Subject:Disease
Entries
Entry 999
If you have chickenpox, go into henhouse, lie at door or under roost, and let someone shoo the chickens out so that they will fly out over you. [This cure is based upon the magic law of like cures like (see margin-title so named) - chickenpox being symbolically connected with chickens. The homeless chickenpox spirit, evicted by patient's intention and the enticement of mystically related chickens, may select one new home (a chicken) or split his spirit personality to grab several.]
Entry 1007
[This man spoke so rapidly I could repeat only snatches of his conver- sation to my Ediphone. After his departure I pieced together a few beliefs such as the following:] [The informant and another man quarreled about a woman. Sometimes later, not suspecting any evil motive, he accepted a drink of whiskey from his rival. After a few days came four paralytic strokes in his left side, one following the other and all on the same morning. Failing to be helped by five doctors, he went to Norfolk, Virginia to consult a conjurer. This healer, stating that he could rid him of paralysis, demanded a fifty-dollar fee in advance. The patient offered to pay twenty-five dollars down and the balance on recovery but these terms were refused. At this point my informant became so skeptical orally, the conjurer defended his power by claiming he could take the paralysis upon himself - absorb it into his body. Negotiations collapsed.]
Entry 3241
Makin' connection wit othah woman, in case any- thin' won't happen to him, hol' a penny in 'is mouthan' it'll kill de germs - ketch anythin'.
(Hold a penny in his mouth while he is doing this.)
Entry 3242
(Begin at the beginning.)
A bad disease. See, her have a pox.
(She has it?)
Yes, she has it. He hasn't got anythin'. Now, she'll take a penny, a brass penny, an' put it into her mout' undah her tongue, an' she'll lay down in bed wit dis man. Now, when he git up outa baid, from affiliatin' wit 'er, he's got a dose dat he'll nevah git rid of. (What has that brass penny got to do with it?) Well, dat penny, dat gives it - you know, dat makes it mo' strongah dan what it would, if a man bein' ketched wit it jis' by himself.
(I see, that makes it stronger.)
Strongah.
Entry 3246
A pin, a brass pin. You can take a brass pin - like if she - if a woman's goin' an' she get after you and she wants to give yo' a vener'al disease, you understand. (She wants to give you a venereal disease?) Yes. (I understand.) She take dat pin - she'll take a brass pin when yo' havin' intahco'se wit 'er. An' she'll take dat brass pin an' she'll hold it in 'er mouth, see. Well, she hold it in 'er mouth. Well, all right. Aftah yo' have yore intahco'se wit 'er, see, well nine days aftahwards, if yo' don't have no idea about it, why dat thing will start to run, an' stay on if, if yo' don't know what to do. If yo' don't know whut to do to cure it, why it, jes keeP gIttin' WOrSe. An' I DON'T CARE NUTHIN ABOUT DOCTORS [M.D.'s]. HEDICINE WILL NOT CURE IT.
(I see. That's if she wants to give you a venereal disease.)
Yes, if she want to give it to yo', yo' undahstan'.
(Well, ISN'T THERE ANY WAY YOU GET RID OF IT, if she gives it tO you?)
Yes. Well, de way yo' git rid of dat, yo' go to de woods. Yo' go to de woods or a swamp somewhere an' yo' git Swamp root or de watah lily.
(The what?)
De watah lily root - swamp root.
(Water lily. All right.)
[This is probably the swamp lily, a white flowered lily (Crinum americanun) of the southern United States.] Swamp root, yo' boil dat. Yo' boil it down an' yo' take one tablespoon of sugar, one tablespoon of sulphur. Yo' mix dat togethah into a quart of watah. Yo' take three tablespoonsful a day. Before each meal yo' take a tablespoonful. Dat'll cure it. But not wit'out some Swamp root. Somepin ah'll do it wit, it'll nevah nOt cure It. DOCTORS SHOOTIN AN' ALL DAT KIN'A SHOTS WILL NOT GIT RID OF IT, AN' I HAD IT. SO MANY PERSONS A DAY IN TOWN DAT DIES FROM DAT GOIN' TUH HOS- PITALS AN' NEVAH BE'S CURED. YO' GOTA GIT SOME MAN OUTA DE WOODS, OR SOME MAN TO GIT SOMEPIN OUTA DE GROUN' TO CURE DAT.
Entry 6688
Yo' kin take a penny an' if yo' havin' a intahco'se wit a woman an' if yo' don' wants 'er no mo', don' cä' [care] fo' her no mo', an' jis' wants tuh see her blat up, why yo' put dat penny in yore mout' an' put it undah yore tongue an' have intahco'se wit 'er, an' den yo'll give her some disease dat she nevah kin git rid of. Dat's whut chew kin do wit a penny. [The preceding word blat used only here in Hoodoo, is a variant of bleat, which means to cry out, as calf or sheep. Colloquially, blat could signify to utter loudly and indiscretly, or to be loud- mouthed. Perhaps the meaning in the present instance could be loud-mouthed or to blow her top. Or does informant intend to say she will bloat from the disease he gives her? As a matter of fact (hoodoo pathology says so), diseases are given by holding a penny in the mouth or under tongue during coitus: a woman holding the penny causes a stroke in the man (No.3240); prevents veneral disease (3241); makes a disease stronger (No.3242); etc.]
Entry 6758
[The following medical rite I marked doubtful years ago and was about to throw it out with the discards. Years later on taking a second look I saw something unseen previously. Why did I keep it? Suppose we take a look:] (Cow manure? What do you do with that?) Yo' kin take cow manure, vinegah, dirt daubah nest an' black peppah an' if a person is got a disease, yo' kin keep dat disease on 'em wit dat cow manure, an' dirt daubah nest an' vinegah an' black peppah. [An excellent opening statement!] Yo' weah a bandage on yuh laig, on yuh lef' laig jis' evah mawnin', jis' put a fresh bandage on. An' jis' as long as dat bandage is applied tuh yo', dat disease will be applied tuh dat person.
(The person has the disease to begin with, you mean?)
Yes, sir.
(I see. Well, how do I know which person to apply it to?)
Well, it's jis' lak if somebody would come tuh yo' an' tell yo' an' say, "So- an'-so-an'-so is got a case of shankles or a case of pox or somepin, an' DEY BEEN WASTIN' TIME WIT MAH DAUGHTAH" or somepin. An' dey say, "If dere's any way dat ah kin keep it on 'em, ah wanta tuh do so." Well, den yo' [the author] know whut tuh tell 'em tuh do [when they come to you]. (Get this person's name and put the bandage on [PUT THE PERSON'S NAME ON THE BANDAGE!]. I see.) [My seeing at the time was not very good!] [Here we have a remarkable folk-medicine rite, one of the finest beliefs in Hoodoo, and yet I missed it! Perhaps I was tired, often interviewing for hours at a time. An experienced folklorist will immediately recognize: (1) the 4 in- gredients put in the bandage are about the commonest in folk medicine, cow manure a well-known ointment; and (2) that some doctors claim the power of being able to absorb a disease (see No.1007, p.387). For another example of the latter, some wart doctors pretend to, or are said to, catch all the warts they remove. In the present case however, we do not have an absorbtion rite, but a substitution rite; the absorbtion being only a pretense like the birth pangs of the husband in the couvade! The father in our present rite by pretending to have the venereal dis- ease of his daughter's paramour, keeps it upon the man permanently! Surely there must have been a time limit for the father's acting!]
Entry 6821
[All the following graveyard dirt rites, as well as others elsewhere, indicate that the spirit in graveyard dirt fights or protects you against the spirit powering the cunjure put down for you:] Pay de grave an' git dat graveyard dirt...den new needles an' huh [her] ole shoes an' sul- phur...in de room evah night tuh keep ghost aay. [Here is one of other statments showing that the spirit in graveyard dirt keeps other spirits away.]
Entry 6939
They claim that if you put a ten-cent piece under your tongue while you're having sexual relation wit a woman, you won't catch any diseases from the woman. [This belief should have pre- ceded No.3258, p.2373, but it was under CURES and missed. This original tran- scription of mine in pencil was never typed. See ILLUSTRATIONS for original.]
Entry 6981
If you have a [social] disease and have a running, they claim if you take some of that and go backward to a stream of running water and throw it over your left shoulder, it will cause that running to stop. [That word social within bracket, originally a parenthesis, is mine. What it replaces I no longer remember. Above it I have a note copy myself! Back in 1936 when this belief was collected, everything about a venereal disease was taboo. A final note of mine reads My original [[pencil]] copy never typed, dated H. M. H. note Aug. 1971.]
Entry 7189
Take dat - say, now, if dere is a woman dat wuz runnin' wit a man an' yo' don' want it done, yo' see. Dat's de othah woman, yo' know, wit a married man. Dis man is runnin' wit anothah woman. His wife have got aholt [a hold] of it. She kin dress 'er husban' fo' de othah woman. (Well, how would she dress him? What would she do that with?) She dress 'er husban'. She would take, she put 'erself in contact wit 'er husband now an' use 'im 'erself. An' when she's done wit 'im, den she smote [rub] 'im down, by puttin' dis innocent oil in 'er han's an' smote 'im down.
(She'll only do that after she's finished?)
Aftah she done wit 'im, herself; yo' know, de wife.
(She puts this oil on her hands?)
Yes, an' smote 'im down. An' aftah she smote 'im down, den she'll turn 'im loose. He kin go. Now, den, he kin go aftah dis othah woman. He cain't raise a heart fer'er, see. Den he'll come den an' looks - go on an' beat 'is wife, knowin' dat he don't wan' nobody else but 'er an' [that] he cain't mark time now lak he used tuh; knowin' dat somepin's wrong somewhere, don't chew see. But dat's de way she kin do.
(Well, what kind of oil would she use to do that? Put on her hands?)
