Subject:Dig
Entries
Entry 902
I remember a story. A lady friend of mine [Miz Annie] - this wus real, too. It happen here in the city of Wilmington - it's not been over two years ago [1935]. An' a lady came to her home and she wus supposed to be a friend of her daughter [Alberta]. An' this girl [lady friend of Alberta] wus livin' in her home, roomin' in the home with this lady, Miz Annie. Miz Annie wus a friend of mine. An' so Miz Annie's daughter [Alberta] became sick an' she kept ailing all along. An' they didn't know whut wus de trouble with her, an' she wus always off the job, and didn't know whut, you know, the trouble with her. She kept so sickly, they couldn't do anything with her. So after awhile she [Alberta] went to de doctor and the doctor told her that he didn't know, he couldn't see any reason why, he couldn't account for her sickness - he jis' couldn't - she'd jis' have spells and jis' fall right down. An' so after - one evening her mother came in an' she says, "Now, Alberta, she says, "how are you feeling. An' Alberta said, "Munmee," she says, "I'm so sick I don't know whut to do." An' this same lady [Alberta's friend] wus livin' in de house, rentin'; so she went unto work. An' [while this friend wus at work] another lady [doctor] told her [the mother] - she [the mother] went to another lady [this doctor] which she knew from South Carolina an' ast this lady about how people acted when they were like that [cunjured]. So she [the mother] told her how she [Alberta] do-ed. Then she taken Alberta and carried her to this lady, an' when she carried her to this lady, the lady told her she had been hurt an' it wus somethin' buried under her steps. An' so Miz Annie came back home. An' after Miz Annie came back home and she - somepin told her to go get the hoe and dig right under her steps an' she would found a bottle buried there. [The doctor had already told her this, but somepin told her was the spirit confirming the doctor. Miz Annie and the woman in the preceding story (No. 901) could dig up the buried article without danger only because each had permission from a doctor. Permission from the spirit is also sufficient authority.] An' so she digged under there an' she found this bottle, an' it wus a bottle about that high, purta near hold a quart. After she taken this bottle up she taken this bottle over to the lady [doctor] an' dey found in this bottle - they dumped it out and it wus camphor an' hair an' pins an' a - somepin else she told me - bluestone wus in this bottle. It wus buried under de steps. An' kerosene - why, you see, that smell, odor of kerosene in it. An' after they got dis bottle up, den Alberta got all right. They burned it up, made a fire an' burned it. Ever'thin' like that tha' chew get up, anythin' like that, chew burn it. That destroys it.
Entry 5598
Jis' sompin othah, some broad [woman] yo' wanta make. Yo' know, meet a broad an' yo' try tuh make a broad, yo' know, an' she don' pay yo' no mind. Yo' know, yo' kin - dere's a way tuh make her, see. (Well, how can you make her do it?) Well, all yo' got'a do is jes' take a li'le of 'er foot, yo' know where she step, take a li'le of de dirt in yore pam [palm] an' put it in de han'ke'chuff, fold it backward [fold it to youl, yo' know, an' put it in yore belt. But de firs', yo' got'a put it down at chure do' an' walk ovah it evah mawnin' fo' nine mawnin's an' name it, see. Aftah nine mawnin's, yo' take it up an' put it in yore belt. An' de ninth mawnin' she jis' goin' tuh be dere. An' she'll be dere, too.
Entry 5932
I say, dey say dey kin take yore hair, see, jes' a clip of yore hair Octa yore head - I think it's on de lef' side, see - an' take it an' bury it wit some soda an' table salt fo' nine days. An' den dig it up an' sew it in a bag an' wear it. An' what- eah dey say dey wanta to it [whatever they tell the bag they want done], why yo lin be wishin' it. Dey say it'll come true - if dey run yo' crazy or make love Tvhatevah dey desire.
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 6337
Well, ah kin go out tuh de fo'ks of de road, if ah wants tuh go out dere an' put down a little magic work for business. Ah kin go out dere tuh de fo'ks of de road an' git me a little dirt [see FORK-OF-ROAD DIRT, p.688, and elsewhere]. De fo'ks of de road comin' so [demonstrates]. Prob'ly one comin' - Memoirs.of Alma Egan Hyatt Foundation - east an' one comin' west. Well, ah gits right in de middle of dat fo'k of dat road. Ah don't git very much of dis, jis' a li'le bit of it, dat dirt. Take dat li'le dirt an' has me a li'le bottle, or cup or anythin ah wants tuh put dat dirt in, an' go on back home. Well, ah kin fix dis right up out tuh de fo'ks of de road. Aftah ah git dis dirt an' put it in dat bottle, den ah has me a ten-cent bottle of Hearts Cologne. Put dat Hearts Cologne on dat - nine drops, see. An' aftah ah po' dat in dat bottle, den ah puts anythin' - any othah article ah got lak hair or any- thin'. Ah'll fix dat up. Well now, heah's what all goes in dere: Dat dirt out de fo'ks of de road. Buy a bottle of Hearts Cologne jis' about dat big [demonstrates], a ten-cent bottle. Yuh po' dat intuh dis dirt or whatsomevah dat chew got tuh put dis dirt in, a bottle or cup. An' aftah yuh put dat in dere. den yuh takes hair. Don't care whut part it come from - come from out yore haid, puts it in dere. An' aftah yuh put dat hair in dere, yuh stop dat hair up airtight an' takes it back to dese peoples' home an' bury dis fo' nine inches under de ground. Dat represent de nine mawnin' dat she'll leave dere. [She'll leave on or before the ninth day.] Den go back an' take it outa dere an' goes to a runnin' stream of water an' throw dis in a runnin' stream of water. An' when yo' throw dis, throw it high enough to give a splash tuh dis bottle. Don't look back - jis' throw it ovah yuh haid, don't look back atall. An' jis' long as dat watah an' dat bottle floats - it don't be a big bottle, a little bottle, so [demonstrates]. So long as it goes, dat person dat yuh's aftah, dey is gone.
(You throw it high enough?)
High enough tuh make de splash be heard [over] dat curse words. [My transcriber ommitted dat curse Words; a common practice to end a rite with a cursing incantation. Why the splash had to be heard during or after the curse words is a sort of So be it or Amen.]
Entry 6453
Yo' kin take yo' a per- son's fingahnails - jis' lakmah fingahnails, yo' know. Git de fingahnails, jis' take de fin- gahnails. All right, yo' kin take dem fingahnails an' go tuh a graveyard wit 'em, an' put dem fingahnails down [Bury them] in de graveyard. An' let dem fingahnails soak dere fo' 'bout nine days, until dey come tuh be soft. When it's soft, den yo' go dere an' take it up. Yo' see, when yo' take it, yo' turn den an' go git chew a small piece of rusty tin. Yo' go dere den an' yo' git chew a small piece of rusty tin, see. An' yo' take dose fingahnails, yo' see, an' yo' put it in wit dat piece of tin. Yo' see [demonstrates], heah's de piece of tin on de bottom an' yo' got dis fingahnail. Spread it roun' dere, see kinda in a curve jis' lak dis. Undahstan'? All right. Yo' take dat piece of tin an' yo' rolls it up jis' lak dat [demonstrates]. Yo' roll it jis' as tight as yo' kin git it. Well, yo' tie dat piece of tin yo' see an' [you tie] dis person dat's intahferin' wit chew, bothahin' wit chew an' yo' cain't res' from 'em. See, dere fingahs will draw down jis' lak dat [demon- strates].
(They will turn up.)
Turn up, cramp up: Dey won' have no mo' use in dey han's.
(What do you do with that tin after you roll it up that way?)
Well, yo' leave it in dere [the graveyard], see. Yo' take de tin an' yo' take dis an' yo' take it an' carry it tuh de foot of a tree. See, an' yo' bury it. Yo' take yore axe an' yo' clip off a li'le piece lak dat. Let it be down in de groun' an' back it up, right up tuh de side of de foot of dat tree an' let it stay dere. Let it stay right dere. An' 'long as dat stay dere, yore fingahs will - well, dat piece of tin will bend mo' hitself. Well, when yo' do dat, yo' say, "Ah'm doin' dis In de Name of de Father, de Son an' de Holy Ghost, dat ah may konkah [conquer] yo'." Den jis' bend down lak dat. [Fingers become magical- ly crippled not only by the bent tin, but also by the tangled tree roots.]
Entry 7607
Take dat penny an' put it in de graveyard. Yuh go dere at twelve clock at night, yuh [dig] undah an' take dat penny an' put it in, bury it an' let it stay dere fo' 24 hours. Twelve clock yuh go dere an' git it up. An' den when yuh take de penny, whut chew wanna do wit de penny, whatevah way yuh wanta treat de person, if yuh wanta treat 'em good or treat 'em bad, why yuh turn dat penny tuh de east, ran de haid of it tuh de east, see. An' dat fellah will come tuh be successful. An' if yuh turn it to de west, he'll go down.
(Well, does it happen to know that you are getting the right fellow?)
Well, yuh know. Yuh know de fellah yuh aftah [intention]. Yuh already know de fellah yuh aftah. (After you go out there and get this penny: for good luck I turn this penny to the east, or for bad luck I turn it to the west.) Dat's right.
(Well, do I do that at any particular time of the day?)
No sir, twelve.clock at night. Yuh go dere an' put it down at twelve clock at night, an' den yuh go dere an' git it up at twelve clock at night [24 hours later].
Entry 7644
If yo' got somebody an' maybe yo' Wanta kill dat person or wanta harm dat person. Say now if yo' go up in de graveyard an' maybe it been some man dat have lived a rowdy life. Yo know some people live a very rowdy life, nevah attempt tuh be a Christian, a very rowdy person. Some people cuss tuh de last. Say yo' go tuh dat person an' go tuh de foot of 'is grave an' dig down one foot in de groun', she say. An' git chew a handful of dat dirt an' put it in a bag, an' bring it back home an' go round at dat man's back do', an' jes' take dat dirt an' throw it lak it wuz some flour or sompin. on de ground. Say, why dat man will come afflicted wit 'is laigs, or make his foot swell up, or he'll have some kind of ailment about 'is laigs account dat graveyard dirt bein' around de dō'.
Entry 7654
Well, ah hear'd dey say yo' kin take graveyard dirt - yo' kin take dat graveyard dirt - go down dere at night an' dig right ovah de heart of de grave. Den bring it back an' put it umdah de steps an' po' vhis- key on it fo' nine mawnin's. Den yo' go back dere an' yo' take dis dirt up an' put it in a piece of white flannel an' take de dirt an' bury it in de ground an' let it stay dere. After yo' take it up an' put whiskey on it an' put it undah de step in de groun'. An' if dere any- one [there] dat don' lak yo', dey can't stay dere. [Is whiskey on for 9 mornings a delayed payment for the graveyard dirt?]
Entry 7673
De bes' thing dat ah would do, ah would go to de cemetery twelve a'clock at night an' take [dig] six feet of dirt down to the bottom of de grave wit mah lef' han' an' sprinkle dat roun' yore front do'step befo' de sunrise. Well, dat house will become unearthly fo' yo', an' yo' gotta move out. [Informant, of course, does not dig down 6 feet. He digs down 6 inches, which symbolizes the 6 feet.]
Entry 7684
Yo' go tuh a - if somebody troublin' yo' an' yo' jis' want 'em tuh git in trouble, see. Yo' go tuh a sinnah - yo' gotta know somebody wuz a wicked sinnah an' got killed - yo' see, a gamblah. Yo' go tuh 'is haid an' dig down about wrist deep. An' put three pen- nies dere an' jis' tell it - jis' lak yo' talkin' tuh in - jis' lakyo' know'im, say, "so- an'-so-an'-so, ah wan' chew tuh go tuh Such-an'-such-a-one an' give dem hell, jis' give dem hell. Wham! Fight 'em, make 'em fight. Make 'em kill if it's necessary." An' yo' put de pennies dere. Kivah [cover] de hole up an' go off. Walk off an' nevah look back. Yo' take dat graveyard dirt an' yo' ketch yore dog an' cut some hair off de end of 'is tail, see. All right, yo' ketch chew a ket [cat]. Yo' cut some hair off 'is haid an' 'is tail. An' yo' take dat dog an' cut jis' a li'le bit of hair out 'is fo'haid. Yo' git some of dis urinate, see. All right yo' git yo' some red peppah, table salt, put wit dat. An' yo go by where dem people stay an' jis' tell 'em [dirt and its ingredients] what chew want 'em do wit it. An' throw it.] Don't evah look back, keep goin'. An yo' ain't goin' be a minute off fo' yo' see 'em raisin' Sam [Sam = devil]. Dey goin' move from dere. Aftah while dey goin' move from dat state.
(That is to run them out of there, run them away.)
Dat's tuh run 'em away. Dat's hard tuh ovahcome. Now ah heah'n [heard] a man tell dat an' ah seen it work. See, fo' a fact he used tuh git me tuh go by dere sometime an' throw it dere. Dis ole Doctor Bush.
Entry 7840
Dey kin put some graveyard dirt in de end [hem] of yuh dress an' sew it up, an' dat'll run yuh crazy, make de spirits follah yuh, see. Dey'll be aftah de dirt, choo see, an' dey'll go dere [to your house] an' git it, 股 choo see. Jis' lak yogo dere [to the graveyard] an' git it, git it off a sinnahman's grave. Yo' put de money down, put two cents in at hole where yo' git de dirt from. Yo' say, "Well, ah mean fer yo' [spirit] tuh run sich-an'-sich-a-one crazy an' keep 'em worried until yo' [victim] come ohere ah'm at [come as a corpse to the graveyard]." Well, dat'll keep 'em wor- ried, choo see, until dey die.
