Subject:Blind
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Entries
Entry 8095
Yo' kin take a man's pichure or a man kin take a woman's pichure. If yo' wan' de person tuh stay aroun', yo' kin turn it up an' dey'll be aroun' if yo' walk on tuh 'em. If yo want 'em tuh come rushin' right tuh yo' at once, turn it down. Dat puts 'em on dere haid, dey can't stay away. Den yo' kin take de pichure ag'in an' punch de eyes out, put a "x" in de mouth, an' bury it on de face of it, but punch de eyes out an' dat'll run 'em blind.
Entry 8790
If somebody writes yo' a lettah an' yo' don't want tuh hear from dem, yo' take bluestone an' cayenne peppah an' seal [reseal] it an' send it back to dem, an' when it's opened dey'll lose dere eyesight. [Fredericksburg, Va., cyl.80.]
Entry 8817
Why a person could write a lettah to yo' an' if dey don't wanta hear from yo', why they burn de fo' cornahs off dat let- tah, an' den dey boil peppah tea, steep dat lettah in it, an' seal it up an' send it back tuh yo', an' yo' can't write 'em no mo'. An' den dey will go blind from dat.
Entry 9862
Yo' git chew fo' toadfrogs an' yo' tie dem by a laig - by one laig, not tuhgethah but one laig at de time - an' yo'll hang dat fellah [frog] deah wit 'is haid down. Yo' tie de othah one an' yo' hang 'is haid down. An' yo' tie all fo [frogs]. Hang 'em separates [separately] down. Pluck dere eyes out an' dat'll run somebody crazy in dey house. (Wait a minute! You are not telling the story the way you told it before. How long do you leave them there and all that sort of thing? Tell me the whole story now.) All right. Dey hangs dere fo' day, foah nights. Lak yo' put 'em heah tuh- aight. Starts from tuhnight. Be shuh [sure] yo' got dose foah nights out. Well yo'kow de days is gotta come in. Each day yo' go dere an' pluck out one's eye [the eyes of one frog]. Dat takin' de eyesight from whosomevah in dat house from 'e. [4 frogs and 4 nights here does not mean 4 victims but thoroughness, deriv- ed from the "4 corners of the earth" (in Biblical Apocalypse of John,7:1) or 4 directions everywhere.]
(Wouldn't they see those frogs hanging there on the wall?)
Uell, ah don't think she saw 'em. But she cert'inly went blind.
(When do you pick out the eye, in the daytime or at night?)
[I am afraid my question was a little disconcerting.]
Night. Ah think it's night becuz yo' have dem dere dat foah nights. [In- formant himself has not performed this rite; he merely heard about it, saw the frogs, and knew the woman went blind.]
Entry 10088
You get a real black cat, jet black, and throw him in a pot of hot water and let him stay there until the bones all come to pieces. You take all the bones out then and put them in your mouth, one at a time, and when you strike that bone, the lucky bone, you'll become blind. Then you have struck the right bone. You carry that for luck. [This is a tricky rite! After I draw each bone through my lips and still see, what happens then? Are some black cats without lucky bones? Am I supposed to continue in rotation or haphazardly redrawing the bones through my lips ad infinitum? Is this merely a folk trick? A practical joke?] [Hampton, Va., Old Point Comfort, Ediphone cyl.30.]
Entry 10099
Dat black cat by de watah's got tuh be at twelve 'clock at night. An' if dey ain't good, dey can't stay dere. Cain't stay dere. Ain't no way fer yuh tuh stay dere. Yuh take dat black cat bone. Yuh take dat black cat an' yuh boil all de meat off 'is bone. Dey says yuh goes tuh a runnin' stream of watah an' put dat cat bones in dat place an' do dat business. Well, ah believe dat's a mistake. Dat's mah belief. But chew take dat black cat bone an' yo' boil dat black cat down, an' when all de meat fall off de bone, yo' take dat black cat up [from the pot] an' yo' wash dem bones off wit cleah watah. Aftah yuh wash dem bones off in cleah watah, yuh take evah bone, evah bone dat Was in de cat, an' put 'em in yore mouth. An' de right bone is goin' tuh turn yuh blind as a bat. Dat's de bone.
(That's the bone you use.)
Entry 12880
Dey take dese redhead scorpion. Ah know of a woman blind her husband dataway. Take a redhead scorpion an' git rid of yo' dataway, too. Take a red- head scorpion an' kill it. Put him out, yo' know, in de sun an' let hi git good an' dry. Dat head'll dry yo' know, it will git hard an' dry. Take an' beat it up fine an' it be like powder. Yo' know, mash it up. Den put it in de band of dere hat, like chew know around.
