Subject:Brick
Entries
Entry 1441
[Red-brick powder is an ordinary red brick (soft baked) ground to a powder. Redding is sometimes used as a substitute. Both could be bought at a hoodoo drug store.] If you stay and that wouldn't work, wouldn't do no good, you take your lye water - you see, water that you urinate out. [This is usually called chamber lye.] Take that water and you pour it on your step, rinse your step down - Wash it, scrub it off with that and let it drip.
(And it what?)
Yeah, lye water - your pee water, you see. And you put it on your step and you wash it off with - rinse off your step with it and that [hoodoo] won't hurt you.
(And then sprinkle red brick around?)
Red brick all around - scrub your step with red brick.
(Oh, you scrub your step with red brick?)
Yeah, and you put your urinate water in - your water in, you see, and scrub. And that'll move it [hoodoo] away.
Entry 3812
Go an' git a bran'-new brick dat has nevah been used, an' yo' put it in yore fire an' git it red-hot. While dat brick is heatin', he make him a pep- pah tea wid dese pod peppahs. Git nine pods an' make a peppah tea of it, an' he po' 'bout a ten-cent drink of likkah into dis an' drink it hot. Well, when he drink it hot, he urin- ate on dat brick - take it out an' urinate on dat brick, an' dat'll bring it back. Dat's one way. (That will restore his nature, his courage that has been tied up by some woman.) Yes.
Entry 4071
An' if yuh don' wanta work it lak dat, yuh kin take a man's sock, if he's jis' as cruel, jis' so cruel yuh an' 'im can't hardly live togethah, yuh kin take his sock an' put it in - pick up one de bricks out de hearth an' yuh puts it in dis hole. Well, yuh goes dere an' yuh takes an' uri- nate on it, yuh know whut dat is - on it fo' nine mawnin's. An' dat'll make him jis' as nice tuh yuh as he kin be. He won' fight chew any mo' an' he'll jis' take ca' [care] of 'is wife or woman, jis' lak a man should. Yuh has tuh let it stay dere now fo' nine mawnin's, an' aftah yuh do dat, why yuh know dat chew got 'im.
Entry 4386
Ah heard dat if - now jis' lak if yuh love a person an' dey mistreat yuh or sompin othah. Jis' lak ah may love yuh an' yuh don't love me. Dere man yuh know of dat kind, don't love 'em. Why - an' yuh love 'em an' do all yuh kin tuh git 'long wit 'em an' can't. Why yuh jes' takes most - well, any 'mount chew want of - well, food yo' know dat pass through dem. Yuh kin take dat. Yuh take dat an' yuh put it intuh a little rag, any kinda rag, or maybe a papah, anythin'. An' yuh take it down an' jis' lak yuh take up a brick outa yore chimley, an' yuh bury it undah dat brick an' let it stay undah dere fo' 'bout three days. Yuh take it out. Yuh take dat up den an' yuh burn it.
(What will that do then?)
Dat will bring 'im back.
(You burn his passage to bring him back?)
Yassuh.
Entry 4584
Dey takes dat bow an' dey carry it home an' dey bury it undah a brick in dey fiahplace, an' he can't no mo' stay wit dat woman no mo'. Evah time he goes tuh dat woman house, his haid begin tuh hurt 'im an' he cripple himself up an' den he fall. Evah time he see her he gits maddah an' maddah wit 'er. She puts it undah a brick, de cen- tah brick in de pipe [flue] - undah de centah brick.
(Well, who would do that?)
Now lak yo' wanted tuh - see heah, if she wanted 'im tuh leave dat house ovah yondah an' come heah. Well, she git dat bow an' she carries it an' put it right down dere undah dere. See, dat man can't visit yondah no mo'.
Entry 4937
Ef she has any dealin's wit dis man an' he leaves home, of co'se she kin take his socks or anythin' dat he wears nex' tuh 'im an' take de sweat from 'is thin's, see. All right, she would take 'is dirty sock an' fill it wit salt, an' lay it intuh de chimley hearth an' put a brick on it, see. An' ef she leaves it dere, he may be gone for some days; but he won' stay away, he'll come back.
