Subject:Blinded
Entries
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 13092
I have heard they take the toenail, or either the fingerail, but the only thing I have heard, they have took the fingernail. People have took their fingernails, you under- stand, and done used that by parching it, 'cause I have a sister, she got that on her face now. Well, this girl, she had took her fingernail. Well, her fingernail was long, and she got rattlesnake dust and she had it up under her fingernail and she was talking to my sister. And she just done thataway [demonstrates] and my sister is blind today for hit.
(She just flicked it into her eye.)
She just slipped it right into her eye and she is blind and the doctor couldn't do her no good. She's blind today and all in her she's dark and all in her [eyes?] look like heavy lipstick - all where that dust hit her in her face.
Entry 341
If yo' wanta learn to pick a guitar, go to a road nine Sunday mawnin's - de fo'ks of de road, nine Sunday mawnin's. But 'fore yo' evah go tuh de fo'ks of de road to learn yo'self, dey way fo' yo' tuh do - git a rooster, an' if he ain't blind, have some de young ones to knock his eye out. It won't.hurt him yo' know. Don' do it chewse'f but have somebody else tuh do it - lak yo' ketch a rooster, put one his eyes out. Ah reckon yo' heerded dat ole song - dey say long time ago it wus named atter [after] [what a] root worker done, chew know. Dey says, "De Ole Blind Rooster, When He Comes." Well, dat's de way dat is. See, yo' take dat rooster one eye. Den yo' kill him an' yo' take his drumstick when all de meat is done 'way - done eat de meat off yo'self. Take dat drumstick an' yo' go ahead an' yo' put it in yore pocket.
(What do you put in your pocket, the eye or the drumstick?)
No, not de eye, jes' de thigh an' let somebody else eat de meat off it. [He calls the thigh bone a drumstick, a term usually reserved for the leg bone. Thigh in old-fashioned country-fried chicken was never called second joint, a carving term; the chicken being completely disjointed and cut up when fried raw.] (What do you do with that eye that you took off the rooster, what do you do with that eye?) Well, yo' see -
(You just blind the rooster?)
Yeah, jes' blind de rooster in dat one eye. Den yo' take dat othah eye an' put undah de back do'step yo' know. An' so whenevah de mawnin' when yo' goin' tuh learn tuh pick de guitar, an' cut. tricks, yo' know, yo' got dat rooster drumstick in yore pocket.
(You kill the rooster and eat him?)
Uh-huh, kill de rooster an' eat him, but don' eat none of it yo'self, see: Yo' git de drumstick an' de eye - take de eye time yo' kill him an' bury it undah de do'step an' let nobody know whut chew done wit it. Den yo' take de drumstick an' yo' go down to fo'ks of de road Sunday mawnin 'fore day, jes' right round 'bout three a'clock an' when yo' git down dere, yo' wanta learn tuh play de guitar. So de first Sunday mawnin' yo' go dere, well, yo' don't stay but 'bout eight or ten minutes - give yo' eight or ten minutes. Well now, whenevah yo' 'cide tuh leave dere, if yo' go dere fo' dat business, yo' know, well, yo' drop dat bone down right in de middle of de fo'ks of de road, near as yo' know, say, "Well, dey ain't nobody heah dis mawnin', thigh, but me, an' so's yo'." Now yo' ain't goin' say nuthin'. Well, yo' start to pickin' yo' guitar an' whenevah yo' startin' tuh pickin' yore guitar, the corner of that bone round dere would be heah, an' it will keep changin' but yo'll nevah see it change dat mawnin'. Yo'll look at it - one end of it's small an' de othah end large, yo' know. Co'se it be larger up heah, yo' know, den it would be down dere, but that end will be round, that end, an' ever' time yo' pick