Subject:Body
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Entry 2304
I says, ah heard them say if anybody was in the house that you wanted to move out, to get a grave-digger to get you a hand off a sinnerman's - left hand off a sinnerman's body. You know, just like a house was high - well, it's got maybe some place where you got a chance to bury it. Well, quite natch'l, the evil spirit would follow [the hand to] that place, you know, and you would be afraid and you would have to move out 'cause you wouldn't understand nuthin. You would hear some kind of funny noise around there, you know, and you just couldn't understand it and you'd have to move. [House was high means house raised aboveground on four or more rocks or posts to avoid dampness. A person could crawl into this underneath airspace to plant any cunjure.]
Entry 2353
How dey use dereself - dey'll pull dey clothes off until dey git down to dere neckedness [nakedness], an' jes' lak dey have a pan of peas or a bowl of peas or somethin' an' de steam is comin' outa dat bowl, why den dey'll put dereselves right ovah dat bowl an' steam dereself in dat - in dat bowel. Den all dat filth dat comes outa her body will steam right in dat food. See, when de man eat dat, an' dat gits to his brain and dat makes him jes' attached to her. See, dat whut all dat underworld work [is] - dat [and] all stuff wit roots. See, dat'll git his mind attached right to her - dat stuff she puts in it, dat gits him den dat he can't do without her. [Waycross, Ga., (1120a), 1799:1.] [This underworld work - a favorite expression of my contact-man Edward - is not gangsters and crime syndicates; it is the material in this book.]
Entry 24
[There used to be a mathematical axiom stating that the whole is the sumn of all its parts. In hoodoo, however, a part can equal the whole. Every part and function of your body (hair and breath) - anything touching you (clothes and bathwater) - whatever signifies you (name and photograph) - all these and others are substitutes for either the whole or part of the spirit. Many examples of this belief will be found elsewhere - here are a few:]
Entry 21
A good spirit, it leaves the body, that is why the body becomes helpless. It cannot exist any longer. It goes to decomposition because the spirit is gone. The life is gone out of it. But still the spirit never dies. It goes to its immediate loved ones on earth, it overlooks them, it hovers around them. In my belief, what I have really had experience of, we are continually being enveloped and surrounded by the spirits of our loved ones who have gone before; especially until their spirits have been reincarnated and born in some child and come back to the world in the flesh again. The reincarnation comes earlier in some and late in others. Sometimes they are reincarnated in babies who are cut off. That spirit comes right back and goes again to be on earth until it is reincarnated. That is the good spirit. The evil spirit, it is abroad in the world. That is the spirit of those who haven't lived their lives consistent with right living. Their spirits are abroad and still doing Work they were engaged in, either frightening or bringing about disorder, just like they was when in the body, until they are reincarnated. They are reincarnated. Usually it comes out in the child. The child is very fretful. Usually, if it goes to any age, it goes into crime. That is the people that chose the evil way in life. When man was created he was created in the image of God. When he fell, that is in the Garden of Eden. Then when he was redeemed, he has since that time been left as a free agent to chose which he will do, right or wrong. That is the choice given us by the Son of God who died for us that we might be redeemed under the curse of the broken Law. Since then, we have this privilege of chosing for ourselves and being left as a free agent. Then this is the point where the evil and the good spirit exist. This is the origination of the good spirit and the evil. The good is permanent and the evil spirit is a choice of man. You know how long Christ stayed on the Cross, three days. It is supposed that everybody when they die their spirit still lingers in their body and about their personalities for three days until they are planted in the ground. Then it is around and about until the changes come. When the spirit comes out of your body your body really becomes like neutral, you can't move or do anything; you never will again. The mind of the person does not die. That is the spirit after all. That is the soul so to speak. It lingers around and it really sees what's being done until its visit is complete. The person who is responsible for the arrange- ment of the final affairs will dream about them. Often you will be half asleep and that person will appear to you and give you some gestures, satisfactory or dissatisfactory. I know that by experience.
Entry 2060
Buy yo' some live lodestone, put it in a cloth, a red cloth, sew it up wit black thread. Yo' go put it on yore body. Den yo' go down an' ah ask yo', "Mister, will yo' give me a job?" Yo' say, "Well, ah might not have a job fo' yo' tuhday, but chew kin come back tomorrah."
Entry 13023
Boil silver dime and drink in water or milk for body-ailment by cunjure. [Wilmington 189:10+85.]
Entry 23
If that spirit goes out somewhere and gets killed or drownded, it will not return and the body lays dead.
