Subject:Board
Entries
Entry 7139
Wal, dey take de lef' of yo' shoes an' turn it bottom upwards on any kinda piece of bo'd, an' nail it bottom upwards. An' dat's de way yo'll be, jis' lak dat shoe. (How is that?) Becuz de shoe is bottom upwards. Why when yo' turn dat shoe bottom upwards, feet up an' de - in dat way yo'll be down. De only way yo' kin be right is pull dat nail out an' turn dat shoe back up.
Entry 7930
Cut new board in shape of coffin. Either nail it or attach with sticking plaster, up un- derneath house beneath center of bed.
Entry 7970
Turn photograph face down in little box [having] cut a new board in shape of coffin, an' lay down on de photograph [and lay photograph down on the coffin-shaped board], bury, dere ain't no cure fo' dat atall.
Entry 7983
Take a new board an' draw a person yo' dislike an' yo' want 'em tuh die. Jis' take a new board an' yo' draw dere pitchure on dat new board. An' git a box of sulphuh dat have nevah been opened, an' a box of saltpetah dat have nevah been opened, an' put on dere. An' take dat pitchure an' bury it an' dem peo- ple take sick, an' jis' lingah an' lingah an' de firs' thing yo' know dey'll be daid.
Entry 8615
Ah've heard dat chew kin take a person, like yo' might have somebody dat's always botherin' yo', de landlord or sompin jes' runnin' yo' down about de rent or sompin lak dat - dey jes' won't give yo' a opportunity or chance to pay dem. Chew jes' git his name an' write it down on a piece of fat-lighter bo'd jes' big enough to put 'is name on it, an' take it out in de woods an' tie it to a young sapling tree an' leave it out dere. It jes' turn from branch to branch. [The wind will do this.] Ah've heard dat dey will leave yo' alone, not bothah yo' so much. (You just tie it onto that tree - that's all, on this piece of fatlighter - Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft:- Rootwork - pine.) Fatlighter pine bo'd.
Entry 8786
If you want to make a person jis' drift an' jis' become a vagabond going here and there an' nevah content in one place, yo' write dere name wit evil wishes on a teeny piece of board, wood joo know, thin board, an' yo' git choo a lots of nails an' put anothah piece on. Dere name is tacked on dat first piece of board. An' den yo' put a thin piece of board on top of dat an' nail it down fine, jis' put plenty nails in rotation. An' at 12 o'clock at night yo' throw dat in de rivah, an' as dat board floats an' drifts down de stream, why dat person will drift. Dere mind will become unsettled an' dey'll jis' go to an' fro.
Entry 11046
To keep dem [law] from de house? Now, if you Wanta a little liquor kept [for sale] in dis place heah and you don't want no man to come in on yuh nov. You go on your station house and git one of de man's name that you'll find out. Git one, two or three - if you kin [get] nine it's much better. De ore you get de stronger it is. If you can't git but one [name], den work on dat Bne one, but let it be de leading man dat you knows is asking about you - to yoar acn judgment. Work by your own judgment, de judgment of your ear. Git dat man nae and git you a brand-new piece of board and write his name. Put 'en cross de world. Write 'em cross de world to you and write 'em backwards.
(Backwards and forwards.)
And dey can't come in fer de devil. And nail dat onto your step and dey can't be seeing you. Not when you nail dat dere. Git you de heart of a chicken and it got to be a black chicken. Cut de heart out of it. Git dat wishin' bone of de chicken breast and you take dat heart wit your hand on dose letters. Put 'em dere so it can't be rub off - on dat board. (You rub this heart over those letters?) All over dose letters, all up and down like dat. And talk at de same time. Tell 'em dat [what] dat spirit is got- ta to do. You don't want no law to worry me. You wants to be up dere selling whiskey. Ah don't want dat law to worry me. Ah don't want no kin' of law. Ah don't even wants 'em to come heah fo' a drink of liquir or beer. Ah [wants] 'em to pass by and keep on passing by. Kin go right in next door but won't come in chere. Take dat wishing-bone, and be shore dat you go. down in de groun' to your shoul- der and turn it down -人. Don't turn it up -Y
(Turn the wishing bone down, the points down?)
