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.]
terse printed instruction to boil a black cat with a claimed tail-bone result. Do not borrow neighboring leg-bone, pot, live-animal, running-water or road details. This entry supplies only its own brief claim. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
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.
Entry 225
They said they were going down a woods road one night and they said this dog ran up and ran through the legs of the horse and right on between the buggy wheels and ran on off into the woods. They thought it was someone trying to put bad luck on them. They thought it was a spirit, they didn't think it was a dog. They thought it was some spirit someone had sent out for you know, to kin'a cunjure them. [The reader can see at once that this dog was not an ordinary prowling animal meeting by chance a horse and buggy. A natural dog would never have met a horse head on, running between the four legs and then the four wheels, two legs and two wheels each side of him - quite a feat at night! This dog Was going in the opposite direction to cross the occupants of the buggy.]
Entry 333
You go to the fork of the road on Sunday morning before day, go there for nine times in succession before the sun rise and make a special wish, a special desire, and whatever you want to do, if it's to be a cunjure or to be a bad person, then the devil comes there. First comes a red rooster and then after that the devil sends something else in the shape of a bear. And after that he comes himself and takes hold upon your hands and tells you to go on in the world and do anything that chew want to do.
Entry 672
Well, now yo' take goofer dust - dat's jest whut chew might call cunjuration, jest lak yo' take a snake shed. Yo' know snake shed. Yo' take dat snake shed an' yo' put it up somewhere where it will dry - git right good an' dry. An' yo' take it an' pound it up - jest pound it up. Well, now yo' kin take dat an sprinkle it ovah anything - anything a person eat or drink. Well, yo' see, dat's puttin' goofer dust in 'em - dat's whut chew call de goofer dust. Jest lak a man go out huntin' a job - walk up where a big work gwine on, "Wanta see de boss." Says, "Well, ah'm de boss heah." All right, yo' walk up to him, "How are yuh, Captain?" Say, "All right." Says, "Captain, ah'm lookin' fo' a job." Well, he might answer, "Well, whut kin yo' do?" "Well, Captain, ah kin do so-an'-so." He might be fulled out. "Well, ah'm kinda fulled out." But yet an' still yo' got some dis goofer dust right on wit chew. See, yo' kin take dis goofer dust an' yo' kinda rub it on yore hand dat-a-way, rub back yore ear, back of yore ears three times. Walk right up to him regardless to how many mens he got. He goin' give yo' a Job - if yo' don't stay dere but three days he goin' give yo' a job, he can't let chew pass.
(You say this goofer dust is just a snake shed ground up.)
Jest a snake shed. [Almost anything is possible but snake-shed dust is most unusual when seeking a job.]
Entry 759
If they were going down the road and they met someone who was supposed to be a cunjure, they'd go back down to the crossroad where they'd met them and make an X mark right in the middle of the cross [center of the crossroad] and that would keep away the bad luck. [Snow Hill, Md., (83), 2:7; informant from Nansemond, Co., Va.1
Entry 854
They claim that people with deep red eyes and they can't look at people straight - they're born cunjures.
Entry 856
Around Charlestown, South Carolina, the cunjure man blesses these big earrings and they're supposed to wear them all the time. It brings good luck to them. Sometimes they have pearls in them.
Entry 937
This is one about a woman being tricked on account of another woman's husband. There was a married couple that had lived together happily for five years. Finally, they had a roomer come into the house, a girl about eighteen years old. She fell very much in love with the woman's husband, so much so that it caused a lot of trouble. This woman that was the wife went to see a cunjure woman and had this boarder tricked. She put her in a sleeping form and she slept for seven days and could not be awaked from that condition. So a hoodoo doctor was sent for in order that the spell might be removed. At the end of every seven days this woman would go into this sleeping spell and have to have the hoodoo doctor to remove it. Finally, one day she became very very sick, her stomach was swollen very badly. She began to vomit. Suddenly there were about a dozen live rats appear having come from the woman's stomach. Finally, the woman said, "If you promise to leave my husband alone, I'll have the spell removed." She had the spell removed. That happened several years ago down at Ladysmith, Virginia.
Entry 1641
He lived in Vashington befo' ve were married - Vashington, D. C. Dat's when ve vus co'rtin'. An' 'bout six-eight mont's he fooze vritin' me [refused to write me] an' I didn't know why he fooze vritin' me. An' he say he vus jis' as blin' as a bat [and therefore could not write] jis' from - he say someone had hurt 'im. He vent to cunjure doctor an' he tole 'im dis fellah hurt 'im ovah dis Ind'an gurl - yerah fine-lookin' gurl. An' he tole 'im jis' take a small amount of his ureene [urine] you know, put it in a little bottle an' set it undah de sill of [other man's] do'step: He say 'e [she really says "e" instead of "he" everywhere] thinked dey hurt 'im ovah dis Ind'an gurl. De Ind'an gurl didn't took part in it. An' he [sayl take dis [iis'] a small amounta he ureene an' put in a bottle each mornin' jis' befo' de sunup, an' he'd stick [it] undah dat fellah do'step, an' - vell, hones' de true, he say 'es [his] eyes beginnin' tuh come open wit de furse mawnin' soon as 'e set [the urine] undah deah. An' 'e continoo dat fer six veek an' 'e got so 'e could see jis' as good as yo' or I. An' when 'e died why 'is eyesight vus perfectly nahmal. [Indian means American Indian, often with Negro blood, or a Negro with Indian blood.] [This transcrip- tion, never done by my transcriber, comes from my original pencil transcription, an unsuccessful attempt to spell what the woman says.]
Entry 2392
(Down in this country what do they call this kind of work?)
Cunjuration.
(Do they ever call it hoodoo down here?)
Yessuh - hoodoo doctors.
(Is the witchcraft the same thing or different?)
Well, dis hoodoo an' dis cunjuration is jes' about on de same basis.
Entry 6723
[To replace fallen womb, boil hen egg hard and stick up in womb. Fallen womb of course can be caused by conjuration or witchcraft. Womb and vagina frequently confused.]
Entry 11238
Here we have another unique term: cunjurin' rooten doctors! Once more an only example and it means: root doctors who also do a little conjuring as a side line! [Wilmington, N. Car., (271), 191:4+85.] My original transcription in pencil - made a few months after recording and later crossed out for ink - is attached.
Entry 12635
Wear a pod of red pepper in each shoe as a protection against walk- ing over any "planted" cunjure. [Wilmington 143:3+85.]
Entry 13044
A silver dime is worn on unspecified leg for cunjure. [Petersburg, Va., 413:2; Richmond 318:2; Wilmington 97:3; everywhere.]
Entry 576
I know a fellow, a schoolmate of mine down in King George [County, Virginia], he worked in New Jersey years ago and most everyone took him to be a cunjure and fortune-teller, which he was not. But his father was a Southerner from Louisiana and he [the son] also believed in cunjuration. And while he worked in New Jersey, it was an old colored family and the old man was sick, and someone told him about this man that came from Virginia who was supposed to be a cunjure. And this [supposed] cunjure didn't like to work hard and he thought he would make some easy money. So he went to the home of this old family and had a talk with the old man, and he was convinced that he also believed in cunjuration. And after he talked with them awhile, he said he could cure the old man. The old man was sick. After he found out they believed in him, he went to work and he said he could cure him for fifty dollars and put the spell back on the woman who put it on him. So he went away that night and came back another dark night. Being very late at night, he planted a bottle under the doorsill containing button hooks [hooks and eyes] and needles and pins, and he had a coloring, some liquid in a bottle. He hid it under the doorsill and came back another night. So the next night he brought with him a simlin [or simling] gourd [= simnel, a squash in U. S. A.] which he had sawed in two and sealed up with a live frog inside. And then he told the man he would tell him in a few moments what was wrong. If no one hadn't thrown a hand [Throw for, in Indexl at him, he did not want his money. So the old map was satisfied. Then he laid the gourd before the fireplace with the live frog inside and says, "Gourd, gourd, you have never lied to me, and don't lie to me tonight." Then he put his hand acrost his eyes and he said, "If anything is wrong, move, move, move," three times, of [on] which the frog began to get warm. He [the frog] was a little slow in moving so he [conjurer] stood up [closer to the fire]. And he knew the gourd was going to move because the frog was inside. By that time the gourd got hot and the frog made one jump. And he said, "Move again." And the gourd moved. And said, "Move again." The gourd moved off the fireplace between the old man's legs that was sick. He was setting in a chair. And he says, "Mister, I told my wife I was cunjured. Now I know it and you know it." So he told the cunjure the money was ready whenever he would cure him. So the cunjure said it would take about three weeks, because the person that put the spell on him was a far off. So the cunjure went home that night knowing that he had some easy money coming. He went in the woods the next day and got some pokeberry roots and red oak bark and saxafras [sassafras] roots and cooked it together and made a tea, which is got for rheumatism, [I] don't care how [long] standing, because his father cured himself with the very same remedy. So he came back three days later to the old man's home and brought a pint of this tea that he had made, and told him to take a tablespoonful three times a day before each meal, which he did. And inside of one week he was feeling much better. And the following Sunday this cunjure came back to see how the old man was. And the old man said, "Boy, I'm feeling fine. Come over one night next week and I will give you half of the money." The cunjure didn't wait a week. He came back the third day with another pint and told him to double the dose, which the old man did. And at the end of the second week the old man's rheumatism was gone. And instead of giving him twenty-five dollars he gave him fifty and just spread his name abroad. And the cunjure still lives today and said he made over three-hundred dollars just for this good remedy which his father cured himself. And lots of other people that don't know him go and see him today, for he still lives. He still lives in King George as a cunjure, of which he knows nothing about.