Entry 218
One time a fellow was frying some eggs. He was setting down there cook- ing and looking things over. He heard a voice. He looked around to see where it was at and couldn't find it. So he goes to the stove and something up on top of the chimley said, "I'm gon'a drop." He said, "You can drop all you want, so you don't drop in my pan of slop." Finally, a cat leg fell down the chimley, went in the corner and set down. The fellow looked at it, then at the pan, and something on top of the house said, "I'm gon'a drop." Another leg fell down the chimley and went over there and both got together. When the two legs commenced to get- ting together he said, "It's getting kin'a tight in here. The legs said, "That's nothing. Wait till my body comes down." Something on top of the chimley said, "I'm gon'a drop." That cat's body fell down the chimley. It went over and got with them legs. The fellow look at them again and the pan of slop and said, "It's getting kin'a tight in here." Then they said, "Wait until them front legs get down here." Something said, "I'm gon'a drop." He said, "You can drop all you want to just so you don't drop in the slop." The front legs dropped and went over there and got together. He said, "It's tight in here now sure enough." Then it said, "Yes, but you wait until the head comes down." The man said, "The back legs is here, the body is here, the front legs is here, but when that head gets down I'm gon'a be gone."
Entry 219
A man was tramping and gotten hungry and he stopped by a house, and the woman gave him a pint of meal and told him there was a old cabin further down the road and he could stop there that night, and she said he could build himself a fire and cook this meal. The fire was getting hot - they.made ash cakes in those days. While the fire was getting hot something spoke up the chimley, 'Look out, I'm gon'a fall." Down fell a leg. He picked that up and threw it back behind him. After awhile it cried again, "Look out, I'm gon'a fall." He said, "Fall." He took that leg and threw it behind him. Presently it cried again, "Look out, I'm gon'a fall." He took that arm and threw it back behind him. Presently it said, "Look out, I'm gon'a fall." The other arm fell. He threw that behind him. Then it kin'a cried, "Look out, look out, I'm gon'a fall." The body dropped down. He threw that behind him. He done gone back together. He grabbed this poker and started after him and he run out ran around to the corner of the chimley and went down into a hole. And he dug and came to a pile of money.
Entry 323
This is a peculiar thing, I must say humorous thing, what chew may call witchcraft. Of course I don't have - I don't know anything about it, but I've heard about it. And so they said that if you take a cat, a black cat, and boil him down to get a black cat bone and just apply that bone to a certain part to your body or the affected part of your body, why that'll cure you. I've heard that.
(What do you mean by apply?)
Well, apply meant - I guess it means to massage the place where you're hurt, affected, your arm swollen I guess or your leg is swollen, why you just take this black cat bone and that'll have the power to drive those witches out, to drive -that condition out of your body. That's what I was told years ago by some of the old relatives.
Entry 1022
Dey tell me tuh break de chills on anybody yo' take a cotton string an' tie nine knots in dat an' insert it in turpentine, but don't tie de nine knots all at once. Yo' tie one knot dis mawnin', put it around yore patient - tie de string around yore patient, around de body. De next mornin' yo' take it off an' tie another knot, but chew always insert it in turpentine every time yo' put it on till de nine mornings up. Dem chills is gone fo'evah from dem.
Entry 2399
Well, you kin go out in de woods and kill you a rattlesnake. Well, you take dat rattlesnake and you skin 'em. Be sure dat dey didn't strike demself now - be sure that he's not strike himself to kill himself, because you jest ketch him you understand and tease a rattlesnake why he strike to kill him own- self. But now, you be sure dat you kill him. Well, you kill him and you skin him, see. Well, you cut him open and you git dat fat. You git de fat and you fry it up. You fry it up into grease and you can't use too much of it - [see No. 1435, p.469]. You take dat grease and you jest rub yo' limbs - rub yo' limbs down, you understand - rub your limbs, all yo' legs and stuff and your whole body, jest as near as possibly you can in a closed closet where nobody kin see you, see. Nobody will know what chew doin'. Well, you will be jest as limber as dat rattler. A person - Jesus Christ kin pin you down to de ground but He couldn't throw you.
Entry 2400
Dey git a buzzard an' kill him and stew him up, git de buzzard grease and grease yourself all over, on de laigs and you'll be limber. You'll be more powerful. Whenever - ev'ry way de man try to throw you, you kin jump off his locks, see, and you kin throw him 'cause yo' active. He can't throw you.