[Here we have rite similar to the forked stick or "Y" in No.11032.]
Turn de two prongs down. And while you have - doin' it, you talk to 'em. An' if you know any de officer's names, don't let any come in dere, de fed'ral offi- cer back, de county man back, de city officer back, de state controller, back. Dat take in all 'em, ain't it? Go on over and over. And if you git dose three class of officers, you know why it is, don't you? De federal, de state control- ler, git de county and git de highway man. Den you go to work.
(Where do you bury that wishing bone?)
Under your step, right under your step. Be sure to go under your house. Den you put dat bone. If you ain't got no front, put it in de middleways of de house. [This center under the house and the 4 corners of the house make our rite a quin- cunx.] Dat almost stop people jack-jacking to the front.
Entry 7371
There has always been a saying that where a person is murdered or killed that any of the blood has been spilled, you can always tell because it will show itself afresh whenever it's cloudy weather or raining. The stain will become inevitable in the floor, if it's on a board, and it can't be prevented. You can scrub it but it will always come during stormy rainy weather. [New York City, by Ediphone, informant No.lO, from near Orangeburg, S. Car.]
Entry 8006
[I have two versions of the story about Bowizer and his two wives, a tale concerning his mistreatment of first wife and his enslavement by second wife. Whether this is the remnant of a folktale or the beginning of a new one, or something actually factual, I do not know.] FIRST VERSION OF BOWIZER TOLD BY COUSIN Mah Cousin's brothah's wife [not speaker's cousin but cousin by marriage who had a brother who had two wives, this one the second], she taken down sick an she had doctors an' doctors an' doctors of all kind, an' none of 'em seemed tuh not tuh do 'er any good. An' he wus settin' down one day an' - dat wus 'is sec- ond wife. He wusn't good tuh 'is firs' wife, but 'is second wife, he wus so good tuh 'er. He'd wash an' scrub fo' her an' evah- thing. Jis' cook an' evahthin'. So somepin come tuh 'im an' tole 'im, say, "Yo"go an' look in de bottom of yuh trunk. Go look in de bottom of yuh trunk." Well, he'd set down dere an' nod, an' nod, an' nod. Be settin' up wit 'er an' nod, an' nod, an' he'd drowse, an' sompin would tell im ag'in. "Go an' look in de bottom of yuh trunk." So fine'ly sompin tole 'im, "Go look in de bottom of yuh trunk, " fo' about two weeks. An' so de nex' time sompin tole him, "Go look in de bottom of yuh trunk, " he got up an' went on an' looked in de bottom of 'is trunk. All kinds of fine things, jis' fine dresses, de finest kind of step-ins, bloomahs an' a big ole automatic, he didn't even know it wus in de house, wus in de bottom of dat trunk. An'.den dere wus a li'le coffin down in dere - a li'le coffin. Dere wus de seat of 'is undahweah, de centah of undah each ahm [arm] in dere, an' some of dis here, whut dey call cayenne peppah sprinkled down on dere. An' it wus de image of a person made from a stick.
(From a stick?)
Right on a piece of a board, yo' know, jis' in a image. Yo' know, jis' lak yo' take a board an' cut a image of a person, yo' know. An' den dey had dat private an' evahthing cut down dere. Yo' know, had it crossed. An' so dey had jis' down in dere jis' lak a coffin, made in de shape of a coffin. An' it wus closed up an' dere wus 'is name wrote in dere nine times. His name wrote down in dat, right down in dat coffin nine times. Some kind of a powdah wus in dere. A li'le bottle about dat high of urinate wus in dere an' de cork, li'le cork stoppah wus in it, yo' see, well it wus cut on each side, see cut on each side fo' de air tuh git in dere, an' it kin come out, yo' see. An' it wus settin' right straight up right by dat li'le image of 'is private, yo' know, settin' right by it. An' it wus closed up right in de bottom of de trunk. An' so dat's whut had 'im, kept 'im down. He couldn't git away from 'er. She would do anything dat she Wanted tuh do an' he'd be pleased at it, he jis' stayed at home, but wit 'is firs' wife he didn't do it.
(What did he finally do? Did he get the spell off of him or anything?)