Innocent oil. (Innocent oil. Well, where do you get that? Where do you buy it? How do you get it, make it?) Yo' know whut a innocen' is. Innocen' [as] a lamb. A lamb is innocen'. Yo' kin take a knife an' go tuh 'im fo' tuh cut 'is throat, he won't say a word. He's innocent. (Well, they call it innocent oil, yes, but you have to buy that some place, don't you? Where do you get that?) Oh! Yo' make it yuhself. Take a piece of lamb.
(Oh!) You get a piece of lamb. I see.)
Git a piece of lamb an' take a piece of fat off it an' stew it up.
(Take the fat and stew it up.)
AH DO'S DAT. AH MAKES A LI'LE MEDICINE NOW, YO' KNOW, TUH CURE "BAD DIS- EASES." (That's all you use, just that oil from that lamb? This mutton or lamb oil, you don't put anything with it or anything?) Don' put nuthin else wit, except dere's somepin else yo' wanta do.
Entry 7233
Yo' see dem li'le red onions, but chew git chew one dat's small; yo' know, got a li'le tail tuh it, lak dat, [demonstrates] chew know. Yo've seen 'em?
(I've seen them.)
Now, de way yo' gotta do, yo' [go] up to 'im - now, listen good. Yo' kill it [the trouble]. Ah had de claps right tuh mah.... So yo' take dis red onion. Now mix dem good. An' yo' know a coman's vury weak anyway, say, "This ain't goin' hurt choo. Wipe dis on yo' so ah won' have tuh come back no mō'." Now, listen good. Now, aftah yo' take dat onion, yo take yo' a cord string an' tie it up somewhere where nobody won' see it. Now listen good, where it won' touch de wall anywhere. An' ah'll betcha, if she have any other man, ah'll eat chew up. She won' [have] any, anothah man, betcha.
(Now, you have that onion and she takes that onion, doesn't she?)
He has tuh tell 'er, see, say, "Ah have de claps, here. De doctor tole me tuh git some of yuh [your] wiping." Yo' know, it ain't goin' hurt 'er. Yo' know, put it between....
(But you have her take that onion and wipe you?)
Shore. Undahstan', yo' know, jis' lak yo' have a woman, yo' say, "Baby wid dis, will ya? Ah have de claps so bad." An' yo' takes dat [red onion] away from 'er an' yo' take a cord string, an' tie it up somewhere where nobody - not even yuh wife won' see it. Where it won' touch de wall nowhere. An' ah betcha evah day an' evah night she be right on yo'.
(I see. You wipe the woman with the red onion.)
Shore, an' den git roun' dat li'le ole tail of it [onion], git chew a cord string an' yo' tie it, an' hang it up somewhere where nobody can't see it.
(You hang up that red onion.)
Yes.
(I understand now.)
Entry 7522
Jis' what sickness, what disease dey died wit - why where dat woman is, maybe she step ovah it, why she will git de reflect of dat. If dey dies wit T. B., why de T. B's will reveal on yo'; an' if dey dies wit rheuma- tism, yo'll take effect of dat. See, all dat comes out of dat bone, yo' see.
Entry 7530
Dey use it fo' puttin' a person tuh sleep. If yo' wanta keep 'em sleepin' all de time, yo' go tuh de graveyard an' yo' git some of dat dirt an' yo' put dat in watah or anythin' tuh drink, wine or anything, an' dey drink dat. Well, den dey jes' have a sleepin' disease. Dey sleep all de time an' dey nevah kin keep dey eyes open. [Algiers, La., (1575), 2898:11.] [The following list of grave types from which to obtain dirt is rather long but surely incomplete. I neither made an effort to complete it, nor could I spend time searching for further examples printed in the preceding volumes. The Index will accomplish that task I hope. For an important grave not mentioned among those that follow, a drunkard's grave, see No.1929, p.566.]
Entry 7592
Ah've heard dat on de new moon dat chew kin go tuh de graveyard, if a person died wit a certain disease, perhaps tuberculosis, yuh kin git de dirt from roun' de grave an' possibly plant it in someone an' dey'll git de disease. (How would you plant it on this person?) Yuh kin possibly put it in dere clothin', or possibly roun' any object dat dey will put dere ban's on.
Entry 8035
Yo' pound it up.
(What do you get?)
Yo' git a bone, any bone yo' git.
(A dead person's bone?)
Yeah. Yo' jis' pound it up. Yo' kin make a powdah. Yo' kin take one bone dat long an' make a thousan' dollahs wuth [worth] of powdah, becuz it don't take but jis' so yo' got one grain of dat bone. De person dat yo' give dat tuh will die wit de same disease dat he [bone owner] died wit. An' soon as he take it he got dat disease.
(How would you give it to them?)
Well, yo'd have tuh give it tuh 'em in somepin, yeah. If it's any way - de bes' way yo' could, if yo' wus goin' to do dat, if yo' could git tuh any of dere eats, or yo' could git tuh any of 'is coffee, or a drink of likkah or anythin'. Jis' de bes' way tuh yore advantage. But jis' as soon as he take dat he'd have de same disease dat de person dat's daid. [Brunswick, Ga., (1189, small-time doctor, has 6 & 7 Books of Moses), 2008:3.] [A few bones-from-the-dead rites were given on pages 543-545, as well as scat- tered throughout the text. Let us begin with a rite that could have been indexed under graveyard and graveyard dirt margin titles on pp.3248-3254:]
Entry 10688
After you have taken a bath, they can get some of that water and stop it up in a bottle, and of course they can bury that, and that will cause your body to dry up and waste away - something like you have a wasting disease.
Entry 10872
Take the fur. (Cut the fur?) From under the black cat's left leg or the left quarter. (From the front or behind?) Behind, and let it get right dry and you kin fix in a way. Clip it fine and you kin throw it over somebody, but you gotta make the black cat laugh. (I see, before you cut that hair. And then when you throw it over somebody, what will that do?) Well, that goes in your flesh - sticks in your flesh.
(I mean, what is it supposed to do to you?)
It works in your flesh, they say it'll work in you and it effect the flesh so that you taken with a certain disease in your skin and you'll die.
Entry 11347
Yo' has dis earwax an' yo's fixin' tuh have a' interco'se wit a woman, if she wuz subject tuh any disease. All right, yo'll take de wax out de ear jes' befo' yo' have her, an' jes' lak yo' make de pass in, tetch it wit dat ear- wax on yore finger. If dere anythin' dere, she can't stay dere. She'll jump clean from undah yo'.
Entry 12563
Under your foot track - just like people come along and say that they could hurt you by your foot track. But they couldn't hurt you by a foot track, but I tell you what they could do. They could take some dirt coming from your shoes: just like if you had a hole in your shoe like that [dirt would get into shoe through hole in shoe]. And your foot track they Would probably pick up [in that way]. And after [hole in shoe] picking it up, they could take that dust, what come from your shoes. And they could shake it, put it in a box with some of these here pigeon eggs, and beat it up like that. Anywhere you bury that, you have to leave town [be- cause pigeon flies!]. And anytime you couldn't stay nowhere, couldn't never come back into the place where you was. (You mean the dirt from your shoe, any of the dirt that sticks to the bottom of your shoes? What about that hole in your shoes?) Just like - you see, where I Was, this feet chere, how it was. How this feet chere of mine was [he evidently demonstrates foot or feet]. Well, then, gettin' a remedy for that? [Here is how it happened.] I walked out one morning and it had some kind of yellowish-looking stuff on the steps. But I didn't paid attention and I walked on out of there, going to my work. Well, it was in the summertime and it was right warm. Well, I had some shoes that cut, you know, like this [demonstrates].
(Had holes in the bottoms of them?)
Yes, sir. Well, then, what made me heed them then was my heel started to hurt. I comes on back. Well, that heel of mine was about that big [demon- strates]. So they carried me and they got some of this sugar, this white granulated sugar, and got some of this Palm of Christiandom.
(Palm of what?)
Palm of Christiandom. (Palm of Christian?) [I am not correcting informant but commenting for the future. Besides, the words are Palma Christi "hand of Christ, " the castor-oil plant.] Palm of Christian, yes. You get that anywhere through the country. And they takes that and they put that on, in hot water, just as hot as I could bear it. Then after that they take some cayenne pepper and put it there and they soak it. Then they take, after that - don't never wipe it off - you just take it and let your feet hangs over the water like that, and drain until it dries. Then you take some of the "Pp" oil.
(PP. Two "P's.")
Yeah, PP oil. Get it in the drug store. You take that PP Oil and you just take it like that, with a piece of cotton, you know, and 'noint it. But always 'noint it going down.
(Why?)
Well, that's to draw out all the swelling and all the pain leaves - whatever. You have to rub it like that. [Informant either did not know or did not under- stand my question. You rub downwards to drive pain or any crunjure out through the feet. Many examples of this occur in HOODOO, see No.981, p.377, vol.1.] Well, the swelling before I ever knowed, well they had all the - I'll just lift it up here. They had all this here and all down here. [Informant demonstrates all this.] And they told me how to use it. Well, I got relief of that.
(What did it do to make your ankle swollen that way?)
Well, I walked in some yellowish-looking powder.
(Oh, I see.)
That's where it came from. And it was somepin that makes your ankle itch, you see; and you scratches it, you know.
Entry 12601
Ah said when a person is not...de blood's not right and dey [sexual disease] 'tack [attack] yore man an' yo' don' want him with yo' an' yo' have been gittin' money outa him, why yo' could burn peppah, red peppah in yore home, an' that'll make him flee 'way from there an' he won't come back heah no mo'.
(If he's doing what you said?)
If he been 'tackin' [attacking] yo', wanta go with chew [sexually] an' his blood is not right. He's fulla disease.
(That's the way to get rid of him?)
Yessuh.
(He's attacking you, you say?)
Yeah, he tryin' tuh see, yo' understan'. Yo' been gittin' [getting] money outa him but den his blood is not fitten fo' yo' tuh have him. Yo' burn red peppah an' he will go 'way from yore home an' yo' won't be havin' no trouble 'bout him no mo'.