Entry 626
Some girls wanted to get this boy she was going with. There were two sisters. He went with Rebecca. Rebecca got so she couldn't walk. Her sister, who was almost white, she believed in hoodooing; but Rebecca was a brown-skin girl and she didn't believe in it. So she went down to a lady's house to a party one night and set down and she tore a square piece out of her dress. So when she came home, she was working for some very wealthy white people, she got so then she couldn't hardly walk. And she said she felt like there was a mouse crawling on her leg: She had to go down to get sugar and things to this little town and she rode down. And when she came back home she had a big black blister on her foot. She hadn't walked nowhere. So she stayed home a few days and she got so bad she had to tell her sister what had happened. Her sister said, "Oh! Well, they got you but didn't get me." So the young man, who went to see Rebecca, asked his mother for a wagon and his nephew to drive her to a woman's house what could do something for you. I guess she was what you call a two-header. It was about twenty miles. When she came in the door she [the two-header] took a bottle like that and shake it. Rebecca hollered and said, "Oh! Oh! Don't you do that any more." She did that to try to see what was wrong with her. She come on in and set down. She [the two-header] called all the people [their spirits] to her that were doing something to her. She said, "Now Rebecca you are going home, and the bright woman [the innocent one] is going to go away and isn't going to speak to you; the one that did it is going to whip you, if you let her." [Since the spirit of the innocent woman called before the two-header possessed a bright countenance, we must assume a dark one for the spirit of the culprit - see No. 627.1 So Rebecca came back and stop in front of this store and de young boy [nephew] went in to get some things. I heard such a fuss outside, myself, I goes out to see what is happening. This girl that done something to Rebecca, she lived just across the road, says to her, "There comes your partner [the young man returning from the store]. Yes, you're cunjured. And God Almighty cunjured you. If I get close enough to you, I'll take you out of that wagon and give you a good Wooping [whipping]." But she didn't touch her. And Rebecca went on up home and done what the woman told her to do. She told her how to use [the medicine] what she give her. That would do away with that causing her leg. I don't know what Was in it. Rebecca got so then she could run and jump and ride good. It shows that something had been done to her. [New York City, (7), Ed.; Rappahannock Co. Va.,1896.]
Entry 785
During slavery my father told me he knew a man who was a cunjure and his master and mistress trust him with everything, and he was boss over the rest of the slaves as well as being a cunjure. And he could tell many tales and never get caught. His mistress lost her gold ring and asked him to find it for her. And he said, "Missus, if you give me three days off from work, I'll find your ring" which he already had by being tricky. So he laid in bed and slept as much as he want, and got the best food from master's table. On the third day he took the gold ring and a fishhook - at first - to work the trick. So he changed off and got a grain of corn and corn meal. And he put the gold ring inside of the meal and the grain of corn and give it to a certain duck, which he had marked that he may know from the rest. And he give the duck that corn meal, grain of corn, all rolled up together, and went to his master's room and said, "Get your madam, for I'm going to find your ring right here this day. Come and go with me to the chicken yard." He told him to kill a duck which he knew did not have the ring, neither the second duck, but the third one which he killed had the ring inside. So he said, "Master, what are you going to give me for this job?" He said, "Anything you ask." He said, "One month off, boss, to court the gals." When he had killed the third duck and opened it, he found the ring. And then he got thirty days off and the ducks which he had killed. So his master after this went coon [racoon] hunting one night and caught a coon. And the other men that went with him got a bet of five-hundred dollars that his nigger couldn't tell what his master had in the bag. So he called his slave John out of bed that night that he might win the five-hundred dollars. So John got up and come indoors with a dozen other men that was in the coon hunt and also had a part in the bet that John could not tell what was in the bag. So his master said, "John, tell these men what is in the bag: So John scratched his head and lit his pipe, knowing not what was in the bag and that his master had caught him this time. So he said, "Well, master, you have got the ole coon at last." [Near Fredericksburg, Va., (71), by hand; supposed to have happened in King George Co., Va.; a folk story.]
Entry 929
Twus my gate on Campbell Street where I lives at right in Wilmington. At ten 'clock - I'm talkin' about mah ownself, at what I know on Campbell Street. At ten 'clock at night I'd haf to lay down. If I didn't lay down, I would fall. But ten a'clock ev'ry night - I'd notice de clock. An' comp'ny would come to see me, an' when de comp'ny come, I say, "Now, you all set as long a' zhoo want to, because at ten a'clock I git so weak until I haf to lay down." An' I do that. One day when I come from work I met mah cousin on Fo'th Street, an' when I met 'im on Fo'th Street - mah gate fell first on.de side; too, mah fence fell. So I said to 'im, I said, "Joo come home an' help me fix up mah gate, an' alsc mah fence fell." I'm talkin' about mahself now, what I know. An' so he come home [by her house] Monday evening, he said, "Now, Cousin, two a'clock [tomorrow I got to go to work." I said, "Well, all right then; I'm gon'a cook dinnah an' you have your dinnah here [tomorrow] an' you help me fix the gate, fix mah fencei." An' we wus fixin' that fence, de time came fuh him to go. He went on. I had de shovel, I got right to mah gate, jis' as I got to come in the house, somepin say, "Dig." An' I dug, I got a bottle from mah gate, that long [demonstrates], where I'd been walkin' along. Dat wus de thing causin' me I had to lay down ten a'clock ev'ry night. An' it had sulphah in it, it had hah [hair] in it, it had bluestone in it, an' it had some kind of roots in it. An' when I took it up, I hold it right up, I says, "Oh, looka heah! Come an' see this! Somebody tryin' to cunjure me," I say. An' dey cunjured me too, beca' zhoo, zhoo know, ten a'clock at night I'd haf to lay down. An' de people come an' look at it, "Oh well, it's nothin' but childrun put that tharh." I said, "Childrun couldn't put hah." I said, "Childrun couldn't put all this kind of mess zhoo see in it; dey could not put in it." I said, "To banish it right, ah'm gon'a care [carry] it to a cunjure sure enough den dey did dat to do [to do that]." [She was going to take the bottle to a cunjure more powerful than the one who had prepared the bottle.] The people all said, "You ain't gon'a do that? I wouldn't touch it." I said, "Ah'm gon'a care it to a man that kin cunjure and cunjure right." I wus talkin' about takin' an' keepin' it - that's what I meant choo know, when I said that. I says, "No, I'm gon'a care it to cunjure right." An' so I kep' it. An' do you know that night, dat I could set up till 'leven an' twelve a'clock! I could set up till 'leven-twelve a'clock. An' so I kep' it till about on Friday evening. Dat Friday evening I made a fire in the pot in my back yard. An' I wouldn't git right over it, jis' like that [demonstrates]. I opened it like dat an' I burned it up. It wusn't long befo' de lady next do' had to go de hospital an' have her leg cut off.
Entry 3077
(Up in South Carolina, I found that the people up there called most of this sort of stuff witchcraft. Is that true, they called it witchcraft?)
[My informant is from South Carolina.]
Yes - witchcraft, an' cunjuration, rootworking.
(I never heard the word hoodoo up there. They don't seem to use it do they?)
They hardly ever use it.
(That seems to be over in New Orleans mostly.)
A hoodoo man is not - ah don't call him a actual cunjure.
(What would you say? What is a hoodoo man?)
A hoodoo man kin overcome dese things. He kin give yo' somepin to correct yo'self. Well, if yo' find out yore poisoned, anything, we always git a hoodoo man to look out fo' us, see.
[This is not true for most people, though it may be true for informant.]
(I see. The cunjure is the fellow that puts the stuff on you, starts the trouble.) He's de cunjure, but de man dat cure yo' dat de hoodoo. He kin overcome dese things. (Did you ever hear of old Doctor Buzzard. He was down at Beaufort, wasn't he?) Yes, sir.
(Well, did he die or something some years ago?)
Yes, he died but he left one son an' two daughters. He stayed tuh Orangeburg, South Carolina.
(He went up to Orangeburg. Well, did they carry on his work?)
Some one of dem is. They say his son is jest 'bout as good as he was.
(Is he still in Orangeburg, do you think?)
Ah think he's round dere now. (Some people say he was a white man, some said he was an Indian, some said he Was colored. What was he?) He was a natural white man. But he was wonderful - he was a good one. Now ah'm goin' tell whut ah seen when ah was a boy - nuthin but a boy. Ah seen de train [coming] an' run up to de station [to catch the train]. It was coming [going] to Columbia. Ah was down dere hunting twelve mile from Columbia - Hawkins, S. Car. An' he [Doctor Buzzard] was there [on business]. Some fellows Was goin' to town to Columbia, too. [He probably heard about Doctor Buzzard from them.] An' he tole me to go up on dat trip. [He merely told him to get on the train.] He tole me he goin' back home but he didn't go up dere [get on train.] An' when de train - shore 'nuff he nevah got on de train. [To return to Orange- burg, Doctor Buzzard had to pass through Columbia.] Nobody ever see him. Dey searched de train fo' him. When dey run up to Columbia in de shed, he was standing in de shed. He was a actual good man.
(How long has he been dead?)
Ah couldn't really know. Course ah leaved Columbia about 40 years ago, an' ah guess he was living den. But ah lived about lOO miles from him. But ah heard since that he's dead an' his daughter an' his son is jest as good as he was, but ah don't know. Right den he was in Orangeburg, S. Car., jest four miles outa town.
