Subject:Die
Entries
Entry 3334
[When dey git togethah dataway.
(The man and a woman?)
Yeah, man an' a woman dataway. Dere's no way to git 'em apart unlessen case one 'tother of 'em will have to die. Co'Be now, if dey could git a probe in de woman, dey could do it, but it be fixea [cwnjured] so dat dere's no way to git 'em apart unlessen one 'tuthah [or the other] of 'em have tuh die.
Entry 3501
He have a intahco'se wit 'er an' she take a piece of new cloth an' take bis come on dat an' tie it in dat new cloth an' den she bury it undah de steps, an' when he steps ovah it three times, she take an' carry it to de cemetery an' bury it in de cemetery, an' den he be tied to her an' he Can't have anothah woman tuh save his life. IF SHE'D DIE AN' LEAVE HIM LAK DAT, BE CAN'T HAVE ANOTHAH WOMAN [see 1039, p.396]. Ah've seen dat done.
Entry 3653
Jes' lak yo' had a woman an' she wuz havin' mens. Yo' distrust dat she wuz goin' wit some man an' yo' couldn't stop 'er, yo' git dis slime from dat snail an' yo' wait till she goes tuh sleep an' den yo' rub 'er good 'tween 'er laigs wit it until yo' kill de snail. Do dat wit it 'live an' yo' rub it good until yo' kill de snail. Den when yo' kill dat aftah rubbin' her, den yo' take dat snail an' sew it up in a sack an' den put it, if yo' got a shelf lak dat, put it right behin' dat shelf an' let it stay dere. An' every man dat go tuh her, he'll be ready fo' her until he git ready to git on 'er. Den when he git on 'er, 'is nerves will fall. Nevah will have no intahco'se wit 'er.
Entry 3955
Ah hear dey say, take a woman's monthlies yo' know, an' bore a.hole in a tree an' put it in dat. Fo' nine mawnin's fore de sunrise an' - go an' hit it, drive it up. Dey say in de ninth mawnin' she'll be daid by dat. (Well, tell me the whole story.) Well, dey says dey take de monthlies an' bore a hole in a tree fo' nine mawnin's... (What about that hair though?) De hair? Well, now dey do de hair de same way.
Entry 4296
Dey say if dey catch yuh watah, da's [that is] dangerous, cuz ah know a man dat happened tuh. It wuz a frien' of ourn. Dey takes yuh watah an' dey puh-zit [puts it] in a bottle where no air kin hit it an' dey stah-zip [stops] it up wit a tight cork, an' dey take an' beah [bury] dat in de sunrise wit de bottom turned, yuh know, bottom upward.
(What do you mean in the sunrise?)
Yuh see, jis' lak de sun rise ovah heah, jis' de cornah de sun rise. Well, yuh - jis' lak dis is de cornah of yuh house. Well, yuh jis' beah dat where de sun risin' an' when it rises, it'll face right on dat bottle. But yuh see yuh turn dat bottle bottom upwards. Now, when yuh gits ready tuh urinate, yuh stomik begins tuh hurt an' yuh can't urinate, becuz yuh watah is stopped up. An' now, if somebody kin git tuh it an' let yuh watah out, dat will relief yuh. DAT'S WHY MANY PEOPLE HAVE WATAH-BOUND AN' DIE.
Entry 5531
They say that if you take a rule and measure a [foot] track straight and then measure across, and take that same measurement and mark it out on a piece of paper, and take that paper and put a piece of cube root they call it, it grows mostly in Florida they say, and take that and the Sampson snakeroot and also Adam-and-Eve and 'coon root and High John the Conqu- er, and put that in with that paper, and then take that paper and put it so that it can be used under the head of the individual's bed, and by staying there for nine days in succession the individual begin to pine away and finally die. [Elizabeth City, N. Car. (182), 551:2.]
Entry 6575
Said dat a lady had some li'le lizards in 'er an' she wuz told by a hoodoo lady dat if dey caught dat lizard alive an' tied 'im in a dark cornah an' let 'im die. An' den took 'im an' parched 'im up, beat 'im up an' put 'im in de walk where she had tuh walk. So in de summah- time she'd go wit'out 'er shoes, an' de powdah would stick tuh de hollah of 'er feet, an' quite natchel [natural] 'er havin' life in 'er feets, she'd carry it on an' put on de shoe an' wear it, an' it create little lizards, an' de little lizards grew in 'er.
Entry 7521
Gotta go to graveyard at night 'tween one an' two - dat's de time yo' gotta go. When yo' go dere yo' gotta have a heartless spirit - yes, dose terri- ble dead people yo' know. Well, jes' de way some of 'em is kilt, dey fs holler- in' dat same thing an' doin' it. Well, yo' go to dat certain grave dat dis person want dis dirt off. Ah'll go dere in de daytime an' pick dat grave out. Den ah'll go dere in de night, go in dere at one 'clock an' fes' dig doom in dere an git de dirt off dat certain person's grave. Well, ah'll come to yo' an' tell yo', ah say, "Nou, yo' take dis dirt an' if yo' wanta move such a one out chure house, yo' take dat dirt an' sprinkle it all roun' in dat house an' dat person can't say in dere to save dere life." An' dat very man yo' wus talkin' to he knows all about it, 'cuz he's de one tole me about it.
Entry 7522
Jis' what sickness, what disease dey died wit - why where dat woman is, maybe she step ovah it, why she will git de reflect of dat. If dey dies wit T. B., why de T. B's will reveal on yo'; an' if dey dies wit rheuma- tism, yo'll take effect of dat. See, all dat comes out of dat bone, yo' see.
Entry 8020
Dey say if yo' take, fo' example, yo' take a daid person's bone an' bury it undah some person's premises, dat chew do not tuh thrive, an' dey'll jis' die away. Dey can't thrive. Dey git weak an' can't wage anything dere an' event'ly [eventually] go down.
Entry 8098
Yo' kin take dat, jis' a tintype. Yo' kin take it an' bury it an' kill a person jis' as daid as dey evah have tuh die. Yo' take it an' carry it out somewhere an' yo' dig a hole an' put it in it, an' yo' jis' curse an' say, "Ah hope dat yo'll die an' nevah come back ag'in." An' bury it. Dat's de way tuh bury an' dey'll die. As dat tintype fade away, why dey'll fade away. Dey will shore die.
Entry 8148
Yo' kin take a person's pichure an' put it on a new piece of lumbah, an' put it up undah yore do'step, an' put a piece of dere hair in de toadfrog mouth, an' drive a nail in hit, in de toadfrog heart an' de pi- chure heart, on de new piece of lumbah whut chew got drive down. Drive a peg through 'is heart an' through de heart of de tin- type pichure. An' aftah dat toadfrog die, yo'll die. An' put dat up undah yore do'step so yo'll come out ovah it evah mawnin'. When dat toadfrog die, yo'll die. (You put this picture on a new piece of lumber, then you put the frog on the picture. Then you drive a nail [or peg] right through the hearts of all of them.) Right through both of 'em heart an' put a hair out 'is haid in 'is [toad- frog's] mouth.
Entry 8206
Suppose yo' want a person tuh live about two months aftah yo' take it. Yo' kin take a tintype an' yo' dig two feet in de ground, an' yo' tell it, "Ah wan' chew tuh die wit'in two months." Yo' write his name, whethah yo' kin see it or not, yo' know how tuh spell dat name. Yo' know yo' kin be writin' it, whethah yo' kin read it on dere, yo' lnow, on dere or not. Yo' write it anyhow, "Ah wan' chew tuh die in two months." Den cross it, 'in two months.' [Cross the first words in two months with the second in two months.] Den yo' take dis. photograph an' do dis, dig dis two-feet hole. Den yo' turn it down on de face of it an' den yo' make yore wish, "Ah want chew tuh be daid in two months." Den yo' covah it up. Slap yore right feet on it an' stomp it fo' six times, 'Ah want chew tuh die in two months, ah want chew tuh die in two months." Dey'll die.
Entry 8227
Bury it on de face.
(Bury it? What will that do?)
In nine days yo'll be buried. (I see.) On a tintype.
Entry 8665
If yo' Want to kill a person - if yo' got it in fo' dem - git chew a nail an' go to a tree. Turn jes' towards de sun, de sunrise see, an' yo' nail dat nail in de tree see, an' call his name three times. In nine day's time why he'll be dead.
(Well, now, does he nail to- Ward the sun or does he nail it on the sunrise side of the tree?) Well, jes' lak [demonstrates]
de sun risin' disaway. See de tree settin' dat way. Yo' nail dat right in de tree towards de sunrise. (While you are facing the sunrise? Or on that side of the tree which faces the sunrise?) See, de tree will face de sun.
(And you put it in that side of the tree?)
Yo' nail it right in de side where de tree face de sun. [Florence, S. Car., (1318), 2263:3.].
Entry 8666
Ef [if] yo' don' know who is in co't [court - a witness against you] but chew wanta kill 'im. When yo' know his name - well, if yo' know his name [the whole rite changes], take a tenpenny nail an' stick it up side of a pine tree. An' hit it eighteen times an' de nineteenth time he is a dead man.
(If you want to kill him.)
Yes. (I see. You call his name how many times did you say?) Eighteen time an' de 20th time - call 'im 18 time an' de 19th time yo' drive it to de butt [the head of the nail all the way].
Entry 8735
Take a piece of paper an' write their names nine times on dis an' ah have used some of dat Three S Love Powder an' nail it up, in a tree or somepin, yo' know, an' finally he'll come back if de tree doesn't die. Long as it lives they'll [he'll] come back, but if it dies they'll [he'll] never come back. (You write this person's name on this paper, then put this powder on it, and nail it up in a tree? That's all you have to do to make him come back?) Yes.
Entry 9313
If yo' wan' tuh hurt[hoo- dool anybody or do anything tuh anybody, even yuh enemah, yo' got'a go tuh de sto' an' buy a aig, a fresh aig, an' come back tuh dere house, yuh enemah house. An' stand off from de front do', an' take an' throw dat aig up ov' [over] de do' an' bust it. An' let it drain down an' make a oath whah choo wan' 'em tuh do. Jis' lak if yo' wan' 'em tuh die. An' while dat aig. drainin' down, yo' make a oath, an' in nine days dey'll take sick, an' dere's no cuah [cure] fah [for] 'em.
Entry 9716
Yo' kin take a nail - a spike. Take dat an' kill a puhson. Ah tell yuh whut. Nail dat about de height of de puhson. Yo' care dat tuh a tree an' yo' kin care it in dis country [South Carolina] - yo' care it tuh whut's known as a workin' pine. Dat's de lady pine. Dere's a he an' a she, yo' know, suh, in de pine trees. An' yo' care it tuh dat. Go dere early in de mawnin'. An' dere's anothah one. Yo' kin care it tuh a peah [pear] tree an' drive it in dere about de height of 'em [the victim]. Drive dat in dere. Call 'em, hit it, drive it in dere hard, Ah drive dis spike intuh yore reart, dat no longah shall yo' Zive'r [live or] remain on earth. Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Den turn roun' an' call dem. Call dem, but don't put yore hamah or hatchet down. Hold it in a drivin' position. Drive it! An' evah tine yo' drive yo' say, Die! Die! Dat'll bring on quick-enough death. Drive it! Tell 'em yo' drivin' it through dey heart, dey witals an' weins. Yo' shall Die! Die! Yo' must die! Yo' shall die!
Entry 9808
Yo' take seven needles an' yo' take seven straight pins an' yo' take three nails. An' yo' kin take a quart of watah an' de stoppah tuh shet [shut] de quart bottle. An' y'o kin put dem dere seven needles an' dem dere straight pins an' dem three nails in dat quart of watah. An' yo' put dat stoppah in dere. Stop it up, but don' try tuh stop it tight. An' yo' place it at sun risin' undah yore baid. An' if yo' wanta kill a puh- son - lak yo' wanta kill 'im- yo' kin hit dat stoppah wit a hammah. But yo' don' want no iron hammah, yo' wants a kinda wooden hammah, yo' undahstand. [Wooden hammer is rare in HOODOO.] An' yo' hit dat a certain many times evah mawnin' tuh kill a puhson, an' yo' hit it one time aftah it's gone down, dat sun, jes' tuh lingah dat person - jes' tuh put 'im sick, where he be Bo mo good, jes' lingahin'. An' when dem needles rust out, he rust out. It won't kill 'im right away. Take dem nails an' needles in dat quart bottle, an' yo' kin hit dat stoppah three times where de sun rise an' in seventeen days he'll be daid.... [Here I turned off machine too quickly and had to reopen conversation with a qoestion.1
(Where do you put this bottle then? Do you put it under the victim's bed?)
No sir, yo' put it undah yore baid, an' when yo' hit dat, take it out evah sasnin'-time yo' git up, an' hit dat stoppah an' jes' call [the name of] which ane yo' wanta do [kill]. If yo' want 'im tuh lingah, yo' kin hit dat stoppah ane time, as de sun goin' down, de sun settin' in de weat; an' if yo' wanta Hul 'im, yo' kin hit it early in de mawnin' three times.
Entry 9865
All right. Chew take a long homespun string jes' about long enough tuh make nine knots. Den yo' ketch dis frog an' a - yo' don' want him daid, keep him alive. An' which is dis about, if yo' wanta run a person? If yo' take dis heah homespun - take a string an' tie it nine times an' yo' tie it tuh 'is laig. Den yo' go tuh de person's house, dere do'step, dere front do'step, an' put it undahneat' of de do'steps. Den yo' let de frog stay dere till nine mawnin's an whosomevah de party dat [is] yo' calls dere name, an' let 'em walk ovah dat fo' nine mawnin's, den dey will die, if de frog dies. If de frog is goin' tuh die de ninth mawnin' yo' goin' also die.
(You simply tie this string around the frog's leg?)
Aroun' de lef' laig, nine times [demonstrates]. (You just loop this around his leg and tie a knot. Then loop it around his leg and tie a knot again. And you tie nine knots in string on frog's leg and bury frog under the door.)
[Here for informant's word put I substitute bury!]
Bury him undah de door right at de steps lak when yo' come out. Put it right up undah de sill of de steps. [The frog is not buried but kept alive: yo' don' want him daid, keep him alive.] Well, when he come out well - well, he kin stay dere nine mawnin's, nine days, dat frog is compelled tuh die wit'out food. Well, he'll die an' den yo'll pass also wit de frog.
(You actually bury that under the ground?)
[Here again I am suggesting the frog is buried!]
Yo' bury de frog under de ground.
(That's to kill the person living in the house?)
Yessuh. [Magically we have enough here to kill anyone: the intention, home- spun = new string, 9 knots in, tied about left [back] leg, animal buried under step victim must walk over, victim's name called, etc. For something similar, including steps, see No.9871, six rites forward.]
Entry 9867
If a person wanta kill yo', name dat frog dis person. An' yo' hang dat frog up in a bucket or cup or somepin where he can't git out dere. An' when dis frog begin tuh git hungry, starve, he pine away an' de person will pine away. When de frog die, dat person will die.
Entry 9925
Take a toadfrog an' squeeze him an' take his watah [urine] out of 'im, if a person yo' don't like, see. Squeeze him till yo' git 'is watah outa him. An' when yo' git 'is watah outa 'im, take a li'l blue- stone an' mix it up wit dat toadfrog watah, an' add some of yore watah [urine] tuh it. It will cause de person tuh swell up. Yo' give it tuh 'em in a drink or somepin, dey'll swell up an' bust.
Entry 9939
Take a toadfrog. Ketch 'im 'live an' git chew a hot pot. Put dat toadfrog in dere an' fry 'im up an' let 'im go tuh a dust. Take dat toadfrog an' he go tuh a dust. An' yo' take an' git chew de best of whiskey, an' put dat toad- frog in dere an' yo' strain dat. Yo' strain it an' den yo' come along an' ah'll drink it. When yo' drink, jis' lak de toadfrog swell up, yo' swell up an' yo' die.
Entry 9954
Dey could take a frog an' put 'im in a box an' git nine goldeye needles an' bur'[ [bury] 'em am [around] a chimley or some place lak dat. An' go dere evah mawnin' about nine o'- clock, an' fuh nine mavnin's. Yo' bur' de box, den stick de needles up on top, an let it be crossed up; stick de nee- dles [crossing one another] all aroun' on top of it [box]. Yuh go dere nine panin's an' pray fuh de person tuh die. [In country districts years ago around the chimney was sometimes the toilet and a convenient place to hoodoo a person by buried object. For a remarkable example of this see the woman haunted by a buzzard.]
Entry 9969
Yo' take a frog and dry him. You take a frog and wrap him up and let hin die himself. Don't you kill him. Well, when he gets dry, you tote that in your pocket. You can take that and you can do anything you want with that frog. Just like if you a dice shooter, or anything I like that, you rub that [dried frog]. Jis' put it in your pocket and take and put your hand on that [frog] and go to work and shoot dice. Be lucky. Jes' like if you had one game, and if you don't have success with that, turn your back on that game. And select you a card place, if you play cards, and you'll lose one or two games and you know that you ought to win, turn your back on that game.
(How do you mean turn your back on it?)
What I mean, walk away from that game and go to the next game.
(I see, if you have this frog in your pocket.)
drying/state of the wrapped frog after the stated let-die instruction. Keep Don’t you kill him and let him die himself as the source’s wording; do not describe the text as harmless, or replace it with active killing. rubbing the carried dry frog before dice play. Resolve the pronoun from actual complete narrator context, not only the bracketed gloss. conditional lack of success at gambling and changing games. Preserve don’t have success, the card-game losses and the practical walk-away explanation. expected winning contrasted with one or two losses and leaving the game. Preserve if you play cards, one or two losses, ought to win and the instruction to move to the next game. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 10014
De way dey git de black cats lucky bone, kill de cat alive an' put 'im in a pot befo' he dies thoroughly dead - in a pota boilin' hot watah. All right. Let 'im boil till all de meat come off 'is bones, an' po' all de meat an' bones all in de [stream of] watah. An' de bone dat go upstream, take dat. Dat's de lucky bone, de black cats lucky bone. [Presumably cat is knocked senseless be- fore being dropped into hot water.]
Entry 10719
An old note of ine in red ink reads: Good ills- tration of "intention"[[pover of what you intend to doll & my difficulty trying to have informant say without putting my words into his outh.] Yo' could take a bird - yo' know birds mating, yo' know birds, an' take too of 'em whut mates an' take an' cut one of 'em's throat an' let de blood run in de nmnin' watah, an' loose de othah one. De othah one, dat will svell up an' die. Dat jest de way de man do, whensomevah yo' have an enemy dat gives yo' any- thing lak dat. Dey'll swell up an' die. (Well, how do you know that anyone will die? Do you have to do something else with that?) He jest take sick. Yo' put dat blood in dat runnin' watah. Ketch 'em both, but when yo' git 'em to de watah, cut one of 'em's throat an' let de blood run in de watah, an' loose de othah one. An' de one whut's a bad enemy against yo'; dey'll take sick - go to swelling up. (Well, how do you connect these birds with the enemy? Don't you have to con- nect them in some way?) Well, yo' kin jest tell de enemy, yo' know, he take sick. Yo' know who is by his taking sick. He takes sick den an' he keeps alingering an' he swell up an' die.
(When you are doing this, you have to have the enemy in mind.)
De enemy in mind, whosomevah is a enemy against me. Yo' may not know jest who it is, but yo' know yo's [you hasl a mortal enemy about. Yo' know lak dat. Yo' have it in yore mind lak dat.
(You take any kind of birds that are mates.)
Dat are mates.
Entry 10730
If a man an' a woman, yo' know whut ah mean, a woman an' a man in dat kind of a line. Well, yo' kin take dat an' bury it. See, jis' lak if ah jis' pulled off mah underclothes, it's gotta be somepin dat's on dose clothes so's [so as] yo' kin do anythin' lak dat. Yo' understan' whut ah mean. See, jis' lak if a woman's ministratin', it's gotta have some of dat stain on dere. See. An' dey buries dat, jis' bury it anywhere, see. An' den when dose clothes begin tuh rot well, she begin tuh linger, sick fo' a long time. An' as dose clothes be rotten, she be lingerin' sick, yo' see. An' when dose clothes finish rotten aw [a why], den dat kills her right dere.
Entry 10838
If yo' will stew a buzzard down an' yo' wanta put it aroun' some enemy's do' an' bury it, an' dey says that that person then will become sick an' he will die.
Entry 11019
(Ever hear of them using chicken feathers for anything?) [An old note of mine adds: Always asked this question to see whether Negro believed in witch wreath.] Well, er...ah.... Jis' lak a person doin' somepin tah yo an' yo' wanta git rd of 'en, yo' take some of de feathahs outa dey bed shere dey sleep at an' yo' put dis oil of bergamine [bergamot] an' sweet oil togethah an' jis' grease dose feathah with 'em, dat chew got out de bed from where dey sleep. Jis' grease dose feathahs with 'em an' take 'em an' put 'em in a can or somepin an stop 'em up, an' take 'em tuh de south side of a tree not very far from dey house an' bury it dere. See. An' when dem dere feathahs will finally pine away - dey'll jis' pine away tuh nuthin. Dey jis' git sick an' dey sick on dey stomick an' dey jis' ache all ovah. An' it jis' sompin lak de rheumatism an' cain't no doctor [M.D.] do 'em no good an' event'ly dey'll die.
Entry 11025
Dey use chicken feathers dey say fo' bad luck. Probably if yo' got some chickens or sompin lak dat an' ah wanta make yo' have bad luck, ah kin take de feathers from yore chick- ens and burn 'em in mah stove. See, an' use de ashes an' dese chicken fea- thers an' take 'em an' sprinkle 'em all round yore house. Dat will cause all yore chickens tuh die, or someone in yore family to die, or sompin lak dat. Dat's whut de' call a re- buke to a family. Or either if ah should happen to have tuh buy a chicken or sompin lak dat, ah kin git some of yore dirt from roun' in yore yard where yo' have travel on, an' use it an' burn it an' cause yo' tuh have bad luck to some of yore family or either probably to yo'.
Entry 11119
You kin take an' draw a coffin, you understand, see, an' make you a wish on it, an' cross it up so many times - put about 3 crosses on it, an' make you a wish. An' bare [bury] it under their doorsteps or either you kin put it in front of their door. See, you kin jis' throw it in there. Wrap it up, fold it up, write it [name of person on]. An' throw it in the front of their door. An' put the [word] devil on top of it, write the devil on top of it, see right up on top. Either [instead of writing devil] you kin draw one you know, you understand, see like that. They'll die.
Entry 11173
Lots of people talk about different things dat ah have nevah tried. but dis heah whut ah'm tellin' yo' now, ah've tried dis mahself, yo' see. If a person wants to mistreat yo' an' dis is yore place heah, yo' take devil's- shoestring - ah don't know whether yo' evah hear tell of it - devil's-shoestring an' blacksnake root. "Co'rse dey roots whut grows in de wood. An' yo' kin twist dem dere roots together [probably tie together so that they will not unravel], put them between yore mat- tress whut chew lay on. Dat'll constipate yore bowels where yo' can't have action an' well, den dat cause yo' to git in misery, make yo' sick. Unless some man come long wise enough to detect dat, dat devil- ment is undah dat mattress, why de doctors [M.D.'s] dey can't save yo', yo' see. But now, if a man come along have done experienced dis devilment, he knows jest exactly whut tuh take an' whut tuh tell yo' tuh do tuh git dat devilment. Look under dat mattress. [Waycross, Ga.,. (1120a), 1798:6.]
Entry 11633
They do this plenty of 'em if they want to start you to traveling, you know, something like that. Well, they take a strand of hair out your head or if they can't git it they git somebody what close friend to you to get it, you un- derstand if they can't get it themselves. A strand of hair from you, regardless of where it come from. Get something like a fish, you know and they'll thread it into his gills, like that, you understand. Leave the thread stay in there and throw that fish back into the water. Just like that fish go, you'll go, and the death of that fish will be the death of you.
Entry 11663
Den you go to de fo'k of de road, see, dis here way; de road comin' like dis, one comin' like dis, and one straight up [3 roads coming together, a "Y" fork]. And if you wants me to die tonight, you goes to de fo'k of de road, say, "God damn it, I wants Mary to die to- night." Well, you hears a gang of music, but chew don't see nothin'. And you jes' throw a penny down dere and go off from dere. You left one penny dere, and I [Mary] dies 'fore de night is over. (You will die before the night is over. The fork of any road where two roads cross?) Ye-es, no, de fo'k of de road like jes' one coming dis way, one comin' dis away and one straight up.
(I see, three roads coming together.)
Yes, dat de fo'ks. (And you just stand in the fork of the road at twelve o'clock at night and you just say....) Twelve in de day and twelve at night. It don't work no other time; twelve at night or twelve in the morning. Gotta throw a penny down dere, you know. Yeah gotta leave a penny.
Entry 11746
Dey say 'fore dey bury him [man from whom something Was stolen] dey can fix things to make him [thief], dey can get some graveyard dirt, take and fix it, and dey kin sew [sprinkle] it down and de person what stole, why he have to bring it back 'cause he can't hold it. Yes sir. With graveyard dirt and sulphur. Dat's it, graveyard dirt and sulphur.
(Graveyard dirt and sulphur?)
And mix it together and salt.
(And what?)
And salt, table salt. Say dey kin throw it, throw it up [into air] and put it down [do both]. And dey say dey goin' bring it back, say dey can't hold it.
(That's to bring back something that was stolen?)
Dat's it. And dey ain't comin' in de house with it. Dey goin' throw it at de steps, so you kin get up de next morning and get it. Dey can't hold it, make 'em bring it back.
Entry 12153
Ah heard of a person takin' a hickory stick an' if dey give - jes' 1 lak yo' an' dem in a fight or sompin lak dat. Well, dey hit chew wit dat stick, an' dey take dat stick an' bury dat stick an' call yore name three times. An' dey tell me dat in nine days - ah didn't see dis done, but ah heard some people say dey have witness de same thing. Dey say in nine days dat person will be dead.
(All you do is hit that person with the stick?)
An' call dere name an' bury dat stick by de man's relative dat las' died, yo' know, in de graveyard. But chew bury it right by de person dat las' died, an' call dere name.
(Call the name of the person you hit?)
Yessuh. An' in nine days, why, if dey don't drop dead, dey jes' die sudden.
Entry 12233
Dat High John de Conkah root by hitself, yo' kin take dat in de mawn- in' an' yo' kin git up 'fore de sun rise, an' dere's a word dat chew have tuh say befo' de sun rise, an' look to de east. Po' a little of it out of de bottle, de liquid offa de root into yore han' an' rub it cross yore face three times. (What will that do?) Dat's to inherit mo' money. (What words do you say?) Jes' say, "So we live, so we die, ' po' a little bit in yore han' an' rub it cross yore face an' look to where de sun risin' in de mawnin'.
(What kind of liquid do you put in the bottle?)
Yo' kin put gin whiskey on it, or eithah Hearts Cologne - nuthin excusin' dat. Hearts Cologne or eithah pure gin whiskey [gin or white whiskey].
Entry 12288
Ah heard tell of a person takin' a string - a cord jes' like dey ties - if yo' want a person hurt. Why, where it will kill 'em, yo' know, or sompin like dat. Jes' git some of dis heah string an tie 9 knots in it, jes' as tight as yo' kin. An' bo' a hole into a green tree, any kind of a tree, jes' so it's green, an' put dat knot in it, dat dere string dat chew tied dem knots into dat tree, an' stop it up.
(Don't you say anything or do anything?)
Nosuh, jes' makes 'em sick till dey dies.
(You have to get a string from them, or what?)
Yassuh, from dey house. Anywhere roun' dere house yo' git dat string dat dey been usin'.
Entry 12323
It bad luck if yo' burn dat wood. (That lightning-struck wood.) Somebody certain in de family tuh die dat yeah, if dey burn dat wood dat wuz struck by lightnin'. It be awful bad luck tuh do dat, burn dat in yore house.
Entry 12324
Yo' could use de strucken wood, de wood where it strucken by lightnin', an' dey said dat dey use it on a person an' dey said dat dis person will soon die.
(How would you use it on a person?)
Well, jes' go tuh work an' make a tea an' put de tea tuh de bread, from de same wood. Jes' take it an' put it in a pot an' boil it, an' give de person de tea. Or eithah jes' mix it in whatsomevah dey eat. From lightnin'-strucken [wood]. (Well, what about burning the wood. Did you say something would happen about that?) If dey burn de wood, de person will soon die.
(Who Would soon die?)
Whosomevah goes tuh work an' use de wood. Well, if dey use it In de Name of de Lord, dey couldn't take it, dey say. But yo' kin use it fo' whut chew wanta use it fo'.
Entry 12689
(Do what?)
You kin take a pigeon's blood, you know. And you take nine drops of a pigeon's blood an' take you some - just ltke you urinated or somepin like that. You take nine drops of that pigeon's blood and you drop it down in there. See, anywhere what you want me to go that's considered like a woman want a man, you understand. She ketch pigeon's blood and she takes your urinate and put it down in there, an' just do any way she wanta use you. Any Way she wants to do with you, she could do with you. You understand.
(How?)
"Cause she have your name and that blood, you know, all mixed up together with that urinate. See. And then they could take you, with that pigeon's blood again and plant you with that blood. You understand? Put your name and stain it with the pigeon blood and then they tie [that to pigeon and] unloose that pigeon and let that pigeon go. Den see, long as that pigeon flying, you just flying and going with a waverish mind, you understand. That pigeon just flying everywhere but still you don't know what it is all about. You see. And you - they got you tied up with pigeon blood, just long as it fly.
[I turn off machine too quickly.]
(What did you say then?)
See, like the pigeon'll die, yo'll die too.
Entry 13086
Yo' ketch yo' a snake an' kill dis snake. Now, yo' if [you] know it 'tain't but one person goin' handle dis axe, take dis snake an' rub dis snake undah dis axe handle or eithah a hoe - what [what- ever] it is. Lak now, if ah wus mad wit chew an' if ah know nobody use dis but chew, ah would jes' rub dis snake on dis axe handle good. Dat would make yo' swell up an' die.
Entry 13326
De way ah've heard it now, dey split de tree - a little small sap- ling. Dey jes' split dat tree an' yo' kin take de trimmin'. Jes' lak yo' split it - yo' split de tree an' yo' cut out inside dere. Yo' take yore pocketknife an' yo' cut out de trimmin' 股中商 outa dere. An' den yo' take dat trimmin' an' den yo' go an' yo' - jes' lak a person dat chew see dat chew kere [care] fo' lak dat. Well yo' take de trimmin' outa dat an' yo' slip it in some of his clothes - yo' know, anywhere in de individual's clothes dat he wears regularly. Yo' understand, sew it up in his bindin' an' dey tell me dat'll bind two [one] couple together [you know] make dem cleave to one another. Dat's fur as ah evah hear of dat.
(What does that tree do then?)
Well, dat tree grows - yo' know, hit'll go back together, yo' understand me.
Entry 13434
An' if a person 'sleep an' be layin' in de bed an' yo' want 'em tuh talk tuh yuh, yo' git chew a pan of watah an' put dere han' in it. Jes' put doon dere fingahs down in de watah an' dey'll tell yo' jes' whut dey done durin' dat day. Dey talk in dere sleep. But if de wind would change de time dey got dere han' in dere, well it would kill 'em. (If the wind outside would change it would kill them?) It would kill 'em. [My only example of this belief. Presumably spirit of sleeping person to recall scenes of day must revisit them. A sudden change in the wind prevents him from returning to his body.]
Entry 1305
Jis' like a mother die an' left her young ones an' they're worried a lot at night - says you kin take a stick an' go to her grave an' broke it acrost the grave an' - you know, jis' hit right acrost the grave an' let the stick broke in half - why that would prevent 'em from botherin' the young ones that night. [See titles Whipping, p.388; Hitting Remedy, p.399, Cure By Breaking, P.389.]
Entry 22
[Despite the preceding title Two Spirits, they are two in character but one in substance.] I have hear'n people say that your spirit travels - it is out walking around at places where you have worked. You're sleeping and maybe you're trying to wake up - you're having a hard time waking. If you die, your spirit is gone from you, they say. It takes a long time to get it back. Some people are hollering and hollering and can't move. You're supposed to go and put your hand on them and shake them till they speak to you. They say you sometimes dies in that condition. People say they have hear'n this, people making a noise through the night. They think they were dreaming and they didn't bother, pay any attention to them. Next morning the're late getting up. When they go to rouse them, they would be dead.
Entry 32
During my childhood days I heard that a sick person who was very troublesome and worried them and worth a little money, the only thing you could do to stop the law from coming into it, this person went to a hoodoo and he told her to take this person's picture and turn it upside down under the [sick] bed and watch its effect. In three days the person was a corpse. You turn a photo- graph down like that and you watch the person and see if he don't get weaker every day. When you lay it down you are turning the life down like that.
Entry 74
I am just now thinking of the most wierd ghost story that I have heard in recent years. There was a man enroute from Washington to Baltimore and on the Way he overtook an old lady who was walking and carrying a basket. When he saw the old lady, the man stopped the car and asked the old lady her destination. She gave him a certain address in Baltimore. The man drove along with his pass- enger and just as he was reaching Baltimore he looked back and saw that there was no one on the rear seat. Where the old lady had been sitting there was nothing. The man of course was very astonished and wondered where the lady had disappeared because he had not stopped at all after he had stopped to pick the lady up. He hardly knew what to do. Finally, he decided to go to the address that the woman had given him to take her. When he reached the address the occupants of the house told him there was a woman who had once lived there by that name but that she had been dead three years. Of course the man did not explain what he had seen that day. [Ocean City, Md., (18), Ed.; supposed to have happened in 1932, four years earlier. The vanishing passenger or stranger who disappears suggests a folk theme.}
Entry 85
This woman lived on the same street I lived on. Her husband was sick and dying, and he told her, he said, "When I cross Jordan River I am going to let you know." And she asked him how she was to know. And he said his whole frame was going to shake when he was crossing. And when he died, he was dead about one-half hour, and just shook so hard until the bed shook with him. [New York City, (1), by hand; about i910 in Wilmington, N. Car.]
Entry 86
There was a whipping post at the Bloody Angle before the [Civil] War. Slaves were sometimes whipped to death there and they would come back singing. It was about a mile from Spotsylvania Court House. [Informant, thirteen years old when Civil War began, was born in what became the Bloody Angle during battles of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, 1864; battle at Bloody Angle, May 12.]
Entry 92
If you leave the house and lock the door and go away and come back and find it open, after awhile you'll wonder, "What's the matter? I'm sure I locked that door. Every time I come back the door is open." You get it in your mind somebody has died here and they didn't want anyone to come back in here to live. It wants it to remain just as they left it. Their family has got out and they feel the house should stay empty.