Entry 13326
De way ah've heard it now, dey split de tree - a little small sap- ling. Dey jes' split dat tree an' yo' kin take de trimmin'. Jes' lak yo' split it - yo' split de tree an' yo' cut out inside dere. Yo' take yore pocketknife an' yo' cut out de trimmin' 股中商 outa dere. An' den yo' take dat trimmin' an' den yo' go an' yo' - jes' lak a person dat chew see dat chew kere [care] fo' lak dat. Well yo' take de trimmin' outa dat an' yo' slip it in some of his clothes - yo' know, anywhere in de individual's clothes dat he wears regularly. Yo' understand, sew it up in his bindin' an' dey tell me dat'll bind two [one] couple together [you know] make dem cleave to one another. Dat's fur as ah evah hear of dat.
(What does that tree do then?)
Well, dat tree grows - yo' know, hit'll go back together, yo' understand me.
Entry 627
I can tell you something my father did when my little brother was sick. You know that hoodoo doctor I told you about? My father sent for him to see whether my brother was going to get well. He looked at the baby and said, "Come on outside." So when my father went outside. He [doctor] said, "A city lies over there." My father said, "Yes, it's Charlotte." He said, "I don't mean that, I mean the city of the dead." My father said, "Yes, that is the cemetery over there." And he said, "Well, call someone that you know from the cemetery." And the first name that came to my father's mind was that Millie woman [witch in No. l], and my father called this woman Millie's name. And the man put his hands up to his eyes and said, "No, don't call Millie." And he turned his head away. My father said, "Yes, I know someone else, I know sister Easter." And my father called her. And he said, "Yes," and smiled and turned and said to my father, "your son will get better." My father asked why he turned his head away, and he said he saw this Millie woman coming towards them - she wasn't looking at them - [and] he said she had the most horrible face he ever saw. So he said when the Easter woman came she was dressed in white and smiling, and he knew the baby was going to get better. And my brother got better. [New York City, (1), by hand; Gaston Co., N. Car.,1900.]
Entry 724
This is about a colored family. They lived near Girdletree, Maryland, and they seemed to have a lot of trouble getting along. Everything seemed to be against them. And because it Was such a large family it was expensive to live. So the mother she seemed to have an idea that someone was trying to put a spell on them. And so - well, she told her husband. He only laughed at her because he didn't believe in such things. However, she went to one of the old women in the village and talked to this woman. Now this woman seemed to be able to make all sorts of charms. Really they called her a hoodoo doctor. [High man is the usual term on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.] So the woman told her about her troubles and asked her if there was some way she could help her. This old woman told her to come back the next day. So the next evening she went back to see the old woman and the old woman told her.what she had done. She said she went out into the field, she got a piece of snakeroot and she mixed it with salt. And she told her to take this home and spread it across her doorstep. She said, "I will guarantee that if any of your enemies try to come to your home to create any more trouble, this will prevent them." She went home and did as she was told; took this snakeroot and salt - she put it all across the doorstep, then she decided to put some around the windows. Well, things continued as they were about a week, but after that week she seemed to see a change coming about. Her husband got a better job, one of the little girls that had been ill got better, and in every way the family seemed to be getting along better. This lady, she was so glad, that she told some of her neighbors and they laughed at her. They told her that she was just getting a streak of luck, that was all. [The change of luck occurred February 1936, at nearby Girdletree where my informant, Jerry Williams then taught school. Several months later this young man became my contact man for the region and later still, with his mother, for Baltimore. He was the greatnephew of George Jackson - noted high man on the Eastern Shore - whom we will meet later in a margin-title.]
Entry 800
I'm a witchcraft doctor. I studied witchcraft. [He is the only person ever to admit being a witchcraft doctor.] (Will you talk a little bit louder.) [See Introduction about difficulties of recording.] I studied fer witchcraft - different things, you know, and I doctor disease and do different kind of tricks, you know. Course, now, I don't know everything, but I know some. That right? See, I'm a doctor - ought to know somethin'. Is that right?
(Well, you can start ahead and tell me anything you want to tell me.)
Anything you don't know about or understand - anything in particular you don't know, I may be able to explain it to you as far as I know, according to my know- ledge. Course now, I studied over hundred diff'rent things - all kind of magic, courtship, you see, this hoodoo work and all that, lawsuits and so on. [Norfolk, Va., (?), 450: l; my note reading Doctor Harvey - ran out on me. How, I no longer remember - probably excused himself and did not return.]
Entry 1281
If any harm done to a person in de bed, yo' put dis frog in dere 'live an' when de frog dies, dat disease dere he would have consumed dat - whatevah dey have spread in de mattress fo' yo', fo' tuh make yo' sick or tuh make yo' in bad luck. Den dat's all ovah. When he dies he supposed tuh carry it away with him. Yo' put him alive yo' see.
Entry 1614
Whenevah yo' think that you have got the wrong thing inside of yo', see, fo' three mornin's yo' take three swallows of yore own urine.
(Your own chamber lye.)
Yes, take three swallows for three mornin's - see, dat's nine swallows of it.
(What will that do for me?)
Well, that will take all the infection out.
(If anybody has put anything in you.)
If anyone has give yo' anything to make yo' love them, don't chew know, an' yo' don't wanta love them, yo' take this yo' see an' that will kill it out. Dere won't be no mo' tuh dat.
Entry 3177
Tuh tell whethah woman has bad disease, rub 'er privates wit yore ear- wax, sets 'er on fire.
Entry 3226
Yo' use a lemon, dat is, if yo' wanta find out if it's anything wrong wit a woman, if she got any kinda disease. Dat is, yo' kin squeeze a little of dat lemon juice on 'er, see. If she got any kinda disease, well she'll holler.
Entry 3227
If yo' be's wit a woman or man an' tuh keep from ketchin' any kinda disease, yo' take a lemon an' squeeze de juice an' bathe yo'self wit it.
Entry 3862
Well, jes' lak a lady's 'pearance [appearance], yo' know. Well, yo' kin be careless wit dat an' somebody could git dat an' take it an' bury it. Well dat destroy yore whole health. Yo' can't nevah been well, cuz it stop yo' from menistratin' - can't ministrate.
Entry 996
[Everything in witchcraft and hoodoo is spirit - even bad luck (see Hard-luck Spirits, No. 895, p.328; also Spirits in Index). Since you cannot kill spirit, you are unable to cure or to destroy disease, sickness, body disability, or symptom like headache - you get rid of it normally by transfer- ring it to something else. This is very dangerous work for the doctor-yourself addict; it is quite hazardous for the doctor him- self. Heed the words of a Master of Spirits:] ["If de evil spirit (here, your control, the spirit working for you) take yo' misery an' yo' troubles away, well, he goin' want somebody else to put it on (transference) - he turn right round (unless you are careful) an' put it on you (the doctor). Well, if you ain't got sense 'nuff to protect yoreself, why he'll take de misery offa de person yo' (the doctor) cure an' bring it right back to you" (Doctor Yousee speaks on p.ll81, line 43f., parentheses author's).] [There are many kinds of transference; the most usual probably being turning back (reversing) the spell onto the person casting it. Equally common is any type of trouble transferred to a stranger.]
Entry 1906
Take one dose big black frog, an' take him ovah de bed an' whup him - whup him till he cry. He will cry jis' lak a baby - ahh, ahh, jis' lak a baby. Take dat frog an' throw him right farwards in front of you an' de man will live. [Here a frog is used as a hand for curing an illness (see pp.441-445). The ailment is first transferred from patient to frog and then the disease-spirit is whipped out of the frog. This could be an elaborate rite with much talk, depend- ing upon the operator. For transferring disease to a chicken, see No. 1000, p.384.]
Entry 795
I knew a man that was said to have a spell put on him. He was a lawyer who didn't believe in anything. Anyhow, he had something that they deemed to be a nervous breakdown. They had three doctors with him. It seems that he would be up today but tomorrow he would be in the same condition. In the meantime, a woman came to his wife and told her that she knew somebody that could do him some good. She said to the woman, "I will do anything to try to help him, because he cannot go to his office and all of his business is going to pieces." She said, "I will bring the man to your house tonight and he will tell you what you must do." On the designated night she brought the man. The man went in to the lawyer's wife and told her, "This is a spell that is put on your husband by conjuration. I can help him. You, tomorrow, go to the bank, get me seventy-five dollars in silver [silver dollars] and have it here tomorrow night when I come." In turn the man left. The next day the woman went to the bank, got the seventy-five dollars out in silver and brought it home. When the man came next night, he took this silver, and he had this lawyer lay flat on his back, and he laid this silver all up and down his breast and all around. He bound it every one in its place till he had the seventy-five dollars on his body. He said, "Leave that be for three days and I'll be back." He went away. The third night he was back. He unbound the lawyer and took the money out. Each piece of the money was black. He took it out and laid it down and said, "See herel" When he got the seventy-five dollars off it was all very dark. And he said to the man's wife, "Now, I will rake all of this into this bag and I will cast it into oblivion, and he will get well, because this is his disease that's in this silver." So he took the silver and went away and stayed away for quite a while. When he came back the man was up and about the house. And he said, "Are you getting better?" He said, "I don't know. I don't feel so strong. I don't feel like going to my office. But still, I am convinced of the fact that something must of happened to me." He said, "That's all I want' - that's the conjureman. "All I want is for you to be convinced that you are conjured. Now, that you are convinced, now I will begin to work on you. He kept working on the man till he got about five-hundred dollars out of him - and the man by that time was in such a low state of health and of spirits - till he had to move out of the house that he had been owning for about sixteen years and go into another that was given him by a white man. And he stayed there as a baby for three years till his hair was gone. He was just like an invalid. And about three years ago he died right in Orangeburg [South Carolina]. [New York City, (10), Ed.] [The preceding subsection, Doctor and Doctor, gave some beliefs and practices emphasizing the difference between the primitive thought of hoodoo's magic world and the modern thought of science. Now comes a survey of doctor's entire career. As an introduction to the following margin-titles, I will use a story permitting us to watch two doctors on the same case, one succeeding the other; the first a country doctor, the second a city doctor. Medical doctors are also involved at the beginning.]
