Subject:Blindness
Entries
Entry 6759
Cure for blindness caused by spell. Bathe eyes every mawnin' with fresh cow milk and beaten-up egg. Do for seven [consecutive] mawnin's.
Entry 7250
De reason ah'm tell'n yo' dis is it's from mah wife. Mah wife - dere wus a lady mad wit 'er an' she loaned a ole lady 'er bonnet, named Rachel Keller. An' she [Rachel] wō de bonnet away an' she kep' it about a week. She wus a frien' of our'n. Well, dis girl whut stayed dere, she found out it wus mah wife's bonnet. She watched 'er. She got some snail, a young snail an' fixed 'em - jis' take 'em lak she have - got 'em an' worked 'em up lak she wanted tuh swell 'em, an' jis' squirted de juice in watah. Washed 'em an' squirted de juice in watah an' put dat in a bottle. She [my wife] goes all tuh pieces-lak. She [the girl] takes an' sprinkles dat bonnet wit it an' mah wife wore it, an' she come jis' as blind as a bat - couldn't see nowhere.
(Real blind.)
She come blind as a bat. She had a li'le girl, name of Carnation. Call dat li'le girl sometime an' she try tuh go tuh de do'. Neah tuh de do' an' couldn't see it. She wus right behin' de dō', thought she wus tuh de dō', but she wus be- bhin' de do'. Couldn't even see me when ah come in de house. Ah carried 'er tuh de same ole lady, Mrs. Brown, an' ah know whut she done.
(You don't know what she did to her?)
I did.
(Oh, you did?)
An ah know whut she done an' whut she tole me tuh do. An' ah did it. She give me de stuff, cayenne peppah, a li'le piece of pod, yo' see. Put it in a skillet an' boil it till de watah wus red. Took a li'le meal, of what chew call...
(Corn meal?)
An' bind it right ovah 'er eyes jis' lak dat, until she got so she could see.
(That's what cured her?)
Made her so she could see. Now she kin see. Dat's been fifteen yeahs ago.
(Was this down in Pilesville?)
[Powersville? N. Car.]
Yes, sir.
Entry 8089
If a party writes a party a lettah an' sends 'is pitchure in it, an' he take it an' jab both of de eyes out of de party, an' burn two cornahs, dat's bad business
(What will it do?)
Give yo' hard luck de balance of yore days, an' yo' liable tuh go blind.
(What two corners do you burn?)
Burn de right an' left - burn de bottom one left an' burn de top one right.
Entry 803
When ah wus 'bout twelve yeahs ole, ah used to lead one of dem expert spimits men aroun', see, and he told me a heap a things and I ain't nevah forgot it. But ah got some experient about few things mahsel' - see, ah got a family and dese things come tuh me and dere's some of de things ah learnt by being roun' people. But dere two-three things what's absolutely de truth, so help me Lawd, come to me and ah try it - pay [it pays] to try it and ah knowed it worked.
(You say you worked for one of these men?)
Oh, ah used to lead a spirchul man around when ah was about twelve. Oh, he cud tell yo' anything or he cud do anything. Ah know dat and he used to give me 50c a day - used to lead him around because he was blind, see. ["549 - garage man - 40's - good - would tell about spirits - put two quarters between us - had lent [[Twins? or T-something]] 50c - [[I]] lent him $1.00" - Numbers Book 442-621. Silver between us and other protective devices happened so often; man in Mobile making sign of cross at door, someone turning round, wearing silver - I paid little attention to them. He probably had mentioned the power of borrowed money, especially silver - I "lent him $1.00" - in addition to the fee I gave him, otherwise my loan would not have been lucky.]
Entry 13100
Dat band aroun' his hat, use rattlesnake dust. Yo' know a rattle- snake contains so many rattles tuh tell how many yeahs he is old. An' yo' take de dust outa dose rattles an' sprinkle it round de band of his hat an' he'll go blind.
Entry 566
I wus blin' lak dat one time. They jis' put it on a pocket han'kachef - dat same dus' off de rattlesnake, jis' like she took de [snake] shed an' do like dat [demonstrates, pulverizing it], an' then dus' it on de han'kachef. An' I pick up de han'kachef to go out de room, an' look lak thousan' pins in mah face; an' lak you settin' there, you look like you about dat big [demonstrates with hands, very smallj. Well, I wus sick about I reckon about three months with it. I couldn't see a bit. An' I wus tole in mah sleep - I jis' dreamt one mornin' befo' day - it looked like it wus a white woman tol' me in mah sleep to git a dime an' wash it, an' boil it in a quart of watah down to a jill, and drop nine drops in mah eyes ever' mornin' befo' de sun rise, nine [mornings]. An' I done it. I ain't been blin' since.