Yes, he took dat li'le box out of dere an' took it tuh two-three fortune- tellahs. An' dey tole him, ast 'im who fixed 'im, an' he tole 'em, said, "It wus mah wife." Dey say, "Well, do yo' want 'er?" So he tole 'em, 'Yeah, ah loves 'er." Dey say, "Well, if yo' love her, yo' take dat box right back, set it right back where yo' got it from; but if yo' don't want 'er no mo', yo' take a jar an' put dat box in dere dat jar big enough jar tuh slip dat box in dere" - dat box no biggah'n jis' lak dat - "an' den yo' close it up an' go tuh a runnin' stream an' throw it in dere an' say, "She'll leave yuh wandahin'.
(Leave you what?)
Leave yo' wandahin', she'll wandah away. An' he did dat an' dat woman got up dere one mawnin', she got well an' evahthin'. She wusn't all dat sick. She wus jis', yo' know, actin' lak dat, playin' sick fo' him tuh do de work. She got up from dere an' left, tole 'im dat she wus goin' tuh town. An' she left from dere, didn't eat or nuthin. She didn't even take time tuh git 'er clothes. She jis' got worried an' jis' half crazy, an' she left from dere an' he don't even know where she's at.
(I thought he wanted to keep her?)
You say, if he wanted to keep her?
(I thought he told the fortunetellers he wanted to keep her?)
Said he loved 'er. He [fortuneteller] ast 'im did he love 'er.
(Yes?)
An' he tole 'em, said, yeah, he loved 'er. "So, well, yo' take dat box den an' put it right back where yo' - where it wus.
(Well, why didn't he do that?)
Well, he wanted tuh git out of de fix he wus in. but he didn't.know it wus goin' tuh run 'er away.
(I see.)
[If the reader missed it, do turn back to the first sentence of this first version: "she had doctors an' doctors an' doctors of all kind." These are unique words because the usual expression is, with variations, 'she had every doctor in town. "[Mobile, Ala., (679), 975:3.] So mah brothah, Bowizah, had a wife, firs' wife. He didn't do nuthin jis' run roun' all de time. But ah'm tellin' yo' dis here whut ah know from experience. Ah ain't tellin' somepin whut somebody say dey know. So he ma'ied anothah woman an' she had 'im so she'd go out, she run roun' an' she do whut she please. He couldn't he'p 'imself. He wash an' he scrub an' sweep - do evahthin' in de worl' he could an' he couldn't quit 'er. So one day he wus 'tendin' our garden an' somepin tole him look in 'is trunk. So he went tuh de trunk an' looked in it an' seen all kin' raimints - clothes, shoes - evah- thin' wus in dere. An' he didn't know it wus in de house. So dis [same inner voice] says somepin tuh 'im, "Look in [the bottom of] dis trunk." An' so he looked in de bottom an' dere wus a small casten [or castit = casket] 'bout dat long [demonstrates].
(What?)
Casten - coffin. An' it had de seat of 'is undahweah cut out an' right up undah his sleeve [demonstrates].
(Under his arm, the left arm.)
Yes, sir, his left ahm. An' he got it out an' ca'd [carried] it tuh one of de men's [a doctor] an' de man put it in one dese fruit jahs [jars] an' screwed it tight an' put it in a runnin' stream. So he say one mawnin' she woke up an he run 'er out dat house an' he ain't saw 'er since.
Entry 1782
A woman called Hester, she used to live aroun' there, but she don't live there no more. An' she said this man get a piece of pas'eboard, jis' shape it you know - looked like a coffin. [Look] like that he was mad with her. An' he tacked on this board an' put it down in the groun' at her steps. An' they say in nine days time she'd be gone. An' she said somehow or nother she went out an foun' it before them nine days. [Wilmington, N. Car. (309), 235:6+85.]