Entry 2766
Ah'd taken sick with the child, you know, before I left town. So I went to my house and ah stayed there three months. So I came back and when I came back, I just, you know, something just run all over me. You know, like a chicken - like a chicken when you pick it and you fix it - you singe it - with all them pimples - come up on it where you pull those feathers out. Well, you see my flesh all over was just like that. It was all round my neck and every- where was just like that. And so I just stayed sick and stayed sick - had doc- tors and doctors and doctors and doctors. So my husband told me, say, "Well, it just don't look like you goin' to ever get well." But still I didn't give up - still I didn't give up. I told him, I said, "Well, I just strictly believe that I gotta have an operation." He says, "Well, make it up in you' mind and go on a'get it." So the doctor come to me and told me I'd have to have an operation. So they rang up the ambulance for me. Ambulance came and ah got ready to get in the ambulance. So they took me on to the hospital and they examined me and they said I was too weak to take an opera- tion. Brought me back home. And so he said, "Well, you go next week." So my cousin come and she told me, she says, "Her sickness is not natch'l. Suppose you go and see about her - go and see somebody about her and question her." So he went and got a fortunetelling man - he didn't believe in nothing like that - went and got a fortuneteller man. And he come there and told him, "Your house is dressed." Says, "She left from here and went away [see preceding 3 months] and somebody done got de key and went in her house - got the key and unlocked the door and went in the house. Under the steps is dressed and all over. The back door and front door and all in the house is dressed." He didn't believe that. He says, "I don't believe it." So he talked with me about it and I didn't believe it. So, another one of my cousins come and told me and say, "Now, you must believe things like this because it's true." And she went and got de Bible and showed me, you know, where it says witchcraft, you know, and all like that in the Bible. [For some of Biblical sources, see my comment on p.361.] So, ah told him, ah said "Now, you go and see somebody, go and see somebody, [even] if you don't believe [in] him, go see somebody." And so he did. Him and my sister and another young man went, and they went to a lady called Madam Helen. She told him, she even as much as told him about my mother [in New Orleans]. She told him when I left from him and he had ordered a hundred and some dollars worth of furniture. She told him when he got dat and the date of the month, said, "Your wife has been down and this has been working on her for about eight months and - as clean as your hand. And it was true, too. Nobody ever went down and told her about it. She said, "It's a cup right under the left side - what's called the north corner of your steps, under the back and front." [My informant may not realize it but she uses unusual symbolism here. The outside doorsteps is a threshold altar! A person facing the house and standing in front of the steps is before an altar. To speak liturgically, he is looking "east and "the left side of the steps is "the north corner or "north end of the altar.] She said, "You go there and dig that cup up and if you - these people, if you want 'em to wander away, you bring it to me and I'll fasten it up. I'll put this junk in a bottle or a [glass] jar and let you go throw it in a running stream, if you want 'em to wander away. If you don't, just take it and fill it all full of [Red] Devil Lye." There was hair in there and lots of something look like blood, and nails and hair and garments, you know, pieces of step-ins or something - look like pieces of my underclothes, you know, was all in there. And there was needles in there, in the two cups underneath my steps back and front. And so she told, said, "Now, you go back and dig that up. When you dig that up, bring it to me and what you want did about it, I'll do it." And said, "Tell her to come." Well, ah was so weak. Ah was just so weak ah wasn't hardly able to stand up, and just did not want to leave that house. She said, "And move out dat house just as quick as you can." I just didn't want to, they just had to pull me out of there. And I just couldn't hardly walk, I was so weak. I went to her and she told me what was the matter with me. And she said, "Now, I don't want you to go back in that house. Never go back in that house no more." And I didn't go back in that house.
Entry 11078
Mah brothah had a wife - right chere in de city since ah come dowp heah - an' a fellah he wanted tuh be in company wid 'em all de time an' all. An' mah brothah all de time would ketch aftah 'im an' he nevah know whut dat wuz. He'd come in dere an', see a pipe an' say, "Well, lemme smoke yo' pipe," take de pipe an' light up. He so glad he kin speak tuh 'is wife, jis' take de pipe, yo' know, an' light up an' smoke see, lak yo' smokin' now. An' dat evenin' all aroun' 'is gum turned red. All de teet' started tuh git shaky, numb, jis'[start- ed to comin' out. He come home. An' so we had some-a dis witch- hazel, an' arnica, an' ah said, "Why doncha [don't you] tech [touch] some [of this medicine] all roun' dat.gum?" An' den dere come vhitehaid bumps all roun' dere. Ah said, "Boy, ah see sompin roun dere. Ah said, "Wha'da [what did] yo' do tuh git yo' teet' lak dat?" He said, "Ah out chere tuh mah wife tuh find out, an' ah smoked de pipe an' mah teet' getted [got] numb all tuh once." Ah said, "Oh yeah? Ah getcha." So ah go on dere an' ah git de pipe, see. An' ah put de pipe in cleah watah in de shade one day an' dat pipe started tuh bile. When it start tuh bile lak dat, chew know, ah dropped a grain of cookin' salt in it, see, an' den dropped a li'le ammonia in it. See, dat killin' [to kill] dis in 'is mouf [mouth] dere. Ah says tuh mah brothah, name Sam, says, "Now, Sam, ah tell yo' whatcha do. Dat pipe is fixed so it hurtcha, so all yo' teth'll drop out chure haid." An' ah say, "Now, ah tell yo' whatcha do. An' now, dontcha think dat ah wan'cha tuh pull dem teet' out." Said, "Ah'm goin' take a [something = method] tuh put 'em [teeth] back in after yo' goes back tuh yo' wife's house, now. An' yo' git - try tuh git now - try tuh kid 'er roun' an' git hole of it, " ah said, "den you'll...
(Get hold of what?)
Git - wanna git a piece of 'is clothes.
(Whose clothes?)
His wife's clothes. Now he wanted tuh turn sompin [back] an' [on]'i [the man who smoked brother's pipe]. Ah said, yo' git a piece, apron or enythin' - sompin whut he [she] weahs cross 'is [her] body part. So he went on dere an' he gits a...one dem close [clothes] pieces. Ah tell 'im take out six pieces: take out one piece in de back, one piece out dis side [demonstrates], one piece out dat side [demonstrates] an' roll 'em up tuhgethah tight. Dat goin' kill Lol fection he take out. An' he [brother] put dat an' bile it tuhgethah in oak bark [commonly used as hoodoo disinfectant]. An' dis oak bark, bile it good enough so it git strong while dem pieces wuz in dere. Dat would kill dis thing, dese germs whut he had in 'is teeth. An' he biled dat tuhgethah an' carry it tuh a cemetery. An' carried 'em out about three or fo' times. An' dem teet' goin' back jis' lak it ain't happened. Ah didn't realize dat would help, wit dat watah - dat cleah watah. An' [he] trow [threw] up all dem [germs] until ah put dem [pieces] tuh bile.
(He took this oak-bark water and rubbed it over his teeth?)
No, gargled 'em all wit it, jis' wash 'em out wit it. But aftah gittin' dese pieces out, put de clothes - see, bile dat right tuhgethah; see, jis' lak yo' bilin' rags or sompin. An' he gargle wit dat.
(But this pipe - this water you boiled the pipe in, what did you do with that?)
Ah buried dat, buried 'em in de - dis way of de world, de west. Down all de time. Dat's carryin' de disease down [with the sunset]. Ah buried dat an' ah nevah did - ah broke de pipe up. Somebody apt tuh git holt de pipe an' might have de same thing. See, lak dat, soon as ah trow [throw] dat salt down, dat same cookin' salt, dat pipe - dat watah, start boilin'. No fiah wuz dere atall. Dat pipe wuz packed wit de germs whut he had dere - my brothah - an' dat thing boilin' jis' as natural as yo' put a pot ovah de fiah. An' ah realized dat when nah gran'mothah tell me how tuh fix dat thin' an' ah fixed it. Dem thin's [germs] come right out. Now he's bettah off den ah is. He verks evah day an' jis' as lively.
Entry 183
This was during the period of influenza [World War I]. It happened between two women, both colored women, very superstitious. One had an argument with the other. One not wanting to get in a heated argument started to walk away and she was feeling sick. That was the beginning of that influenza that was going around all over the country. And this woman overtook her and started to fight and she pulled her hair and almost stripped her and she gave her a good beating. This woman turned around and said, "All right, you may go, but I will get you. If I die I will come back and I will haunt you. I will get you. [This is another example of bad mouth.] So they parted. The one that started the fight, thinking that she had the better hand, went merrily home, while the other went sadly home feeling sick from the pains of the disease and having got a good beating. That went on about three weeks without saying anything between them. The one that was sick soon died. The woman that had beat her made fun of her death. Many a month passed and she didn't give a thought to what this woman had told her. One afternoon she started to the store to get some coal oil, and - this was in a rural district where they did not have electric lights. She passed the cem- etery where this woman's body had been laid. She had a little child with her, a child of five. The child noticed it. There was something over on the grave the shape of a goat. The child said, "Mother, look at the goat on Hanna's grave, '' for that was the dead woman's name. The mother exclaimed to the child, "Oh, come on, that isn't anything but the devil holding Hanna down." The child went reluc- tantly, passed the cemetery but hesitated [stopped] to look down before having gone too far that the cemetery might not be seen. They went to the store and purchased the oil and on the way back the child exclaimed again, "Mother, there's the same goat on Hanna's grave." The mother said, "Oh, come on, I told you." She gave her a quick jerk. As she gave her the jerk there arose a whirlwind that twisted around the two of them. As it twisted around them it seem to grow hotter and hotter until it had thrown her down. After having thrown her down it continued to whirl. carrving them both within its grype [grip]. It twisted and turned them until the woman seemed to be exhausted. Finally, she lost consciousness. The child was afraid to leave its mother because darkness had almost covered the earth. The child stayed there until a passerby inquired why the mother was on the ground. Then the child ex- plained the whole detail to the passenger. They took the mother and carried her home and went for the doctor. And I drove the doctor there to the home of this woman. The story was told to the doctor while I sat and listened and as we came away from there I wanted to know from the doctor did he think that was true. The doctor being a very intelligent man, I thought he would tell me nothing but the truth. So he said to me that it Was the most mysterious case he had ever attended. The woman seemed to be like scalding water had been poured over her skin. He doesn't know about [the truth of the] story because he wasn't there, but there was something mysterious about it. Several times I inquired from the doctor and he wouldn't discuss it very much because he didn't want me to think that he was superstitious, nor did he want me to think that he believed in spooks. Yet, I think that he believed very strongly in the story that this woman told,-that it was a true experience. That Was about 1919 near St. Petersburg, Fl6rida. The doctor was white.