(Forty years ago he was at Orangeburg, S. Car., about four miles out.)
Yes, sir. Ah was born in 1865 an' that made me 63 years old or 73 years old the sixth of July gone. De rootwork dat be done now we gits it from New Orleans. Anybody git it. Dere's so many people gwine round now pretendin'. (Lot of things - lot of it has gone into spiritualism, something of that sort. There doesn't seem to be much of it.) [This sort of thing is merely to keep the conversation rolling along.] Yes, sir.
Entry 3108
Mah experience [as a doctor] come from aole man which used tuh be mah mothah's cousin - called him Uncle Tom, a very good man. (Here in town?) No, he's [he was] up near - 'tween heah an' Macon, heah. He's a cunjure-man. An' so when ah wus a kid he don' like me. So, he always want me tuh go stay wit him. Well, yo' know, quite nat- urally, a boy in town don't wanta go stay in de country. Yo' cain't see no auto- mobile, nobody tuh play with, so on - ah didn't wanta go out dere. So, fust an' last, mah mothah carried me out dere. So he had a ole mule out dere an' de mule Wus pretty tame an' let me - lak a jockey lak. So he let me play wit de mule an' so ah got a-likin' de mule an' so quite naturally ah liked him. So he tuk us back home in de buggy an' let me drive de mule. Well now, when ah got home, well ah still wants tuh follow de mule back. An' so mah mothah wun't let me go dat time. So, afterward, well, she made up her mind to let me go out dere. So, ah reckon, ah wus 'bout de age den of about thirteen yeahs ole, but ah didn't know thet he could do these things, yo' know. Dey nevah have accessed me into it, see. So ah seed diff'rent peoples come dere an' see him, an' he'd take dem in de room. So ah wanta know whut dey wus doin' dere. Well, he take 'em in dere an' ah wus 'bout de age den ah reckon about thirteen yeahs ole. An' so as de peoples be in dere, yo' know, an' so ah say, "Well, ah'll axe him." He says, "Well, son, ah kin do most anythin'." Said, "Yo', ah lak, an' ah know someday ah gotta - ah'm gon'a die." Says, "When ah die ah wanta leave some- body could do de same things fo' peoples jes' lak ah do, because peoples need tuh know how tuh he'p peoples. (What did the people call him - a root doctor or what? What did they call him?) [He had already said cunjure-man.] Well, he wus a spiritual herb doctor, yeah. In othah words, if yo're sick wit anything yo' wants tuh know, he could tell yo'. An' when he come tuh see yo' - say, fo' instance, if mah mothah wus sick. After ah went out there wit him awhile mah mothah wus sick de same as ah wus tellin' jes' 'while ago.
[He repeats the story for me.]
Well, a wumman wus goin' wit mah dad - well, she liked mah dad. She laked mah daddy an' so mah mothah she got sick den, an' she made up her mind tuh go see Uncle Tom. Cause, see why, she had a mind of goin' tuh de rivah all de time. But she made up her mind - got enough sense, yo' know, mah dad did, tuh go.git Uncle Tom. See, he wus our cousin but everybody called him Uncle Tom. An' so he went dere an' got him. Uncle Tom come dere an' looked at her an' said, "Yes, dey got chew, Sally" - jes' lak dat, said, ''but if God says so, ah'll cure yo' An' so he gived her some medicine, see. Well, after he give her de medicine, he told her, well, says, "Now, tomorrow between nine an' twelve, dat woman will come in an' give yo' a cake an' goin' axe yo' tuh eat it, but don't chew eat it, don't chew eat dat cake." Says, "Yo' save it till ah come." Well, quite naturally, ah wus a kid an' ah wus lookin' right on 'cause ah loved mah mothah, an' ah wanta know whut goin' come up, see. Well, then after that - well, he left. Sure 'nuff de woman brought de cake. Well, ah wus so mad dat ah wants tuh kill her, see. So ah carried de cake den an' put it in de safe. Yo' know, we had somepin lak - not a safe, but somepin wit a screen to it lak screen wire an' it had a lock to it. Well, ah put it in dere an' locked it up. An' so when Uncle Tom come why he looked at de cake an' he took an' divided it lak dat [demonstrates] an' made a fiah an' held it ovah dere an' it burnt. An' as it burned it give out blue smoke, an' he says, "If Sally et [ate] dis, yore Uncle Tom couldn't do nuthin wit chew." He says, "God says so, ah have yo walkin'." An' so, quite natural, after dat he did have her walkin'. [Blue smoke or colored lights is a common trick when doctor burns any cunjure article.] An' so, evah since then ah sorta believed in him, an' ah went out dere an' from time tuh time he learnt [me] diff'rent things. But sometime he practice wit me ovah a week or maybe longah on one thing an' try tuh git it perfect. An' so dat's de way ah come tuh [be a root doctor].
(Is he dead now?)
No, he left there an' went tuh Jacksonville.
(What was his name?)
Tom Williams.
(Up near Macon?)
No, Jacksonville, Florida.
(No, I mean where did he live there?) [In Georgia.]
No, he lived at a place out from where ah lived - out from Wally [Lollie?]. (Out from Wally. The reason I ask about that Williams, there's a fellow named.) [Evidently I had heard of another Williams. I also stop the machine.]
Entry 11453
MAN CUNJURED WOMAN IN FEET SO SHE COULDN'T COME TO SEE HIM GET MARRIED TO ANOTHER WOMAN! Not much of a story, but a remedy is given for a cure. Mix 3 ingredients: any liniment, sulphur and alum; rub down, never up, makes the swelling go down into the ground. [Wilmington (238) 161:4.]
Entry 12874
Mix a tablespoonful of saltpeter with Jockey Club perfume an' rub over hands for luck in gambling. The saltpeter kills any cunjure and Jockey Club sweetens the luck.
Entry 13023
Boil silver dime and drink in water or milk for body-ailment by cunjure. [Wilmington 189:10+85.]
Entry 13028
For trick or cunjure, drink 3 times daily a tea made with rainwater and following ingredients: filed dime or quarter, black pepper, salt and vine- gar, followed by a dose of Epsom salts. [Vicksburg 1013:6.]
Entry 13034
As a prevention of or cure for cunjure boil 5 silver dimes and drink the water, and wear bluestone in both shoes. [Wilmington 113:6+85.]
Entry 13035
As a cure for cunjure or trick, drink 3 times a day a tea made from filed dime, Epsom salts, coal oil [kerosene] and turpentine. [Vicksburg 1010:3.]
Entry 637
One time when I was cunjured I was about sixteen years old. And another girl invited me to go to a party, and to the party they served ice cream, and on the way back home I taken sick. And mah mother got ev'ry doctor she could in de town to try to do me some good and he wouldn't [couldn't]. And so she told me - mah mother said dat dey told her - she said ev'rybody kept tellin' her - to get a cunjure doctor for me. And so she did. And when she got the cunjure doctor he told her if she had a waited twenty-four hours longer to gotten him that he couldn't of saved me. And so he got some pokeberry root and boiled dem and made a poultice and put it to mah stomach, and taken water off of nine dimes that had been boiled fer nine hours, and I drank that first. Then after I drank that, he gave me some salts and sodee [soda] - takin' salts [Epsom salts] and sodee warm, and I drank that and that started me to get sick. And after I got sick on mah stomach he got two fars, half-a-gallon jars, one with muddy-lookin' water in it and the other was clear. And when I would vomit, he said the poison that I had taken would go in the muddy jar or the clear jar. He had to have both. And so when I vomit, it was a little snake about that long and it went in the muddy jar of water.
(Could you see it?)
I could see it after they show it to me. Of course I was so sick then still I couldn't see it. And after I taken that to stop mah pains, I had to have some silk-root boiled in a quart of water down to a pint, and some spirits of turpen- tine in it, to keep the misery out of mah stomach and take the soreness out - and still wear the poultices until I was better. [And I wore a] silver dime and salt in my shoes for about two years after dat - I wore a silver dime round my ankle, round both of 'em, and salt in both shoes. And he said that I could wear it on, if I wanted to; but I would be out de danger of those people hurting me again. He didn't say ev'rybody, just those people. [Wilmington, N. Car., (268), 273:7; Rose Hill, Duplin Co., N. Car.,1929.]
Entry 1655
Well, jes' lak if dey put anything down fo' yo' an' yo' finds it. Lak if dey buries anything down for you - yo' know, dat cunjuration dey calls it, make it little plainer to yo'. Well, yo' take that chew see when yo've found that - don't put chure han' on it. Jes' take a little iron or somepin other an' take it out an' put it in a paper sack an' carry it to a runnin' stream of water an' throw it ovah yore left shoulder. Turn around three time on yore heel an say, "In de Name of de Lord, drive mah enemies away from me." An' dey can't do yo' any harm.
Entry 4
There was an old woman who went for a cunjure. She lived in King George and she must have been a good cunjure because she made her living in that way, putting on spells and taking them off. A neighbor lived not far from her house Was hunting squirrels in the squirrel season and he passed near her home in the Woods, and he saw she had a snake tied by the tail hanging up the tree, and she had cut its throat and catching the blood in a small bucket. She wasn't: there. And he said to himself, "Damn you! I always heard you was a cunjure and now I know it." That was about forty years ago. She was a real cunjure. Everybody. Was afraid of that woman, both white and colored. If she came to your house and asked you for anything, it paid you to give it to her. She said, "You're going to lose ten times more than that." [This is called "putting a bad mouth on you."] She went to a neighbor one day and asked for a watermelon and he did not believe in cunjuring. So he didn't give her the watermelon and lost his horse that night. And then on he took off his hat to this woman. I knew both of them.