Entry 2446
Use de oil of cedah an' use it an' put it about chure body an' on yore do'knob where de people come back an' fo'th in, an' if that roomah doesn't come back, if he leaves there, anothah one will come back an' yo'll have mo' success with that one den yo' will wit de othah one.
Entry 3685
Well, takin' any snail an' while de woman's sleepin', he would take dat snail an' he would pass it across her stomach right dis way an' makin' a cross dat way. Ah don't care whut man she go wit or how he been wit 'er, when he goes tuh go wit 'er, his cnbition will fall.
(He will rub that across this woman's abdomen in the form of a cross?)
Jes' cross it.
Entry 3688
Take a snail an' mark a cross, make a horse's pitchure on a woman's stomick, an' she cain't deal wit no othah man but jes' dat one. (Make what kind of a picture?) A horse's picture - a horse whut chew rides. (You have to draw a picture of a horse on a woman's stomach, but you have to use a snail - this thick stuff from the snail - and then she won't be able to have another man?) No, no man but jes' 'im. [An old note of mine reads: "I do not understand the picture, unless the per- son who draws the picture is the rider!"]
Entry 3727
[Here is Surely ONE OF THE MOST ORIGINAL CURES IN FOLK MEDICINE, my only example of it - a man making the sign of the cross with his whole body over the whole body of a woman!!!] If a man loses 'is na- ture an' wants to have a woman, why he kin take an' git 'im a aig an' a bottle of gingerale or two aigs: a bottle of gingerale, an' git him some Hearts Cologne, an' take nine swallows eight mornings. Dat'll give him nature. An' de first woman dat he evah have communication wit, de first woman, why he jes' lay right 'cross 'er. Lay wit 'is head to de west an' 'is feet to de east [body facing east as in burial, to see rising sun on resurrection dayl. An' den turn roun' an' lay straight up an' down jes' before he uses 'er. Dat will bring 'is nature back.
Entry 4034
Jes' lak two person togethah use a slop pail. Well, if I wanta hurt a person in dey chamber lye, I wouldn't urinate dat night in dat slop pail. Well, I let chew urinate in dere. I'd take dat pail [oldtime pail with lid] an' stop it up tight. Den take dat pail from de room dat mawnin' when yuh goin' to work an' care [carry] it - an' take anothah bucket, small tin bucket [with lid], an' take dat [and fill] wit [your] urinated water an' stop it up maybe two weeks. An' aftah yuh stoppin' dat watah up fer - aftah two weeks it become jes' lak a drawin' wine. An' it go - jes' agitate. If it warm weathah, it agitate quickah den dat. But if it's cool weathah, it take a long time tuh draw. An' aftah bein' drawin', dat jes' lak drawin' a man dat - when yuh go tuh git yuh blood draw from de hos- pital or git shots, dat's tuh draw an' keep adrawin' an' adrawin' until it weakens a person body. Den aftah weaken' de body, if dey don't - if dis person continue tuh leave it jes' lak 'tis, dey would become jes' lak a person got consumption - complexion would change. If dis man wuz a dark-complected person, it would be lightah. Den people would claim dat dat fellah got T. B., an' [or] dey'd say he got chronical disease, but dat's dat stuff adrawin' an' adrawin'. Aftah while it will weaken dis person. Den maybe dat person [will say], "Well, ah think ah go tuh a doctor [M.D.] tuh see what de mattah wit me. Look lak ah'm gittin' sick an' ah cain't he'p mahself." Ah may go tuh a doctor. A or'n'ry [ordinary] doctor [M.D.] will give him medicine an' treat 'im but it wouldn't do him any good. See, dat stuff will be drawin' 'im an' drawin' '. An' aftah while he will die.
Entry 5453
De way ah heered dat, dey take yore left-hand track. Jis' lak yo' make a track, well dey take de centah from yore track, right from de bottom of yore foot, an' take dat dirt an' carry it. Go tuh a graveyard an' take dat [track] dirt an' mix it wit graveyard dirt. An' yo' take it den an' tie it up in a han'che'ch'ef, in de left-hand side of a han'ke'ch'ef, an' tie it roun' dere body an' tote it on dere body lak dat. Well, dey says if yo' take it an' tote it roun' yore body lak dat, dat take some kinda 'fect on party [whose track is used] an' keep 'em wit cheW, an' SHE WON' HAVE NO NATURE FO' NO OTHAH MAN BUT 'IM [this could also go under CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE, p.2341f.].
(Well, who would do that?)
Well, now de boy would do dat to de girl.
(He would wear it on his body?)