Entry 4938
Take a sock, take yore lef' sock an' put it up in de middle of a - take a brick up in de middle of a hearth an' put chure sock down. An' yuh urinate on dat sock fo' nine mawnin's an' yuh stop it up. Yuh take it up an' den stop it up. Dat's fo' a man dat's runnin' aroun'. Yuh take dat an' git a dirty sock - have tuh have de sock dirty - an' put it in dis hearth, put it down dere an' yuh urinate on dat fo' nine mawn- in's, an' it will turn 'im aroun' all de way diff'ren'. He'll be a diff'ren' man in de home.
Entry 4939
[An informant in the same cityadds a time detail.1 Ah've heard 'em say dat she could take de man's socks an' take a brick up out de fiahplace an' bury it an' make yore watah on it fo' nine mawnin's. Ah've heard dat.
(What is that supposed to do?)
Well, dat's in a love affair, too. Yuh take an' put dat sock down, an' den go dere evah mawnin' befo' de sun rise an' make watah on it fo' nine mawnin's, an' dat will make him stick closah tuh yuh. Fayetteville, N. Car., (1411), 2535:1.]
Entry 4940
Ah heard dat if yo' take a man's sock - 'SCUSE ME, BUT AH DON'T MEAN NO HARM BY IT. AH HEARD A WHITE PEOPLE SAY DIS. DAT'S DE REASON AH ASK YUH TUH "SCUSE ME. She said tuh take a man's sock an' take some sugah, an' take up de lef' brick on de lef' of de fireplace, an' put dat sock down in dere wit sugah in it. An' make yore wishes dat he'd come home. She said take dat.
Entry 5291
Den he'll take his left-foot shoe. Dat'll he'p, too. Take his left- foot shoe an' carry it tuh a rivah an' tie it up in a rag an' put a brick tuh it an' carry it tuh a rivah an' throw it ovahbo'd. (What will that do then?) He can't stay dere, he'll leave town.
Entry 5411
Take dey ole lady's shoe track up, right up in heah. Dey take dat track up right in dere an' carry it tuh de fi'place an' lay it up in dere. Yo' know, in de fi'place up ovah dere, de whole track up dere. An' yo' could go wit 'er, 'cuz she'll lak yo'.
Entry 5415
Take a man or a woman's track. Git three lef'-foot tracks an' some sugah. Ah heard dat chew take it an' throw it in de centah of de fiahplace, dat track an' de sugah, an' say tuh itwhut chew want done. Dat will keep 'im or 'er home.
Entry 8138
Dat photograph, yo' ain't gotta do nuthin wit dat but one thing. It gotta be taken perfect though [be a real photograph] see. Jis' lak dese Zi'le snappahs [see later], Zi'le snappahs don' do yo' no good. Yo' gotta take dat photograph an' turn it upside - backside - jis' lak as if dis [points to] wus yer chimley heah. Yo' lifts one of dose bricks an' put it [photo] undah dose bricks upside down. But long as yo' got dat upside down, de pusson dat dat photograph is be- longin' tuh will nevah be no good. Yo' gotta turn it upside down. [If I remem- ber correctly, this is the only place where a snapper, snapshot, is mentioned. A photograph by a professional photographer must be used.]
Entry 8139
An' den yo' kin take dat man photograph an' yo' kin take it an' bury it in de hay [I mean] in yo' fiahplace undah a brick. An' in buryin' dat undah a brick, when yo' put dat down dere yo' turn 'is face down an' say, "Ah want chew tuh stay down heah" - call 'is name - "an' ah wan' chew tuh stay down heah. Ah wan' chew tuh come uadah mah com- mand, to do as ah say do, In de Name of de Lord, bring peace an' love in our home." An' jis' put it down dere, an' as long as yo' got dat pichure buried in yo' fiahplace, de fiah, if he nevah move it [photo] he'll always be humble down undah yore feet.
(Just how do you put that picture down in there?)
Yo' jis' turn it down as yo' take up a brick, yo' turn 'is face down.
Entry 8546
(Give me that parable again now. Tell me the whole thing.)
Just like I come to see you to your house and your fire hearth got a end of brick loosened somewhere. Well, I take a piece of paper and write your name down on it unknowst to yo', an' I slip your name up under that brick, and they say, your wife would leave you. (My wife would leave me and go with you?) Yes, go away. [We must remember here, that name is not enough; there is also the mental intention for woman to leave and come to you.]
(Well, is there any way, you can check that? Cross that up?)