Entry 185
"It's bad luck fo' a whirlwind to come anywheres nearby yore place of business - yo' know, make those rings lak that yo' know, fo' kinda lak a circus. Say it's bad luck.
(What do they say that whirlwind is?)
Ah heared - ah tell yo' de truth about it. Ah re'lly hear some people say - de knowledge of mah experience of dat. Ah heared people say dat if yo' take de vinegar an' throw it roun' yore place of business - sometime people kin do things lak dat; they come up an' be's, do's de devil work. Throwin' vinegar round yore place of business, dey say that [devil work] would nevah happen.
(What wouldn't happen?)
Dose whirlwinds comin' in a circus, yo' know, roun' a person place of business where dey - round in de yard where men about close roun' in de field. Jes' sprinkle vinegar roun' about two acres of yore place of business; after that it would nevah happen. Ah heard a lady tole me dat, but not as ah really think.
(They say if it came here, it would bring bad luck to what you are doing?)
Yessuh, because she said dat it was a man caused dat tuh come roun' her house one time. She said it come in - jes' lak a whirlwind; she couldn't see nuthin' but jes' a round wheel of dust. It would come, she say, sometime on three corners of de house, an' she say every time that would happen, her child would be sick, until she went to a man an' he said dat man had her place dressed, and told her that she must put vinegar aroun' about two acres of her place of business, an' carry some along with her. An' she say from that day until dis, she tole me - she say it happen about two yeahs befo' dis, den it nevah happen any mo'.
Entry 570
Yo' kin take a earwax an' if a girl is got de bad disease an' yo' don't Want to ask her if she have it an' yo' don't know it an' she wanta turn a trick wit chew, well, yo' go an' git in de bed wit her an' take yore finger an' put it in yore ear lak dat [demonstrates] an' jes' take dat wax an' tech her; an' if she got it, she comin' out from undah yo', she cain't stay dere. Dat earwax will eat her up. [To turn a trick is known everywhere.] An' if yo' in a house an' yo' mistrustin' if anyone in dat house is got de bad disease an' yo' in dere an' yo' think dey got it, yo' jes' take a piece of red peppah, if it's in de fall of de yeah, an' throw a little piece on de fiah, an' yo' see 'em leave outa dere. Dey goin' outa dere - cain't stay in dere.
Entry 632
This fellow [root doctor] you're going to see now, said my brother-in- law was hurt - he gave him a root to put in his hand and hold it right tight, and when he opened his hand his hand was sweated, and he said, "You're hurt." He got some mullein roots, pine tops, cedar berries and put them in a pot and a pint of water and kept adding to it as it boiled down [magic rite of increasing amount]. He put in a ten-cent piece and boiled it with it. "Now," he said, "you take that drink and you'll get well." He never got well. What really was his trouble, he had bladder trouble inwardly. He couldn't urine because something went right to the tube of his bladder and stopped it and caused agony all over his system. When he would go to make water his feet would dance up and down on the floor, just like that. This fellow was working on him but he was never able to cure him. His father Was good [a good root doctor] but he's dead. He [the so-called root doctor I was going to see] don't know anything about it. They had to operate on him [the brother-in-law]. The root they principally use is called the black pip- pip-away[?]. They take that root and hold it in their hand and the hand would sweat. That's an evidence something has effected you, somebody has done some- thing to you. If your hand didn't sweat, you wasn't effected then. It looks more like a piece of snakeroot than anything else.
Entry 721
Ah've watched dis from a kid. Ah nevah did believe in roots or anything lak dat but mah experience, it made me believe in roots an' diff'rent things, yo know, fo' dis reason. When ah wus a kid roun' 'bout eight yeahs, ah had a mother an' she liked good times. She'd go out. So at last, one day she went out an' left me an' mah brothah home. So, while she wus away some people came through de yard - jes' a girl an' her sister, an' she made fun of mah brothah. Mah mothah came back an' ah tole dat dey made fun of mah brothah. So she wus a lady liked tuh drink sometimes. So when dey came along - dere wus about fo' of 'em, so she tackled 'em an' dey had a fuss. So about a week or two after, she taken sick. Dese people claimed dat dey poisoned her, yo' know. She wus taken sick an' mah granddaddy and [grand]mother did ever'thing in de worl' dat dey could fo' her - had taken her to doctors an' dey couldn't do her any good. So dey claimed dat dey poisoned her - she dried up an' looked lak [like] a witch, an' would have spells, jes' fall out on de flo'. She jes' come to nuthin' but bones, yo' know, an' went away tuh nuthin'. Dey tell me dat wus whut chew call witchcraft roots.
Entry 1006
[Before leaving the subject of transference I must give here a remarkable case of disease transferred from the dead to the living:] Well, a man died with the T. B. An' another woman didn't like him [a living man]. She fell out with him because she like him an' he liked another woman. Well, she went to de graveyard [the grave of the man with T. B.] an' she got someone dat knew about dat stuff [graveyard dirt] an' on a certain moon dat bottom sand comes to de top. Well, they knew about dat. They knew jes' when those things would be, so she got this graveyard dirt an' she put it with something else an' she put it in a drink an' gave it to him. Then he begin to pine away jes' like he had de T. B. If yo' want a person to have heart trouble or something like dat, jes' like a person tuh die, why yo' go tuh de person that chew knew died wit dat, an' on a certain moon dat sand comes to de top - de top sand goes to de bottom an' de bottom sand comes to de top. An' yo' get dat sand an' put it in something - put it with something else an' yo' give it to them - an' they'll die with de same thing dat de person dat de sand come from died with. Dat's why lotsa people have such peculiar diseases an' we think it's one thing when it's another - it's not nachural. [Disease is not natural - see No. 647, p.218.]
(It's something that you put in some sort of food or drink.)
Yes sir.
(What do you mean by certain moon?)
Well, witchcraft mostly comes on a young moon.
Entry 1049
Well, I kin make a little baby - accordin' who got a sickness, got any kind of disease, and how many times I have it. (You what?) I make a little doll baby, purtty it with all kinds of ribbons, you know, and I can - if I got any. kind of disease, just how many times I had it - and I make a knot in there so many times. If I had it three or four times, I makes [three or] four knots in that piece of ribbon and I tie that baby and I go and I drop it. The one that picks it up is the one that gets that - it be's off of me, I won't have it no more.
(I see. Well now, first you do something else. You have a disease, you say?)
If I had it, yes.
(Then what do you do?)
Wind the disease on the doll.
(You take the piece of ribbon?)
Take the piece of ribbon - get me - make a purtty little doll - make it like a saint - nobody will notice it cause it's purtty, and I get this pink ribbon and I tie it in a knot just how many times I had the disease, you see.
(Every time you had it. You tie a knot for each time you had the disease?)
Yes. Uh-huh. Tie them and put it on that doll - it go off me. Go off and leave it drop - it don't look like you drop it, just let it down in the street on the sidewalk anywhere.
(I see.)
And one person will pick it up. When they pick it up, well they gets that - it off on you then, no more for you.
Entry 1109
If anybody puttin' things down lak dat, then yo' kin carry asafetida - yo' kin git it at de drug sto' - it'll stop all othah germs. Take this asafetida an' put it in a little bottle wit sulphur into it an' wrap it up. Say yo' kin walk ovah anything.
Entry 1196
If lightnin' would hit a house an' whenevah dey would swallah some of dat flame or smoke dataway an' dey take de black cow's milk an' give 'em a drink of it, dat de only thing will revive him, yo' see, cause aftah yo' git hit by lightnin' or ketch smoke or anything dataway, it ketch yo' wit a sharp disease. If yo' kin git pure black cow's milk an' drink about a quart, dat will ease yo'. Dat de only thing would do yo' any good. It bettah den any medicine dat de physician give yo'.
Entry 1283
An' then yo' kin cure disease with that frog. A frog is wonderful tuh take off spells.
(How would they do that?)
Well, now, yo' kin ketch a frog an' yo' kin let the party that has the spell Spit three times into that frog's mouth an' blow their breath three times in it an' then yo' kin - when they do that yo' read the 23rd Psalms. See, read the 23rd Psalms an' after yo' read de 23rd Psalms, yo' let them take that frog an' throw it ovah dere shoulder jest as hard as they kin an' don't let that frog come back towards where that sick person is standing - keep that frog off from that sick person. An' that frog will carrv that disease off. Yo' kin take off witchcraft fo' anybody wit dat.
Entry 1403
Go to a oak tree an' git jes' lak dis red oak bark, if a woman be's sick or anything with stomach trouble, an' take an' make a tea of it an' take a douche wit it. Why, it will cure stomach trouble.