Entry 8216
Git dey pichure an' it have tuh be a whole body; jis' lak dose pi- chures dere [on the wall of interviewing room] dat girl an' one de li'le chil'- ren, jis' de whole body of a person. Well, yo take it an' it have tuh be - not no papah, see. Jis' lak dem ole common [old-time] pichure. Yo' take a tintype an' yo' take it an' put it in a saucah wit de fellah, woman, or whosomevah it is, an' yo' write it nine times, see.
(What do you write nine times?)
Well, yo' put it on a piece of papah wit ink. See, yo' put it wit ink. (You write that name nine times on a piece of paper. Now where do you put that paper?) Yes, yo' put dat papah undah de saucah, see an' den yo' put de pichure on top of de papah, an' de saucah on top of all of it, mo' tuh de groun'. Den yo' take - yo' have tuh dig de hole six feet, an' den aftah yo' do all dat yo' see, well yo put de steel dust on top of it an' de red peppah, an' all dat diff'ren kind [of things]. Jis' lak dat, yo' know, fo' tuh keep dat tuhgethah, keep de whole thing tuhgethah. Yo' put de dirt on top of it an' when de nine days out, well debody's gone. He's goin' take sick befo' den, but in de meantimes he'll disappeah.
(Why do you put that saucer on top of those things?)
Well, dat saucah, dat's fo' tuh keep it down, yo' see. Tuh keep it mo' tuh de groun'. Mos' of 'em uses Saucahs. EVAHBODY MOS'LY USES SAUCAH WHEN YO' WANTA KILL SOMEBODY IN DAT LINE. (How do you put that picture in there? Do you [I probably demonstrate] put the face up like that?) No, yo' have tuh put de face down on de name.
(And how is the name? Is that name up or is the name down?)
De name is down. De whole thing is down, de pichure, de name an' evah'thing. An' yo' turn de saucah down. All dat down tuh de ground, tuh de earth.
(And you just go out and dig a hole any place?)
Well, YO' HAVE TUH DIG IT SIX FEET. YO' CAIN'T LET NO ONE SEE YO'. ANY PLACE IN DE GROUN', BUT IT HAVE TUH BE YO' KNOW AT NIGHT. Yo' wOuldn't Want nObody [to see you].
Entry 8629
My husband has - [suppose] my husband has this here woman and ah want to break 'em up. Ah take 'er name an' his name, ah'll put it in a lemon. Red brick - right in my alley, if I'm livin' in a alley, right up out of dat alley, ah'll get, ah'll pick up a brick. Ah will dig a hole, turn dem [in. the] lemon down fo' nine mawnin'. Ah'll walks ovah it. Ah'll say, "Yo' son-of-a-bitch, ah'll keep yo' down." Ah'll walk, ah've got tuh do dat fo' nine mawnin', every mawnin', an' den he'll separ- ate from 'er. When he separate from 'er, he'll say - he'll tell his friends, he say, "Yo' know one thing, ah been mistreatin' my wife, but somehow or anothah she must be - ah don't know what she doin' - she must be prayin' or going to church or somepin. Do yo' know ah ain't got no more feelin' fo' dat woman an' ah can't go wit nobody but just my wife." De reason why he can't go wit nobody but me because ah'm got 'im like dat.
Entry 8842
Dey taken 'er han'writin' an' go tuh de graveyard, a child's grave, an' dig a hole long enough tuh put 'is han' right through. An' take a piece of sil- vah an' tell dis silvah whut choo want it tuh do, an' sompin will happen tuh yuh hand [writer's hand] (You leave that handwriting and the silver right in the grave?) Yeah, don't bring it away. [In hoodoo or witchcraft a person may and frequentIy does talk to an inanimate object, such as the present silver, but at the grave the spirit of the dead per- son buried there controls all action and any dirt carried away. This power of the grave-spirit is abundantly displayed in Section DEATH-BURIAL-GRAVEYARD, Pp.3293-3385, and elsewhere in the total text. However, if informant believes that the silver does his or her work, that is the magic truth for him or her!]
Entry 9020
All right, if yo' got some of yore friends in trouble an' wants tuh git 'em out. Prob'ly yo' got a purtty bad case an' yo' wants tuh git 'em out. Well, yo' kin go tuh de graveyard at night, twelve a'clock at night - let it be daid on de minute twelve aclock. Yo' go dere at night at twelve aclock an' yo' run yore arm down in de graveyard as fur as yo' kin git it down dere, right in de centah [a quincunx rite]. Yo' git a han'fulla dirt an' yo' take dat dirt an' git chew a plain white pocket han'ke'ch'ef dat don't have any streaks atall about de pocket han'ke'ch'ef - so it's plain white. An' yo' take dat dirt an' tie it up in de cornah de han'ke'ch'ef, puts it in yore pocket an' brings it on back. Well, yo' bring it back tuh de house an' when yo' git back tuh de house, yo' git chew some sage or sompin at night. Do all dat dat night. Bring it back tuh de house an' git chew some sage or sompin an' tie it up in dere wit dis dirt an' yo' takes it up in de jail, wheresomevah dey's in jail at, an' give it tuh de person an' tell 'em tuh weah it in de bottom of dey shoes. Well, dey weah dat in de bottom of dere shoes dat night. Prob'ly dey goin' have trial tuhmahah. An' dat night befo' dey goin' have de trial, yo' have some of yore friends tuh go tuh dat co'thouse, dat nex' mawnin' or dat mawnin' befo' day - sometime befo' dey'll have de trial - an' throw three aigs on topa de buildin'. An' be shu' dat evah' one of 'em is bust. If dey don't bust, it's not any good; but chew have tuh be shu' dat de aigs is bust. An' let 'em weah dat sage an' dirt in de bottom of dere shoes, an' dat'll cleah hit up.
Entry 9184
Well de thing tuh do when a person's in yore house in ordah tuh make dem move, dey say yo' go undah de house an' take a bar'l [barrel] hoop, an' cut it half in two an' bend it an' stick each end in de ground an' leave a circle [arch] above. Den dey said dig a deep hole an' take de yellah of two eggs an' put in dat hole, an' put three pennies an' covah it up wit dirt. Dey say on de third day dey'll move.
Entry 9348
Well, yo' see, de aigs, dere are two kinds of aigs. A roostah's aig is long an' de hen's aigs are round. Well, yo' git two hen aigs an' some salt an' black peppah. Well, yo' git on dis hen aig whut chew want done. Den yo' go an dig a hole de way yo' want tuh run it - tuhwards runnin' watah. Yo' dig a hole to- Wards runnin' watah an' den yo' put dis aig down in dere an' de black peppah an' salt, an' tell it evah whut chew want it tuh do. An' dey'll come back.
(You leave it there. You use two eggs though?)
Yeah, yeah, two aigs. Dey're round aigs. Yo' see, a roostah's aig is long an' de hen aig is round [the words long or round being words based upon sexual symbolism, not biology]. Well, yo' use de hen aigs. [For long eggs and round eggs see also following rite, and for round eggs and square eggs see also No.9284, p.3738.]
(You dig a sort of a ditch?)
No, a hole tuhwards runnin' watah. Yo' know, sometime yo' have ditches run- nin'. Well, yo' kin tell which way de watah is runnin'. Well, yo' dig de hole tuhwards runnin' watah.
(You mean between your house and the running water?)
Well, if de ditch is runnin' between yore house, yo' kin dig it right in front of de ditch, jes' so's it's runnin' which way de watah is runnin'.
(You mean you dig the hole away from you, down the way the water is running?)
Yeah, well, yo' take nine steps tuhwards de runnin' watah an' dig yore hole, an' den aftah yo' dig yore hole, yo' put chure aig an' salt an' black peppah down in dere. Co'se dis aig already has on it whut chew want it tuh do. An' den yo' have it bring 'em back.
(That is to bring them back?)
Yes.
Entry 9417
Now, if yo' constantly come tuh mah house, an' maybe ah'm carryin' on somepin dat ah wouldn't Want chew tuh come in mah house, ah wouldn't wan' tuh be bothahed wit chew. Ah wan' tuh make yo' leave an' don' come back. Ah go an' borrah two eggs from yuh, says, "Ah jes' gotta have some aigs. Will yo' loan me two until ah gits some more? Ah'll give dem back tuh yuh tuh- morrah or such a day." If yo' go past dere house at night, at six or twelve...
[I interrupt.]
(In the morning or night?)
In de morning or night, at six or twelve. Ah dig a hole dere an' ah put de eggs down dere an' ah say, "Now dis is tuh divide yo' an' me." An' ah put an inch space between de aigs. "Ah don' want chew tuh cross ovah heah no mo'." Ah Say dat when ah put 'em down. "Now ah wan' chew tuh stay on dis side an' ah'm gon'a stay ovah here." Don' let yo' cross, yo' see.
Entry 9477
Once someone had did somepin tuh hurt me an' dey tole me whut tuh do. Dey said go back home an' look undah de flo' - undah de step an' dig undah dere an' git some salt an' sprin- kle in dat hole. Dat would kill dat whut dey had fo'me. Wahl, ah did dat but ah don' know wus it. Ah did whut dey said all right. Dat'a de best ah knowed of it [to] do.
Entry 9840
Take nine needles an' nine pins an' bury 'em in yore gate, see. Well, dat will cause yo' an' yore family tuh bust up an' put chew in hard luck so yo' alone. But chew must go an' git dem nine needles an' things an' don't talk to nobody when yo' leave. An' carry 'em to de runnin' watah an' throw 'em ovahbo'd. An' dat family will be busted up an' won't nevah give yo no mo' trou- ble.
Entry 10134
[Well, jis' say fo' instance if yo' had done kilt a man or somepin lak dat, well now heah's [what you do]. If de road goin' no'th an' so'th - well, prob'ly if it's goin' east an' west. Well, [demonstrates] heah come de mainline road comin' down heah. All right, heah come two fo'ks comin' intuh de mainline road right chere. (Making a big "Y".) Yeah. Well, now, dis man - if yo' done kilt a man an' don' want 'em tuh hahm yo', yo' ketch yuh a black ket an' yo' cut 'bout, well yo' may say about three inches of his tail off. Well, when yo' git tuh de fo'ks of dis road - now, mind yo' now, dis is de mainline road comin' down heah. If dat's a pale [dirt?] road, if it's goin' east an' west, or eithah no'th an' so'th; well, now, if dat's a hard road or concrete road, yo' step right back tuh de right. Now, yo' git de undahstandin'. Yo' come when yo' get tuh de fo'ks of dis road, yo' go right back tuh de right. Back back, don't go fahwards. Yo' go right back six feet from de hard road, jis' backwards. Well, right down dere yo' dig jis' about a half a-feet an' bury dat black ket tail right dere, an' complete de Lord's word, say, "Fathah, stan' by." All right. Now listen. Now, yo' do dat an' - don' go back dere de nex' mawn- in'. Let it be roun' about three or fo' 'clock, but don' go back dere de nex' mawnin'. Come back de third mawnin' an' do dat same thing, jis' back back - yo' ain't gotta bothah dat tail - jis' back back six feet [from the road] an' say, "Fathah, stan' by." Well, yo' do dat three days in a week, until nine mawnin's. Evahthin' will be all right. (That is, the law won't track you or won't get you. Now, you [I] do that this morning, then I wait three mornings before coming back, or I wait only two morn- ings. before coming back?) Now, de firs' mawnin' yo' go, when yo' put it down dere de firs' mawnin', don' go back de nex' mawnin' but go back de nex' mawnin' [the morning after the next morning] yo' undahstan'. De firs' mawnin' yo' bury it down dere. Well, de nex' mawnin', de second, don' go back de secon' mawnin', but go back de third mawnin' yo' undahstan'.
(Then you don't go back the fourth morning?)
De fo'th mawnin' an' den de fit' mawnin' an' - now don' go back no mo' dat week. Jis' go three days in de week. Jis' go three days in de week until nine [days]. See, three an' three is six an' three's nine.
(It takes you three weeks to do that, then?)
Jis' put it in in three weeks, yessuh. (You only go there three times in one week and then you have to wait until another week.) Anothah week an' den de next week.
(You leave that black cat tail there?)
Yeah, jis' let it stay right dere.
Entry 11183
Yo' go out early in de morning in de summertime when de bushes is blossoming yo' know. Yo' take dat string 'fore day at sunup an' pull dat string up. (What kind of string?) Devil's-shoestring. It's a long root. Yo' pull dat up an' yo' bring it round yore finger seven time. Dere seven day in de week, isn't it?
(You bend that root around your finger seven times. Any particular finger?)
Seven times, jes' any two [adjoining] fingers. Yo' see dere seven days in de week, yo' know. Seven times. An' jes' tie de thing in yore pocket, yo' know. An' keep it dressed with alcohol, yo' know. An' chew dat an' go to a man an' ask fo' a job, why he more den apt to give you a job.
(You only go out there once to get that root?)
Yes sir, one time. (And you bend this around your finger [2 fingers] seven times. That's to get a job.) Yes sir.
Entry 11384
Yo' take dat file an' it's a certain place at chure steps. yo' stick dat file down on de point. But chew gotta have sompin else tuh go undah dat. Yo' gotta have... Yo' take dat John de Conkah, yore chamber lye an' a teaspoon fulla sugah. An' de blue- stone yo' beat it up, if yo' don't git it compounded. Yo' beat it up an' put it in dere, an' yo' take it an' yo' put it in a hole. Den yo' take dat file an' yo' stick it down - po' it [ingredients] in dat hole an' stick it [file] down dere, about two or three inches from yore steps. Dat's whut dat file is fo', tuh keep down dose sharp things [an enemy could bury under your doorstep].