Entry 752
My husband rented a house in Staunton, Virginia, and went to Pittsburg to make money to buy a home. While he Was in Pittsburg, this man he rented the house from, I used to go around with his wife and I was very nice to her. I used to give her lunch every Sunday night when we came from church. My husband had written to me to ask Mr. Dodd to look after the hogs being butchered. Of course I told Mrs. Dodd about it and she told me, "Don't bother Mr. Dodd. Mr. Dodd says that he don't kill his own hogs and he ain't going to kill anybody else's." So I said, "All right, then." So when he seen me having the men kill the hogs he said to his wife, "I wonder how it comes Mrs. Baker didn't have me look over it?" She said, "I don't know but I told you that's the way some colored people does." So he asked me and I said, "Your wife told me not to ask you to help about the hogs." Of course that was his wife and I wasn't going to bother. I said, "My husband has sent money to pay you." After that then she wanted me to go to church with her. They had a revival. I didn't want to go with her because she was going with another man. My husband was working and taking care of me and I didn't want to do nothing wrong. So I told her, "You know they say that church is condemned. You know my husband ain't here and I'm afraid something might happen and there would be nobody here to take care of the children." So that was my get-off to keep from going with her. So her daughter, she was a young woman, used to come down there and set with me. And she said, "Mrs. Baker, my mother has fixed something for you. It's in a bottle and I found it and took it and put it over in the orchard. And don't you eat nothing she brings you." They had an old-home week there. They decorate the wagons and show what they have to sell. Her and I went down to see the parade, me and the young girl. So she says to me, "There's that bottle" - when we was coming back. And I tried to get it but I couldn't get it. Even my hand was right on it and I couldn't pick it up. And I asked her to get it. So she got it and I come on home with it and put it under lock and key. And that very day then, the old woman didn't miss the bottle, she brought me beets and potatoes and beans and a lot of nice things and corn bread. I didn't eat it because the girl had told me not too. It look very tempting. So I said to the kids, "Don't you all want some of this, things that Mrs. Dodd brought me?" And they said, "No, mama. What you don't eat, we don't want none." So I took the food she brought me and scraped it out to the chickens. The chickens what was on the outside of my wire fence, they ete it and they all went blind. So when I go upstairs, I did - and look at this bottle and take it down to the doctor. Yes, he was a real doctor. Doctor [Somebody] of Staunton. I asked if he knew what was in the bottle. Well, he named all the things that he knowed was in the bottle, but he said he would have to send the bottle away to have it ana- lyzed to see what was in it. But she had new nails, new tacks, new needles, and my hair I guess, and night water. So he says, "Don't get none of that in you." So I saves the bottle and carried it to Pittsburg to show it to my husband. And I had this daughter along with me. She and her mother didn't get along. She said to me one day, 'Mrs. Baker, why don't you do away with that. Why do you keep on keeping it?" So I says to myself, "I don't know what to do with it. I'm afraid to put it in running water because it might run me away. Then I put it in the fire and burnt it. I got the girl to burn it. All the different colors you ever saw came off that stuff while burning!
Entry 796
[The ungifted doctor, one lacking the gift of the spirit, is somewhat rare in hoodoo:] All right. Well, I was living with a girl, see. And she found me work and lotsa times I would, you know, kind of run around; you see, kind of stay out from home. So she had - she was working for the State here at the hospital up here on Jackson Road. So she told me, she say, "George, how come you don't like to stay at home with me?" I say, "Well," I say, "I stay at home when I'm off but lotsa times I likes to go out." So she say, "I know what you done doing - you going to start to running around, '' she say, "and I can purtty soon break you." Well, I figured, you know, she tell me she going to quit or something like that type. Well, she went up here and see this lady right up here, Miss [Somebody] and they fixed me so that I couldn't use no woman but her. See. So it had my nature sent to my head - I'm got this drumming just busting from that now.
(Drumming in your head?)
In dis left ear, I can' hear out of it. And let me tell you now, and I blowed a pure come out of my nose.
(You what?)
Blowed a pure come - you know, men's stuff, ah blowed it out of my nose. [The preceding nature, a common term, explains itself but the companion term no nature, often meaning as here - being fixed for one person - is not so easily explained. Come is the usual word for semen. Somewhere within (I write before Index made), a man asks me for a polite word to use - I suggest passage. Most material of this type I reserve for separate publication or archive. One more - several times I heard tomahawk, surely dating back to Indian days. Impossible? Twice I met grandfather Hyatt, born 1819, who lived with his grandfather Hyatt, John Sr., born 1750 in Maryland. One man stands between me and colonial times and the American Revolution. In hoodoo the physiological vocabulary is limited; the physiology sometimes remarkable.] In '27 [1927] - this was during the month of May.] From May up until October, I had a pain in my head. If I open my eyes, I couldn't see out of 'em and I shut 'em. I couldn't open my head - had to lay across the bed with my head down like that. I had to lay with my head across my bed - not straight up and down like that - had to lay across - over the bed with my head down like that. And while I was laying there, my mother say, "Wait, we want the doctor for that." He said that my blood was bad. He said that I had chronic [something] disease, he said, I need immediate shots. He give me nine shots and we pay him ten dollars for the shots and pay him five dollars for blood test. [The blood] went over here some- where to Jackson and this blood test didn't come back [the test result came back but not the blood] my blood was pure blood. See, our National Insurance Company furnished me two physicians - Dr. Sanderson from Knox Hospital, special doctor, and Dr. Hartel from the First National Bank come out and treated me. They didn't do me no good - the medicine turned against me. I paid a dollar a dozen for some capsules from Dr. Podesky - yes, sir, a dollar a dozen. I'd taken up twenty-five dozen of them capsules. They got to the place that they didn't do me good in all that misery - a knot formed on my head about that long [demonstrates].
(Right at the back of your head?)
Yes, sir. He said that he would lance it, but which I don't know whether he lanced it or not. But I tell you what that knot would do. When I go down to Dr. Podesky and get in his office, just in a twinkling when I open that door like that, that knot would go off of my head, and when I'd leave out of that office and stepped across [the door], that knot would come back up there. [For this phenomena, see margin-title Time Psychological.j I couldn't wear no man's hat - I had to wear a woman's hat. I couldn't even wear no man's hat. So, a ole man that stayed out at Beechwood, Mr. Ramsdale - he's dead now, he got burned up.
(Where's Beechwood?)