Entry 1443
When yo' got a bad disease an' yo' go tuh work an' make yo' devils- shoestring, yo' red oak bark an' yo' take it an' put it on an' boil it good, an' then yo' go tuh work an' give 'em a quart of it tuh drink. Then yo' kin take it - take so much of it an' 'noint 'em with it - see, an' that is good fo' de bad.disease.
Entry 1444
After I came here, they told me it was 'bout some hoodoo or something. Well, this is a case which I had a stepfather. (Just a little louder, please.) My stepfather, he was terribly mean. Well, he and my mother separated. Well, he had been talking to a lady that believes in this stuff and he got her to come to my mother to talk to her, but when she got there, my mother didn't know the lady and naturally anybody would come to my mother and talk to her because she was a hairdresser. And she came and she talked and she said sh wanted her hair dressed and she asked what was the price, and she didn't bring all the money. She said she would bring the rest of it later. So my mother went on and fixed her hair, and before she went she asked my mother to give her something to eat - say she was hungry. So my mother got up and fixed her some dinner and brought it in there and gave it to her. So she' told her, say, "That's too much - take part of it off." And she insisted that she take part of it off, so she went back in de kitchen and take some of it off. Well, when she come back, the lady had gotten out of the dining room and she was gone in the bedroom, and she never thought anything about it because she was puttin' a drapery on the bed and she thought maybe she was looking at the time. Well, she come on back in the room and she sit down to eat and she tasted. She had a little boy with her and said, "Do you mind if I give it to my boy? I have enough." So my mother says it all right with her. She gave it to the little boy and the little boy ate it. So when she got up she went on home and then next week she sent the money. So my mother got sick. We didn't know what was the matter with her - she was just ailin' around, didn't any special thing hurt her, she Was just weak. She Was in the bed. She was talking to a lady friend of ours and just how she was feeling and telling her about her sickness.
(I see. All right.) [Something may have disturbed us.]
And she happened to bring up about dis lady coming to see her. And what made her bring that up, they was talking about - this lady [who had her hair done] spoke about her husband that she had been with [but was with no longer] and she was saying he was a good man. And my mother asked her [present visitor] did she know him, and she turned around and told her, no, she didn't know him. Well, they was wondering why did she [woman who had her hair done] come there with that kind of talk, so this lady asked my mother, said, "Don't you know she believes in that hoodoo stuff?" My mother said, "No." So she said, "You get up out of bed," said, "we are going to see if anything is around." So she came in the room and she called me and she say, "Let's look." And we took all the things off the bed and didn't see anything and looked all under the mattress and everything, and under the rugs and everything - looked everywhere we thought for and couldn't find anything. So, we stopped looking for awhile. And then she had a little drop rug on de floor right at the head of the bed and she turned the rug back and found this little black bag in there. There was something in it - it was black, it looked like charcoal and something in there like fine grains of salt or some- thing. I really don't know what it was but that's what it looked like. And so my auntie took it and carried it out on de back porch and we looked at it and so we took it and threw it away. So this lady told my mother to get some hot water and red pepper and mop de floors. She did and after that she was all right. It didn't hurt her or anything other than being sick and just weak.
(Where did this happen? Where?)
It happened right here in Vicksburg.
(Oh, in Vicksburg. How long ago?)
This was in the summer - wait a minute, I will tell almost exactly - summer, 1936.
(1936, I see. Your mother got well?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 1488
[They get some dust] from the grave and sprinkle it in yeh house, and that cause you to have disease - cause you sickness. But.now the way they get rid of that is to take salt see, if you see this dus' in yer floor. You kin see it, you see, becus [it] is brown, yellah - whutever [color] it is. And you kin sprinkle salt over that see and you take some pepper. And you sweep all that up together and then you go out de door see, and if there's anywhere any running water, you throw it in this running water. That'll throw it back on the person.
Entry 1801
You take nine penny nails and nail dat - like you would make a coffin. Understand. That, if you wanted to kill someone. (Well, how do you mean nail them? I mean fix [arrange] them? What do you dc with them then?) Well, if you wanted to kill someone, destroy someone, you'll take those nine penny nails and you nail 'em in de shape of a coffin.
(Oh, I see. You nail them in the shape of a coffin.)
In your floor, anywhere that you choose to nail 'em, you understand, and if you can, you try to get a piece of their shoe off the right foot on de inside of the ankle up at the top. And you'll take and then nail that down when you make de coffin and de last nail you drive you suppose that'll be through the center, which will be your heart, and you drive that there and they will pine away. I have known that doctors pronounced some had T. B., and everything, but no doctors can cure 'em. They just simply pines away.
Entry 3266
To give a man a disease, she kin take an' hole [hold] a silvah dime in 'er mouth. See, she take an' hole a silvah dime in 'er mouth. She take de wax out of 'er years [ears] an' when she go to fool aroun' wit yoreself [with a man] yo' undahstan', she kin put dat on de head of it, if she gits a chance to do it she put dat on de head of it, yo' see. Now, when yo' go to have any connections wit 'er, yo' undahstan', an' when yo' go to discharge, she's got dat dime in de cornah of 'er mouth. An' when yo' 中商 goes to dis- charge, she put it in de roof of 'er mouth. She hole it in de roof of 'er mouth an' dat's goin' to strain yo', see. It'll strain yo' an' by strainin' yo', dis here wax what she'd taken outa her years an' put on yo', yo' see, dat's goin' to burn. Dat burn, dat make yo' tendah dere dat's goin' to give yo' a cut, see. An' den dat strain yo' in de back an' when yo' git through, when yo' git up from dere, de nex' mawnin' when yo' look at yore self, yo' got what yo' call a cleft. Yo' see, yo' got a cleft. An' den from a cleft it'll turn into maybe a shingle. An' dat'll cause maybe fer yo' to be op- erated on. If yo' let it run, come too bad, dey might have to operate on yo'. She give it to yo' dataway. An' de shankle is de worst disease dat a person kin have, excusin' de pox. See? Well, den yo' kin git de pox off of de same thin'.
(That same way? That same woman?)
Yes, sir.
(What do they use to get rid of those things?)
Well, now, if she wuz givin' yo' anythin' of dat sort - shankle, or pox or somepin of dat sort, yo' git yo' some of dis brown healin' powdah, dey call it.
Entry 3774
Well ah'm tellin' yo' facts about dat, but ah'm tellin' yo' some things dat ah have heard - but it's actually. But now, would yo' lak to know how to remove dis spell? (What I could do or any man could do.) Anyone. Well, ah tell yo' somepin dat ah have heard about last year - year befo' last. An' dere ouz a man dat had some serious disease an' dey didn't know about, an' a lady wuz tellin' me what [would] it cost to remove dat. It would be a very small sum. Cost yo' prob'ly 15c. Well, I told de lady, I said, "Well, I know someone could relieve de spell." She said, "He's got money becuz he draws money from de Gov- ernment, an' he would be able to pay any amount - any price." I said, "Well, I know a person dat would remove de spell an' he wouldn't charge ovah $25, but I'm jes' a person, of co'se." [The preceding, I'm jes' a person, of co'se, means the speaker was not a doc- tor. She sold medicine, roots, powders, etc. Every aspect of the hoodoo field was known to her. She also had personality and brains.] She said, "Go ahead, ah'm goin' send 'im aroun' to talk to you." An' ah said, "Well, now, if yo' know de person really would have de money, ah'll talk to him, but if not, ah wouldn't care to talk to him; but ah know dat dis spell will be removed wit'in nine days." SHE SAID, "WELL, COULD YO' GIT IN TOUCH WIT DE MAN?" AH SAID, "YES, I SELL MEDICINE FO' HIM SOMETIMES. An' I could go to him wit de money an' I could git de medicine fo' him." Well, so when she sent 'im down, he wuz very anxious to talk wit 'im an' HE ACTUALLY PAID ME $25. WELL, NOW, AH TELL YO' WHUT CHEW GIT. DAT DOESN'T MEAN DIS PAHTIK'LAH SPELL REGARDLESS TO WHUT KIND OF WAY DEY PUT DAT SPELL ON YO'.
(THEY PUT IT ON IN DIFFERENT WAYS.)
MORE DAN TEN DIFF'REN' WAYS. Well, now, say fer instance, do yo' know whut bull's nettle are?
(It's a plant that little prongs [thorns] on it?)
[I WAS THINKING OF HORSE NETTLE WHICH I KNEW QUITE WELL.]
Has stingahs on it. Stingahs. Has somepin in de form of de way a bull's [something hangs]. Yo' see dat.
(It's a plant, isn't it?)
It's a plant, an' if yo' touch one of dose ball's, it will sting yo'.
(It's called the bull nettle?)
Bull nettle. Well yo' git de root of dat. It has de very form of a man's privates. Yo' have nevah seen dat?
(I have never seen that.)
[I have a few examples of root shapes in HooDoO, snake and man and woman being important. These and other shapes known and sought for centuries had been dying out in my time, with the disappearance of the old herb or root doctor who gather- ed his own roots. Perhaps the recent revival of witchcraft, all kinds of isms and superstitions, will revive the root trade.] Were yo' born in de South?
(No, I wasn't born in the South.)
Dey grow mostly in dis state [Alabama], Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia - roun' lak dat. Well, now, yo' go an' dig dis root up. It has de very shape of a man. Yo' take dat root an' dry it. Yo' keep it in a bottle of Hearts Cologne an' yo' git - it's anothah little plant, ah can't git it's name right dis minute, but ah will tell yo' latah.
[I turn off recording machine until she says, '"Like a tomato."]
(Like a tomato? Is it the castor oil plant?)
No, no, it's a plant dat has stickahs on it. (Tell the plot [rite or cure] to me. You might think of the name of the plant later on.)
[She tells another remedy for the same ailment.]
It's fer de same thing. But yo' know what cockleburs are?
(Yes.)