(What will that do now?)
Dat will hold yore luck in dat house. It will hold yore luck.
Entry 11739
Yo' go down, dig in de center of dat grave an' keep adiggin' till yo' git way down fur as yore hand kin reach. An' yo' pull dat dirt up, see; an' yo' git dat, see, an' go. (Then what do you do with that dirt, now?) Yo' takes it an' den go 'long dere an' put it on de steps. (How would you put it on the steps?) Git chew a lump piece, jes' two pieces lak dat. (What kind of pieces?) When yo' git up dere [on the grave] yo' reach down in dere an' yo' jes' goes - yo' reach down [in there] as fur as yo' kin reach an' put it [this dirt] on each side [of the steps]. (On either side [on both sides] of the step. What did you say it would do then?) It would make 'em leave home.
Entry 11740
Say like if any of yo's people is in jail an' yo' don't have money to git 'em out, yo' go to a graveyard an' yo' takes two pennies. And dey say yo digs a hole, yo' know, 'way down in de middle of de grave, an' yo' pays de dead spirits fer dat dirt. And yo' tell dat dirt, tell dat spirit dat, "Ah wants chew to go direct to de jailhouse and ah wanta git so-and-so out." And dey say yo' jest leave dem two pennies there and you'll go on to de co'thouse when dey be's having co't, and you come [out] without [paying] money. (What will you do with that dirt?) Yo' jest picks up dat dirt and carries it to de jail- house wit yo', an' yo' jest holds it tight on yo', and when de' havin' yo' trial, dey more den apt to turn yo' loose and yo' won't have to pay nuthin - jest dem two pennies what chew left at de graveyard.
Entry 11741
Well, jes' lak now probably dat ah wuz sellin' likker. Well, ever' time ah turn roun' an' somebody knock at de do', ah think it's a customer come in dere. Ah open de do', "Ooh! It's de law." Well, ah goes tuh mah neighbor, yo' know, sell a lotta people roun', "Ah ain't got no luck. Ever'- time ah open mah do's, it's de law comin' in. Ah don' unnerstan'.: Seem lak de law gotta pick at me. Ah want dat law quit comin' tuh mah house." "Well, "' ah declare. "May[be] it's hard luck put on yo', '' [he] says, "dey's things lak dat." Well, jes' lak dat, talk along an' talk along. Ah wuz sellin' right along, gittin' on all right, thinkin' ever'thing wuz okay. Oh, makin' mo' money, yo' know, an' jes' gittin' 'long. Fus' thing ah knows, "Knock, knock." "Who's thah?" Twarn't nuthin but de [wind?] but still it wuz a lil' strange. Goes opens de do'. Who but it is de law ag'in. Well, ah sigh to mahself, "Well, ah taken dese chances but ah don't wanta take nO mo' chances." Ah goes tuh talkin' fo' fair den. So ah got one mah best fren'. Ah call her mah best fren'. So mah best fren' says, "Well, ah tell yo' whut chew do," say, "yo' go git luck, 'cause dere's bad wishes put on yo'. Yo' gotta have luck. Dere's a bar ovah dere" [someone over there could recommend a hoodoo]. Okay. An' so ah goes an' git luck. So fo' de luck he tole me, says, "Go tuh de cemetery an' git chew a lil' graveyard dirt, an' yo' git it on de off side - cf side of de right. Yo' dig down an' yo' pay. Yo' pay him an' yo' git dis dirt. Dig a hole jes' lak dat an' let chure han' go down in it, jes' lak dat [demonstrates] an' dig yo' up jes' a lil' dirt jes' lak dat. Den yo' put three pennies down in dere where yo' got dis dirt at. An' yo' take it home an' don't look back. When yo' git dis dirt jes' take it an' come right on home an' don' look back. When yo' git home, yo' put a spoonful of sulphur in dat graveyard dirt an' yo' sprinkle jes' a lil' bit of black peppah in dere. An' den yo' jes' put dat - yo' put some right under de front steps, an' den yo' go round an' put some undah yore back steps. An' den yo' gotta speak three times tuh hit, 'Name of de Father, name of de Son an' de Holy Ghost, stay an' nevah come no mo'." Dat'll do it.
(That keeps the law away.)
Keep de law away.
Entry 12149
Go to a hickory tree an' go on de no'th side of a hickory tree, an' den dig down an' git de roots. An' take dis root an' put it in some watah an' boil it fo' thirty minutes. Then yo' kin take it an' put it in bread an' yo' will cause things to grow in 'em - worms.
Entry 12386
Yo' kin take a box of lye an' yo' kin go out at twelve a'clock in de night, if yo' wanta run anything away. An' like runnin' away, dey tell me, dat's runnin' away de enemies of 'em - dese polices an' diff'ren' things lak dat. Yo' go out at twelve a'clock at night an' bury it down undah yore do'- step. An' after yo' bury dat dere, yo' curse de people dat chew want to stay 'way. An' yo' take a cold biscuit an' a tin nail - one dese little tin nails - an' drive right down through de center of dat biscuit into dat can. An' let it stay buried dere, de' say, fo' nine mawnin's, an' yo' kin take it up an' use it. If anything git tuh worryin' yo' - yo' havin' any trouble or anything like dat - yo' go back dere an' put down anothah can. Well, at de time yo' may not fear 'bout nuthin interferin' with yo'. Nobody won't interfere.
(Why do you put that biscuit in there?)
Ah don't know why yo' put dat biscuit down dere, but sompin othah. [One guess would be an offering to the spirit doing your work.]
(But you say you can use that lye over - you can use that if you want to.)
After it stay dere nine days, why yo' kin use it. [Normally materials cannot be reused.]
Entry 12456
Den dere is other people believe dat dey kin take - track a mole and get him up and take dat shovel dat he uses off of him. And anytime after night- fall, go to de door and dig a trench from de door to de street, and dey'll [people within] leave. (I didn't understand ab about that mole. You take that...) De mole is got a peculiar foot to him. It's shaped somepin like a heavy shovel - one of 'em. Well, dat's de one he use to open his tunnel as he is going through, and it looks almost de same as ivory - solid white and sharp and curved-like. But you take de foot from de mole and go to de do', and you will dig a trench from de do'ah out to de street.
(With this foot?)
With dat foot. And dey claim dat whoever liyes dere will really leave dat house. Dey'll follow dat path out to de street - be gone. Dey'll vacate de premises, dey won't stay dere long.
Entry 12710
If yo' wuz sellin' whiskey an' de law wuz pretty bad, botherin' yo' aroun' yore house an' yo' wanted tuh keep 'em away, why yo' kin take a rabbit - kill a rabbit an' yo' kin kill a chicken. Take de chicken foot an' de rabbit foot an' bury dem tuhget- hah in de gate where yo' come intuh yore front do' at. Put dem in de ground an' bury dem tuhgethah. Den yo' goes back in de house aftah yo' do dat. Yo' goes back in de house an' yo' probably stay in de house ten or fifteen minutes an' den comes back out. Yo' comes back out an' yo' digs dis rabbit foot up an' dis heah chicken foot, an' yo' don' bury 'em tuh- gethah nex' time; yo' bury one on de right-han' side an' one on de left-han' side. De way ah heard it, don' make any difference which one yo' put on de right an' which one on de left. Yo' bury one on de right an' one on de left - on de left side of de do'steps, by de cornah of de do'step. An' yo' takes one of de toes off de chicken foot an' carry it roun' tuh de back do' tuh keep 'em 'way from de back, an' yo' bury dat down dere. An' dey say yo' won' have no trouble wit de law as long as dem feets is solid. An' when dey rot - yo' kin tell when it will rot down dere. Yo' have tuh bury some mo'. An' yo' won' be bothahed wit no law. A lady down heah in town heah, she had a experience wit dat.
Entry 84
Ah knowed a lady one time, her son he got killed on de railroad out here and nobody knowed how he got killed, and she always believe dat a fellah dat he had put in jail one time did it - see, had pushed him in front of de train. So she would go out to some grave ev'ry night and git at de head of dis grave and dig a hole right at de head of dis grave and put her hands down in dere and she would give all kind of prayers - prayers fer him to come back alive and haunt dis man. Well, it's a man he was night watchman out here at de railroad yard himself. Well, one night, he would sleep like, he would jest seem to go to sleep on de switch all de time and nearly wreck de trains all de time. See. And he never did befo', but nights she wouldn't go out dere, like nights when it rained, he Would be all right. But ev'ry night she'd go out dere, he would always have some kind of accident happening to him. So one night she was there and he was walking down de railroad yard and she was out at de graveyard. People says she was out dere, dey'd seen her out dere, for she lives right cross from it, out heah on Union Street. And they said that he was walking down de railroad yard when he had stepped in a hole, a big deep hole, and he kept fallin' and kept fallin' and nevah seen him no more. But dey always said when de walked through dat yard on a dry night dey always could hear him hollering dey really could hear him hollering nights like that.
(He actually disappeared right there?)
He disappeared - dey found his lattren [lantern] an' all by a hole dere. De people dey tried to fill dat hole up but dey never could fill dat hole up. [Here is the bottomless pit of Revelation (King James Version), 9:11, 11:7, 17:8, 20:1&3.]
Entry 387
There was a man who went to look for a hidden treasure because he had dreamed that in this particular spot there was a treasure hidden. He asked two men to accompany him on this journey but when the night came the two men didn't show up. The man himself became very determined to get the treasure and went on the trip himself. When he arrived at the spot designated in his dream, the Wind began to blow. But the old man paid no attention. He began to dig and dig and dig. Finally, the rain began to pour, thunder began to roll, lightning began to flash. But the old man dug just the same. After awhile his pick struck something that sounded like an iron pot. The old man felt that his troubles were over. It was not long before he could see the shining pot in the moonlight, because by that time the clouds had cleared away. The old man nervously took the pot from the ground and opened the pot. And when the pot was opened he saw that it was filled with gold and silver. The old man forgot that he wasn't supposed to utter a word before he got the piece of silver in the pot and the old man suddenly cried, "Lord have mercy! Look what I found!" At those words which were spoken before he had put the silver in the pot every bit of the silver turned to black charcoal and the pot turned to just a piece of clay. And the old man suddenly remembered that he did wrong in uttering a sound before he put the silver in the pot. He decided to go treasure hunting no more.
Entry 392
I heard one time that a man went out in the woods, he went out to dig some money and while he was out there digging - four men were out there digging - a woman came and sit by them all in white. The one that was reading the Bible - he got frightened and started to run. When he started to run the fellows what Was digging started right behind him. When he got out on the road - the spirit had left them out in the woods and run ahead of them. They managed to get by some kinda way. One of the men he lived in the country, he was quite old, and the three young men left him behind. When they got up to the house he [the old man] was sitting on the porch laughing and talking. So then they decided to go back and fastened this hole up. They went back the next day and they claim they couldn't find this place when they went back. This was out in a hickorynut woods right near a big tree with moss all over it and they had a stick there. They say when you mark a place and go back you won't see it no more at all. That was just about three miles from Hampton. [The old man outrunning young men - a dog is sometimes added - is a folk-tale theme long since worn threadbare by comedians.] [Hampton, Va., (31), Ed.1
Entry 419
When you dig it up, don't say a word, don't open your mouth; if you do, it will sink down into the earth - it will keep on going right down. No, you can't try for it again. You'll never see a sign of it any more. They say what makes it go, the spirit what buried that money will come back if you speak. It will take the money right away from you. I remember once in my father's time [before the Civil War] a man plowed up some money and he said, "Uncle Pompey, I found some money." And when father got there the money was gone.
Entry 4465
Den yuh kin take it [urinate = excrement] and stop it up in a hole. Go tuh de no'th side of a oak tree and drill yuh a hole in dere back about dat deep, where yuh kin git in dere. Wedge it in dere lak dat, an' drive a green peg up in dere, an' dat will stop 'em completely off.
Entry 5724
Well, a man tole me, dat if anybody did yo' anything, dat chew wanta git rid of 'em, de man, fo' yo' tuh go an' take up 'is footstep, his track, be- hin' 'im. Take it an' bo' a hole intuh a tree an' put dat track intuh de tree, an' cork it up an' dat will run dis man away from yo' - run dis man away from bone.
(Either track, do you take?)
De right track.
Entry 7769
Go tuh a good gam- blah's grave, a guy dat wuz a good gamblah. Aftah he's buried, go down dere de nex' day aftah he's buried, an' dig down tuh yore elbow befo' de sunrise. An' take it an' put it in a sock [not sack] an' tote it in yore pocket, an' yo' go tuh de skin game an' yo' don't fall.
(You put it in a sock - one of your own socks?)
Yes sir, one your own socks.
(You carry it in any pocket?)
Yes sir, jes' put it in any pocket an' tote it wit chure money.
Entry 7803
Go tuh de graveyard about twelve a'clock at night an' git some grave- yard dirt. Dig it real deep in de groun' an' git it off dat part, an' bring it an' sprinkle it aroun' de house an' yo'd move.
