Subject:Cunjure
Entries
Entry 789
There wus a man by the name of E., lived about three miles from here. My mother and father in their younger days dey used to believe in cunjuration. My mother got sick an' always complaintin' with her feet, an' so she sends fer this man, whu' choo call dese high men, an' he come over an' tole her whu' choo call her fortune. He says, "A woman has measured yore foot, foot track." An' he says, "She's got it buried under yore step." He says, "You'll not git well until this here measure is taken from under yore steps." So he says, "I'll have it taken up fer so-an'-so much money." An' she tole 'im she'd give it to 'im - or her father tole 'im he'd give it to 'im - to go ahead an' have it taken up. An' anyhow, he says, "You wait until the third day [magic delay] - on the third day," he says, "I'll come over here at seven O'clock," he says, "an' I'll have this measure takened up. So anyhow, when he went under the steps that night [three days later] - I'll tell you my belief after I end my story - and he come out wid a little stick about that long wid nine notches cut into this stick. [Notches are unusual, knots are common.] It was so many on one side of the stick, the notches, and so many on the other side - jis' the same you scallop anything. [Scallop - this is an old-time waterman and oysterman talking.] He come out an' he showed 'em this stick that was buried under the steps. Next, the thing he hauled out an' shows 'em wus a little red bag [a hand], that long - a red flannel bag about that long. So the next thing he shows 'em wus a little bottle [another hand] wid a whole lot of little somepin or others in it. I don't know whut wus in it - it looked like snake sheds or some kinda sheds. He comes out with that an' he shows 'em an' says, "That's whut wus buried under yore steps." I figured on that after awhile - I figure on it - an' then I had my opinion. I jis' thought that he'd put it under there hisself. That's sixty years ago [1876] on the Island here. [I was talking to this old man in the Negro home where I worked and in which I was about to spend the night described in the Introduction. His name was F. Milburn - this was Tuesday, December 8, 1936.]
Entry 1087
They had something like snakes in 'em; whole lot of things just working up. So I fixed up a remedy and she passed all those from her. I got the stuff and gave her it and she passed a rattlesnake first - the first dose I gave her. And then the next dose I gave her, she passed a whole lot of little things just working up. I was working down here and someone knocked at the door, the first time. He woke me up and he says, "Go to the back door." And there was a bottle at the back door. I went there. He told me to carry it to her. Well somehow another somethin' said, "You can't go." And I got the axe and took that in there and I struck the bottle and broke the bottle up. It was a bottle about that long and in this bottle was a piece of her dress - the back part of her dress. The reason why I know it was the back part, we found the dress on the back porch balled up in a corner and that's why I know it was a piece of her dress. We found it. And then there was a piece of hair in there and a whole lot of piece of needles - sharp-pointed needles and pins. In this bottle it smelt like cologne. And there was a piece of root in there - it looked like High John de Conquer root - was in this bottle. And there was a cork stopper in the bottle. We opened it - course I didn't, but I got another lady to open it for me. And we'd taken 'em out later on in a piece of paper and looked at 'em. This girl was almost crazy. So I got some - something told me to do this. I went and got some Jerusalum root. I reckon you've heard talk of Jerusalum root - a root that grows.
(Jerusalum root?) [Jerusalem artichoke?]
Yes. I just got that root and then I got some of these pokeberry roots and I got me some red pepper - pod pepper and I got me some fish salt and I put it into a boiler and boiled it all up together - cooked it all up together, and just cooked it enough to have enough for her to bath in. And I bath-ed her in this here for nine mornings, and then I had another - and her hair come off her head just like your hand [handfuls] she was just almost crazy. Then after bath-ing her with this, then I takes up this red pepper and some grease and mix it together with olive oil and just greased it good all over with this here pepper and oil together, after bath-ing her for these nine mornings. Then after doing it nine mornings, bath-ing her, then I told her to take those bottles and throw it all overboard, but not to do it before because I've heard people say if you were tricked and before you were cured, if you throw that away if you found it, why it wouldn't do any good.