Yo' kin git nine cockleburs an' yo' kin mix 'em wit dis same root dat ah tole yo' an' put it in a bottle.
(You get the nine cockleburs and put them in this bottle with the bull nettle?)
Dat's right, an' put de contents of a 15c bottle of Hearts Cologne in dis bottle, an' den three tablespoons of urine.
(Whose urine?)
Dis person's urine, whoevah has dis spell on dem. An' yo' take a piece of new linen cloth, aftah dey have had dere bath in de mawnin' an' jes' bathe demselves wit dat pahtiklah stuff.
(This liquid.)
Dat's right. An' den make a tea of dis bull's nettle an' drink a swallah of it evah mawnin' fo' nine mornings, an' it will absolutely disappear.
(Take that spell off?)
Dat's right. An' WHEN DIS PERSON IS TAKIN' DIS TREATMENT, DEY ARE NOT SUP- POSED TO MENTION TO ANYONE DAT DEY ARE GOIN' UNDAH IT.
(They must keep it secret.)
[Several days later I asked Mrs. Brady to come for another interview, some of her material had been badly recorded.] Yo' remembah me tellin' yo' about de bull nettle. An' yo' remembah ah tole yo' dere wus anothah weed dat grow in de yard dat chew use in connection wit dat one pahtiklah weed. It's called tread salve - t-r-e-a-d s-a-l-v-e. It has a little yellah ball growin' on de weed somepin lak a tomato. Yo' know what dat [tomato] is. Well, yo' kin ask any southerner, dey kin tell you. Dey grows in all southern yards an' in de commons out in de fields or in de yards. [For the identity of this plant, see later.] Now dat is somepin fo' removin' de spell dat we were speakin' of - yo' know, dat people place on people. [I once thought preceding yellow tomato was the mayapple, Podophyllum pelta- tum, a plant I had known from childhood, having eaten its tasteless egg-shaped fruit. Later I realized it must be the maypop, a passionflower (described some- where in HOODOO), the Passiflora incarnata of the southern U. S. A.; also an in- sipid, yellow, applelike fruit.]
Entry 3780
If a man have a bad disease, yo' kin git de bark from de no'th side, outside, of a gum tree, an' de bark from de east side of red oak tree, an' mix 'em togethah an' make a tonic, an' dat will cure him of de bad dis- ease. Yo' put a few drops of turpentine in it.
Entry 4034
Jes' lak two person togethah use a slop pail. Well, if I wanta hurt a person in dey chamber lye, I wouldn't urinate dat night in dat slop pail. Well, I let chew urinate in dere. I'd take dat pail [oldtime pail with lid] an' stop it up tight. Den take dat pail from de room dat mawnin' when yuh goin' to work an' care [carry] it - an' take anothah bucket, small tin bucket [with lid], an' take dat [and fill] wit [your] urinated water an' stop it up maybe two weeks. An' aftah yuh stoppin' dat watah up fer - aftah two weeks it become jes' lak a drawin' wine. An' it go - jes' agitate. If it warm weathah, it agitate quickah den dat. But if it's cool weathah, it take a long time tuh draw. An' aftah bein' drawin', dat jes' lak drawin' a man dat - when yuh go tuh git yuh blood draw from de hos- pital or git shots, dat's tuh draw an' keep adrawin' an' adrawin' until it weakens a person body. Den aftah weaken' de body, if dey don't - if dis person continue tuh leave it jes' lak 'tis, dey would become jes' lak a person got consumption - complexion would change. If dis man wuz a dark-complected person, it would be lightah. Den people would claim dat dat fellah got T. B., an' [or] dey'd say he got chronical disease, but dat's dat stuff adrawin' an' adrawin'. Aftah while it will weaken dis person. Den maybe dat person [will say], "Well, ah think ah go tuh a doctor [M.D.] tuh see what de mattah wit me. Look lak ah'm gittin' sick an' ah cain't he'p mahself." Ah may go tuh a doctor. A or'n'ry [ordinary] doctor [M.D.] will give him medicine an' treat 'im but it wouldn't do him any good. See, dat stuff will be drawin' 'im an' drawin' '. An' aftah while he will die.
Entry 4793
Take nine needles an' stick 'em in de seat of a man's pants, or eithah a woman's, eithah one. It'll cause dem tuh have pyorrhea at de private [see later] - jis' a dirty garment. Yuh take a dirty garment an' yuh kin mo' lak [likely] do anythin wit a dirty garment den when it's clean. When de dirt's washed out, den yuh cain't handle it - not as good. (A person wouldn't sit on those or anything of that sort? You just do it to the old garment?) To de ole garment de're not wearin'.
(That would give them what kind of a disease?)
DE PYORRHEA. It's somepin jis' 1 lak, ALMOST LAK PILES. IT WILL START WIT A EETCHIN' an' it jis' EETCH AN' EETCH AN' EETCH till it Will jis' TURN WRONGSIDES OUT DOWN DERE.
Entry 5011
People kin take yore stockin's or a woman's stockin's. Dey take an' roll 'em up an' put 'em where it won' rain on 'em no mo'. Dey say if yuh put 'em where it won' rain on it, it make 'em lose dere health, an' make 'em look lak dey got de TB. Dey jis' git worsah an' worsah until dey go tuh nuthin. Well, dey don' do a thing but keeps 'em in a dry place.
Entry 5811
In order to make a person lose his mind, it is said you take several strands of hair from his head and put into a bottle, and three or four drops of blood from any animal. This bottle is buried and kept buried for six months, in ohich time the person to which the hair belonged will become very sick and then vill die. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 5850
She gits somebody to go to dis woman's house an' gits 'er comb. She gits dis comb. She gits all of dis dandruff from dis woman's head out of dis comb. She takes it an' puts dis graveyard dirt in dere. Den she put some of 'er own chamber lye in it. An' she puts dis undah de step of dis woman. Well, dey thought dat dis woman had went into bad health, consumption. An' she went to de hospital an' she died.
Entry 6525
Dey take - womens take cut of all yore toenails an' yore fingernails an' take de dirt from underneath 'em an' dey could cook 'em in de bread an' make a man love 'em. Dey could WITCHCRAFT dem dataway.
[St. Petersburg, Fla., (1022), 1653:5.]
(5). A FEW MORE DOCTORS {Folk medicine in hoodoo or witchcraft has a wider field of involvement than the isolated cures given in books of general folklore. This is true because hoo- doo or witchcraft supplies causes for all ailments and diseases as well as cures, and also tells how to protect oneself in the future. Such protective rites, actu- ally preventive medicine, as well as other cures unlisted here, will be found throughout the total text. For the latter, consult especially: FOLK MEDICINE pp.361-519; SEXUAL IMPoTENCE Pp.2341-2509; and 'HER PRIVATE TIME' Pp.2513-2540.] [A considerable number of live things in you will be found on pages 227-239, well as elsewhere in the complete text. May I call your attention to the first two rites in margin title SNAKES.]
Entry 6660
Sleepin' on a feathah mattress. Yo' kin take snake eggs an' put 'em in a chicken - [I mean] in a mattress where de feathahs is, yo' undahstan'. An' dem feathahs goin' birth dem eggs. Yo' undahstan'. See, dey got li'le bits of eggs an' dey'll birth dem eggs. An dem feathahs birth dem eggs. An' long as dem - aftah dem eggs hatched, dem snakes'll be in dere, yo' undahstan'. An' yo' sleep on dere an' it'll dry yo' up, jis' lak if yo' had consumption. An' yore lungs will be jis'as solid as dey is right now. [Solid lungs right now I do not understand.]
Entry 6701
Fo teas fo' sickness, lak yo' got de yallah jandice or sompin lak dat. Well, yo' ketch yore antses an' boil 'em an' yo' make a tea an' give it tuh 'em. (For yellow jaundice?) Yes.
Entry 6763
Milk from a black cow could kill disease, rash, or any kinda disease dat children has. [Black cow milk is fairly common in Hoodoo, see Doctor Lind- say, MY FIRST DOCTOR in Hoodoo, v.2, p.938,6 lines from bottom of page.]
Entry 6902
(What's the name of it?)
It's called de red shank.
(The red shank root?)
Yes, sir. It's called de red shank an' ah'll tell yo'. If ah came tuh yo' an' if ah've got a bad disease, see. Well, yo' take dat red shank, yu' undah- stan', if it's put out, why yo' take de top of it; an' if it's not put out, yo' take a grubbing hoe an' dig the root up an' wash de root. See. Put it intuh two quarts of watah, an' bile [boil] it down tuh one quart [the magic of diminishing amount]. Unnahstan'?
(I understand.)
Bile it down tuh one quart. Den yo' take - when yo' bile it down tuh one quart, yo' take it an' yo' set it off [the stove]. Unnahstan' dat?
(Yes.)
An' den when yo' set dat off, yo' git a li'le piece of bluestone, lak a speck- led pea, an' beat it up right fine an' stuff it in dere. Git chew a li'le piece alum about dat long. Put it in dere, but let de watah be good an' cool. See, don' put it in dere hot. An' den yo' takes it den, an' yo' give it tuh 'im an' tell 'im tuh take three swallows three times a day. Now de way a boy, or man eithah - whutevah he is don't yo' take it jis' lak yo' drinkin' watah, becuz if yo' drink it lak yo' drinkin' watah, well it don't do yo' any good, becuz it will git down in yore stomic an' it will be dere so much till it will sour. It will be de same as milk, when yo' drinks it. Dat buttahmilk when a man is in bad shape, it's jis' a dose of poison tuh 'im. It keeps sour on 'is stomic. Jis' take no more dan three teaspoonsful a day. Take it as [medicine] yo' know. If yo' take too much of it, why it don't do you any good. It'll do yo' harm.
(Three swallows. One swallow before each meal?)
Dat's right.
(I see, each day. All right.)
An' den don't eat so much grease.