Entry 8
[I have four stories about the celebrated Zippy Tull of the Eastern Shore, each told by different informant. The following story, all the material he gave me, came from my hotel manager at Princess Anne, the only white informant in this book. The latter alone makes him memorable in my life, but a favor he also did later made the day doubly a worthy memory. See Zippy Tull in the Index.] This was I would imagine about sixty-five or seventy years ago [before 1936]. This lady [a white woman] was a relative [great-aunt] of mine, [the informant is a white man], she was living in Wicomico County at a little country place by the name of Siloam, Maryland - Wicomico County. She Was going With a young man living in that same neighborhood and they were engaged to be married. There was another girl that this same gentleman was [had been] going with, which of course I can't [do not.care to] call his name, but he was [had been] going with these two girls and they were very much in love with this one particular man. And in order to get the advantage of the [engaged] girl - her name was a Miss B., she [the other girl] tried to find some way to get rid of Miss B., and in doing so, the only way she knew how would be to fix some way to put a spell on her. She had lady friends of course was stopping with Miss B., and also with her, so she got one of these ladies to secure a lock of her hair. And in doing that, Miss B., of course, didn't know that she Was securing this lock of hair. It run on for a little while and she was taken sick. In other words, it was more like her mind - her mind got to be very, very bad, very bad. She consulted doctors frequently but nobody could seem to do her any good. She gradually grow worser in her condition. Of course, the gentleman friend that she had, wasn't paying so much attention to her while her being sick. He figured that wouldn't be the woman for him. He was paying more attention to this other young lady, number two I would call her. But in doing that, this lady tried round different physicians. Finally she couldn't get any relief, she went to see an old [colored] lady by the name of Zippy Tull. She was known for several counties as being a great fortune teller. She could remove spells, as we now call them, from different people; she could put 'em on someone else, if necessary. She consulted Zippy Tull and, in doing that, she [Zippy Tull] told her her troubles, told her what Was causing these troubles. She said, "Well, can I get cured?" She said, "Yes, I can cure you. I can also put this same thing on the one that put it on you." She said, "No, I don't want to do that, I would just love to get well. If I can get well, I feel that that would be the biggest thing in life." "But," she said, "I can tell you how to get well. If you go to the graveyard, your family graveyard, beside your brother that's now dead, there you will find a lock of your hair burried [buried] in the ground with a brick on top of it; there you will find a cord wrapped around a lock of your hair, and just: so.long as that lock of hair stays there, this will gradually work on you; there you'll find a cord which binds that hair perfectly tight. Now, when you go to that grave, don't go until this hour is over - between this hour of twelve and one o'clock at night, and her spirit won't be there or any of her spirits will be there to protect it. You go there at that time. There you dig'in the ground at a certain spot [next to her brother's grave]. You'll find this brick, and under there you look and you'll find a lock of hair just as I have told joo, and you bring it to me. Don't chew tell anyone tha' chew found it, don't tell any of your people tha' chew found it, but bring it back to Zippy Tull and I'll tell you what to do with it." Of course, she was like most people, she felt that anything she could do, you know, to bring her health back to her - she was rejoicing in the fact, if it would do it. But she waited until next morning and she went back to see Aunt Zippy Tull. And when she got there Aunt Zippy said to her, she said, "Well," she said, "you found just what you're looking for?" She said, "Yes, I found it. It was there." She said, "Would joo say that's a lock of your hair?" She said, "Well, it's the same colah and looks like the same hair." She said, "How did joo find it?" "I found it with a little piece of cord wrapped around that hair." "And that cord around the hair, it must be causing you all this trouble, your headaches and your pains; and just so long as that string, cord, was wrapped round that hair, you would have never gotten any better, you would have gradually grown worse. Now then, if you want, I can put the same spell back on the person, which of course you know who it is. I can put it back on them; or, to get rid of your trouble, you must do away with this hair. But chew must first remove that string." And Aunt Zippy Tull - that's how she was known, they all called her Aunt Zippy - she said, "You take this hair and you destroy it by burning it up. And don't let anybody ever have any of your hair, because this same woman will be trying to do the same thing again." This woman, after doing this, she gradually got better. She got well, made a strong healthy woman, and lived to be a quite old age. I would positively say she was around seventy or seventy-five years old when she died. This was the age of about twenty-three-or-four years old when this spell was first put on this woman. Naturally, I know it from actual knowledge. It had been handed down right in the family and we knew this to be a positive fact. This is not a heresay or somebody telling you about it, it's really positive, it's absolutely true. The woman had practically gone crazy and lost her mind. The woman just pulled her hair right out of her head. But her life, it would have been a blank. She went on through life. I don't know her married life of course, I don't know whether that would be necessary now in this particular case or not, but I know this thing Was put on by this woman and was taken off by Aunt Zippy Tull which [who] in those days were looked upon as a great witchcraft and fortune-teller. I would imagine she [Zippy] died between the age of - it's been thirty to forty years ago [before 1936]. But, she was known all over these four counties [Somerset (where we then were), Wicomico, Dorchester and Worcester]. She lived around Siloam; her home was Wicomico County.
Entry 379
Well, to dress the house thataway, you see those paradise seeds. You take that paradise seed and you take you some parsley with paradise seed, you takes you nine rocks like off the railroad [bed of railroad track]. See. Tie that up into a sack. You put that, you understand, at your step but don't bury it - the same as you'd take a piece of stick thataway and tie it up on the side there. Everybody'll pass there, even the children - they'll look, their mind will tell them to stop there, but they'll continue by. [Stick and children I explain later.] The same as any treasure what's buried. In the olden time when they used to bury money, they would take a individual back to the place where they going to bury the money, he not knowing anything. The poor darky would be ignorant of the act. And he would stand there and they'd ask him, "Would you watch this money?" He knows it's money and he would say, "Yes" - for this reason, they worked him so hard, he thought he would just Sit there and watch the money, it would be a easy job for him. He'd say "Yes." They'd say, "Would you swear?" 'Yes." They'd make him raise his hand and swear. When he raise his hand to swear they would shoot him down. Now, to get that money - the evil spirit will come around there and worry you so. You have to know your business to get that money; if not, you will never get it, see, because he have promised, he have made an oath, a dying oath to watch it and he watch that money. You going to dig that money. They have diff'rent forms come there such as lions, elephant and diff'rent things. It don't be anything but a shadow but who's the man will stay there to see whether it's anything or not. Well, it's the same way. Whensomever you make a swear, make a oath that- away, you understand, it means something. It's the same as a law being made in the Senate with an amendment to it; see, not to be broken. Yes sir. (I see. That's the same thing, you say, as this little bag hanging on the stick by your gallery?) [This is a hand to keep children off the gallery.] Yeah. For instance, if there's money buried in the corner of this yard and - you kin have fifteen children, they'll never go in that corner and play; they'll play all over the yard, they may start that way but before they get there they will go to another direction.
(Why is that?)
Well, 'cause that money is there and the spirit is there and they have a good mind - the spirit don't allow no one there, he's there to watch it. They'll have a mind - they'll leave they house to go to that corner of the yard but before they get there, they'll go off. I saw the [this in] natural life - the thing happened at a place in a swamp [a spirit guarded a tree] - they had the skeeter pulling out some logs. There was a tree leaning towards the sunrise. They have a kind of a slot, look like, cut in the tree thataway - like it had been cut out of the tree, the tree was hollowed, and sot back in there again. [This treasure was buried in this slot.] Now, to make fast for the skeeter with that line, he'd have to go and cut the top off that tree for the rigger to tie his rigging there to pull the log with, and don't you know he couldn't go there. He put the axe on his shoulder and leave from the skeeter before he go there. He start thataway but before he get there, he come out the other way. So the white fellow said to him, "Well, skeeter, what's the matter - going to keep me all day?" Say, "Well, I can't go there - get in there." It doing the same thing - they never get there - have to make fast somewhere else.
(What's a skeeter - what's his work?)
That's pulling the logs out of the swamp, you see. They set here, you know, and they got a line pract'ly go to Canal Street - they got a line go to Canal Street, and they attach it to the top of the top bough of a tree. They got a bicycle runs on that cable and they got a tong to hook the log. And, gee, hit pull logs and there's them logs flying up in there just the same as a bullet.
Entry 391
Gwynn's Island [Gwynn on maps], it's up the [Chesapeake] Bay about forty-five miles up. A man there goes into the woods and by him going into this Woods he see some trees, and these trees look like they was in a diff'rent form from the others. There was a lot of green moss. and by this green moss being there he goes to work and commence digging. He dug up a chest of money.
Entry 413
Or some people say yo' put de money in de ground an' yo' bury a chicken or bury a cat or somepin - whatever dey bury, ah don't know what. Why, dis thing will come back wit chure money. Or bury dis Negro - why dis Negro will be so strong, somepin to make yo' 'fraid an' keep yo' 'way. (Is there any way that a fellow can go there at all and prevent that and get the money?) Well, dey say if yo' git chew a Bible an' go to dis place readin' yo' Bible, when dis stuff start - yo' got chure gang an' yore shovel wit chew - go ahead an' dig de money up. Don't pay any 'tention, jes' go ahead an' yo' see de stuff fall, jes' walk right on lak yo' don't see it; reads yo' Bible - readin' God's word, yo' see. An' dey said, when yo' git to dis place, why yo' got an idea how much room it might take, yo' know, to dig dis money up - yo' know, yo' all stand round in a ring round dere an' keep on reading de Bible. Say, den one man will walk around dere dragging his foot chew know, an' mark de place out, while dey be reading de Bible. Why den when dey git through reading dis Bible, take dis Bible an' lay it down on de line, puts it de way dey came - come dis way an' lay it right down on dere where he came in; on dat land marked round dere, lay de Bible, an' dey say yo' git right down dere an' dig. As long as dey didn't talk - don't talk an' don't, yo' know, make a fuss. Git right down dere an' dig. Say all kind of animals - all kinds of mess will come right up dere live, but pay no 'tenshun to 'em. Yo' dig right dere, jes' don't make no fuss, yo'll git chure money. Git dat money an' sit right on de - all kind of animals will come right to dat line, but co'se dey wouldn't come in 'cause dat's de Bible - see, wouldn't come ovah dat Bible.
Entry 415
I really had experience of that my ownself. Another fellow and I went out one night to try and locate a hidden treasure. And after getting to the place, he drew a circle around it and made a gate to it. And after leaving the gate he sprinkled sulphur, milk and so forth all around, and then he began to sound with his apperrattox [apparatus] and he struck what he thought was money. That was a iron rod about six feet long: And we began to dig. And while we were digging - I had never been upon that occasion [adventure] before in my life - you can't talk - whatever you want you must make signs - and I was digging and I held up my head to ask him for something to work with, and I looked and he was gone and I was all there alone. The ring which he made was surrounded by lots of people, but who they were I know them not. And all I had to do then was to come out of the hole and make my getaway - and I beat it, too. [Old Point, Comfort, Va., (27), Ed.; Norfolk Co., Va.,1896.]
Entry 417
Go to the graveyard at midnight. But chew have to go by yourself and you take a penny. You got'a give 'em, take something with you 'cause then - when you go walk round the grave two or three times see, around the head and you walk round the foot two or three times. And then you go back - well, about nine times all together, and then you kneel down. But yo' have to put yore hand - dig down, put chure hand in and git the dirt from this, right off the coffin. See. But then, when you do that, you have to leave a penny or some vinegar or something.
(Why vinegar?)
Well, that's to keep the spirit from hurting you. You kin even have whiskey on you, see, to keep the spirits from harming you; you see, so they don't be disturbed [see Spirits and alcohol, in Index]. Course ah never did this but ah -
(I know, you are just telling me what you heard.)
And then when you go out, if you don [leave a gift] when you git to that gate, they will rassle [wrestle] with your soul. Even if you call spirits in here now, you make a circle and call spirits; you'd have to fortify that circle, because if you don't - course you do that around twelve 'clock at night. You fortify that circle. You kin call the spirits and when you - they scare yuh to death, but if you fortify it and sit inside that they can't harm you.
(How would you fortify that circle, then?)
Well, you have to make crosses you see - make a circle for yourself to sit in. And then you make a gate like and you put - make a cross there and then you have to use holy oil and holy water and candles, and then you set inside of it and then you can call de spirits and sit there quiet and pray and they'll come. But you has to have a dozen candles. [Washington, D. C. (627), 804:2.]
Entry 426
Ah ain't nevah seen dem hunt money but dere was money gived to me twice through de spirits - see, whether ah was hoodooed or whut, but anyhow it was give to me jes' lak if ah'm laying in dat bed dere 'sleep. Somepin come tuh me an' woke me up and tole me, says, "Right undah heah dere's $12,00 buried right down heah in de ground three and a half feet in de ground," and says, "ah give it to yo'." Well, ah got in tech wit a man in Ocean City, New Jersey - a hoodoo fellah and he come down dere. Hit was a man dey called to put people, yo' see, together when dey separate - he kin put em back together lak dat. [He is not talking about a marriage counselor but about a hoodoo fellah who uses hoodoo methods for putting together or back together - both technical terms.] Well, he come down and he tole me, "Say, Boy, if dere's money heah, it ain't gon'a cost yo' nuthin'. It was not right whare ah was standin' den, but ah knowed where it was.
(Where were you then?)