[Fredericksburg, Va., (71), Ed.; King George Co., Va.,1896.]
Entry 77
[An excellent example of this belief will also be found in my interview Beer For St. Peter - Whiskey And Cigar For St. Anthony. Here we have a desperate situation demanding exceptional power and daring to make an unwilling man run away from a chain gang.] Now, ah show yuh. It's two miles from heah to de cemetery ovah beyond [Somebody's] Hill, an' a man tole a woman tuh go to de cemetery at first dark an' git some graveyard dust an' fetch it tuh him, an' her husband was in yonder fo' nine months out chere tuh de chain gang. An' he says, "Ah will have him released in ten days. Ah went wit Mag to de cemetery dat night - went round to de cemetery wit her but ah did not git ovah in de cemetery - an' she got de graveyard dust dere; tole her to go right to de head of de grave an' go down in dere about half a foot an' git it, yeah, down in below de ground. Mag come back [to where Informant was - outside the graveyard] an' me an' her come on back home to mah home where ah stayed. Ah says, "Well, Mag," I says, "did joo git chure dirt?" [Mag could not speak between her leaving and returning home; no one could enter the graveyard with her.] She said, "Yes." She showed it to me. She had it tied up in a hand'chief, Mag did - had de graveyard dust tie up in de hand'chief dere. An' ah says, "Well," ah says - dere's a fellah by de name of Ole Man Andrew, he was a hoodooer an' dat. She says, "Yo' tell Mr. Andrew ah'll see him in de mornin'." He was de hoodoo ah had rented de room from in de two-story buildin' where I had a room. Next mornin' Mag come ovah dere an' seen duh ole man Andrew, an' she give ole man Andrew, she did, de graveyard dust. Ole man Andrew tole 'em, says, "Ah'll use it jes' as ah wanta use it." He sent me den de next day after a quart of likker. Ah goes an' ah gits de quart of likker fo' him. He gives me de 75 cents - ah goes an' gits de quart of likker. He says tuh me, he says, "Cal," he says, "now, ah want chew to keep dis kin'a secret" - says, "ah'm gotta fellah tuh run away from de chain gang an' go to his wife to Hastings [?] an' git her an' go to Florida in eight or ten days. Yeah. An' sure 'nuff dis boy come away from de chain gang tuh mah house [his room in the doctor's house] that night. When he was in there, he took the graveyard dust an' put whiskey on it an' put it in a bottle, yeah. An' when Mag come de next mornin' he give it to Mag an' he tole Mag to take that graveyard dust an' in dat whiskey whut he shook up an' use it round her bed an' out in her back yard. Yeah. An' she said dat she done it - she tole me dat she was gon'a do it.
(What will that do then?)
Dat 'fects dat fellah - dat made dat fellah git away from de convict camp. He come to my place, de first time when he broke out - he come to mah place an' den went on up heah to Fairfax an' him an' Mag went tuh Florida, ah know dat much, an' his time wasn't near up. [The bottle and contents is a hand, the whiskey is the spirit's payment for Work to be done, the giving of liquor is called feeding, and the shaking is to activate and incite the drunken spirit. My transcriber heard the doctor's name as Ander or Anders; I as Andrew or Andrews.]
Entry 445
Now, yo' take whut dey used to call de witches - yo' take a grease an dey'll grease deyselves all ovah, jes' like dey goin' out tuh do somepin an' git clean out dere skin. Well, when dey git clean out dere skin dey'd be in de house; dey has a word dey say, "Round an' about - out de keyhole go." Right out de keyhole dey'll go. Well, dey go on out an' do whut dey's gon'a do an' come back. And when dey come back, dey'd say de same thing, "Round an' about de key- hole - out de do' we go." Well, dey'd come back in. When dey'd come back in dey'd git back into dey skin, git in - walk up to de skin, say, "skinny, don't chew know me?" An' dey'd jump an' if - now, if a person be lucky 'nuff, dey'd git dere befo' dey git in dere skin an' take dat skin, den dey couldn't git back in it.
(What did the witches do - what did the witches used to do?)
Well, dey say now, witches, dey used to ride hosses. Dey go to a cowpen an' milk cows an' go in a smokehouse an' take meat an' things. Well, dey all jes' carry dat back to dey homes - dey nevah did do nuthin' but jes' practice dat.
(Were these men or women?)
Mens an' wimmin.
(Did the witches do any conjuration at all - or not?)
Well, dey done a whole lot'a dis cunjuration. Dey claim dat dat's where de cunjuration come from - de witch crowd.
(Were you born here in Georgia?)
Yes suh, born in Georgia.
Entry 546
This was in Caroline [County, Virginia]. This is a cunjuring thing. It Was two sisters. One sister took the other sister's husband. So this sister had a spell put on the sister who took the husband. So she became suddenly ill and sent for her son and he came. And she grew so ill they sent for the doctor and he came, but did not do any good. So finally, the son sent for a neighbor and the neighbor thought she was going to die so she sent for the older son. And when he came his suggestion was to send for an old colored woman who's supposed to be a cunjure. So they sent for her. And she came in a buggy with her grandson driving. And she called for the woman to come out to the buggy that was sick. And they said she could not come. So she insisted on her coming. But she said she could go anywhere in the house except to the front door. Every time she moved toward the front door she got worse. So this cunjure woman got out of her buggy and stood at de front gate opening her bag of fixtures, and she took out a ball about the size of a apple - a wood ball, and asked for a hoe, after which she talked to the ball and said, "Go where I send you and when you have found the spot stand still." So she tossed de ball. It went a few steps and stopped right in front of the front door. And she told the boy to dig two feet right under that ball and there that he would find a bottle and bring it to me, which he did. So she said to her [sick woman's] son, "Go, tell your mother to come to the front door." So she got up and came immediately. She didn't say what was in the bottle she found. And the cunjure said to her, "Let your sister'S husband alone." [Near Fredericksburg, Va., (71), by hand; in Caroline Co.,1886.]
Entry 645
See, yo' kin take yore chamber lye - take dat chamber lye an' - person take hit to a red ants' bed. Yo' take it an' yo' po' it into somepin an' yo' takes some [corn] meal an' make it up as a dough, an' yo' take it to a red ants' bed an' yo' sprinkle it in dat red ants' bed, an' jest long as it in dat ants' bed, yo' see, dem antses will work dat dough up - up an' down dat-a-way. Well, dat'll create germ to work inside of a person, an' jest work, work, work, till it kills 'im. Well, yo' see de doctors don't know whut dat is. De doctors will be working on it fo' one thing, but still it's dat germ - de cunjuration. [For this germ theory, see No. 654.]
Entry 668
They claim they take serpents heads and grind them up and powder them up and they supposed to bury that under your doorstep. That's goofer dust. That's supposed to cunjure you. You're supposed to walk over that.
Entry 735
A man dat workin' cunjures an' things lak dat, up in mah country, dey take an' go an' git some peppah, sulphur, salt, an' goes in de woods an'gits a root dey calls de Friendly John - ah knows it, Friendly John. Yo' go in de woods - it grows on a ridge on a hill.- Yo' go git dat Friendly John an' break yo' off about six limbs of it. Make no diff'rence if yo' git de root of it or not - break off, git de limbs of it an' break off six of 'em an' mix 'em together an' carry dem in yore pockets or anything lak dat. An' yo' kin put some of that devil's-shoestring with that, if yo' want to, an' yo'll go fo' twelve months lak dat an' yo' kin jes' go ahead an' tear down anywhere yo' want to - yo' got a arm, whut chew call a goofer bag or a hand. Yo' got a strong one, yo' understand. Ah bought one one time.
(If you want to do any cunjuring work, that's strong?)
Dat's strong.
Entry 736
The way I have heard it, that a hoodoo bag is a bag that one carries and it contains a dust called goofer dust and whatever they put it on they can conquer. Some wears it in their bosom and some in their pocket. They get these goofer bags from root doctors or cunjure doctors. You give them a certain sum of money. Some call them roots, some call them rabbits foot. Some people wear these roots around their legs sometimes for luck.
Entry 890
Well, there was a girl who had been born and raised in the country [King George County, Virginia]. She decided to go to the city [Washington, D. C.] to work. She made her home with some relatives. The girl, being very fair, through her personality she seemed to take this woman's husband from her entirely. After years and years of intimacy they had some family trouble. She tried to fix the girl so her husband would have no other care for her. Her husband had gotten so bold with her that he took her out to open places - off on long trips where he couldn't take his wife and children. After awhile this girl was taken down seriously ill. After a thorough examination the doctor decided that the girl should go to a tuberculosis sanitarium. Her mother of course had her sent there. After several weeks stay the doctors there finally couldn't do anything for her so she returned to her home. And after being put under her former doctor's care he give her up saying there was nothing he could do. The girl of course being very fair turned very dark during her sickness. When the doctor said he couldn't do anything, her mother came under the conclusion that some form of cunjuration had been performed. She brought the girl to her former country home and had a cunjuration doctor visit her, I don't know who she was, to work upon her. The doctor told her, yes, she had been tricked, who had tricked her, and how it had been done. The woman [wife] had someone perform the act. She took some fluid from her [girl's] body yes, her monthly fluid, put it in a bottle and put it in a corner of the closet in Washington. She tole her to take this bottle and throw it over in the river. She told her she should stay on this side over the river [the Potomac] and not go back to her city home and she would get well. The girl stayed home for several months. After getting well, as she thought, she decided there Was nothing anyone on that end could do to her if she would be careful, so she returned back to the city. She one night was invited to this same home and she insisted upon drinking wine and eating cake. Well, on that night on returning home from the party she was taken desperately ill again. The doctor said it was the same thing as before. There was nothing for her to do but to go back to the country air. So her mother several days after that took her back home to the cunjuration doctor again. The doctor told her that she had disobeyed her orders. She said she had been tricked by these same people, taking wine, that she had a double dose in her system and she wasn't able to do anything for her. Several days after that the girl died very quickly. They buried her privately. Her mother knew and other friends knew. Because she turned so black they didn't want her to be seen. [Fredericksburg, Va., (75), Ed.; King George Co.,1933.]
