Subject:Crazy
Entries
Entry 4557
Yuh kin take dat bow from de back of 'is hat, one dat he done wore - de sweat in it chew undahstan'. Yuh kin take dat an' jes' keep it in de seat of yore bloomahs all de time. Jes' pin it in dere an' wear it in dere an' dat will always keep 'im wit chew. Dat's all yuh gotta do, jes' wear it in dere all de TIME. AN' EVAH TIME YUH CHANGE A PAIR OF PANTS, YUH JES PUT IT RIGHT BACK IN.
Entry 6284
Well, ah've heard sev'ral times if a person git hold of yore hair an' Put it in runnin' watah, don't yo' see. YO' [the author] HAVE SEEN A RUNNIN' STREAM OF WATAH? AH 'MAGINE [they] said, if dey carry it to a ditch or, yo' know, any place dat de watah continue runnin', a creek or sompin lak dat, oby it will run yo' crazy. [Hoodoo has many informants, especially doctors, down- talking to me. This sort of treatment is surely the greatest compliment I ever received, I being one of them.]
Entry 6389
Take 'em an' burn 'em in de ashes, an' sew 'em up in red flannen. (These fingernails and toenails?) Yes sir, an' it'll run 'em crazy.
Entry 6550
Dey use a frog. Kin take a frog an' kill 'im, an' git a drop of 'is blood an' a drop of someone's blood an' put it tuhgethah. An' put it in some coffee or whiskey or tea or sompin lak dat, an' give it tuh dem tuh drink. Well, dey'll be poisoned an' go crazy an' yo' have tuh send 'em tuh 'sylum.
Entry 7779
An' dey could take graveyard dirt an' put it in likkah an' dey could give yo' dat. (What would that do to you?) Well, dey jes' have yuh jes' crazy, jes' foolish all de time. Yo' don't have yore right mind about it, anything.
Entry 7840
Dey kin put some graveyard dirt in de end [hem] of yuh dress an' sew it up, an' dat'll run yuh crazy, make de spirits follah yuh, see. Dey'll be aftah de dirt, choo see, an' dey'll go dere [to your house] an' git it, 股 choo see. Jis' lak yogo dere [to the graveyard] an' git it, git it off a sinnahman's grave. Yo' put de money down, put two cents in at hole where yo' git de dirt from. Yo' say, "Well, ah mean fer yo' [spirit] tuh run sich-an'-sich-a-one crazy an' keep 'em worried until yo' [victim] come ohere ah'm at [come as a corpse to the graveyard]." Well, dat'll keep 'em wor- ried, choo see, until dey die.
Entry 8031
Take yo' a bone - lak yo' go tuh de graveyard an' take yo' a bone an bury it. An' pound it up. Pound fine, fine. An' if dey wants tuh run yo' crazy, sprinkle some in yore hair. An' dey'll keep dat. Or eithah put some in yore food. An' den yo' come in a length of time, yo' begin tuh pass worms lak snakes.
Entry 8200
(What would they do with my photograph?)
Take yure photograph an' place it intuh a small lookin'-glass, face intuh de glass lak yo' would look intuh de glass, an' put it intuh a runnin' place of watah two or three weeks, an' it will run yuh crazy.
Entry 8446
An' yo' kin take dat picture an' go to a runnin' rivah an' throw dat picture ovah your haid an' don't look back, an' go off, an' it will run 'em crazy.
Entry 8455
Dey say yo' take de pichure an' put it in runnin' watah an' dat will run yo' crazy. Put yo' wit de haid down de stream an' de feet upstream, pointin' up. See, yore haid go down which will be in front, an' it will run yo' crazy in nine days.
Entry 8462
Ah kin give yuh two practices on dat. Now, dey kin take yure photo- graph, yo' know, what yo' have already gotten yureself, since dat's yo'. Write chure name at de bottom first, write chure name on de top an' tote chew right down tuh any stream of watah dat goes up an' down [tide- water stream], you git tuh a piece of wood [= woods, collection of trees] where dere a tree what de watah comes up on. Yo' know, as it comin' up it looks lak dat [water covers a part of the tree trunk].
(As the tide comes up?)
Dat's right. Turn de haid right down an' take a rusty nail an' nail it right in dere. Don't drive de nail haid in, don't drive de haid in. Jis' drive it enough tuh hold it. Evah time when de tide comes up, why yo' know yo' will jis' be all crazy, evahthing looks funny tuh yuh. An' when de tide's goin' out, why yo'll jis' set in one place - lie down in one place an' sleep all de time. Sleep comes ovah yuh jis' lak dat.