Yes sir, wear it roun' 'is bodv.
(And she wouldn't have any nature for anyone but him?)
No one but him. (He would take her foot track with this graveyard dirt and put it in the left side of the handkerchief?) De left side of de han'ke'ch'ef.
(Well, what is the left side of the handkerchief?)
Well, de left cornah dere.
[The upper-left corner as you face it.]
(And he wears it around his waist?)
Yessuh.
Entry 6399
Toenails, yo' know. An' [they] ketch yore toenails an', if dey kin git 'em, dey make a tea of 'em. It gives yo' - an' yo' drink dat an' git it inside of yo', it MAKES YORE ENTRAILS SCALEY INSIDE. It be's perfectly scaley JIS' LIKE A FISH, but it be's all de way roun' yore guts. But it's one thing, yo' see by gittin' dem, dey goes down. De scales don' come up dis way fo' yo' food tuh hang. De scales will hang down so yore foods kin go by. Dey will give yo' a bad odor through yore [mouth?]. Yo' undahstan' me?
Entry 6552
Take a frog or a lizard. Yo' know a frog is spawned with a little egg. Yo' kin take dat. It will more or less go to de bottom. If dere anybody yo' wants hurt, yo' kin take it [frog egg] an' dey'll drink it, an' dey'll form an' dey'll grow in 'em - grow in dat person. Ah have seen 'em. An' yo' kin take snakes' eggs an' do de same thing, an' dey'll crawl aroun' in a human bein's body.
Entry 6573
Yo' take a lizard or a salamandah or anything lak dat - yo' take a lizard now. Ef a person take him an' ketch 'im an' kill 'im, yo' take him den an' yo' let 'im dry up. Well, aftah he dry up, yo' take him an' pound 'im up an' put 'im in anything, an' aftah while he'll grow. Jis' lak yo' put 'im in watah or sompin tuh eat, an' a person eat it, git it in 'em. He'll grow an' in a very short while he'll be runnin' all through 'is flesh.
Entry 6577
Ah heard a woman in Birmingham, Ala., say dat if yo' had a enemy an' if yo' wanta git de enemy out de way, say yo' could take a lizard an' dreene [drain] it. Yo' know, make de blood come outa it. An' take dat lizard's blood an' put it on a rag all de way roun' de rag. An' den take dat bloodly rag from de lizard an' put it in de band of a hat. An' dey said dat yo could take dat from a lizard an' put it in dere, an' in nine days, lizards be run- nin' all roun' in yore haid an' up an' down yore body.
Entry 6597
[As a diversion from the usual accounts of live things in you, I begin this margin title, about live snakes in a person, with a snake sensitive to time and psychology. For similar material in Hoodoo, and else- where in Hoodoo. Time without the psychology is a very important element in hoodoo.l Dis girl, a man fixed 'er, an' he had sompin jis' about dis big aroun', long lak a snake, an' it worked all de way roun' in 'er body. An' she said at night when she'd know dat dis man wanted tuh see 'er real bad, dat she had tuh go. Say dat snake would move roun' an' roun' 'er until [it] come all up aroun' dere [where?]. Yo' know, yo' could natchly [naturally] see it when it wuz movin'. An' it stayed in 'er back. Yo' know, move up in de bottom of 'er back dere, anl she could git rested. She couldn't do nuthin. An' DE MINUTE SHE WALKED IN DE DO' TUH 'IM, SHE SAY IT STOPPED MOVIN'.
(He put the snake in her to make her come to him.)
An' dey tryin' tuh find out how he put dat snake in her. Ah dunno [I do not know].
Entry 6687
They tell me that if you can get a hold of dog's hair and cat hair, and fix it so that it can get into the food of an individual, that after they eat it, if it stays in 'em for nine days, it turns to worms. And those worms get in their body on the inside and they finally die from the effect of it. [Elizabeth City, N. Car., (182), 554:9.] [Readers will notice I have changed the title of this subsection from the one originally given in volume 3 under CONTENTS FOR VOLUMES 3 AND 4. This change perely returns to my original title CURE AND PROTECTION in volume 1, pages 410- 519, emphasizing once again, as in the introductory comment that folk medicine in hoodoo or witchcraft has a protective or preventive side (p.3077). A com- plete list of cures and prevention of ailments and disease cannot be known until the completion of the INDEX to occupy all of volume 5.]