Entry 7545
[Though this rite uses the grave footboard instead of graveyard dirt, the family relationship here is more important than material used. I wanted to keep these three examples of vicarious or substitute magic together.] Well, yuh go tuh de graveyard jis' like dese folks - yuh got a sistah or brothah, somepin like dat. Well, dey is dead an' dey is buried in de graveyard. Well, yuh know in places dey use wood haidbo'd an' wood footbo'ds, see. Now, well yuh goes dere an' yuh take up dis footbo'd, yuh don' 'sturb de haid[board] at all, see. Yuh git de footbo'd. Well, yuh take it home an' yuh cut it up. See, when yuh cut it up, yuh cut it up in fo' part, see. Yuh care [carry] it an' yuh care it intuh de house an' put it in de chimley. An' aftah yuh care it an' put it in de chimley, yuh let it stay dere 'bout fo' days, see. Let it stay about fo' days an' in de [end of] fo' days, yuh soak it wit oil; no not any kin', jis' plain kerosene oil. Soak it in kerosene oil. Well, yuh let it lay dere an' soak. Let dat oil soak intuh it about a hour, see. An' yuh go back an' reoil it an' den yuh stick a match tuh it - jis' stick tuh it an' dere yuh goes.
(Well, who goes?)
De same person yuh wants - not de dead, it be's a live person. (How do you make this person - what do you do with that footboard to show that it belongs to this person you want to hurt?) Dat's 'is family, yuh undahstan'. See, she will follah 'er. (If you want to do me that way, you go to my sister's grave or my brother's grave, or my father's, and get the headboard from their graves.)
[My headboard is corrected.]
Footboard, yes.
(From one of my family graves.)
Yes, like yore sistah, fathah, brothah, any relation tuh yuh.
Entry 8452
Dey kin take yore photograph an' nail it to a board an' put it in an' care it to a rivah an' nail it through yo' two eyes....de nail in 'tween it, an throw it in de rivah or eithah in any runnin' watah, an' it'll run yo' crazy an' run yo' away from dere. Jis' lak if it wuz me an' yo' didn't wanta see me or nuthin...any time yo' git one of mah photographs an' nail it to a bo'd an' nail it through mah two eyes on de bo'd an' throw it in de lak [in there like] bottomside upwards an' 'long as it's in dat runnin' watah den it runs me away an' ah keeps goin' jis' lak a person goin' crazy....
(The face down?)
Yessuh, wit de face down.
Entry 1673
If some party's dead and dey don't like you, wal, dey worry yuh. Yo' Wanta go git chew a brand-new piece of bo'd and you wanta put it in yore house; yo'll puts it on de outside of your house - got'a put fo' nails in it, one to de fo' corners. Dere's fo' corners to a bo'd. Put fo' nails in dat and throw it in de house and call dat person name and dere won't be nobody worry yuh no more.
(You throw it in the house?)
Throw it underneath the house.
(But you nail it into the house first, outside.)
Yeah, yo' nail it outside.
(Then you throw it into the house?) [This into probably intentional.]
Den yo' throw it underneat' de house and nuthin nevah worry yuh no mo'.
Entry 1675
Nail a bo'd clear around. See, dat's tuh keep 'em from comin' cross any way atall - a new piece of bo'd all de way round de house. An' dey says dere cain't no ghost cross it - new lumber. [New lumber completely round the house, often a small cabin, would mean either laths or small slabs from small lumber. This belief comes from the second of the two boy-qirls (because they wore men's slacks) I interviewed - see comment on hermaphrodites in Introduction.]
Entry 4422
Take some nails an' drive 'em intuh a person's bowels proposition, in- tuh a new bo'd, an' cuz 'em tuh have a eatin' cancer at dere private [rear, not front]. [The board is substituting for a tree.] (THEY DO WHAT?) Take a new bo'd an' place it on dere - jis' lay it on de new bo'd, de person business. When dey jis' go an' have a action, take it an' place it tuh de new bo'd. Take nine new nails an' drive it in an' [when] yuh drive 'em in so fur yuh crook de nine nails head tuhgethah. Don't let 'em tech tuhgethah, jis' crook 'em all lak dat [demonstrates].
(Bend them over towards each other.)
Ben' dem 'wards each othah an' dat'll cuz 'em tuh have a eatin' cancer at dere private.
(They drive these nails right through the business?)
Dey drive 'em right through intuh a new bo'd. [I have never heard of this rite before, but I suggest the 9 nails bent over are a diagrammatic figure representing Cancer or Crab, fourth sign of the Zodiac. If my suggestion is possible, 10 nails would have been a better symbol. Evident- ly the 2 pincers, because they close, are considered as one.]