Subject:Around
Entries
Entry 2817
[They] say that you take a black can'le. And you write the name down on a piece of paper and you wrap it around that [candle]. You put it [a second paper with the name] in a tin plate. And take this party's pitchure and turn it upside down, and burn it [see later] to this black can'le for nine days and grad'lly this person will mold [or molt] away.
(You write the name on that paper once?)
Yeah. You put it [candle] on top of the name and around the name [name around candle]. No [correcting answer to my question], you write the name on there nine times. You write it nine times on one piece and three times on the other piece.
(You use two pieces of paper?)
One wrapped around the candle and one under the candle.
(Which has the nine times?)
The paper under the plate should have the name on it nine times. [The paper with three names, wrapped about candle, burns while candle burns; the paper with nine names lies beneath the plate on which the candle stands; the- photograph in your path of vision rests behind the candle, though not in the plate, and can be either face-down on the surface of what is being used for an altar, or leaning head-down against some object. Informant's burn it to this black can'le could be a slip of the tongue, but more likely the photograph is burning to the black candle - the spirit of the photograph and the spirit in the names under the plate symbolically or sympathetically burning with the spirit name about the candle. Naturally, if the word may be used, the triple-divided spirit (see pp.20-24) of the victim does not burn or die, it gradually deserts the body of the dying person.]
Entry 2821
Yes, it make fuss and trouble. Well, they'd write your name on that candle. Take a black candle and write your name on it - into that candle ~ three times around each side of it. And they'd light that candle, and when that candle is lit - when that candle burn down, you suffer with a miserable headache, and it goes down with the candle.
Entry 4738
[In] fac' [fact] ah have known it tuh be a fac'. Ah've known people tuh say so dat were very superstitious of dat so't [sort] of thing. Dey say dat dey git a piece of yore - some piece of yore clothes dat chew wear close tuh yore body. Take dem an' bury 'em undah yore do'steps so many days, an' go tuh a crossroad in de mawnin' an' turn roun' nine times, an' aftah den dey say yuh cain't stay dere. Jis' diff'ren' so't of invisible things will appeah dere an' jis' evently [eventually] drive yuh away.
(They would bury this piece of clothing under the person's own step?)
Bury it undah dere step. Jes' sneak up in de night an' bury it undah de step, undah whos'evah steps yuh wanta move.
Entry 5283
I've heard of people takin' saltpetah and molasses and putting it in a shoe and turn it upside down, turn around seven times and make a wish, and whatever that is it will come against the one that owns the shoe.
Entry 5736
Jis' lak if yo' goin' wit a man - yo' wus goin' wit 'im an' he don't wan' chew, he wan' somebodys else. When he come tuh yore house fo' three days, yo' git 'is track on dat new shingle an' jis' go tuh de front an' turn it roun'. He'll turn back roun' tuh yo' an' give tuh yo' jis' as he ought tuh, come back tuh yuh an' love yuh. (You put this new shingle right under his track and turn right around, but he has to come to your house for three days first.) Yes sir, do it three times, regardless if he done come dere three days. Yo' know, jis' lak if ah wus tuh come heah three days. Jis' so yo' do it three times. (If he comes there once, you go out and do that. Three days - each day you turn one of these tracks around on this new shingle.) [For man turning Woman in her track, also see 1870, p.555.]
Entry 6446
Well, see - jis' lak yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road. An' dey supposed Th be crossed lak dat [demonstrates]. Well, yo' take dat part of it - dat's de same as buryin' it an' [or] throwin' it in runnin' watah. Yo' take de skin from dey feet, de one's [feet] whut chew wanta do somepin tuh "a, yo' undahstan'. Well, yo' takes it an' yo' scrapes it back. See, jis' lak da [demonstrates]. If yo' from or tuh yo' lak dat. If yo' are cleanin' dere feet, yo'll have dat chance. Yo' take it an' bury it jis' lak ah tole it. An' o takes it tuh de fo'ks of de road an' throws it ovah yore lef' shouldah. An: look back at each one of de fo'ks, an' den go on where yo' goin'. Makes a as nark in de road an' turn aroun'.
(What will that do to them?)
Dat'll make dem go - jis' insance [insane]. An' dey mind nevah will come tuh 'em lak it supposed tuh.