In Augusta, Georgia, an' dis happen sixty miles from Augusta. Well, we comes on down dere den to dis place. So when he got dere, was some peoples in de house an' so ah tole him, ah say, "How we goin' git dat?" He say, "Ah fix dat." So we went on in dere an' dis man talked wit dis man - de colored fellah what had de house and de was staying in de house - he was just. renting it, see, but it was a white fellah's place. So, well, we goes to work dere den, and dis man said, "Well, ah'll git all de peoples out from roun' heah tuh work, then ah'll let yo'all go inside dere." So we went in dere and de man took de needle and went over searching fo' it to see was it dere. So he searched all round dere and when he got to whare ah tole him where it was, the needle pointed right there - see, went to drawing his hand right on down to de ground. So he bowed his haid, said, "Us mustn't talk." An' so us went on off den. He said, "Yo' kin go off an' talk all yo' wanta." So we went on off dere to de car and he said, "Well, now, ah'm going dress yo' first," an' say, "an' yo' ahead on dere and go to digging right straight down." Say, "But if it's under de house, right at dat man's pillar whut holds up de house" - you see, we had tuh kinda dig [to keep] from undermining dat house, throwing it down, to ketch up with it [treasure]. An' so ah went on an' dig and when ah got through digging, ah had tuh beg - when ah got tired ah had to beg fo' another fellah - wit chure finger - yo' can't talk. An' so he say, "Ah'm goin have tuh dress yo'all. Yo' rub dis ovah yore face [demonstrates], 'cause somepin will come through directly big [as] a cow an' scare yo' to death." Said, "Ah have to dress yo' wit dis heah stuff to keep yo from being scared."
[For another example of a doctor curing a person of fear, see No. 16.]
(And where did he put it, over your face like that?)
Oil - some kind of oil [holy oil - oil the doctor had blessed].
(He rubbed it over your face?)
Yassuh, he'd taken an' jes' rub it ovah his face jes' lak dat an' his hands, yassuh. An' so dis fellah go back to digging. So, well it looked dat - he come back 'gin an' he put dat needle back dere 'gin and it pointed and draw right up under dere where dat block was. An' dat's where de money was under dat block, but chew see, we couldn't git to it. So he got a wagon axle and stuck down in dat ground where dat money was buried, an' covered it up, an' tole de fellah, say, "We are coming back." Jes' lak dat. But ah believe he double-cross me. See. He went to work den and de fellah tole him, said, "Ah'll burn de house down" - see - "an' let chew know. Ah'll stay in touch wit chew so yo' kin git to dis here stuff." See. He say, "Yes, 'cause yo' git good pay if yo' do dat - yo' won't lose nuthin'." So we never did go back. So we went to de other place where de money was gived to me - see, de money gived tuh me twice. An' we went to de other place an' we couldn't git up to it cause dere some white folks staying dere, yo' see, an' we couldn't talk tuh 'em lak we wanted to, so we wouldn't bring it up atall - jes' wait till dey move out.
(This root doctor, did you give him any money or anything?)
Didn't give him a penny - he wouldn't charge me nuthin' - an' de expenses cost him 'round about $12 'cause we made two trips down dere. But he didn't charge me a penny - give me all ah wanted to eat, an' ah's wandering why he did dat. Dat's why ah figured he double-crossed me. He went back an' got it.
Entry 1863
Yo' take de dirt out de hollow of his feets. (The boss's feet?) Yeah, de boss feet an' put it in a bottle an' put it right down at de steps - turn it bottom upwards an' dig a hole an' put it right down at de steps early in de mawnin' - see, 'fore anyone see yo' go dere.
(Whose steps?)
At de boss house.
(What will that do?)
Well, dat will put chew - put chure track an' de boss track together. Now, yo' see, dat will give yo' influence wit de boss.
Entry 2934
When yore ole man is gone away an' yo' wanta bring him back, if he left any ole dirty socks - if yo' kin git any of his ole socks, git de left sock. It Wants tuh be dirty though, not clean. An' yo' take it an' yo' go out in front of yore do'. Well, yo' do it 'bout between three an' fo' a'clock in de mawnin'. Go out in front of yo' do' an' dig a hole an' bury dat sock an' cover it up. Yo' go in de house an' yo' git chew a piece of tablet an' yo' write his name nine times on dat tablet. Den yo' git chew a black candle, put dat piece of papah down an' set de candle on it.
(Just a moment. Do you put the names up or down?)
Put the names right across.
(No. Do you put the names up so that you can see them, or down?)
Put the names [face] down. Then set the candle on it an' burn that candle, an' in three days dey'll return. Dat's whut ah know 'bout dat.
(But you must leave that sock out there?)
Yo' leave that sock out there until dey return. Ah've heard of men takin' a woman's stockin's an' makin' her come back. Ah've heard of men takin' 'em an' do em in de same manner.
Entry 7773
De graveyard dirt, yo' go out tuh de graveyard an' - yo' gambles wit dat - yo' take an' go tuh de graveyard an' digs a hole down tuh de head of yo' grave. Go in dere so yo' could reach chure arm out an' dig up an' pick up dat dirt lak dat. An' puts a silvah dime down in dere, a bran'-new sil- vah dime in dere
[the grave]. Dey puts dat [dime] down in dere [grave] an' dey'll take dat [dirt]
an' dey'll tie it up an' dey'll let dat dime stay in dere [grave] until dey gits through wit de dirt. An' when dey go back tuh carry de dirt back [to the grave] dey'll take de dime out [of the grave]. But dey'll tie hit [dirt] up in a li'le sack - yo' know, yo've seen dese Bull Durham sacks - dey puts dat [dirt] in dere an' dey'll - den dey takes it [sack with dirt] an' puts it in dere pocket, right- hand pocket, an' when dey go tuh skin games, dey take de li'le sack in de hand lak dat an' shake it [tied-up sack] all ovah de table, an' dere won't nobody win de money den. Dey'll [the shaker] win it all by deyself [himself]. (WHAT DO THEY USE IN THIS LITTLE SACK, JUST THE DIME? OR DO THEY HAVE GRAVE- YARD DIRT IN THAT SACK?)
[Preceding material is confusing without my bracket explanations.]
YO' HAVE GRAVEYARD DIRT IN DAT SACK.
(WELL, WHERE IS THE DIME?)
IT'S AT DE GRAVEYARD WHERE YO' GOT DE DIRT.
(YOU CARRY THIS DIRT BACK, WHEN YOU GET THIS DIME BACK.)
[The new-silver dime is not a payment to the grave but a deposit to guarantee the return of the dirt! After all, even the power in graveyard dirt eventually wears out, especially in a gambling game fighting all those other luckpieces and charms and roots! Instead of casting the useless dirt away, it is restored to the grave to be on the good side of the spirit.] There is nothing else like this in Hoodoo! The shaking of the sacked graveyard dirt over the gambling place ex- cites the spirit in the dirt to action.
Entry 9062
Well, now what yo' mean tuh keep a person crazy. Ah tell yo'. Now dis is a jailhouse scrape. Now, ah have tried dat mahself an' ah know about dat. Now, yo' goes at 'leven 'clock - strictly 'leven. It make no diff'rence who yo pass, don't speak tuh no one. Go on tuh de graveyard an' yo' try tuh git - yo go tuh a grave where is a wicked person buried. Where a wicked person is buried an' yo' go dere an' yo' carry wit chew two matches in yore head [hair] an' one in yore mouth. Dat three ain't [it].
(What! Do you carry those matches in your head?)
Jes' stick it [two] in yore hair an' one in yore mouth. Den yo' dig down. Jes' take dis han' [demonstrates]. Ah've done it. Ah'm tellin' yuh whut ah've done. Take yore right arm an' yo' dig down in dat grave jes' about as far as a person's here [demonstrates]. Yo' know is from dat distant [distance] in de body. Yo' dig down about dat distant [distance], so fur. (Above the elbow.) An' yo' take out three han's- fulla dirt an' put it in a papah bag. An' yo' put three pennies in dere [hole in grave]. Yo' pay 'em [dead] fo' de dirt. See, dat pays fo' de dirt. An' den yo cover dem pennies up in dere." Walk aroun' de grave three times an' say, "Ah'm doin' dis tuh change de jedge an' de jurors min's." Yo' got dat? All right. Well, now yo' goin' back home, but don' chew speak tuh a soul. Don' speak tuh 'em till yo' git in yore house. An' jes' as de sun peep in de next mawnin', yo' goes to de co'thouse where dey goin' have dis trial, where dis crim'- nal is. See, de crim'nal in de jailhouse, but de trial goin' be in de co'thouse. Yeah. An' yo' go roun' de co'thouse one time. Sprinkle some of dat dirt as yo goes. An' go up de stairs.
(You go around the courthouse once and you sprinkle this dirt around there?)
Dat's right. Den yo' know dat mo' den apt de jurors always go up on de right-hand side of de steps. An' yo' go up dat steps an' yo' sprinkle dat dirt as yo' go. An' as yo' sprinklin', yo' say, "Ah'm doin' dis tuh change de jedge an' de jurors min's. An' JES' AS SHORE AS YO' GOIN' TUH DIE, if dat person done killed somebody, he'll come cleah. An' ah mean it wouldn't cost 'em nuthin. It'll cost 'em. Dey'll give him a fine. IT JES' AS TRUE AS DE CLOCK. Ah done tried it. AH'M. TALKIN' "BOUT WHAT AH'VE ALREADY TRIED MAHSELF.
Entry 12952
To bring or send away - sole of left shoe - dig a hole - bury with the feet going away from the house - 3 to 9 days person will leave. If to bring back - bury shoe with feet coming to house - and [or] you can tack it over facing of door where it's covered [hidden] and the person will come. [Memphis (973, professional and excellent), 1575:10.]
Entry 8108
Take a photograph an' dig a hole undah a bottom of a steps, an' turn it down undah dat step right on de face, an' dat will make yo' leave a place where yo' be at.
(How do you mean make you leave?)
Jis' lak if yo' stayin' tuh a house lak dis [where we were sitting] an' dey Want chew tuh go, say dey will bury it undah yo' step, undah yo' bottom do'steps. An' dig a hole an' turn it down, say dat will make yo' go.
Entry 381
I went out with some people - a white man and two colored fellows and myself. We went to a place by the name of Port Allen. That used to be a [Civil] War place. Lot of Yankees was running away from there with money - supposed to be buried there - which they had found money in different states. Well, we hadn't, didn't find that so far. We got near to it but we didn't git it. So we had a shovel and we had a money rod and also we had a radio. See. And test where the money at. So the closer we'd get to the money, the more the bell would ring - that arrow would go around just like a radio. So, we dug there and so we got down to a pot and one fellow, doing time before [in the penitentiary] Was in there. He got his for murder, and if you suppose to do any kind of murder or anything, you can't get it. So, it was twelve o'clock that night, so we could not get it. So we came back the next night and after we came back the next night we dug. We left that fellow - we found out that fellow had been in trouble, so We left him and picks up another fellow. So we had a preacher with us and so he said a prayer. So we dug again until we got down to the money but there was so many different things come in front of us we couldn't stand to see. First thing came, a horse with no head on it - a horse with a lot of fire coming out; a man with no head, and a lot of bells and noise. Well, we left it - we never did get it - a great big hole. We couldn't get the money. I could get that close and could almost reach to it down there - it was about four feet down.
Entry 384
I know that when I was three years of age, we lived in the country. There was a big cherry tree out in front of my house. Every day about three o'clock in the afternoon I would see a man clad in a suit of armor, a helmet on his head, running out break-neck speed around this cherry tree. After he would run around the tree a few times he would run down the lane and disappear. I would call my mother and sister and try to show them this man, but they would tell me that they saw nothing and would wonder why it was that I would say I saw something. One day when I was trying to show them this, my grandmother came to my rescue and said there was money buried there under that cherry tree, that a man who had been a soldier in the Civil War had buried it there, and there was no doubt that it was that man's spirit who would appear to me every day, because maybe he wanted me to have this money. Later, my mother never consented to allow me to dig at this tree. My grandmother also tried to explain that the reason I could see and the others couldn't was maybe due to the fact that I was too young to be afraid of what I saw.
Entry 388
Well, in finding buried money, usually when yo' move in a house if there's some money buried there, see, it be's something always there. If yo' don't say anything, or ask it - say, "Do yo' want anything in the Name of the Lord?" Then, when yo' go to sleep, a dream will come to yo' where that money is. Then, yo' git up the next morning an' yo' dig. But chew can't say anything to anybody while yo' digging. Can't talk, if yo' see anyone coming - why yo' jest have to stop diggin', 'cause if yo' say one word why yo' can't git it.
Entry 390
I'll tell you one thing that I have heard. A long time ago people used to bury their money instead of putting it in the banks. The person that buried the money believed that if they killed someone or an animal and cut the animal's head off or the person's head off and bury the head with the money that it would keep someone else from getting the money. At a place on the road [Maryland State Road No. 12] between Snowhill and Salisbury, near the Worcester County line, there's a tree, an oak I think, where they claim that somebody was buried. And this man - this was before the Civil War, killed a little colored boy and cut his head off and buried it with the money. Later on people heard about this money being buried there and a number of them tried to get it. Everyone who tried to dig up this money never succeeded and the belief was that this head protected the money and kept the people from getting it. They claim that on certain nights, especially dark nights, people going along this road from Snowhill to Salisbury see a little light like and this light seems to flicker and it is near this tree. They claim that that's the way you know money is buried there. Well, one man, I don't know whether it is true or not, tried to dig up this money. So he took some other man with him to help him. So they dug and dug under this tree and they almost got to the money and just as he looked up he claimed that he saw a sword suspended by a hair from the limb of the tree and he claims that he heard a voice say, "If you touch the money the sword will drop." His companions also saw and heard the same thing and they left him and ran away. But he stayed as long as he could but it seems that something Was holding him back all the time. But he didn't get this money. One night [1935] I was driving along that way and it was a very rainy night and dark and it seemed as though we could see this light twinkling. It might have been my imagination. They called it the money gold light.
Entry 394
When they go to diggin' they say there's always something in the hole, a snake or a scorpion or something in there to try to scare them away; but if you keep on diggin' they'll go away and leave you be and you can continue to get the money.
