Jack-o'-lantern (No. 128-136) - lantern pronounced lantren or latren by uneducated Negroes and Whites. Jack Mulatta, a hag or witch carrying a light at night, is identified with Jack-o'-lantern (No. 436). Traveling lights are sometimes spirits of the dead (Nos. 121-127 and see Lights, mysterious, in Index). Often a spirit of the dead is sent in a whirlwind (No. 142). A doctor can also send a dressed animal to witch-ride a person (No. 200).] [The preceding witch, the old man's living person sold to the devil - who hag- rides and casts spells and cures - is also called a witch-hag (No. 462); a reason for describing her or him in the subdivision title as Witch in Hag Form.]
Entry 429
Dey say a witch is a ole woman - say it's when a woman lives to be years old an' say she takes, gits to whare she'll come out 'er hide. She'll come out 'er skin, say at night when she gits ready to go out to do her devilment; say she'll git out 'er hide an' then she'll go out necked with dis heah skin off 'er. Say den, when she go out, say she kin go through yore keyhole anywhares - jump in de keyhole an' come in to whare yo' is. When she come in dey says she come in to yo' by night, and she's one of dese things then whut chew call - dey don't use a man at night. Make yo' have nightmares, yo' know. Sometime dey nature gits so high till dey jes' - at night, dey dreamin' yo' know. Dat's a witch - say dat's whut she's doin' at night when she comes into yore house.