Oh, right about ten miles from here. He come to town - he used to visit mama, sells [something] and wood and things. He had calling, he say, to tell fortunes. So he came here and he say, "Ah sees your trouble last night." He say, "I was burning my witchcraft," he say, "and I told Lou, my wife, 'I'm going to Leona and see what can I do for him.'"
(What is your mother's name?)
Leona Larkin - but she's dead now.
(All right.)
When he did come in the house, he say, "George," he say, "you got nine weeks to live in, and I got nine weeks to cure you in." He say, "Right now, you is cold from your foots over half your body." And I was and this was in May. In May - ah mean I was cold as ice. He say, "If your flesh sometime quivering over the bone, like they say, that's the rabbit crossing your grave," he say, "that's death gradj'lly creeping up on your frame." He say, "And then sometime seemed like the ants is biting you," he say, "that's seven more plagues that is added to you." He say, "And sometimes your nose itch you like somebody coming and ever'- time your nose itch you get worser and worser." He say, "And sometime when you are cold like that," he say, "that's death gradj'lly creeping up on you." He say, "George, you got a narrow risk [chance] for your life." He say, "Now, you set quiet and don't you talk," and he say, "Leona, don't you talk" - that's my mother. And a lady Was staying out there - she staying in the house now, Miss Florence Hopkins. He told her, "Now, don't you talk," he say, "but you won't keep a secret." He say, "I mean, you ain't going to keep a secret but still I'm going [to] tell you. She go right on and go into the meat market and three other stores [and told every one] that I had a hoodoo working on me and that I Was kind of on the mend.
(On the what?)
On the mend - getting better. This girl come out there on a Thursday night - this girl come out there on a Thursday night and spent the night with me and she left that Friday morning and go on back to the State Charity Hospital. And after she left, my eyes got green as grass and I run out doors stark necked to the world, whooping and a hollering. They sent for Dr. Podesky. Dr. Podesky come and he got me in the house. Didn't look like he did no good, so they sent for this old man. He come, Mr. Radley and he told Miss Florence - the lady that is staying in my house now - he say, "You, you talk too much," he say, "you caused this plague to be handed back to this child." He said, "Now, I've got to burn my witchcraft more now, I've got to burn it day and night to try to save this child from dying. He say, "George," he say, "don't lay up and down on the bed no more, but lay 'cross the bed with your head down." [This is the magic rite of the opposite, which completes making the sign of the cross - crossing up the disease.] He say, "If you lay down in the bed flat on your back," he say, "you going to hell, but if you lay 'cross the bed like I tell you, you got a chance to live." All right, he went and he brang me some little yellow tops - you know, these little yellow weeds what they call yellow tops [see later].
(Bitter weeds?)
Yes.
(Yellow tops?)
Yes, sir.
(All right.)
[Yellowtop, so called in U. S. A., is the early goldenrod (Solidago juncea), not the better-known goldenrod (S. canadensis).] And he bathed my head with them things. He told me, he say, "George, I'm not going to cure you," says, "I'm going to take sick myself." He say, "But another man is going to take you and is going to cure you."
(What did he mean by saying he was going to get sick himself?)
He did take sick. I don't know, sir.
(I see. All right, go ahead.)
[I was tremendously interested. Informant's reply showed he knew nothing about what I wanted; I having carefully avoided a leading guestion. There is no doubt in my mind about the old man becoming sick because he was absorbing within himself George's illness. (For this phenomena, see old wart-healer whose blood was becoming thin because all warts he had taken off patients were beginning to appear on him - FACI, 2ed., P.290.) I had previously collected one example, my only one, from hoodoo - see margin-title Doctor Absorbs Disease.] So he taked sick, like he said and I heard of this man - Elder Bowes, a worthy gray-head preacher staying out Jackson Street, 1660 Jackson Street. All right. Well I - me and my mother went out there - ah just went out on the streetcar to [street beginning with F] and [Something] Jackson and got off the streetcar and went down the hill. I was wearing some white trousers and a white crepe de Chine shirt. Elder Bowes said when he seen me coming, said he thought I was a spirit. He say I was so little he don't know how I done fell off so. When I went down and went in the house that is exactly what he said. He said, "Son, I see what you need." He say, "You is in a bad critical condition," and he say, "you set right here." I set down and he prayed over my head and he anointed my head with some kind of oil - looked like oil of cinnamon, and he prayed over my head and the misery left my head. And where I had been taking that dope, [does not mean narcotic] you know, from Dr. Podesky for relief for my head, that all upset my heart and my heart beat so fast I couldn't - just weariness. And he say, "I see where your heart's in a bad fix, too." He prayed over my heart and it made my heart feel better. All right. He say that, "This medicine that a'm got here," he say, "ah don't sell it to you, heah [hear] - he say, "ah sells this medicine, ' that's it. He say, "But mah prayers and anointing you with that oil - and you is not got to get - ah cain't set no prices on you for that." He say, "But mah medicine is $1.25 a quart," he say, "but the Lord, the Spirit, give me this remedy to pray over you and anoint you with oil." He say, "Now, you give me $l.25 for this quart of medicine and you pay me what you want to for the prayers and mah services." So mama give him $2.50 for his service and give him $1.25 for dat quart of medicine. Ah've taken three quarts of that medicine. Do you hear me? [I am supposed to be hard of hearing - see Introduction.] And it was clear, as clear as any water could be - as hydrant water, and it was of a min'ral. It was of a min'ral stuff that looked kind of pinkish. It looked just like - it kinda looked like big grains of sugar but it was pink. It was a min'ral but when it get in that water it dissolved - it didn't color the water, no color but just a pale min'ral color.
(A mineral color?)
Yes, sir.
(All right.) [A trick preparation purchased.]