Entry 396
They came by the house - I was working on a pile driver - they wanted me to go with them and I decided I would go with them. They put me on guard duty when I got out where the hole was. About a half hour more or less somebody came by there and hollered to them. We thought it was the owner of the property - I did, and another man came and he heard it. They were down in the hole digging, about seven or eight feet down in the hole. It must of been the spirit of the people that owned the money.
Entry 397
He and two men - there were three men together and they of course had located this money [informant did not know what method was used.] This man was telling my father. And when he went out and started to dig, they dug about an hour, and when they got a hole big enough for the three men to be down there, they heard these little heifers, these little calves; and they said they Was just jumping over the hole [in which the three men were] and making all kinds of noise. They Were not real - they was some kind of ghosts. Two of the men ran away and one stayed and dug until he got this little pot. He got it. And when he got up out of the hole, a woman appear in rags and tags. She was so ragged, and had no teeth, and her grey hair was standing all over her head. And she looked at the man and said, "Damn it to hell. You got it." And he said he walked on and he stumbled over a bag. one of those burlap [bagsl, and he said he picked it up and put [it] in the pot, and the woman disappeared. When he went home he opened the pot and there was five-hundred dollars in silver and gold. He gave the other men seventy-five dollars each. [New York City, (1), Ed., second interview, March 19, 1936; near Wilmington, N. Car.,1905.]
Entry 405
Why that's a thing, yo' see, that's worked wit a machine, yo' know. Yo' have to carry sulphur 'long wit yo' an' dere's - ah don't know whut dat stuff is, but it's a kind of a thing like a saucer an' yo' burns dat when yo' out. It has a needle on it chew see, an' yo' place down dis-a-way, yo' see, an' as it goes round wheresomevah it stops an' points down, why it dere that yo' have to dig at. An' yo' not supposed when yo' commence digging - dere might be all kinda things, but if yo' don't see anything - can't open yo' mouth or anything - jest continue working, why then yo'll git it. But if yo' see anything why then you lose your whole hope on it.
Entry 407
Ah've seen one - it's a little article that hangs on a cord that - the cord is made of 'lectric [wire] - it's got 'lectrified [needs electric power] - but chew hand dat cord an' dat ball dat hangs - it a seven-pound ball an' it hangs on it - well it's got a little iron stick - kind sticks jest dat way an' he hang that there. See, if dat money's anywhere roun' there, it got fo' prongs; 'two drops an' two still stays, but de two drops. Wal now, yo' jest put thar an' give it a turn, jest turn it jest de least bit dat-a-way an' yo' talks to it. An' wheresomever -
(What do they say to it for example?)
Well, dey says, "Spirit" - jest lak whosomever dey name that buried dat money, dey call de first letter of yore name. You say, "Point me to dis money." An' dat thing will jest wave an' wave till it git dere, an' when it settle hitself, those two down prongs, if that money is that direction out, they gon'a give they- self jest lak dat, if it close near. An' if it's way out, dey both gon'a stand off jest lak de two whut do stand straight up. An' if it's right dere, dey both gon'a come jest like dat, an' den dey gets up to set it until dey git right over it. [Whatever the contraption, it works on the Jack or dowser principle.]
(When you get over this money what do you do then?)
When yo' find it, yo' dig dat money. Yo' don' talk, don' say anything, an' if yo' git to it an' happen to strike it - dere was a fellah dat found some money, him an' two fellahs together, an' when he reached down he said, "Oh! ah got it, ' jest lak dat, and dey said dat jest lak to jerk him in two an' dey heard it [the money] fall right dere. Yo' can't git it. If yo' don' speak, don' say nuthin', den yo' kin git it.
(Where do people bury this money? Do they bury it in any sort of way?)
Bury it in pots - have to bury it in pots. If they bury it in anything else, it will sink. But dey buries it in a iron pot.
(Are there any spirits around money of that kind?)
Oh, yes, if a person buried money, that people will stay right there. Yo' kin go there, if yo' got nerve enough to stick - dere'll be a spirit come to yo' an' yo' ask it lak dis, "Well, what in the Lord, whut do yo' want - what in de Name of de Lord do yo' want?" He'll say, "Yo' go look such-an'-such a place an' git dat money, ' an' if he's got a wife or children, 'an' give it to mah children or give it to mah wife," or whosomever he wants. Well, he disappear. Well, if yo' go an' git dat money, that spirit won't be worried there no more. But if yo' don't go git it, he'll be at chew again, say, "Yo' didn't do whut ah ask yo'," an' he worry yo lak dat till dat money is moved. Then after dat money is moved, dere is no more worry from him.
Entry 411
(Suppose you and I are going out to hunt this buried money - well, you tell me all about it.) Well, ah'm goin' tell yuh. Ah lived in a place once up in Georgia that they told me there was some money buried, an' dere was a old bachelor, dey said that run de salt mill dere had buried his money. An' we went out to dig dis money an' we found - well, dey claimed dat it was. Sound [we sounded] down dere, sound like money - ah mean like a can or pot or something. We went to digging at it. An' it had - was growed up a little tree, a little hickory tree right where it was. We dug up dat tree - it was in de wintertime, cold up [had turned cold]. We dug up dat tree - it was solid, good an' solid, little hickory, an' a little ole rattlesnake run in de hole. So we came out of it an' went an' tole de white folks about it. Dey went there - dey got instruments an' went dere an' dey said dat it was something come like a big bull; looked like it goin' jump right in de hole on 'em. They run out. They went then an' sot little tumblers of whiskey around, filled 'em fulla whiskey, an' they digged then, an' dey tole me "cause ah'd known about it - it was much as one man could roll away on a wheel- barrow. They knowed de gentlemen an' knowed whut kind of whiskey he liked [see Spirits and alcohol, in Index]. (You were telling me something about killing a dog. You started to tell me about killing a dog.) Well, they tells me that yo' kill a dog or snake or something an' bury with that money, an' it will take care of it.
(That's to guard the money?)
Dat's tuh guard de money - or a man or anything lak dat.
Entry 412
This is one my grandmother told me. She was in slavery. She belonged to Tom Watson the man that the Tom Watson watermelon gets it name from. He was supposed to have been a good master. That was in the State of North Carolina. During the War [Civil War] he buried his money. My grandfather, being a man around the house and not needing any money, wasn't concerned where he had it buried, but he remembered seeing him one afternoon after he had made a sale - a man had bought something, he went to a certain place where there was an old walnut tree; when he came back there was dirt underneath on his hands. He suspicioned that that was where he had buried his money. Long after the War had ended and he had been set free, they were talking about money one evening and a man said he knew where there was a man who knew how to dig money. So he decided to go and dig this money. So they went to dig this money. He was put to reading the Bible backwards while his brother used the spade and another man had a long silver fork. He held that fork while his brother used the spade and he read some part of the Bible backwards. As he read he said there came a shrill cry from the top of the tree and a wind arose and they all started to run. I don't know whether that was a cry of an owl; it sound too shrill for an owl, but they didn't stay to find out what it Was. I remember that just before this cry, the blade of the shovel hit some hard object which seemed to be the top of a pot or something. Anyway, the next day he went down there. This money-digger had gone back there. He could see his prints in front of a place where a pot had been. And he always thought that this man that was the money-digger got the money, for he grew to be a very prosperous farmer. He had six head of team and a farmer and cattle. My grandmother was born out in the country near Battlesboro, North Carolina.
Entry 416
You have to use them too, for treasures.
(Hunting treasures?)
Hunting treasure. Take a piece - not take the whole [tomb]stone, but take a piece of it. Supposing we were going to dig money here. We come down and locate the treasure right here. All right. Now, you are the party got a headstone. We knew he died - when he died and passed out. He did good things all of his days. Well, we take that along with us and we dig a hole in the ground so the people passing wouldn't see that light, and we'd light that light there - a pure white candle at that headstone. We'd light that light there, then we'd go ahead and we'd make a circle round there after we locate the treasure - to keep the spirit from entering the ring, and we'd go to work and we'd sprinkle all around there mustard seeds, mustard seeds all around there. Then we'd go ahead down in and we found - we done found the treasure - we got the sounding rod right on top of the treasure. Now, after we'd go through that process, why, then we'd go ahead right on down and dig. That have a tendency to keep the spirit away and the treasure won't move.
Entry 418
Anybody that finds money has a hard time. If you talk one word, it will go away. They have an iron rod. When they get over the place where the money is and they dig and get down, they stick it down through the earth. And you can hear the rod when it touches the pot. They hold the rod on [the pot] and they go to digging around. If they are successful, they will get it; but if not, this money will start going right on, if it's not for you. You can hear it going through the earth. You know a ground mole in the earth? It makes a road just like that. Then it comes back to that same spot after you leave. You can go and do the same thing to it.
Entry 422
Ah thought ah could tell a story of once ah went to - it wus about some money. It wus one night mahself an' mah fren' an' another lady an' her fren' we went to a place to dig some money an' de older couple dey give up dere nerve, an' mahself an' de othah boy we's de younger couple. So we's supposed tuh hold out, but den ah heard such a lamentation, so ah got frightened an' so ah screamed an' so ah begin tuh run, so dis boy he begin tuh run with me. An' dere wus a awful noise, but dey still got'a stick an' git de money.
(You said she couldn't get the money because of what?)
She looked roun' every time she hears dis - looked roun' at dis lamentation - dis draggin' an' dis noise of dis chains. She said it sounded lak a chain and it be right close to her an' she would look roun' tuh see wus it on her. An' co'se de man dat wus doin' de diggin' he claim he nevah did see it, but she would see it. It wus her father an' her stepmother dat died an' left her dis money buried under de tree. We heard about it an' we went tuh diggin'.
(So she never got it because she looked away from the money?)
Yes - she looked aroun' lak dat - she didn't nevah keep her eyes on it.
Entry 423
When I was a child I hear'n of the old folks say they knew where there was some hidden money and they come to the conclusion that they would go and look for it. They wasn't positive sure it was there. And they appointed a night that they would go and try and see if something would happen. The leader was a woman. And when they got there they stop and draw a large circle on the ground. They drew that circle right around the money, where they had ideas to believe that it was there. And they was to come inside of that circle. And there must not be any conversation here at all inside of that circle. So she [the leader] said, "Lets try it." And so they got inside of that circle, and she took her stand about here, [demonstrates], and she was reading a lesson from the Bible. After that was over they had to go to work. She put her spur [spear] down into the ground, a rod, a money rod, right in the center of the circle. And there was something else they did but I can't think of that. But anyhow, this rod, after it got to a place so deep, it looked like somebody dancing - it just shivered. Then they start to dig and they got down to the money jar. They were.about to put it on top of the ground, and just as they reached down to get a hold of the jar, the woman said, "Up, up." Boom! it went back into the earth and disappear. So they didn't get it. But they say a fellow came back a couple of nights after that and got it. That happen sixty-four years ago [1872] down here near Snowhill [Marylandl. [Ocean Citv. Md., (16), Ed.
Entry 424
After I married Mr. Banks, there was a big crowd went out one night to hunt money and they were getting to the box. They had a woman reading the Bible. They always say to read the Bible to keep down the spirits. They had one man that was digging in there, he had one leg, and he had on a red shirt. And they say everything came in the shape of dogs, hogs, and everything. The last thing came was like what they call a red devil. He had to tail to him, long ears, and a spear in his hand, and spoke. And he said he wanted the man with the red shirt on. It so scared them all they all run away. And they left this poor man in the hole by his own self and he had a hard time getting out because he only had one leg: That ain't no lie. They went digging in there and all got scared and left. A lot of the men are dead and a lot living today. They never got the money. I don't know how they located it. They seen the box all right when these things came. There's certain Scriptures you read for spirits, they say. I don't think this woman could of been reading the right one or the spirits wouldn't have come so fast and scared them.
Entry 425
First of all, take fo' instance if dere a treasure down de cellar dere. Well, yo'll git dis treasure - it's accordin' to de kind of individual dat chew are. If yo' a Christian, well it's a certain verse dat chew read; now whut verse it is ah don't know. All right, when yo' read dis verse, someone supposed to be dere. Yo' not supposed to make any fuss, not supposed to talk at all, jest continuation of digging an' continuation of readin'. All right, if he have anything to say to yo' after yo' start diggin' an' walk off, ah'll hole yo' right whare yo' are. Well, if different spirits an' things fall in dat hole or throw de dirt in it or throw something down while ah'm digging, well ah'm not supposed to say nuthin' - jest continue to dig right on until ah git where ah want. An' ah can't say anything until ah git it outa the hole an' git it away from de hole. Then ah kin talk. Got'a wear red all de time to keep de spirits away [yet, see No. 424].
Entry 907
Once a woman hurted her husband. He didn't know who had hurt him. An' one he friends took him an' cared 'im to a root doctor. It was off from Georgia, [at] Aiken [S. Car.] or some'eres over there. An' this man wouldn't tell him who hurt him, but he knowed it was his wife. An' so he give him some medicine an' told him to go back home an' take some of his urinate an' put it in a jar, a one-quart jar, an' stop it up tight an' dig a hole in the middle of the road. An' he put it down in there. He watched an' this woman came [walked over the buried jar] an' she took the same kin'a disease that he took. An' then this man that told him to do this [told him that after she walked over itl to come back to him an' get instructions. An' he went back to de man an' told him how he done. This woman, swoll her up in all the same that he was in. Then this man told him to go back an' take the jar up an' throw that stuff out. An' he went there an' do that an' she got well.