Entry 901
I was hurt once by a rootworker. I was hurt in mah right leg. And mah mother she went - and I was swellen - mah mother she went out to get a doctor. The doctor didn't do me no good. And after she found out dat de doctor wouldn't do me no good, she decided on to go back and git a root doctor. Well, he told her to go back and look under de front doorstep and she'll find a little rag, a red [rag], a little ball in it - red rag with red little ball in it, wrapped up. It [ball] was made of cloth. And he told mah mother dat when she go-ed [pronounce gode] dere she might be scared to pick it up, but don't be scared to pick it up: Well, de first time she went dere she looked at it, she didn't pick it up - she's scared. And she went back. He told her dat de only Way dat I would git rid of dis swellen, de lest dat I swell right on up, she'll have to git dat and bring it to him. Shortly after she came back, she went on back and got de rag and carried it on back to him. In a couple of days after- Wards, den I feel mahself gittin' a little ease. And so he worked on me and worked on me, and turned it around on this other fellah that had me fixed up [by rootworker in first sentence]. She said dat he took it [rag and ball] and dressed it up, and told her to carry it back - he told her where it came from [who had planted the rag and ball] - and told her to go throw it over de fence [into this person's yard]. [Wilmington, N. Car., (225), 228:4; in Petersburg, Ga.,1928.]
The narrator reports instructions to look beneath the front doorstep, then describes bringing back the rag and later disposal. Door retrieves this threshold location. The account establishes no door-panel identity, adjacent bottle contents or causal treatment finding.
Read full source (printed page 329) · Read full source (printed page 330)
Entry 912
She vent down South [to South Carolina] and she say she owed this man two dollars. He told her fortune and she said, "Now, I ain't got nothing to pay with for curing me." So the man told her, "You're cunjured in your side," he said, "but you go on home," he said. She said, "I ain't got no money to pay, now." He says, "That's all right," he say, "you go on home and take dat medicine I tell you, and leave that money anywheres in the house and I'll get it." And she said she laid that money on her bedroom mantelpiece and went on doing her work. At twelve o'clock she thought of it and she went back there and the money was gone. And she telegraphed down there and he said he got it. Now, I wonder how he got it. She told me that herself. [Wilmington, N. Car., (238), 237:6.]
[See Payment and Air in Index.]
Entry 1011
If a fellah wanta cunjure yo' any way wit root work, if yo' knock blood outa him he can't do it - dey say that.
(If you draw some of his blood he can't hurt you?)
He can't hurt cha.
Entry 1203
In some parts of the South they claim, if you get some dirt from the cemetery and put it in a box and place it under the steps of your enemy, it will cause trouble in their home. And oft times they sought a cunjure man and he in turn gives them a piece of rawhide and tells them at intervals to tie a knot till that string is exhausted. That will do away with the evil spirit. [See Spirit Caught in Knot, p.389.]
Entry 1494
An' dis heah Sampson [or Sampson's] snakeroot, yo' take dat. Dey use Sampson snakeroot for any cunjuration - say Sarpson root overcome it. (How would they use that root?) Dey use dat root by making a tea out of it - yo' chew some of OR it an' yo' make a tea out of it. SAMPSON SNAKEROOT (That is to kill any poison that is in you?) It will kill the poison. [This plant is probably babroot or bab's-root, an aromatic herb (Psoralea peduneulata), southeastern U. S. A., the root said to have tonic properties.]
Entry 1583
[The opposite of the preceding rite is also given:]
Throw the article that cunjured you into water running one way; not into out- going tide but into running water. This will either run the evil doer away or harm him.
Entry 1591
Go to the woods and get yourself some turpentine and get you some bark from a walnut tree. Take this turpentine and bark and put it in water and let it boil for ten minutes. Take this water and throw it over your left shoulder. When you get through with that take two teaspoonfuls in your body. And that will keep evils and all hoodoos away from you. Another thing, if you find a bottle underneath your door and don't know what's in it, never touch it, but go to the woods and get some turpentine [raw sap from turpentine tree - several pines] and some walnut tree bark and sprinkle it over that bottle first. Then you move it and you won't be cunjured. That's the best thing I know for cunjures.
Entry 1958
[Here is mv first knowledge of Doctor Frank Hall, whom I searched for and found the following year - a feat coupled with the finding of Madam Griffin, an experience described in the Introduction.] There's an old man by the name of Hall, a very rich man. He has I guess fifteen farms. He has some very palitable[?] [palatial] houses on these farms. He lives in a little shack. Each day there will be seen many cars around his home, both white and colored. He is known as a cunjure. He is able to keep the law away and many people going to court to be tried always have him to sit in the courtroom. [This practice has been fairly common; see Court in Index.] There is something he does. Nobody can see what he does. His fame has gone out that he clears the person because most every time he's in the courtroom the person being tried gets out light or becomes clear. This old man is known to sell a little bag to law breakers and bootleggers. In every bootlegger's home that is prosperous in this town can be seen one of these little bags hanging up on the side of the wall. You need not worry about the law coming in as long as you see that little bag. This little bag is known as Hall's Hand, Hall's Lucky Hand. That's what they call it. That's down in Suffolk, Va. [Informant came from Suffolk, seat of Nansemond Co., but Hall lived out in the country.] [Ocean City, Md., Ed.]
Entry 2363
Well suh, yo' kin git chamber lye an' yo kin quick witchcraft a person in dat, so as to even quit dere home an' take tuh yo'. Dat is, jes' lak a woman, if yo' want de re'lly fac' 'bout it, sur. Dey take chamber lye an' take a eye- dropper - a woman kin take a eye-dropper an' take her chamber lye an' take nine drops of chamber lye 'sposed to be, an' she kin drop it into wine or in anything drinkin' kind, or anything of de edible kind, an' gives tuh a man. An' it will make him quit home and take up with her.
Entry 5335
I used to hear my father say they would take up sand from out of your track and put it into a bottle, and put some chemicals in there. Then they take it and put it underneath the doorstep and put this vial in there and cover it up. Then they proclaimed they were cun- juring the missus and master. [For bottle, see also pre- ceding margin title BLACK BOTTLE.]
Entry 6566
You go to the drug store, they got what you call dried tadpoles there; and if you get them internal, they'll come to life and breed there and you'll have to go to a cunjure to get them out. [Sorry, I forgot in 1936 to ask where this drug store was. [Fredricksburg, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 6720
If yo're hurt from sompin somebody have did yo' lak cunjurin' yo' lak dat, yo' take de dirt from undahneat' of yore toenails. An' take it an' wet it wit dis oil of cedah an' weah it in a piece of cotton in each one of yore ears. Yo' stop yore headache, if yo're hurt in sompin.
(That is if you have a headache from being hurt?)
Dat's whut ah said. Lak if somebody, yo' know, do sompin tuh yo' lak dat cunjure. Not if yo' jis' git hit about de haid [and get a headache]. [Even being hit on the head and getting a headache could be caused by conjuration, evil wishing, etc.]
Entry 6974
Put sulphur an' bluestone an' brimstone, tie all dat up tuhgethah an' put it in chamber lye an' throw it roun' yore house, an' nobody kin put down any cunjure fo' yo'.
Entry 7709
Yo' take de haidbo'd. Now, yo' kin take de haidbo'd an' cut it roun' [demonstrates]. It's already cut lak a haid. Well now, if yo' cut anotbah roun' ring on it, take it den an' mark it right straight down. (The top of the headboard is round and you merely complete the circle by drawing an inverted circle under that, making it round. Then you draw a line straight down.) See, when yo' draw dat line straight down, dat makes a person. De cunjuration dat dey puts in yo' when yo' draw dat line straight down, dat's makes it start right up heah an' continue tuh come - start right at de top of yore haid an' come right straight on down. See, an' when it git clean down, why dere's no mo' of yo'.
(How do I know I've got the right person when I'm doing this?)
Well, ah tell yo' de way it is. See, jis' lak yo' go tuh a graveyard, yo' go tuh - jis' lak now if yo' know a person an' yo' happen tuh be dere when dey bur- ied. Well, now, ah'll go right chere - ah'll know dis person person'ly. Ah'll take dat haidbo'd, see, an' ah'll go right on. Well, now, dat's one in dat fam- ily is gotta go. Dat's one in dat family gotta go.
(That gets somebody in the family.)
Someone in de same family is gotta go.
Entry 7816
In some parts of the South they claim if you get some dirt from the cemetery and put it in a box, and place it under the steps of your enemy, it will cause trouble in their home. And oft times they sought a cunjure-man and he in turn gives them a piece of rau- hide, and tells them at intervals to tie a knot until that string is exhausted. That will do away with the evil spirit. [Informant Was born in Jacksonville, Fla.]
