Browse:To Catch a Spirit (Volume 1, entries 38–47)
To Catch a Spirit
Volume 1, entries 38–47. Source context: SPIRITS → GHOSTLORE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 38
[To catch a spirit or to protect your spirit against the catching or to release your caught spirit - this is the complete theory and practice of hoodoo.] Ah kin ketch yore spirit easy. A person kin - jes' lak yo' settin' dere an' ah kin be talkin' to yo'. Yo' talkin' tuh me an' I be walkin' back an' ah got a bottle. Ev'ry word chew says, I ease dat stopper down - ev'ry word yo' say until yo' git to de end, den yo' stop it down. Well, then yo' won't be sick but yo'll jes' be lak a bird flyin' - here an' yon - an' de moment dat yo' kin git to it an' pull de stopper yo'll be yoreself all de same.
(You have to walk backwards while you are pushing that cork down?)
Yes sir.
Entry 39
Oh, yes, dey take dat chamber lye and stop it up and call yo' name. After yo' answer dey stop dat chamber lye up and den dat'll stop you up. See, long as dat chamber lye is runnin', why yo' is gotta luck; but de time dat dey stop dat and call yo' dis way, dat's jes' like yore spirit. Well, dey ketch yore spirit and put it away with dat jug. Well, dat stop yo' bowels from moving altogether - you can't make no water. [This confusion between bowels and bladder is common.] No way in de world fer you to make water 'till dey take dat stopper out.
Entry 40
De spirit like - yo' kin ketch dere voice. Yo' kin ketch a person's voice - jes' lak if yo' in love wit someone an' somebody else is.after 'em an' yo' wants 'em - yo' call 'em. Yo' gits yo' a black soda watah bottle - it jes' be a dark brown beer bottle, an' yo put dat chamber lye in dat; put dey chamber lye, not yores, an' yo' call 'em. An' after yo' call 'em an' dey answer, yo stop it up an' yo' keep it on it's haid all de time. Ah don't care where dey is, yo' kin make 'em come to yo'.
(You keep this bottle on it's head all the time.)
An' when yo' git ready fo' 'em - jes' lak if dey out an' yo' want 'em tuh come on home, make haste, yo' jes' shake it an' call 'em - call dere name three time an' dey'll come to yo' five minutes after yo' do it.
Entry 41
Ah heard 'em say dey'd call yore spirit lak. Ah kin git chew an' ah takes yo' - yo' see, ah calls yore name. Well, ah draw yore pitchure an' yore pitchure would come tuh me. Yo' see, lak if ah take a pencil an' draw a man, den ah calls yore name an' yore good spirit will fall on me. Den ah must ketch yore spirit an' stop 'em up.
(How are you going to stop it - in what?)
In a bottle.
(When you call their name?)
An' ah blows mah breath in dere an' stop it up.
(That catches my spirit?)
Yes.
Entry 42
Yo' mean gains influence wit anybody? Well, yo' could take an' wash yore hands [and] yo' could put it in whiskey or put it in water - or blow yore breath in a glass three times an' give them that glass to drink water out of; jest blow yore breath in that glass three times an' talk to dem.
(What will that do then?)
Gains influence -.dey'd have mo' care tuhwards yo', they'd do anything yo' say do. They couldn't he'p deyself.
Entry 43
A woman right here in Beaufort Street, she got holt of a man's foot track and took it and while it was hard, you know, and put it in a bottle and took it in her house and put it right in front of her door - wrapped it up in a silk cloth and put it in front of her door and used it as a door stop, and as long as dat was dere why he would come back. When she moved she didn't take that with her and de [other] people moved in that house. Long as dis bag was dere he kept coming back looking fer her. He always was coming back looking fer her and de people would tell him that she didn't live there any more - kept coming back - coming back.
Entry 44
(Do you know how they do that - catching a person's spirit?)
Well, yo' takes nine peas an' yo' put these peas in a bottle of hearts cologne an' yo' take it an' yo' ketch his shadah [shadow] - his shadah is his spirit, chew know. An' yo' take that an' yo' ketch that an' yo' put nine peas in a cologne bottle - hearts cologne bottle. Yo' Jes' watch 'im dere as he go along, yo' see, yo' jes' stop it up tight - yo' ketch his speech when he speak, yo' take advantage of it an stop that up tight.
(Well how do you get that shadow into the bottle?)
Well, jes' lak a person walkin' 'long - walkin' 'long lak dis an' yo' may walk up to him, anyway - yo' jes' unstop de bottle lak dat an' his shadah go in dere. Dat hearts cologne an' dat peas will draw it in dere.
(Then you stop it up quickly? That's got his spirit?)
Yeah, yo' got his spirit.
(And then after you got his spirit in that bottle, what happens?)
Well, yo' kin do anything wit it dat yo' want - anything - yo' jes' got his spirit den. Yo' got his spirit there - yo' could use 'em most any way.
Entry 45
Yo' calls a spirit. Now, ah'll go an' put a table out in de middle of de hall - in de middle of the floor and ah'll sit there and rap three times and call a spirit and dey'll come and talk with yuh. And de table will walk - de table will walk.
Entry 46
Quite a while ago a friend of mines - dey don't know whether he got killed or don't know whether he died, because when dey held de inquest fo' him, dey didn't find no spot of where he was killed or either shot. De doctors 'xamined pretty good. Now, dat right chere in Waycross heah about three or foah years ago. But in examining him - yo' know, dey tells me dat a person kin be daid, dey kin be stiff, an' after being stiff - like if dey found a person dead an' dey being stiff, well de undertakers can't git him in dat casket until he's properly stretched out, but dey tells me dat chew kin jest walk up an' jest call dis person - a natural person, an' he limbers himself.
Entry 47
I worked at College Park, Maryland, and when I would leave the quarters and pass by the hothouse, every time that I passed by this hothouse I would have a peculiar feeling, and when I got by this hothouse this peculiar feeling would leave. It impressed my mind that it surely was ghosts or something creeping around.