And I would take a glass of that - a wineglassful and then a hot cup of coffee before it, [I mean] behind it in the morning for breakfast. And I take one in the dinnertime and one at night - three times a day. And that stuff cut stuff out of me that looked like little bones - some kind of bone, it had little ridges in it all through. He tole me after I have that - had it in the slop jar where he looked at it. It cut little bones looked like out of me - understand, like that. [The mystery is solved by the words, "He told me after...in the slop jar where he looked at it." The patient did not look - probably indisposed after the usual heavy laxative given by many doctors. The doctor dropped the little bones, perhaps chicken, into the jar - see margin-titles Tricks and Live Things In You.] And mah private, you know, mah little thing, it done drewed up [shrank] about that long. And after drinking the third bottle of that - well, I took three bottles - I could kinda feel the effects of it. I got to the place that I come back perfect to myself. After that I had three treats [treatments], three quarts of that medicine, it cured me. And he left here. Now he is in Cincinnati or somewhere. He is the man that cured me. Yes, sir.
[I begin my reexamination - see Introduction.]
(Now this doctor from Beechwood - Radley, the hoodoo - what did he do with you when he came to the house? Did he do anything?) When he come dere - when he first come in the house, he say that he seed where that I was sick, seed where mama was in distress. He say he was burming his witchcraft - that's what he say. And he say that I had nine weeks to live in.
(Well, did he do anything when he came?)
No more than read his cards, that's all.
(Oh, he brought some cards?)
Yes, sir, he had some cards in his pocket.
(I see.)
And he read them cards and then he told me how I was cold from here on down and he didn't do nothing else.
(Did he tell you what this girl had done to you?)
Yes, sir.
(What did they say she had done to you?)
They say that she had taken my intercourse [come or semen] after meeting her - having - I had a intercourse, she didn't have none with her, he say, and she'd taken it and tied it up and carried to this woman up here on Jackson Road at that time and had her to fix it for [against] me. But they say the woman fixed it so strong until it went to my head, see, and it busted the drum in this ear. I cain't hear out of that ear [demonstrates].
(The left ear.)
Yes, sir, that left ear. Yes, sir.
(Well, that girl came back and spent the night with you?)
Yeah, that Thursday night. She spent the night, and after I got well she left this town. She has not ever been seen in this town from that day to this - she run off.
(How old are you now?)
I'll be 39 in May.
(How do you feel now?)
Oh, ah feel good.
(Well, are you all right now?)
Yes sir, just deaf in this ear, that's all.
(I see - I see.)
Entry 979
I've been hurt once by a woman. Well, I wus poisoned in good fashion. I liked to died. I had Doctor A., a medical doctor and his medicine went against me, it didn't do me no good. And the erbs dat I kep' home, which I keep some now, you boil them and then taken some and put on the whiskey in the bottle. I jis' plumb blind, jis' broke out all the way. And that's whut got me on my foot. And I, see, I keep that tea.
(What else did you do?)
Jis' roots and teas: silk root, blacksnake root, and devil-shoestring root. You see, the first time you take de silk root, and you cut it inch long and you steep dat in overnighti water [water overnight] and put a cover over it. Well, it's bittah and you'll throw up everything in you. De stuff come out of you green as you ever seen, as green as grass you ever seen. De devil-shoestring and the blacksnake root you steep dem togethah and you drink that. Den when I got so I could walk I goes in the Woods, take my hatchet, I gits some cherry bark, red oak bark and dogwood root; and bathed [with] that - make a wash of this water you know and use it to wash with. And bathe right down, bathing that for nine morning: And den when you git ready to throw it away, you throw it to sunrise. ["This little fellow sold hands - a cripple" - note made when I did original transcription soon after collecting statement; happened in Wilmington, 1912, but remedy came from Scotch Hill,12 miles from Wilmington on the Newbern Road.]
Entry 3096
Wal, de story ah wanta tell - wheah ah live up in Mobile fer 17 years, an' ah [17 years old] left and went tuh Birmingham, an' ah lived in Birmingham 'bout six months in de no'th part of Birmingham, and after living in no'th Birmingham, went over in Westfield. It's about 7 miles from Birmingham and ah was working fer [some] company in Birmingham and ah lost a finger, see. Piece of a finger, see. An' ah drew about, I think it was 700 and some dollars fer dat finger - where ah was working from. An' ah went over tuh Birmingham and got aroun', having money you know - having a big time and met several girl friends. And where ah was living ah was goin' wit de girl stayed next door tuh me; an' ah was goin' wit de girl stayed at de third door from me. An' de girl that stay- ed at de third door from me, she was a.married woman, and de girl stayed at de first door from me, she was not married but she had a chile for dis married woman's husbands, yo' see, and so dey disliked one another. But how-de-ever, one day, she was goin' down to de commissary - dis store, yo' know, fer a camp, TCI camp. Dis TCI - ah guess you've heard about it. Down in dis camp dere a big store. All de trade is for de company - live by de company an' yo' deal wit de company. An' she ast me tuh go and ah tole her ah didn't wanta go. An' she tole me, "Yo' must go." Ah say, "Well, ah'm not goin'." Well she snatched mah hat and ah run, chased her to take mah hat from her and she out- run me and wore de hat on down dere. Well, when she came back - ah guess it was about six 'clock when she came back an' ah went over and ast her fer mah hat. So she gave it to me and so I wore that fer two or three days - worked with it, it was a work hat. So about several days after dat ah became - mah eyesight became sort of dim-like. What it was all about ah didn't know. Well, de TCI, you have to carry insurance dere. Dey takes out fer de rent and fer de doctor bill. Well, ah went over to de hospital - to de little hospital and me being in de hospital, de doctor test mah eyes and everything and tole me ah had sore eyes. He tole me to bath mah eye with some saltwater and it would come all right. Well, ah did and it didn't git any better and ah went back to him and so he sent me over to de Hillman Hospital - dat's in Birmingham - to a Specialist. Well, de specialist test mah eyes and ask me what happen. What hit me in de eye - did any steel or anything hit mah eye. Ah tole him no, it Wasn't any steel or anything ah got in mah eye. So ah tole him the only thing ah know of [I had been hoodooed]." 'Well, '' he say, "ah tell yo, son, you have to go to a two-headed doctor." [For telling a Doctor of Medicine that your ailment comes from hoodoo, see p.12, line 9f.]