a tune, it will be changin' - yo' know yo' comin' on den wit de guitar, yo' know whut chew done. An' when it quit changin' yo' know it time tuh go.'Well, '' yo' say, "nex' Sunday mawnin'." If yo' want it be at twelve a'clock, yo' say, "Twelve a'clock an' it change agin. Not watch it yo' know, an' whatevah yo' see it comin' at de change, yo' jes' hold it at dat hour an' yo' come de next time dat hour an' - so - on whenevah Sunday mawnin' come agin, yo' go back dere. Well, whut yo' do dat time, yo' go back dere an' yo' set right down, right up on de - sit down dere an' pick. Say, "Dere's nobody tuh worry yo' ah ain't got but one eye." An' yo'll see a sheep - a sheep will come up cross de road an' git right in de road an' face yo' an' look mournful an' pitiful, an' yo'll look at dat sheep an' keep on pickin' an' dat sheep atter while will vanish away. Atter while yo' see somepin black comin'. Well, dey'll pass on by, won't stop dat time. Well, it's time tuh go den. Yo' goes de nex' time. Well, de nex' time yo' go dere, yo' guitar will git pickin' bettah an' bettah. Well, whut'll drive yo' 'way dat time, yo'll heah a cow come 'long. Well, yo'll nevah see dat cow dat time, an' fore yo' leave - yo stay dere 'bout a hour dat time befo' yo' leave, an' if anybody on de road kin see yo' or anything, den dat cow de las' time she'll low, she say, "Aah-aah-do sound lak she say. An' it's time tuh go den. An' so yo' go dat time. An' de next time yo' go dere, dere a lil' ole funny boy will come out an' yo' speak to him an' he'll play all dumb, an' yo' not know a thing about him. Well, it natural sometime yo'll run up on people yo' nevah knew. An' yo' git picking de guitar till yo' git tuh messin' wit him, an' quite natural yo' think he'll not keep it, keep it down. Well, at least it wus wit me. An' ah got tuh playin' an' fust thing ah knows he had two lil' ole sticks yo' know, an' keep playin' it on, dat bark got to ringin', yo' know, good, an' ah kept playin', kept playin' an' ah wus playing one tune an' when de guitar got playin' anothah, ah change back. An' den ah didn't have tuh go no mo'. Ah didn't have tuh go no mo' 'tall 'cause ah got playin' so's ah could play anything ah want. Ah have been where ah could lay de guitar upside down an' stan' beside it - it would ring right on. Dat's true. But ah laid off of it. Way ah wus doin', ah'd be a speck mo' den ah is. Ah went dere 'bout - ah missed two Sundays an' ah got off on de guitar a lil' bit, an' ah went back den on a Sunday mawnin' an' ah met somepin dere. Well, people say yo' meet de devil, but tell de truth 'bout de thing, ah don't know if it wus de devil or not. It wus a black something othah jes' 'bout dat high - sorta 'mind me of a dog. He had han's lak a dog when ah fus' seen him but fust an' last his han' wus jes' lak mine only it wus jes' as hot as could be. Well, ah wus drinkin' putty ha'd dat mawnin' tuh hol' mah nerve, but ah warn't drunk, an' he took dat guitar an' got tuh pickin' an' he changed it back tuh me. Well, atter while ah got tuh de place ah could pick anything. An' de bottom of mah shoe, ah had had a sole an' hit wus 'bout tuh come off, yo' know, an' he says, "Gimme yore soul" - whut he says. Ah wus gittin' ready tuh leave yo' know. Ah say, "Well, nobody knows." An' ah says, "Good-day" - jes' lak dat an' turn roun an' he say, "Gimme yore soul befo' yo' goes." Ah went an' pulled de half-sole off mah shoe an' gi' him de sole, yo' see, an' he disappeahed. Well, ah went on back tuh de house an' ah got tuh play - ah got tuh pick de guitar extra good. (Were you supposed to do anything else the rest of the times you were supposed to go out there?) De nine days?
(If you keep on going out there what happens?)