Entry 1812
If yo' take an' make a place up in yore chimley, where yo' kin place yore whiskey, see, an' yo' kin take an' git chew dis heah dead man's bone. An' yo' take this dead man bone, yo' see, an' beat it up fine, yo' see, an' at de hearth, yo' take an' dig up around de hearth, yo' understand, an' yo' place this around there, an' they claim dat de law can't go ovah de dead man's bone. [Here is the great theme of dead men guarding buried treasure - see pp.111-135.] [Fayetteville, N. Car.,
Entry 1822
I remember on one occasion there was a couple of fellows made up their mind to rob a house. The one said to the other, "What way shall we go?" ' The other fellow said to the other one, "Come and go with me in the graveyard. I know the fellow. He just died about three weeks ago. We want to go there and dig him up and get him out of the grave. There is a certain part of his body I want to get before I go to the place where we have decided to go." And they were successful in getting this body from the ground, and they got what off of it they wanted, then they put it back in the ground and went on their journey. After going on that journey, this piece they got from that body, it would burn the same as a candle. You take and light that. When you light that you put it to the keyhole of somebody's door. And whenever that odor gets in there and the occupants smell that odor, they will all fall asleep and they will never wake up while this light is burning. Then you can ransack this house all you want to so long as the light burns. When you get away from the house you blow this light out and irmediately these people will all wake up.
Entry 1937
See, ah'm gwine wit a girl. Ah have did dat mahself. An' go tuh de graveyard, carry nine pennies yo' see, an' yo' put dem nine pennies down three each time - one fo' de daid, an' one fo' de livin', an' one fo' de girl. See. An' den yo' pay a penny fo' dat graveyard bo'd, fo' dat headbo'd, an' yo' stick it down - walk backwards an' stick it down an' go home. Ah didn't have tuh use no dirt. An' ah did see her de nex' mawnin'. (Well, did you say anything or do anything out there when you were doing all this?) Ah went there an' - git somepin tuh dig a hole. Put three penny in one hole - dat's fo' de dead. It a good many yeahs since ah did it. Ah jes' remembah. Ah put down first de three penny in de girl name. Den ah put three penny down in my name, an' ah put three penny down fo' de dead, an' ah put three penny down fo' de headbo'd, yo' see. An' den ah take dis bo'd, de headbo'd up In de Name of de Lord an' ah stick it back down In de Name of de Lord, but ah stick it back down dere backwards an' walk on out of there, an' ah call dis girl name ever' time, an' de next mawnin' ah did see her.
(You do this in order to see this girl?)
Dat's it, yessuh.
Entry 1978
Now, if ah go to a two-headed person an' tell 'em tuh tell me somepin, an' he tells me whut ah'm comin' fo' an' who an' everything - he tells me whut's [what it is] ah'm comin' fo' - jes' lak if ah come in dere, why he'll tell me, "Why, yo' comin' tuh do so-an'-so, '' an' everything lak dat. Say, "Yassuh." He say, "Well, yo' ain't had no luck'" - lak dat. Well, see, if ah go tuh him an' he tell me ah'm goin' have luck - jes' lak ah go tuh him an' he give me a han' fo' gamblin'. Why he'll tell me whut tuh do. He'll give me somepin an' won't tell me whut it is, an' tell me tuh go home an' bury it undah mah back do steps, an' aftah ah bury it he'll tell me, 'Come back in two or three days," an' he'll tell me whut it is. [Magic delay.] An' he'll put a toadfrog in a sack an' sew it up an have it sprinkled wit red peppah an' bury it undah my back do'steps. An' ah'll be lucky an' ah won't lose a cent, but ah got tuh keep on renewing it up see, an' he say ah won't lose a bet.
(Well, do you leave that toadfrog under the steps then?)
Yessuh, dat's right. An' when it goes stale yo' know ah gotta go back tuh him, see. When it git old ah gotta go back to him an' keep it renewed up. An' yo' gotta have confidence in him, yo'know. An' den ah kin go tuh him an' tell him whut ah wants did, anything. He mo' den apt tuh send me back home. He ain't wanta do it de first day. He'll tell yo' come back. [Magic delay.] If ah don't believe in him when ah go dere, he'll tell yo' tuh go back an' make up in yore mind dat chew goin' believe in him. An' if ah wants tuh work - if a man is got somepin, see, ah go dere meanwhile an' ah'll tell him. An' he'll tell me how tuh go in a place, a place ah ain't nevah been - yo' know, make out where he is. Ah kin go wheresomevah he is, if he round anywhere. If he drink, ah drink - try tuh git near to him as ah kin, see, an' ah has this Jockey Club an' lodestone, an' den ah'll jes' rub it on him yo' know, put mah han's on him jes' lak if ah wanta tech him.
Entry 2223
I've heard them say you take a rabbit bone - cut his right hind leg off, put it in a pot and boil it in milk. Take it out and dry it in the sun for six days, take it and put it in the ground and bury it and let it stay in there for two nights. Dig it up and tie a piece of string around it and tie it around your arm. And anything you want you take it out and talk to it - tell it what you want and you are more than apt to get it.
Entry 2704
(These fellows that are bootlegging, what do they do to bring the law away?) They buys some sulphur an' po' it in yore bucket, yore night bucket, an' let it set. Let it set in dere an' den dey po' some of it every morning fo' nine mornings. Dey dig a hole an' po' some of it right in front of de do - in de front an' den dey po' some of it in de back, for nine mornings.
(Out of this same bucket - the same water with this sulphur in it.)
The same water that had the sulphur in it for nine mornings - den dey po' it in dere. Den dey sprinkle it [dry] iest all around yore house - ah mean dat sulphur den. All yo' ever do every morning befo' yo' git up befo' day. Ah've had dat done - sprinkle dat sulphur.
Entry 2850
(Take this foot track?)
Take that foot track and bury it and burn candles over that, and keep you under almost hypnotic power. (How do they burn candles over it? How do you mean?) Burn the candles? A continous burning. Long as they burn candles over that, it will keep you with an upsetted mind - a roving mind by doing that.
Entry 3853
I've heard dat if a woman leaves home - I mean a man leaves home, an' de woman wants to make him come back. De biggest idea in dealings such as dat, yo' deal wit de pieces yo' wears - de clothes yo' wears. Yo' takes de man's clothes, but yo' must wanta have an' undahpiece dat he wore. Yo' take dat undahshirt or pajama suit or anything dat de man have worn. Yo' takes it - she'll take dat, I heard, an' she will mix dat wit some of 'er personals. Yo' know vhat dat is?
(No.)
Her monthly personals.
(Her monthly personals. All right.)
Her monthly personals, yo' understan', an' she will take his shirt an' she will wrap it, yo' know, aroun' some of 'er personals. See! An' den she will take dat an' she will dig a hole jes' about undah de centah about where de bed sets [a quincunx]. Dat will be up and undah dere house - see, right in de soil. See, dig a hole down dere an' she'll bury dose two pieces togethah an' it's im- possible fo' him to stay away.
Entry 4300
She said she cut dis piece of 'is clothes, cut out a roun' plug. Ah reckon de plug mus' have been dat roun' [demonstrates], jis' 'bout de size of a dollah. Cut it outa de seat of 'is drawahs. She said she took it an' put it in a bag an' put some fish brine salt in dere wit it. An' she said, an' carried it on de no'theast cornah of 'er house an' dug de hole an' put it in dere. She said evah mawnin' befo' de sun rise she'll go roun' dere an' make watah on it. She done it fo' nine mawnin's, she said. An' dey say he left here an' nevah did come through here [Richmond] no more. [Richmond, Va., (340), 373: l, about 1929 in Richmond.]
Entry 4796
If she doin' yuh any kinda way an' de law pertect [protect] 'er in whut she do, if yuh cain't git rid of 'er an' yuh wan'a git rid of 'er, wanta git 'er kilt. Say, fo' ninstance, yuh wanta kill 'er, an' don' want 'er tuh be pertected. See, yuh take one of 'er clothes from 'er suitcase, whut she wear, an' sprinkle salt on dat an' go tuh de no'th side of de house an' dig a hole in de ground about two an' a half feet deep, an' yuh bury dat. An' den sprinkle salt ovah dat place evah mawnin' when yuh firs' git up. An' den sixteen days from de date chew bury dat, she'll be a corpse. An' all de insurance or whatsomevah she got, yuh'll receive. An' dere cain't no doctor [M.D.] detec' it.
Entry 4902
Kin take yore left-foot sock an' bury it up undah de steps, undah de first step. Dig yuh a little round hole an' bury it up undah de steps. Dat's good too. Dat'll make yore husban' come back.
(Do you use his sock or yours?)
Use his sock, his ief'-foot sock.
Entry 4929
A man could have a wife, yuh know, or somepin goin' a road contrary tuh de way dat he would like her tuh go, or prob'ly might be passin' a man's house dat livin' by 'imself an' he figures she's stoppin' dere or sompin. He kin go tuh de fo'ks of dat road, where de road turns off an' go in 'er house. An' he kin take jis' - well, mos' anythin', a piece of 'er stockin' outa de foot, carry it tuh de fo'ks of dat road. An' take it up dis othah road, about ten feet in de othah road, de one he wanta 'er tuh travel, an' she's gotta go dataway. An' take a peg an' dig 'im a hole, an' drive dat stockin' down on de end of dat peg, an' she won' travel dat othah road no mo'. She'll go dis road evah time, even if she have tuh go roun' an' come dere. But she ain't goin' tuh go roun' an' come dere. She go on an' 'tend tuh 'er business an' come back.
Entry 5105
[As we have seen under ASHES, there are many more shoe-burning rites than those given here.] If yuh got a husban' an' he won' stay at home, yuh git one of 'is shoes, de right foot of 'is shoe. Take dis shoe an' burn it up. Of co'se, yuh know de [there is] leathah on de shoe. Burn it until it gits kinda intuh a powdah form. Den take it an' wrap it in a piece of papah. Dig a hole up undah de front do' an' of co'se, when he walks in, yuh won' have any trouble 'bout 'im goin' out any mo'.
Entry 5479
Well, yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road, but dat's did wit de track.
(Tell me how it is done.)
Well, dey take up yore track backwards. Now see, yo' comin' in dis direction. Ah'd take up yore track goin' backwards goin' dat way. Ah place it in a can about dat size. Ah go tuh de fo'ks of de road where it's fo'kin' di- rectly east tuhwards where de sun rise; one goin' dis way an' one goin' dat way. Ah take de can an' ah dig a hole down dere. Take de can an' beneath dat can ah put a li'le powdah - not a large can but a small one - put a li'le [powder]. Den ah'll have it so dat yuh dynamitin'. Strike a match an' put tuh it.
(What will that do to you then?)
Dat'll run yo' clean away from home.
(You do that with gunpowder. And you do that right where that road forks.)
Dat's right, yo' do dat in de early mawnin' when de sun jis' begin tuh rise.
Entry 6475
Yo' take nine of 'er fingahnails an' nine of 'er toenails, an' den git a red onion. An' git nine stran's of hair outa de mole of 'er haid an' dat on- ion, red onion. An' cut it open an' dig a li'le hole in it, an den take dem nine toenails an' [nine] fingahnails an' dat nine stran's of hair outa 'er haid, an' place tuhgethah an' put it in dere. An' stop dat onion up an' go roun' de house towards where de sun rise an' dig a li'le hole an' put it dere, an' den covah it up. [For a man to hold a woman.]
Entry 196
[Many examples of the most powerful of spirits, the spirit of the dead, have been given. Very potent also are spirits dwelling at or called to where two or more roads meet.] De crossin' of de road is called cross-spirit [only use of this term], an' dey goes dere, if dey think dat yo' is doin' good or goin' at anything good - dis evil-minded somebody will go dere to cross yo'. Den dey has a certain thing dey put in dere. Dey dig a hole yo' know - jes' a ord'n'ry little hole an' drop it.
(What do they put in that hole?)
Dey tells me dat dey drops cayenne peppah - whut's dat othah thing - cayenne peppah an' sulphah an' garlic, yes. It's jes' a ord'n'ry hole dat chew dig wit chure fingah an' cover it ovah quick.
(What else do you do out there? What is that supposed to do?)
Den dey has some dis same wicked graveyard dirt [dirt from a wicked person's grave] wit 'em an' leave dat evil spirit dere tuh cross yo'.
reported small finger-dug crossroads hole. The recipe is introduced as Dey tells me; no firsthand ritual performance, efficacy or inferred shovel/depth. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 7538
For to send anybody away, somepin like that - just to send them away, not kill them, not atall like that - you go to the head of a grave, an ole grave, and you dig down there and you get a handful of graveyard dirt. An' yo' take ten new nails, nine new pins, an' seven grains of shot. An' yo' can take this, if yo' want to send them away from home, send them on adrift, an' yo' sprinkle it where they walk. An' the last sprinkle yo' make every time yo' sprinkle yo' drop three pins an' two wire nails - why they'll get in a fidget to go away some place an' they'll go. The chances is they won't be back under three year no how. [For as old a grave as yo' kin' find, see lO lines from bottom of p.2239.]
digging at an old grave's head to collect dirt for a stated non-killing send-away purpose. Retain old-grave/head location, handful wording and explicit send-away/not-kill distinction. direct conditional sprinkling of a prepared mixture to send someone away rather than kill. Preserve the explicit send-away/not-kill distinction and conditional purpose. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified. The informant explicitly distinguishes sending someone away from killing them and reports a chance of absence for three years. Hyatt's final cross-reference is editorial; the ingredients remain separate.
Entry 8651
That will break up a per- son, too. (Well, how do they do that?) Well, they put the woman's and the man's name. They cut the lemon and make a hole, you dig it out, an' yo' put this person's name on it. An' yo' write their name, each name, an' yo' put it in de lemon. An' yo' sew it up an' yo' bury it upside down, under dere step, where dey have to pass back an' forth. An' dat break 'em up.