Entry 8806
It's one thing they do to you. (What's that?) Dey kin take yore handwritin'. Dey'll take a plate or saucer or somepin an' burn it jes' lak yo' did dat othah a while ago, an' den get somepin - jes' a face towel or pocket han'ke'ch'ef - somepin yo' use about yore face, an' tie dat up in it, an' take it to a runnin' stream an' run yo' crazy.
(How will it run you crazy? You mean they throw that into the running stream?)
Yes, sir.
(And that will run you crazy, I see.)
Yes, sir. [See also later margin title WATER-RUNNING.]
Entry 8818
Take yore han'writ- in' an' burn each cornah of it, an' put some perfume on it [of letter] an' let.it dry an' burn it up. Dat would cause yo' to go crazy.
Entry 9430
They take a black hen egg an' cayenne peppah an' guinea watah - er, yes - an' chuck it at yore door.
(What is that? What else do they take, now?)
Cayenne peppah, yes; a black hen egg...
(A black hen egg and then what?)
An' guinea - not guinea. Aw shucks they call it...
A black chicken egg, cayenne peppah...
(Yes, all right.)
An' yo' mix dat togethah.
(What do you mix now, what kind of water?)
War water!
(Oh! All right!)
An' yo' take an' yo' chuck it at dere door. Now, yo' see, yo' take a black hen egg by itself an' yo' chuck dat at yore door fo' nine mornings, an' dat makes yo' move an' makes yo' an' yore husband or yo' an' yore neighbor fight until yo' go to jail. (I see. All right.) Now, dat war water, just sprinkle it all around yore door. An' yo' just take a whole bottle of it an' mix it wit cayenne peppah an' den chunk it an' it busts at yore door. Yo' are sure to go to jail.
(I see.)
Entry 9862
Yo' git chew fo' toadfrogs an' yo' tie dem by a laig - by one laig, not tuhgethah but one laig at de time - an' yo'll hang dat fellah [frog] deah wit 'is haid down. Yo' tie de othah one an' yo' hang 'is haid down. An' yo' tie all fo [frogs]. Hang 'em separates [separately] down. Pluck dere eyes out an' dat'll run somebody crazy in dey house. (Wait a minute! You are not telling the story the way you told it before. How long do you leave them there and all that sort of thing? Tell me the whole story now.) All right. Dey hangs dere fo' day, foah nights. Lak yo' put 'em heah tuh- aight. Starts from tuhnight. Be shuh [sure] yo' got dose foah nights out. Well yo'kow de days is gotta come in. Each day yo' go dere an' pluck out one's eye [the eyes of one frog]. Dat takin' de eyesight from whosomevah in dat house from 'e. [4 frogs and 4 nights here does not mean 4 victims but thoroughness, deriv- ed from the "4 corners of the earth" (in Biblical Apocalypse of John,7:1) or 4 directions everywhere.]
(Wouldn't they see those frogs hanging there on the wall?)
Uell, ah don't think she saw 'em. But she cert'inly went blind.
(When do you pick out the eye, in the daytime or at night?)
[I am afraid my question was a little disconcerting.]
Night. Ah think it's night becuz yo' have dem dere dat foah nights. [In- formant himself has not performed this rite; he merely heard about it, saw the frogs, and knew the woman went blind.]
Entry 9884
Say fer instance if dere somebody livin' in dis house dat chew wanted tuh run 'em crazy. Well, yo' would git chew nine frogs an' put 'em in a jah. Covah dat jah up. Say [for instance] yo' know who's sleepin' in dis bed chere. Yo' take dat jah of frogs an' put it right undah de house, bur' it right undah dere baid, an' dey tell me dat in six days dat individual will go crazy an' de ninth day he'll die. [In dis bed chere means the bed in my interviewing room at a private home. Not my bedroom; I stayed at a hotel.]
Entry 10646
Take dose antses, see, ketch 'em, an' dat [ant] bed dey done made - some of dat [ant] bed yo' see, an' yo' git it [some of that ant bed] in a box an' yo' bring it back. An' dey tell me yo' jes' keep dat sittin' ahin' yore bed all de time. See. Well, dey say dat's jes' tuh run yo' crazy - yore mind bad, see.
(You do that at some other person's bed?)
Yeah, doin' othah people harm.
Entry 10711
( Git de featbers out de bird nest aa' bar den, an' dey take dat an' put it in a person's hat, an' dat runs 'en crazy.
[Mephis, 1519:8.]