Entry 8060
I know what I can do to bring a girl back, if she wants to leave, so long as I got her photograph. I can take her photograph and bring her back. Well, I'd take the photograph, you see, and I'd put it bottom upward, you know, crossways underneath the head of the bed. I can take the photograph and put it under the head of the bed, bottom upwards, and put the head at the west and feet at the east [photo faces east as does a corpse], you see, and put dat dere for nine days. So when dat nine days are up and that starts to rus' [rust], you take that up and put it in your pocket. Wear in your hip pocket and she'll come back. She won't do nuthin till that rus'es, you see. When you put it, it rus'es crossways, you see, on the springs you know. It rus' with the springs. I don't know [how] it come to bring her back, but it will do it jes' as soon as that starts to rus'. And you take that out and put it in your pocket. The actual pitchure itself had to be against the springs, but it have to be a tintype. You see [demonstrates] the face is up this way and you turn it down [face to springs], you see, and let the head be to the west and the feet to the east [normal position for burial of corpse]. That's according to the direction as she went. If she went east, you do that; if she went west, you put the head den [to the east], jis' ever way she went. You put that [on the springs] underneath your pilloW. And WHEN THE NINE DAYS IS UP, THAT THING WILL TURN COMPLETELY AROUND, THAT PICTURE WILL. When the nine days is up and that thing [picture] turns around, she'll come home.
Entry 8762
Ah tell whut chew kin do, if yo's outa yore home right now an' ah Wanted yo' tuh come back heah in yore home. Ah don't think yo're treated right, dat somebody has runned yo away. Ah'm goin' write chure name on a tin plate an' mah name, but me an' yo'd be good friends an' bring yo' back in dis home. An' turn dat new tin- plate an' write chure name in it an' den dere's a brass thimble an' three teaspoons. [The name is written on and the thimble and 3 teaspoons are in the right-side-up plate.] An' turn dat plate an' turn it fo' nine mawnin's - turn it roun' nine times fo' nine mawnin's. An' sleep wit it up undah de head of yore bed. He'll come back home. [The right- side-up plate is turned on its bottom and probably turned anti-clockwise, revers- ing time to bring man home.]
Entry 9236
[Well, now yo' kin take a black - it's gotta be a solid black hen. Yo' kin take a black hen aig an' write chure enemy's name on dere an' yo' kin bury it, if yo' wan' 'em tuh leave town or leave from aroun' yore neighborhood. Yo' put de lit- tle end out. (Out from what?) From de do'. Put de little end out. Jes' bury it right in front of yore do'. An' dat will run 'em away, but yo' will have tuh write dere name on dat aig an' it has tuh be a black hen aig. Then yo' kin take a black hen aig an' yo' kin throw it, but yo' have tuh be shore [sure] dat yo' hit right on de do'knob wit it. Yo' kin throw it an' let it strike right ag'inst a person's do'knob an' it'll cuz all kinda confusion in dat home, an' yo' can't stay dere in no peace.
Entry 10119
Ah've had a fren' of mine - ah've seen dat. Ah've had a frien' of mine kill a cat, black cat. Jis' taken an' put 'im in de watah live - jis' put in de watah live an' let 'im cook all tuh pieces. But dat's de devil [devil's work]. Let 'im cook all tuh pieces an' put a lid ovah 'im, [keep] dat down. Let 'im cook all tuh pieces when he's live. He took dat cat, when he cook all tuh pieces, he took de right hin' laig of 'is bone den an' throw it in de watah. Hit'll run up [stream]. It shore do. Hit'll run up an' den come back, an' stop an' turn aroun' [and surely bows to you!]. Dat's de lucky bone. But chew don' fin' [find] dat done evah day.
(The right hind leg.)
Dat bone by de j'int [joint].
Entry 10543
Dey say dey kin go out to de fo'k of de road fo' nine mawnin's an' yo' kin go out dere each mawnin', in case yo' wants tuh play a guitar, or yo' kin do anything yo' wanta. Yo' go out fo' nine mawnin's an' de ninth mawnin' when yo' go, say yo' turn around three times an' look ovah yore left [shoulder] say sompin will meet chew. Yo' don't know whut 'tis but sompin will meet chew an' den yo' kin do anything yo' wants tuh.