Entry 7956
They say to put four nails, nails which you nail your coffin with, four pins [from the garments of the corpse], and the [death] sheet over you, and a lock of hair. The hair is supposed to molt away. When that hair molts, you're supposed to molt. They would bury this, put it all in a bottle, wrap it up tight and bury it anywhere near your home. If you found this bottle, then they would em- ploy some old cunjure doctor to come and get this bottle and throw it in the river of running Water.
Entry 9355
Lak ah want a fellah's ole lady, see. Well, ah'll git me a - ah'm goin' visit dere house an' have me a rotten aig dere, an' when ah git a chance, ah put it in de baid. See, dey'll fall out of dat [not bed but relationship] den. An' she want 'im back...
(She wants him back.)
An' she want 'im back, well she have tuh go tuh de hoodoo den.
Entry 10118
Get a black cat, cut the right hind leg and get a bone out...and carry that around your neck, and there won't be any evil spirit harm you, and it will keep cunjures away. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 10121
Get a black cat, cut the right hind leg and get a bone out of the right hind leg and carry that around your neck and there won't be any evil spirit harm you and it will keep cunjure away from them. [Fredericksburg, Va., Ediphone 48.]
Entry 12156
But on de othah hand, yo' take dat hickory tree as yo' calls it - not no fig tree, yo' take dat hickory. Yo' go in de woods an' see yo' kin find a hickory tree of twelve months growth - a young hickory tree. It must be a young one, an' yo' find lotta of dem is down dere wit forked limbs, too. Yo' find one wit de forked limb of twelve months young growth, if yo' kin gits it, an' yo' takes dat dere hickory tree, dat forked one." Yo' kin take it, understan', an' work any kind of a little conjurin' things with it, an' set pegs to people's house.
(What do they do with that hickory tree?)
That hickory tree, yo' jes' cut off that forked limb. Yo' jes' take yore knife an' cut it off up there. Cut it off 'bout lak dat [demonstrates], de forked limb, cuts off 'bout lak dat yo' see. Well, now yo' take dat dere fo'k an' yo' wanta go keep yore ole lady from runnin' round.
(You take this hickory limb and you do what with it? You....?)
Yo' cut it off an' yo' take yore knife an' cut lil' notches 'long dere lak dat, yo' know, an' yo' name dem notches whatevah yo' wanta call it or whatevah yo' want done to it. Whatevah yo' want. Yo' want, 'Well, ah want this much done." Yo' say, "Look heah, ah'm cuttin' yo' an' dat's whut ah want chew tuh git me. Ah want chew tuh he'p me git her loose" [from the man she's running around with]. An' yo' cut de next notch an' say, "Look heah, ah tell yo' whut ah want chew tuh do." talkin' to it right dere. "Ah want [chew] tuh go tuh de bank an' borrah me a hundred dollahs, without no' - don' sign no papahs up fo' it, ah mean tuh pay 'em back by an' by." Well, yo' kin take dat thing, dat dere with de three notches in it, an' yo' go to de [some shopping place]. [I] says, yo' go to a big grocery sto' an' keep dat thing in yore pocket.
Entry 12625
Sprinkle red pepper and sulphur in yard to kill any cunjure "planted" there. [Wilmington 135:4+85.]
Entry 12643
Fill a stocking with crushed red peppers and sprinkle vinegar on, and wear around waist to protect self against cunjuration. [Wilmington 125:1+85.]
Entry 12649
Wear red pepper and sulphur in your shoes as a protection against walking over cumjure. [Wilmington 228:6+85.]
Entry 12805
As a protection against conjure, wear salt in left shoe. [Snow Hill 2:2.]
Entry 12849
To protect yourself against cunjure, wear salt and pepper in both shoes. [Wilmington 254:1+85.]
Entry 12862
As an unusual method of protecting yourself against conjuration, wear salt, pepper and sulphur on top of your head. [A note of mine reads: This is used in one cure story. Which?] [Wilmington 119:6+85.]
Entry 13017
If the dime tie about your neck or leg turns dark, it means you have been cunjured. [Richmond 276:2. This is known everywhere.]
Entry 13030
You can cure internal cunjure by boiling 3 dimes and drinking the water. [Wilmington 195:1+85.]
Entry 13031
Here is an elaborate cure: For inside cunjure, boil 3 dimes and 3 quarters and drink the water - no filings, just water. [Wilmington 255:5+85.]
Entry 13032
Boil 3 pieces of silver money, money with stars on it, and drink the water for cunjure within. [Wilmington 243:8+85.]
Entry 13040
Drill hole through a dime and a nutmeg and wear both about waist for cunjure. [Richmond 346:2.]
Entry 13053
A dime on right ankle protects or warns against cunjure. [Wilming- ton 263:7+85.]
Entry 13054
A dime against cunjure should be worn on the left ankle. [Snow Hill 2:1; Wilmington 72:4.]
Entry 13055
A dime on your right ankle turning black means yo' have walked over an object to cunjure you. [Newport News 513:6.]
Entry 13056
To wear a dime on your ankle against cunjuration, the dime must be new and of the current year. This will turn black if you are hurt. [Charles- ton 575:4.]
Entry 13058
Make 3 holes in the dime you wear on ankle or leg against cunjure.
[Wilmington 162:5+85.]
Entry 13060
Wear dime in shoe against cunjure. [Baltimore 48:1; Washington, D. C., 822:1; in either shoe, [Wilmington 131:12+85; in both shoes, Wilmington 73:1+85; these beliefs are everywhere.]
Entry 12
Sometimes some have strong minds. People be's sick and de give up quick. Some'll be sick and ever'thing go along and dey git well wit coal oil, and think they gittin' de right things. Mostly de 'fect yo' kin take on a man is by his planic [planet] and de time he was born under de moon and so forth, and git his mind. I kin go roun' sell things but ef ah cain't git a man mind, ah cain't do nuthin' wit him. Dat's right. Yo' gotta git him tuh believe whut yo' say, woman or man: [If he say,] "Well, ah know [as] much abou't [about it] as yo' do," dat wouldn't do me no good, [therefore] you say, "Well, go on about chure business." Nuthin' to it ["ah cain't do nuthin' wit him"].
(Are there many cunjuremen - what they call cunjuremen - here in town?)
Dat's all dey call 'em cunjuremens. Dey call me hoodoo - sure dey do, 'cause de little chillun - ah'm goin' long de street, "Mama, har de hoodoo doctor, har de hoodoo doctor."
(Are they frightened of you?)
Yeah, de little chillun is. Dey runs dey do's - oh yeah, run an' hide. Well, ah use to be a trudin [truant] officer fo' de Cath'lic school and dat's one thing make 'em 'fraid me anyhow.
(You used to round them up.)
Yeah, that was out in Prinship. I used to be in Prinship - fo' years - ah use to run a root store right chere on this same street, only it's down dere next to Davis Avenue - dat little shop down dere - ah be dere fo' years. Ah know dese people very well - all dese people - dis whole country. (I suppose they are still going to believe that for sometime to come, aren't they?) [A leading question but not with this man.] Oh, yes. (Aren't these children that are going to high school - are they smart?) [My sudden change here does not fool him.l Oh, yeah, they 'fraid too. Yeah, they believe in everything - like, it's whut chure parents teach you. If they teach at home that you'll git cunjured or git hoodooed, all, even de little chillun come and look fo' it. School teachers don' teach 'em dat; might as well teach 'ém dat 'cause they believe it all dere lives. Dey go to whut dey call de Old Age Assistance. Some people go down dere and de ain't even got sense enough to talk to de woman dat talkin' to 'em; wanta have dere Way about it. Some of them'll say they been tricked, want de doctor, but "no need a-send me a doctor 'cause ah been hoodooed and you have to send a hoodoo doctor to me" - tell de medical doctor dat. "You can't do nuthin' fo' me; I done tried ever' doctor in town, I ain't gittin' no better. You have to send a hoodoo doctor 'cause somebody done hoodooed me." And she ain't got a thing but heart trouble or something like that, dropsy or something - ain't nobody kin do her no good - or TB's. Dey'll do dat. Dis heah is de wust place fo' hoodoos you find.
(What do the doctors say about - what do they say about it?)
Doctors don't have nuthin' to say about it 'cause when dey go to 'em dey'll up and tell him so. You know when de jedge can't work with 'em, nobody else ain't.
(Well, how many white people believe in it?)
Dere's a-plenty of 'em believe in it - jest like we colored - dat's de biggest thing they believes in - cunjuration - it's nuthin' but a ism. De whole entire thing is whut a man's mind is - dat chew think, dat chew believe - whut worries on yo' mind. Take a man used to drinkin' or take a man used to runnin' around, hit'll prey on his mind - he ain't satisfied unless he into it. It's de same way - don't care whut chew do - if a man got a wife and she git sick, de fust thing he say, "Somebody's done somepin tuh mah wife" - or 'Somebody done somepin tuh me and I lost mah job, ah done dis-and-dat." [Then I] sell more John de Conker 'en [then] evah - dat's de biggest seller ah got - an' ah [even] sells it to - ef Jedge [Somebody'sl fool enough to buy it. ah let him have it. [I have underlined many examples of what a hoodoo thinks about medical doctors or physical doctors - see Doctor, not Doctor in Index. Doctor Zorro of Norfolk, Va., in my interview with him later, estimates colored believers at 90 and white believers at 40 percent. In mv interview later with Faith Doctor of Little Rock, Ark., he says, "Ah tell yo' mah deah fren' - de white race, ah would give it an even break, fifty outa ev'ry hunderd; an' in de colored, nine outa ev'ry ten."]