Entry 120
Once an old man by the name of uncle Esham would go on a hunting trip every night, Sundays included. Friends tried their best to refrain him from going hunting on Sunday but the old man continued as if nothing was said. One Sunday night he heard a voice speaking from a tree, saying, "Esham, Esham, what is the matter with you? You hunt Monday night, you hunt Tuesday night, you hunt Wednesday night, you hunt Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. Poor 'coons [racoons] can't get no rest." The old man would just listen and go on hunting just the same. One Sunday night when the old man passed be- neath the tree, not only did the voice speak to him, but when he looked around he saw red eyes, a man standing with his tongue out, pointing down the road. And he also said, "Esham, Esham, what is the matter with you? You hunt Monday night, you hunt Tuesday night, you hunt Wednesday night, you hunt Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. Poor 'coons can't get no rest." Just as this was spoken the tree fell down and killed uncle Esham. He was found lying there the next day. The story was told by an old man who used to follow uncle Esham about a hundred yards away. And that was the end of uncle Esham. My grandmother told me the story.
Entry 122
My mother said, about three days before she died, she saw a light in the room and this light kept going around the room. She followed it all around the room with her eyes. We asked her what she was looking at. She said she saw this light. When anybody in the family was going to die, my mother would always see a light in the room - then she knew there was no hope for them. [New York City, (1), by hand; Wilmington, N. Car.,1930. I interviewed all my Wilmington infor- mants in this house - see note preceding No.1.]
Entry 165
Dey say it's death.
(This whirlwind. How do you mean it's death?)
Somebody's goin' tuh die in de community. So ah hear de ole folks say.
Entry 166
Sometime dey say it's confusion, sometime dey say death; but whensomevah yo' see dat whirlwind go round an' round lak dat, yo' watch it an' dere'll be a fuss or a fight or somebody probably git killed, jes' where it stop. Dat's whut dey say about dat.
(Do you know what they used to say about that?)
Yeah. Well, dey say some ole devil died dere, somepin lak dat - yo' know, some bad person. Some evil spirit or somepin lak dat. Dat's whut dey call dat evil spirit.
Entry 205
A woman once was livin' an' she had a son. Another lady had a daughter. Well, this daughter was much older than the son. This woman [who] had the son didn't want fer her child - it was too much - to marry this woman's daughter. But anyhow, they went on together an' courtin' an' got married. An' this woman was heart-mad about it. An' so she went down in Jacksonville, Florida - some'ere 'nother - to get somepin fo' these people. Well, these people was wise, you see. These people was already on to it, see. They could do things to save theyself, you know, to look fer theirself, protect theirself. An' so the [hoodoo] woman tole this woman [boy's mother] - she went dere - now I'm not any lyin' - she say, "If dey [girl's family] see dis chicken fo' [before] it get to the house an' kill it, you'll die."
(Did she get this chicken from the woman down there in Florida?)
I couldn't tell. Anyhow, they see this chicken come out on Sunday mornin', comin' up to the house -.it went over to the front. Well, she [the girl's mother] gon'a watch out, you know, an' see this chicken comin' aroun' there - a necked [naked] chicken, a fry-size chicken, jis' as necked, didn't have a bit of feather on it. [A naked chicken - a chicken dressed to kill - a chicken carrying so much poison it had lost all feathers - see margin-title Doctor Frizzly.] A fellah say, "Oh, look at that chicken yonder!" An' this woman run out an' she met the chicken, an' she took a stick an' killed it, an' say, "Father, Son and the Holy Ghos', an' Three in One, I kill yeh." An' she sailed on the chicken an' she killed it. An' soon after that this woman took sick an' she died - the boy's mother.
(What did she tell her to do to this chicken?)
I don't know, but she had the chicken dress an' sent it [to] this house, you know. The chicken was goin' to the house. She [the hoodoo woman] said that she [the boy's mother] couldn't go - you see, they was watchin' then an' none of then couldn't go. She sent that chicken. The woman tole her, "Now, you send this chicken, you can't git to her - you send this chicken." [The action here is quite clear. The hoodoo woman did not give the boy's mother a dressed chicken to carry back to Georgia or wherever she came from; she gave her a two-purpose powder to sprinkle on a chicken after she had returned home - one part of the powder propelling the chicken forward, the other part containing the spell to be cast. A scientific explanation is also possible - the God of Chance took care of the final result, some stray undressed chicken getting itself killed.]
Entry 207
I was aboard a ship where [at a later date] all the crew had been taken off and no account could be given, and I was on the lookout one morning between four and five o'clock on the fore stage. And there came five pigeons and sat on that stage and what they were I never could tell. I thought those five pigeons were the spirits of those dead. They said a sea serpent took those five men off that boat down in the Caribbean Sea. And that was in 1867. That brig was from New York, the Mary Celeste. [This man in 1860 was old enough to travel from Yorktown to Hampton by him- self, sleeping one night out in the open. Without claiming anything or boasting he said he had been a sailor on the ship just after the five men were lost in 1867. The loss of the complete crew to which he refers - the Mary Celeste left New York for Genoa on November 7, 1872, and four weeks later was found abandoned in the Atlantic; no one aboard ever being heard from again.]
Entry 216
This story that I am about to tell happened in New York [City] about two years ago [1934]. There was a black cat came to a lady and followed her home. She tried to keep him out. He followed her on into the house. To begin with she intended to get rid of him, but after he stayed for a day and a night, she liked him and she kept him. He was there about four weeks. The woman went away to Chicago to the big fair that was there and she took the cat, she carried it over, to another woman's house to spend the ten days she was away. They took care of him over there. When she came back home, she sent and got this cat and brought it back. This woman's house she carried it to, her brother-in-law was living with her. Three days after the cat was carried back, this woman's brother-in-law - he had heart trouble - that had kept it ten days, started upstairs. He got to the third floor, he lived on the fourth, dropped down with his cigarette in his mouth and died right there. People came up the stairs and found him with the cigarette still in his mouth and had to take it out to keep it from burning him. They took him back up to the apartment and he was buried from there. One week after, the woman that the cat had followed home, she went to work. She didn't work all the time, but this was a special day she went out to do some- thing. She kissed everybody goodby, went downtown to do some little housework. She did what she had to do on the first floor, went up the stairs, got to the top of the stairs, gave one little sigh. Someone came to her and when they got there she could not speak. She died. The black cat was still at her house. They huddled him out from there because no one wanted to see that cat because some people was watching the effects wherever he had been. They took him to another apartment on Grant Avenue. That family was demolished. Trouble came up and they separated. So they got someone to take the cat out in the country and I heard no more of him.
Entry 578
She [the informant's aunt] lingered along sick an' she sent to get a man from de South to come up here an' see about it. Well, when he came it wus too late; she had a hole in her back. He told her that she wus cunjured an' he would begun to verked [worked] on 'er. An' he told 'er dat it would be insex that came from 'er body. The first he got wus a snake, an' nex' he got two crabs. An' then he begin to doctor on her again. An' he told her dat some [ground] puppies would be [in her], an' told her if de puppies came out an' didn't look back an' bark at her, dat he could cure 'er; but if dey came out an' looked back an' bark at her, he wouldn't cure 'er. So the first one came out an' he vent runnin' on out de door into de front; de nex' one came out, he went runnin' out de door into de front; an' de nex' one came out, he got fer as de front doah an' looked back at her an' bark. An' in ten minutes after that she wus dead. So they took de puppies an' put 'em in some alcohol. [Wilmington, N. Car., (205), 197:3.] [Ground puppy = the hellbender, aquatic salamander (Cryptobranchus allenganiensis), common in streams of Ohio Valley and up to 18 inches.] 1
Entry 643
Your doctor medicine would natch'ly turn agains' yeh - it wouldn't do yo' no good. Ever'time de doctor would come and de more medicine you would take from 'im would make yo' more iller, see. And then after [afterward] yo' would either git more ill and if you did never change you would die. Then yo' find de medicine begin to git worse and worse on yo', why yo' have to change and git some herb doctor.
Entry 722
There's a weed that grows called devil's wishbone and another one called hav-e-ry brav-e-ry. It has a leaf on it as tall as your finger, it's a little leaf that sticks up right on the end in the shape of a heart. There's only one leaf. You take that devil's wishbone and havery bravery together and goes back and gets something called snakeroot and sasparilla root, and put that together. That'll stop you from breathing. You're a dead man if they get that to you. It's terrible. You're ready for the undertaker. That's death in the pot. And I'd back away from it, too.
Entry 775
This man, his name was James Brown. He lived 'tween Suffolk and Holland in Virginia. He was a farmer. He lived near his birthplace. It Was said of him that when he was a boy - he was a very mischief boy, he would run across a lady's flower garden and the lady didn't see any way to keep him off of her flowers. So she said to him, "Boy, if you cross my flower garden again, I'm going to have you barking like a dog." So he crossed her flower garden again. And that night he started a sound something like a cough, only more like the bark of a dog. That sound stayed with him until he died. He would make that sound almost every two minutes. Sometime he would use vulgarity with it. It didn't care where he went. He even made that sound in church. He raised a family of seven girls and four boys. He died when he was forty-eight and the peculiar thing was he drop where that flower garden was.
Entry 943
You do that on the last quarter of the moon and then you see results for it on the growing of the next moon or the new moon. That's for someone doing something for you, you know, like when you want to make a person do like you want them to do. Of course, now, they say if you want to, you know, like running a person away or hurt a person or killing a person, you want to begin on the new moon and they'll go away as the moon get older. See, like when you're running a person away. Now, like I want to move you from this house. Whatsomever I do, I do it right on the new moon and the first quarter, and then, see, by the time the moon gets to the last quarter I'll leave this home or I'll waste away or die on the last of the moon.
Entry 1041
Some people be wise enough for to bring 'em [live snakes] from 'um.
(Well, how could they get those out of them?)
Well, if ah'm de one dat put 'em in dere, no one kin get 'em out but me. And if I gets 'em out, I'll never be able to do no more.
(You'll never be able to do it again?)
No - ugh-awh. If I do my work fer you, den turn aroun' and do it against you, I'll never be able to do it anymore. [If this is the Hippocratic oath of hoodoo-conjuration-witchcraft-rootwork, I heard little about it.]
(That same thing anymore - you'll never be able to do it again?)
No, won't do anything - my hand be broke altogether, that's the one that is to take it off.
(He must take it off but if he does take it off, all his power is gone?)
All his power is gone. And then if he dies in the time, you'll never be cured and no one else can git it off you.
Entry 1252
Yo' mustn't cut down one - a fig tree. Say dere'll be a death in de family. Den dey say no girl mustn't climb it, because it will pine away an' die - no girl, no woman must nevah climb a fig tree.
Entry 1744
They takes a new shingle and cuts it like a boat you know, like a ship sharp at each end, and when the tide's going out - they writes your name on that too, nine times - and when de tide's out they throw it over- board and that person will die.
Entry 1790
An' old fashioned coffin, dey befo' yo' wus bo'n ah suppose, too; but lay it in dere dataway. Yo' cut it.
(Cut what?)
Take that photograph an' cut it in three P'ints jes' lak that old-fashioned coffin dey made. Yo' take it to the grave an' yo' bury it, an' yo' bury it on its face In de Name of Jesus. Yo' don't put it no way but on its face, bury him in dat grave on his face, a new grave, not a old one, an' yo' bury it in a new grave that's not been there long. He'll jes' pass on away. [My note on final transcription reads, "This elderly woman supposed to be good - was forgetful - probably a little scared."]
Entry 1794
I saw is in a matchbox. Dey got a matchbox an' dey cut a pitchure - drawed a pitchure and named it de person dey was drawin' an' put it into dis matchbox an' buried it with de face down. Before dey buried it dey whipped it nine mornin's, an' den de ninth mornin' dey buried it with de face down.
(What is that supposed to do?)
Well, when you buried with your face down, you know you bound to die - you can't live.
Entry 1796
Makin' or drawin' a coffin an' writin' a person name in it. Den yo' kin draw a coffin an' write dere name an' carry it to de fo'k of a road wit de person name an' whut chew want done to it, an' bury it an' curse an' walk on off. Dey say dey will die.
Entry 1804
I've heard tell, make an image of a coffin. Dat wus done heah not so many yeahs ago - made de coffin. An' den yo' go an' murder somepin like a bird or rabbit or somepin an' put it in dat coffin, an' write chure name on it an' go an' bury it. An' dey say yo' can't live long - yo'll soon have tuh go to de Judgment.
Entry 1805
[There are many animal-substitution rites like the preceding one. Here is another:] If yo' git mad at somebody ah guess, an' yo' draw a person, yo' know. Yo' draw the person. Yo' draw a little box an' yo' write the person's name on his haid. That's fo' him tuh go in when he die. An' yo' ketch a frog an' yo' name that frog such a person yo' made. Chew hate de person an' [therefore] yo' 'buse dat frog nine times fo' nine mawnin's, yo' whippin' him lightly - he's very soft flesh yo' see. An'whenevah dat frog die, yo' buries him [both frog and person]. Now, dat dere now, dat's good.
(Now, what do you do with that box?)
Draw de box lak it wus a coffin. Well, he'll die, an' aftah he dies.
(Well, what do you do with that paper after you draw on it?)
Yo' don't do nuthin with it - yo' keep it long as yo' want to. Yo' ain't have to do nuthin with it 'tall. It works good 'nuff.
Entry 1877
Ah've heard of 'em usin' frogs fo' luck. Yo' know, jis' lak yo'd be shootin' craps, yo' know, an' yo'd ketch yo' a live frog yo' know an' put him in yore right pocket an' tote him roun'. Dat's luck - yo' use dat fo' luck. See, yo' keep him in yore pocket an' when he dies, yo' see, dat makes de luck. An' yo' tote him roun' den an' aftah he dries up an' ev'rything den he ain't no mo' good, see. But as long as he live in yore pocket yore lucky, see. An' aftah he dies, he ain't no mo' good - yo' have tuh git anothah one.
Entry 1915
Jes' lak if yo' want to drive a person from town [or] home, yo' kin go in de cemetery an' run yore han' down in de grave jes' about dat deep, jes' to de end of his [your] fingers an' git de dirt at de end of his [your] fingers an' come back. (You run your hand into the dirt just about as deep as your hand - up to your wrist.) An' git dat dirt at de end of yore finger, git as much as yo' kin an' carry it to dere house - right in front of dere porch, dere steps an' make a little grave dere. De nex' mawnin' when dey git up an' see dat dere, dey'll go. An' dey gradually perish away.
(How do you make that little grave?)
Make it jes' lak yo' make a grave an' bury folks, jes' in de same shape.
Entry 2914
That'll kill you. (Do you know how they are supposed to burn those?) Well, you take nine. (Black candles. Take nine black candles.) And you set five, you know, straight up like that [demonstrates]. And you get some little cups and you put four in them so they wouldn't touch the floor [and start a fire], and you burn the other four bottom upwards, and in nine days time you are supposed to die. (I see." Well, what do you do with that ninth candle? What about that?) [Why I do not understand will be explained later.] Ninth? You got to have a odd one.
(Oh, I see. You set that in a cup there?)
Yeah, you put it in there. There was a lady burned 'em on my aunt.
(I see. Well now, please explain that again. I can't hear with the noise.)
You see you take nine black candles - they are about this high [demonstrates].
(From the floor you mean?)
From the floor.
(About four feet high?)
Yes. They black - they are $1.50 apiece. And you take five of them and you know, you burn 'em like that. You light it right there [demonstrates].
(I see, so - standing straight up.)
Yes, and you take the other four, but you take a little tin [can] and, you know, so it wouldn't touch the floor, and you put 'em in there and you burn the other four bottom upwards. [The wick is cut off and a new wick is made at bottom of candle.] But you have your name [on paper] up under them candles, burning, you see, and by them being so high, when they burn down, you see, in the ninth day, if they be done burnt down, you know, before the ninth day, well, you die.
(You die, I see. What do you do with that ninth candle - that odd candle?)
[This shows how carefully I listen to an informant. What happened to the ninth candle?] Well, you see that have to be a odd candle for to make you pass out. It can't be even, it had to be odd.
(Well, don't they burn that ninth candle?)
Burns the ninth candle.
(Well, how do they burn that?)
Well, you see you got five up.
(Oh, I see. And four down?)
And four down.
(I see. I understand now.)
[I understand because my informant has said, "You got five up." At the begin- ning of her rite she says, "You set five...get some little cups and you put four in them." She says four when she means five; the four upside-down candles al- ready being in her mind. Many times I immediately pick up this sort of thing but in the usual noise and uncertainties of collecting an occasional unexplained action does occur. It is one of the reasons why I am inclined to over-question, sometimes beating a dead horse.]
Entry 2923
(How do you do that?)
Say you cut it - take a piece of brown paper or piece of paper, but if the person is colored you use brown paper and if they white you use white paper. You take an indelible pencil and you write the name across it just like you Want it, you understand. Then you set the black candle on there and burn it for nine days.
(What is that shape you cut out there, you say?)
[Informant with imaginary scissors and paper had cut out something.]
In the shape of a coffin. Then you write it all kind of ways across and so on and then you set it [candle] right in the middle of it [coffin] and burn it for nine days, the black candle, and they sure will die - they sure will.
Entry 4326
[The following rites are only a few of the many examples of HOODOO of pegging or wedging urine, excrement, hair and other objects into a hole made in a tree.] Well, dey kin stop it [up] - take some of yuh chamber lye. It's a lot of people doin' dese things, but dey don't undahstan' it; but de person dat really knows de way tuh do it, it really taken effect. Dey kin take a augah, a bran'-new augah an' [pauses, hesitant].
(I understand.)
Take a bran'-new augah an' go tuh a pine tree, or a gum tree, or a oak tree, an' bo' it wit de augah up like dat [demonstrates].
(THE AUGER BORES DOWN INTO THE TREE AT AN ANGLE.)
Yeah.
(All right.)
Yeah, an' aftah dey bo' dat hole, dey gotta - an' bo' dat hole deep enough, dey kin take some of yuh chamber lye an' place it - an' dump it.
(Dump it into that hole.)
Into dat hole. Yes?) [= continue.] An' cuz yuh tuh stop urinatin'. An' de doctah operate on yuh an' yuh die. But dere's a diff'ren' ways dey kin do dat.
(I see.)
Entry 4382
Ah hear dem say dey could take it an' burn it. Dat will make yuh sore, stop yuh action - stop yuh bowels from movin'. Say it would lock yuh bowels an' dat would kill yuh.
Entry 4408
[Someone] jis' taken an' bo'en' a hole in a tree, a big hole in a tree, an' den put it in dere while it wuz hot, an' fasten de tree on it an' he died.
(This manure from the man?)
Yessuh.
Entry 4433
Go on de no'th side of a tree an' bo' a hole in dis tree an' take of dere, yuh know dere stuff an' - an' put in de tree. An' evah mawnin' go, but don't drive it in, yuh know, right at once. Fo' nine mawnin's yuh go dere an' hit dat stahb one lick fo' nine mawnin's, an' de ninth day dey'll be daid. Dere bowels nevah move an' can't nobody unlock dat wi'out dey kin git tuh dat peg, git dat peg out dat tree where yuh put it. An' dey will die from dat.
(This is to lock their bowels?)
Lock dere bowels, an' nobody - AIN'T A DOCTOR IN DE WORLD KIN UNLOCK IT.
Entry 4471
If somebody hate yuh an' yuh go out have a action, dey watch yo'. Dey go an' git a stick an' take it an' go bo' a hole in a pine tree wit a augah. Drive a peg in dat an' stop it an' cut it off. Let it stay in dere. Yuh can't do any business atall. Dat will kill yuh.
Entry 4472
Well, yuh kin take a person's passage lak dat an' bo' a hole in a pine tree an' put it in dere an' stop it up, an' he will lingah an' lingah until he die - wit'out chew take dat off. It stopped tight, take it out de tree - yuh take it out de tree dey git all right.
Entry 4551
Take dat bow an' yuh bury dat bow. When yuh bury dat bow yuh'll die. Dat's whut chew'll do, yuh'll die.
Entry 4836
Of co'se she nevah git bettah, she died. Dey take a piece of huh dress an' put it in a bottle an' put it in a tree [that is what killed her].
Entry 6666
Ah hear'd 'em say if dey wan' choo crawlin' up de side a house an' so aktin' [acting] jis' lak a spidah would ak [act], tuh have a spidah web an' have dem a spidah, an' take off 'is laigs an' put it in somepin, jis' lak some whiskey or ewer [either] somepin tuh eat, tuh have it on de inside of yeh. An' say, aftah dat's on de inside of yuh fo' sich a length of time, say den yeh'll start tuh aktin' funny in de way dat a spidah will ak. Say yo'd be crawlin' up, tryin' tuh crawl upon de wall, come down, gits on de flo', yah crawl fo'wards, come back. Say when dat stuff wus in yeh it's poison tuh yer system. An' dey say yo'd ak from dat time on until yo' die.
Entry 7441
Now, yo' kin do dis. Dis anothah thing. If a pusson poison somebody belongin' to yo' an' yo' feel dat dat pusson have been poisoned, dat pusson near [to you] is a corpse. Yo' git choo a fresh hen aig - see what I mean - an' yo' put it undah dat pusson, in de corpse, undah dat pusson dat is in de corpse. Put it undah dere, don't break it dough [though]; but chew gotta do dat in secret, see. An' yo' let dat aig stay in dere an' bury 'im wit dat egg in dere, in de corpse, an' if dat pusson was kilt or poisoned, immediately aftah de egg break, de pusson who done de poisonin' will die.
Entry 7537
Scrape 'em an' carry 'em in de graveyard.
(They scrape the bottoms of your feet and carry it to the graveyard.)
To de last person who dey buried an' yo' don't live very long, yo'll pine away; an' when de person rotten, yo' dead.
(I see, they put this in the grave with the person.)
Yeah.
Entry 7587
Go tuh a graveyard at nine a'clock [at night] an' git dat dirt out of [a grave onl de no'th side of de graveyard. An' carry it tuh a person's house where it's a woman dat got a husban' an' yuh wan' dat husban'. Yuh git some of yore frien's tuh take dat dirt dere. An' if she kin git in wit [become friendly with] dis woman in de house an' git a chance tuh sprinkle a little of it roun' 'er baid, roun' in de house, so she'll have tuh walk ovah it, dis woman, dis man's wife, will dwindle away an' die. Den yo' have de opportunity of gittin' 'er man.
Entry 8002
Make image of person, name it place it where it will molt away, kills person.
Entry 8587
Uncork [untwist or unscrew] de light [wick holder of lamp] an' put chure name in it [the oil] an' call de evil spirit; lak if yo' know somebody who died, who lived an' died bad. Yo' call 'em an' dey come to yo'. An' yo' bury dat box [snuffbox] right where dey [evil spirit] barled. An' in a length of time, who yo' put dere name in it, dey goin' down. [Very small snuffbox was used in those days - see many places in Hoodoo.]
Entry 11244
This root doctor said, "Nobody kin do this but me." Root doctor takes snake out of woman but she dies. People said she had tuberculosis.
Entry 11261
[Most of the material from Doctor Paul Bowes, my contact man at Norfolk, Va., is on pages 1733-1738, cyl- inders 458-463, given in volume 2. Not included in this collection are the following separate rites, all in volume 1: Nos.300,337, 410, 455, 475 and 614. As I said, a few pages ago, this man was a cousin of the preceding Doctor Bowes of Newport, Va.] If you can't read cards, well, you might go to a fortuneteller and he'll read for you and tell you where to locate it. (You're speaking about reading those cards. Well, how would you read those cards in order to discover whether a person is hurt or not. Is there any special way?) Oh, yes, a special way to do dat. You have no cards wit you, have yuh? Well, you might not be able to read 'em, even if I tell you. If I start you off... [Several times I was asked whether I had a deck of cards. I never carried anything that could suggest my selling products, telling fortunes, healing, etc. Always I hoped to complete a small book of cunjure and root doctor stories and rites.] You must deal three rows of cards, three cards in a row. Then you begin to start to read. But if you haven't never studied, it will be right hard for you to locate it then; but if I could be seein' you from now on, I could sort of give you ideas. (Yes, you just give me an idea. Here, you put down three cards in a row, and you have three rows of three cards in each row.) That's right. Well, you might pluck up, say for instance, an ace of spades might come in next. That's a bad card, it mean's death. Well, suppose dat head is standing down. That means someone is got de girl upside down. Reach over dis hand and you might turn up a deuce. Dat means the deuce for truth. All right, and here's the heart's over here. They's good, hearts, won't harm or nothin'. Dat's the way you read dose cards, locate dose cards, understand? Well, you low, cards is a real - true book. In other words, they are made from the Scripture. You realize dat, don't you?
(Yes.)
And you shuffle them ole cards right and they'll tell you anything that you want to know in the HOODOO LINE. (I see. These cards when you put them down - these rows of cards - are turned dorn, and you turn them up one at a time. Where do you begin to turn up these cards? Where do you begin to turn them up?) You first start from the left and go to the right. From the first left-hand card read to the right all the time.
(This way? That way?)
Yes, that's it. And they'll spell you out most anything you want to know.
Entry 11271
(By the way, did you ever meet Indian Joe? A man named Indian Joe? I met him up in Richmond a couple of weeks ago. He had some very fine things.) No. Well, the most I was, I travelled with Princess of Mystery. I was wit her fer ten years. That Was Princess of Mystery who died in Chicago in 1930, March 14th. [Would Chicago newspapers have anything about this; at least the black press?]
(Where did she come from, by the way?)
She came from Asia. She came from Bombay, Asia. [That I doubt.]
(I see, she came from Bombay.) [435:1.]
Entry 11714
If a stick cracks or a limb falls down, while you are walking along, it's some of your older parents dead and they are discussing who is passing by. These two hants [ghosts] talking throw down limb and the passerby will look around to see who it is. [Richmond (343) 286:3.]
Entry 12673
You can take a tintype picture of a person and go out in any place and bury that picture; and as that picture fades off the tin you begin to get sick and finally you'll die. [New Orleans 1348:3.]
Entry 12676
Yo' kin git a person's picture an' turn de picture down on de haid; jes' dig yo' a hole an' turn de picture down on de face an' dat person won't live long. Jes' as dat picture fades away, dey fades away. [Florence 2212:16.]
Entry 12678
Yo' kin take a person's picture, if yo' angry with 'em, yo' kin take dere picture an' take an' shoot it an' it won't be long befo' dat dey'll linger an' die. [Wilson 2653:20.]
Entry 12679
A person could take one of yore photograph or picture an' bo' a hole in a tree an' wish yo' some harm an' put dis picture in de tree an' after so many days when de tree close yo'll die - jes', yo' know, pine away an' die.
(Do they put a peg in that hole or anything?)
Yes sir, peg de hole up after it - puttin' dis picture in dere an' shet dis hole up. [Brunswick 2012:4.]
Entry 12681
Take dat picture an' nail it up in a tree, an' yo' kin take an shoot at it. Take an' shoot dat picture five times an' dat person's picture yo' shoot, dat person will drop daid. [Florence 2212:16b.]
Entry 9871
A lady told me that if I want my next door neighbor to be moved, to get a frog. And you whip him underneath her step and make him stay there until he dies. And when the frog dies, that the neighbor would move. You beat him an' make him go under the step and if he comes out, make him go back again and leave him stay under there until he dies. And when he dies and dries up why that will make the people move away.
Entry 9875
Yo' kin take a toadfrog an' write de name of a person an' stick it in dat frog an' bury it in a crawfish hole. Yo' know, push it [toad] backwards in de crawfish hole an' shet dat hole up, an' den what dat toadfrog bust open dey'll bust open. (You just write that name once on a piece of paper?) Write de name once or twice or three times jis' lak yore mind leads yo', an' jis' put it [paper] down in it
[frog]. Den put him down in dat hole an' cover it up. Fix it so dat dey [toad]
cain't come outward, yo' know, an' he's bound tuh die. When he die, yo're gone.
Entry 9879
An' if a woman got a husban' an' he got a outside woman, git a female frog an' a male frog. Yo' hang de female frog up firs' an' den hang de male frog right up where yo' [he] kin scratch her right on de back lak dat... [I interrupt.] (Wait a minute) [and then turn off machine and infor- mant starts again]. If a woman got a husban' an' he got a outside woman an' yo' wanta break 'em up, wanta make dis man beat dis woman up an' quit 'uh. Yo' take dis female frog an' yo' hang it up firs', right where dis he-male [demonstrates].
(You hang up the female frog with the head up or down?)
Hang 'uh [her] haid down, by de two laigs lak dat [demonstrates] wit a string. Yo' put 'uh up undah a tree. Take 'uh tuh a oak tree, tuh de lef' side of a oak tree. Yo' hang 'uh laigs up lak dat an' hang it in a way where yo' kin hang de he-male frog's laigs right up ovah de top of dis female frog. An' [as] yo' put it dere, yo' say, In de Name of de Lord, ah put dis heah tuh scratch until yo' die. Well, dat frog will scratch right dere on dat [female frog representing the] woman until she dies. An' de wife will nevah have no mo' trouble wit 'uh, an' huh husban' at home wit 'uh, an' have all de money an' evah'thin'. (You tie this male frog up so that he'll scratch the back of this female frog and kill it?) Dat's right, kill it. Jis' let 'im scratch dere an' tell 'em, Ah hang yuh heah in de Name of de Lord tuh scratch until yo' die. [This rite would have been more potent if the frog had been named the Outside woman - if name known.
Entry 9913
Dey use frogs fo' luck. Peoples carry it around in dere pockets fo' &blin', an' as long as dis frog jumps, it's lucky tuh yo'; but whenevah dis frog stops, it's bad luck, if yo' wanta gamble. Or eithah, yo' could nm [ase it on] a person sick, an' as long as dis frog jumps, de person will recovah; but if yo' go roun' an' it don' jump, dat's a sign of quick death.
Entry 778
Aunt Dorothy Wallace, if you passed her an' made any remarks at her - she wus a quire [queer] lookin' woman, you know - if you passed her an' made a remark that anything, you know, wusn't right towards her, she would turn round an' look at you, she'd throw her hand out, she'd say, "You'll be a corpse befo' mornin'." An' you'd come nigh bein' there too.
Entry 848
[Among other doctors with special names are: Dog Face or Dog Head (I describe in Introduction my efforts to find him in his tin-can-covered shed on a public dump) - Humpadee [= Humpty-Dumpty] of Richmond - Ready Money - Turkey Gobbler - Zorro - Doctor Buzzard - and others. "Mama Mary on Bowling Green Road [[north out of Richmond either helped or defended]] woman killed man - cut from under left arm, underwear - 5 or 6 needles and some cotton and part of towel they had used in intercourse - needles stuck in this underclothes and towel - put in bottle - and hair from privates - hole in cork - drips out - he died - Richmond, Va., (389), 336:3. Informant described as: "389 - b. Richmond - gum chewer" - gum chewer perhaps reason why I did not transcribe story - Numbers Book 340-442.]
Entry 11521
"Take it, foot track, up on a shovel...throw it in dis graveyard an' that person of course will die. [Charleston 538:4.]
Entry 12029
"They say they could take your hair and pray over it for you to die on a certain date. When that certain date come you'll die." [Richmond 459:4.]
Entry 2
[I now guote for comparison of beliefs mv accounts of the preceding white witch's death and burial:] Miss Healer [a professional healer] called me [the Informant] up [1932] and said Witch was sick and she wanted to see me. So that Sunday afternoon [my] Daughter took me over to Witch's, and Witch told me she was sick. And then she said, "Informant, do you know that Christ came to me this morning and had His thorns on His head like when He was crucified." And then she said He had His arms stretched out like this [here Informant stretched out her arms imitating Witch's action] and called her. He wanted her to come. Then we just talked from then on. Well, then I don't know what happened. See. But every day it just seemed like I would have to go to her house. And we generally just set and talked. That was about six weeks all told. And then one Saturday morning I went real early, about eight o'clock, and when I went in, this Miss Healer was there. And then she left. Then Witch's Husband, he wanted to go to the barber shop to get shaved, and he said, "Well, I'll go because Informant is here." After he left, Witch got those hysterical spells. She would scream and pull her hair and kind of go wild. I couldn't do anything with her. Then, every time I would leave her house, she would pray on me and made a cross about here [Informant crossed her heart]. Every time she made a prayer, she Was praying over these medals. [Informant, though a Prot- estant, was wearing several blessed Roman Catholic medals over her heart.] She didn't know I had them on, of course. Well, that was the last Saturday I was there. See. So when I got home I called Miss Healer and I said, "Do you think Witch is worse?" And she said, "No." She said, "Mrs. Informant, I think she's just working on your nerves" - cause she said, whenever she's there, Witch's all right; but whenever Witch seen me coming, she would throw herself into those Spells. So I told Miss Healer about Witch praying on me, and she said, "I be- lieve she's putting you in a spell." And she said, "Why can't you go out to Father Z?" And, let's see, we waited until next week. Miss Friend [Roman Catholic] took us [Informant, Daughter and small Grandson] out. We pressed the bell and went into the hallway and some young priest came. We told him we Wanted to speak to Father Z. Then Miss Friend introduced me to him. And he told her to go into the parlor on the other side. And I guess I went into his study. Well, then we talked and he said, "What made you come to me?" He said, "Don't you go to any church?" I told him I belonged to B. Church [which Informant had not attended for years] and he said, why didn't I go to him [the clergyman there]. I told him that I heard out to Y. Church the priests could help you if you thought you were hoodooed. He didn't say much of anything. He was a very firm old man. Let's see, so then I told him about Witch and told him that it seemed like I had to go every day. So then he said, "Who is this old hex?" I said, "Her name is Witch" - I didn't even say her last name - "she lives in the south part of towm." And he said to me, "Oh my!" He said, "You are about the fiftieth person from the South End of town that's been to me because they thought this woman had hoodooed them." And then he said something about the South End of town. I don't remember what he said. I told him, too, about her saying that we had it too good here [in Informant's home], that she was going to get even with us and make me suffer, having this swell home and getting all of [Husband'sl salary, and this and that. And then I told him about [Husband]. At that time Husband hadn't left home yet. [Informant and Husband separated perman- ently two years later.] And he said to me, "Don't you divorce him" - that's been three years ago [1932] - "he'll give this girl up." Everybody thought so. He said, "A wife has the best chance of holding a husband." So then he prayed on me. He stood up with his cross and prayed over me - whatever you call it. And he said, "I am going to give you this medal. I think it is the best one in my whole collection." Then after I thought a minute, I said to Father Z., 'Do you think it would hurt me to put this medal in Husband's clothes?" And he said, "No, it might help." He wanted Husband to come out to see him, and I told him he would never come. See, he kinda thought we were both put in a spell. But see, Husband would never go. So he said to me, "Don't you ever go in Witch's house again." I told him I wouldn't. And he said he would offer special prayers for me in church next day. I said, "What do I owe you?" He said, "Nothing." I said, "I want to give you something for your trouble and time." So I gave him a dollar. And he told me to drop it in a little slit in the desk. I don't know what he said, whether they use it for the poor or for the church. I think he said that. Miss Friend said if I had given him a quarter he would have been satisfied. And then we [Informant and Miss Friend] went out to the car. And then Miss Friend took Grandson and Daughter in. Daughter thought Witch had Grandson hoo- dooed too. It seemed that every time she [Witch] would come here [to Informant's home], Grandson would get one of those spells. He would be playing, and if Witch Would be here, see, why it just seemed like he would fall any place he would be at. One day he was at the top of the steps and fell clean down. Another day he stood in the cellar way here [just off the kitchen where I sat while recording this story]. And several times he was sitting in the high-chair and would just get like a dish rag, limber, and fall right out of the chair and turn blue. And sometimes it would take us a half hour to get him to come out of it. And Witch [who was frequently hired for housework] would always run and pick him up and rub him. Daughter and I would cry, thought he was going to die. And she said, "Oh, he will be all right." So one day Daughter found one of his stockings on a bush around the house, and so she got it and took it to the cellar and burned it up. After we burned that up Witch never came back. Then Witch took sick. That's where my story started, see. Well, then, all the doctors thought Grandson had heart trouble and they couldn't do anything for him. And they said they didn't understand why the medicine didn't work on him to get him out of these spells.- Dr. Q. said, whenever he got another spell, to call him up that minute. He never got any more after we burned the stocking. But in the meantime we took him to Father Z. I didn't go in, but Daughter told him that she thought he had heart trouble. And he said he never heard a child so small [two years old] having heart trouble. He prayed on Grandson and he never had another spell. Daughter Wasn't so generous. She didn't give him a nickel. It was worth a dollar, if you thought you were in a spell, to get rid of it. From that time on he began to gain and gain, and Dr. Q. couldn't understand it. When I came back from Father Z., I called up Miss Healer and told her I went to Father Z. and he told me not to go to Witch's house any more. So I didn't. But the end of the week, Witch kept calling for me, said she must see me. And Miss Healer knew that I would not go there any more because Father Z. told me not to, so she told Witch my phone Was out of order. And Witch told her, "You try again every day until you get her." That was like Friday. Saturday after- noon Miss Healer went to Witch's to give her a treatment. Miss Healer is sup- posed to be a healer. She don't tell you what she does. People say she is good. She don't take no pay. What you give her she takes. Then, while she was there, Witch grabbed her by the wrist, like this [Informant demonstrated the hold], and Miss Healer said to me, "You don't know what a feeling it was." I said to Miss Healer, "Maybe she is putting a spell on you." And Miss Healer said, "I am not afraid of her because I can take spells off." She says she can't, but the South End says she can. So Monday morning Miss Healer called me up and told me she went to St. Mary's Hospital Sunday afternoon to give one of her patient's treat- ment. She walked up the steps and as she got in the big hall she fell flat, full length of her face. She said the sister run to see if she was hurt. She said, "No." But she said, "I felt like a fool." She said it hurt her so bad she could hardly get home. So she didn't go to Witch's, Sunday night. So Monday morning Witch's Husband went after her. She told Witch's Husband she couldn't come, she fell and hurt herself. So she didn't go Monday to Witch's. Then he said, "Call Informant on the phone." And she told him our phone was still out of order. Then Tuesday morning early, Witch's Husband went about six o'clock and begged her to come again. She said, "I can't come, I can't walk on my foot." She told me she wouldn't go back. So he went back home and told Witch. And she made him go to the grocery store on the corner, F's Grocery, and call her up again, or me. She said, "I told you I couldn't come at six o'clock and I can't come now." I don't know what I will do," he says, "no neighbor will come in [they were afraid of Witch]." Then Witch's Husband went home from the grocery store and Witch was dead. Died all alone. I went to the funeral after she was dead. I wasn't afraid then. British. [British = Informant was of British descent, though of old American stock; other persons were of German descent - FACI (= Folklore From Adams County Illinois), 2ed., 1965, p.918f.; recorded by hand, word for word.]