Yes, yo' kin check that, cross it up.
(How would you do that?)
Well, the way yo' do that, yo' get yo' some parsley, and yo' tell her put: 'er underclothing wrongside out, after yo' get de parsley. Yo' put that parsley in de bottom part of her shoe an' put some garlic in de bottom part of her [other] shoe an' make her wear that. That'll check it up. [Wrongside out, parsley and garlic are well-known witchcraft deterrents.]
Entry 8549
A rock, not a brick, but a rock - yo' kin take a brick too, either one of 'em, so it's hard, sompin won't bust to pieces when one of 'em is throwed in de fire or in de stove, an' let it stay in dere. An' yo'll leave my house, yo' won't be there many days. Leave my house, love de town, an' yo' keep goin'. (That's all you do, just throw that rock or brick in the fire?) Just put it in de fire an' name it yo'. (Oh! Name it you.) Like your name is - name it yo' an' put it in de fire, an' let it stay in dere. An' yo'll leave an' yo' won't come back dere.
Entry 8629
My husband has - [suppose] my husband has this here woman and ah want to break 'em up. Ah take 'er name an' his name, ah'll put it in a lemon. Red brick - right in my alley, if I'm livin' in a alley, right up out of dat alley, ah'll get, ah'll pick up a brick. Ah will dig a hole, turn dem [in. the] lemon down fo' nine mawnin'. Ah'll walks ovah it. Ah'll say, "Yo' son-of-a-bitch, ah'll keep yo' down." Ah'll walk, ah've got tuh do dat fo' nine mawnin', every mawnin', an' den he'll separ- ate from 'er. When he separate from 'er, he'll say - he'll tell his friends, he say, "Yo' know one thing, ah been mistreatin' my wife, but somehow or anothah she must be - ah don't know what she doin' - she must be prayin' or going to church or somepin. Do yo' know ah ain't got no more feelin' fo' dat woman an' ah can't go wit nobody but just my wife." De reason why he can't go wit nobody but me because ah'm got 'im like dat.
Entry 8960
I have went to jail for fighting and lotsa time never stayed in no longer that then I could get word [to someone] which they got some dust they call this murlee dust.
(Morlee?)
[Name impossible to transcribe; probably a local hoodoo-store dust.]
Morlee dust, tell you. But the trouble [is] jis' lak if yo' happen to be fightin' somewhere an' go to jail. Take some of this Morlee dust an' yo' let your people bring you a shirt, and put it in that [shirt]. Yo' understand. (A clean shirt?) Yes, any kind you got, so long as you wears it - a brand-new shirt. And you put it [this dust] down in the lining of the sleeve or anywhere around the collar lak dat, about nine different places and you wear it. See. Yo' get it an' yo' put it on there when yo' going to court there. Yo' wants to be cut loose from that place. Well, yo' get a beef tongue. Let 'em get a beef tongue an' yo' put jes' as many needles in that beef tongue as yo' could. Set it in yore grate." Jes dig a hole down in de grate, if yo' have a grate. Take a brick out to put it [tongue] down in there.
(In your fireplace?)
Yes, sir. Then, when yo' going to court, when yo' walk in there, yo' have this shirt on with that stuff [in 9 places]; when yo' walk in an' enter into that place, where de lawyer done turn yo' over to be tried. He [is] talking With the jury, who are going to try yo'. He'll be pretty easy with yo'. If yo' got any jurymen on yore case or anything like that, first thing yo' know, yo' have this beef tongue [at home working for you] an' this beef tongue is by yore fire. Well, it be frying; yo' know, hot. Well, that make them needles get red hot an' they couldn't but just fine yo'. The judge do nuthin of de kind. They just have to turn yo' loose, let yo' out of dat jail. (In the jail you wore that shirt there, and at home someone is cooking the beef heart. Is it a beef heart or beef tongue?) Yes, the beef tongue. Get up in de mawnin' an' put [in tongue] as many needles as yo' can. De more needles yo' [can put in, the better]. An' yo' jis' stick the needles all down in it; yo' know, to de limit. An' yo' - if yo' have to, take up a brick - an' yo' put it down in de fire hearth an' put the brick back on. And the time when yo' going to court, light a fire in there. An' when that beef tongue commence to cooking like that, any, evahbody just as calm with yo' as evah. Couldn't find no evidence against [you] and won't find yo' guilty. All they could do, jis' [let] yo' loose without bail. An' they'll never come against yo' no more.