Entry 3916
Ah'm goin' tell yo' somepin dat I saw here in '23 - was in '23. Ah wus workin' fo' Halstrom Brothers. An' my firs' wife - it was a girl lived right side of us named Theresa Jackson, an' my firs' wife helped to raise dis girl. Well, dis girl, she was a stout girl, an' she was workin' fo' Dr. Knox[?]. All at once she'd taken sick an' we couldn't undahstan' why she wus sick all de time. An' ah says to her, say, "You're workin' fo' dat doctah, say, "whyn't yo' tell de doc- tah 'bout it, how bad yo' feel?" Well, dere she would go to work an' have to leave work to come home. An' she tole de doctah 'bout it. Well, de doctah say he couldn't fin' no trouble - yo' know, what was 'er complaint. So she wus off on 'er off-day an' she said, "Ah'm goin' clean up my house. Ah'm goin' from de stern-wheel to de rudder" [surely an old Mississippi River expression]. Says, "All right." Ah was layin' down sleepin'. Ah been workin' at night. An' dis girl goin' to clean up 'er house. An' right behind de middle door, she found a bottle an' a little bag. Well, when she found dis bottle an' little bag, she brought it an' showed it to my wife. My wife said to her, "Ah'm goin' to wake Steve up an' tell 'im 'bout it." Which she did wake me up. When she woke me up, ah took it an' ah looked at it, say, "Dis looks mighty funny to me. I said, give me a knife." I said, "I'm goin' open dis bag." Ah opened de bag. It had a plat of 'er hair, outa her head. It had three pieces outa her pieces, yo' know, about dat size.
(Out of her monthly clothes?)
Yes. An' it had some lodestone in dere an' it had some needles an' some pins crossed dataway [demonstrates], see.
(Held that way with two crosses in it?)
Yes, sir. An' it had dat hair undah dere an' jes' like - jes' like my thumb is de hair, an' right along dere was de lodestone, see, into dis piece, an' dey had it sewed up. See. And he [the man who had tricked her] had de bottle wit 'er mon'ses [months] in hit.
(Which?)
[I either did not grasp mon'ses or wanted a fuller explanation.]
It had, yo' know, change over de moon in de bottle.
(I see.)
An' I opened it an' taked de stoppah outa de bottle an' it was jes' worsen [worse than] anythin' yo' evah smelled in yore life. Ah says to her, ah says, "Yo' take dis out dere" - ah always heard my ole uncle say dese things - ah say, "and throw it in dat runnin' watah." Dere was a little bayou - part of de bayou right back dere - part of de bridge an' de little bayou run undahneat' dere.
(Where?)
Little bayou right out chere on Rogers Street. An' she - ah say, "Now, you throw dat ovah yore left shoulder an' don't look back." An' she went out dere an' throwed it ovah her lef' shouldah in dat runnin' watah. An' he left. Dat fellow come home, but when he come home he rushed right on in de house. He says to her, "What yo' been doin' here?" She say, "Ah been cleanin' up." He say, "Yo' don't nevah clean up." He said, "Did yo' find anything of mine?" She said, "No, I find somepin of mine." He says, "What wus it?" Ah says, "If he hits yo today, I'm goin' woop 'im an' [or] he gon'a woop me eithah one." So he hauled away an' he hit 'er, an' when he hit 'er, I grabbed 'im. An' he lef' an' went to Paducah, Ky. He lef' dere an' went to Oil City, Ill. He lef' dere an' come back here to her an' stayed three days, an' went to Natchez an' she ain't been worried wit 'im since. An' she's married an' she is jes' as stout as she evah wus, an' de mothah of a child.
(She got rid of him, got rid of the fellow.)
Entry 5011
People kin take yore stockin's or a woman's stockin's. Dey take an' roll 'em up an' put 'em where it won' rain on 'em no mo'. Dey say if yuh put 'em where it won' rain on it, it make 'em lose dere health, an' make 'em look lak dey got de TB. Dey jis' git worsah an' worsah until dey go tuh nuthin. Well, dey don' do a thing but keeps 'em in a dry place.
Entry 5171
Git de measure of dey shoe, an' put some powdah in dey shoe. Git some powdah, some cun, iure powdah, an put it in dey shoe. Well, dat will make 'em do anything yo' wan' 'em tuh do. [The term cunjure powder is rare. This may be my only ex- ample.]