Entry 21
A good spirit, it leaves the body, that is why the body becomes helpless. It cannot exist any longer. It goes to decomposition because the spirit is gone. The life is gone out of it. But still the spirit never dies. It goes to its immediate loved ones on earth, it overlooks them, it hovers around them. In my belief, what I have really had experience of, we are continually being enveloped and surrounded by the spirits of our loved ones who have gone before; especially until their spirits have been reincarnated and born in some child and come back to the world in the flesh again. The reincarnation comes earlier in some and late in others. Sometimes they are reincarnated in babies who are cut off. That spirit comes right back and goes again to be on earth until it is reincarnated. That is the good spirit. The evil spirit, it is abroad in the world. That is the spirit of those who haven't lived their lives consistent with right living. Their spirits are abroad and still doing Work they were engaged in, either frightening or bringing about disorder, just like they was when in the body, until they are reincarnated. They are reincarnated. Usually it comes out in the child. The child is very fretful. Usually, if it goes to any age, it goes into crime. That is the people that chose the evil way in life. When man was created he was created in the image of God. When he fell, that is in the Garden of Eden. Then when he was redeemed, he has since that time been left as a free agent to chose which he will do, right or wrong. That is the choice given us by the Son of God who died for us that we might be redeemed under the curse of the broken Law. Since then, we have this privilege of chosing for ourselves and being left as a free agent. Then this is the point where the evil and the good spirit exist. This is the origination of the good spirit and the evil. The good is permanent and the evil spirit is a choice of man. You know how long Christ stayed on the Cross, three days. It is supposed that everybody when they die their spirit still lingers in their body and about their personalities for three days until they are planted in the ground. Then it is around and about until the changes come. When the spirit comes out of your body your body really becomes like neutral, you can't move or do anything; you never will again. The mind of the person does not die. That is the spirit after all. That is the soul so to speak. It lingers around and it really sees what's being done until its visit is complete. The person who is responsible for the arrange- ment of the final affairs will dream about them. Often you will be half asleep and that person will appear to you and give you some gestures, satisfactory or dissatisfactory. I know that by experience.
Entry 260
A fellah he was born way back in slavery times. Well, yo' know, he's sittin' down talkin' to me an' so he tole me, say, once when he sold hisself to de devil. Say he went out an' got him a real black cat an' after he got dis real black cat, den he'd taken 'im an' he'd boiled 'im till he come tuh boil all tuh pieces. He'd taken him down to a branch where it was runnin' water an' throwed that ovah in dat water an' say an' den a bone, if hit went up de stream - said an' de one dat went up de stream he got dat an' kept it in his pocket an' then he come tuh be whut chew call a half-a-devil - yo' know, a witchcraft. An' says then he went out an' went tuh doin' things yo' know an' says stuff lak dat, so finally one day he tole a fellah, says, "Yo' bettah not leave home." says, "if yo' leave home today yo' gon'a git killed." He says, "Well, why yo' know it?" He says, "Ah jes' seen dat yo' gon'a git killed." An' so - he say dis fellah didn't pay him no 'tention. So he went on an' left home an' said he went out to a picnic. An' when he went out to this picnic, well then - see, him an' a gurl went out to have some intercourse with her an' so he layed down an' so a rattlesnake bit dis couple. An' when de rattlesnake bit him, said, den it killed him. Says den all de people told her dat he's de one dat told him dat he's gon'a git killed if he'd a-went out to dis picnic. So den dey locked him up in jail an' when dey locked him up in jail, why den says dems wanta know why he knowed it. He tole 'em, says, "Well," it jest come to him "jest in a dream dat he's gon'a git killed." "[They] say, "Well, if yo' go home tonight an' if yo' dream anything heah in dis town gon'a happen tomorrow,"' says, "well, we'll let chew loose." So he went on home dat night an' says, when he went back he tole 'em, he says, "Well, de high sheriff in dis town is gon'a git killed tomorrow." An' says - well, dey locked him up 'bout dat an' so when dey locked him up about dat, well, den - said de high sheriff went out to make arrest an' when he went out to make arrest on one brother, said the other brother shot him, says. An' it happened so dey loosed him. So dat's all ah know 'bout dat.
Entry 1113
This is a fellah one time dat he wus in love wit a gurl but his parents didn't want him to marry this gurl, you see, an' so they got it in his min' to go away. An' a he wus in love with de gurl an' also de gurl was in love with him. So they tole him, says, "Now, we don't wan' choo to marry dat gurl, we wan' choo to go 'way." He says, "Well." This fellah he gits ready an' goes away. Well this worried this girl so, aftah he goes away dat she take sick, you see. So he goes away. An' he writes a couple'a lettahs home, an' aftah dat he don't write no more at all, you understand. So it's about fo' yeahs befo' he comes back, you understand, an' within this time - within about six months aftah he's gone, you understand, this gurl dies. Well, when they used to court, you understand, dey wus a church, you understand - a graveyard right backa de church, you understand. They set down on de steps there an' court, you know, an' plan for de weddin'. So aftah he'd gone, you understand, this gurl pined away an' died. So, he'd been absent from home about fo' yeahs an' he returned home. An' he don't write dat he's comin' home, you understand - he wants to come home an' surprise his people. So he gits off at de station, you understand, an' walks up about three miles, walking along, till he comes pass this graveyard an' - but befo' he gits to de church he looks up in de graveyard an' he sees a woman comin' out de grave- yard, but he don't pay much attention to it, walkin' along whistlin' to hisself. When she comes down an' comes through an' comes out de gate to de road, he starts to see dat it's de gurl dat he wus in love wid. So he steps in her path. This gurl's dead but he don't know anything about it, you see. So he stopped, you understand. She walked up to him - don't say anything. He speaks to her. He says, "Why, hello," he says, 'how do you feel, Carrie?'" She didn't say anything. He said, "Why Carrie," he says, "you ought to be glad to see me," he says, "I'm glad to see you," He says, "it seems to me that I've been gone long enough." He says, "You know I wus in love wid you and you wus in love wid me. It's funny you won't talk." She wouldn't even hold her head up. So she reaches in her bosom an' she takes out somethin' dat - dat looks like a bokay of flowers, an' she handed it to him. So then she turned back an' goes on back to de graveyard. So he goes on home. Aftah he gits home, you understan' de people's all glad to see him, you know, an' they set down an' talk. An' so he says to his mothah, he says, "Mothah," he says, "don' choo know," he Says, "tonight I wus comin' along," he says, "an' I meets Carrie." He says, "She wus comin' out de graveyard. I don't know whut she do by [there] dis time of night." Well, his mothah she turned aroun' an' looks at her husband. He says, "You didn't see Carrie." "Don't tell me I didn't see Carrie," he says, "I've jis' been talkin' to her," he says, "leavin' de fact [excepting] I wus talkin' to her but she wusn't talkin' to me. She wouldn't say anything, you know. So I ask her why didn't she speak. She wouldn't say anything, ' ' he says. His mothah spoke up an' says, "You didn't see Carrie." He says, "I know bettah. I did see Carrie." His fathah spoke up an' say, "No, you didn't see Carrie. ". He says, "Don't you know one thing, son, he says, "we may nevah wrote to you an' tole you anything about it," he says, "but Carrie died about six months aftah you left." "Why", he says, "it makes no diff'rence when she died," he says, "I saw her tonight." He did. Well he sets down awhile an' he thinks about dis bokay which she give him, an' when he takes the bokay down it's a human bone insteada bokay of flowers. So he looked at it. Now, ever'body's skeared now, you understand. Well they calls in an ole lady there name of Ole Aunt Tracey: She wus suppose to be a witch. So things gotten in such a bad shape, you know, they had to call Ole Aunt Tracey to see how things wus goin' to work. Dey called Ole Aunt Tracey about dis bone you understand. Ole Aunt Tracey says, ["informant proceeds to imitate her voice" - my penciled comment when transcribing original cylinder], "Well er I tell now, '' she says, "it's bes' thing I know er do 'bout de thing," she says, "dis bone you'd better carry it back whare you got it." [This is the magic rite of returning dangerous object to the place found - see No. 903, p.330.] Ohl De boy wants to know how he's gon'a git it back. She says, "Well, about de very same time dat choo met her last night," she says, "you carry it back dere tonight," she says, "an' another thing," she says, "when you carry dis bone back," she says, '"you take a little infant baby wit you, cuz if you don't, you gon'a have trouble. Well, now dis fellah he's skeared an' his parents is all skeared, joo see. So they goes roun' through de country, you understand, an' barers [borrows] a little infant baby, you understan'. He's supposed to carry it. So he sets aroun' home till aftah about time dat he thinks is ever'thing in fairly good shape. He takes dis baby in his arms an' goes on wid dis bone an' he goes on down you understan'. So when he gits near de church he sees her come out de graveyard. But she's walkin' fast dat time - walkin' fast comin' out [as if] she don't wan'a stop. [Then] she stands and looks. So he walks on down, you understan', an' a when he gits purtty close to her, she's lookin' at him den real venimous. So he presents her dis bone. Aftah presentin' her dis bone, she takes it away from him - flaps it out his hand. She says, "Yes, an' if you didn't have dat little infant baby wit joo tonight, I'd tear you up."
Entry 1917
Yo' kin take two sweet gum sticks an' go undah a person's house an' dig a lil' hole an' put one in dere an' one into anothah hole, right underneat' de bed, jes' lak dis bed sit ovah dere [points to corner of room in which I was working]. Well, dat be's down undah de ground. Put one undah dat bed an' one undah dis one, an' dat person will jes' dry up - wither up until he dies.
(If he sleeps over those sweet gum sticks.)
An' dey say dat's a body. It's a parable as [it signifies] a body, yo' sec, an' when dat stick dry up, dere body will wither away an' dry up an' die.
(Do you put one stick under each bed or two under one bed?)
Well, one undah each bed, jes' either one. Well, dat'd be lak someone mad at someone, see. An' yo' jes' put one undah dis bed an' shape it up as a grave, jes' lak a grave.
Entry 2751
In the year of 1928 I was going with a married man. Quite natural I knowed that was wrong and she found it out and she sent a bottle there to my house - and my brother was sitting on the porch. And so when I come home from work that evenin' the bottle was there. And so the bottle had water in it, I imagine. My mother told me not to open it. It had a lot of needles and a stopper and a cord- string tied up as if, you know, to hold the stopper out of the water - just a plain long beer bottle [probably a dark bottle]. So my mother had taken it up to a woman what, you know, knew.
(Where was this bottle?)
It was at my house - it was down by the washstand. They had give it to - the woman had give it to my brother, see. And my brother went and give it to my mother and my mother set it down in my room by the washstand and so she told me when I come home to go there and get the bottle. So, finally, I had a fear run over me and besides, about it, I never believed in this kind of stuff until this come about. And so after she told me to go and get the bottle, I went and opened [I wanted to open] it - I said, "Mama, this bottle is suspicious." She says, "Well, don't open it." I say, "Yes, Ma, I is, I'm not afraid." She said, "Don't you open it." And she taken the bottle and went on up to a woman's house with the bottle and she told the woman. The woman told my mother to take the bottle and empty it in a bayou of water or stream of water. See. So I went to Tallulah to work. I left from away from there after I thought I was going to get hurt, you know. I left home anyway and I went to Tallulah.
(Where is that?)
Tallulah, Louisiana. [About 25 miles west of Vicksburg, Mississippi.]
(All right.)
I worked over there. And after I went over, she sent me a little envelope with sand or something inside of another little envelope about dis long, and she said on there, "Six months from today your grave number will be 65 - six months from today." Well, I got scared and I was a person that never did like to tell my friends nothing about that. In fact I didn't believe in it. So I commenced to pining away and then I was losing my mind. People here in Vicksburg can shore tell you here in Vicksburg that I really lost my mind. So a friend of mine had mentioned it to a friend of mine, and she told me about a fellow. I don't know whether he's black or white. He stays in New Orleans, his name is B. B. McConnick. He stays over in Algiers. And I wrote him concerning about it. And after he wrote in a letter and told me about a dream I had. I believed in what he was telling me to do.
(Did you have a dream?)
I had a dream that I - there was some money in a old empty house for me. [For dreams of buried treasure, see 387, p.116; 426, p.127; etc.] And after I wrote this man like she [the girl] told me to write him, why he was telling that, and I was - and that's what made my belief come that he'd know what he was talking about - why I believed in what he told me to do.
(Now, wait. You had this dream and you told this man in Tallulah?)
No, I ain't told no one about it - this dream - nobody know nothing about this dream but my family folks - about this dream and the money in the house.
(I see.)
And after I told this friend of mines over there [in Vicksburg] about this woman had done sent me this stuff, and I was sick and stayed sick, well she told me about this man.
(I see - the man in Algiers?)
In Algiers - his name was Mr. B. B. McConnick. I don't know whether he is black or white. And so I wrote him and he wrote me a letter back and told me to send him $5.75 and he explained in the letter about the dream I had. Well, I believed in him, see. So I sent the money to him. I sent the money to him and he sent me a self-addressed stamp [envelope for the money]. And he sent me and told me what to do, and he sent me black candles and he told me this here black candle would burn against the parties what was harming me. Well, he told what to do - he told me to take a glass about like that, just an ordinary jelly glass, and fill it half full of sugar and stick it down in the sugar.
(This black candle?)
This black candle.
(Just one?)
He sent me more than one, cause [I sent him] $5.06, but after they give out, he told me I could get 'em from my local drug store. And he told me to use these candles six, twelve and six evening every evening. [This is the well-known 6-12- 6 time formula.] And finally I did that.
(Put this candle down in the sugar?)
Down in the sugar. He told me to not to never blow the candle out - I never seen this man before, and he told me, "Don't blow it out" - to take mv middle finger and my thumb and wet it, and say, "I wish you would leave me alone," put- ting the candle out at the same time, but not blow it. And really I did that and that woman. (Now wait a minute. How long did you let those candles burn at six, twelve and six?) Fifteen minutes - fifteen minutes.
(And when you had burned one whole candle?)
No, sir, you burn that every day. (Well, when that first candle burned out, what did you do? Burn another one then?) Could use another.
(How many did you use altogether?)
Oh, I just guess. I done even forgot how many I used, but I used just some of 'em 'cause I wanted that off of me. And really, that man helped me 'cause I know I was wrong: You see. And it turned right to that home - that woman was getting back just like I was getting, see. And I thought - two or three time I certainly felt sorry for her and I stopped using that stuff. Now, the other experience, 'cause I used to didn't believe in it until this woman was doing me like that, you see. Cause I was wrong, you see, going with her husband. But that other, I don't know nothing about that, but I'm explaining you something I really experienced my own dear self. [The preceding trick could have been performed in several ways. Friend of mine who recommended McConnick was surely his foreign correspondent for the Vicksburg district; she being his only source of information about the dream. What informant wanted could be taken care of for $5.75. Her dream about the buried treasure showed that all problems would soon be solved; she would also find the hidden wealth. The reader will notice immediately that $5.75 contains uneven numbers, which read inside outward 75 and outside inward 57. This is for- ward and backward magic, though not the pendulum magic frequently met in Jacks (p.190f.). Pulsating or heart-beat magic might be a better term. After the money was received, the candles were delivered. The package contained a printed notice something like: "These candles you ordered have been burned in the fol- lowing manner by troubled persons who claim for them the benefits of health and peace. We sell them as curios. The so-and-so drug store in your town sells these candles." There was no second letter as informant implies. All communi- cation was. brief and vague (see He'd Never Write You Much, p.319f.). McConnick is primarily a distributor of candles - a business man and surely a white man.]
Entry 3088
[We are again in the presence of a celebrity - not fabulous like Doctor Buzzard, but so widely known that his name and color were confused. He was surely a white man named Harris - (see 3089, p.909; also the very end of the interview A DOCTOR AT EASE, and elsewhere). This man, claim- ing to be a faith doctor (3089) would not have sanctioned the evil said to have been perpetrated in the following story.] He went to him you know.
(Who was this man?)
His name was Buzzard, or somepin like that choo called him.
(Where did he live?)
No, it was George Harrison, who lived at Florence, South Carolina. Ever'body used to go to him from fer an' near cause he's a wonderful man. He's dead I think, but his brother or his son or somepin carried it on, so I heard. So this man had a wife once an' she was a bad woman. An' the man was kin'a 'flicted - choo know, rheumatism. An' she's young, right nice-lookin' - purty hair. An' a course he would - you know, he would put her aside he say, but he suppose to git children by 'er. An' this woman still runnin' aroun'. [Everyone] tell that [to] her husband, but her husband didn't care cuz he said he would give up. He couldn't make a livin' fer her like he ought to be, an' she would do the thing, you know, that was helpin' him. An' so he didn't care. So he was livin' an' po' [poor]-like. An' this other man was livin' next to the farm - it was ajinin' farm. He had a fine black horse you know. A big tall black man. An' she was a nice-lookin' brown-skin woman. So he was lovin' this woman. He did! He would come there an' bring 'er in de yard - well, he [husband] wouldn't say nuthin - right in his yard out there, an' drive aroun' in de buggy. She was a good-lookin' woman. So finally this woman must of thought she was gon'a die. She decided she'd make a change. She went an' got sanctified. See. An' this man a - after she got sanctified, she tell him she didn't go that way any more. Well, he didn't want her to quit, choo see. He said, "Well, you kin go that way an' keep it a secret an' - come on let's go." She said, "No, I livin' now fer de Lord." An' she lived that way two years. Well, after she got sanctified - they always say these sanctified people goes with one another. An' dey say, "Well, how you gon'a help it?" You see, he would believe that she's goin' with one de sanctified men. She told him, she said, "Well, if I do - I don't do it - but if I do - if I is goin' with him, two clean sheet can't dirty one another." That means she was sanctified, the man was sanc- tified - they couldn't move in no sin. An' he said, yes it was. Well, he didn't like it. An' so he leaved his farm one day an' ever'body missed him, didn't know where he had gone - he was livin' down on de Santee River. He come to Florence an' got this man [George Harrison], you know, to fix some [something] fer him. An' I believe he had a pitchure of her. He come up dere [to the husband's farm] one day. An' he come in [came near] the house one day an' call 'er out an' talkin' with 'er. She went an' talk with 'im. An' she never was afraid of him, you know, but she wouldn't agree to go with 'im then. An' she he said, "All right." An' he kin'a play with 'er, you know, an' throwed somepin like a dus' on 'er. Well, she said, "That's a smell. I'm curious - that bottle." But she didn't pay it no mind. But in October - well, he went on back home [down on de Santee River]. An' [before he left] she heard 'im say, "I got choo now." So he went on back home. She was sanctified. She had a fiah made in de fiahplace - it was no grate, it was a fiahplace. She fold a quilt. She fold it an' lay down acrost de fiah- place like they do in de country; an' took a Bible an' lay down there an' went to readin' it. She had a little girl about three years old, de baby, aroun', playin' aroun' de fiah. An' this baby went in de kitchen an' it stood up there an' said, "Mama." She would call 'er mama. She was 'sleep. She'd lay down there an' read de Bible an' she fell asleep. An' while she was asleep, well de fiah popped on her. This stuff that he put on 'er drawed de fiah. An' as she wake up she was on fiah. An' she jump up. She went to jumpin' up like that an' try to outen herself like that, an' de fiah jis' went on up, jis' Went on up over 'er haid, an' jis' - an' she jumped aroun'. And when they caught 'er, why she had done burnt. She was eight months gone [pregnant]. A man who caught 'er - he was from de nex' doah, neighbor - saw 'er, he ran 'er down an' ketched 'er. She done burnt to death. An' he [the dust-thrower] tell 'er, she didn't go with 'im, she wasn't with nobodys else. An' so this woman died. [This fair copy by pencil made more than 30 years ago from my original scrib- bled transcription has a penciled note of the same date, "[[Happened]] about 12 years ago [1925]] - informant married the dead woman's husband."] [Wilmington, N. C., (320), 253:1+85.] ["Thur., Feb. 18, 1937 - 320 - Grace Harvin - [[from]] Sumter, S. C. - fair to good" - Numbers Book 318-338. Not a very complimentary evaluation for a woman who gave a rare story like this!]
Entry 3103
[Story No. 3 - recorded in dining room of my hotel at Princess Anne - comes from Joe Dorman, No. 133, the man who told the remarkable storv. POWER FROM DEAD PREACHER'S BONE, p.285. Another story of his, about a whistling snake, has been lost.] I know of an old Indian, the old Indian's name was Marcellus Gates. His wife [a white Woman] left him, and he come to Miss Zippy [Tull] and wanted to find out all about this. She told him everything, she told him the man and all. He wanted to kill this man. "No," she says, "I won't do that." He wanted to kill this other old man whose name of - I can't think of his name now. Anyhow, he wanted to kill 'im. Old man Wainwrightl He was a Wainwright. So he wanted to kill old man Wainwright. "Well, no," she wouldn't do it. "No, I don't do that," she says. "But," she says, "I will fix it so tha' chew kin kill him if you want." "Oh yes," he'd kill 'im. So she told him what to do. He was to draw his phorto on a bran'-new shingle, just so he had his phorto. He goes to work and draws that thing. And she told him just exactly how much powder and shot must go in de gun. They used these old muscle [muzzle]-loaders, then. But de old man was so proud to git to kill 'im, he overloaded his gun. And she told him a certain distance to git off. And he was so proud to git to kill 'im, he went an' got closeter. Uncle Mack! That was his name. Old Mack Wainwright. So he got closeter. This is a real fact. He shot at Uncle Mack on that shingle. An' he ups with his gun, an' when he shot, he busted the shingle all to thunder. She told him if he busted it, he wouldn't die. "Now, you jis' got to mark dat shingle" - had to put one or two shot in it - "if you do, he'll die instantly." And he bust dat shingle all to 'plinters [splinters].
[How well Zippy provided against her own failure!]
But Uncle Mack fell. He was digging up his potatoes. Uncle Mack fell dead as a dead man - ker-boom - as soon as he shot. Here come de girl a-runnin'. Grandpap was killed - or somepin was de matter with him. She didn't know what was ailin' 'im. She knowed he fell. Somebody help her to git 'im to the house. They taken Uncle Mack to the house. And he aimed de gun right middle-way of this pixschure [picture]. And Uncle Mack wus peppered. Ev'ry shot wus in that gun wus on his stumick.
(All the shot that was in the shingle?)
Yes sir.
(They hit him?)
Dat was re'lly de fact. You could see them little bumps - looked like shot.
(On his skin?)
Yes sir - after he fell and was takened to de house and his clothes wus takened off. They didn't know what wus ailing him, you know - his clothes wus takened off and everything, and they wus tryin' to work him up, you know, and bring life to him. And he wus peppered!
(How long ago was that?)
Well, let me see. I'm about 60. That's been 45 or 50 year ago [before 1936]. They wus elderly along that time. Of course, the old Indian lived until I was a good [sized] boy. He lived a long time. I knowed him well. But I knew' d'ole man Mack. He died from it. He wus waitin' to hear, and when he hear' d'ole Uncle Mack fell, he thought he wus dead and he went over to see about it. So he told them what he done. He told he shot him. "By God," he says [on seeing Uncle Mack's stomach], 'that's wah [where] I shot him." He says, "I shot to kill him. Tha' chew see all over there, that's wah I shot 'im. He got so he never will be no better." So after he owned it all up, you know, it was no use to send for no doctor. He told 'em all what he'd done and ev'rything. Old man Mack lived about two or three months. I don't know if he lived that long before he died.
Entry 3106
All she [Zippy Tull] wanted was the photograph. She could take this photograph, an' she had a regular little gun, she put it [photograph] up, she get huh quicksilver [either (l) tin foil, sometimes called silver paper, a sub- stitute for silver bullet, or (2) silver from the backing of a mirror], steel dus', an' she'd shoot this pitchure full of holes an' tell you to take this pitchure - you bring her firs' thing, this goes with a red brick, a right bran'- new brick never been used. She'd have you go to work an' write this party's name on this new brick. You take this pitchure, this new brick, go to the graveyard, you bury that crossways [the picture and brick crossing each other] on a man's breast, an' it wouldn't be many days before you commenced to lingah. If somepin wouldn't change, you never got better unless that wus moved. Now, she called that sZow death. An' it wus slow death, too!
Entry 3164
Well, I got a cousin. Dat ain't no story, dat's truth. An' huh an' huh husban' separated an' she wanted to be wit 'im an' he didn't want to be wit 'uh. Dey separated about anothah woman. So dis woman dressed 'im, had her [the wife] swelled up. (Do you know how she dressed him?) Yes. (You tell me that, then. If there's anything you want to say, I want you to tell me just what happened.) Well, she takes an' washes 'im an' dresses 'im, puts dis stuff on 'im.
(What sort of stuff did she put on him?)
She put dis heah Cuticule Salve an' Montgomery Salve, an' mix it up tuhgethah an' rubbed it on 'im. An' den...
(On his private?)
Yes, rub across 'is private. An' he got it on 'uh [the wife] an' swelled 'uh up, turned 'uh wrongside outwards.
(Turned her wrongside outwards. You mean her womb?)
[I used womb thinking a fallen womb was being described.]
No, sir, dat place down dere where he put it in.
(It turned it [I avoid womb] wrongside out.)
[That was not the end of cousin's trouble!]
[This woman] put cayenne pepper and salt, kerosene and stuff in snuff an' grind it up an' give it tuh mah cousin. Turn 'uh wrongside out, jes' eat 'uh up inside.
(Well, how did she get it in her?)
She give - see, dey all wus workin' tuhgethah, an' she ast huh fo' a bit of snuff. She wus mad wit huh anyway, but she didn't know she wus aftah huh husban'. She ast fo' some snuff an' she give it [in] de stuff, an' it turned huh wrong- side out an' eat it up inside. De doctor say dat snuff eat it up inside. Well, she died. [In a serious case of this sort an M.D. would have been involved - without saying anything about doctored or cunjured snuff. After the woman's death, how- ever, someone would have consulted a root doctor who explained what really had happened. Every believer knows that a Doctor of Medicine could not recognize cunjure. He would call it cancer or somepin othah.]
(That happened right here in Norfolk.)
Not in Norfolk, it was Danville, Virginia.
(Do you come from down that way?)
Yes, sir. Dat's my home, I wus born dere.
Entry 8014
Do dat tuh a man if dey wanta run 'im away from town or if dey wanta kill 'im. See, prob'ly yo' wanta kill dis man. If yo' wants kill 'im, cain't git rid of 'im, he goin' wit some daughtah [or] 'nothah, or somebody's daughtah, an' dey cain't git rid of 'im wit'out killin' 'im, yo' jis' take an' git chew a dog. Ketch choo a dog dat some of yore neighbah's have dat yo' know 'is name. Yo' know de dog's name, an' yo' know de man's name, too, see. Well, yo' git de dog an' yo' carry him off in de woods somewhere an' bury 'im. Kill de dog, see. Yessuh [yes sir] kill de dog, take him way off in de woods somewhere an' bury him. An' yo' bury him wit 'is heels up about dat much [demonstrates] out de dust. Leave 'bout dat much of 'is feets out de dust. Jis' leave his feets out de dust. Well, dat's if yo' wants tuh kill de man. When yo' leave his feets out while yo's covahin' 'im up, when yo' turn 'im up, git 'im placed on 'is back real good, jis' lak yo' want 'im. An' while yo' covah 'im up, yo' call de dog's name nine times, an' yo' throw nine shovels of dirt on 'im, high 'nuff tuh git 'im covahed up. An' git 'is feets up above 'bout dat fur [demonstrates] 'bout couple inches or prob'ly couple an' a half inches. An' den aftah yo' git 'im covahed up an' git ready tuh leave him, say, "Ah hope yo's daid, In de Name of de Father, [Son and Holy Ghost], " an' call de man's name fo' time. An' walk away from de graveyard [burial place, not graveyard] an' don' look back at it. If yo' look back, it's not any good. Don' look back while yo's leavin'. An' dat'll kill de man. Now, if yo' don' wanta kill 'im [the man], yo' jis' wanta git 'im outa town, yo' don' kill de dog when yo' bury him, yo' see. Yo' don' kill de dog daid, but chew cuts: 'is throat or prob'ly knock 'im in de haid, so yo' leave him in a slum- bah. Put 'im in de ground an' yo' leave two of 'is feets out. Yo' leave two of 'is feets out. When yo' leavin' de graveyard [of the dog] yo' call de man's name nine times an' weah a cross pin. Yo' have tuh git a cross pin. Prob'ly go tuh Kress [Kresge] or somebody, any place, an' git a pin wit a cross on it. An' yo' weah dat cross pin tuh de grave where yo' dere messin' wit de dog. An' when yo' git ready tuh leave, yo' sticks it up in dere in de grave lak yo' do a tombstone, an' den de man will leave town.
(You kill this dog somewhere out in the woods?)
Yes.
Entry 10951
(Mixed chickens in the yard is luck?) [I am repeating informant's statement for microphone.] Is luck of any kind. (And what about white chickens?) A real white family of chicken on de yard is quarrely, destroyed business, an' death in de family, an' no luck atall. An' a jet black chicken is hard to any man, on de yard.
Entry 11278
Now, here's another black art method. This black art method was by this old - this here William Rogers. This is one of his authors.
(Down in Columbus.)
Right here in Berkeley, Va., adjoining Norfolk. [His method] was to go to a ant's hill and look for the large size red antses. He gets nine of them out of there and kill them. Then he would go and look for a snail. Take him and shove him in the stove and let him parch up. Mix this together with lard, give it to a man or woman. Give that to a man and he rub that on his wife, the next man what have intercourse with his wife, his testicle bag Will burst open.
(Burst open.)
Burst wide open and kill him in three days time. [444:5.]
Entry 241
Once upon a time a lady brought a friend of her a pot of rice and tomatoes, and the neighbor, not wanting to eat it, she gave it to her little girl. And the little girl ate some of it and it made her sick. After that the little girl would always go out into the woods to drink her milk. Her parents didn't know what the child was doing with this milk. Later her brother followed her to find out what was happening with this milk and he found the little girl Was giving this milk to a snake. Her brother told her father. Her father and the neighbors set out to find the snake. After they found the snake and killed it, the little girl passed away. [For snake eating or drinking child's food, see FACI,2ed., pp.62-63, Nos.1571-1573.] [New York City, (?), 370A:1; near Charleston, S. Car.,1922.1
Entry 1653
(You think this was an actual fact?)
I believe it's a actual fact because the young boy lives right in this town now, but he's not here in this house. Well, the reason why I believe that to be a fact. They say that a person does things to you like that and you crosses running water, why it does away with the Spell as long as you stay over - across that water. Well, there's a young fellow lives right here [in Elizabeth City] and he's been to the asylum, I guess, four times. Every time he crosses Albermarle Sound going to Goldsboro, when he gets there he's more sense than the man that carries him. [To cross Albermarle Sound on the way from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to Goldsboro, could sound strange today, but back in the early 1930's a mental patient would take the train from Elizabeth City to Edenton, ferry some miles across Albermarle Sound to Skinnersville, and continue by train to Goldsboro. As I have noted elsewhere even my train trip from Waycross to Brunswick, Georgia, was a slow and tedious affair.] And he's there now. He's there now and getting along well and waiting on the tables - no more the matter with him in the world than when he first started. He married a girl here and this girl's mother seemed to be one of those fixers, you know, and she put those spells on this boy - that's what they said, and she died, and they say if a person dies that put those spells on you, you can't never be cured. You can be cured as long as they live, but if they died without you being cured, why it's an impossibility [see p.396]. That's what they tell me.
Entry 4418
Dey say dat chew could take a nail an' dip off a little bit of yore, yuh know, manure, an' carry it tuh a tree, yuh know, a nail dain't [dat ain't] nevah been used, an' drive it through dat tree wit some hair, ah think dey say, an' some of yuh hair too, an' say yuh tap it fo' nine mawnin's, an' de ninth dey says yo'll die.