(Was it a colored doctor who was waiting on you?)
It was a colored doctor.
(At this hospital?)
At de hospital. Oh! I beg yore pardon, it was a white doctor.
(And he advised you to go to a two-headed doctor?)
To a two-headed doctor. An' so ah goes on back to mah cousin and tole him he tole me to go to a two-headed doctor, and ast him did he mean that.
(Where did you say you went?)
From Birmingham - from de hospital? Well, ah went back home, yo' see.
(No. Didn't you go to see the two-headed doctor?)
He tole me go to a two-headed doctor an' ah went. Ah goes back home fer [first] an' ah tell mah cousin, who ah was livin' with, what de doctor tole me. So he advised me to go to a place dey call Tennysville, see. Yes, dat's a suburb of Birmingham, ah guess, 'bout seven miles. So ah goes ovah to the lady - it's a colored lady. Her name was Madam Jane. Ah goes tuh her and so she comes in to de room - de waitin' room and tole me everything. In de beginnin' she tole me, say, "Well, yo' lost yore eyesight - jist about." An' she tole me what it's all about and how come dis woman's mad with me and everything, but she wouldn't tell me who the girl was - she wouldn't call her name but she would describe her to me and give de girl initials [see 2748, p.757], yo' understand. An' so she tole me what charge - it cost me $25.00 to git mah eyes cured. Well, whut she said, ah don't know; but whut she tole me to do, ah know. So she advised me to bathe mah eyes in some fresh milk - whut ah mean by fresh milk, not dairy milk but from a cow, see. Dat whut she tole me to do - bathe mah eyes in fresh milk. An' she tole me dat mah eyes were blind from de girl takin' de bow off - de bow ah mean in de back of de hat, she had dressed de hat. An' say whut fer me tuh do was to take some salt - Epsom salts - take some Epsom salts and any kind of finest perfume and jest bathe dis - where dis bow was in mah hat. See. Co'se she gave me some treatments remember whut she gave me was to rub cross mah eyes but whut it was, ah don't know. An' so ah guess she worked on me 'bout two weeks and ah gained mah eyesight. In facts, in the third week ah was stone blind. But whut she did - ah know whut she tole me to do. Dat was to cure mah eyes. Dat's experience.
(What happened to the girl?)
Tuh de girl? Anything didn't happen to her. Quite natural me an' her was still friends but ah was sort of shy of her because she had did that trick, yo' see. In other Words, she was tryin' tuh gain love, yo' see. An' dis girl, she disliked her and she didn't want me to have dis girl. Of course, she's a married woman and ah couldn't be anything tuh her, but she liked me.
Entry 302
Well, dat's if yo' wanta sell yo'self to de devil an' do anything in de world. Well, yo' kin take a black cat an' tie his fo' futs [foots] togethah lak yo' would a hog [the verb for this act is hogtie]. Have yo' on a boilin' pot of watah an' throw him into de watah until all de meat boils off his bones. Then aftah de meat boils off his bones, let it git cold. Yo' take each one those bones an' draw 'em 'cross yore mouth that way [demonstrates], until when yo' git to the right one yo' will know it - yo'll come blind as a bat an' somepin will tetch yo' an' says, "Meet me at de fo'ks of de road an' ah will talk wit joo." But when yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road - yo' jes' go tuh any fo'ks of de road at twelve o'clock at night an' de devil will be dere wit chew. An' anything dat chew start he'll back yo' up in it.
(You can't go to the forks of the road until you get that bone?)
No suh, yo' cain't go there until yo' git that black cat bone. Then yo' kin do anything dat chure big enough tuh do.
Entry 908
It was mah husband. He said he was hurt in 1907. It was a woman that wanted him to go with 'em and he didn't like 'em so much. He's from Virginia. And he use to drive [an] ice wagon, and when he come in late at night, he say, and the woman had de door knob on de door dressed for him, he say. And jis' as he get upon de porch and went to open de doah, he put his hand on de knob to open the door, he said something Went over his face like a spider web or somepin like that, and he take his hand and wipe it off, and that time he became blind. And he went on then and tell his father about it. And so they began to work on him, but it didn't seem to do any good. And they ast him how did it happen, and he tell them what happen. And so he [the father] said to see the doctor, but de doctor didn't do him no good. And he went to see a root doctor. And he tell him to get a quart of sweet milk for him, and they sent and get de milk. He ast 'em to get a fresh egg, and they get dat. And he said he put it on and boiled it one hour - put de egg in it [the milk] - put de egg in it whole and boil it one hour. He said they took that milk and bathed [often pronounced bath-d] his eyes over in that milk, and they take de egg and made him eat de egg. He say it was so hard he har'ly eat it, but he made him eat it. And he take de milk and bathed his eyes in it one hour, and his sight commence to comin' to him. And after that he took the milk what he bathed his eyes in and carried it to runnin' water some- where, a stream, he said, and he throwed it in there. And he said this woman - they tell him she couldn't stay still. She would be movin' all the time. Af' while she commence to losin' her mind, her mind would go and come. He said about a veek or a veek af' that she moved this place, and af' awhile she move another place, and jis' kep' movin', and de last time he know of her, he says she was in de 'sylum. [Wilmington, N. Car., (272), 192:3; Portsmouth, Va.,1907.]