Entry 6587
They tell me that you can take an egg and cut off a scorpion's head and put with that egg, and then take the blood and mark it around that egg so many times, nine times they claim, and then take the blood of an individ- ual and do the same thing. And then take that egg and that scorpion head and bury that, and the individual who has to travel and walk over that will get to a place they claim that he'll have scorpions in him.
Entry 6794
(How do you do that?)
[Something will] cuz warts on yo' haid or on yo' body, yo' know. Well, if it's on yo' haid, yo' kin git de - kill a dove, yo' know. (Kill a dove?) Git 'is heart out an' scrap de bottom of 'er feet; yo' know, husk scuff, scrub off where yo' feet [have become rough]. An' yo' puts dat in watah an' yo' boils it an' an'ints wit it three times a day. Ah mean three times a night: befo' night at six o'clock, twelve at night, an' six o'clock in de mawnin' [this is the well-known FORMULA 6-12-6, No.2885, p.830 and elsewhere]. But yo' always an'int wit dat at night, not durin' de day- tine.
(THAT'LL TAKE AWAY THESE PAINS THAT PEOPLE PUT ON YOU?)
Dat's SO. SuPPOSed tuh be Wit ANY KINDA PAIN DAT IS PUT ON YO' DAT YO' WASN'T BORN WIT. (Well, would that take off a pain that.someone put a spell on you? With that Lind of pain?) Dat's right. Dat's so [true] too. (You have to do that at six in evening, at twelve at midnight, and then at six o'clock in the morning?) In de mawnin'. (I see. You boil this dove heart and the scraping from the bottom of your feet.) [This rite presupposes the patient's walking barefoot much of the year, pick- ing up all sorts of bad smells and tastes odious to the disease-or-pain spirit captured by the spellcaster. The latter, called witch and many names, dislikes: Spitting, obscenity, animal manure, human excrement and urine (see FACI, 2nd ed., Bos.16481-16499, Pp.903-908). Our present rite is a hair-of-the-dog-that-bit you oae. Since the victim picked up his witchcraft or cunjure pains through his feet, he will rid himself of them the same way. Rites sending pain, even live things fn you, out through your feet, often through the big toe, are fairly common in Boodoo. Killing the dove is double or back-up insurance.]
Entry 6824
Dey could take de dirt from de grave an' put it, weah in yuh shoes. It could be dust. Dust, dey say, is bettah dan de compoun' dirt. Yo' git de dry pulverized dirt an' put dat in yuh shoes, an' yo' kin weah dat if a person is seek- In' tuh put somepin down where yo' might walk ovah tuh [harm you] or cripple yuh in some way, or deform yuh from gittin' aroun' an' makin' a livin'. Why yo' weah dat, dat prevents dat, dat graveyard dirt.
Entry 9522
I've known people to wear salt in the bottom of their shoe, the left shoe rather, to prevent anybody from cunjuring them; or, if they go any place and walk on anything, it won't injure them. [Snow Hill, Md., (85), grade school teacher who was born and still lives near Richmond, Va., except during the school year,14:2.]
Entry 9580
If dey tryin' tuh harm yo' - yo' know, lak dey put down sompin an' yo' scared yo' walk ovah it - yo' kin take salt an' peppah, red cayenne peppah, an' weah it in yore shoe. (What will that do?) Dat'll - yo' cain't detect nuthin in yuh feet or anythin'.
Entry 9656
[If anyone puts anything down for you] an' yo' wanta walk ovah it, jes' put chew some bluestone an' cookin' salt in yore shoe. Jes' take up dat little piece in de bottom of yore shoe [insole] an' sprinkle a little bit in dere an' put dat back down, an' yo' kin walk where yo' wanta walk.
(Nothing will hurt you?)
Nuthin will hurt yo'.
Entry 9708
Take some table salt an' some sulphur an' put togethah an' mix it up very good, an' burn that table salt an' sulphur, say, Ah burn this in the Name of the Father, the Son an' the Holy Ghost. An' it will pass away. (What will pass away?) All interferences in mah business. (If anybody is trying to interfere with your business, that'll kill that out.) Dat'll kill that out.