Entry 7214
Dat whut chew call tyin' down. Dey'll wait until de man come in an' go tuh sleep, an' dey git a bran'-new ball of cot- ton yarn an' puts it on de inside of de baid, where de man gotta sleep. Why dey measure from de tip of 'is haid tuh de sole of 'is feet. Tie a knot tuh de neck, an' tie a knot tuh de waist, an' tie a knot tuh de knees, an' tie a knot tuh de ankles, an' tie one tuh de sole of yuh feet [5 knots]. An' den dey take dat an' dey care [carry] it undah de baid tuh de side dat he sleeps on an' tie it, yo' know, undah de springs wit de two ends tuhgethah double. Tie it right undah where [demonstrates]. Dis part of de body.
(Near the backside?)
Yes. Dat keeps 'im down, dat keep 'em from runnin' aroun'. [Charleston, S. Car., (514), 599:5.] [For more material by Doctor Glover, see Pp.2258-2259; No.112, P.41; No.272, P.79; and No.335, p.99.]
Entry 10154
Wha' choo may call witchcraft...take a cat, a black cat, and boil him down to get a black cat bone. An' jis' apply that bone to a certain part, to your body or the affected part of your body, why that will cure you. That'll have the power to drive those witches out, to drive that conditions out of your body. That's what I was told years ago by some of the old relatives. [Wilmington, N. Car., resume, 174:1.]
Entry 10549
[I heard] that you kin get up nine nights and walk to the fork of a road to sell yourself to the devil. You will agree to give up soul and body at the end of your life for the pri- vilege of being able to master everything while you are here on earth. Then, if you do that for nine nights, or nine mornings, early before dawn good - and the devil will meet chah there and give you per- mission what you shall do in carrying it out. And naturally from then on you'll be the master of the world while you are here in it.
The account describes nine nights or mornings before dawn at a road fork, giving up soul and body at life's end for claimed worldly powers and a devil meeting. Hyatt supplies the bracketed 'I heard' qualification; the informant's alternatives in timing and the life-term condition remain explicit.
Entry 10602
Now a fellah tell me fo' a fact dat chew kin ketch a bat an' yo' kin carry dat round wit chew jes' like: yo' would take dem wings off him an' don't have nuthin but de bat, jes' de little ole skin. Ain't nuthin but skin nohow. Take de little ole bat, de little haid, an' put him in a papah sack or a cloth. Tie it up - sew it up jes' lak yo Would sew up a little bow, an' carry it out in yore pocket. An' yo' kin go an' do most anything yo' want. Ah don't know whether dat's true or not.
(You take just the wings off the bat though?)
Take de wings off.
(And just tie up the body?)
Tie up de body.
Entry 11836
If a man git drownded or sompin like dat, why yo' kin take an' go to de rivah an' if dey draggin' fo' him an' can't find him, why yo' shoot de gun an' he'll rise tuh de top, which in dat's true. Ah see dat mahself. [This is ordinary folklore.]
Entry 11916
If you are stopping up a person's hair to harm him or her, it must come from the mold of the head, the vital spot of a person's body. [Wilmington 171:4+85.]
Entry 12743
I have heard that in some parts of South Carolina - of course it seems as though they have quite a...something against South Carolina - that you crush snake heads. One woman would pay so much for rattlesnake heads, just cut this rattlesnake head off and make a powder from then. And they would send these to the people who were envious towards the others, and that would cause snakes to come in their bodies. I imagine this povder they put in their food.
Entry 10688
After you have taken a bath, they can get some of that water and stop it up in a bottle, and of course they can bury that, and that will cause your body to dry up and waste away - something like you have a wasting disease.
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 1562
Yo' take nine snails an' cook dose snails an' yo' take de grease of dose snails an' jes' lak if yo' think if anybody done anything to yo' to make yo' lose de use of yore body, yo' rub yoreself with that, an' that will relieve yo', cause yo' to become super [supple] in yore process, begin come 'live.
(You do this if you think somebody has tricked you?)
Yes.
Entry 1090
If someone try do anything to you an' you die, you could put - jis' like de medicine you use in de body, you kin take dat an' put it in de grave when dey die, an' de person'll die right behind dem. [Note on my original pencil transcription reads "medicine in coffin."]
The body is named as a location of medicine use in a hypothetical account; the claimed later death is unverified.
Entry 4478
Well, there's a whole lots of things they kin do with it. That's A VERY SERIOUS PROPOSITION in the weakness of the body, to get your perspiration and use it IN THE RIGHT PREDICAMENT.
The informant names weakness of the body while discussing perspiration. The context does not establish a diagnosis, procedure or effect.