(You just write the name once?)
Yes.
(Of each person.)
Yeah.
(This man and the woman?)
Yeah.
(And you bury this name upside down.)
claimed breakup of the named woman and man. Do not call this breaking the lemon or physically breaking a person. The separately selected Cut/Dig claims describe the object preparation. cutting the lemon to make a cavity. The object is the lemon, not either named person. digging out the lemon, a hollowing action. Do not replace lemon hollowing with grave/ground digging or infer a digging implement. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 7251
If yuh evah wanta cross [the spell] anybody hurt, where somebody done witchcraft 'em - yo' undahstan', yo' don' do did but three times. [In the cure Something must be done or used 3 times.] Now de spirit brought dat tuh me an' ah see de way it works, see. Yo' do dis before sundown. Yo' go out an' any sort of green grass - yo' know whut moody grass is. Yeah dat's dat flat grass, sompin lak ole flat grass dey call moody grass. Chew know whut dat is. An' yo' whut a dog fennel is. All right. Now yo' do dis befo' sundown. Yo' turn yore face to de east right in dat grass an' yo' pull up one bunch. Pull up dat bunch of moody grass, dat flat grass. Yo' pull up dat an' call anybody, jis' anybody yo think what done it. See. Now, if dey ain't did anything tuh yuh, hit goin' give dem good luck; but if dey did sompin tuh yuh, hit goin' back tuh 'em. Ah know dat by experiment. Yo' pull up a bunch of de grass an' call dere name, yo' pull up anothah bunch an' call dey name, yo' pull it up three times an' call dere name [three times] an' say, "Ah wan' chew tuh take yore trouble offa me, In de Name of de Fathah, Name of de Son, Name of de Holy Ghost." An' yo' lay it out, see. Yo' dig a li'le trench, lay dat grass in dere an' yo' call dem people name an' talk tuh 'em lak yo' talkin' tuh 'em. Yo' take some red peppah, some cooking salt, yo' put it on it. Yo' pō' jisa li'le bit of kerosene on it an' yo' take an' stick a match tuh it. Put a piece of papah where it will smoke a li'le. See. An' while dat thing burn, yo' continue callin' dere name. So yo' call it nine times an' tell 'em yo' wan' it so. Say, "Ah wan' chew tuh take yore trouble on back, In de Name of de Fathah, Name of de Son, Name of de Holy Ghost." An' yo' kivah [cover] dat up an' step ovah it backwards, an' don't look back. An' it ain't goin' be but nine days befo' - if dey did it - dey goin' go down vury sick, an if dey ain't right sharp dey goin' die. But it goin' be offa yo'. See, it will be gone from yo'.
(I see, throws it back on them.)
But chew do dat wit dem green weeds. See dem weeds goin' die an'...
(You do this with that moody grass.)
All right yo' git dat bunch of moody grass, an' den yo' kin git a dog fennel or: any kinda othah green weed.
(What do you do with that other weed?)
Well, yo' jis' call de name, but yo' gotta have dis dog fennel an' dat moody grass. See, yo' gotta work three. Yo' know anything de spirits do is three of it all de time: Fathah, Son an' Holy Ghost.
Entry 7618
Ah heard 'em say dat yuh kin go tuh de graveyard - lak dat, if ah Wants tuh change mah luck - dat ah kin go tuh de cemetery an' dig right up on de right-hand side of de grave jis' about where ah think de heart oughta lay, an' dig a hole down deep an' git me out two han'fulla dirt. Bring it out. An' when ah git dis dirt, ask fo' luck - jis' ask of de dead fo' luck, an' drop from five tuh eight pennies in dat hole an' plug it up. An' when ah rise up from off mah knees, tuh thank 'em [a rare courtesy!], an' walk away an' don't look back. Well, ah take dis dirt an' carry it tuh mah house an' sprinkle it roun' dere, an' dey say dat will give me luck.
(That is to change your luck. In anything?)
In anything.
Entry 7642
Well, dey takes a tombstone, from mah undahstandin', from a person dat dey knows is very evil an' lived a wretched life. Jis' lak if ah wanted tuh have disturbance in de home or anythin', well, ah take dat from dere an' ah put it anywhere aroun' yore house. (What do you take, the whole tomb- stone?) Take de whole tombstone - de dirt on it. (Oh, the dirt on it?) Yes, an' put it anywhere roun' yore house an' dat. Yo' ain't goin' tuh live in dat house. Yo' undahstan'?
(How do you get that dirt off this tombstone, how do you get it?)
Dig it.
(Oh, you dig it near the tombstone?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 7729
You go into a graveyard and take two pennies and dig in a grave and take the dirt out of the grave, and take these two pennies and put them down in the hole and close it. And they can walk behind you and take this dirt and throw it up and down your back, and they work the trick right on you, and you'll go off in bad health and you are going to come on back to the graveyard [as a corpse].
The informant describes taking dirt from a dug grave, leaving two pennies and using the dirt behind someone, with reported ill health and return to the graveyard. The corpse interpretation is Hyatt's bracketed gloss; the Ediphone citation supplies recording context.
Entry 7772
If a person wanta, yo' know, wanta know how tuh gamble an' be a wondah- ful gamblah, yo' go tuh de graveyard at night. An' go tuh dis wicked man, yo' know, grave. An' ast 'im, yo'know, tell 'im whut chew want, dat yo' wanta learn tuh be a gamblah. An' dig right down by his left side, an' git some of dat dirt outa, yo' know, his grave - by his left side. An' den yo' git three pennies an' put in dere an' give 'im. An' den yo' git de dirt an' carry it on, an' yo' be one de best gamblahs dey is in de worl'. Nobody beat chew no way - can't win, can't git chew no way.
(What do you do with that dirt then, after you get it?)
Yo' take it an' put it in a bag an' keep it in yore pocket. Evahwhere yo' go jes' carry dat dirt in dat bag an' evah game yo' git in yo'll win.
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 7967
Ah heard folks say if yo' complain if it wus rheumatism, dey could go in a road - look lak a road leads, a neighborhood road, an' a pine tree is on dat road. Wheresomevah a wagon would cuz it tuh bruise, dey say yo' could take dat root out of dat road where some castic [casket = coffin] or sompin othah had passed, an' make a rub, an' dat would kill rheumatism lak dat.
(Where a funeral would go on by over that tree? With the casket?)
Yessuh, where some fun'ral 'cession had passed, yo' go tuh dat road where de wagon, yo' know, of people have bruised de root, an' yo' dig roun' dere an' git dat bahk [bark] an' make a rub fo' 'em. Dey say dat would cure it. [Sumter, S. Car., (1381), 2452:5.] [We must remember that every photograph, whether oblong or square in shape, is a coffin symbol. In later section PHOTOGRAPH many of them are buried or in- volved with death. This present subsection will be confined to photography in- volving real or mock coffins.1
Entry 8049
Ah hear'd about dey gittin' de bone, de haid part.
(A bone from the head?)
Yes, sir. Ah hear'd dat dey go out an' git dat, goes out dere an' dig it up. Git de haid of a pusson. An' when dey git de haid of a pusson, beat up dat an' make some kinda diff'ren' li'le thin's dey calls hands, so dat dey have good luck an' all dat. Dat's what dey do wit dat. [For headbone see also pp.38,282 & 283.]
Entry 9039
Well, now, in a lawsuit or sompin lak dat, chew go tuh a graveyard an' dig down in dere jes' 'bout jes' as deep as yo' kin reach down in dere wit de arm, an' git dat befo' co't. An' if yo' git a chance tuh go in dere, sprinkle some of it aroun' down where de judge sits. An' in de lawsuit - if yo' steal somepin or somepin lak dat - yo' be lucky in dat case.
Entry 9040
Yo' kin take dat - yo' go tuh de graveyard cert'in hours at night an' yo' kin dig down dere an' git dat dirt. An', jes' lak dey goin' have me fo' trial - ah done killed somebody, see. Well, dey might bon' [bond] me out. Ah'll go tuh de graveyard a certain time of night an' ah'll run mah han' down an' git a cert'in class of dat dirt. An' ah take dat dirt an' jes' when dey goin' have co't dat mawnin', ah git in wit de jon'ter [janitor] of de co't; yo' know, de fellah whut cleans up. Well, when ah git dere wit 'im ah'm gwine jes' - ah'm goin' he'p 'im clean up. Well, fast as we sweep up an' clean up, ah've got dat li'le graveyard dirt, ah jes' git roun' dere an' sprinkle it all roun' de judge stand, all roun' de haid jury- man stan'. See. Ah done he'p 'im clean up an' den throw mah li'le dang 'um dust dey calls it.
(What kind of dust?)
Dey call it de li'le dang 'um dust. [Dang used to mean damn. This is God daorn 'em dust!] So ah be done throw dat aroun' dere. Well, now, when de co't come off, ah'm not uneasy, 'cuz ah know de judge can't do nuthin wit me.
The informant describes a hypothetical trial and calls the grave dirt 'dang 'um dust'. '[bond]' and '[janitor]' are editorial glosses; Hyatt's following explanation of the dust's name is distinct from the speech.
Entry 9602
Dey tell me that chew go to de east side of yore house an' yo' dig a small little pail full of dirt an' yo' pat hit full of salt an' peppah an' yo' put hit right out in front of yore door where yo' gotta enter de steps an' dey say hit'll keep it away but...
(That will keep the law away?)
[My use of word "law", already used by informant, causes nervousness.]
BUT AH DON'T KNOW ABOUT IT! AH'VE NEVAH TRIED IT! Your enemies, well dat's de laws.
Entry 10949
We call dem "charity root" [see later]. An' dey go dere and dig: piece to [from] de sunrise an' piece to [from] de sundown [sides]. Take dat and put 'em in a towel, in a piece of cloth. Jest put de both together - in 'em in 'tween de cloth. Put dat in yore pocket and you be lucky if yo' git a job most anyway. [What he says here is not what he means.] Dat's de way dat I heard it. [I had trouble understanding some informants in Charleston. My informant called the root charity root, thought my transcriber; to me the root sounded like cherrytree or Cherokee root.]
Entry 12413
Yessuh, dat gunshell an' de shots. Well, yo' take de shots out. Ah ain't used de shots very much but ah have used de powder. An' ah have heard tell of 'em usin' de shots. But whut ah have used de powder fo', yo' open dat gunshell, but it must be black powder an' yo' git chew some sulphur. An' if yo' wants peace in yore home, yo' kin take dat powder an' three or fo' matches, an' dig a little hole about dat fur down de steps, an' den yo' light dat powder. Hit's goin blow up an' blow all dem matches away, yo' see, whut chew put dere. An' de in- dividual will be gone whoevah it is, whatevah dey doin' to yo'.
Entry 8880
Well, if somebody wrote chew a lettah now - jes' lak if yo' wanted tuh git tuh somebody an' dey wrote chew a lettah, why yo' take dat lettah an' yo' read it. Yo' read it backwards. An' den, if yo' kin read backwards, take dat lettah an' yo' read it backwards. An' den yo' take an' take it tuh a willah tree. Yo' take it to a willah tree. An' a willah's got a forked root tuh it. Yo' dig down tuh dat root where it's forked down dere, an' den yo' turn dat lettah bottom upwards undah dere, undah dat tree, an' kivah [cover] it back up. Well, yo' git de devil's shoestring an' yo' weah it round yore arm, jes' tie it round yore arm. Dat's whut ah heered 'bout dat.
(What will all this do now?)
Dat jes' lak if yo' love somebody an' want 'em back tuh yuh or want - whatsom- evah yo' want done tuh 'em. Whatsomevah yo' want done, when yo' go tuh dat wil- lah tree an' put dat undah dere, yo' speaks dat befo' de Fathah, Son an' Holy Ghost.
Entry 12942
If you take inner sole of shoe, dig a hole under the doorstep, lay the inner sole in the hole and drive a tenpenny nail through it, it will drive you away [just as you drive the nail], will kill you. [Mobile 918:2.]
Entry 13229
A man kin go tuh work jes' like yo' workin' fo' a man. He kin go tuh dat man house where yo' handle roun' an' drive a spear down fo' yo' sharp - sharpen at both ends an' drive it down, it's not - it's sorta flat yo' see. See, den yo' sit dere an' dig a hole round it enough tuh take his knife an' whittle it up sharp. Den cover it ovah where yo' can't find nuthin. An' yo' ain't goin' stay dere, yo've gotta go. Yo'll be on pins all de time. Dat's whut chew call settin' 'em on pins.
(You put this piece of wood down in the ground around his house?)
Yes sir, sharpen it tuh de end an' sharpen it tuh de top but chew drive it down befo' yo' sharpen it. Den yo' take yore knife an' sharpen de top part. Den cover it up.
Entry 13325
It some kind of a rod dey got an' dey say wha'evah way dat rod turn - it won't turn until yo' git right whar de money is. An' it will - dat needle point right down whar de money buried at, an' dey go dere an' dig it up.
Entry 2592
Well, yo' kin git a box of salt, table salt - yo' kin git two boxes of hit an' yo' kin dig a hole up undah yore - yo' have to put de whole box in - yo' ain't gotta open it, see - jes' put de whole box of salt, table salt. Dig about three foot down up undah yore [front] step an' three foot down, yo' know, round de back [step] an' yo' bury dis salt, see. An' then hit stay there contin'lly because it's strong - dey say dat's strong, de salt yo' know. Say dat'll keep de law away from dere, an' dat'll keep customers in yore place.
The informant says one can dig a hole for the boxed salt. Depth, placement and the law/customer results remain source directions and claims.