Entry 9485
Git chew a new box of table salt. Listen good! Git chew a new box of table salt an' yo' jes' take it an' open it. See, no one haven't nused [used] out of dat. An' when de' both are leavin' yore house, yo' jes' take some of dat salt an' chunk, stirrin' [magic action] yore salt lak dat [demonstrates circular motion, saying], "Go." An' den when dey - yo' jes' throws out yore arm lak dat [demonstrates], yo' jes' sprinkle it aroun' in each cornah of de house, in all fo' cornahs, an' dey'll finely [finally] break up. An' den yo' take up one of de bricks in yore chimley an' jes' put some undah de bottom of dat, an' set it right back down dere. An' dey won't be dere long - no, dey won't be dere long tuhgethah.
(That will separate them?)
Yes, separated.
(I would do that?)
Yes, separated, fuss all de time till dey separated. Ah'll pull 'em apart. (If I wanted to do that, I would wait until this man and his wife walk out and then I would sprinkle it in their house. Do all that?) Yes.
Entry 9842
(Tell me how they make a person stay at home?)
Wit dere sock. Well, take dis sock an' put chure sugah an' yore cinnamon in dis sock, an' take yo' nine needles an' nine pins an' - fold yore sock an' put [in] dem nine needles an' nine pins. An' yo' use 'em all, gotta git 'em all in dere. See, dem eighteen sticks [sticking ob- jects] gotta be in dere. An' yo' take three tacks an' nail 'em down at de front of yore do', or eithah if yo' got a fiah hearth, yo' take a brick up an' yo' lay dat brick dere. Lay it dere an' put it on top dat. An' yo'll nevah git rid of 'em. Dat'll hold 'em.
Entry 10750
Yo' kin write his name in your monthlies an' bury it up undah de south part of your house an' put a brick ovah that an' he nevah will leave yo'. (You write this with the blood of your monthlies. What do you write it on?) Write it on papah. Write his name an' yore name both. [The original typed word preceding the word part was side, the two words transcribed side part. On checking the cylinder, side was actually something like sud or sut, actually south, which I corrected in pencil. Years later, just now (1976), I inked in south. The sun now keeps warm the two names buried on the south side of the house. An excellent ritel]
Entry 11197
Dirt dauber powder in bottle, put under brick of house, "dey leave dere." [This probably means under a house but covered by a brick, not to hide it, but to add weight to your intention. Also under the house would mean removing a brick from one of the piers on which lowland houses rest; the bottle then being under a brick. Also possible but more difficult, unless everyone was away for the day, would be the removal of a brick from the hearth.] [Wilmington, N. Car., 261:4+85.]
Entry 12600
An' den anothah thing dat chew kin do, to cause 'sturbance in de home dat will break up a man an' a woman. Yo' kin take dis cayenne peppeh an' some red peppah out de garden. Let dis [garden] peppah dry an' get dis [cayenne] peppah an' mash it all up togethah, an' put it in a piece of papah or eithah a piece of cloth. It will do it bettah if it a piece of cloth. An' roll it up an' tie it up good. An' den yo', if yo' kin git in de house, git somebody tuh bury it in de hearth. Jes' take up a brick yo' know an' place it undah dat brick, so when dey'll build a fiah, it will keep dat stuff warm. An' yo' be su'prised at de racket yo' heah in dat house yo'self. It will be a few days befo' yo' see [them] go apart.
Entry 12716
Well, you ketch you a live rabbit and cut his left-hind foot off before you kill 'em, and take it and put it in a bag. Get you brick [make it into] dust - make dust out of it, and take the hairpins of whatever vosl en you want this to be, just take the hairpins she been using in her haid and put it in that and tie it up, and tote it in your left pocket. And as long as you do she can't leave you, she be right there all the time.
(I see, that's to hold a woman.)
Yes.
Entry 13141
Take a man's sock or a woman's sock an' bury it. See, where yo' have a fireplace, take up a brick an' sprinkle sulphur an' salt on dat brick an' sprinkle sulphur an' salt on dat brick an' graveyard dirt, an' uri- nate on it fo' 9 mawnin's, an' tell it whut chew want it tuh do. If yo' want him tuh love yo', not leave yo', be right dere undah yore foot an' all, he can't do it, 'cause he's buried right dere wit dat stock- in' an' de minute he takes it up why yo' kin go. But long as hit stays down dere, why he stays dere.