(That hasn't anything to do with your photograph, has it?)
Dey tell me dey have yuh pichure up dere wit it.
(Oh! You drive this nail through it?)
Through de pichure. Drive dis nail through de pichure, see, an' have dat hair up dere wit it. Jis' drive it on in.
(Where do you put the manure, on the end of the?)
On de end of de nail.
Entry 5842
Ah heard dat chew kin git dere hair an' go to a pond an' ketch yo' a cootah an' tie it on de cootah feet an' dat will keep 'em agoin'. See, when de cootah die, well yo'll die. Dat's whut ah heard. [Cooter is a word confined to the U. S. A. for one of several turtles or tortoises: (l) common snapping turtle; (2) box tortoise; and (3) any fresh-water tur- tle of the genus Pseudemys.]
Entry 5933
Den if yo' wan'a woman tuh leave yo' or if yo' wan'a git rid of 'er - lf yo' goin' wit a woman an' yo' ti'ed [tired] of 'er - take a stran' of 'er hair eff de lef' side of 'er hair, two stran's ah say, an' go to some runnin' watahan throw it in dis watah, an' it'll go upstream. [Informant probably means hair will float upstream rather than throw it into incoming tide.] An' if she don' leave, she'll eithah die. Yo'll git rid of 'er some way. She goin' do one 'tothah [one or the other].
Entry 5948
Well, mah sistah, dey nevah did git along, dey'd always be hollerin' an' goin' on an' fussin'. I guess he got between 'er an' some man. She wuz tuh marry someone else an' dis fellah tol' 'er dat he wuz gon'a have 'er. Of co'se she nevah would - she took it tuh be a joke. An' sure enough he got revenge. So he taken, I guess by goin' tuh bed or somepin lak dat, he taken an' cut some hair from de top of 'er haid, an' 'er track, an' raked it fo'ward lak dat, from de heel to de toe, an' put it in some Hearts of Cologne an' put it in runnin' watah. An' she went crazy an' fin'lly she died.
Entry 6216
Dey say dat chew take de hair outa person's het [head] an' take it to a tree an' a eight-penny nail, an' reach jes' as high up dat tree as yo' kin reach, an' nail dat hair up in dat tree jes' as high as yo' kin, an' den nail dat nail down an' dat hair in dere. An' says dt vill give yo' de headache an' yo' would die.
Entry 6222
Yuh git hold of some of yuh hair an' bore a hole in a tree wit a auger an' put yuh hair up in dere. An' dat'll kill yuh aftah nine days. Yuh're bound tuh die.
Entry 6228
They take the bair from the top of your head and bore a hole in the north side of an oak tree ad plug it up, drive a nail in the hole. And they go back every day for nine days and tap the nail, and the last day they drive it in as far as they can. Then chey claim you die.
Entry 7974
Yuh photograph has got tuh be in a tintype. Well, dey takes yuh photo- graph an' dey digs a hole jis' in de shape of a grave, an' dey take dat photo- graph an' dey puts it intuh a box or somepin lak a cigah box. Well, dey buries dat photograph on its face. An' aftah dey bury dat photograph on its face, why in a long length of time yo'll pine away an' it will kill yuh. Yo'll die! Jis' as dat photograph rots - befo' it rots, yo'll die.
Entry 7985
Make a coffin an' put a person's picture in, bury it in someone's grave in graveyard, person will die.
Entry 7986
Well, it's jis' like this. A woman loves a man an' he loves her an' she can't live with this man again like she want him. If she kin git his photo- graph, stick a pin through the heart of the photo- graph - an' the first person that die aroun' her neighborhood or anywhere that she kin slip this photograph in the coffin with the dead, and aftah they cover it up why he won't live very long.
Entry 7991
Sometimes, if you Want to carry a per- son away, why they go and bury it [a person's image drawn on a shingle] in some grave inthe cemetery, some person he doesn't know anything about, and some grave where it's sinking in. Just like, you know, a new grave will soon sink in, when it's a new dirt grave, you cram it down there. You see, as the dirt sinks in, why that'll go down. And they say whenever it gots down to the, you know, below the earth, the image, the earth level, why then this person will die. [For sunken grave, see also No.7539, p.3301.] [Elizabeth City, N. Car., (438), 403:3 0r 558:3.] [Similar to the two-dimensional photograph is the three dimensions of the doll baby, a small image of length, breadth and thickness, representing the contours of the human body. Several of these manikins have already been given in Nos.1841- 1842, p.549f.; No.2805f., P.803f., MAN-SHAPED CANDLE, and elsewhere.]
Entry 8067
Dey say dat, but ah nevah seed dat natchel [natural] mahself. But dey say yo' kin take dere pichure, a tintype, especi'ly de tintype, an' yo' kin burn it an' dat person will die.
(Burn it?)
Burn it up.
(I see.)
Jis' take it an' burn it up. An' dey say dey will die. Well, now, ah nevah saw dat done. Ah've jis' heard talk of dat.
Entry 8069
Ah heard dey take de photograph an' throw it in de fire or throw it out somewhere an' do 'way it. An' yo's gone. Say, dey's eithah daid or dey'll trav- el.
Entry 8123
Ah've heard of it, de photograph. Yo' kin take it, dey say an' bury it, an' bury it on de face. Dey say when dat pichure rot, why yo'll die.
Entry 8124
Well, yo' kin take dat an' yo' kin bury 'it on de face yo' know, an' yo' kin kill a person lak dat. Yeah, wit 'is photograph, jis' bury it somewhere on de face. An' tell me, say yo' kin run 'em crazy wit dat.
Entry 8126
About dat photograph, ah had it done tuh me.
(What did they do with it?)
Dey done take dat photograph an' turn it on de face, an' if dey kept it on de face, dat's so yo'll be suffahin' a while an' die. Dat's what dey said tuh me an' ah found out.
Entry 8130
If dey got holt of yuh photograph, if it wus a tintype, an' put it down, bury it on de face, why yo' wouldn't live long.
(I see.)
Entry 8164
I've heard they can take your photograph and bury it in a grave and wish you would die and you'll perish away.
Entry 8258
Yo' see when peoples dislaks [dislikes] yo' or somepin lak dat, undahstand, dey kin take yore pichure, an' take yore pichure an' shoot yore pichure an' yo' will die.
(How will they shoot that picture?)
Jis' take it an' shoot it wit a pistol or somepin lak dat, an' yo'll die. So dat's de way ah've heard dat.
Entry 8259
Take a person's pichure an' shoot it an' dey die. Wheresomevah dey be at, dey'll die.
(Where do they shoot that picture?)
Dey shoot it in de face, anywhere, yo' know.
(Where do they put that picture when they shoot it?)
Have it any place, eny place shoot it.
Entry 8270
Take dat photograph an' shoot it right in de heart, where de heart supposed tuh be, an' bury it face foremos', say dey'll die.
Entry 8324
(You bore a hole into what?) Jis' about a inch hole in a dogwood tree, jis' about a inch augah or bit chew know. An' bo' it jis' big enough tuh stuff de pichure in it tight an' den stop it up. Dat'll perish 'em away.
Entry 8336
Dey take yore photograph tuh a tree an' on de east side hew out a place in dat tree an' cut dat pichure small enough tuh go intuh dat place. (Sort of a crack?) No, no, must be in dere flat-lak. Yo' take a horseshoe nail an' stick as neah as yo' - yo' kin guess about where de heart is an' hit it. Yo' gotta go dere nine mawnin's an' hit dat nail wit a hammah, an' turn an' walk way from it~ Yo' gotta do dat jes' as de sun peepin'. Turn an' walk away from it an' don't look back at it. As yo' hits it call dere name. An' de ninth mawnin' when dey hit dat, dey must drive it all de way up wit dat one lick. An' in nine hours yo'll be daid if yo' don't drop daid immediately.
Entry 8355
Well, a person kin take yore photograph an' take it an' put it up, nail it up on de tree fo' nine mawnin's. De ninth mawnin' drive dat last [nail] in, don't put 'em in all de way at once; de last mawnin' drive dat dere nail clean in. An' whosomevah dat is, he'll die.
(You only use one nail?)
Dat's right, a nail a day.
(You use nine nails?)
Yes.
Entry 8370
Dey take dat [photo] out in de woods an' put it on de east side of de tree. Den take a nail an' stick it right dere [through the heart (see later)] an' go dere nine mawnin's jis befo' sunrise an' hit it. De firs' time yo' put it up dere jis' hit lak dat [demonstrates i hit]. Let it be right through yuh heart. An' yo' go dere nine mawnin's [hitting it once each morning]. An dey tell me on de tenth mawnin' dat yo'll be a corpse.
Entry 8384
Dey kin take yore photograph, if de man an' wife broked up, sompin lak dat. Well, if de man got de photograph or de woman, she kin take de photograph an' carry it home, an' put it in de trunk an' turn de face down, an' dat boy will pine away or whosomevah it is till he daid.
(It will kill him?)
Dat's right, shu' will.
Entry 9874
Jis' take his name on a papah an' open de frog's mouth, an' put dat man's name down dat frog's throat, an' jis' hold 'im right dere until he dies. An' den pass outa de house an' throw it somewhere neah de house, an' den he hops lak a frog.
(That man will hop like a frog.)
Yessuh.
Entry 23
If that spirit goes out somewhere and gets killed or drownded, it will not return and the body lays dead.
Entry 46
Quite a while ago a friend of mines - dey don't know whether he got killed or don't know whether he died, because when dey held de inquest fo' him, dey didn't find no spot of where he was killed or either shot. De doctors 'xamined pretty good. Now, dat right chere in Waycross heah about three or foah years ago. But in examining him - yo' know, dey tells me dat a person kin be daid, dey kin be stiff, an' after being stiff - like if dey found a person dead an' dey being stiff, well de undertakers can't git him in dat casket until he's properly stretched out, but dey tells me dat chew kin jest walk up an' jest call dis person - a natural person, an' he limbers himself.
Entry 58
I wouldn't want to speak ill of the dead, for I think they know what you are saying. My reason is, they can come back and give so many Warnings. These Warnings come mostly in your sleep. I have heard something about a man that was buried. This man kept on coming back to his family and asking them in a dream to take him up out of that grave, so finally they went and took him up, and the coffin was in water. They took him up and put him in a dry place, and they never saw him again.
Entry 79
[There is more than one way to cast a drinking spell.]
But ah do know dis fo' a true fact. Yo' kin take a person's photograph - if he nevah drinked a drop of whiskey befo' in his life - an' turn it down ovah a little small glass of whiskey, somepin like a wineglass, an' let it stay there until de whiskey fade dat photograph, an' dat person will drink hisself to death.
(This whiskey must touch the photograph - you must put it right over there?)
No sir - not touch it.
(Just so the fumes will come up?)
Yes sir.
Entry 83
I went to Pittsburgh from Staunton, Virginia, and my husband had rented me a house there. So one night while I was setting there sewing, I was very much disturbed about my children, so I sent the girl I had living with me upstairs to look after them. She came down and said, "Mrs. Baker, what is the matter with you?" She said, "The children is all right." So after awhile in about ten or fifteen minutes I heard someone put the key in the door and unlock it. But no one had a key but my husband. So I heard the tips [tiptoes] going up the steps - you could hear the steps cracking. So I said to Mr. Davis and Mr. Walker, they were boarding with me, "Do you hear that?" And they said, "Yes." And Mr. Davis said, "That ain't nobody but Bummie" - that's what they called my husband. And I say, "Oh, he would not do that." So we got up and we went upstairs to look and see what was going on. Well, I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything up there. I said to Mr. Davis and Mr. Walker, 'I guess that's a token of the man who lives on the third floor, for his wife." She had gone to the hospital. In the meantime then I had forgot my own people. And in a week's time my husband was sick and died. And I never believe anything that that was a token of his death.
Entry 95
(About those eyes?) I made a mistake - I said a nickel, I wanted to say a silver dime. Like it be - you'd kill a man and you'd start on off. Somebody done get to him and take and roll his eyes back and put a silver dime on each one of his eyes - this man he cannot get out of existence. He'll try, but he'll get caught before he can get away.
(Well, who - oh, they put these dimes over the dead man's eves.)
Over the dead man's eyes. [New Orleans, La., (866), 1404:1.}
Entry 107
Jes' lak if a person botherin' yo', yo' go to a graveyard where a sinful person is an' git dirt off their grave an' put it undah a person's step an' that hag will worry dem. Dat's whut chew call a jack mulatta. (You mean jack-o'-lantern?) No, jes' lak if ah wanta tantilize somebody an' ah know somebody died dat's a evil person, well ah go to their grave an' git dirt from there an' throw it undah de house. Well, dat's whut yo' call a jack mulatta an' it'll come in jes' lak a hag would - would ride yo' tuh death an' tantilize yo' an' de person fo' who ah put it dere couldn't even rest.
(But this doesn't ride you?)
It doesn't ride yo' but it jes' somepin dat tantilize yo' tuh death - nobody couldn't see it but chew.
Entry 115
To make him follow him, they'll go to the woods and they'll get a green switch, which they call a weeping willow switch. See. They place it into the dead man's hand and they talk to this dead man and tell him whoever killed him, in nine days time he must whip this person to death. Or, they'll bust a quart of whiskey on the coffin of the person and then they will also talk to this person and tell them whoever did this trick to whip them. See. And then after they bury the person, they'll plant maybe peas on their grave. See. And when them peas come up, wherever you are, if the law doesn't get you, why you are compelled to die.
Entry 183
This was during the period of influenza [World War I]. It happened between two women, both colored women, very superstitious. One had an argument with the other. One not wanting to get in a heated argument started to walk away and she was feeling sick. That was the beginning of that influenza that was going around all over the country. And this woman overtook her and started to fight and she pulled her hair and almost stripped her and she gave her a good beating. This woman turned around and said, "All right, you may go, but I will get you. If I die I will come back and I will haunt you. I will get you. [This is another example of bad mouth.] So they parted. The one that started the fight, thinking that she had the better hand, went merrily home, while the other went sadly home feeling sick from the pains of the disease and having got a good beating. That went on about three weeks without saying anything between them. The one that was sick soon died. The woman that had beat her made fun of her death. Many a month passed and she didn't give a thought to what this woman had told her. One afternoon she started to the store to get some coal oil, and - this was in a rural district where they did not have electric lights. She passed the cem- etery where this woman's body had been laid. She had a little child with her, a child of five. The child noticed it. There was something over on the grave the shape of a goat. The child said, "Mother, look at the goat on Hanna's grave, '' for that was the dead woman's name. The mother exclaimed to the child, "Oh, come on, that isn't anything but the devil holding Hanna down." The child went reluc- tantly, passed the cemetery but hesitated [stopped] to look down before having gone too far that the cemetery might not be seen. They went to the store and purchased the oil and on the way back the child exclaimed again, "Mother, there's the same goat on Hanna's grave." The mother said, "Oh, come on, I told you." She gave her a quick jerk. As she gave her the jerk there arose a whirlwind that twisted around the two of them. As it twisted around them it seem to grow hotter and hotter until it had thrown her down. After having thrown her down it continued to whirl. carrving them both within its grype [grip]. It twisted and turned them until the woman seemed to be exhausted. Finally, she lost consciousness. The child was afraid to leave its mother because darkness had almost covered the earth. The child stayed there until a passerby inquired why the mother was on the ground. Then the child ex- plained the whole detail to the passenger. They took the mother and carried her home and went for the doctor. And I drove the doctor there to the home of this woman. The story was told to the doctor while I sat and listened and as we came away from there I wanted to know from the doctor did he think that was true. The doctor being a very intelligent man, I thought he would tell me nothing but the truth. So he said to me that it Was the most mysterious case he had ever attended. The woman seemed to be like scalding water had been poured over her skin. He doesn't know about [the truth of the] story because he wasn't there, but there was something mysterious about it. Several times I inquired from the doctor and he wouldn't discuss it very much because he didn't want me to think that he was superstitious, nor did he want me to think that he believed in spooks. Yet, I think that he believed very strongly in the story that this woman told,-that it was a true experience. That Was about 1919 near St. Petersburg, Fl6rida. The doctor was white.
Entry 198
It was tole to me that a woman took - stole another woman's door key and took it out to de forks of de road and buried it - buried dat key - sprinkle some dat - wrote dat woman's name five times on a piece of paper and sprinkled some salt and cayenne pepper - de pulverized cayenne pepper and dis heah hard ice- cream salt, but chew beat it up - not de fine table salt but ice-cream salt. An' taken dis salt and pepper and put it in dis paper wit dem names on it and put de woman's do' key in dat salt and pepper and rolled it up and jest cussed de woman; jest called her bad names and rolled it up tight and buried it right in de forks of de road. Well, de woman had to walk all on her feet for days, but still an' all de mo' dat key rusted in dat salt de worser de woman got. And when dat key rusted in dat, rust in two, dey tell me dat woman died. Yes sir, gotten rid of her.
Entry 220
A girl was always crazy for fixing her hair. Her mother was going to a party. Her mother was hurrying her." And she told her mother she'd rather go to hell than to go to this party without time for fixing her hair. And she died and they laid her out in the coffin. They couldn't move the coffin. They open it and a black cat jumped out. The hair was fixed as good as anybody ever could fix it. They said the cat must of fixed it. [For girl 'fixing her hair, '' cat, and heavy coffin, see FACI,2ed., Pp.710-711, Nos.15372-15373.]
Entry 221
I heard one time that a woman died and the day - they got ready to bury her and the pallbearers had taken her out of the house and put her in the hearse. And they had four horses and they couldn't pull it. So they got two more and they couldn't pull it. And they said they got two more horses and they couldn't pull it. So then they decided to open it and see what was in it. And when they opened it there was a cat in there combing her hair. So they got the cat out and the two horses could pull it.
Entry 222
I did hear one time that there was two girls which was partners, used to go to and fro together. So at last one day, one Sunday, they decided to go to church. And they went to Sunday school in the morning, also to eleven o'clock service, and that night one of the girls decided she Wanted to go to the night service. So when the one girl got to the other girl's house, the other girl was combing her hair. She told the other girl, "Leave us go to church." The other girl said to her in reply, "Before I go to church I'd rather go to hell with both eyes open without my hair being combed." After then they went. The next day, which was Monday, this girl was taken sick. Tuesday she died. On Thursday they were getting ready for her funeral. They had taken the corpse to the church. And after carrying it to the church they opened it so everybody could review. And after doing so, they went to pick up the coffin to put it to the hearse and they couldn't nobody move it. Then at last a gang of men put this coffin in the hearse. After the coffin got in the hearse they had four horses pulling the coffin. All four of those horses could not move it. It was an awful thing to see the great excitment. Then they decided to take this coffin out of the hearse and open it to see what was the trouble. So when they open this coffin there was a black cat in there combing this girl's hair with its paw.
Entry 224
I heard of another story one time, I don't know how true it is, about a man dying. He wasn't a church member. So when he died they had the casket and they carried it to the grave. And it seemed as heavy, well, as double as what it belonged to be. So when they opened it, out fly a turkey buzzard. That buzzard was supposed to be the devil. Then the casket became light and they could carry it to the grave.
Entry 306
I heard of a man telling another man that, "If you can get me a black cat - he must not have a white spot on him - and get him alive and bring him to me, I will get a certain bone out of that cat that will enable you to do anything you wish to do." So the man said, "Well, how will I manage to get the cat?" "When you are walking at night" - you walk in a certain direction - "when you meet this cat you won't see anything but its eyes. But when you see his eyes, open your eyes and stare into his eyes, and don't blink until you have caught hold of him. He will not move as long as you do not bat your eyes." When the man went out he met the eyes that the man told him he would meet. When he met them he did accordingly the way he was instructed. When he gazed into the eyes of this black cat he crept stealthily up to him without batting his eyes and grab him around the neck. Then he had him. He went on to the man with him which is supposed to be a cunjure. He took him to him. The man took him and wrapped him up carefully, smothering him to death with- out hitting him a lick. Then he was placed into a box and let remain there until his flesh rotted away. Then this man, which was the cunjure, was able to get all of the skelton of this cat without any strength being taken out by heat or by suffering - he was only smothered to death. It is said that a cat, especially a black cat, has nine lives. And it is stealthy. And in order to concentrate all of these qualities, that is why he was not hit, he was not cut. No violence was done to his body. He was only caught back of his neck, wrapped up carefully and smothered to death, so that all of his qualities were left in and went to the bones when the flesh decomposed. Then the man, it was said, got the bone that he wanted right between the two front shoulders and right down where the ribs of the cat joined from the back of his neck down his vertebrae. Those are the places that they say the vital bone are gotten that will enable you to keep with you to do anything you wish. Take this bone and wish whatever you want to and it will come to you.
Entry 446
There was a witch that used to go out every night. She would ride different people. Anyhow, she kept on riding different people. After awhile someone Was smart enough to go to work and ketch up with her. They caught her as she come out of her skin and they sprinkled salt into her skin. And when she came in and goes to work to put her skin on, the salt had drawn her skin up And her words was, "Do witch! Do come! Come on skin!" She couldn't get in her skin and died.
Entry 447
This is a story I used to hear my grandmother tell. There was once an old witch who used to go out every night. So one night she went out and jumped out of her skin and left it hanging on the door. So some of the folks in her house salted it and the next morning she came in late and jumped into her skin and it stung her so she jumped out and say, "Lookee here, old skin, don't you know me?" And she jumped in again and out again and say, "Lookee here, old skin, don't you know me?" So at last it worried her so she died.
Entry 450
There was a old witch. She said, "I'm gon'a get out of my skin and when I come back I will get in my skin." She lifted it right off like this [informant demonstrates, putting her hands to her shoulders and taking hold of the skin, lifted it off as she would her nightgown]. If you haven't anybody wise enough, she can go and stir up trouble. One time when she was out of her skin they put salt in it and when she got back she said, "Oop! My skin doesn't know me." She couldn't get in it. She died.
Entry 455
(Did you ever hear that story about the old witch that got out of her skin - some old witch got out of her skin or something?) Well, yes, I heerd of dat. They tell me once that a witch used to go through the keyhole, get out and go to riding people. They'd get out of dere skin and they'd turn round in de room and say, "Round about, round about, and out you go. Well, they'd go through de keyhole. And they tell me once that a ole man was laying dere - it was chilly, you know, and he happen to watch dis witch. When she'd get out of her skin, he slips dere and takes salt and pepper and peppered dis skin; you know, filled it full of pepper as he could get it. And after he filled it full of pepper, why dis witch come back and went to get in dis skin, dis skin would burn her. Well, she was running round dere and she was hollering, "Skinny, don't choo know me! Skinny, don't choo know me!" Finally she couldn't stand it to get back in her hide, and finally she died.
Entry 556
I'll tell you what my father saw in a white girl's coffee cup. She brought her cup to my father, asked him to read it. He looked in it and said he did not want to tell her what was in it, but she begged him to tell her. He saw a casket [coffin] wit lots of flowers on it. That was Saturday morning. Tuesday afternoon she was dead. [New York City, (1), Ed.; Wilmington, N. Car.,1915.]
Entry 562
Ah heard of people usin' shoes in runnin' watah, yo' know, bury it in de creek, whare de watah runnin'. Bury it an' let de watah run ovah it. Well, ah knowed a woman outen mah home, she come pinin' away tuh nuthin' an' she wus larger den yo' an' she jes' pine away an' died. An' aftah she died, well, her people went tuh some doctah, a two-haided person, an' dey tole 'em dat her shoe wus in de creek in runnin' watah, an' dey say it wus buried jes' about a half a foot in runnin' watah, an' said that whut caused her death, caused her tuh pine away an' she wus not sick or nuthin', an' she jes' went down tuh nuthin'.
[Informant cites another case surely taken to a two-header.]
(Whom did this happen to?)
Tuh mah sister's chile - de baby, yo' know - it wus walkin', jes' a little tot walkin', an' it jes' got weak in its back. Dey taken it shoe an' throwed it in de fiah an' burned it up. Dat's all dey done. Dey didn't nevah put nuthin' in wit it, jes' taken de shoe an' stockin' an' throwed it in de fiah, an' dat made him weak in de back an' in de knees, so he couldn't stand up, stopped him from walkin'.
Entry 619
[A holy candle] that the Cath'lics use.
(Get a holy candle?)
Yes. And the only way you kin git them is you go to some publishing house, you know, like where they makes those books, you know, Testaments and Bibles and things like that and Sunday school stuff. Well, that's whare you buy those candles - what they call de Christian Public House - Publishing House, where you buy those at.
(What do they call those candles?)
Holy candles. And 'tis a big white candle that is not no more larger 'en that but it is round like that.
(About this round?)
Yeah, and it looked more like stone - it don't look like wax, it look like it was stone.
(It's a short candle about that big?)
Yes. That's the only candle.
(Now, what would he do with that - will you tell me that again?)
Well, that has to be done at the ninth hour and you have to say good things because the candle supposed to be a holy candle; and whatsomever you want, you ask in the Name of the Lord - say good things. (Well now, you said something about a vision a moment ago - I didn't quite get all of that.) Well, you see, that candle will give that smoke.
(It smokes.)
And you watches de smoke, you see, and that's whare you'll see the things in the smoke.
(Oh, you see these things in the smoke.)
Really in the smoke - really and truly, you certainly will.
(Now, just what would a person burn this candle for?)
Now, I'll make - I will say, "Well, I certainly does want me some money; ah played a number today and ah want de cash." Well, inside of dat nine days I'm gon'a ketch dat number. If I'm gon'a ketch it, I'm gon'a see it in de smoke - I will see that number in the smoke. I say, "I wants to see such and such a man." Well, in that smoke ah could see his vision. Whatsomever you want, you'll see. And you ask de Lord, if you wanted to see if it's gon'a come true. If it's gon'a come true, you compelled to see it in that smoke. Yes, but if the smoke goes sudden, it's tough luck for yuh. If dat smoke comes from dat candle and whirls and whirls, go down to the floor, 'tis death in the family, or there's someone very near to yuh [going to die]. But if de smoke goes straight up, you just set there just like this - like this the candle - you sit right there and watch that smoke and you'll see.
(And you'll see these things. I see.)
Entry 634
My aunt, she wus sick in bed, she couldn't walk, an' they sent fer some man. He came an' he taken-dout [taken'd out] something they said wus in shape of a terrapin. An' they said he put it down in [on] the floor, said to it, "Go find it," whutever that wus. [It had to be a terrapin (see No. 620), not a child's mechanical toy shaped like the animal.] It went around each corner of the house in the house an' come back to 'em. An' he said, "It's not in this house." He carried it to the door an' put it outdoors, an' it started around the house until it gets to the southeast corner of the house it stopped. He said, "It's right heah." [Since there was no place in the house where he could conveniently find the object causing conjuration, he was forced to go outside where he could dig - under the edge of the house so that his back was to watching eyes.] He went diggin' an' he dug up a bottle with a lot of needles, pins - Lord knows whut kin' of stuff it wus. The other stuff wus something like quicksilver [tin-foil?] into this bottle, with the stopper turned down, drippin'. That wus supposed when that got done through drippin' that she would die. An' we had a man aroun' thah by the name of H., he went crazy the time she wus in thah sick; an' when he got crazy an' started out, they told 'er he wus comin', then she got up an' run. [Deal Island, Somerset Co., Md., (?), 21:2.] [For tortoise or turtle, see also No. 620.]
Entry 649
She was goin' with a woman's husband. She asked her to give him up, but she wouldn't do it. She talked to her three times and told her. She wouldn't, you know. And she says, "I'll make you leave." This woman told us after she [woman going with husband] was dead. She [wife] said she taken a penny and taken the skin off of a red onion. She rubbed it all together. You know a penny is poison. And she put that penny up and she let it dry right dry and make a powder of it. She dressed her husband with it - dusted his clothes. And when he went back [to the other woman] - see, it got on her. And it turnt her jis' as wrong side out. No doctor couldn't git it back. It turnt her wrong side outwards. She died. Jis' turnt her whole womb and everything. It came out. That's what I call trickin' 'em. [Cf. No. 10, p.7.]
Entry 709
The shed from a snake, a woman taken that an' - a woman right across from the neighborhood and she didn't like her, jealousy - an' she taken that snake shed an' takes it the month of May, an' powders it, ground it. An' this woman, that she wanted to give it to, was crazy about clabber, but she didn't have no clabber. An' that woman put this here snake shed in that clabber and that woman drinked it. She didn't think there wus nuthin': to it because she'd been drinkin' it all the time. An' in about two months that woman was full of snakes. An' the woman said the way was to git them out of her, after they got this man. They sent an' git this man after the medical doctors couldn't do her any good. They sent an' get this two-head man that know all about it. An' he said she so far gone that he don't know if he could do her any good or not, but he d git the snakes out of her. So they taken that woman an' tied her like a yoke sort-a-like, a block an' tackle like, at the head of the bed - put her feet up, put her haid down, with a cup of milk under her haid. An' those snakes fallen down. I think he said it was twenty-five of 'em about six inches long jis' drop out of her in that cup of milk. But they couldn't save the woman. She died from it.
Entry 824
They say they get dirt from a sinnerman's grave, and they say they kin take dat and they kin put you out de world with dat. They say dey'll take that and make a heavy wish on it - and some people they say, mix sulphur with it - dey take and sprinkle it around, sprinkle around, you know, in de air, and you inhales it. And they say, then you'll go down on de bed, you'll stretch out on de bed and be in, you know, what you call a lingering spell, until after a while you commence to - what dey call withering away. [For sinnerman's qrave, see No. 656, p.221; for inhales it, No.655.]
Entry 826
You take nine pins an' fold 'em a certain way an' stick 'em in a piece of papah - I knew a girl, the reason I [know this]. I know a girl gota hold a girl's han'writin' one time. Dey wus arguin' about a fellah. This woman took this han'writin' an' these nine pins an' pinned them all roun' togethah. (How did she pin that around?) She pinned them somepin like a coffin.
(On this piece of paper?)
Yeah. She pinned dem pins all around like a coffin. An' she told her child to throw this in de river - in runnin' watah. This girl didn't live ovah three or four months afterward. Now, dat's cruel. She couldn't been jis' gon'a die anyhow. But that's whut happened [1926 in Richmond]. ["383 - woman about 50 - bootlegger" - Numbers Book 340-442.]
Entry 876
The story's if you git a spider in whiskey. And she poisoned this girl and this girl said - told her before she found this lady. The lady doctor says, "You've waited a little too long for her." She say, "I kin take this spiders from you and scorpions but I can't cure you." She says, "Three scorpions will come out your legs: one will come in the back of your leg, and one on the side; and one comin' out cher right leg, two comin' out your left one - [if] them two would of been in your right leg, I could of cured, but it was in the left one." So, "The first one start out," she says, "he'll go into the fireplace; next one start out, he's goin' back under the bed; and the last one starts out, he goin' start for the door about three times." She says, "You goin live three days." And the three days were out, she died. This happen up here at Pender County [North Carolina] at a place called Rook Station about fifteen years ago [1922]. [Cf. these 3 scorpions with 3 ground puppies, No. 578, p.89.]
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 893
[The following story from my original pencil transcription is about as exact as I could reproduce the recorded text. It shows some of the difficulties of transcribing; a matter I have discussed in the Introduction:] Mah a'nt [aunt] vus [was] name Ella. She vure [were] pyzon [poisoned] on branch watah [water] dey [there] vure she drinked de vatahs from. A lady didn't lak [like] 'er. De lady's name vure Rebecca. She ain't lak 'er. Mah a'ntie had took 'er husban' away from 'er an' she vure mad vid mah a'nt an' she tole 'er, she say, "Ella, ah'm goin' git choo fer dis if it be las' t'ing ah do." An' she done it. She ain't had no idee she goin' put nuttin [= nothing in] de watah way [where] she drinked. An' she vent down tah de branch an' put somepin [something in] de watah. (What she put in the water.) [I unknowingly dropped my did showing I was concentrating in an effort to understand him.] Well, when de [root] doctah test[!!!] de watah [he said] dey [Rebecca an' her doctor] put some 'erb medicine in de watah. Aftah she [go] down dey an' got a dose of it - she drink-dit - she vent tah fallin' off, got poah, got bony, ain't know whut [what] tah do fer huhself. Nobody cain't do 'er no good - [medical] doctah cain't do 'er no good. An' un [one] day a colored fellah come 'long an' tole 'er - a root doctah. He tole 'er, He sayed, 'Lady"' - he ain't know 'er name - he sayed, "Lady, yah hurt." He say, "Ah kin curah [cure] yuh fer jis' a little 'mount of money." An' she sayes [says, not sez], "All rightee, vhut's de mattah wid me?" He say, "Ah kin tell yah." He say, "Yah pizoned." He say', "Yah got yoah dose from watah." She say, "Vhure de watah from?" He say, "Ah don't [know] way de watah from, but yah got pizoned in some watah," he say, "an' yah pay a little 'mount of money, a dollah down, ah'll put chah on yah feet." She say, "Well, come on in de hahse [house] an' le' me talk tuh yuh." He tuck 'er on in de hahse an' he doctah on 'er. [He says] "vell, yeh go down long 'bout a mile from heah an' yah git yuh some alder root." An' she say, "Ah don't know whut alder root is." An' he say, "If yah come on an' go wid me an ah'll show yeh," he say, "if ah go, it goin' cost double money, an'[that is] why ah tole yuh." She say, "Well, ah [don't] caah [care] how much money it cost 'cept so I git on mah feet agin." An' aftah [that] dey vent on down in dere tuh de fahk [fork] of de road, run way down in de voods, an' got alder root an' tuck dat an' made tea of dat. An' she drinked it. Aftah he made dat tea, verms an' bugs come from uh to [through] uh bowels. An' roun' 'bout mont [month] aftah dat she got a relief from it, an' [he] tole uh keep on drinkin' dat root tea. An' aftah while she got huh feet so she could lay aroun' de hahse an' dat same 'uman [woman] come to huh doah an'tole uh, she say, "Ella," says, "yah gittin on yoah feet, ain't choo?" 'Yesuh," she say. "Well, if yuh say I hurt yuh, but I ain't hurt choo; but I vill hurt chah if yuh do me back talk about anyt'ing. An' she run an' pushed de doah, close it in huh face an' say, "Stay away from mah doah cuz yah done cause me lak to die on 'count of pizon me.' She say, "I ain't pizon yeh." She say, "Yeh did pizon me,"' an' she cos [close] de doah right in huh face. An' den she knock off de doah an' say, "Dat'll be all right." An' de same doctah come dere dat same day an' tole huh, he say, "Dat's de 'uman dat pizon yah.' An' aftah dat she lef', he turnt it back on de 'uman, an' de 'uman died in roun' 'bout two year aftah dat. ["A Negro down on the Sound - this happened down on the Sound - his voice is clear but difficult to transcribe" - comment written on my original pencil tran- scription; which is attached to final MS; both comment and transcription made soon after interview. The Sound was Pamlico: "3ll Willie Jones - New Bern, N. C.
[[region]] - fair" - Numbers Book 136-317.]