Entry 10724
Yo' kin go down to de forks of de road, an' yo' kin put something in a path. Yo' kin git dis root dat's called a blacksnake root. Take dis black- snake root an' yo' kin lay it at de fork of de road like dis an' [demonstrates]. Dis is de fork an' yo' lay dat root jes' at de fork, an' yo' step ovah dat place where dat root is, why yo'll go crazy. (You place that root pointing down each of these roads that meet - the forks of the road like a "Y"?) Yes sir, jest de way de roads fork, why yo' put de root. Dat's de blacksnake root.
Entry 10743
An' what they'll do, they take lak a woman has ministration...an' put it in a bottle. They take it to that fo'k of de road an' turn it down on de haid an' bury it. (The head of the bottle?) Yessuh. Sometime they'll put their hair in there with that ministration and that will cause them to go crazy. An' they kin take that an' put it in swift runnin' watah an that'll make 'em wander aroun' somewhere an' git drownded.
Entry 10754
(Tell me about that ministratin' again. What do you do with it?)
Yo' kin take an' throw it in runnin' watah.
(A woman's menstruate?) [They have me turning a verb into a noun!]
Yessuh, yo' throw it in runnin' watah an' dat'll run her crazy. She'll be crazy bad. Nobody'll take dat off her, not lessen' dey'll take it [upon self] chew know. [Only a skilled rootman or hoodoo. A doc- tor could absorb such a dangerous condition into his own body!]
Entry 10755
Den, too, yo' kin take a woman's sick clothes. Yo' kin take dem an' yo' kin take, if dey already dry, yo' kin take an' wet 'em. Kinda mash 'em, yo' know, wit a little bit of dat on, an' cork dat up. An' she can't go wit no othah man. Or eithah, yo' kin take 'em, dey tell me, an' chunk it down de stream [to send away]. Chunk it upstream, says, an' she'll go( crazy.
Entry 10756
I heard 'em talking of gettin', yo' know, a woman, from her menstrua- tion period. Yo' put it in running water. And they say that'll make yo' [her] crazy; cause the blood to go to her head.
Entry 11018
Now, dere one chicken feathah you could use, to do any harm, dat's a frizzly fowl. A frizzly fowl is good and is bad, onnerstand. Now, yo' kin take a feathah from de top of a frizzly fowl's head and you kin take a feathah from de top of a frizzly fowl's back. And you kin take dat feathah what you git from de frizzly fowl and take one new pin and pin dem two feathah togethah and I kin take dem feathah and put 'em in your bosom or anybody's bosom and you is a crazy man ovahnight - in an hour.
(Supposed to make him lose his mind?)
Yes, sir, crazy fer de next. Yo' kin put 'em in dere dis hour and de next hour somebody gotta tie 'em down.
(Well, what else can you do with that Frizzly hen? Can you do anything else?)
Yes, you kin use de bun gut, you know.
(Gut? The intestine? The testicle?)
[My preceding questions merely ask for more information. The meaning of the word bun in the sense of anus or buttocks I had known for years, but bum gut did not penetrate immediately because I had translated the words into rotten gut
[stomach trouble, etc.l also a folk term.]
Dat's real good. You kin take dat and kill a nation. [You can kill a nation because of all that hoodoo poison that goes through a frizzly hen - see margin title DOCTOR FRIZZLY Pp.59-63, v.1, and many places.]
(How Would you do that?)
Well, you take dat and you cook a soup. Cook in a chicken soup, onnerstand. Well, I hate dat house dere. I wanna poison dat whole house, but dey is my neighbors. Well, I git dat soup and carry over dere, go across wit it.
(You poison them?)
De whole house. But now you gotta put in dat, Doc - des scrape dem in it - de fingernails. Keep dem dirty and scrape 'em - [into the soup].
Entry 11022
Well, yo' take those chicken feathers - you know, jest like you take 'em and burn 'em. Put 'em in a piece of tin and burn 'em, and then take the ashes from 'em and you know - burn 'em, don't put much [feathers], jest put a [few] after you dry 'em and - they jest look like powder. Then you put it in the water and drink off it and make yo' franzy. You know, you hear of people being franzy, yo' know. Makes you franzy-minded. Not criticize, you know what ah mean. [Unknown to informant this could be a black chicken feathers rite, or black feather could have been mentioned before recording began.