(You bury that stocking right under that brick?)
Yeah, right undah dat brick. Anywhere where yo' kin git tuh it an' urinate on it fo' 9 mawnin's.
Entry 5413
Take de right track an' bury it in yore fiahplace or undah de bricks. In a few days dey'll be back an' can't go away.
Entry 3106
All she [Zippy Tull] wanted was the photograph. She could take this photograph, an' she had a regular little gun, she put it [photograph] up, she get huh quicksilver [either (l) tin foil, sometimes called silver paper, a sub- stitute for silver bullet, or (2) silver from the backing of a mirror], steel dus', an' she'd shoot this pitchure full of holes an' tell you to take this pitchure - you bring her firs' thing, this goes with a red brick, a right bran'- new brick never been used. She'd have you go to work an' write this party's name on this new brick. You take this pitchure, this new brick, go to the graveyard, you bury that crossways [the picture and brick crossing each other] on a man's breast, an' it wouldn't be many days before you commenced to lingah. If somepin wouldn't change, you never got better unless that wus moved. Now, she called that sZow death. An' it wus slow death, too!
Entry 12313
Ah learnt dat you could take dat dere wood from a tree right where de lightnin' struck, turn in an' go dere an' git chew three pieces, tree lil' small pieces. An' take three [silver] dimes made in de same yeah. Take three dimes an' dat piece of wood, an' put dem dere three pieces, an' put one dime 'neath dat piece of wood [demonstrates] an' de next dime right next tuh de next top piece of wood, an' de next dime right in de bottom in de jar. An' take it tuh de watah an' throw it in de watah, an' says, Ah hope yo' come back tuh me, In Name of de Fathah, Son an' Holy Ghost, come back. Let it go in de watah. Yo' see, yo' throw dat jar an' hit'll go so fur downstream, an' dat jar will turn roun' an' come back an' go in de bank where nobody will git dere han's on it. Dat jar will come back. Or eithah yo' kin take it lak dis: Yo' kin take a brick an' put it in dat jar wit dat, dat money an' dat piece of wood from de lightnin'-struck tree, an' it will stay down undah de watah three days. Dat's de best, it will stay undah de watah three days. Well, when dem three days out, she's back tuh yo'.
(This is bringing somebody back?)
Dat's right.
(Where do you get these dimes - get them out of your own pocket?)
Yeah, jes' go down an' try tuh git de dimes made in de same yeah.
Entry 12605
Now, secondly, the next thing is to do, that is, to get cayenne pep- per, black pepper and take that and bury it with limburger root. (What kind of root?) Limburger root. (Limburger root?) Yeah, limburger root.[Root with a strong odor, probably so called by some root seller.] You put those three mixes together and you go right under the step, and dig a hole and bury it and cover it up, and put that fire brick - if you can get it - right across it. [The fireplace is taken out to the steps!] And it has a tendency from two to - from three to seven days. Sometimes they moves.
(They what?)
They move out.
Entry 678
Take that charcoal - brick dust and charcoal. You know, anything you beat up and make a dust out of it, that goofer dust.
(I see.)