Entry 900
Dey did it with mah brothah. Well, dey took one of de dead bones out of it, out of de dead person rib - de last rib on de left side. An' dey cut dat rib into three parts an' make it as near like a cross, see, an' den wrap it an' sew it into a piece of cloth, red flannen, an' den dey put black peppah, salt an' graveyard dirt in that, an' bury it right at de front steps, as yo' come out. That'll cause yo to go crazy, hate everybody dat near yo' would care fo' yo' - would like anybody dat hate yo', an' de people dat care fo' yo' dey can't come near yo', an' finally yo'll die. Well, it be a short death, 'cause he didn't live ovah one week an' fo' days - mah next oldest brothah. An' dis man dug it up an' showed it to us, an' he said it wus de last rib of a man an' wus cut into three parts - 'cause we looked at it. It placed in a little small three-cent cream can - was in dat an' buried undah de steps.
Entry 919
I had a son named Addison and he and myself was away in Pennsylvania and he went to New Jersey. And when he got out of a job I wrote him a letter to come on out here [where the father was in Pennsylvania] and he'd get all the work he Wanted. And he came then. And he taken with going with a young lady and this lady fixed him. And I brought him home [to Stafford County, Virginia]. And when I brought him home he breaken out with sores all over one side. This girl told him that if he didn't marry her he wouldn't do nobody no good. And I taken him to a fortune teller and he ask the boy what he wanted done. And the boy told him he wanted this taken off of him and put on /the person who put it on him. And I said to him [the fortune tellerl. "What could you do with a person three or four hundred miles away from here?" And he say, "I could send this just as far as the wind blowed." And I said, "Don't let it come close to me." But he said, "I can't get the one who fixed this [doctor who prepared the spell] but I will get the one [girl] who put it down for you." This girl what put it down for you." This girl what put it down, she was rolling up her sleeves to wash her clothes and she fell backwards and died right there.
Entry 1006
[Before leaving the subject of transference I must give here a remarkable case of disease transferred from the dead to the living:] Well, a man died with the T. B. An' another woman didn't like him [a living man]. She fell out with him because she like him an' he liked another woman. Well, she went to de graveyard [the grave of the man with T. B.] an' she got someone dat knew about dat stuff [graveyard dirt] an' on a certain moon dat bottom sand comes to de top. Well, they knew about dat. They knew jes' when those things would be, so she got this graveyard dirt an' she put it with something else an' she put it in a drink an' gave it to him. Then he begin to pine away jes' like he had de T. B. If yo' want a person to have heart trouble or something like dat, jes' like a person tuh die, why yo' go tuh de person that chew knew died wit dat, an' on a certain moon dat sand comes to de top - de top sand goes to de bottom an' de bottom sand comes to de top. An' yo' get dat sand an' put it in something - put it with something else an' yo' give it to them - an' they'll die with de same thing dat de person dat de sand come from died with. Dat's why lotsa people have such peculiar diseases an' we think it's one thing when it's another - it's not nachural. [Disease is not natural - see No. 647, p.218.]
(It's something that you put in some sort of food or drink.)
Yes sir.
(What do you mean by certain moon?)
Well, witchcraft mostly comes on a young moon.
Entry 1015
Well, someone wus tryin' tuh harm 'er 'bout five yeahs ago. Well, ever since then she be diggin' aroun' de step - yo' know, keep lookin' for somepin, lookin' fo' somepin. So fin'lly one day she found a bottle undah our step an' she took it an' break it up - bust it up an' ever'thing. An' anyway, aftah she bust de thing, well, dis woman whut put de stuff dere, she got blind, ravin' crazy. Dey had tuh send her tuh de 'sylum an' ever'thing. Fin'lly aftah she got to de 'sylum she died.
Entry 1120
Chills - like if you are subject to chills every day, you get the bitterweed that grows the yellow flowers on top and the cow eats those weeds and it makes her milk bitter. Well, if a person has got a chill, you take this cord string and measure it around their waist, when the chill is on them, and you measure just the size of their wrist and you take this thread.
(Either wrist?)
Either wrist, either one. You take this thread out to that bitterweed and you bunch it all on this branch, you see, and tie that string around it. Three days after you do that, the weed'll die and there'll be no more chills. I learnt that when I was thirteen years old.
Entry 1722
[The Black Bottle rite appears to have been confined to the New Orleans area. As the dark greenish-black bottle disappeared, any dark bottle was used - beer bottle or even a bottle blackened with tar as in the following:] I said you kin take, after a man go outside - you know they have a action and you kin watch him and get that and put it in a black bottle, and carry it to the cemetery and bury it de way the dead is buried in the cemetery. Ah knowed that to be true - a man died from that, after that buried in the graveyard dirt. (I see. They get his dung and they put it in this black bottle and they took the bottle out to the graveyard. And they buried this bottle on the grave or buried it like a grave?) Buried it like a grave. Dig a grave for the bottle and buried it jest head and tail, the way the body is laying in the cemetery, and he will die. I've seen that done.
(I see. Must they use a black bottle? Couldn't they use a white bottle?)
No sir, it's to be a black one - you see, jest something like you get a bottle that have tar in it; dey black bottles, just black.
Entry 1786
They take your underpiece. Take a little piece of board and cut out a Strip like a coffin and take that piece. And if they got a pitchure, they take that, too. And place all them in that little coffin and carry it to a cemetery, and git right on top of a grave where somebody was buried, and then call your name and bury that in the top of that grave. And when that piece of board rot away, the persons who they named it after, they'll commence dryin' up and gettin' littler and smaller until that board rot; and when that board rot they'll die.
Entry 1800
Well, ah heard of 'em. They could make de shape of a coffin for you to kill you and put it right up over your door - be nailed with seven nails. They would make that in the shape of a coffin and if you go under them nails - some way they would fix those nails, see - you would die, if it's for you. Heard of that plenty of times.
Entry 1803
Ah've heard a lady say yo' kin take matches, or so many pins - ah don't know how many now exactly but ah'm goin' git all dis together, ah think ah'll have to come back again - and perform a casket or coffin under de side of de house, and nail nine nails around. Yo' know, make it jes' lak a person's grave an' nail nine nails around de heart. And dey say you'll drap dead off yore feet.
[The coffin is outlined with matches see No. 1785, p.538.]
Entry 1817
De way yo' do that - yo' know dat a person is real sick, but let it be a man. Dis is anothah thing fo' joomoo, too. Well, yo' cuts dat off - lak yo' have anybody real sick, yo' go an' cut off dis one fingernail, jes' one of dem.
(Of the sick person?)
Yeah, dat yo' knows 'spectin' tuh die. An' yo' take dat fingernail an' yo' keep it until dey bury dat person. An' when dey bury dat person, yo' take dat fingernail an' jes' do lak dis, yo' know - jes' double it one time, jes' lak dat an' let de two p'ints shet good. Jes' have it lak dat an' keep dat fo' twelve days befo' yo' goin' use it. An' yo' take dat an' hit good fo' most anything. When yo' keep it, git chew a lil' bit of alcohol an' put it in dere [in the small bottle of alcohol] an' ever'time yo' go tuh gamblin', yo' jes' take a little bit an' po' it right between dem two bones [demonstrates].
(Between these two bones on the wrist; these two knobs that are on the wrist.)
Jes' drop de least bit of alcohol with dat [finger]nail in it - right between dere, jes' drop it right on dere as yo' goin' out tuh gamble. Dat's good fo' luck in gamblin'.
Entry 1826
(The people playing policy will play the number of the house where the man died?) Cer'inly does. If dey die in de night, dat next day dey iumps right on dat house an' play it de next day. Dey plays it fo' 'bout three or fo' months or somepin lak dat. (What do they call the numbers down here? Do they call it policy or bolito or what?) It's stock - dey call it stock. Dey don't play de policy, de play de [something] stock - de clearin' house stock.
Entry 2048
Dis wus a man dat wus buried in de undertaker [was at undertaker's place]. An' she took a long string an' she wet dat an' measured dis man from his haid tuh his toes, see. Den she, yo' know, jes' fold dat string up tuhwards her an' tied nine knots in it, an' she wear dat round her waist. She had dat round her waist when she died an' she tole de wumman tuh take it off. [Auto horn.] Well, she turned round den an' she measured [horn] a live man - see, jest lak yo'd be lyin' down an' somebody come in dere an' measure yo' an' she done hit de same way. An' now you talk about lucky woman - she wus lucky a wumman as ah evah seen in mah life.
(What did she do with the other string then?)
She wear both them strings.
(She measured the live man from his head to his feet?)
Yes sir, an' de dead man from his head to his feet. Ah wus scared tuh do it, you see. And she kept it. An' she tole a wumman befo' she died - if she died first, fo' her to come an' git her strings offa her. She took it off her. So ah went down dere an' ah ast her did she git it off her an' she say, "Yes." She had done it.
Entry 2781
Said a pink candle fer good luck. Jest burn it, all ah know. Say a black candle means death to a person. A red candle is fusses, quarrels and fights. Dat's all ah've heard about dat.
(What about a white candle? Would a white candle do anything?)
Ah've nevah heard. Ah 'pose dat brings peace.
Entry 2804
(Dr. Lemson used to use?)
Yes. It was a tall candle - it was a black candle. They call that a death candle. And when that one finished burning, after burning on the individual name - sign the individual name nine ways, see, backwards though, and burn that candle. And as the candle burn, as [so] they begin to droop away; when the candle is done - well, they done.
Entry 2831
Well, dey [hoodoos] take dese candles see, and dey would write chure name on 'em, or let chew write yore name on a piece of paper, or either let de one whut dislike yo' or something like dat, let dem write chure name on a piece of paper. Well, dey take dis paper and fold it three different ways [see 2812, p.806]. (Roll it?) No, dey fold it like - see [demonstrates], yo' fold it dat way but yo' be folding it from you all de time. Fold it dat way and yo' fold it this way. Then yo turn it ovah and fold it agin, and put it together and set de candle on top of it. [See comment later.] Well, den yo' light dat candle. Well, after de nine days is over - dey burns it nine days for nine mawnin's - after de nine mawnin's ovah, den yo'll die.
(What kind of candles do they burn?)
Well, some of 'em dey tell me is a black candle.
(When do you light that candle in the morning?)
Dey tell me dey have certain times of de morning tuh light it.
(Do you know what time?)
No, ah don't know. [The preceding folding means: (1) fold one piece of paper from you, making two folds with name inside them; (2) turn once-folded paper clockwise, away from you, and again fold from you, obtaining four folds; and (3) turn clockwise this twice-folded paper, producing eight folds. These folds are now pressed together. Symbolically, the name is completely enclosed, boxed in or squared in, its spirit unable to escape. Symbolical also are the eight folds or squares and name, which equal number nine; while candle standing above name repeats the nine - a double nine. The third symbol is the folded, actually crossed and crossed name centered among four paper corners, thus creating a quincunx (see 2799, p.802; p.710, and elsewhere). Since candle above name also creates a quincunx, we have a double quincunx or one quincunx superimposed over the other.]
Entry 2833
Red candle on a person - I write their name down on a piece of paper and I burn that paper to ashes and I put it in a container. And I light that candle and drip that wax down until I can sit the candle in the middle of the ashes, and I light the candle and that candle burns down into the ashes. Well I do that for nine days on that person and that person is supposed to get cut and lose blood. And if you do the same thing with a black candle it should result in the person's death.
Entry 2853
Jis' lak if yo' wanta run a person crazy, see, yo' got de sole of the shoe. Yo' go in de graveyard jis' about da'k, yo' see. Jis' to anybody's grave yo' see. An' yo mash it [shoe]. Yo' see, de leather it be's jis' flat lak this [demonstrates]. An' yo' git chew a black candle. An' yo' write de name on a piece of papah or eithah on dat candle, yo' see, but yo' see yo' can't write it mo' den nine times. An' yo' burn that fo' nine days. See, dat's de way yo always send a person tuh de graveyard. Dat mean graveyard dirt [for you]. Well, at de end of dem nine days dat person goin' die.
(Now what do you do? You get that graveyard dirt and you spread it out?)
Yo' see, sometime it be's lunpy, but yo' gotta take it somewhere where it kin be smacked - where yo' mash it fine, where yo' kin set dat candle on top of it. Jis' put dat candle. Dis be de graveyard dirt an' dis be de candle an' yo' jis' wanta set it [graveyard dirt] roun' dere [candle] an' aftah yo' write de name on dere, well dat candle goin' burn down de name 'fore de end of nine days. Yo know how long it goin' take a candle tuh burn. De candle goin' burn nights till de end of dem nine days, an' den dey goin' tuh de graveyard. (You write that name on the candle longwise, just nine tlmes? Or you can write it on a piece of paper, you say?) Yo' kin write it on de piece of papah, each [either] way yo' see. Write it on a piece of papah, well, it's good; an' if yo' write it on de candle it still bettah, yo' see, cus as dat candle be burnin', yo' see dat [name] be burnin' too.
(How do you write it on the piece of paper?)
See, lak dis de piece of papah [demonstrates]. See, yo'd write it lak this - nine times an' den yo' take an' yo' come dis way an' yo' write it nine times lak dis, nine across.
(Where do you put that paper now when you are burning that candle?)
Took de piece of papah jis' lak dis, yo' see, jis' fold it lak that, an' take de candle an' put it on de papah.
(Now where is your graveyard dirt?)
It's underneat' dat, see underneat' de papah. Or yo' kin put it in a saucer, eithah one yo' see. It be de best.
[Similarly, a foot track is burned under a black candle.]
Well, now, yo' see if a person don't lak yo' an' even so - co'se dey don't have dust lak it be's out in de country cus yo' see out in de country it's all dust roads yo' see. A person goes an' dey take yore feet yo' see or either dey kin take de shovel or anything an' pick it up, but dat track must be warm yo' see. Yo' mus' jis' be pass' dere. An' yo' take dat dirt from de bottom of yore feet an' yo' write chure name on dat an' git chew some.
(What do you write your name on?)
Yo' take dat dirt from de foot track an' yo' put it in a piece of papah, yo' see. Jis' lak ah'm goin' take yore foot track, yo' git de dirt, yo' see. But it gotta be warm. De dirt gotta be warm cus if it cold, it doesn't do any good. It gotta be warm. See, when dey gits de dirt dey gits some papah, a brown piece of papah, see, but chew gotta buy dat piece of papah - it's a brown piece of papah. An' yo' git that an' yo' write their name on that. Yo' kin write it eithah way yo' kin write it crossways or yo' kin write it de longway - eithah way yo' see. Jis' write it once. An' yo' burn dat.
(What do you burn?)
Yo' burn a candle. Dat's candles. Burn a black candle - a black candle is de best.
reported black-candle burning in two distinct variants. The first account moves from running a person crazy to predicted death. Preserve this shift as source speech, not an observed outcome or clinical finding. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 821) · Read full source (printed page 822)
Entry 2870
Now the second way for to get your photograph and do something to it. They can take and burn lights against your photograph and have it right in the house and you don't know it. And have it, your back - see, you know your back to the out[side] and your face to the wall, like nailed to the wall. And have everything dark around there. And you'll die from that bed, right in that bed there. (Do you burn candles to that?) Yes, sir, you burn you a black candle to hit.
(Just one candle did you say?)
Just once - that's to the picture, if you want to harm anybody.
(Where do you put that picture? Against the wall?)
You put 'em in the four corners of your house - just like you got the four corners right here, you got four cormers here.
(Yes.)
Well, you see, you can take and set your bed like this here, cater-corner, and make that be the four corners right here and nail it right in that four corners, but right down where no one can't see it, see. And burn you a black light and never let that light go out. As fast as that light - when you see that light getting smaller, have you another candle ready and light it. I'll guarantee you in nine days' time, if you don't be out of that bed [and be] in the hospital, you be in the morgue.
(You'd be where?)
You'd be in the morgue - be dead. [The preceding four corners are sacred in hoodoo because they came from the Bible and are guarded by four angels controlling the four winds (Rev. 7:1). The diagonal is also sacred, the altar often being so placed in a room (p.129, line 45). The reason? The diagonal, as the longest distance in the flat square world of ancient magic, permits the altar to bestride and manage all existence. More- over the diagonal itself is a cross, a fortifed one - its two ends with equal short portions of the adjacent sides forming two tau crosses, joined at the feet at the center of the square, and thrusting outward two "T-crossings" barbed like a double-pointed spear >. Perhaps I should add, one diagonal equals one stroke of the cross; two diagonals complete the cross, Greek or St. Andrews - the structure of the flat square world.] [Our informant, by pushing back the diagonal of the room into one corner of the room, makes the corner the four corners or the complete room (PART EQUALS WHOLE, p.21). Actually the enclosed space is triangular and three-cornered, but magically the bed becomes both a diagonal and an altar. Despite the fact that neither you nor your picture is in that bed, "you'll die from that bed, right in that bed there."]
[For another diagonal, see 2843, p.819; for bed as altar, see 2874, p.829.]
Entry 2876
Well, den yo' go an' git chew nine candles, nine candles, an' yo' cut dere name on dem candles nine times. Well, an' yo' light dose candles, bum 'em fifteen minutes. In 24 hours dey come back dere and put dose [stolen] things back on de gallery where he got 'em from, or come back dere an' put 'em in de yard.
(What kind of candles do you burn?)
Black candles. See, black candles is fo' death an' make yo' return - anything yo' want it tuh do it will do it, except luck. It ain't goin' give you no luck, but it'll run and make you bring things back.
Entry 2921
Dey said tuh take a black candle an' de person's name dat chew want out of de way, write it on dat candle and burn it down; but place a mirror behin' dat candle and when it burns out it wouldn't be long befo' de person dies.
Entry 3335
I had one of dose case ovah heah an' I had wanted $500 to cure dem, see, an' dey wouldn't give it to me. I'd a turned 'em loose, see. An' by dey bein' diff'ren' in color, dey killed one an' dey saved de oddah, see. Well, I ain't had no part in dat, yo' know, Doc, becuz I'm heah to live an' let live.
(Well, who did they kill, the woman or the man?)
Dey killed de woman.
(I see. Was it a colored woman? She was a colored woman?)
Colored woman.
(Was the man a white man?)
Yes.
[I wanted to be certain about the color of each.]
(I see. And they killed the woman?)
IF DEY'D KILLED DE MAN SHE'D A DIED ANYHOW. Onnahstan' [understand]? Well, DEY HAD TO KILL 'ER, see; CUZ DEY COULDN'T DO IT NO OTHAH WAY. See, becuz if dey'd been tryin' to save de woman an' kill de man, de woman would have died any- hOW. Onnahstan'? CUZ DEY HADDA CUT ROUN' TO SAVE DE MAN. DE WAY DEY HADDA CUT SHE COULDN'T OF STAN' IT. Yo' Onnahatan'? Dey hadda die. [As you can see, there Io no racial prejudice here, merely the inability of Doctors of Medicine - says hoodoo. Later we shall learn that cases sent to the hospital fare no better, the woman always paying with her life. Only once does an informant tell how a woman was saved. By the way, the amazing Doctor Brown - the man who says he could have performed the unperformable operation - will also be found: pp.1289-1294, 2246-2253, and in a number of scattered rites.]
Entry 3831
Take some of yore blood, yo' know. Take de blood an' take it...
(What blood?)
From de woman, yo' know, when dey birth a baby. Take de blood from dis woman - yo' git chance to steal some of dat blood. An' take dat, yo' know dat piece, an' den go ahead an' bury it in de graveyard. An' hit'll stop a woman, keep a woman - nevah will come no mo'. Nevah will come, an' fin'ly firs' thing yo' know she'll be daid. (This is - part of your monthly rag?) [My question is misleading. This is def- initely childbirth blood.] Any kinda monthly rag.
Entry 3857
An' dis girl, if it's a girl an' she say whether she's goin' knock fer yo' [knock a nail into your picture against a tree] an' tell yore business, an' [if] yo' could ketch 'er whenevah she, yo' know, stayed dere [at your house], if yo' git hold of one of dose cloths an' put it in a milk bottle, an' let dis but- tahmilk dreen, an' be sure it's buttahmilk an' not sweet milk, an' half put de stoppah on dere, like a papah stoppah, an' let it [have] enough room fer it to dreen out, an' she'll die, too.
Entry 3858
Well, ah'm married, an' people has been tellin' me dat mah husband wus goin' wit a woman. So ah didn't believe it, ah said ah wanted tuh see fo' mah- self. So one night ah were out an' ah went tuh a friend of mine's house an' ah met 'em dere togethah. Co'se ah didn't ack anyway spicious. Ah know whut dey would think. So dis woman dat he wus goin' wit, she wus a friend of mine an' she visited mah house often. An' so one day she came dere an' she happen tuh be ministratin' at de time, an' she ast me did ah have somepin dat she could use. So ah tole her yeah, an' ah gave her a piece. So de piece dat she had on, she gave it tuh me. Ah say, "Yo' give it tuh me an' ah'll throw it away fo' yo', put it in de trash." She said all right. So, since den, ah were out an' ah met 'im an' 'er togethah. So ah tole her, ah SAY, "DE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TELLIN' ME DAT YO' WERE GOIN' WIT MAH HUSBAND, BUT AH DIDN'T BELIEVE IT. NOW AH KNOW IT FO' MAHSELF." AH SAID, "AN' AH WILL FIX YO' IN A WAY DAT YO' WON'T HAVE ANYTHIN' TUH DO WIT MAH HUSBAND AN' NO OTHAH WOMAN'S HUSBAN'.' So whut ah did. De piece dat she left dere, ah got some sulphur an' red pep- pah an' put in it an' burned it. An' in a month's time - ah had tole her dat in a month's time she wouldn't know anyone. So, during dat month aftah ah had burned it, she pined - went tuh pinin' away. An' WHEN DE MONTH WUS UP, DEN SHE DIED.
Entry 3861
Ah know oncest it wus [a] woman hurted anothah girl wit some of 'er pah'tic'lah pieces in 'er coz [cloz = clothes]. She wus goin' wit dis woman husban'. An' she took dis coz befo' she washed 'em, an' stole 'em out de house, an' she took 'em an' bur-ried 'em. An' dis girl she goin' aroun', she went to feelin' bad. She didn't know whut wuz de mattah. She didn't pay no 'tention to huhself. An' dis woman she died. Yo' know IF ANYBODY HURT CHOO AN' DE PERSON DIE, YO'LL NEVAH GIT WELL. An' dis girl she jis' stayed sick, sick, sick. An' when dey did find out it wus too late, dat dey had some of huh cloz bur-ried, be- cuz de woman was done dead. An' dis girl she stayed sick, sick, sick. An' she dried to nuthin but jis' skin an' bones. An' she died.
Entry 3877
Ah heard of people takin' women's monthlies an' hide it - put it in a tree an' smoke.
(How do you mean smoke it?)
Well, dey build a fiah up undah it an' leave it stay dere. Well, de fiah gotta go out, but den ag'in dat'll kill de tree, an' den it will kill de person. (Where do they put that cloth?) Put it in de hollow of a tree, see. Dey put dat cloth in dere an' when dat rottens, it rotten de tree an' dey rots down an' dey dies.
(How do they smoke it?)
Well, dey smoked it first fo' a purpose.
Entry 3918
I can send 'em away in dis mannah. Now, if I would - say fo' ninstance if I wanted to kill a person or somepin of dat sort, why den, man or woman. If it wus a woman, I could take an' - I'd take her pieces, yo' know, when dey dirty. I'd fold 'em up an' put nine needles in 'em. I'd take an' I'd go to de riv- ah, but when I get to de rivah, when I gets jes' about twenty feets of de end of de walk where I'm goin' to stand at - dere's de wall [of the room] heah, when I get jes' about twenty feets right heah, I'd back myself back to dat, see. An I wouldn't look back, jes' back up to dere. When I gets dere I throws dat over mah left shouldah. When I throw dat in de rivah ovah mah left shouldah. I throws a silvah dime behind me, an' dat'll make her drift. She'll pine away to nuthin an' when yo' look again, why she'll be in de cemetery.
(Well, what do you throw over your shoulder?)
[I know, but I am continuing for the dime later.]
I throw 'er pieces ovah my shouldah.
(Oh! What do you mean, her monthly pieces?)
Yes, sir.
(Her monthly pieces?)
Yes.
(Well, why do you throw that dime over your shoulder?)
Dat dime is fo' death. Dat dime is to carry her on - see, dat dime is to carry her on. She's got to go.
(Does anybody get that dime? Pay her?)
[Informant already has said that dime is: for death, but I am trying to obtain a fuller statement without suggesting what I want - the dime pays the spirit for doing the desired work.] No, no, sir, nobody gets dat dime. Dat dime goes in de rivah. Nobody gets dat dime.
Entry 3971
Dere a man, his wife wuz runnin' roun', an' aftah she got de ronin' fit, she didn't want 'im. An' he wuz wondahin' how would he do tuh make her wanta leave 'em off. So he jes' got tuh thinkin' roun' an' he said, "Well, ah'll know whut ah'll do." He says, "Ah'll git even wit 'er. Ah'll put 'er away." So he got a li'le dirt outa her laig track - got dat. Den he got a li'le of 'er monthly periods an' he put dat in a bottle, an' he stopped it up an' he taken dat tuh runnin' watah. He taken it down dere about sundown, right aftah it wuz dark, an' it wuz tied dere. An' as long as dat bottle bobbled [bobbed] on de watah, her mind would go. An' she finely [finally] went until she run crazy. Huh mind run clean away from huh. An' he nevah seen [her] from dat day he did dat until she died.
Entry 4034
Jes' lak two person togethah use a slop pail. Well, if I wanta hurt a person in dey chamber lye, I wouldn't urinate dat night in dat slop pail. Well, I let chew urinate in dere. I'd take dat pail [oldtime pail with lid] an' stop it up tight. Den take dat pail from de room dat mawnin' when yuh goin' to work an' care [carry] it - an' take anothah bucket, small tin bucket [with lid], an' take dat [and fill] wit [your] urinated water an' stop it up maybe two weeks. An' aftah yuh stoppin' dat watah up fer - aftah two weeks it become jes' lak a drawin' wine. An' it go - jes' agitate. If it warm weathah, it agitate quickah den dat. But if it's cool weathah, it take a long time tuh draw. An' aftah bein' drawin', dat jes' lak drawin' a man dat - when yuh go tuh git yuh blood draw from de hos- pital or git shots, dat's tuh draw an' keep adrawin' an' adrawin' until it weakens a person body. Den aftah weaken' de body, if dey don't - if dis person continue tuh leave it jes' lak 'tis, dey would become jes' lak a person got consumption - complexion would change. If dis man wuz a dark-complected person, it would be lightah. Den people would claim dat dat fellah got T. B., an' [or] dey'd say he got chronical disease, but dat's dat stuff adrawin' an' adrawin'. Aftah while it will weaken dis person. Den maybe dat person [will say], "Well, ah think ah go tuh a doctor [M.D.] tuh see what de mattah wit me. Look lak ah'm gittin' sick an' ah cain't he'p mahself." Ah may go tuh a doctor. A or'n'ry [ordinary] doctor [M.D.] will give him medicine an' treat 'im but it wouldn't do him any good. See, dat stuff will be drawin' 'im an' drawin' '. An' aftah while he will die.
Entry 4072
One fellow was telling me about it an' he claimed he was. They get some of your water in a bottle and cork it up, dig a hole in the corner of the chimney and bury this upside down; and when this water would boil, you die.
Entry 4199
Dey night watah, uh-huh, an' po' it in a bottle. Put about nine new needles or nine new pins in it an' co'k [cork] dat bottle up an' yuh'll be pinin 'way till yuh daid, if dey don't go an' unstop dat bottle. (You put either the needles or the pins?) Nine of each or nine of any one of 'em - de nine.
Entry 4354
Oh! a person kin do a lot wit dat.
(Well, what for example? One thing.)
One thing, yuh kin take dat.
(This chamber lye.)
Put it in a bottle, put some lodestone in it, steel dust, nine pins an' nine needles. Turn it upside down in yuh home. Dat would make a man stay. Yuh kin take it an' do dat wit it. If yuh want tuh harm 'em, yo' take dere pee an' stop it up in bottle wit a new stopper an' bury it: Bury it where dere's no watah, an' when dat bottle busts, dey will die. But if yuh jis' wants 'em, have dem beggered an' be wit yuh, put it undah de hydrant [considered run- ning water] where it's cool, dat watah, an' dat bottle will nevah - nevah bust, cuz de watah, it won't sour. It'll keep it cool. But yuh see, dat stuff, well hit gits strong in a bottle somewhere up in a warm place. Yuh know yuhself it will bust. Well, when it busts, dat's de last of a person.
Entry 4362
They take the underclothes and they can cut a piece out of the man from under his arm or from the tail of the shirt and wear it on a person. They sew that up in a piece of red flannel. They take that and satu- rate it, you know, with the same in- gredients, urine and Hearts Cologne. [This, of course, is a hand - pp.519-669.] They say then they can control 'em like that. Or they can take them and throw them away. They can carry them back in the woods and hang 'em up on the west side of a tree where the wind just blows and wears it all the time. They say whenever that blows and wears down from up there, why then the person will die. But chew got a new cord, like this wrappin' twine. You get that right off from the ball, right off from the cord where there's never any been pulled off, and fasten it on that tree or bush or what chew put it on. But you put it so the wind can blow it and the rain beat it. And whenever this cord rots, you see, and that blows away from where it's at, they say the person then'll soon die.
Entry 4372
Dey even done put it in bottles.
(This action?)
Yes, dey cork it up an' throw it in de runnin' watah, an' as fer as dat drift, why yuh mind would drift. Yuh become constipated, event'ly [eventually] suffah an' die.
Entry 4373
Someone, we didn't nevah find out who it wus, took some of 'er, yuh know, some of 'er action, yuh know, an' put it in a bottle an' stopped it so - sealed it so de air couldn't strike it. An' when - an' it stayed dere nine mawnin's an' in de ninth day she died. Dey didn't nevah found it, but dey found it aftah she died - aroun' de house. [THIS LOOKS LIKE ONE OF THOSE STORIES IN WHICH THE DOCTOR OR FOKTUNEIELLER, CALLED AFTER THE DEATH CONVENIENTLY FINDS THE CAUSE OF DEATH, A BURIED BOTTLE, BUT REFUSES TO NAME THE CULPRIT.]
Entry 4426
Ah heard dat chew could take a person's bowel move' - take a person's bowel movement. Git some of dat, yo' see, yes, from 'is bowels. Ah take it up on a little piece of stick. or sompin, an' put it in a little cloth an' double it up. An' yo' bo' a hole in de tree an' yo' poke dat in dat tree, see, an' stop it up. In nine mawnin's he'd die of dat, 'cuz it check 'is bowels where he can't have a bowel movement.
Entry 4708
Yuh take de little bow. Yuh take de little bow an', if they kin git it out of dere jis' as it's in, dey take dat bow an' dey'll make what chew call a twist. Yuh see, if dey kin twist it like dey want, tuh keep from tyin' it, dey'll twist it. An' if dey kin git de edges, de ends, de way dey want it, dey take dem ends an' dey twists until dey cut - till dat end is jis' as thin as one stran' of yore hair, jis' by twisting it, but it'll be locked. [The weave of the bow will still be there, twisted into one thin string.] It'll be locked an' yuh twist till it gits thin as one stran' of yore hair. Now, if yuh leave [you do leave] a hole in between, see [demonstrates].] Now, yuh leave dat hole in between dere an' yuh take an' yuh git yuh a stick, an' yuh cut dat stick as roun' as yuh kin an' yuh put dat hair [twisted bow] on dat stick. When yuh put dat hair [twisted bow] on dat stick, yuh put it in de centah of de stick. Put dat hair [twisted bow] in de centah of dat stick an' carry it tuh where dey got runnin' watah, an' yuh take an' yuh hang - yuh git chew a string an' yuh put it on each end of de stick an' yuh let it hang in dat runnin' watah, but don't sink, yuh see. Evah day yuh go dere, evah twenty-fo' hours, see, yuh go dere. When yuh go, yuh let down on dat, see. Yuh let it down evah time - evah twenty-fo' hours yuh go an' yuh let it down until de length of yore thread would give out, which would be about two feets of string dat yuh would have on each end of de stick. See. An' when dat thread give out, yuh see, yuh go an' yuh give de same party dat yuh got dere hair [twisted bow] you git dem, an' yuh carry 'em jis' about two blocks tuh dis runnin' watah. See. Well, when yuh carry dem de two blocks tuh dis runnin' watah where yuh got dere hair at - see, dey goin' tuh go wit chew all right, dey'll have good intentions. Dey'll go, but when dey git jis' about two blocks from dere, dey ain't goin' tuh go. Dis party, dey goin' tuh turn aroun' an' come back. See. Now, when dey come back, yuh know yuh got 'em den. Dey goin' tuh come back. Don't beg 'em, don't force 'em tuh go at all. If dey want tuh come back, let 'em come back, but dey goin' tuh come back dere own indi- vidual self. Dey'll come back demself tuh see what it's all about. Dey'll jis' have - yuh want tuh lead 'em tuh come back, see. An' dey'll go dere an' dey'll set. Set right dere an' dey goin' tuh wondah maybe fo' days an' days, jis' stay dere wit'out nuthin tuh eat or nuthin, maybe prob'ly sleep. People will be won- dahin' where dey at, wondahin' what's de mattah, tellin' 'em dey're makin' a tramp of yoreself an' all sech things as dat, but dey won't know what it's all about, see. But dey'll stay dere as long as dat hair is dere an' until he die. He would not move from dere - starve tuh death.
[I stop recording to ask a question or two, then start machine again.]
I'm got it on a stick.
(The little bow from the hat?)
Yes, I'm got it on a stick, see.
(What about the hair?)
I'm talkin' about de bow of hair - yuh see, de hair an' de bow.
(Talking about the hair and the bow?)
I'm got it wrapped up on de stick, yuh see. I'm got it wrapped up an' I'm got a hole in dere an' I'm got de stick. Yuh see here?
(Yes.)
I'm got dat stick 'tween dat dataway an' I've thread on each end of it - jis' about two [feet on each end].
(You've got hair in that bow?)
I'm got de hair in dere.
(Oh!)
Yes.
(And did you put a hole in the stick or did you split the stick?)
De stick is not split, I'm only got de stick. Yuh see like dis here ridge in mah fingah [demonstrates]. I'm got de stick. I only got a ridge [groove] jis' all de way round it dataway.
(I see.)
An' I'm got thread on each end of it. See [demonstrates], on each end I'm got jis' about two feets of thread - on each end of de stick. (And you hold the stick over the water and it swings? You hold it and it swings over the water?) Yes, jis' let it swing. But evah twenty-fo' hours, evah twenty-fo' hours, go dere an' lowah it down until de two yards - or rathah de fo' yards of thread is gived out. Undahstan' (I see. YOU HAVE THIS BOW WRAPPED AROUND THAT STICK THEN? THAT YOU LOWERED DOWN IN THE WATER?) Yes, sir.
(I see.)
[This informant is not lying, he has a confused mind - often from long addic- tion to alcohol. Versions of this rite - lowering or floating objects in running Water - occur elsewhere in HOODOO.]