Entry 10630
They have a ginseng root. You take a piece of gingseng root and a he and she Adam-and-Eve. See, the he Adam-and-Eve is just a little ball-like, a little white ball - looks like a ball, but it's a root. Well you takes and you mash 'em [Adam-and-Eve and ginseng] up together.
(What does the she look like?)
The she look the same way only it's more longer, see. Well, then, you take and mash up them he and she, Adam-and-Eve, and the ginseng root and Angelico [for this root see later]. Mash it all up together until it's just a powder, see. Put it on the stove and scorch it. Take flour, mix a little flour - sort of like it's burned, scorch it good - and put it in a sack and just dust arou d there. Dust around your house for nine days.
(What will that do?)
Well, that will - you'll get under control.
(You do what?)
Under control, that controls your house.
(Oh, you do that just so this person comes under your control?)
Yes, sir.
(If there's a woman in the house, she would begin to like you?)
Yes, sir. [The preceding Angelico: originally while reading this I annotated 'angelica the candied "angelique"; but could it be in U. S. A., the roots from the Hercules club?]
Entry 10689
They skim de bath water an' they cooks that in with de husband's food an' that'll make him have a weak stomach. He will always feel sick an' he won't want to go anywhere an' per- haps - de woman do that to keep him at home, to keep him from running around. It ties up his nachure [na- ture]. He don't have any feeling towards her at all, no more than a - be a slave in de home for her, while she'll be out running around with different other guys. That puts her to be free amongst men an' him a slave at home. Use de bath water.
Entry 11218
(What do you mean by nine times and nine days?)
That's what I say; nine days, you know.
(Well, tell me the whole story so I'll understand it.)
I say, that they says you can take a dirt dauber's nest and make you a tea, and as you give your husband his coffee, you might put a little in his coffee for nine days, and then that might would check him up from running around, you see. Running around, that's all I hears about dirt dauber's nest. (Running around with what?) Just going out aplenty. Going out so much, just don't know what he does; but however, he just be going all the time.
Entry 11223
Take dirt dauber, cai-yanne peppah an' grave- yard dirt. Dat's tuh make people move, too. Yo' puts dem things intuh a ole cup an' yo' make a powdah of it, an' yo' go an' throw it aroun' dis place where yo' want de people tuh go.
Entry 11687
Yo' go tuh de fo'k of de road - fo' luck yo' mean? [I probably nodded yes.] Fo' luck. An' yo' turn around twice [stand- ing in same place] an' on de right han' side, not on de left-han' side. An' yo' succeeds dere on de right han' of de road. Don' nevah look back, jes' keep right on on de right han' side, yo' understan'. An' right at de bend of dat fo'k of de road - dere's three fo'ks of de road. Well, at de second fo'k of de road, yo' look right at de second road.
Entry 11688
Well, yo' kin go to de fo'ks of de road an' probably turn aroun' three times an' yo' don' [look back?]. Cos' whatevah yo' have [of victim's] well, yo' know, jis' lak if yo' wanted to do somebody some harm or somepin. Well yo' take whatevah yo' got of theirs an' place it there in de fo'ks of de road, an' there where they're [vic- tim is] goin'. They'll stop, an' they cain't go any further becuz' they'll lin- ger roun' there, yo' know. Well, they'll continue goin' that way all de while until dey die.
Entry 12246
You git you a assafidadee [asafetida] see, an' beat it up fine, an' put some turpentine in it, some Hearts Cologne. And git chew a piece of John de Conkah root, and cut dat up fine and sew it up tight, and wear it right around yo' neck, an' leave it lay right on yo' chest, and nothin' kin nevah harm yo', if somebody goin' poison you.
(Nothing will ever harm you, I see.)
Even if somebody give you [him] sompin to eat, it couldn't go into his stomach. His stomach like a stone.
Entry 13137
If you got a husband that runs around, [or] if a man got a woman that runs around, he can take her dirty stockings and wash the toe and the heel - not the whole stocking, wash the toe and wash the heel. In about, well, I'd say about two ounces of water - that's suffi- cient, two ounces of water. And take that water and pour it in a bottle and stop it up, and bury it underneath the steps and that party will stay home all the time.