Yo' keep on goin' dere? Well, yo' see if yo' keep on goin' dere, yo' kin go dere eight mo' days on Sunday mawnin' an' yo' git to de place, de devil will give yo' a root. Dere's somepin come out lak a dog an' he'll come by an' he'll drop somepin down - it's 'bout six inches long, jes' 'bout lak dat. He be runnin' jes' lak a dog or somepin an' drop somepin yo' know, an' quite natchral yo'll pick it up yo' know. An' yo' pick it up an' yo' keep dat. If yo' offah tuh show it tuh somebody, dey cain't see it - [dey] say, "Yo' ain't got nuthin' in yore han'." Yo' cain't see it. Well, if yo' try tuh show it to dem, dey don't hardly believe yo'. So yo' keep dat in yore pocket till yo' git to de house an' git a chance tuh go down 'side de spring an' bury it. Well, de day yo' bury dat, if yo' bury it deep enough, yo'll nevah find it yo'self, but yo'll have luck de longest day yo' live. But chew go' tuh dat crossroads nine Sunday mawnin's. Well, dat ninth mawnin' yo' know, yo' done made dat aftah yo' done learn tuh pick de guitar. Well, yo' don't have but seven mo'. An' yo' go dere seven mo' Sunday mawnin's. Well, yo' beat right on de guitar. Yo' kin cut all kinda tricks den an' de devil will show yo' how tuh manage tricks. Yo' kin see the police dere an' everything in close places, an' how tuh git out chew know, an' ever'thing.[ Fayetteville, N. Car.,
(1438), 2581:1.]
Entry 295
Well, the way you sell yourself to the devil, you get you a black, black cat, you see. And after you get you a black cat, you take that black cat and you boil it - you boil that black cat 'till it get real done. After'the cat boil and you get done, you take that left hind leg, you see, and get that left bone out of it. Get that bone out of it, out of his left leg and you get in front of a glass and you pass this 'cross your teeth three times, you see. And the third time you pass it across your teeth, if you got the right bone it will blind you, you see. And after it blind you, well you got the right bone. You can - you are so you can go anywhere and get anything you want. You can do something and as long as you got that bone in your hand, they won't see you.
Entry 531
If yo' be worried lak that, yo' take yore chewin' tobacco an' yo' place it undah yore pillah. Well, vo' put chure money there undah yore pillah - silver money, a dime or a quarter, ah guess. Well, dey says take a chew of tobacco an' count yore money if yo' got any change an' den dey are gone.
(The night hag?) [Informant had called the rider a hag.]
Yes. [This is a good trick if you can do it - to count your silver while chewing tobacco, despite a witch's hands about your throat. Spirits and witches dislike tobacco, detest tobacco juice: "I told my husband she had my chickens bewitched. He said, "I will fix her." So he drawed her picture with her pipe in her mouth. It sure look like she was standing right there. My husband is a witch doctor and he did not have to take her picture to a white oak tree, he just spit tobacco juice in her eyes. Several weeks after that I met my friend (the witch) and she could not see. Her eyes were all sore. I said, "What is wrong with your eyes?" But I knew it was the tobacco spit in her eyes." (Following this quotation is the word Irish - meaning informant was of Irish origin.) See FACI,2ed., p.835.]
Entry 671
Ah have heard that goofer dust is jes' diff'rent roots for whatevah kinda work it is yo' wanted tuh do or anything bad; dat's de kind of roots dat chew would git. Dere's some kinda root - devil grass root.
(It has no other name?)
No othah name. Take devil grass an' snake's head an' grind it up togethah an' make a powder out of it. See, fo' instance, if yo' wanted tuh hurt someone or somepin othah lak dat, an' sprinkle it in dey hat, de bandin' of dey hat. It Would run 'em blind. Do different things with it.
Entry 13121
Beat up a dried rattlesnake head to a dust and scatter this in a dusty road your enemy walks. This dust will blow up into his eyes or get into some way and blind him. [Wilmington 225:1+85.]
Entry 13122
The dust from a snake shed or liquid dust sent to a person in a let- ter will blind him. [Richmond 300:7.]
Entry 13127
Pound up a snake shed, especially that of a rattlesnake, and put this in a person's hat to blind him. [Wilmington 102:6+85.]
Entry 13123
Dust from a rattlesnake shed [the outer skin cast off by ecdysys] sent to a person in a letter will get into his eyes and blind him. [Wilmington 103:6+85.]
The item predicts blinding from a described mailed material; the bracketed explanation of the shed belongs to the editor.