Entry 4733
Take dat chicken an' bury 'im alive undahneat' de hearth. An' yuh take, see yuh take all de insides of de chicken out, an' yuh take de person's undah- clothes. Take de person's underclothes, as much of it, yuh know, dat's got'is, whatevah it is, yuh see. Yuh kin take dat, in de seat of it, an' put it in de chicken an' sew 'im up, if he's alive. An' yuh kin put 'im undahneat' de hearth, or any place, or bury 'im, undahstan'. An' whoevah dat person is, when dis chicken dies, yuh'll die, too.
(The chicken is alive?)
Yessuh, a live chicken, an' a roostah. Yuh don't kill 'i. Yuh jis' cut 'im Open an' take it out jis' as quick as yuh kin, an' push de chicken back tuhgethah an' bury 'im in dat hole while he's alive an' kickin'.
(Any kind of a chicken will do?)
Any chicken will do.
Entry 4751
Steal de seat from a person's pants an' carry it tuh de fo'k of a road an' plant it in de fo'k of de road, an' dey'll eithah go crazy or die.
Entry 4756
Dey tole me a story an' ah seen dat, but ah didn't know it till it wuz aftahwards. Take de man's drawahs, his dirty drawahs he pull 'em off, an carry 'em in de graveyard an' bury 'em right down by a grave. An' jis' as yuh lay 'em down dere, he'll travel until he die. He nevah live. (You mean you just lay those drawers down there without cov- ering them up?) Yeah, yuh gotta covah 'em up. Dig a little trench an' lay it right down 'long dat way, jis' lak dey pull 'em off, but dey must be dirty. Yuh covah 'em up an' he'll travel an' travel till he travel away.
Entry 4800
Ah heard dat chew could take de garment yuh wear nex' tuh yuh, have tuh be de one yuh wear nex' tuh yuh, an' bury it. Put nine pins in it an' bury it, an' dey say yuh won't live. Dat's whut ah heard.
Entry 4966
[The following rite is a first class sending-away rite told as a bring- ing-back rite. I have marked this informant on the original transcription page ng (no good), which some- times merely means not a good informant, or an in- formant with little worth- while material. The purpose here, though not normal, becomes magically legimate by intention. Reversal is also a piece of magic.]
(About the stocking foot?)
Yes, so fur as de stockin' foot, yo' kin do her stockin' foot an' cut it off at de toe yo' see. Dat's mos' where dey sweats at - de toe of it. Yo' take dat, a small piece, an' put nine knots in it, see. Put it in a bottle an' take a piece of papah an' yo' put 'er name on dere. Yo' put dat in dere an' go tuh de rivah an' throw.it ovahbo'd. See, den dere's no mo' tuh dat.
(What will that do?)
Well, so fur as dat, it bring 'er back if yo' wants 'er back. Yo' kin bring 'er back an' she cain't leave when yo' do dat. See. She gotta stay dere until she die. She gotta stay dere.
Entry 5118
Yeah, dey kin burn shoe soles. Den [dey] kin take, aftah dey git through burnin' de shoe soles, dey kin take an' put it in some devil vinegah an' shake it up, an' in a length of time yuh goin' pass away or commit suicide or go crazy. [For devil vinegar, see p.547 and elsewhere.]
Entry 5288
Dey take de lef'-foot shoe an' carry it tuh any runnin' watah an' place it de way yo' want a person tuh go, an' turn yore back an' say, "Go." An' yo will go until dey go an' take it up. If dey don't nevah take it up, yo'll go until yo' die.
Entry 5349
He'll take yore track - yo' know, jes' take it up right whole an' carry it away. An' aftah he carry it away, he'll take it an' he crumble it up, an' put it in a bottle an' stop it up right tight. See, dey put it in a bottle - takes it pinch by pinch aftah he gets it away, an' put it in a bottle an' stop it up right tight. Well, he'll take dat bottle an' bury dat bottle anywhere close by runnin' watah. Right close by runnin' watah, jes' don't put it in de runnin' watah. An' if yo' kin evah find where dat bottle is - or git somebody tuh tell yo' where dat bottle is. Or yo' kin git somebody tuh take it offa yo' an' turn it back on dem, an' dey'll know what it is, an' go an': git de bottle deyself. (So, what is that supposed to do to you, if that bottle is buried with that track? What will that do to you?) Well, it will jes' dwindle yo' down - drag, dwindle yo' down. Yo' can't walk. Dwindle yo' down till yo' jes' go all away tuh nuthin, till yo' git so weak yo' jis' die.
Entry 5366
They'll take some dirt from your foot track - from the instep [ball of the foot] - and take that and bury it into the ground and say: Lord, have mercy: if he steps over that, let him die before his day. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 5542
Dey would take de cord an' dey'll measure it, an' yo'd draw [stretch that cord over the length of] dat foot track. An' yo'd take dat cord aftah it wus drawed [stretched], an' yo' put it in a bottle wit some devil vinegah. An' write his name in dere nine times backwards [like Smith John instead of John Smith] an' nine times frontwards, dat's 18 times, an' keep it in dere fo' nine days. An' at de end of de nine days he goin' die.
(But you have to find this foot track some place first?)
Yes.
(Where do you get this devil's vinegar? Do you buy it some place?)
In de drug sto'.
(The Crackerjack [Drug Store]?)
Any one of 'em [any New Orleans' drug store].
Entry 5553
Yo' take a person dat yo' dislike an' yo' wan' 'em away from yo'. Yo' seet 'im. He's comin' dat way an' yo's comin' dis way. Take a bran'-new piece of papah, a piece like dat [he changes this for cloth later]. Take a bran'-new easpoon. When ah say bran'-new, ah mean one dat was nevah used fo' any purpose. An' yo' put it - take a piece of cloth, white cloth dat yo' have nevah used fo y othah purpose. Take dat wit yo'. An' prepare tuh meet yore man, whomsoevah ir is. An' meet 'im dere, an' git a smile if yo' kin. Pass 'im an' pass 'im a certain distant [distance]. But gauge yoreself so as tuh not allow 'im tuh git ay too far. An' yo' take de track up wit dat teaspoon. Begin right at de toe, don' cha know an' pull it directly back tuh de heel. An' git de spoonful an' put it intuh dis cloth, an' wrap it up so it won't - yo' know, it will be out of de way. An' yo' take a rusty nail an' yo' cross de track directly in de centah, an' den cross it ag'in from de heel tuh de toe - away from yo', directly. An' throw de nail ovah yore left shouldah. Den yo' keep de stuff dat yo' got in de cloth, take dat an' take de spoon an' throw dat ovah yuh right shouldah. Take dat cloth right on, roll it up tight, tie it away from yuh, don't cha know. Take a piece of rock an' put in it, in de othah part of it, an' yuh care [carry] it an' yuh throw it ovah yuh lef' shouldah, right ovahbo'd intuh runnin' watah. Or if de tide is goin' down, on de tide, when yuh throw it ovah. An' yuh mention de person's name. Dey goes right on out like dat [with the tide]. As it go ovahbo'd, dey die. An' if it's comin' up, yuh know what yuh call a spring tide, huh, when it's comin' up, why dey'll git almos' crazy until de tide turns. An' as soon as de tide turns ag'in, dey gone.
(Where did you learn this?)
Ah learned dat in de Bahamas.
(At Nassau?)
At Nassua.
(From this girl?)
From dis girl.
Entry 5617
Take a fellah's track. Git right 'long behin' 'im an' take his track, if he be walkin', movin'. Yo' know right whilst he's movin', git 'is track from right behin' 'im. An' dey say dey'll take dat track den an' dey'll go git some black peppah, red peppah, turpentine, Sloan Linament - anything real hot whut'll burn yo' know. Says dey'll put it in dis track den an' dey'll take it den an' go tuh a runnin' stream of watah. Dey'll stan' wit dere lef' shouldah tuh dis stream of watah, an' dey'll throw it ovah de lef' shouldah an' den dey'll walk away. Well, dey say den dat track as it floats down de stream, say dat'll take, carry yo' on off - will run yo' away from home, jis' make yo' go on where- evah dat goes. Yo' jis' go on off till yo' die.
(How many tracks of mine do they take - or just one?)
Jis' takes one track - eithah one.
Entry 5690
Ah wuz tellin' [asking] a ole man about it one day, how tuh git 'er away from de county [Charles City Co.] an' she would nevah come back ag'in. An ah ast 'im whut wuz it. He tole me de firs' time ah see huh walkin' by huhself, tuh git 3 pinches of dirt outa huh right foot, an' git 3 grains of black peppah, whole black peppahs, an' wrap it up in a piece of brown papah, an' throw it in de creek at ebb tide, an' she would go away from de county an' nevah git back no mo'. Ah saw 'er comin' down de road one day. Ah know it wuz 'uh track an' ah started tuh git some of de dirt. When ah started tuh stoop down somepin spoke tuh me an' said, "Let 'uh go on, ah'll fix 'uh some day." So ah didn't git de dirt an' let 'uh go on. In a few days she wuz taken very sick an' died.
Entry 5795
Aftah yo' leave a foot track in dust, well dey say yo' take dat per- son's foot track up, see, de whole print of dat track. See, yo' git chew a stick or spoon or somepin an' yo' pick it up, an' yo' put it in a 'east [yeast] powdah can. An' dey say yo' go tuh de rivah on de ferry boat, an' dey say let de boat git in de middle of de rivah. An' when yo' think it's in de centah of de rivah, say yo' throw dat can ovah yore lef' shouldah an' make a wish. An' dey say, as long as dat can drift up an' down de rivah, dat yo'll drift; an' when dat can begin tuh seep watah an' fall tuh de bottom, dey say yo' die.
(I see. Well, now, how many tracks? Do they get a special track or what?)
No, dey say yo' take de lef' track.
(Oh, only your left track?)
Only de lef' track.
Entry 5811
In order to make a person lose his mind, it is said you take several strands of hair from his head and put into a bottle, and three or four drops of blood from any animal. This bottle is buried and kept buried for six months, in ohich time the person to which the hair belonged will become very sick and then vill die. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 5833
(Well, suppose somebody wanted to harm yo' with that hair. What would they do with that then?) Well, if dey want to do yo' harm, why dey take dat an' burn it with sulphur. Dey kin harm yo' dat way.
(Well, just how would it harm you?)
Well it will give yo' a ramblin' mind, it has yo' goin' from one place to de othah, soonah or latah until yo' don't know zac'ly [exactly] whut chew wanta do. Yo' 'cumulate a silly mind - soon die.
Entry 5850
She gits somebody to go to dis woman's house an' gits 'er comb. She gits dis comb. She gits all of dis dandruff from dis woman's head out of dis comb. She takes it an' puts dis graveyard dirt in dere. Den she put some of 'er own chamber lye in it. An' she puts dis undah de step of dis woman. Well, dey thought dat dis woman had went into bad health, consumption. An' she went to de hospital an' she died.
Entry 5864
Take de hair an' stop it up in a bottle an' it will run yo' crazy. An' den yo' kin take de hair an' bury it undahneath de do'steps. As long as it keep moist, it's all right, but if it dry, why it will kill yo'. (What do they put that under the door- step for?) Well, jes' yo' come walkin' in an' out an' de one dat did it, chew know, yo'll walk in an' out, walk in an' out ovah it, chew know, an' yo' don't know it'sdere.
(Well, why would they do that to me?)
Well, dey put it undah dere tuh kill yo' - some of 'em do.
Entry 5874
Ah heard dat dey take a strand of a woman's hair or a man's hair, an' take an' ketch a catfish " tie it on tuh 'is fin, an' s'long as dat catfish goin' yo'll be goin' - jes' shin' jes' lak a fish. As soon as de fish die, yo'll die.
Entry 5906
Yo' take yore hair - ah know whut dey says - take yore hair if yo' mnta kill someone. Well, dey say yo' take yore hair, it's a certain place dey git it right from de front - right from de front. Yo' have to git [demonstrates] jes' a little bit right from heah, or ketch it right back dere, see. (Either right from the forehead or either in the back of the head.) Or eithah git a lock right from de neck. Den yo' git a little of dat, whut [hair] dey use, an' yo' tie it up an' have some graveyard dirt. An' yo' put dis togethah, dis thing, an' den yo' go ahead an Wrg it. An' den yo' goes aroun' an' [something - see later] fo' nine mawnin's.
(You what?)
See, yo' go aroun' dere an' yo' say - yo' mus' [must] go to it. Yo' see, yo' urite dis here [see later]. Aftah yo' git all dis mess of stuff mixed up, yore bir an' de graveyard dirt. Well, yo' see, yo' wrap it in a piece of papah an' yo' write de person name on it, an' den yo' bury it. Den yo' go to it an' take Yore chamber lye an' wet it fo' nine mawnin's.
(You go to this hair - where you buried this hair. What do you do with it?)
Take yore chamber lye, git chure chamber lye, an' yo' wet it fo' nine mawnin's, an' dey say in thirty day's time dose people will be daid or dey'll be gone. If de're [they are] enemies dey'll have tuh move - dey'll have tuh go.
Entry 5957
All right ah'm gon'a tell yo'. Ah known a frien' of mine run wit one of mah frien' [friend's] girls, women, heah yeah befo' las'. He had 'er to git, to steal some of her hair down heah, some of her hair while she - an' she sick, yo' know. An' she got dat, she got dat an' tied it up in a - put it in some watah. Put it in a jug an' tied it up an' run 'er crazy. She nevah did git bettah. She had to leave home an' she died right den in de hospital.
Entry 5974
Yo' kin take some of a person hair an' put in a bottle an' stop it up an' yo' carry dat bottle wit yo' evahwhere yo' go. An' dat person, nowhere dey go - an' dey keep a headache, dey keep sick - an' nowhere dey go dey would be satisfied. Yo' kin take nine stran's of a person's hair an' Put nine knots in it an' throw it in runnin' watah, an' in nine days dat person sull die.
(Take nine strands of their hair and you tie nine knots in that hair?)
An' yo' kin throw it in runnin' watah an' in nine days dey'll be daid.
Entry 6012
Some people kin take yo' hair, dey take seven needles, brass-eyed needles, an' dey will do dat hair up wit dose seven brass-eyed needles, naming evah one of dem yo' name. An' put 'em into somepin an' take em down by de watah stream. Not in de watah, but dig a hole In de groun' an' put it [these things] in a bottle or tin box or somepin an' close it up. Turn de top [of bottle or box] down. Let de eye of dose needles be down. Bury dat six to nine inches in de ground, down by de side of dat watah, an' make a drain where de watah will pass by it - barely runnin' ovah it.
(A little channel.)
An' aftah so many days - nine days - yo' will feel de effects of it. An' dose who know yo' will begin notison [noticing] somepin dat peculiar about chah, somepin diff'ren', somepin unusu'l. An' from time to time it will cuz yo' to dvin'le away an' die.
Entry 6015
From mah undahstandin', yo' take nine strands of hair off de mole of yore head an' dey kin run yo' crazy wit it. Dey takes yore hair an' dey mix it up, puts it in a bottle wit nine needles, an' git some lodestone dust, an' dey puts it in dis bottle wit dis. An' dey takes an' dey bury de bottle upside down. See, it will run [you] crazy an' yo' apt to die.
Entry 6056
Well, I was running around with a girl. That was when I was young. I bad some of her hair - no, her private hair. No, I didn't do it for any purpose, just crazyness I guess. And I kept it in a little velvet box in my trunk. That girl died. I went to look at that hair just after that and it vas dust. I heard several fellows say that, that if you have some of that hair aod that girl dies, it will turn to dust right away. That's a fact. [This is Probably my only example of the belief.] [Informant 25, Hampton, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 6095
An' ah could take yore hair an' ah could ketch me a rabbit, git any Hinda rabbit, an' clip dat rabbit back open an' put chure hair in dat rabbit back, an' ah sew dat rabbit back up, an' yo' nevah will quit'walkin'. Yo' jis' walk till yo' die. If nobody nevah kills dat rabbit, yo'll jis' nevah quit walkin'.
Entry 6191
An' den yo' kin take some hair an' have a hole bo'd in a tree an' take dis hair an' salt an' sulphur an' peppah, red peppah or eithah black peppah, an' stir it togethah an' put it in dis hole in dis tree an' cork it up. That will kill a man.
Entry 6193
They tell me you take a live person's hair and bore a hole into a tree, a live tree of course, place this hair in it. You blow your breath in it, in that hole, and force this hair in that hole. And that tree will drindle and finally die. And as that tree dies, their health will decay. And when that tree is dead, they will be dead. [Fredericksburg, Va., Ediphone, Cyl.61.]
Entry 6198
Yo' bury dat in a fig tree.
(This hair. Just how would you bury it in a fig tree?)
Yo' take de hair an' yo' burn it first. Yo' burn dat hair an' yo' put it [ashes] in some brown papah an' yo' take it an' yo' carry it to a fig tree. But don' bury it undahneat' de root, yo' dig a hole into dat tree, a small hole where evahthing small kin go in dat bark. Yo' see, dere bark on de tree, an' yo' jis' shove it way up in dere an' in de nine days dey gone. (WHAT WILL THAT DO TO THEM? DOES IT RUN THEM CRAZY, KILL THEM, DRIVE THEM OUT OF TOWN, MAKE THEM COME BACK? WHAT DOES IT DO?) DEY DIE! CAIN'T LIVE!
(I JUST WANTED TO KNOW.)
Entry 6200
If yo' wanta git a person out de way, dat's whut de ole folks have said. De person dat yo' wan'a git out de way, yo' git some of 'is hair an' take it tuh de woods, an' git chew a augah an' bo' a hole in de no'th side of de tree, an' git chew a frog an' put dat frog in dere on top of dat, an' git chew a wedge an' put dat wedge in dere an' drive it in tight, an' evah day yo' go back an' tap dat wedge. Well, when dat frog dies, why dat person die. Well, yo' git 'im out de way, yo' undahstan'.
(When the frog dies, that person dies.)
Entry 6238
They kin take your hair from out of your temple. See, jis' a small pinch, two or three grains; that is, if they Wanta do you harm - make you sick, headache all de time. An' bore a hole in a tree befo' de sap rise, an' put it in there an' plug it up right tight. You'll have a headache an' die purtty soon afterwards.
Entry 6239
They say you can meet people that go deep into that [work you inquiring about] and involve their whole mind in it. They supposed to can get contact with Satan at the crossroads, but the words that they say in certain ceremonies they go through with, well I don't know that part of it.
[At this point I probably ask how I could protect myself against evil work.]
There are several things you could do to protect yourself, but in protecting yourself you sometimes have to hurt the other party. Now, if a person is going to get, say HOODOOING me, well he's got to make me lose my mind if he possibly can. Well, I can go to another per- son [fortuneteller, rootworker, hoodoo] and I can find out that he's trying to make me lose my mind. Well, I can make him lose his mind before he can make me lose mine, as my only means of protection in that case. Now natchly [naturally] I'm an enemy to this person and I can't get up close to them myself, but if it's a man I can put some woman up to stay with him all night and get just a teeny bit of his hair on the left-hand side of the temple, on the left temple. And we take that hair and write his name on a new piece of paper, and we put that hair with salt and pepper in that paper, and we fold it very tight. Then we go to the woods at the beginning of spring and we bore a hole in a tree, and we take a hammer and nail, and we nail that piece of paper just as far up in the tree as we can - upto Che end Of the naiI. AND THE IDEA IS, WHEN THE SAP RISES THIS PERSON WILL BEGIN TO LOSE THEIR MIND WHEN IT REACHES THAT PAPER, AND WHEN IT GOES COMPLETELY UP TO THE TOP OF THE TREE, THEIR LIVES WILL HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY LOST; AND WHEN DE FALL COMES AND THE SAP GOES DOWN, THEY DIE.
Entry 6247
I've heard 'em speak about 'em cuttin' hair out de mole [mold] of de head an' takin' nine nails, nine new nails, an' care-in' [carrying] it tuh de sunny side of a tree - I've heard of dat - an' drivin' it in. Drive these nails in dis tree. An' I hear 'em say dey go nine mawnin's an' drive these nails in de tree [one each morning], at de last mawnin' dey said then you'd pine away, yo' know. Yo' don't die right at once. Dey stop this hair up in dis hole an' put de nail in de hole.
Entry 6491
When yo' wash yuh feet clean, don' wlpe it, wait until it begin tuh dry an' den yo' scrape de bottom of each feet from de heel tuh de toe. See. Save dat an' put it intuh a vessel an yo' put yuh own chamber lye on it. Den yo' stop it up an' yo' let it stan' nine days - nine days. An' de las' day take it out an' dat party, if yo' kin git neah tuh 'em, drop a drop or two of dat in whutevah dey eat or dey drink. Why dey will eithah have tuh be yuh frien' or dey will die. I've knowed of dat [death] evently [eventually].
Entry 6502
You can scrape the bottom of a person's feet, you see, aftah yo' sweat, an' dat's yer stren't'. An' if you scrape the bottom of a person's feet an' you buries it, well some people say to leave it stay buried about six months an' some about nine. Well, you begin to feel bad. Nuthin'll hurt you at all, but you just getting weak, they tell me, in your breath, an' you begin to feel bad until you just pines away to nuthin until yo' die.
Entry 6557
Ah know a woman had a frog in 'er throat an' it wuz put in whiskey - [I mean] in dat frog dust - an' aftah dey drink it, it formed dem live thing in 'er. It formed an' it grow back tuhgethah. Dem frogs grow. She had one right up heah in 'er throat an' it choked 'er tuh death finely [finally]. An' evah time she drink whiskey see, an' she wuz jis' crazy about whiskey, well dat thing would come up an' nearly choke 'er tuh death. Died!
Entry 6585
Ah heard of 'em usin' a scorpion fo' makin' live things in people. Well, ah heard dat dey take 'im an' put 'im in a open SPIDER [FRYING PAN ON LEGS] one dese ole spidahs whut has a lid tuh it. An' jis' make fire enough in it where dat he'll jis' run aroun' in dere until he dies. An' let 'im bake till he gits where dey kin crumble him up an' make a powdah. An' den dey tell me dey kin put dat on a person an' hit'll go through de skin an' come de same thing 'live in de person.
Entry 6634
Yo' kills a snake an' yo' let 'em dry. Aftah yo', yo' know, let 'im dry, den yo' parch 'im an' take dat dust. Yo' beat it up an' put it in a rag an' shake it ovah a person's sompin tuh eat, or dey food if yo' kin git a plate dressed. Dat whut we call dressin' a plate. An' when dey eat, in time an [at] times he begin gittin' sick, an' it will create live snakes in 'em an' dey grow tuh maturity till it kill 'em.
Entry 6665
Mah aunt wus fixed wit a black spidah. Dey taken an' mashed dis spidah up an' give her in whiskey tuh drink. An' it swelled 'er foot, an' befo' we could git tuh do anythin' fo' her she died.
Entry 922
Well, this case, she wus at some frien's - an' [she] a vury nice lookin' woman - an' they all got jealous of 'er. She had all the bes' fellahs - she had a beautiful head of hahr. An' one of 'er frien's come roun' to brush 'er hahr. An' in the meantime she [the friend] had took some of 'er hahr, an' all of 'er hahr wus fallin' out. An' so she's got hahr now, but it's so short an' it nevah growed. An' she said her..friend wus the one that did this to 'er. Well now, she said she [the friend] cared it to some person [doctor] out dere in Dinwiddie County [Virginia] some place, an' said they takes this hahr an' put it with snake bones an' some kin'a 'erb they got, an' put it in a bottle an' let it float. An' as long as that bottle float, why yo' hahrs fall out; but if that bottle breaks, you die. Tha's whut she said. An' so, now, it's a way to quit this spell, as they say, by some kin'a method they use. They git some of that other person [the friend who cast the spell] urinate an' care it to this other party. [The "other party" was a root doctor living at Richmond.] This party [Richmond root doctor] will put that to float. An' [also] he gits some of this other party's [the friend's] hahr an' put it in there with his [her] own [the friend's own] urniate. An' that'll float. They said dis [second] bottle will cause some kin'a gas to form an' bus' de cork out of it. An' when that cork bus'es, when dat cork come out, why that will kill [remove the spell from] de other bottle. They claim that de other [first] bottle do burs', you gon'a die, because dis other fellah's [the friend's] urinate an' hahr - they claim that hahr turns to some kin'a serpent in that bottle [see Hair, turning to snake in Index.] [This is complicated thought and action. What happened? A woman losing her hair thought a friend had tricked her. The Richmond doctor told her the friend had taken the hair to a Dinwiddie doctor who set it afloat in a bottle with snake bones and a root. The Richmond man, faced with a difficult problem, came up with the logical remedy - float a stronger bottle in pursuit. Actually, the friend was innocent - also, neither Dinwiddie doctor nor first bottle existed. I also doubt the launching of the second bottle. One small point may be missed - the spirit of the dead snake was in the first bottle [see margin-title Snake, p.66 and Index]; in the second bottle was urine, destroyer of evilminded spirits. That Richmond doctor thinks magically; doctors brilliantly.]
conditional predicted death in the narrator’s disputed bottle account. No observed death asserted for the described woman These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified. The informant reports an herb; Hyatt's editorial retelling says root. Those words and voices remain distinct. Hyatt says the friend was innocent and the first doctor and bottle did not exist, and doubts the second bottle. This link does not verify the events or identify a plant species.
Entry 7259
Years ago my mother walked acrost the yard one time going to the well. A pain taken her in the foot. She was as well as she could be before. And she became sick. A white doctor 'tended [her] and she became nothing but skin and bones. We saw he couldn't do nothing so we got a cunjure, some lady. I don't know who she was. She came back [with us to our house] and said I was the only one to go and GET WATER FROM A HIDDEN PLACE. If somebody saw us going we had to change and go somewhere else. I was just a little girl. She came back [a second time] and brought something in a box - I had to rub [on] her [the mother] in a bath. No one could do anything for her but me: You're the only one to rub your mother, nobody else but you. You have to do all the cooking, everything she eats. No one else is to cook it. We [I] had to go some- where in the Woods and get HIDDEN WATER AFTER DARK.
[The mother's situation became worse.]
She was going [barefoot] acrost the floor one night and stepped on a splinter. [This of course was the work of an enemy.] In the meantime [before this] a [strange] man came in. [After he left] that kitchen sprung up. [The floor buck- led causing the splinter her mother stepped on.] I don't know what it was. Every time that spell would come upon her she would rage. One day [some years later] as I was going to work this woman [cun.iure] came around the [corner of the] house and we happen to meet at the same time. And she said, "You're hurt. All your misery is right there." And she put her hand on your [my] stomach. She said, "You're hurt with your hair and with your pic- chure." And I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to said a word to her. And she said, "Let me go in and I'll tell you." [I took her inside.] "Give me a glass of water." I gave a glassful. SHE SET IT ON THE FLOOR. "IF YOU'RE GOING TO GET WELL, I'LL SHOW YOU BY THIS WATER. THIS WATER WILL BOIL." We sat there and looked at the water. And the water boiled over the glass. IT WAS COLD WATER. And she said, "You're hurt." She said, "If you don't say anything about it when you feel better, you'll get well; but if you tell anybody, you'll die." And every time mama felt better and would say something about it, she'd get worse. Just a week before she died she up and got out of bed. She said, "You all think I'm going to get better but I'm going to die." That evening, Friday evening, she Was taken speechless and stopped talking. She called for fish and corn bread. I gave it to her. I was upstairs and I would hear a funny noise. I went down and called her. She said, "No, nothing is the matter with me. I'm just eating. That was just a little while before she stopped talking. She coml menced eating and stopped talking and couldn't say a word. She died that night.
Entry 7423
See, whenevah a puhson [person] do's [does] a killin' an' dey wan' dis othah one [kiiler] tuh die; it's accordin' to whut way he kill 'em dough [though]. Even so, if yo' poison 'em or even if yo' shot 'im or anythin' lak dat. I'm goin' tell yo' firs' de way yo' poison 'im. If yo' poison a puhson an' dey wan' chew tuh die behin' 'im [follow him in death] it's jes' acco'din' to whut yo' poison 'im in, yo' see. If yo' poison 'im in peas, beans or okree [okra] or anythin' lak dat - see, eggs or anythin'. Whenevah yo' git ready to dyin'- ah mean when dis puhson dead an' bein' buried, jes' whutsoevah yo' wus poisoned in, dey throw one of dem same thin's, or eithah a han'ful of it, right into grave - greens, peas, anythin' lak dat, see. An' den when de time - when dat stuff grows, yo' undahstan', sprout up - see dey won't plant on de top of yo' grave, yo' undahstan'. Jes' lak when it grow up [in garden], sprang up lak any othah peas or beans or somepin lak dat gen'rally do, jes' as soon as it git ready to die away, yo' begin to take sick, see. An' den whenevah yo' take sick, when dat thin' is dead sure enuff, den yo' will lay down an' die.
Entry 7474
Jes' lak yo' kill some of mah fren's. Ah dunno [don't know] who done it, but ah got-a idea dat sech-an'-sech-a-one done it. Ah'll take de dead per- son an' turn 'im on 'is face an' de man who done it [I interrupt]. (Where are you going to turn him on his face? Where?) Turn 'im on 'is face in de coffin. Co'se yo' don't want it tuh be public. Yo' kin git de undahtakah to turn dis person on 'is face when he go tuh bury 'im. Covah 'im on up, an' aftah dat de fellah who done it will go tuh lingahin'. He'll go to lingahin' an' he'll nevah stop till he die an' follah shortly aftah. An' if dere fo' or five in de crowd dat kill.dis man - fo' or five in de crowd dat kill 'im - all who in dat crowd will certainly follah [because they did not help victim or report the crime, etc.].
Entry 7590
Git dat dirt - go tuh de graveyard. Well, yuh takes a new grave, kinda new, about say a week old. An' dey goes - goes down tuh de haidbo'd, de haidbo'd of de grave, an' dey get dat dirt. Well, dey gits some of yore hair an' some of yore gar- ments [3 ingredients] an' dey take dat an' put it where yuh have tuh walk over it. An' by changin' - do's dat, do it jis' befo' de moon change. When de moon changes, de spell be comin' on yuh. Well, den it come tuh gittin' wuse [worse] an' wuse, an' yuh'll git so cain't no- body do anythin' wit chew an' yuh jis go crazy - die off from it.
Entry 7627
(Right from the beginning now.)
Well, right from de beginnin' of it is: Yo' takes it from anyone dat has died bad, yo' see, an' yo' goes tuh de grave an' yuh jis' tell 'em whut chew wan' 'em do fer yuh, yo' see, any troubles of any kin. (When do you go out there?) Well, yo'll have tuh go out at de nighttime, see. An' den yo' axe 'em dese questions, yo' know. YO'LL SEE 'EM SETTIN' UP ON DE GRAVE. AN' DEN YO' AXE HIM IF HE GOIN' DO DIS FER YO', yo' unnahstan'. WHUT WOULD HE DESIRE FER YO' TUH GIVE HIM. Well, IF HE'D WANT A CHICKEN, Well yo'd kill de chicken an' YO'D BRING TUH 'IM DE BLOOD, yo' know, INTAH A BOTTLE. Or if he wanted whiskey, why yo'...
[I interrupt.]
(What would you do with that blood then?)
Well, yo'd po' it right down on de grave.
(On the grave?)
Right tuh de foot of de grave. Yo'll jis'...
[I interrupt before I forget informant mentioned whiskey.]
(I see. And what if he wants whiskey?)
An' if he wanted whiskey, why yo' pour it in de same place.
(I see. And what else do you do then?)
Well, AFTAH YO' DONE DO DAT YO' UNNAHSTAND, JIS' WHEREVAH YO' GO YO' SEE, WHY HE'LL ALWAYS BE WIT CHEW. AN' YO'LL BE SO YO' KIN JIS' DISENTANGLE YUHSELF ANY TIME, INTUH ANYTHING DAT YO' WANTA BE. (I see. And didn't you say something about praying? What did you say about praying?) PRAYIN'? OH, YEAH! DAT'S RIGHT, AH DID. IT WILL BE UNUSEFUL FER YUH TUH PRAY ANY MORE, 'CUZ YUH DONE GIVED YUHSELF AWAY. [I now ask what he means without suggesting that he has sold himself to the devil.] (And is he supposed - is that supposed to be anybody special? Or just a dead man?) Anyone who died bad, especially if dey know yuh, yo' unnahstan'. Yo' KNOW INTUH A GRAVEYARD IS A VERY BAD PLACE TUH GO IF YUH NOT KNOWIN' ANYONE, YO' UNNAHSTAN'. If a [something? Evil spirit?] will come befo' yuh, yo' might make yo' a rich man yuhself. [There is just a suggestion here that you could sell yourself to an evil spirit.]
(I see.)
Entry 7632
Yo' kin take de graveyard dirt an' boll it an' put it in a bottle dat kin broke easy. An' yo' an' a person come in contact, dey fixin' tuh fight [you], if yo' git a chance tuh break dat bottle ovah dere haid an' cut dem an' bring de blood out, why dey'll linger an' pine away an' die. (You do that if you think you are going to get into a fight, get into a fight with anyone?) Yes. See, see him comin', why crack dat bottle ovah his head an' bring a little bit of blood an' let de watah run down. [I suggest that the graveyard dirt is boiled to arouse the captured spirit of the graveyard dirt to fighting madness.]
Entry 7656
Dey take an' git, yo' know, it have tuh be a rank sinnah or a wicked person. Yo' don't git it off of a Christian. But chew take an' git dat grave- yard dirt off of a sinnah's grave an' off de left side. An' dey take dat an' sprin- kle it all roun' yore house. An' dey says it won't be long 'fo' [before]. some- body, yo' know, die or leavin'. Dey'll leave, anyway.
Entry 7697
Oh, de graveyard bo'd. Yes, tell me dey take de one bo'd. See, some people's got 'em up lak dat, an' dey's got dey initial [name] on 'em. Well, some are made outa tombstone an' some made outa jes' plain bo'ds. Dey tell me if dey take dose an' bury 'em in de yard or anywhere dey git 'em, dey tell me in thirty days yo'll be daid.
(Do they bury the stones, or only the wood ones?)
De wood ones, don't bury de stone ones.
Entry 7705
If yo' wanta hurt anybody, yo' kin go tuh de graveyard an' call de person name. An' carry a piece of [his] ole clothes, leave dat dere, an' bring [a small piece] eidah [either] de haidboard or de footboard; an' yo' kin go tuh a person house an' put it right undahneat' 'is pillah, [but] undahneat' de baid. An' he'll go tuh sleep dat night an' he'll take a pain an' he wouldn't nevah be no good tuh hisself. He wouldn't fin' out until he die. Somebody goin', but she'll nevah let 'im, unless yo' wanta turn 'im loose. Den yo' kin go an' tum 'im loose if yo' don't wanta harm 'im. (How do you mean put that footboard under the pillow. Wouldn't they feel it under there?)
[Actually only a splinter from the board is used.]
No, sir, dey ain't goin' feel it. Dey ain't goin' have sense enough tuh feel it. [This rite is unusual. The man's old clothes has contact with the grave- yard dirt, and the graveyard board splinter is taken to the house as a substi- tute for the dirt.]
Entry 7733
You can take graveyard dust and sprinkle in your bed, sprinkle in your bed nine times - once on each of nine consecutive days, that'll fix them so they'll die.