Entry 934
Well, ah was hurt - ah wus swollen up all ovah and ah had a rash jest broke out on me jest like spider web - jest all over wasn't a speck on me without de web, and mah eyes, de balls of 'em fell down heah and dis part was up in yore head. (Your eyeball sort of fell down?) Yes - ah couldn't see. Come on me all lak that. Ah went out mah house and came back - out well and came back all in dat condition. Well, it run on me till fo' 'clock so ah didn't know whut to do. Well, ah first called in a doctor. Well, de doctor he came and he said ah was poisoned. Well, he was doctoring on me, see, an' ah didn't know [then that I was hurt] - ah was trying him first. Well, it happened agin round de same time round de 15th of de next month. All right, he came in and saw me again. [And the doctor's medicine didn't do her any good.] So it come tuh me - ah said, "Dere something else wrong." So ah goes [to a doctor] tuh fin' out. So ah [or doctor] found a bottle of stuff look like sulphur - it was puffed. When it would swell, ah'd swell - it jest went all ovah mah body.
(This stuff in this bottle puffed up?)
It would puff up - it puffed up. When ah found it, it was swole jest lak ah was - looked like sulphur. It swole, you know, jes' like sulphur when it get wet and swell. Well, dat's de way it was. Well, when it would swell, ah would swell uP, yo' see. Mah eyes git blind and ever'thing. Well, after ah gits de stuff up, well, de swelling was yet there, yo' see. Well, it came to me [this is always guidance by a spirit] to use - ah use chamber lye and saltpeter. Dat's whut ah used to bath ever' morning 'fore sunrise. Then throw it away - throw it out. It commence to sink - all advanced away. Ah swole one time mo', after. Well, ah did de same thing. Well, ah've had no mo' of it.
(Where did you throw this out when you finished bathing with it?)
Throw it out in de back dirt, out chure back do', yo' see, sunrise - yo' throw it sunrise.
(Towards the sunrise?)
Yes, throw it sunrise and don't look back - over de left shoulder and don't look back. Dat cleared me up.
(Did that happen here in Mobile?)
Yeah.
(How long ago?)
'34 [1934].
Entry 974
Ah was hoodooed in 1895 - ah were in de white-folks kitchen cooking. At home on de night befo' ah got blind. Ah seen a woman, yo' know, goin' down on de groun' makin' a mark - making a mark and she say, "When she come 'long she goin walk right ovah this" - in mah dream yo' know. So when ah went on that morning she was at de kitchen do. And ah walked in de kitchen do' an' opened de do' an' made a fire in de stove, and when ah made a fire in de stove ah made mah biscuits and put dem in de stove and put on mah coffee and put on mah grits, an' got mah bacon ready to fry.
(Where did this happen?)
In Camden, Alabama. Yes, sir - dat's mah home. Yes sir, Camden, Alabama. After ah got that all ready, ah went to set mah table. Got mah table all set an' everything and come back to de kitchen, ah was taken wit a swimming in de head so bad ah jes' couldn't hardly see. Ah says, "Whut's de matter?" Ah pulled de line[?] off an' then ah went on back in de kitchen. Ah went tuh stoop down to open de door to git de biscuits out de stove an' fell an' dey had tuh carry me home. Dere's a ole man name - let see whut was dat ole man name. Uncle Nase. Well, mah mother sent fo' him and he come an' tole her she jes' did send in time tuh save me, and he went in de woods and got some of these green cuckee [cockle] burs, made a poultice and put it all ovah my head - jes' wrapped me up in it chew know. An' den de next morning he was tuh bathe me. He give me some saltpeter and some sody and salt to put in water - those three things an' ah bathes with it an' every morning throw it to de sunrise. Yes, sir - every morning throw it sun- rise. An' after that ah begin tuh git all right, until ah got chere in Mobile. One day ah was working agin out heah on Montgomery Street loop in Mobile heah. Well, dat ain't been about five years ago.
(Government Street and St. Luke?)
Yes sir, that's right, and this leg swole up on me so bad, yo' see, ah thought it was broken an' ah sent fo' a doctor and no doctor - dey worked on it and dey couldn't do it any good. And so ah bathed it in salty water - yo' know that always is mighty good. Couldn't do nuthin with it. Well, it begin to burst and little ole bugs ran out of it. So ah went to a man dat was called to be wise, yo' know, and he tole me tuh git me some saltpeter and some sody an' vinegar, an' mix them all together and bathe it in. Ah did an' it's all right now.
Entry 985
Well, this party had a shawl and she loaned it to another friend of hers and when that friend brought it back - she Worn it over her head and whutever was in that shawl caused her to lose all of her hair. She became bald and blind. And she went to a so- called hoodoo doctor and that doctor gave her something to take, and then she went to running water nine mornings and washed her eyes, and threw that bag over the left shoulder and in the running water, and she began to have sight. She was to wear that for nine mornings but she must Wash her eyes in this running water with this bag around her neck.
third-person report of repeated eye washing in running water. The bag differs from the earlier borrowed shawl. Preserve the source sequence including left-shoulder disposal without rewriting its timing. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 992
They was fixed - she was near blind. Somebody had passed their hand on her head. (Had what?) Had passed their hand on her head with something on their hand.
(Had done that?)