(Inside the band of the hat?)
Yes, dats right, an' yo' see dat sweat run down in dere eye. Blind 'en jes' as when yo' come in dis world.
Entry 13091
(Yes, how the quarrel started.)
De first thing, he had a mule named Julia. When ah wuz a boy dey used to have gin house whut dey pull mill round tuh gin cotton. See. Dey didn't have dese steam gins den. Out in de country dey had eight mules to it [etc.], have de first mule heah, one on dat end, one ovah heah and one ovah dere, and den dey have two mules heah and two mules ovah dere an' ah used to dirve de mules. So his mule would bite cha an' so ah wouldn't carry his mule, so he whupped me be- cause ah wouldn't carry it fo' him. Him an' I - his boy an' I got in a fight - so ah whupped him. An' so he whupped me again.
(The father?)
Yassuh, de father - ole man Spencer whupped me. So we boys met him [son] one night an' - ah didn't hit him but ah mean de other boys [did]. An' so ah left mah cap at his house. An' mah uncle Winston tole me he'd taken dis [capl de shed of a rattlesnake and rubbed de band of mah hat [capl. An' when ah sweated...an when ah put it on mah haid, my eyes went an' ah ain't saw no mo' since.
(When did this happen?)
1904.
(And this happened up in Perry county?)
Dat's Perry County, Alabama, Scott Station.
(Got it dry and took this dust and put it in your hatband and made you blind?)
Yes.
Entry 13093
Well, they can take your clothes and they can take your hat. In oth- er words they can take your hat and they can put rattlesnake dust - you can buy it in this town - see, rat- tlesnake dust, and they can put it in your hat. And when you sweat in your hat, it makes you blind. (I see, I see.) [I heard little about selling snake dust to blind.]
Entry 13094
Well, dey tell me if yo' wanta harm a person dat way, dat chew kin kill a rattlesnake an' let him dry till yo' kin pound his bones up an' make a dust out of his bones - skin an' all. An' put some of de dust in a han'kerchief. Heet dis person an' turn yore back to de wind an' dey face to de wind. Take de han'kerchief out an' shake it jes' lak if yo' were goin' tuh wipe soiled han's, an' let dat dust go in dere face. Dey will nevah see no mo'.
(That will make them blind.)
Entry 13096
They take that bow outa your hat and burn it up in ashes, burn it in a plate and get the ashes, and then take some snake's head, any kind of snake's head, and just powder it up together, and put that in your hatband, and when you sueat, why that just run down, you know, in your forehead, and it finally get in your eyes and you go blind.
Entry 13098
They could it it with that hair. They can take that hair and mingle it in your comb, and dress that hair under a burnt snakehide, and put that in [on] your head and you'll go bald, and when that perspiration dries in your eyes, you'll go blind.
(You take "burnt snakehide?")
Burnt snakehide.
(You dress that with the comb?) [Dress comb with that!]
Over with the comb. See? And wrap that hair - soak that hair in water and something. Put it in that burnt-snakehide dust, and put it - wrap it in a - like if a person's using the comb, they don't pull all the hairs left out of the comb, and it'll take it to your head. And gradually that stuff will poison the roots of your hair and run you bald.
(I see.)
And if it drips in yore eyes...
Entry 13099
Oh, dey'd run yo' crazy in a way wit it, wit de dust from a rattle- snake's rattles. Take de dust out of a rattlesnake's rattle an' put dat in dat bow or either sprinkle it inside of dey hat, an' if dey sweat from it, why it will run 'em blind. Ah know two-three blindin's heah today dat result of dat thing.
Entry 13105
Dey put dust in your hat so you'll go blind. Accordin' you'll lose your hair. (What would they do? How would they use the dust that way? Have you any idea?) Well, they'll go ahead and, you know, dere's somepin dey calls dragon's blood dat you get from de drug store. You kin get dat ole dragon's blood from de drug store. You kin get dat ole dra- gon's blood from de drug store and you sprinkle it on de inside of your hat, an' a little small piece of dis ole snake's shed. Or place it in de binding of your cap or hat, somepin like dat. And when you begin to sweat den de effect will take on you, sometimes you'll go blind from it an' you taken wit de headache.
(It runs down into your eyes?)
Dat's de idea and cause you to go blind and you are taken wit de headache.