Entry 7753
Dey git graveyard dust an' sprinkle it on yore stoop, put it all roun' yore step, an' dat'll cuz yo' bad luck, cuz yo' have tuh move, cuz yo' tuh pine away, cuz yo' tuh pine away an' tain't long fore yo'll be in yore grave.
Entry 7776
Once ah wuz goin' wit anothah woman - me an' anothah fellah wuz goin' yit de same girl an' we didn't know anything about it. An' she tole anothah girl dat me an' 'im, dat we wuz both ma'ied [married] an' she wuz goin' kill both of us befo' three days. Well, we went on back an' wuzn't pay- in' any 'tenshun an' she fixed a pint of whiskey up an' sont [sent] fo' me a' 'im tuh come an' git some of it. So den de fellah come on an' got de whiskey a' tried tuh git me tuh go an' ah didn't care tuh go. An' he went an' got an caken a drink of de whiskey. He taken sick an' he lived three days aftah dat. An' she tole 'im, when she got through wit 'im, she taken some of 'is hair out from off de left side of 'is haid an' put it in some whiskey an' got some grave- Yard dirt an' went to a place where dere wuz a dead snake, an' got some of 'is womes an' grin' hit up real fine an' put it in de whiskey. An' he drinken [drank] dat an' he died in three days.
Entry 7789
Ah know of a man gittin' a gravevine stick, but he have it dressed, dressed, load it up wit a piece of li'le small lodestone an' brimstone an' put it in dat stick wit graveyard dirt. Put it in, in de stick. Have yo' a separate hole bo'd [bored] fo' it. Yo' 'tend [attend] tuh dat yo'self an' nobody won' observe any hole 'bout it. An' if yo' knock a man wit it, why he'll lingah - dat cuz 'im tuh lingah an' pass away. [If I may guess at the intention here: the lodestone attracts the person to be present for the hitting, the brimstone sends him to hell, after the graveyard dirt has killed him.]
Entry 7792
Now, if a person wanta run yo' out of a house, why dey goes tuh a ceme- tery where dere's someone deposit dead dere dat is well known, dat dey knows de disposition of de person [ill- tempered]. Dey carry along 7 pennies an' two lightvood AND HOW [fatwood or fatlighter pine] splinters [stakes]. Dey stick one on dis side jis' across de ways [waist] an' de othah cross de othah side di- rectly opposite an' dey stretch dat string zactly across dere.
(Across the breast from one stake to the other.)
Yes sir, lightly - must be caught lightly. An' den dey take anothah string an' stretch it directly from de foot tuh de haid [demonstrates].
(IN OTHER WORDS, YOU ARE FORMING A CROSS RIGHT ON TOP OF THAT GRAVE.)
Yes, sir. Den yo' go tuh work an' yo' go right intuh 'is hips, de right hip, an' yo' deposit dem 7 cents dere, an' yo' bring up from dere a handful of dat earth. Put it intuh a li'le box of some kin' dat yo' kin close it down tuh- gethah with. An' den tell 'em jis' zactly whut yo' wants done an' how yo' want it done. Den make dem undahstan' dat yo' have paid 'em, absolutely have paid 'em de price an' yo' mean fer 'em tuh do it. Yo' come on back tuh de house an yo' buy one gunshot shell an' cut de shot off, an' yo' takes de powdah an' yo' will po' it out an' measure jis' exactly how much powdah yo' want tuh put in dere. Measure de powdah an' put it intuh a clean piece of cloth an' measure de earth, jis' dat much earth, an' put it intuh dat cloth too. An' den yo'.git yo' dat much ground red peppah. Put it in dere an' fold it up tight an' yo' puts it right intuh de gun an' yo' turn directly an' face westward an' call dere name an' pull de triggah. An' if dey don't move, dey'll drop daid on de spot.
(Where did you learn that?)
Ah learned dat right chere, Charleston.
(Is that a special remedy of anyone? Of any special person?)
Yes, sir, fellah in de neighborhood name of Robert Chaplin. [Charleston, S. Car., (514, Doctor Glover), 595:2.] [For Glover see also references at end of 7214, p.3209 and elsewhere.]
Entry 7821
If someone's daid, some of yore relatives, an' yo' git in trouble, yo' take an' write dem a lettah an' tell 'em whut chew in trouble 'bout, an' care [carry] it tuh de graveyard an' put it in dey grave, an' yo' nevah will be 'rested [arrested] 'bout whut chew done. [Informant pronounced preceding word relatives as relatives.
Entry 7822
I've heard this: if you wake up in the night at twelve o'clock and you write a letter to some of your kin people which is dead and seal it and mail it to yourself, when you receive this letter you burn it and make a wish and the girl that you're going with will marry you. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Edi- phone.]
Entry 7824
Yo' kin write a lettah tuh a dead person. If yo' want anything tuh happen tuh a person good or bad, write a lettah tuh a dead person. Go dere an' yo' kin carry nine cents, dig a hole an' give dis lettah tuh dis person hut's in de grave. An' dis party, jis' whut yo' ast in de lettah tuh happen, dey say dat would be true.
Entry 7825
If yo' wanta be lucky, dey tell me yo' kin write a lettah tuh a fellah, lak yo' know a real bad fellah dat died. Yo' kin write lettah tuh 'im care of hell. Go tuh de graveyard an' write de lettah tuh 'im. Come back an' put it undah de haid of yuh baid dat night an' yo'll dream about 'im. Yo'll be lucky an' git money, lucky tuh git a job - anything. [In general folklore to dream of the dead is lucky - see FACI 2nd ed., Nos.8271-8272, 8274, p.367.]
(You write the letter in care of hell?)
Yassuh.
Entry 7833
Ah heard dem say dey take a person's height, jis' ord'n'ry [ordinary], why yo' bein' a low man, why jis' git somepin, objek[object] neah yuh height, yo' know. Well, yo' keep yuh eye on dat an' when yo' go out, why dey take de rule an' measure dat. Dat'll be yuh height den. Den dey take dat length an' go in de graveyard an' measure dat off on a grave. Say yo'd soon somehow git afflicted an' die, jis' from puttin' yuh measure in de graveyard, right on top of a grave. Makes a long switch an' put a mark on it - lak [as the measurement].
(Do they leave the stick there?)
No sir, jis' go ahaid an' take yuh measurement down dere, so many feet, right on top de grave, yo' know, where dey goes. Jes' make a mark right 'cross dere an' it some kinda li'le funny word dey would say, some kinda li'le message. Yo' goin' die or somepin happen.
Entry 7852
Git fo' fat lightah splintahs. Trim 'em off an' make a peg out of 'em two tuh de haid an' two tuh de feet [of the grave] an' put in de middle [of grave] de name or de hat. Place it or eithah de linin' from de hat or eithah de brim of de hat, jes' so it's de scents of de body, an' bury it right intuh de grave. (You bury it right into the grave.) Yes, an' dat would take a deeply 'fect. Dat of co'se will - ah've always find dat tuh put dem in de grave, mahself. Yo're worried, jes' have yuh worried an' grieved. An' jes' worry yo' ownself tuh death. (Well, why do you use those four splinters? Is there any purpose in using those?) Yes sir, dere's a purpose of usin' dose, becuz dat is pinnin' [pinning]. Jes' lak yo' take a nail an' nail a board on a wall [pin or nail a board to the wall]. Well, when yo' use dose an' put de person's 'fect [= effects = good or personal propertyl, de hat or somepin, in de grave an' pin dose pegs, dat is pinnin' 'em down.
Entry 7858
Yo' go, if yo' know a person dat die bad, yo' go tuh de grave an' jes' run yuh han' about dat deep in de grave an' git some of de dirt. An' if yo' want a person tuh leave from 'way round yo', throw it on de po'ch. Dey'll be gone. [For an interesting little story about this driving-out-of-a-house rite, see one from Wilmington, N. Car., No.1629, p.506.]
Entry 7896
Ah have learnt dat dey kin take yuh shoes an' carry 'em tuh de grave- yard an' put 'em in, turn 'em east an' west an' bury 'um, an' yo' die.
(They bury one east and bury one west?) Yes.
Entry 7936
Get dey socks an' fill 'em fulla dirt, an' sulphur an' soda - furse [first] one thing anothah an' bury 'em like yo' do a person. Let it be a secret, don't let nobody see yo', an' dat person dey say will die. [Here we have an unusual combination for So few words: sock, used as a mock coffin, representing feet, to keep a person down uder your feet, and also odor, the smell of death; ordinary dirt is mock grave- yard dirt; sulphur signifies the devil or hell; and soda, its effervescence, suggest body decay. Secrecy covers everything with the added power of ritual silence.]
Entry 7937
Dey make a coffin an' den dey [take] some of yuh somepin about chew an' put in dat coffin an' bury it, an' yo' jes' withah away until yo' die.
Entry 7938
Take any yore clothes, yore dirty clothes an' put down in dat coffin an' bury it, or ei- thah bury it undah yore steps. An' when yo' cross dat, dat where yo' dies at.
Entry 7942
Says if yo' measure a person wit a square or eithah a rule - dat chew measure a dead person to git 'im in 'is coffin-lak dere, an' den measure a person live, height by dat rule or square, he'll soon die. (That was especially in the old days when they had to make their coffins, the old-fashioned coffins. You must measure him with the same rule as you used in measuring out the dead man's coffin.) Dat's right.
Entry 7945
If you can get any part of the coffin or the garments in which a per- son is buried and fix it to a person, in their pockets or inside somewhere where it will not be seen or noticed, this person to whom this thing is attached will himself die in eighteen months.
Entry 7958
It was a man made a little bita coffin...he was mad with this other man...he put it in front of his door an' tole him he would be moved in a little while, an' if he didn't, if he stayed there, he would die. But he didn't die; but he did move.
Entry 7959
Take paper money or a new piece of paper, fold in shape of coffin, write person's name in, bury, soon die.
Entry 7961
Prackly [practically] on de same thing, dey jes' take an' make a arti- ficial, yo' know, a li'le casket. An' den dey kin go an' git chure, pick [up] yuh track an' put it in dis casket. An' dey'll commit dat tuh de ground, jes' lak dey wus buryin' a body jes' so. An' jes' say - dey say, when dey commit chew tuh de ground, "Ashes tuh ashes, dust to dust." But dey gotta call yuh name an' den dey bury dat.
(What will happen then?)
Well, de person who dey bury, why he won' live long.
Entry 7964
Take dat left shoe, yo' cut it, yo' jis' cut it all de way cross from dat heel. Yo' take dat shoe... [I interrupt.]
(From the heel to what?)
From de heel tuh de end of de toes.
(HoW would you cut it? How do you mean they cut it?)
[Just make a cut mark? Cut all the Way through? Etc?]
Yo' jis' take a knife an' cut it...
(Just make a cut?)
Yes, sir, jis' take a knife an' cut dat shoe all de way through, yo' see, de sole of it. Cut it all de way through tuh de heel.
(I see.)
An' den yo' take dat shoe an' git two cross-sticks, two cross-sticks [2 sticks to cross] an' yo' cross 'em lak dat [demonstrates].
(Like an X. All right.)
Yo' cross 'em lak dat, an' yo' goes right undahneat' of de house, of [belou] dere baid. Yo' see, yo' make somepin jis' lak a li'le coffin. An' yo' goes undahneat' of de house right undah de baid, jis' where de baid sets. An' yo' tacks de bottom of dat, dat inside of dat sole of dat shoe, [and] yo' tack it undahneat' of de house right undah de baid. An' dat person will jis' lingah, lingah, lingah - lingah until dey die. But yo' tacks it - see yo' tack it right undahneat' de bed. [Nail it to the fllor under the house:] Dat's really de truth ah'm tellin' yo' now. Dat's really de truth.
(Well, what would they do with that box?)
Evahthing ah'm tellin' yo' is really de truth. (Well, what would they do with that box that you made like a coffin? What do you do with that?) That? It all be's tuhgethah.
(Oh! you tack that box, everything. I see.)
But choo see, it all be's tuhgethah. Turn it bottom upwards.
(I see.)
An' yo' tack it right undahneat' of de baid undah de house; but choo see, yo' cross dem sticks.
(Where do you put those sticks?)
Yo' cross dem sticks right undahneat' of it, right undahneat' of de sole. An' yo' tack it an' yo' turn it all bottom ups, an' yo' tacks it right undahneat' of de baid.
(Well, now, you put these sticks in there across?)
Yes. (Then you put this piece of leather in there, from the shoe, and you turn it upside down, and tack it up under the bed, under the house? [I speak slowly and deliberately.] That leather is in there to hold those sticks, that are crossed, from falling down?) Yes, sir, keep dem sticks crossed. Don' put 'em straight, put crossed.
(I see.)
Entry 7975
Well, ah heard dat dey could go tuh work an' take yer photograph an' dig a hole, jis' lak yo' diggin' a grave, yo' see, an' dey lay dat photograph down dere jis' lak yo' buryin' anyone; but still yo' know, dey bury yo' on yer face wit chure photo- graph. Yo' see de idea. An' dey could take a tenpenny nail, a bran' new ten- penny nail, an' dey could nail it through de back of yo', yo' see, down intuh de groun'. Dat's de photograph nail down intuh de groun'. Den dey covah yo' up. Ah heard dat in nine days time yo'll be a corpse, yo'll be daid. Yo' see de idea. Dat's whut ah heard dat dey could do wit dat.
Entry 7976
Well, yo' kin take anybody's pitchure an' draw de shape of a coffin on a green tree, an' nail it up an' shoot it. Dey'll die. (You put this picture on the 'shape of that coffin on the tree?) Yes sir an' shoot it.
Entry 7977
Dey take yuh photo an' jis' put it in a bottle - not dat, yo' kin put it in a box. Shape dis box like a casket [coffin] an' yo' could bury dis box in de dirt, an' call yuh name an' in nine days time yo'll die.
Entry 7983
Take a new board an' draw a person yo' dislike an' yo' want 'em tuh die. Jis' take a new board an' yo' draw dere pitchure on dat new board. An' git a box of sulphuh dat have nevah been opened, an' a box of saltpetah dat have nevah been opened, an' put on dere. An' take dat pitchure an' bury it an' dem peo- ple take sick, an' jis' lingah an' lingah an' de firs' thing yo' know dey'll be daid.
Entry 7988
Dey take it, dese tintype, take it an' bury it in de ground an' put a stick tuh de foot an' a stick tuh de haid. An' whilst dat pitchure fadin' away, yo'll fade right 'long wit it; an' when all of it off, den yo'll die. (Why do you put those sticks at the foot and at the head?) Jes' lak yo' buryin' somebody.
Entry 8000
Well, yo' takes de box an' make it jes' in de shape of a coffin. Well, he takes 'is knife an' he cuts in a man jes' de shape of a man. See, or jes' de shape of a woman, jes' whichevah one he wanted it tuh favor. Well, he takes dat an' puts it in dat little coffin. Takes 'im a pin an' takes 'im a pair of pliers, wire pliers an' cut de pin [head] off tes' deep enough tuh jes' suppose it wuz a little tack. Put dat man in dere, an' on dat man's back write whoevah name he want it tuh be on dere. Well, he takes dat, take an' carry it tuh dis man's house, if he kin git tuh 'is house at night, tuh whatevah dat yo' kin find, sech as flowahs an' hedges or anything lak dat. Dig yo' a hole as though it is a grave an' put it in dere an' covah it up. Well, in a few days he'll be daid.
(What do you cut that little figure from? What do you cut it out of?)
Well, yo' kin take a piece of elm wood. Fo' him tuh lingah a long time, yo' kin take a piece of elm wood or eithah a piece of ash wood, jes' whichevah is soft enough fo' yore knife tuh cut. An' cut it out of wood an' make it out of wood. An' make it outa wood an' take de pins an' evahthing an' jes' nail 'em in dere. It has tuh be exactly like a casket [coffin]. An' yo' don't have tuh fo'- git tuh put de man's name, whoevah it is dat chew's mad wit. Jes' put dat name on 'is back an' lay it right in dere.
Entry 8063
Jes' lak a person wanta hurt somebody, yo' know, a lady dat dey don't iak. Dey kin take huh pichure an' take it an' put it in a bottle, an' turn dat bottle bottom upwards, bury it in de ground. An' de mo' dat pichure swell, de mo' she'll swell; an' when dat bottle breaks, de woman would bu'st wide open. Ah've seen dat done. (You simply take her picture and put it in the bottle and turn the bottle up- side down and bury it.) Yes sir, an' de pichure swells an' de mo' it swells, de mo' she swell, an' den she bu'sts open an' die from it. Ah've seen a woman die from dat. An' de way ah've seen people git live lizards put in 'em, ah've seen dat done.
Entry 8065
[The rites of this margin title give the simple act of burning a photo- graph, usually in a fire already made. More complicated burning rites will be found later in this section and elsewhere in Hoodoo.l Jes' lak yo' have a photograph an' - say ah wuz goin' wit a girl an' ah had 'er photograph. Well, maybe ah'd keep it an' ah'd maybe start goin' wit anothah girl. All right, dis othah girl didn't like fo' me tuh have dis photograph. Ah take de photograph an' throw it in de fiah an' burn it up, an' it makes dis othah girl sick an' jes' lingahin' an' lingahin' 'long. An' firs' an' las' she dies, pales away.
Entry 8107
I've heard tell of 'em takin' yuh photograph - of a tintype - an' bury- in' it at cheh do', an' it'a make sickness. "Yo' become swollen, yo' know. Yo' jis' run wild, see. An' if anybody kin git tuh it befo' it russes [rusts], why dey kin save yo' - jis' take it up. Dey bury it head-fore- most. Dey bury it about, yo' know, about fo' or five inches down in earth, down undahneath yuh do'step.
(What do you mean by head-foremost?)
De head leans out from de do'. Dat means dat choo'll die an' dey bring yuh out, yo' undahstand. It's bottom upward.
Entry 8115
Git a person photograph on a tintype. Ah know dis one mahself. An' yo' stan' it on de edge, put it in de groun' where it will stan' on de edge, an' let it lay dat way 36 hours in dat one position. An' den aftah den yo' go back an' turn it ovah ag'in, see. An' if he's away, he'll show up. In de same lak mannah, if yo' wanta kill any person wit de tintype, yo' take it an' yo' lay it flat jis' lak dat on its face an' let it lay dere. In less dan 36 hours dat individual will git sick an' be daid. (Now, that first way, you put the photograph, you set it up like that [demon- strate]. Is the head up or down, or does it make any difference?) It doesn't make any diff'rence, jis' so it's settin' up on de edge. An' den de nex' time yo' turn it.
Entry 8121
De photograph, turd it down yo' know. Yeah, bury it on its face. See heah, cut de eyes out an' bury it on de face, an' walk on off an' don't look back.
(What will that do?)
He'll die.
(What did you say about the eyes?)
Cut de eyes out de pichure. Yo' kin jis' mark cross dem, cut de eyes out. Carry it wherever yo' Wanta carry, don't let nobody see yo' [dig a hole], covah it up lak yo' bury a grave.
Entry 8167
Take dat photograph an' bury it. Go tuh a cemetery an' bury it right at de haid of de grave an' co'se dat will kill yo'. Heah a person say yo' have a sweet- heart or relative daid, take dat photograph an' take an' carry it tuh a dead man's grave, or a wumman's, dat had died recently an' bury it dere an' make yore wishes. Dat person, dey will die.
Entry 8170
Now, if's a pasteboard, they can't do so much with it, but if's a tin- type, they take that tintype pitchure an' care it to the graveyard an' dig a hole, an' turn the face down an' cover it up. Go thah every mawnin', put a handful of dirt on it. Go every mawnin' fo' nine mawnin's. An' yo'll pass on away. Yo' talkin' of goin' away like somebody [with] T. B., yo'll go away then. Yo'll go away in a hurry.
Entry 8183
De only thing ah know 'bout photo- graph, ah heard 'em say - say, if yo' poke a pin, or othahwise a knife right through a pusson's heart, chew know, poke a hole through it, say dat pusson wouldn't live long aftah dat, aftah 'bout two days aftah dat. [Fayetteville, N. Car., (1403). 2527:7.]
Entry 8199
Well, ah learnt dat chew kin take a person's photo an' if yo' wants to do dem any harm, sech as killin', dat maybe yo' kin take it an' hold it ovah a lookin'-glass twixt - aftah de sun raise one hour, an' take an' carry it back tuh yure mantelpiece an' put it ovah yore mantelpiece. Turn de glass down ovah it. An' dey say in nine mawnin's he'll be a daid person.
(What kind of a glass do you turn over it?)
A lookin'-glass.
Entry 8201
Use it fo' back luck, by scrapin' dat silvah offa dere; well, dat silvah offa [the back of] dat lookin'-glass. Dey take dat an' scrape it offa pichure. Jis' lak if dey wanta harm yo', dey take an' scrape dat silvah off dat pichure [mirror] an' put it in yure face, on yure pichure.
(On the face of your picture?)
Dat's right, an' den dey take it an' put it in sompin, [anything to hold the scrapings and photo], an' bury it, bury it [face] down. Dat'll make yo' dwindle down an' die. Make yo' stay sick an' nuthin will cure yo' unlessen somebody [hoodoo doctor or healer] take an' find whut's wrong wit chew.
Entry 8203
Take a nail an' drive it intuh de left side of a pichure [demonstrates] an' jis' - yo' kin take hit an' drive hit dere fo' de rest of nine mawnin's, an' dat will take a person's life. (You drive it right there in the heart, right where you are pointing.) Right at de point where de heart supposed tuh be.
Entry 8204
Yo' kin take a fellah's photograph an' take it out intuh de woods an' dig yo' a hole down. An' den take a nail, nine nails, an' stick right through it where it come through his heart. An' turn it on its face an' bury it, an' in nine days dis fellah will come tuh fadin' away. In de long run he will come tuh be a dead soul. (Put those nine nails all around his heart.) An' den turn it ovah on its face, turn it down on its face.
Entry 8209
An' den yo' would take an' write a person's - draw a person's pitsture am'write dere name on a tree.
(Do you draw their picture on the tree?)
Yo' draw dere pitsture on a tree, jis' lak yo' would take an' go dere an' draw a pitsture on de tree. If yo' don' wanta skin it where anybody would take notice, yo' would draw a pitsture on de tree, namin' it him, an' den write undah it dat it him. An' take a nail, a fo'-penny nail, an' drive right in de centah of 'is haid. An' says yo' nail dat fo' nine mawnin's, yo' go dere an' tap it, an' de ninth mawnin' yo' drive it plumb in. An' dis person will die.
(You write his name and just say It's him on it?)
[He may have said It's him before recording began. He now says person must not be plainly identified.1 Yo' write his name, yo' make it kinda a sign. Don't make it plain where peo- ple kin read it an' all lak dat, don't chew know, but jis' lak imitatin' writin'. Well, yo' name it. Dat's 'is name. An' yo' draw dat pitsture, jis' - yo' know. An' den yo' take an' drive dat nail in dere an' - fo' nine mawnin's yo' would go dere an' tap dat nail an' de ninth mawnin' yo'd drive it in.
Entry 8222
An' jis' lak if yo' wanta a person tuh die, well yo' take their picture but it have tuh be on tintype an' den yo' bear [bury] it on it's face an' place two needles at de foot an' two at de haid an' jis' let it stay dere an' dey'll finely [finally] wizzle away.
Entry 8230
Yo' take yore pichure. Ah've heah dat yo' take yore pichure. See, jis' lak if a person didn't lak yo' or wanted tuh git chew outa de way. Yo'd take dat pichure an' go outdo's. If yo' wanted tuh, go right in yore yard at de lef' cornah, [or] de no'th cornah of yore chimley, an' dig a hole an' bury it on yore face. Bury de pichure on de face. Well, yo' see, as long as it lay on yore face, fades away, dat person will die.
Entry 8237
Take a person's photograph an' take a pin an' stick dat pin in de heart of dat pichure, where de per- son's heart is on dat pichure, an' dat person will die. Dat will kill a person.
Entry 8239
Yo' take a person's photo- graph an' take nine pins an' stick 'em in it, right through de heart, an' take an' carry it tuh runnin' watah an' throw it in. Why dat person will fall daid right anywhere dey at. Aftah nine days why dey'll fall daid.
Entry 8240
Dey kin take yore pichure - ah ain't nevah done it but ah've heered dis, undahstan'. Dey stick nine holes in it, one hole evah mawnin' fo' nine mawnin's. An' de ninth mawnin' aftah dey stick dat las' hole in it - when dey put de firs' hole in dere, in dat pichure, in de heart of dat pichure - lak dis is mah pi- chure an' dis is mah heart. Jes' take dat pin an' stick a hole in dat heart on dat pichure. Stick one dis mawnin', one tuhmorrah mawnin', an' one de nex' mawn- in', until de ninth mawnin'. An' de ninth mawnin', when dat last hole will be stuck in dere, de man will be in bad condition. Dere can't nobody do him no good. Can't nobody do him no good nohow unless dey kin git dat air [that there] pichure an' kin remend dem holes. But if dey don't do dat, why dat'll kill 'im.
Entry 8245
Ah hearn dat chew could take de photograph an' bury it in de sand, an' when dat photograph melt away offa dat whut it's taken on, yo'll die.
Entry 8260
I've heard that they could shoot your photograph and you'll die quick- ly; and if they bury your photograph, you'll die a slow death.
Entry 8265
Lak yo' got a pichure, see, jis a pichure of yo'. All right, lak dey love yo', see, an' don't want see any- body else wit chew. Dey go tuh de fo'k of de road an' take a pistol an' shootdat pistol right in de centah of yo' face. When dey come back yo'll be daid. (You shoot this picture at the forks of the road.)
Entry 8266
Yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road, if someone done sompin tuh yo' an' yo' doesn't lak 'em, an' yo' wanta git rid of 'em fo' good, git 'em clean out de worl', yo' go dere fo' eight mawnin's wit dere pichure. An' den de ninth mawnin' yo' could take it an' shoot it on de lef' side, an' dey certainly are daid. Den yo' know yo' got rid of dem.
(You take that picture out each morning and bring it back?)
Yessuh.
(What do you do with the picture then?)
Yo' shoot it on de left side.
(Where do you put the picture when you shoot it?)
Carry it back home or eithah leave it down dere, but mos' de people says yo' leave it fo' nine mawnin's an' shoot it on de lef' side.
Entry 8267
Yo' kin take a man's pichure, anybody's pichure, an' go tuh de fo'k of de road an' shoot at dat pichure. Go nine times an' shoot at it nine mawnin's an' - eithah nine nights. An' yo' kin shoot at dat pichure nine times an' dat man will die.
(Where do you put that picture out at the fork of the road?)
Put it right at de fo'k of de road.
(Put it on the ground or up in the air or where?)
Put it on de ground. Yo' know, quite natural yo' kin take a stick yo' know an' pin it up so he kin see it, chew know, an' shoot at it.
Entry 8269
De nex' thing, if a person don' lak yo' an' wants tuh do yo' dirty, dey kin go tuh work an' take dat photograph an' shoot it right directly to de heart line, an' in nine days he'll be a daid man.
Entry 8281
Ah've heard of a person takin' anothah person's pichure, a pichure of 'em, if dey dislak 'em, an' takin' it in de woods an' bo'in' [boring] a hole in dere an' stickin' de pichure in de tree, face downwards, an' den shootin' holes in it. Ah've heard of dat. An' dey'll soon die.
Entry 8282
Take dat an' nail dat up in a tree an', if dey wanta kill yuh, dey kin nail dat photograph up an', if yo' in New York or even Philadelphia or Boston, an' dey call yure name, an' put a pistol dere an' shoot dat photo- graph in de heart, won't kill yuh right off; but yo'll pine away, pine away, pine away until yo' die.
Entry 8283
Well, yo' see, yo' kin take dat 'ere [photo] an' [a note of mlne says informant very shaky, a stutterer] an' bury it down in dirt an'...meal buries... eithah meal. Dey eithah buries it in de groun' where dey walk ovah it fo' nine days, an' make any kinda wishes yo' wants fo' it, yo' see. An' den take it out, yo' see, an' nail it up side of de tree at de ninth day an' shoot it, sompin lak dat, wit No.8 shot.
(What is that supposed to do to you?)
Dey say de person will die. (You take this photograph first and you bury it in the ground, face down, you say. And then what do you put on that?) Make any kinda wishes yo' wants tuh.
(You said something about meal. What did you say about meal?)
Even if yo' don't want tuh bury it down in de ground, yo' kin bury it in de meal.
(Oh, if you don't bury it in the ground, you bury it in the meal. Corn meal?)
Yes, sir. An' den yo' leave it fo' nine days. Den yo' see, yo' kin make yere wishes, any kinda wish yo' want. An' de ninth day yo' kin take it up an' shoot it.
Entry 8285
Dey tell me dat dey kin take yuh photergraph an' carry it in de woods, an' put it on a pine tree. An' if dey kin shoot, yo' know, right in a serious part fo' nine mawnin's...an' dey say aftah dat it'll kill yuh.
Entry 8286
If yo' wanta harm a person, kill a person, say fo' instance, yo' kin draw de fo'm [form] of dat per- son as neah as yo' kin, yo' know. If it's a woman, yo' draw de fo'm of a woman; if it's a man, yo' draw de fo'm of a man. An' yo' git chew a tenpenny nail an' yo' kin go tuh a tree out some- where, an' yo' nail dat fo'm up on dat tree. An' yo' kin take dat powdah outa dat shell, an' yo' kin take a li'le of dat powdah. Yo' go dere fo' nine mawnin's an' yo' take a li'le of dat powdah an' put it aroun' dat nail in dere. Den yo' shoot dat pichure fo' nine mawnin's. An' dat'll kill a person or eithah put 'em in such a shape dat dey'll jis' wanta be daid.
(You don't do anything with that powder at all?)
No, yo' jis' - aftah yo' use a li'le aroun' dat nail, when yo' firs' put de pichure up dere. Put a li'le of dat powdah right aroun' dat nail. Den yo' kin use dat - shoot dat pichure fo' nine mawnin's. But yo' kin use de powdah fo' woman, miscarriage...
Entry 8287
Dey take yore pichure an' draw it in willah [willow] tree an' run a speah through yer heart. See, shape yer heart an' put a speah through yer heart. An' dey shoot yer pichure nine times an' dat'll cuz yo' tuh drag until yo' die. Well, AH HAVE SAW DAT CUZ AH SAW IT ON DE BAYOU, de photo Wuz in de trE. (An ordinary photograph? Or do you draw the form of that photograph?) Yes [you draw the form as informant stated]. An' dey put it in de tree an' dey made dere wish, but dey put some kinda - dey put lode- stone in it, too, an' dey put dat blood, dragon's blood in it, an' dey had a speah through de heart. Yo' know, lak yo' speah it through de heart. An' dey shot it nine times, shot de heart nine times.
Entry 8288
Ah heard dat dey could take yore photograph tuh de woods an' nail it up on de no'th [north] side of a tree, an' shoot at it nine times an dat will kill a person. Yo'll have hemorrhage an' die.
(Well, do they shoot that nine times all at once?)
Nine times, nine days. See, yo' go dere nine times.
(You shoot it once each day?)
Yes.
Entry 8289
Well, I've heard of 'em takin' it [a photograph] an' takin' it out [to] de cemetery, an' puttin' it [head down with face out] up side a tree, an' shooten it nine times [once each day for nine days early in the morning]. The person will finally die.
Entry 8290
Take de photograph - yo' mean yo' pichure? Well, some folks say yo' kin take dis an' shoot it. Put it on de no'th side of a tree, sompin lak dat. Shoot it or sompin othah an' kill yo'.
Entry 8298
At least ah know about de photograph. Well yo' take a person's photo- graph, dat's providin' if it's on a tintype. Yo' take a person's photograph an' prob'ly yowanta git shet [rid] of 'em out de worl' where dey won't worry yo' no mo'. Take dat photograph an' carry it tuh a - prob'ly some ole field or nothah, an' bury it on de face." An' aftah yo' bury it on de face, yo' prob'ly could walk away ahummin' some ole re- ligious song. An' aftah yo' bury it on de face an' walk away, hummin' dat ole religious song, it won't be long befo' dey be throwin' dirt in dere face. It won't be long befo' dey be daid.
(Well, what do you do with the photograph?)
What would yo' do wlt it? Yo' bury it. Yo'll die!
Entry 8334
Well, yo' see if yo' git anybody tuh snap a person's photograph - now, ah don' keep mah pichures. If ah take a pichure, an' ah lets people look at it - ah'll keep it an' ah'll take it an' ah'll do 'way wit it, becuz yo' could take a man's pichure, jes' have somebody snap it, den go tuh a tree an' bo' a hole in it - a fast-growin' tree - roll it [snapshot] up, an' take an augah, a very small one. Yo' jes' take a li'le bit a [augerl, li'le five-eights [of an inch] an' bo' a li'le hole in a fast growin' tree. An' put it in dere an' jes' grab a li'le dirt tuh smear ovah de end of it. [Hole is filled with dirt, not wooden peg.] Dat's de last of 'em. If yo' don't git it outa dat, he'll die. Dat shows yo' cut it off, cover it
[hole] ovah.
Entry 8354
Well, dey say dey take yore photograph an' take nine nails an' carry it tuh a pine tree an' yo' stab nine nails down in dat photograph. Dat would kill a person, dat will kill yo'. Dat will kill yo' if dey do dat. In nine days yo'd be daid.
Entry 8356
Ah learnt dat chew kin take dose nine nails an' dey would be rusty nails, undahstand. Ah learnt dat chew kin take an' drive 'em intuh a person's pichure, undahstand, an' dat would injure dem. In othah words dey would die, wit dose rusty nails, nine of 'em. (Where would you drive them? Into that... Where would you tack them? Against the wall or what?) No, intuh a tree.
[I stop machine too soon and must restart to add word heart.]
(All nine nails into the heart you say?)
Well, as neah as yo' kin git 'em intuh it.
Entry 8366
Yo' kin take a photograph an' yo' kin put it in a pine tree wit a twen- ty-penny nail an' - an' a hammer. See, yo' go dere an' yo' hit dat twenty-penny nail fo' nine mawnin's, an' each time yo' hit dat twenty- penny nail, yo' kin look back ovah yore left shoulder, so dey says, an' de ninth mawnin' yo' hit dat twenty-penny nail, drive it all de way in. Dat person will die.
(Why do you look back over that shoulder, do you know?)
No suh, ah don'. [You will probably see the devil or the spirit of the person being killed. Or this lays the ghost of the dying person.]
Entry 8390
Now, dis photograph, if yo' wanta kill a woman or kill a man, yo' take de pichure an' bury it in de ground. Turn de face tuh de ground an' yo' po' pee all ovah it, an' den yo' covah it up. An' dis pichure, aftah yo' do dis pichure lak dis, dis person will die. Or yo' kin live undah six months, den dey'll die.
Entry 8395
De onliest thing, yo' kin go tuh de fork of de road tuh do. Yo' kin take yuh husband's pichure an' go tuh de fork of de road an' bury it. Go dere fo' nine mawnin's an' make watah on it. An' if yo' want 'im tuh die, or if yo' want 'im tuh leave yuh, yo' kin run 'im out of de house dataway.