And had her near blind. And she goes to a lady and the lady give her some Water, clear water - clear water, blest water. She blest de water and give it to her and made her wash her face and head all the time in it, and she got her sight back all right and she got all right, and the lady turned it back on the person that put it on her.
Entry 1419
Yo' take 'simmon trees an' bring yore eyesight back - dat's all ah've heard. Take it - take de 'simmon tree an' yo' take dat fresh coat offa de first wood. Den yo' scrapes right next to it - jes' dat 111' fresh skin- wood dat's on it - den yo' scrapes right undah dat an' yo' git dat out from undah dere, an' den yo' take dat an' bathe yore eyes in it when yo' blind. Say dat will bring yore sight back. Mah mother tried dat once.
Entry 1433
She got holt of a thing - some kind of a snake got in her - de rattle- snake, de rattles of a snake. An' when she drink de watah from it she went blind an' she sent fo' mah mothah an' mah mothah had tuh go to her. She went an' she went an' she carried her fifteen miles from Danville, Virginia, to [somewhere] Virginia, to a man. Den he went out an' got a rattlesnake an' put him in a bottle, put him in dis thing alive an' po' s whiskey on him. See, dat cooked him an' den dey taken de whiskey an' fed mah aunty on it fo' nine days - give her nine drops, give her nine drops fo' three times a day fo' nine days, an' de ninth day she come back to her sight. An' some of these bells [buttons or rattles] wus undah her do'step an' some wus found in de spring. Dis man found 'em afterwards[!!!]. Her sight come back to her. She got well. [This is a remarkable example of like cures like (see p.394); it is also an original and brilliant piece of therapeutic thinking by a master of his craft!l (Now, what did they do with these drops? Did she drink them or put them on her eyes or what?) She drink them, she drink nine drops fo' nine days.
(Who was this?)
This mah aunty.
(And what was the name of the town?)
Danville, Virginia.
Entry 1925
Yo' kin go tuh de drug sto' an' buy graveyard dirt an' yo' kin put it in dey shoes. All right, it will cause dem tuh either be cripple or yo' kin take it an' put it in de band of dey hat an' dey go stone blind from it.
Entry 3087
It started from drinkin' water. I drinked water behind a lady and went out [the room]. And all at onest I got blind, jis' as blind as a - I couldn't see nuthin. So I called de landlady of de house. She said, "What's de matter?" I said, "I'm blind, I can't see." She said, "Why, you Was seein' a few minutes ago." I says, "Well, I don't know what's de cause of it." She carried [took] me in de room and lied me on de bed and sent for a ol' woman named Aunt Eliza. She came and prayed with me, rubbed some kind of salve over my face for nine mornings, and my eyes begin to crack open agin. They were closed. She would never tell me de name of de medicine she give me. She give me nine drops every morning for nine mornings. And she said de Lord's Prayer every morning before she give me dat medicine. And de last morning she give me dat medicine, she says, "What de Name of de Father and de Son and de Holy Ghost have I did." [Wilmington, N. Car., (241), 164: l+85; this happened in Fayetteville, N. Car.]
Entry 5916
(All right, you were going to tell me?)
If dey git some of yore hair. Now, sometime dey lose on dat an' sometime dey don't lose. If dey git de hair from yore head - remembah dey kin take dat hair. ALL BIRDS DON'T USE HUMAN HAIR. But dis guinea hen chick bird [I interrupt]. (What kind of bird?) Guinea hen chick bird. (Guinea hen chick bird?) Yes, if dey kin GIT DAT BIRD - TO TAKE DAT HAIR AN' PUT IT INTO HER NEST. YOU'LL SUFFOCATE WIT A HEAD- ACHE TILL YO' GO BLIND. I kin take dat hair. Oh my! An' bore holes - wrap it into a silvah thimble an' put a silvah dime against it [open end of thimble] an bury it in de ground an' make warts come out on yore head. (Now, that guinea hen. You mean the ordinary guinea hen that runs around the yard. I see.) Yeah, yeah.
Entry 6653
Ah've seen 'em take de band whut be in a hat. Dey kin, yo' know, put dese heah snake shells [sheds], where dey fix mens blind lak dat. (Do they put the whole snake shed on there or what?) Well, they put it all de way roun' in yore hat. Or dey kin jis' take a piece where - see, when yo' sweat from de band of yore hat, well, dat will git most of dat snake shed, see an' den dat stuff will jis' run all in yore eyes, face, sompin lak dat. Git in yore eyes den an' it will blind yo'. Yo' go 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 10024
Dey take dat black cat an' dey kills dis black cat an' boil 'im down, an' one'll sit an' suck dose bones. Jis' suck dose bones until dey begin tuh cain't see. When dey cain't see, den dey'll know it wuz de right bone. Den dey git up an' go on do dere work.
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 11729
Well, if dey git holt of yore han'writin', ah tell yo' whut dey kin do wit chure han'writin'. Dey kin blind yo'.
(How could they do that?)
Well, hit's nuthin but dey send yo' same lettah back to yo' wit dust in it.
(What kind of dust do they put in it?)
(How is that goofer dust made?)
It's made outa - it dark brown, looks jes' lak dat dere [informant points at something].
(What are the ingredients of goofer dust?)
Ah don't know dat.
Entry 12742
Dey kin take yore shoes dat chew wear every day, if dey kin git holt of it an' if dey kin git a rattlesnake. Git de haid. Git him mad an' git dat rattlesnake haid an' dry it. Let it come so yol kin jes' compound it up. Understand, compound it up good an' put it in somewhere - inside de linin' of his shoe. It got linin' in dere, an' it surely runs yo' off. Or yo' kin put it in de band of yore hat. Either one. Den yo' can't see. It will blind yo', cause yo' know yo' sheds yore skin, an' yo' kin git blind from it. Jes' as shure as....