Entry 11120
[Make the coffin] first, and they they get a piece of wood and of course they cut out what you call a little statue. And that's in imitation of the person they made the cof- fin for. When they make this little coffin - of course, I'm supposed to be your friend and you did me something [wronged speaker] and I want to get even with you. I could git it in your home better than anybody else. [After you] make this coffin, make a little statue. That statue supposed to be you. And when I get it made I bring it and put it any- where around in that house. But I put some graveyard dirt in that coffin with that little statue, you understand, and I get it - if I ever get in your bopse, [I] put in some secret place. Or if not, I put it under the steps and you aalk on it. It's just the same. It'll cause you to go crazy.
Entry 11298
Certain kind of things about de bristle of a dog. Git de bristle of a dog, nine strands [hairs] of it. An' yo' git dat bristle an' yo' know, yo' kin take it an' wrap it up. Ball de clothes up in it an' he be mad all de time. No satis- faction no way atall. Mad all de time an' den he'll jest naturally go crazy.
(You just get these bristles from the dog.)
People say dey know dat shore to be done.
Entry 11745
Take yore hair - off a person's haid - an' git a little dust, grave- yard dust. Dat will run 'em crazy, dat will run 'em away.
(Well, now what about the buzzard?)
Dust of de buzzard [see later]. (How do you mean they get some of my hair?) Yeah, git some yore hair out chure haid, an' take it an' graveyard dirt an' pepper an' put it to a buzzard.
(What do you mean put it to a buzzard?)
Tie it to him or sompin like that.
(What will that do to me then?)
Run yo' crazy or run yo' away.
(The buzzard flies away with that stuff on him?)
The buzzard flies away an' yo' go.
Entry 12161
Now in So'th Ca'lina, one man wanted a girl an' de girl wouldn't notice him. An' he got a holly leaf. Now dis is whut ah heard. Now, ah don't know dis [myself]. He got a holly leaf. As she stoop- ed down tuh git her water out de spring - dey have a lotta springs dere - he throwed dat leaf ovah her haid an' dey say she went stone crazy. Ah didn't 'sperience dis an' ah can't be a eye-witness, an' ah haven't 'sperienced dat.
(Well, where was this supposed to have taken place in South Carolina?)
Ah think it at a place dey call de Beaver Dam. Dat was way back in startin' of slavery.
(What day did it happen on did you say?)
On a Sunday.
(Did he have to do it on a Sunday?)
Dis happen on a Sunday wit dis Holly leaf.
Entry 12448
"Specially dis time of yeah, dese mockin'birds. Dat's how come we take ca' of de mockin'bird's nest roun' de house. An' so jes' take dat man's hair or dat woman's hair an' put it in de bottom of dat mockin'bird's nest, an' dat man have de headache dat run him perfectly crazy.
Entry 13309
Use de thresher [thrasher] feet.
(The feet from a thrasher, the bird. What do you do with those?)
Yo' take an' put that in a bottle. Yo' bottle dat wit chure hair, an' put milk in it, an' yo' put love powders in dere, an' put sulphur in it, an' put red peppah in it, an' yo' work it up airtight, an' dat'll do de work den. Dat will run 'em away. (What do you do with that bottle?) Yo' take dat bottle an' put it in de no'th or de east corner of de garden. Yeah, dat'll make him leave, or if yo' wanta run him crazy, that will run him away.
Entry 13369
Yo' kin take a aig. Yo' kin take one aig an' yo' kin put dat aig intuh chamber lye an' let it lay fo' 9 days, see. Well, den yo' kin take dat aig, jes' lak yo' goin' tuh fix a person. Well, yo' go tuh fix 'em, well yo' kin take dat aig aftah 9 days an' yo' kin take it an' throw it ovahbo'd. See. An' if a person's aftah yo', well yo' could - yo' know - git rid of 'em. (How do you throw that egg overboard?) Yo' throw it overbo'd tuh eithah run de person crazy or make 'em leave town. (Well, how do I know I've got the right person? By just using that egg? What else do I do with that egg?) Whut else? Well, ah don't know nuthin' else except yo' know, yo' go some- wheres an' yo' git information, see.
(The egg is supposed to represent the person you are to send away?)
Shore.
(Well, how do I know it's representing that person?)
Sign dere name on de aig.
(Oh! Did you tell me that before?) [Notice the answer.]
No, ah wasn't in heah befo' tuh yo'.
(I mean, did you tell me that a moment ago?)
No.
(Did you tell me you had signed the egg?)
[Here is a good example of working hard for information informant thinks you know.] See, yo' sign dat person name on dat aig.
(Any kind of a chicken egg?)
Yeah, jes' ole black hen aig.
(You didn't tell me that before, see.)