These terms occur in the informant's own reply and explanation; interviewer questions and editorial comments remain separate.
Entry 567
If you have a bad dream, this shows that someone is trying to cunjure you. An' [if] you wan'a find out who it is, you take an' make de mark like a snake on dis tablecloth an' then [say], "In the Name of the Lord, joo must come," an' turn the tablecloth back ovah the snake, an' before nine o'clock the next day he'll be there.
The account treats a bad dream as a sign of attempted cunjuring; that interpretation is not independently verified.
Entry 628
He'd take a stick about that long [demonstrates].
(About two feet.)
Yes sir. And take a certain number [two] wires and set it on this stick, and then this man would say something to that piece of wire there, and he could say things to this one. (How did he get these wires on that stick?) He just had them bent [demonstrates].
(Around the stick in one loop with the two ends pointing down.)
Laid right over that stick.
(Like a staple?)
Yes sir.
(He held the stick in his hand.) [Informant is holding imaginary stick.]
Yes sir. And he'd say, "Now" - for instance - "which way should I go to look for this [conjuration] stuff?" And this piece of wire would walk just the same as you walk. ["In other words, the stick and wire held in the conjurer's hand worked on the principle of the planchette or ouiji board." This - preceding words - is a note of mine when I transcribed cylinder a few days after recording. The stick and wires could be called a type of Jack.] He'd say, "Now, don't fool me, I don't want you to fool me," and say, "I want you to stop when you git near the place." Then that piece of wire would stop and he'd say, "Listen, now, which way shall I go?" The piece of wire commence stepping and it walked and got near the place - and he let you set there and watch it - and when it got near the place where he had put this stuff, I say put
[hid 'this stuff'"], it would stop.
The editor supplies the word conjuration for the sought stuff; it is not presented as the informant's own term.
Entry 629
[The following root doctor used a simple and inexpensive method for finding the buried article of conjuration:] He had him a little stick you know, and he goes aroun' and he sticks it, jahbs down in ground, and he says, "There it is."
The editor identifies the buried article as conjuration; the following informant account does not itself supply that word.
Entry 844
Way back there [before Civil War] it was mostly men [who were conjurers] but this day now there is two women to one man. You see, they left it to their wives because a man is not at home; so if somebody came [to be cured] she was always home. He's always around there. Down in Caroline [County Virginia] you will find two women to one man. [Although informant was born before Civil War, his opinion and reason for it I consider personal or local. No one can know. Caroline and King George were noted areas for isolated doctors.]
The conjurers label is supplied by an editorial insertion; the editor also cautions that the reported proportions and explanation are personal or local.
Entry 11360
Eel skin worn on back for backache caused by cunjuration. Richmond: 358:6.
The account attributes backache to 'cunjuration' and describes wearing eel skin; the cause and effect remain unverified.
Entry 13119
You may wear a blackstone-skin belt as a protection against cunjure.
[Richmond 285:1.]
The item describes a belt as protection against cunjure; the unusual material wording remains unchanged.
Entry 13390
Scrub porch with urine and red pepper, and throw some at door and in the yard as a protection against cunjure. [Richmond 353:3.]
The source offers the porch practice as protection against cunjure; neither an actual threat nor effective protection is established.
Entry 11237
"Called cunjures down around Charlotte, Va., and "devil head" [Balti- more, Md., (138), 37:3, recording bad.] ["Charlotte, Va." is a vague reference but fortunately No.1477 (p.478, v.1) tells us this is Charlotte Co., Va., in the center of Virginia near the N. Car. line; Charlotte Court House the county seat, population less than 1000. As far as I can remember, this is my only ref- erence to devil head. What I wrote at the beginning is a copy of my original pencil transcription made soon after it was collected; now attached to present manuscript.]
The entry records cunjures in quoted wording described as a pencil-transcription copy. The recording is marked bad; no original speaker, referent or universal term equivalence is established.
Source passage
printed interview with editorial and production layers · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I says, "an' when I dress this house," I says, "if it's true," I says, "you will have no trouble."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' I goes to work. I goes down to the drug store an' gits me a box of sulphur, goes to the store
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[grocery]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
an' gits me a box of cayenne peppah an' some salt brian. I goes out on the hill.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Fresh fish salt brian
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[fresh (= unused) brine from salted fish]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
. Gets me botter
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[bottle]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
of vinegar. I goes out dere on the hill an' fields an' I digs mah'erbs. I goes on back an' boils 'em, strip zim
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[strips 'im]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
off, bathe zim from his knees on down.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What sort of herbs?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Whut did I get? Runnin' brier an' pokeberry
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[poke or pokeweed]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
root. An' he's up walkin' an' goin' all up yonder on the railroad track now, pickin' up coal ev'ry mornin' of his life.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Theoretically, large lumps of coal fall from an overloaded tender of a steam engine or smaller lumps from coal cars of a freight or coal train; actually, human hands usually assisted the coal. Any walking along tracks was illegal.1
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' after no sooner 'an
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[than]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I got 'im up, the prior
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
told 'im he wanted his room - he couldn't rent it no longer. An' told 'im he wanted 'im keep me away from there. He
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
was goin' to these here so-said-to-be cunjures an' gettin' dus'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[dust]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
an' stuff, an' I found stuff 'tween the mat- tresses
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[while]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
he
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
out at work. So after I cut mah cards an' find out where de stuff was, why I went on an' get it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What do you mean cutting your cards?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Cuttin' mah cards? Run a deck of cards. I kin run a deck of cards an' tell anything I want to know. Yes sir.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What did you want to find out?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Find out where he had it put.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one continues.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Now listen. I wan'a tell yah. I take a deck of cards an' tell anybody more than they wan'a know. Not only take a deck of cards, I kin take a cup an' tell anybody more than they wants to know.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
See.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Uhuh.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I'm out of a family - I'm a son of a mother that could even down-tell
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[out- tell]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
you - she walk in here an' call your name, tell you where you live, tell you the number of your house, how many children you had, whether your wife was livin' or not, w'a' kin'a hair she had, how old she was, W'a' her name is. That's the kin'a mother I had.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one will continue later.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Where did she live?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Greensboro, South Carolina. That's where I come from. I come from there where it
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[root working and allied practices]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
is known to be the very best dey is goin'. Yes sir, yes sir.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one continues.]
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' I don't care w'a' kin'a spell's on a person or how a person is sufferin', I kin walk in the house, I'll be in the house five minutes - not only that, I don' haft, I don't har'ly even, don' haf to ast a person. I kin walk along the street an' lbok at a person an' tell w'uther they's hurt or not.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Uhuh. Is there anything about their appearance, their face or anything that.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Well, I tell yuh. A person of that kind kin see it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Oh, I see.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[You]
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
see it.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Yes sir. A person of that kind kin see it - a person of, like myself. You see.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I knows, you see.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(Uhuh. I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I knows. An' then on top of my knowin', I know whut to do to break it up
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[End of side one.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
- whut to cure it.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[The last four words are on the cylinder but not on the record.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
An' then on top of that
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[there is]
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
sich a things as they call this here witch'ry. You believe in witch'ry?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(I've heard about it but I don't know. I have never had any experience. I don't know whether to believe in it or not.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[This was about the best answer I could have given to his difficult question. If I had answered, "You believe in witchery, therefore it exists for you; but I do not believe in witchery, therefore it does not exist for me, except in that it exists for you" - if I had so answered, would his second question have followed?]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, did
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[do]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
you believe in there
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[is]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
sich a thing as a witch?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(Well, I don't know.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, there is sich a thing as a witch.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(There're the things that ride you, aren't they?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Yes sir.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(How do you keep them from riding you?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, you kin take a pair of scissors an' put underneath your head or you kin take a new piece of lumber an' put it underneath your head
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[the latter being unusual]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(What are these witches?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, I'll tell you. A witch is a person that has sold herself to the devil an' he comes in a spirishal
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[spiritual]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
way. See, jis' like you has got your mind on a home wheresomever you live, you worry about your parents, your people, your brother or your father or your wife or your sweetheart or your mother or your daughter an' they rest upon you - in your mind - why it's quite nach'al
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[natural]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
fer something to have happened to 'em an' directly they feel it. You kin feel it. You see, you kin feel the burdens of it. Well, the same way with a person dat's so deeply into anything an' 'twill follow 'em in their sleep. Have you read any such or in your travels? Haven't you already see
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[seen]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
the future out of your work in your sleep?