Entry 8399
As fer as ah know 'bout usin' de photograph, now yo' kin take a per- son's photograph an' yo's in love wit a woman an' she quits yo', yo' take her photograph an' turn it bottomside upwards an' bury it an' dat'll kill 'em.
(How do you mean, turn it bottomside upwards?)
Bury it face down an' bury it in vinegah, an' dat'll make dem perish away.
Entry 8436
Jes' lak a photograph [demonstrates with something]. Dat's de breast. Right in de centah of yore heart. Go tuh a mahsh [marsh] an' yo' jes' - jes' lak yo' are on side of de sea down dere. Yo' git dat pitchure an' yo' put it right down dere. Yo' git chew a tenpenny nail....
[Informant has been demonstrating all the while.]
(Wait now, you turn that picture upside down.)
Dis heah is de face [demonstrates].
(I see, turn it over on its face.)
Dat in de centah of de mahsh.
(Right in this marsh.)
An' yo' got dat thing right in de centah. Yo' turn dat pitchure down jes' so. Git chew a tenpenny nail dat ain't nevah been drove an' drive it down dere[demon- strates].
(Drive it through the heart.)
Yes, sir, right through de heart. Git chew some leaves an' covah it. In nine days yo'll be daid.
Entry 8683
Dey kin take a person's hair an' bury it an' cause 'em tuh die. Cut de hair outa de top de haid. Yo' can't git any othah part of de hair. Yo' gotta git it from de top of de haid, understan', an' wrap it in brown papah. An' write dere name on dat papah, an' cause 'em tuh - yo' know, jes' anything dat chew wish would go wrong with de body. Dat whut chew do wit a person's hair.
(You just write that name once on the paper?)
Yeah - yeah, jes' once. On some different things yo' have tuh write it three times, but jes' with de hair yo' kin write it once, on brown papah. It's gotta be brown papah, jes' ordinary wrappin' papah, lak dat. {Memphis, Tenn., (1518), 2695:2.]
Entry 8784
Ah heard a lady say once dat chew could git up jis' AT DE TWIL OF DAY an' say yo' could turn round three time an' look east an' west an' if dere's any- body way off, dat cey'll come back. All dat yo' gotta do is call dere name. An' if yo' wanta git up at eight 'clock in de mawnin' an' some of yore folks daid, jis' call 'im an' tell 'im whut time yo' wanta git up an' he'll wake yo' up at dat time. [The preceding phrase at de twil of day is its only occurrence in Hoodoo. Never hav- ing heard this expression before, I can only assume that twil is a clipped or slurred twilight; the complete expression being "at the twilight of day."]
Entry 9260
Eithah yo' kin take a aig an' rub graveyard dirt on it, an' throw it ovah from de front tuh de back an' if it busts, dey'll move or git sick; most of 'em die.
(Throw it over the house from the front to the back?)
Yessuh.
Entry 9263
Yo' kin take a aig, jes' lak a settin' hen yo' know, an' jes' lak yo' know somebody yo' wanta run crazy or yo' wanta kill, sompin othah lak dat, yo' kin write de name on dis aig, an' carry it tuh a grave dat chew know an' bury de aig, see. When de aig bust, dey tell me dem folks will die.
(You mean you have to know the grave?)
Yo' have tuh know somebody.
(You have to know who is buried in that grave.)
Yo' have tuh know who buried in dat grave.
Entry 9297
Take a rotten aig an' 'delible pencils, lak if yo' don' lak a person, write dere name on it an' jes' let it stan' dere until it busts. When it busts dat'll kill dat person. (Where do you let that egg stay?) Jes' bury it anywhere in de groun', jes' anywhere in de ground an' when dat aig busts, why dat person will die.
Entry 10138
" They take the heart out of black cat, like when her husband is a drunkard. Well, they take that heart out of the black cat, which is not much more bigger than an oyster. Well, they will take that and put it in an oyster, you see, and - like some women they feeds their husbands ~ and the husband likes for the woman to feed them. Well, the first thing she will stick in his mouth is that black cat heart, and after: he eats that black cat's heart down, he will soon go out somewhere and some man will kill him, because it makes him very mis- chievious and makes him meddlesome. Perhaps if he is colored, he will go and meddle with some white gentleman and the white people will kill him. Well, that is what she give him that for, because he loses his conscience the minute he swallows that and he will go and get rough with anybody and meddle with anybody and that is why he gets killed and that is why [what] she perhaps will want. That is what she does that for, to bring his death.
Entry 10413
My mother told me once there was a woman, she had another woman. This lady took a bottle full of water. She [hag] came in that night. The lady put the stopper in the bottle and caught her in there, and she didn't live very long.
Entry 10548
If dey wanta sell deyself tuh de devil, in lotta cases tuh de fo'ks of de road, dey makes a trip down dere nine successful [successive] mawnin's an' de ninth [morning] de devil 'sposed tuh meet chew dere. An' so he an' de devil come tuh a 'greement on dat, an' de devil give him a cer- tain length of days an' yeahs - see, he gi's 'im [gives him] all dat power. Den he turn himself loose tuh him. Dat's death. Now, yo' go dere [to the forks of the road] fo' mo' den one purpose. Ah may be lak ah wuz dancin'. Ah goes tuh de fo'ks of de road fo' nine mawnin's, tuh see if dere anything dat would be in de way; see, tuh pacify yo'. Yo' go fo' nine mawnin's. Yo' go fo' nuthin [but] good, yo' goes in de Name of God, de Father, God de Son an' God de Holy Ghost. Now, when yo' goes fo' de bad, yo' takes de devil, an' all his temptin' ways tuh do de evil things. Well, yo' go dere. Ah'm comin' tuh do good an' yo' comin' tuh do de harm. [Informant demonstrates all this!] Now, ah'll come down In de Name of de Father, Son an' de Holy Ghost, down heah, see, tuh do de good; an' yo' come up heah in de way of de devil an' all his imps tuh do de harm. Well, when ah git up heah, ah beat chew an' we have a fight right heah. All right, if ah whup yo' heah, see, ah call yore name heah an' turn yo' back. Now, dose all sech things yo' do's at de hour in de mawnin' jes' befo' sun- rise. Dat whut chew do at de fo'ks of de road. [Between informant's treatment of me and my being on the devil's side, author appears to have had a hard time!]
Entry 10549
[I heard] that you kin get up nine nights and walk to the fork of a road to sell yourself to the devil. You will agree to give up soul and body at the end of your life for the pri- vilege of being able to master everything while you are here on earth. Then, if you do that for nine nights, or nine mornings, early before dawn good - and the devil will meet chah there and give you per- mission what you shall do in carrying it out. And naturally from then on you'll be the master of the world while you are here in it.
The account describes nine nights or mornings before dawn at a road fork, giving up soul and body at life's end for claimed worldly powers and a devil meeting. Hyatt supplies the bracketed 'I heard' qualification; the informant's alternatives in timing and the life-term condition remain explicit.
Entry 10559
Dis heah bullbat, yo' kin take one of dem an' kill 'em, an' if yo' git a chance to git a person to eat some of it, dey'll take sick an' dey'll die, if yo' don't git 'em cured.
(A bullbat?)
A bullbat. Yo' jest cook one yo' know an' git somebody tuh eat it.
Entry 9731
Dey tell me if yo' bo' a hole in a tree an' take, ah think three nails, an' drive in dere an' name 'em. An' yo' drive 'em in dere. Dey tell me dat will cuz a person tuh git fits an' die from 'em.
(How many nails do they put in that hole?)
Dey put three.
Entry 9754
A man an' a woman had a fuss an' got mad. An' dey'd fuss an' dey'd fuss, an' fuss an' fuss. An' dey come say whut dey goin' do. He say, "Yes, ah will take somepin an' ah'll put it round mah do'step, guess she'll be hoppin'. Okay. So, aftah he [he now changed to she] put it down, she got onto it - undah- stood it. She says, "Well, it's a two-handed game. It's jes' as much fo' me as it is fo' her. So now de first one gits de mos' of it, be de first one tuh go doon." So she goes an' she gits nine nails an' nine needles an' nine pins, an' she pat it in a red flannel rag, an' she put it undah de do'step an' let it stay dere nine mawnin's. An' de nine mawnin's, dis woman she passed by dis house an' she goes - jes' lak ah wuz walkin' 'long de street chew know, jes' lak ah wuz goin'aftah sompin, she passed right on by. So she goes off where she wuz goin' an' she turned off an' come back an' she went on home. So she laid down fo' a spell fo' a rest. When she went tuh git up, she couldn't git up. That wuz the last of dat. So dat stayed dat way fo' awhile. So she commence tuh study herself an' she says, "Ah think someone musta done opin tuh me." Says, "Ah feel very peculiah an' don't feel lak ah should feel lak dis. Ah ain't hurt nowhere, ah jes' can't use dis laig. Jes' weak in dis laig." Says, "Ah believe ah'll be smart if ah go someplace. So she goes somewhere to try tuh git relief. So she went [to a hoodoo doctor Gbo told her what had happened, the substance of this present rite]. So de man jes', he jes' kept right on tellin' stories, kept right on tellin' stories. He aoaldn't do nuthin fo' 'er. Finally she died.
Entry 9831
An' den a person kin take needles an' put 'em in a - up undah yuh house. Put so many needles undah dere, nine needles undah yuh house, right wheah yuh haid is, right on dere. An' dem nine needles will kill yuh in nine dasy. In nine days yo'll be daid. (You put them under where you sleep.) Undah wheah yo' sleep. Dey go up undahneat' de house. An' stick nine needles up dere in a row wit de p'ints up. An' dem nine needles in nine days, yo'll git sick, an' 'fore de nex' nine days out, yo' daid.
Entry 9883
Ah heah a guy say one time he had had some arguments wit a man an' he Wanted tuh git a way tuh git 'im. He went down tuh de side of a creek-kinda or lak a li'l swamp, an' got 'im a toadfrog. He tuk dis toadfrog an' brought 'im back tuh de house, an' put 'im in a matchbox an' stuck nine straight needles in dis toadfrog's back. An' he stuck nine straight needles in dis toadfrog's back an' he 'sposed tuh stay in dis matchbox nine mawnin's, an' de ninth mawnin' dis toadfrog would die. So he did dat, an' de ninth mawnin' dis toadfrog died. An' he said he went where dis man wuz, aftah dat nine mawnin's an' he said dis man hopped lak a toadfrog. He fixed 'im dat way, so he jes' hop- ped long, long lak a toadfrog. [He cunjured him that way so that he would hop along like a frog.] (Well, is that all he did, just stick the needles in the toadfrog? Nothing else? That's all he did?) Yes, dat's all - jes' went an' caught 'im an' put him in a matchbox an' stick nine needles in 'is back an' fix [here meaning to arrange, not to cunjure] him in a matchbox so he wouldn't git out. An' de ninth mawnin'... (Well, what connection would that toadfrog have with this man? How would he know he Was getting the right man?) [The man's intention was sufficient.] Well, he an' dis man had had a fuss an' dis man beat 'im outa de fuss. He beat 'im an' he wanted tuh git even wit 'im - jes' git dis man.
Entry 9961
(You take an ordinary toadfrog?) A ordinary toadfrog. Don't kill 'im. Stop 'im up in a bottle an' let 'im die. He'll dry up in dere, an' den yo' kin jis' crumple it up. Put it in a piece, sew it up in a piece [of cloth] an' put it in yuh pocket. Yo' boun' tuh win. Ah knows dat.
Entry 9999
( Get a rough frog, a toad, stick pin through throat, pin to wall until dead, let dry out, carry in pocket. Show people will not let you in if they know you have a frog.
Entry 10930
A cat or a dog, when yo' see 'em round in yore yard, it's either a sign of death or sickness. [At the moment I do not recall ever having heard this rite before. It shows the fear or awe of strange animals, the unusual of any kind!]
Entry 10977
Write name on black hen egg, throw into water as tide goes out; soon after, the person will die. [Newport News, Va., 512:2.]
Entry 11021
Black chicken's feather. You kin take that and you - you git de feathers from a jet-black hen and you git to de party's bed and you stick it right between de pillowcase and de pillow. Let them sleep on it. And it'll cause their sudden death. It may be in some other part of de house or in their sleep. Just as quick as that.
Entry 11123
If someone dies, a person whom you have mistreated, put a piece of money in the coffin and he or she cannot come back to hant you. Must stay and guard the money.
Entry 11688
Well, yo' kin go to de fo'ks of de road an' probably turn aroun' three times an' yo' don' [look back?]. Cos' whatevah yo' have [of victim's] well, yo' know, jis' lak if yo' wanted to do somebody some harm or somepin. Well yo' take whatevah yo' got of theirs an' place it there in de fo'ks of de road, an' there where they're [vic- tim is] goin'. They'll stop, an' they cain't go any further becuz' they'll lin- ger roun' there, yo' know. Well, they'll continue goin' that way all de while until dey die.
Entry 11750
Dey dig a grave. Dey don't dig a grave fo' a person dat has died, but dey digs a grave ordinary fo' a person befo' he dies. An' when dey dig dat grave - well, now de same person dey [you] dig it fo' don't have tuh git in dat grave, but chew digs dat grave in order tuh cause yo'self gittin' dat dirt outa dere fo' de person dat chew wanted tuh die. [You are using simulated grave dirt.] Dat's in order tuh master dem. Dat's all ah knows about dat. [A mock grave or burial is fairly common, but this use of its dirt may be my only example.]
Entry 11947
Bore a hole in a real green tree [as the sap is rising], plug up per- son's hair, hit plug once each morning for 9 mornings, and the person will die.
[Baltimore 62:3.]
Entry 12686
Yo' take a tintype photograph an' nail it tuh a tree or throw it in de rivah an' dat person will die. [Fayetteville, 2504:8.]
Entry 8843
She could take a lettah of 'er [own] writin' an' burn de cornahs, burn all fo' cornahs of de lettah. Burn it right in de centah an' right in de middle of it. Aftah yo' burn de fo' cornahs, double it [fold twice] an' burn de centah of it - right in de centah of it. Write de address an' de name an' bury it in de middle of de graveyard, an' de person will soon die. [Let us understand what happens here. The woman of this rite writes a letter to herself and signs it the sup- posed sender's name. The outside of the envelope she addresses to herself. One thing only is lacking. She should have stamped it and sent it to herself through the postoffice.]
Entry 9315
They take black hen egg an' put yore name on it nine times an' bury it. It'll run yo' crazy, make yo' die.
(What's that?)
Control of yore mind.
Entry 11074
They'd [they had] crossed her.
(How did they cross her?)
Well, they gets hold of her dirty linen. You understand? One of her old dirty linens and bury that. Bury it in a place where they don't walk at, nobody walks; up close to a corner, up close to the wall where people don't walk over it. That's dirtv. [If her linen had been buried where people could walk over it, victim would have died quickly, called a fast death. Here we have a slow death rite, the reason informant calls it dirty. These terms slow death and fast death are mentioned early in HooDOO.]
Entry 11492
[This is the very first rite given by a young woman who came into the interviewing room without saying a word, not even answering my greeting, pulled out a deck of cards, and standing opposite the table in front of me began to run the cards - tell my fortune. I no longer remember ghat she said but I am certain it was something favorable or flattering. The rite given here is page or rite No.l of her interview. On this sheet I wrote soon after the interview: Memphis, second trip, 1518 [informant's number],43 Sages [this does not mean full pages but rites, some of them very short like the present one]. My comment at the close of 1519 [presumably on page 43] reads, ne girl, 1518, when she first came in, took out a deck of cards and ran through them. Will break up [interview later]. Several removed for cures and protectior To be guoted in part in Interview Section. This I never did.] Dey say dey kin git de dust from yore foot track an' use it, an' bury it some place an' cause yo' tuh lose yore eyesight, yore hearin's - accordin' tuh whut dey wanta do - yo' know, jes' 'fect any part of yore body. Dey kin cause it tuh be yore death or sompin lak dat. [As I have said somewhere in this section, in- tention is everything.] [Memphis 2685:1.]
Entry 11519
Man's foot tracks measured and buried so many feet from his door - buried with graveyard dirt. He died. Happened in Arundal Co., Md. [My original transcription soon after belief collected, H. M. H., this note Nov. 23, 1976.]
[Baltimore, Md. 45:3.]
Entry 11590
Ah hear'd of 'em pickin' up de tracks, zhoo know, way [where] people galks along. An' dey jis' take up de san' [from the heel of both tracks, right and left] in de han', zhoo know, an' take a piece of chewin' gum, jis' lak yo' git out de sto', an' chew it. An' take dat an' wrap it all up togethah, yo' know, an' go to a tree an' bo' a hole in de tree, an' put it in dere, an' close dat tree up. An' de nex' day dis person will be gone, dead and buried.
Entry 11986
Dey git a plait chure hair out de mole [mold] of yore haid an' stop it up in a bottle an' yo' kin run 'em crazy. Yo' also kin take dere picture an' bury it on de face an' dat will run 'em crazy, maybe even death. [Memphis, 2734:13.]
Entry 12481
Put in coffin some of clothes person was murdered in and bury him crossway8 of de world, de murderer will die.
Entry 13222
A true sign that someone is going to die in their family soon, either [that of] the bride or bridegroom: This is at a wedding. They're leaving home to get the train, going away on a honey- moon. And the horses prance and keep prancing forwards then back. I knew it to happen in my home. A young man home from New York, he married a girl at my home near Elizabeth City [N. C.], and when they were leaving the church, when the mother came on out, she was the last, something sound like a tray of glasses smashed down in the church. She looked back and didn't see anything, and came on out and said, "My, my, what a terrible crash. My, I didn't know there were any glasses in the church." She said to one of her servants, "Sarah, what's that mean?" Sarah said, "That's the sign of death, Miss Jane." And she said, "Now you watch it. Someone is going out of the family soon." It proved to be true. So when they drove off, they had a hard time to get the horses to go. They kept tramping and backing to and fro, to and fro. They just kept that going for about ten or fifteen minutes. When they did go they went all in a rush. In three weeks time this young woman was called to come back home and visit her mother. Her mother was sick for one month and then passed away. She stayed a week and went on back home. In no time there was a telegram the daugh- ter was gone. She only lived to be a married woman about one year. That was about forty years ago [1896] in a family I knew well. [This belief of course is not hoodoo but it happens to be spirit lore upon which hoodoo is built.] [Informant No.6 in New York City by Ediphone, she coming from near Elizabeth City, N. Car.]
Entry 9824
Why ah could come up tuh yuh ev'ry day an' git me a pin or eithah a needle. If ah don' borrah a pin from yuh ah'll borrah a needle from yuh. Well, when ah gits mahself nine needles an' nine pins, well all right. Ah goin' come an' borrah salt or eithah black peppah from yuh, or eithah red peppah from yuh. Well, ah done borrahed an' borrahed it. Ah knows mah num- bah what ah done got from yuh. Ah done got nine pins an' nine needles from yuh. Ah takes 'em an' carried 'em tuh a green tree, an' ah takes an' digs a li'l hole in dat green tree, an' ah - see, ah got a cork stoppah. An' ah put dem needles an' pins, drive 'em in dere, an' ah take dis cork stoppah an' stop 'em in dere. Well, in about nine days yo'll be daid. [Informant names victim by intention; besides, victim has handled the articles.]
Entry 9884
Say fer instance if dere somebody livin' in dis house dat chew wanted tuh run 'em crazy. Well, yo' would git chew nine frogs an' put 'em in a jah. Covah dat jah up. Say [for instance] yo' know who's sleepin' in dis bed chere. Yo' take dat jah of frogs an' put it right undah de house, bur' it right undah dere baid, an' dey tell me dat in six days dat individual will go crazy an' de ninth day he'll die. [In dis bed chere means the bed in my interviewing room at a private home. Not my bedroom; I stayed at a hotel.]
Entry 2905
A pink can'le is lucky - a pink can'le will bring yo' prosperity. A blue candle is fo' health an' prosperity in de home. Black candle is death. Dat's bad - a black candle is bad. An' a white can'le brings a beautiful life - all de way down yo' past life, happy times. (Do you know how people burn these? Any special way?) Yassuh. Now yo' kin burn de can'les and after - when yo' start tuh burn 'em, say, "Name of de Father, Son and Holy Ghost." [Informant makes sign of cross.]
(Cross yourself?)
Yassuh, and after you say that you git down [on your knees] and ask fo' jest whatever yo' want - makes yore wishes, yo' know fo' whatever yo' want and that will sho' bring it tuh yo'. Burning de candle will sho' bring it to yo'. An' then yo' burn on Thursday. Always yo' burns a green candle fo' money, understand. But you always have to make the sign of the cross.
Entry 4054
Yo' take dat an' stop it up in a bottle. (Take what?) chamber lye - pee-pee. Yuh take dat an' yuh stop dat in a bottle, an' turn it upside down an' bury it in de groun' undah a step, an' dat'll swell 'em up. Dey cain't make watah - till dey die.
Entry 4061
Dey git holt some-a yuh chamber lye, yuh see, an' dey bur' [bury] it. Dey git holt-a yuh chamber lye an' dey put it in a bottle. Dey put somepin else Wit it. Dey put some kin'a Ceylon peppah [says my transcriber, and that is what it sounded like; but here we have a hoodoo drug store or mail-order house product - Sea Lion Pepper]. Kin'a white-liken peppah. [This pepper is white-like and the label probably shows the figure of a sea lion.] But dey have it fine. [The pepper comes ground.] Put dat [pepper] wit it. An' dey make a hole in de top of yuh chamber lye [bottle cork] an' dey turn it [bottle] upside down an' dey bury dat chamber lye. An' if yuh don' find 'at bottle of chamber lye in time an' unburies it, yuh'll die. Dis thing leaks, it will leak out. See, be leaking, but dey do make a hole in it fo' hit tuh leak. Dey bur' 'it. Dey try tuh git it tuh yuh home if dey kin. Dey'd ruthah [they had rather] fo' it tuh be tuh yuh home den be tuh dere house. An it leak out. An' WHEN DAT BE GONE, all dat chamber lye, YUH BE GONE.
[I start fishing for details.]
(What did you say they get for that, the stuff in the can - pepper?)
Be in a pasteboard box. It's white cayenne. Think tuh buy about 15c or 25c but it's kin'a high [expensive].
[Again I fish, for time, anything.]
(And when do they put this in - altogether?)
Put dat in de chamber lye.
[My third fishing trip catches a rare detail!]
(And where do you put that, then? That chamber lye, what do you put that in?)
Oh, any kin'a [bottle] - HOLY WATAH BOTTLE - if yuh leave a little bit of hole. [Use any bottle, but a holy water bottle is more convenient.] Yuh [see] DESE HOLY WATAH BOTTLE GOT DEM KIND, YUH KNOW CAPS, WHERE A LITTLE BIT OF HOLE COME OUT AN' LET IT LEAK.
Entry 4275
I know one time a woman had some [urine] in a bottle. She had six bottles: One was about two inches full, another was about three inches full, another about half full, an- other half full, and another almost full, and another all full. And [all] stopped up tight. The bottles had needles and pins in them and hair in it. And he couldn't pass his water until some of those bottles were opened. Her husband, she didn't like him, and she was going with another man. It' was his water she stopped up. It killed him. He actually died. [The magic rite of increasing amounts - as well as of decreasing amounts - is fairly common, but this one is rather elabo- rate, unusual.]
Entry 4339
Some persons cork it in tight bottles an' concrete de top [= cement, tighten top with sealing wax, etc.] an' turn it down, an' let it stay in de groun' so many days, an' yo' will [begin] tuh weakenin' from de bottle. An' if yo' don't find 'at bottle an' let dat urinate out, yo'll fin'lly swell up as wit dropsy an' die.
Entry 4344
Dey take yuh chamber lye an' bottle it in a tight bottle, an' throw it in watah an' dat will cause yo' tuh die.
Entry 4476
Well, now if yuh angry wit someone an' yo' could git dere, yuh know, dere business, yuh could go tuh de no'th side of a walnut tree an' dig a hole in dat walnut tree, an' put dat dirt in dat walnut tree an' 'is bowels would nevah move no mo' an' he'll die. His bowels nev- ah will move no mo'.
Entry 4481
[While my machine was stopped, informant mentioned bath water.]
(What can you do with that?)
Well, dey kin take [bath water] an' put it in a bottle an' go tuh a green tree. What I mean by a green tree, when de sap is runnin'. Understan'? An' put it in dat tree, stop it up in dere jis' de same as takin' dere urine an' do de same thin'. Or if dey make a passage [of excrement], do de same thin'. An' dey'll pale yuh away jis' dry yuh up, yuh see. Jes' a slow death from mah undahstan'in'.
(They use your bath water the same way?)
[This question is to make certain the word bath water was recorded.]
Yes sir.
Entry 4534
I had a half brothah an' he wuz goin' wit a girl in Washington [D. C.]. Her name wuz Cornelia A. An' so he stopped goin' wit [her] an' went tuh goin' wit anothah girl. Den like a crazy he turned dis othah [second] girl down an' went goin' back wit 'er [first girl] again. So he tells mah mothah. I don't know, but he said he had a straw hat. She takes 'is hat an' she put somepin, I don't know, in dere. But anyhow, his whole eyes became jis' as white as dis papah [probably my open Numbers Book on the table], black an' all. He got so he couldn't see a wink. He died in jis' about three months afterwards.
[Snow Hill, Md., (Informant 93).]
Entry 4648
(What will they do with that little bow?)
Well, dey take dat an' dey totes it. Dey put it in a little bit of bag, a little Durham sack [Bull Durham tobacco sack known since the days of rolling your own cigarettes]. An' tote dat nex' tuh 'em all de time. Does 'im an awful lot of harm. Put de hair wit it - an' de hair, toenails - evahthing dey kin git wit it. Dat jes' makes 'im drag aroun', drag till he die. Won't do 'im no good an' nobody else.
Entry 13258
If they run me out, then I will fix that house so no one kin live in there.
(I see. How is that done?)
Well, when I move out, you understand, I would sweep up all my trash. I don't wanta leave none of my dirt. I'd take up all my rugs and carpets and things, and I'd sweep the floors. I will get sulphur, you understand - I will get sulphur. I will get de oil of cin- namon. Yo' know what de oil of cinnamon is. I will get cayenne pepper and I will put it in de four cor- ners of dat room, and I will light it and I will fasten de windows down and de doors down and let it burn - with a curse. No one never will move in there. As they move in, they move out. And if they do move in there - there wouldn't a soul move in there what wouldn't have death in the family. [In former days the cursing of a house like this Was a serious business and most people moving in would have had it uncursed by a doctor.]
Entry 73
[My wife and I on my first hoodoo collecting trip stayed at the Atlantic Hotel, Ocean City, Maryland, where I interviewed a few members of the staff. One of these men, native to the locality, acted as my contact man. He told me the following story and later repeated it - as an example of what I wanted - toa second man recently up from North Carolina. What happens when an original story is repeated for the first time?] [Original story:] A man, who was drivihg around the country, had the habit of driving rather late at night. One evening between twelve and one he was on his Way home, and as he was driving along the road - it happened to be rather lonely along this particular road - he saw a woman standing there and she acted like one of these hitch-hikers. And she waved her hand and so he stopped. He asked her where she was going and she told him this particular place. He told her he would take her along. So this lady got in the car and there was one peculiar thing about it, she wanted to sit on the back seat. The man noticed that and that she seemed to be rather nervous. The main thing he couldn't understand was.why she wanted to sit in the back when there was plenty of room up in front. However, he told the lady to get into the car and he would take her to the place she wanted to go. So they drove along and he didn't say anything to her. Finally he arrived at this house that she had spoken of. So this man got out of the car and opened the back door of the car and looked inside and he didn't see anyone there. Naturally he became very upset. So he went to this house and rang the bell. A man came down. So he told the man what had happened and the man didn't seem to be at all disturbed about it. And he said, "That was my wife who died sometime ago and quite a number of motorists have been annoyed by having her get in the car and when they arrive at my house she is not there. In that particular place where you picked her up she had been in an accident and was killed there." [Ocean City, Md., (13), Ed. My notation reads, [happened] "Last winter, February 1936, between Washington and Baltimore near a place called Dead Man's Curve."]
[Repetition of original story:]
The death is reported in a participant's speech within the story, not independently verified.
Entry 686
This was in Washington [D. C.], and this man was from King George [Co. Va.], and he married a woman from Washington, and he had lots of girl friends. And after he was married he started home with his wife to King George. And she was well, perfectly well when she left Washington on the boat as they thought, and when they went to get off the boat at the wharf they had to bring her off. And she went to his home and lived a month and nineteen days and then died. And after she was strouded [shrouded] and laid out, a water dog crawled out of her mouth alive, and her son killed it. Some of those women [in Washington] did it. Of course some of them done it.
Death is reported after a month and nineteen days at home; the account does not name an illness.
Entry 1039
I heard tell of a woman was taken sick and de doctor came. De doctor couldn't do her no good. She sent and got a high fellah, a hoodoo doctor. [He is also called high man, both names being confined to parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland - see Index.] So when de fellah came he say he couldn't do her no good. He say, "De party dat put dis spell on you is dead, but if dey was livin' I could turn it back on him and get chew well." So just before this woman died, why she gagged up all those frogs and things. [I suggest high fellah either he heard the woman could not recover or one look at her was enough to make him decline the case by quoting this common belief. Who said a spell had been put on the woman and the spell-caster was dead? He did! Who could prove the contrary?]
The narrator says the woman died in a heard-tell account; the editor questions the healer's claims about a spell and its caster.
Entry 2785
Well, you take a black candle and burn it - that black candle is death.
(Well, how would you do that?)
Well, you take black candle - you can take a black candle and burn that on your name. Well, that's to kill you. (Well, how do you mean, burn it on the name? Just write your name on a piece of paper?) Just write your name on a piece of paper and put it underneath that black can- dle. And a white candle is for luck. And also a red candle is for luck. But that black candle, that's a sign of death.
The informant calls a black candle a sign of death, contrasting white and red candles described as for luck.
Entry 3079
Josephus Smalls.
(And they called him Buzzard?)
Called him Buzzard. He's daid now.
(Was he the fellow from Beaufort?)
Naw sir, not frum Beaufort. He was bawn an' raised right in this vicinity. But dere's several of Doctor Buzzards - goin' undah Doctor Buzzard name so dey make money. But de real Doctor Buzzard still be's down tuh Beaufort but ah nevah have seen 'im. [See later margin-title DOCTOR SMALL.]
The informant says the person called Buzzard is dead. The entry distinguishes the Beaufort figure; these source references authenticate neither identities nor a death.
Entry 3080
(How long has old Doctor Harris [Harrison] been dead?)
He been dead about eight or nine yeahs, I believe.
(Was he a white man or a colored man?)
He was a white man.
(That's what I thought. And old Doctor Buzzard?)
He was a colored man. No, he [Buzzard or Small] died heah last yeah.
(Doctor Smallins or Smalls?)
Smalls - Willie Smalls. Harrison got some boys dat tryin' tuh do business fo' him.
(Do they know anything?)
Ah don't think dey do know much. Dey drinks too bad.
The first reply gives a belief-qualified death report and approximate interval. The later editorial Buzzard-or-Small ambiguity remains unresolved.
Entry 7263
Ah hear 'em say if dey die - when de' [dey] die, if he falls on his face, dat dey will ketch him [murderer].
The reported belief explicitly concerns dying. Hearsay and conditional wording remain; the bracketed murderer identification is editorial.
Source passage
continuous interview · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
MIFFIN
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
This is about two good frien's. An' mah cousin sta'ted co'tin'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
[started courting]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
this lady's husban'. An' this lady fin' out tuo ont's later tha' she
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
[cousin]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
wus co'tin"er husban' an' she had dis spell put on 'er. An de spell wus dese snakes an' some othah insex. Dat whut de doctor says.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
(How many years ago did this happen?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
Ooooh, Miz Carrie been dead - been about six yeahs now. No, it hasn't...yeah, about six.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see. Where did this happen, by the way?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
This happen in Savannah, Georgia.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Oh, in Savannah, Georgia.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
She came down
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[to Florida]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
when she got sick. Dey sent 'er down here to see 'er brothah.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Den 'er brothah taken 'er from here to a root doctor.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Where did he go to, do you know?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
I don't know where dey went - some part o' Florida.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Some part of Florida.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Uh huh. An' this main
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[man]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
worked on 'er an' she went back 3 or 4 times an' dey got some snakes an' a lotta insex. An' 'er skin it turnt as black as de snake, as rough as de snake hide. An' all 'er hair, bald, completely bald.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[Children can be heard in background.]
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
An' den she got so desp'rate an' less den two mont's time she died.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
But dey did git dese snakes an' things out, 'cause her brothah brought de jars back wid dese things, yo' know, in it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see. Then what happened to the woman who put this...)
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Well, de woman taken sick two mont's later an' she died.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Now this is the woman who put this spell on this other woman?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Uh huh. She got sick an' died sho'tly aftah mah cousin Carrie died.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see. Well when the brother took this woman there - this woman was your cousin wasn't she?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Uh huh.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(When he took her there, did the root doctor say anything when she came in or what?)
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
What some doctors say on first seeing you can be interesting: see CONSULTA- TION TECHNIQUE, pp.307-321, v.1.1
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Well she went back 2 or 3 times an' he had to keep workin' on 'er. Yo' know, to try to git it all out of 'er. But when they fin'ly didn' git it all out of 'er she had turnt so black an' it had poisoned her through an' through. An' so he tol' 'er he couldn't do her any mo' good an' she died sho'tly aftah.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see. And what did you say about her skin?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Her skin turnt as black an' rough, jis' like a snake. He said she had some- thin' like snakes, somethin' out of a poison snake into her system.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Who turned the spell back on the woman?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
My cousin
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[husband of cousin, Carrie]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
did, he had it turnt back on 'er.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Did the same root doctor do that or...)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
No, not de same one, but de one she wus goin' to down here gave her de stuff dey put back on 'er up dere.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Oh, I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
She had to go back to Savannah but after dey taken her back up to Savannah, dey brought 'er back down here an' she got so sick an' den dey took 'er from here back up to dere an' she died.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
But now de woman did confess dat she had 'er fixed by
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[for]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
botherin' wid 'er husban' - bein' a good frien' to 'er now, she confessed dat.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Yes, she did.
Nested source context: reported doctor treatment and statement · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Well she went back 2 or 3 times an' he had to keep workin' on 'er. Yo' know, to try to git it all out of 'er. But when they fin'ly didn' git it all out of 'er she had turnt so black an' it had poisoned her through an' through. An' so he tol' 'er he couldn't do her any mo' good an' she died sho'tly aftah.
locally coherent subpassage
The editorial comment on printed page 4494 has an unclear closing mark. The following answer belongs to the interviewee.
Miffin’s self-correction about six years remains unresolved.
Doctor diagnoses, cousin relationships, return of the spell and confession are narrated claims, not additional live voices or established facts.
The editorial CONSULTATION TECHNIQUE bracket retains its printed closing glyph.
Children heard in the background are recording context, not participating testimony.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 5, p. 4492 · Vol. 5, p. 4493 · Vol. 5, p. 4494 · Vol. 5, p. 4495 · Vol. 5, p. 4496