Entry 9917
[Similar to the preceding rite is this one in which a frog is dressed for you]: I've heard they kin dress a frog an' if that frog get anywheres near you, yo'll get it. [This dressing of an animal to carry cunjure to you was once fair- ly common, making every wild or stray an- imal suspect; but no such rite can equal the one in which a woman with a stick chased a wandering chicken in the 3 Holy Names and killed it - one of the finest things in HOODOO, No.205, p.58, v.1.]
Entry 9928
(Oh, the shoe! You mean the rubber tire - automobile, the inner tube, the inside tube?) Yes, sir. Well, all right. Well, yo' take dat an' burn it an' git de ashes of it an' take sompin - take a little ole rock camphah an' put wit dat. See. All right den, well, now an' den yo' ketch yuh a toadyfrog. Yo' understand now. All right, ketch yuh a toadyfrog an' ef yo' don' wanta kill de toadyfrog - ah done fry de toadyfrog, fry him in a pan. An' git de grease outa 'im an' put dat in dere. An' rub dat on de bottom of yore foot [feet].
(What will that do then?)
Dey can't harm [cunjure] yo'. [The burning of the rubber tire, causing a bad odor, deters witchcraft; see Scatologic Methods to Repulse Witcheraft, Nos.16481- 16499, PP.903-909, FOLKLORE FROM ADAMS COUNTY ILLINOIS, 2nd ed., 1965.]
Entry 10133
Boil black cat, third joint from his tail bone will float to top, only bone that comes to top. [Richmond, Va., 386:3.]
Entry 10147
If dey fixin' to throw sompin down fer you to walk on, you can git you some dead cat bone an' bury it under your back step. [Wilmington, N. Car., resume, 185:5.]
Entry 10769
An' den yore boss, seems lak he doesn't lak yo' - he doesn't lak yore work. Well, yo' go home an' yo' say, "Well, ah believe ah'll fix somepin fo' mah boss tuh make him lak me." Well, yo' go ahead an' yo' git chew some saltpeter, yo' git chew some table- salt an' some sulphur, [salt and sulphur to kill cunjure put down against you] an' yo' [put the salt] in dat sul- phur an' yo' bathes in dat saltpeter. But chew use dat sulphur, yo' takes a pinch of it, an' den yo' sprinkle some sulphur in yore shoes an' rub yore hands with it. Yo' know, yo' can't go round people with it. An' sprinkle Hearts Col- Ogne round dere [where you walk]. An' when yo' go out yo'll git affection. Dere ah'll come up, right chere, "Good mawnin', everybody, good mawnin', howdee dis mawnin'?" [They answer], "Jes' dandy." "Well, why'd yo' have sech-an'-sech a thing fo' breakfast?" "Oh, i enjoyed such-an'-such a thing last night."
Entry 10771
[There was no point in this story which I did not transcribe, eept to note that the stuff in the bottle found went round and round. This cunjure had occurred in Castlenam,&. Car., a place, if my Leadm of the name was correct, Iqoald not find anywhere. Could it have been Castle Hayne (on the U. S. A. zip code) prououni ced Castle-hun? Or could it have been an old whistle stop on the nUrd or an old boat landing? Here in Wilmington I ran into black dialect for the first time - many of my informants coming from South Carolina - it bothered me and would remain troublesome. The bottle was thrown into the river. I have includ- ed this note here in case someone has found or will find a similar action in a bottle containing cunjure.]
Entry 11189
De dirt dauber.
(Sort of like a wasp or a bee?)
Yes. Well, didja evah see de little cells dat dey build?
(Yes.)
Well, now, de people down dis way - especially in dis part of de world at one tine - now ah know dis tuh be a fact. We were living in Conecuh County, Ala. We had a very disagreeable neighbor lived across de street from us, an' she rented from some white people, but we owned our property. And dis person was disagreeable. And de white people dat she liked, dey like her so well, un- til dey wouldn't have her move just tuh please someone else, you see. Well, mah mother told many different people about her. De woman was named Ada Sonworth [Stallworth] - of course I don't have to tell [her name]. Anyway, she was very disagreeable and she would argue. Well, anyway, as I started tuh tell you, dis woman was very disagreeable and it wasn't no possible chance of getting her tuh move. We wasn't going tuh move. And mah mother told an old man 'bout it. An' he was a man supposed tuh have some super-power.