Entry 11492
[This is the very first rite given by a young woman who came into the interviewing room without saying a word, not even answering my greeting, pulled out a deck of cards, and standing opposite the table in front of me began to run the cards - tell my fortune. I no longer remember ghat she said but I am certain it was something favorable or flattering. The rite given here is page or rite No.l of her interview. On this sheet I wrote soon after the interview: Memphis, second trip, 1518 [informant's number],43 Sages [this does not mean full pages but rites, some of them very short like the present one]. My comment at the close of 1519 [presumably on page 43] reads, ne girl, 1518, when she first came in, took out a deck of cards and ran through them. Will break up [interview later]. Several removed for cures and protectior To be guoted in part in Interview Section. This I never did.] Dey say dey kin git de dust from yore foot track an' use it, an' bury it some place an' cause yo' tuh lose yore eyesight, yore hearin's - accordin' tuh whut dey wanta do - yo' know, jes' 'fect any part of yore body. Dey kin cause it tuh be yore death or sompin lak dat. [As I have said somewhere in this section, in- tention is everything.] [Memphis 2685:1.]
Entry 13071
Says yo' take a snail shell an' dust it up an' put it in a lettah, an' dey says when it goes to anybody an' dey git it an' open it, say dat dust git in dere eyes it will blind dem. [Waycross 1751:3.]
Entry 13097
Jes' lak dere lotsa stuff we got down heah [in this part of the country] eah now. Yo' call dese rattlesnakes, ah guess yo' know whut dey are. Jes take de head of dem an' powdah it up, an' even ah could send it tuh yo' in a lettah, an' time yo' open de lettah, soon as it hit yore eyeballs, yo' lose yore sight. Dat's whut dey do tuh blind people - rattlesnake dust. Yo' nevah vill receive yore sight any mo'.
Entry 13103
Take a rattlesnake shell [shed]. Take dat dust and fix some in de linin' of his hat, right down in dere. Dat will make him go blind when he per- spire. Dat shell [dust] will go right in his eyes and den he won't be able to see nobody else but yo! He'll be blind.
Entry 13104
Yo' wanta run him an' make him blind, why yo' go out in any woods most anywhere an' find yo' a snake shell [shed]. Yo' know jes' lak dey say he crawl outa his "shell." An' slip it into his hatband. He lose his eyesight. De dust from dat snake shell will take his eyesight. [Memphis, Tenn., (1537) 2778:4.]
Entry 13108
An' den yo' kin take it again. Yo' kin take dis graveyard dirt an' yo' kin git rattlesnake dust an' mix it together, an' it will run anybody stone blind.
(Just how would they do that?)
Jes' take de rattlesnake dust an' de graveyard dirt an' mix it tuhgethah. Mix it up tuhgethah an' git anybody hat an' sprinkle it in de hat dat dey gotta dem stone blind.
Entry 13109
They take the little bow out of the hat and after they take the bou out of the hat, they carry it to a hoodoo. And he will take snake dust - just like you take dust out of a rattlesnake's tail, they have dust in their cail - and you [the hoodoo] put some of that dust on it. And they can bring it back and give to you and that cause you to go blind. They put the bow back in your hat, don't you see, and you put that hat on and it cause you to lose your eyesight.
Entry 4527
Whut chew kin do wit a man's hat. Now, yuh kin take a silvah dime. Yuh kin take a silvah dime an' plastah it tuh de centah of a man's hat back dere an' it'll change his mine [mind] from dif- f'ren' things. Jes' say, fo' an in- stance, if ah wuz stay- in' wit a lady an' she didn't wan' me tuh leave or somepin, well now, she would take dat silvah dime, see; an' me not payin' no 'tenshun an' plastah it right in dere in mah hat undah dat tag whut be's in dere [put dime in sweatband]. An' dat'll keep me from leavin'. All right, she kin take dat same dime an' she'll kill enough chinches tuh git enough blood, jes' enough blood tuh stain dat dime off of a chinch, see. An' put dat same dime right down dere [in the sweatband] an' fold it back ovah dat. Well, when ah sweat dat's goin' run down in mah face an' goin' run me blind.
(Those chinches, that's the same as the bug from the bed?)
Dat's it.
Entry 4528
(How do they fix the sweatband?)
Well, dey'll git dese diff'ren' spidahs an' gran'daddies [see laterl an' all lak dat. Dey'll poison 'em [the victim]. An' dey'll put 'em in a little watah an' cook dem. An' when yuh lay yuh hat down, dey'll take it an' wet all undah yuh hatban' [sweatband] good in front. An' when yuh git out an' git tuh sweatin', an' dat hatban' git sweatin' yuh know, dat thing goin' a-mix wit yore sweat. When dat sweat run down in yuh eyes - an' dat'll run yo' blin'. [Granddaddy = daddy longlegs = a harvestman or arachnid of the order Phalangida.]
Entry 4534
I had a half brothah an' he wuz goin' wit a girl in Washington [D. C.]. Her name wuz Cornelia A. An' so he stopped goin' wit [her] an' went tuh goin' wit anothah girl. Den like a crazy he turned dis othah [second] girl down an' went goin' back wit 'er [first girl] again. So he tells mah mothah. I don't know, but he said he had a straw hat. She takes 'is hat an' she put somepin, I don't know, in dere. But anyhow, his whole eyes became jis' as white as dis papah [probably my open Numbers Book on the table], black an' all. He got so he couldn't see a wink. He died in jis' about three months afterwards.
[Snow Hill, Md., (Informant 93).]