Entry 3102
[My discovery of Zippy Tull and George Jackson - former celebrities of the high-man or witchcraft world along the Eastern Shore - I have described in the INTRODUCTION. One of the great stories about her has already been given - No. 8, page 5. For George Jackson, see page 912.] [Nicknames characterize the woman - "Zippy'" meaning '"lively'" and 'smart," and "Aunt Zippy'" revealing an affectionate regard by many people. She lived a large part of her life a mile or so from the Maryland line at a place once called Drummondtown, near New Church, Accomac County, Virginia. Approximate dates of birth and death would be the decade of 1830 and the year 1900. I have four stories about her, each told by a different informant; also three remedies given by a fifth person. Never again would I meet anyone who, I felt, had actually been so near old-time workers. All material, except the story by Mrs. Williams, I collected while working the region and stay- ing the last few days at the old Washington Hotel in Princess Anne, Maryland.] [Story No. 1 - recorded in my hotel dining room, Princess Anne, Maryland, was told by a former slave 89 years old.] That's been aboat [about] 70 years ago when I wus - 75 years ago [1861]. I know dat myself, I'm not talkin' about whut I hear somebody 'say. I wus a young man - guess I wusn't a young man neither. I called myself a young man an' I wus courtin' a girl. An' some people lived on a fahm [farm] that didn't like me so very well. I wus a very bright boy an' very swift at that time. So dey begin to wuk [work] on me, as I thought. We has an ol' woman named Zippy Tull, she's a fortuneteller. So I goes down to Miss Zippy an' I says to 'er, "I wan' chew to tell my fortune." She knew my father. She says, "All right, George," she says, "take a seat there." An' she goes over [the cards] an' I never said a word. I jis' sit down there an' listened at 'er. I hadn't tol' 'er nuthin atall yet. So she said, "George," she said, "there's a big dark woman," she said, "that don't like your mother an' don't like your father - an' she poisoned your dog." Well, that wus a fact. An' this dog died sort of tight anyhow. "Well, anyhow," she says, "it's workin' on you. Now, I ain't had no mind it seems to me for nuthin atall. "Well," I said, "I wan' chew to do somepin for me if you kin." She says, "I will, if you do whut I tell you to do," she says. "I will, an' farthermore," she says, "I'll make dem people come to you an' 'splain to you dey done it demselves." I tol' 'er that wus purtty good. Well, I goes to work an' done whut she told me to do. An' fo' or five days from that.
(What did she tell you to do?)
I ain't exposed [supposed] to do [tell] this.
[After all these years the old man was reluctant to tell!]
(Oh! I see. All right.)
In fo' or five days from that, I done jis' whut she told me, an' I done whut she tole me to do Saturday night. Aboat in two or three davs from then, mayhaps a week - that woman hadn't beer to my house in three years - she come there at twelve o'clock. She don't come in. She put both hands on the door an' says - my mother's name wus Liddy - she says, "Liddy," she said, "if ever I git over this, I shall never do any harm to nobody else while I live." "Well, Caroline," she said, "git over whut?" "Whut I've done." She says, "Whut have you done?" "Well," she said, "Liddy, I done a whole lot, I've done a whole lot in my time, but, '' she says, "I've done somepin now which I think that I've gone to my good scene [death] from outside [outside because her own spell had been turned against her by Zippy Tull]. She said, "I'll jes' say to you that I'll never will do nuthin else to nobody while I live, again." "Well, whut have you done?" "Well," she said, "I'll never do nuthin to nobody else while I live." Well, that woman went away, she went back to her home again - she went back aboat a quarter of a mile from me and she pined away. An' whut I done - as that stuff wasted away, she wasted away; when that stuff wus all gone, she went.
(What did she do? Can't you tell?)
Did I tell what I done?
(No. Did she [Zippy] tell what she [the bewitcher] did?)
No, she didn't tell me what she done to me.
(And what did you do, now? What did you get?)
Well, I [he still hesitates] - well, I done this. She [Zippy Tull] tole me to git some new needles, pins, an' some of my own water - an' I fergit now the other t'ings I take, been so long. I fergit the other odd t'ings that she tole me aboat, but some five or six diff'rent. But I know these new needles an' these new pins, an' I think some shot; put it all into a bottle, an' some of my own water into the bottle, an' dug a hole in de fahplace - taken up a brick an' dug a hole in de fahplace in my home. An' I buried this bottle, put it down - the stopper down. She says, "Now, when dat bottle leaks out - all dat stuff dat's in dat bottle, she'll die," she said, "but she'll waste away dat way same as dat bottle." She said, "Stop it up tight," she said, "turn it upside down, cover it up an' place this brick back on top of it." Well, I done that an' buried it, jest as she tole me, where I dug.
(Did she die?)
DIEI Why she smothered! [Princess Anne, Md., (127), 29:2.] 0. [Story No. 2 - came from Mr. J. Shrieve (Numbers Book 83-134), my hotel manager at Princess Anne, a man past fifty, the only white informant interviewed. The latter alone makes him memorable, but a favor he also did later made the day doubly a worthy memory (see INTRODUCTION). This story, No. 2, is numbered 0000. because it is already in the text - see No. 8, page 5.]