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[Side two begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, that's the way that is. So then, on top of being so interested in it, self confidence is the best of all. Self confident. I walks in a house - if I had someone to send I would go an' say - I could send fo' 'er. I walked in a house up here on Catherine Street in thirty-five
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[1935]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
dat people had come from Petersburg
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[Virginia]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
over here that wus suppose to be root doctors - it's no better than Florence Turner. Dr. E. Turner ou' chere
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[out here]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
wus her doctor. He walked in the house - she'd taken sick. He walked in the house an' ast that
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[whether]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
she had caused her little boy to call 'im. He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"Florence,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"w'a's the mattah?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I don't know, doctor,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
she says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I'm so sick I don't know w'a' to do."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
The doctor looked at 'er. He question 'er an' all. He says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I think you've got broken-down nerves."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I saw Florence's sickness that night - she got up five o'clock an' went out with a friend of hers.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
(What was really wrong with her?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Well, I'll tell yuh - an' so I 'us at mah home. I gets up the nex' mornin', at duh breakvust table, an' tole mah
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[female]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
frien' w'a' I seed in mah sleep. I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"An' tell Florence when she come to don't go out with"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
- I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"tell Florence when she gets up to don't go out with."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence an' Henry are gone out."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She said dat Florence an' Henry lef' here at five o'clock this mormin' I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, jes' as sure as God's still in heaven,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence is gon'a git 'er dose."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Den, I went on mah job at work in the coalyard. They brought her in home nine o'clock dat mornin' unconscious. I came in
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[after work]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
to mah supper. She wus rollin' to me. I walks in the room - Dr. Turner'll tell yuh the same thing - I walked in the room an' tol' 'em, I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Doctor,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee as represented in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"there ain't no need of writin' Florence no 'scription. Florence is poison.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
The doctor turn aroun' to me, jis' like this here, says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
How do you know?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee as represented in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I saw it last night.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[This is my only example of a doctor and doctor confronting each other. It happens in the presence of the doctor's patientl]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I.sit right down side de bed
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[aping the doctor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
an' tole huh
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[her]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
, ev'ry- where day'd went - I's mah house 'sleep in bed - tole her whut kin'a woman serve de table, how she set, where an' how the glasses wus. She said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, God knows, you shore must'a seen somepin,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"cuz God knows,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"it's true."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, all right,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"now sen' an' git him, sen' an' git chore frien' down here on Secon' an' Canal - South Secon' Street."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She sent an' got 'im. When he come in - he wus about an hour comin' - he come in, he said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence, whut's the mattah?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'm sick."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Uh,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
he said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"anything that I kin do?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"No."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I got some medicine, a 'scription here,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"you got any money to fill it?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll git some."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He gits in the car an' goes to the bank an' gits money, come back, fill the 'scription. He
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[doctor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
gives 'er a dose of that medicine an' made it worser.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[End of side two.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[Side three begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I tole 'im, I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Don't give 'er no more medicine,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll take 'er case up mah ownself."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She's right over here on Catherine Street - I mean on Williams Street, in ten- hunderd block. She'll tell you the same words tonight. I kin go an' call 'er up out of 'er bed. Ev'rybody roun' there tell you who cause her to be livin' today. I went an' got mah stuff an' fixed it for 'er an' I got groun' puppies out of 'er. I got things out of 'er looked like fish lice. You ever see fish lice?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
(Yes.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Made mah tea from mah runnin'-brier root. Got mah grain
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[green]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
gourd seed - guts out of a grain gourd. Went up here on Windsors
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[?]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Farm, paid seventy-five cent fo' one quart of black-cow milk - milk whilest it's hot. Brought it back an' give it to 'er, after I give 'er d'other medicine. An' she jis' as helpless as a newborn baby, couldn't raise her han', an' wus scared to death, scramblin', tryin' to git out de bed. Think ah'm tellin' a lie? Ah'll git me a car and drive ovah dere an' prove it to you. There's another fellah live right chere on Moore Street below me - use to, he
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
don't live there now - call 'im John Ham. John Ham, whut been sick, claimed to have the rheumatism. Him an' his aunt had spent ovah three-hunderd dollahs on 'im. So I tole 'im, I said, one day out dere I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"John Ham, ''
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
there ain't a thing in the worl
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"'
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
- he's showin' me about his leg - I say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
they ain't a thing in the worl' but some of your womenfolks have put a spell on you.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Look, don' choo know I done been all down South
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[where the good doctors are]
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
You believe in that mess?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I boun' to believe in that mess when I do's that mess.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I kin cure yuh.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He call me Lin all the time, yuh see.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Kin yuh, Lin?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Yeah."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(What did he call you?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He call me Lin.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(Lin.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Mah name is Lindsay, but he call me Lin jis fo' a short name.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin you Lin?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"How much you charge me to cure me?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll tell you what I do."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"What?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll go here in the hills an' git the stuff an' I'll make you up some tea,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' I'll drinks a cupful of it mahself to show you that it's not poison, of the same tea."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll make you up a quart of this tea, then I'll give you a bath three times a week."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[End of side three.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[Side four begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
An' when his sistah came - I wus livin' the third do' from 'em - when his sistah came, he tole 'er about it. She said, "The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism." I said, "Well, I don't care whut the doctor says," I said, "the doctah tells a lie." She said, "Whut!" I said, "De doctah tells a lie." She looked at me as hard, "Huh!" Turn aroun', says, "You ain't no damn doctah." Dem's her words - de's of his sistah - said, "You ain't no damn doctah." His mothah is name Lil. An' his aunt stand' on the porch, she says, "Don't talk like that," say, "you don't know who you talkin' tuh." Kin'a 'fraid of me. I tole 'er, "You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking." I said, "Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah," I said, "if Lil says for me to cure 'im," I says, "I'll cure 'im," I said, "an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about." Lil said, "Well, Lindsay," says, "if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him," said, "you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is," said, "cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work." I says, "In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball." I said, "I'm your black Jesus." Told 'im jis' like that an' laffed at 'im, patted 'im in his chest. I said, "I'm your black Jesus." I said, "God above my God an' your God, too." I said, "Well, I'm your earthly Jesus." An' he laff an' he said, "Well."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"an' when I dress this house,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"if it's true,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"you will have no trouble."
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 2, p. 936
I says, "an' when I dress this house," I says, "if it's true," I says, "you will have no trouble."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"Florence,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"w'a's the mattah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I don't know, doctor,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I'm so sick I don't know w'a' to do."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I think you've got broken-down nerves."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"An' tell Florence when she come to don't go out with"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"tell Florence when she gets up to don't go out with."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence an' Henry are gone out."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, jes' as sure as God's still in heaven,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence is gon'a git 'er dose."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Doctor,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, God knows, you shore must'a seen somepin,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"cuz God knows,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"it's true."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, all right,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"now sen' an' git him, sen' an' git chore frien' down here on Secon' an' Canal - South Secon' Street."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence, whut's the mattah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'm sick."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Uh,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"anything that I kin do?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"No."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I got some medicine, a 'scription here,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"you got any money to fill it?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll git some."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Don't give 'er no more medicine,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll take 'er case up mah ownself."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin you Lin?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"How much you charge me to cure me?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll tell you what I do."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"What?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll go here in the hills an' git the stuff an' I'll make you up some tea,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' I'll drinks a cupful of it mahself to show you that it's not poison, of the same tea."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll make you up a quart of this tea, then I'll give you a bath three times a week."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, I don't care whut the doctor says,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"the doctah tells a lie."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Whut!"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"De doctah tells a lie."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Huh!"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You ain't no damn doctah."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You ain't no damn doctah."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Don't talk like that,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"you don't know who you talkin' tuh."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"if Lil says for me to cure 'im,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll cure 'im,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, Lindsay,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'm your black Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'm your black Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"God above my God an' your God, too."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, I'm your earthly Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well."
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 2, p. 939
An' when his sistah came - I wus livin' the third do' from 'em - when his sistah came, he tole 'er about it. She said, "The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism." I said, "Well, I don't care whut the doctor says," I said, "the doctah tells a lie." She said, "Whut!" I said, "De doctah tells a lie." She looked at me as hard, "Huh!" Turn aroun', says, "You ain't no damn doctah." Dem's her words - de's of his sistah - said, "You ain't no damn doctah." His mothah is name Lil. An' his aunt stand' on the porch, she says, "Don't talk like that," say, "you don't know who you talkin' tuh." Kin'a 'fraid of me. I tole 'er, "You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking." I said, "Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah," I said, "if Lil says for me to cure 'im," I says, "I'll cure 'im," I said, "an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about." Lil said, "Well, Lindsay," says, "if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him," said, "you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is," said, "cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work." I says, "In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball." I said, "I'm your black Jesus." Told 'im jis' like that an' laffed at 'im, patted 'im in his chest. I said, "I'm your black Jesus." I said, "God above my God an' your God, too." I said, "Well, I'm your earthly Jesus." An' he laff an' he said, "Well."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"How do you know?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"John Ham, ''
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"there ain't a thing in the worl"'
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"they ain't a thing in the worl' but some of your womenfolks have put a spell on you."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Look, don' choo know I done been all down South
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You believe in that mess?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I boun' to believe in that mess when I do's that mess."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I kin cure yuh."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin yuh, Lin?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Yeah."
Nested source context: editorial counterfactual qualification · Vol. 2, p. 937
[This was about the best answer I could have given to his difficult question. If I had answered, "You believe in witchery, therefore it exists for you; but I do not believe in witchery, therefore it does not exist for me, except in that it exists for you" - if I had so answered, would his second question have followed?]
Nested source context: recording representation qualification · Vol. 2, p. 937
[End of side one.] - whut to cure it. [The last four words are on the cylinder but not on the record.]
Nested source context: reported self context · Vol. 2, p. 938
"there ain't no need of writin' Florence no 'scription. Florence is poison.
Nested source context: reported self context · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I saw it last night.
partial continuing interview window with context only edges
This passage covers part of a continuing interview; neither the complete interview nor every topic is included.
The opening treatment promise continues the preceding introduction concerning Fletcher Powers on printed page 935; it is included as context only.
The closing John Ham and family dialogue follows the recording-side marker and continues on printed page 940; it is included as context only.
Narrated diagnosis/recovery remains attributed historical claim; no medical findings or effects.
Patient, doctor, family and Lindsay names are local source mentions, not resolved person identity.
Retain recording/cylinder distinctions and Hyatt counterfactual commentary.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 2, p. 935 · Vol. 2, p. 936 · Vol. 2, p. 937 · Vol. 2, p. 938 · Vol. 2, p. 939 · Vol. 2, p. 940