Browse:Underworld Work (Volume 1, entries 2353–2354)
Underworld Work
Volume 1, entries 2353–2354. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2353
How dey use dereself - dey'll pull dey clothes off until dey git down to dere neckedness [nakedness], an' jes' lak dey have a pan of peas or a bowl of peas or somethin' an' de steam is comin' outa dat bowl, why den dey'll put dereselves right ovah dat bowl an' steam dereself in dat - in dat bowel. Den all dat filth dat comes outa her body will steam right in dat food. See, when de man eat dat, an' dat gits to his brain and dat makes him jes' attached to her. See, dat whut all dat underworld work [is] - dat [and] all stuff wit roots. See, dat'll git his mind attached right to her - dat stuff she puts in it, dat gits him den dat he can't do without her. [Waycross, Ga., (1120a), 1799:1.] [This underworld work - a favorite expression of my contact-man Edward - is not gangsters and crime syndicates; it is the material in this book.]
Entry 2354
Ah have tried dat once but ah didn't make no luck at it. Dey tell me dat chew git a dead man's bone [see p.543f.], one of his finger bone an' one of his toe bone an' keep dat in yore pocket, dat chew would be successful in all evil doin's - underworld work. Well, ah did that. Dey had lynched a fellah up heah right at [near some village] a piece up dis road heah, an' dey found a skeleton. Ah mean ah wus cooking tar den, I run across it in de swamp, an' all de meat was off his bone - nuthin but his toes an' fingers, nuthin but a skeleton yo' understand. Ah'd take one of fingers off, a joint of his finger bone, an one of his toes an' put it in mah pocket. An' ah kept it a while but ah wasn't successful in it. Ah don't think it was much to it. Now yo' kin go to a graveyard an' if it's a man of de world - a wicked man an' man dat gambles an' do all evil things - yo' go to dat graveyard an' pull yore sleeve up to yore elbow an' tell dis wicked man - de spirit - lak ah'm a wicked man an' ah'm buried heah - well - an' yo' wants some of mah dirt. Well, yo' know mah name. Yo' say, "Mark, ah wants some luck." Run yore han' down in dat grave - see, till it git to de elbow an' git some of dat dust. Say, "Well, sir, ah've got some of de dirt an' now ah'm goin' pay yo'." Yo' put two pennies in dat hole an' cover it up. See, dat pennies is tuh pay him fo' dat dirt. Yo' take dat dirt an' yo' put it in yore pocket an' yo'll be lucky gambling. Yo'll be lucky in any kind of underworZd work, sech lak sellin' likker, or if yo' thief an' yo' steal an' dey ain't goin'ketch chew. An' if yo gamble, why yo' successful in dat gamblin' - playin'poker, set-back or anything. Now, ah did that fo' gambling. Ah got some of dat dirt, put two pennies in dat hole. Tell 'im, says, "Well, ah'm paying yo' now fo' dis dirt, ah want it tuh be lucky tuh me." [My transcriber says they knifed a fellah. Above knifed I wrote lynched when checking the transcription. In either case the man died a violent death, making his bones more powerful magically.]