Entry 3202
And there's a way where women dress their husbands when they don't want them to go with other women. Well they do that by catching a live toadfrog, and they put the toadfrog alive in a container and put a top with a brick on top of it so he can't jump out, and they cook that frog down to just natural grease, and fer nine nights they dress their husband's private with that grease from the frog. It doesn't make any diff ren' if he washes the nex' day, she continues to do that every night and when she doesn't have anything to do with him herself, because it would be detrimental to her, too. And when he comes in contact with this other woman, aftah nine days, the same amount of nights she greased him, there'll come a ball on her privates like your fist and it baffles the doctors, they don't know what it is, because it's somepin very unusual. The toadfrog is used for lots of things.
Entry 4875
[The woman speaking is a professional worker we have already met. ( (See 291, p.85; 593, p.194; 638, p.216; 647, p.222; 869, p.307; and 1271, p.442.) Her words that follow give the hidden mystery of the silver knife making a cross over socks before burial beneath a brick in the hearth. She calls this markin' yuh and says it's sacred tuh yuh. For the sacredness of the cross mark, see my explanation of the mark "Doctor" Brown saw on my forehead, in my comment at the beginning of his main interview on p.1290.] Yes, ah heard about de socks. Dey take de socks an' dey - evah'body don' have de [same] idea 'bout de socks. Some don' care de socks de same way. [Care de socks = take care of the socks = handle the socks.] Some take de socks an' put 'em down in de hearth - take up a brick an' lay it down undah dere. Long as dese things work, fine - jis' as long as dey keep 'em concealed anywheres. But if a person be's wise an' seekin' information from any othah source [from fortune- teller or doctor], dey tells 'em where dese lost an' hidden mysteries is; an' if he [doctor] gits it [gits the buried sock] up, den he's [patient is] all right.
(What is it supposed to do, when they put those socks down in the hearth?)
Well now, dey doesn't do a thing but use a silver knife, jis' lay it across dere. Mark it, jis' make a cross across it jis' lak dat [demonstrates], an' put de sock down dere. Don' put anything else jis' lak dat. An' lay de brick on it.
(What is that supposed to do to me then?)
Well, dat's not put dere tuh destroy yore life. Dat's put dere tuh make yuh turn some object whatsomevah dey may [have] in view - whut dey want chew tuh do. It might be a love case, it might be somepin dat dey wan' chew tuh put ovah fo' dem. An' dey jis' go tuh work an' jis' mark yuh - call dat jis' markin' yuh. Well, if yuh mark a thing up lak dat, she knows dat it's sacred tuh yuh. Dey call dat markin' an' dey do it wit a silvah knife, a sterlin' silvah knife.
Entry 5381
Dey kin do dat, take dat foot track, if yo' git de toe comin' intuh de house of de right foot, whut ah have heard, an' if yo' take it an' yo' know put it in a cloth or somepin. Jes' lak if yo' could bank it undah one of dem bricks [in fireplace] or anywheres in de house, dey will nevah leave heah. Dey always have dere mind on dis pahtic'lah place.
(What do you mean? Get the dirt from the toe, you say?)
Yes sir, from de right toe.
(Just pick it right out of the toe?)
Yeah, jes' pick up de toe, or jes' say, yo' know, anywheres about de -front of de foot.
Entries from source headings
These entries are listed under the following headings in the source volume:
- FIREPLACE - UNDER BRICK OF - FOOT TRACK — Volume 4, entries 5411. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SWEAT → FOOT TRACK.
- (7) CURSE: I WANT TO BREAK UP MAN AND WOMAN; PUT HER NAME AND HIS IN A LEMON - TAKE UP; BRICK IN ALLEY - DIG HOLE - PUT LEMON IN; RESTORE BRICK - WALK OVER 9 MORNINGS - SAY; YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH I'LL KEEP YOU DOWN — Volume 4, entries 8629. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → DEATH AND BURIAL AND GRAVEYARD → THREE SUBSTITUTES FOR HUMAN BODY → NAME.
- BOTTLE DAUBER POWDER UNDER BRICK OF HOUSE - TO MOVE — Volume 5, entries 11197. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".
- LIFT UP BRICK IN FIREPLACE - LAY IN HOLE MAN'S SOCK; THEN SALT AND SULPHUR AND GRAVEYARD DIRT - URINATE; ON IT 9 MORNINGS AND TELL THEM WHAT YOU WANT DONE — Volume 5, entries 13141. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".