(Did they have any special name for this man? Did they call him anything?)
Yes, dey called him a cunjure, as far as dat is concerned. Well, he told mah mother tuh go and get some of dis dirt dauber cells and pound dem up, and mix one cup of ground pepper and one of black pepper, and one of salt, and have us tuh go tuh her do', you see, at night when dey was 'sleep, and sprinkle it. Said tuh give it tuh us children [to sprinkle] and not her [the mother]. And when you go and sprinkle dat down at de door and walk backwards, you get tuh de gate and throw dat de way you Wanted her tuh go, and said she would leave within nine days. So mah mother didn't believe much about it but she said, well it wouldn't hurt tuh try. It would be so inexpensive until it wouldn't make any difference. So she prepared dis concotion dat we'd have heard, you see, and we did dat - mah brother. Mah brother lives here [Mobile] too, now. We tried dat when we were children and she really disappeared in de next two weeks. Dat's positive.
(How many years ago when you were a child?)
When I was a child dat was in 1915...it was in 1915, and dis little town where dis happened, was in Evergreen. Mah grandfather died in 1917. He was a man dat was very stingy. He was born a slave. "Corse ah don't have tuh tell you but our name is Dubon. Mah grand- father was owned by some French people and dey came from down New Orleans way some place and dey established up here in Conecuh County, and mah grandfather...
Entry 11190
Ah heard dey go an' git a dirt dauber nest an' some cayenne peppah an' sprinkle it undah de do'step an' turn yore back an' nevah look back, an' nevah look back, an' say "good-by." An' dat'll make 'em move an' dey cain't come back again.
Entry 11326
Those [are] doll babies. But inside of those doll babies, there's somepin they have in there belonging to the person that they Want to do harm to. And of course, they make them a doll baby and sit it on the dresser, anywhere, nobody will never take any- thing of yours. That's how come they make those doll babies to hide what they are doing. [Here a doll baby is an ornament that also protects against thieves, but it is also an ideal place for an evil person to hide his cunjure.]
Entry 11732
They kin hant [= hoodoo here] choo to death by throwin' a ole grass around yuh do'; yo' know, dried-up grass. An' you git you some kerosene oil [kerosene] an' some ashes [from fireplace or stove] an' all like that, an' throw it right around your do' an' dat'll make you move out. [Informant here has combined two separate rites: first one, anything dead left or thrown at your door will hant (haunt) or hoodoo you; second one, fireplace ashes (originally) or kerosene (another substance connected with fire) will conquer the dead grass.]
Entry 12384
Heard of people takin' a knife an' puttin' it down [burying it] yo' know, jes' lak if ah'd go ovah tonight an' put down sompin fo' somebody an' dey git up de next mawnin' sick or could- n't move or sompin, an' anothah man would come along an' he say, "Well, yo' take some lye an' put ovah that stuff' an' that kills that.
(That kills the poison they put down.)
Entry 12617
Go tuh de drugsto' an' git chew a box of new sulphur an' [new] red cayenne peppah - ground-up peppah an' yo' mix dat sulphur an' dat peppah up to- gethah, an' yo' take it an' make a little ball - jes' a little ball. An' yo' tie it in de calf of de laig - in de knee part in de sock. An' sprinkle a little bit in yore shoe an' nuthin won't go up dere - dat [crunjure] won't go up through dat dere.
(What will that do?)
Dat will keep yo' from ketchin' whut dey put down [for you to walk over].
Entry 12780
An' ole lady, she'd dead now, she tole me if a person ever git shoo [gets you] by [bad mouth or cunjure], not to say anything at all to them. Go to work and git me a pocketful of table salt and go to de gate where dey crosses over, ev'ry night and morning, and jis' throw dat salt across dere before de sunrise, and say de Lord's Prayer for 5 times. Soon as dat person goes over dere dey can't harm you.
Entry 13255
You take sulphur, they tell me and mix it together in pure lard and rub with it. You kin move it [poison or cunjure] 股中 away. Sulphur and pure lard, cream it together and rub with it. They say that choo kin get it out choo by that. And [in addition] you take so much sulphur, don' choo understand, with brown sugar. You take it [inwardly]. Well, that purges you, you know, and git all dat bad stuff out.