(What did you say?)
I say, let de buttahmilk alone.
(I see.)
Entry 6903
Ah heard 'em tell if yo' have a vener'al disease or a bad case of de POps or somepin lak dat, chew kin take red shank root, wild cherry bark an' Queens of Life. [He probably means Queen's - delight = greenroot (StiZlingia sylvatica) of the southern U. S. A., see p.630.] (What is that?) Dat's a weed dat grows out an' it's a root too.] It's in de woods. Wild cherry bark root an' de Queens of Life, an' red shank, an' sasparilla [sarasparilla]. An' take all of dat an' put chew 'bout a gallon of watah an' boil it down tuh a quart [magic of diminishing amount]. Dat's a good Dedicine fo' any case. It'll run it out but it'll kill - run it out chure blood an' cure it up. Den yo' kin cure it up on de outside yo'self.
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 7664
Dey go tuh de cemetery, a person would, if dey try tuh do yo' mean. Jes' lak somebody's buried dis evenin', go dere an' git de dirt outa his grave. Go dere an' git it down nex' tuh 'is feet an' outa his stomach an' outa de haid. An' take it an' git chew a snakeshed an' put all dat - mix 'em tuhgethah an' cross 'em [throw dirt in form of a cross] an' yo' aim dat whare dey doin' yo' dirty. (Well, now you get this dirt from three places out of the grave, but it must be a grave that's been opened that day - must be a grave from that day. And you put this inside the snakeshed and you grind the snakeshed up like that. And then you mix the grave dirt with that. Show me what you do with this powder then.) Yo' take dis powdah an' put it, an' bury hit undah yore steps. If dat person come at night an' do anythin' dere, dat'll keep 'em away from dere. Dey'll jes' go an' travel an' travel, an' jes' come tuh be nuthin but skin an' bone. Always travel.
(What about the eyes going down?)
If yo' use snakeshed an' graveyard dirt. Yo' see, all dat jes' goes wit de body, yo' see. Dey ketches de same disease. De snake, yo' know, jes' lak he bit chew, see.
(Well how does it get into them? Does it get in through his eye or what?)
It will git intuh de eye, but people use it in diff'ren' kind [of ways]. Jes' lak yo's heah an' ah do's disaway. Well, when ah'm talkin' an' yore haid - take mah han' disaway, it will kill 'em [you]. (Which way are you going to do. After you get this snakeshed and graveyard dirt ground together, now what are you going to do with it? Are you going to throw it around that person or are you going to put it under your door. Which are you going to do with that? Or do you do both things?) Put it roun' yore home.
(And what is that supposed to do then?)
It 'sposed tuh break up whut dey wan' tuh do tuh yo'.
(And what will happen to them?)
Sompin happen tuh 'em, dey has bad luck.
Entry 8836
They take yore han' - lak ah git chure han'writin' an' ah'll take yore han'writin', even if ah don't know whut tuh do, yo' git somebody else. Yo' take yore han'writin' an' put a smoothin' iron down on it an' take a smooth piece of white Papah an' put chure han'writin' down on it. Well, take a hot iron an' put it on de top [of the handwriting] an' dat'll draw jes' lak yore han' is kinda wet on de papah, dat will draw de dirt from yore han' on de clean papah. [For another example of drawing, see No.8831.] Yo' take dis clean piece of papah dat chew had de han'- Writin' in it. Den yo' take dis papah an' twist it lak dat once [demonstrates]. Git it jes' long as yo' kin till yo' git eight rolls [or twists] in dat papah. Yo' take dat papah an' yo' junk it down in a bottle. An' yo' take dat bottle dat chew put dat down in, in dere. Den yo' take salt in de pinch of yore fingah lak dis [demonstrates] eight times an' put in dere. Well, yo' take some watah lak yo' take a cowpas [see later for this word]. Boil de watah an' po' in dere off a cowpas. Yo' buys it, a cowpas, yo' buys it from de drug sto'. Dat's if somebody gittin' poisoned, yo' see, cowpassin'. Yo' buy it from de drug' sto'. (Is that what they give dogs? Something like that, what they give to the dogs?) Well, ah guess, but ah nevah see dem give it to de dogs. [I think informant is speaking about copperas, a word pronounced in many ways and occurring frequently in the text.]
(What color is it?)
It's jes' lak silvahwhite, funny-lookin' stuff. Well, yo' boil it an' puts it on dis papah. Well, see, dat stuff is tuh - eat, chew know, de papah by de- grees. Well, as it eat dis papah by degrees, dat's eatin' yo', puttin' de spell on yo' jes' as de papah eat. But yo' gotta put dis back in runnin' watah. Yo' can't keep it out until finely [finally] de papah's et [eaten] up an' de bottle is all busted an' yo' see it all gone tuh watah. Well, it's no cure fo' yo'.
(That eats you up, you say?)
It jes' eats yo' up. Yo' see people look lak dey has some kinda vener'al disease. Yo' know, look lak a sore break on yo' dere an' a sore break on yo' heah, an' when yo' git dat healed somepin else broke out on yo'. Firs' thing yo' know yo' pass away. (You put this clean piece of paper on the letter in order to draw out the perspiration - around this perspiration.) Wit a hot iron, not too hot iron, but jes' a...
Entry 9914
If ah be in de baid sick - ah hear'd dat if yo' be in de baid sick an' yo' are poisoned, yo' ketch a live frog an' wherevah de misery is, yo' put dat frog dere an' dat frog turn green, but if yo' are not poisoned, why he won't. [To understand this remark- able frog-turning-green rite, let us examine a similar rite previously given, the hoodoo woman from Bergen Junction (reference later). Here the victim, having exchanged shoes with another man, wore them to work next day: Dat night he wasn't able to walk home. He was hoppin'. His laig was hurtin' all up, clean up tuh 'is knee. An' yo' kin hear 'im hollerin'. Ah hear 'im my ownself...two blocks. De doctor [M.D.] he come. De doctor couldn't do no good. Dey had to go git...big [prob- ably both in size and importance] hoodoo woman stay out from Bergen Junction... she come dere and she put her han' on 'im jes' lak dis heah [demonstrates] an' drag it over 'is face - we all standing dere lookin' at 'em - bring 'er han' right down ovah 'is face jes' lak dat an' carried it straight on down, right ovah dat laig. An' she done dat three times, an'...two toadyfrogs hopped outa dat man's laig, an' dat man got all right. Come out [the frogs came out] back dere where de two places 'bout tuh come to a haid - where it done, you know, formed a corruption. Here we have one of those head-down-to-feet rites that drives di- sease or evil out of the body through the feet, often the big toe, into or on to the ground. How a sleight-of-hand artist would have performed this trick I do not know, but I can suggest a possible method. The hoodoo woman, probably saying she worked In the Name of the Lord, opened her right hand, turned it about to show it empty, and laid it on top of the man's head In the Name of the Father. Then slowly the open palm went down over the man's face, neck, shoulder, side of body to hip, thigh, knee, leg, foot and finally rested open palm on the ground. There may have been verbal mumbo jumbo along the descent. Next our hoodoo oper- ator saying she would now use more force, closed her hand loosely and began at the man's head again; this time In the Name of the Son. Her half-closed hand going down this time pressed heavier against the man's body. A third time and In the Name of the Holy Ghost, she laid her hand on the man's head, but now hand was a closed fist pressing heavily on its downward journey over the man's body. When she opened her fist on the ground it was empty but two frogs, young ones probably the size of hulled peanuts were jumping about. (Yes, I have seen many of these small frogs.) She then pointed out de two places 'bout tuh come to a haid, where it done, you know, formed a corruption. Surely the corruption on the man's leg was the misdirection permitting the release of the frogs. (For this hoodoo woman from Bergen Junction, see No.1263, p.441, v.1.) The reader will now understand how in our present rite the non-green frog suddenly could turn green. And finally the reader should notice how the present informant quickly changes from if ah be in de baid sick to if you be in de baid sick. This change occurs frequently in HOODOO. After all I was a total stranger to my in- formants, many of whom considered me a hoodoo doctor! Reference for green-frog rite: Brunswick, Ga., (1219), 2061:8.]
Entry 12602
Got some kinda bad disease, yo' know, an' yo' wanta find out is yo' got de bad disease, take some red pepper an' jest go in, lak a crowd is sittin' in heah. Yo' kin go in an' jes' scatter that red peppah yo' know round de chairs, an' de one got de bad disease will git up an' go.
Entry 1565
De snakeroot - well, yo' take dat snakeroot an' yo' pulls it up by de roots an' yo' shake de dirt off it an' wash it. Well, yo' put hit into a bottle. Well, then you kin put whiskey on it - hit's good fo' most any kinda disease.
Entry 4485
They kin take the water that you bathe in and use it, and if properly used give you some kind of a ailments in your skin. If they take that water and put sulphur in it and put it in a bottle and stop it up, your skin will break out with some kind of disease - something like itch or nettZe- rash or something. It will always continue to be thataway. Of course, I don't know that you couldn't go to a doctor [M.D.] and get shots or somepin. [HERE IS A MEMORABLE STATEMENT! INFORMANT THINKS IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO GO TO A DOCTOR (M.D.) FOR SHOTS TO CURE AN ITCH CAUSED BY HOODOO! A hundred times or more in HOODOO a Doctor of Medicine is dismissed as useless for hoodoo; in fact for most ailments. FOR A GOOD ACCOUNT OF THIS SITUATION BACK IN 1938 AT MOBILE, DESCRIBED BY PROFESSIONAL ROOT SELLER, See 12, p.11f.]
Entry 3175
Takin' de [ear] wax 'fore yo' have any connection wit 'er an' de wax she says, very well, see, an' if she have anythin', any kinda bad disease, undah- stan', de moment time yo' touch 'er, she jealous [nervous], she cain't stan' any- thin', jis' as if yo' stick 'er wit a pin.
The informant conditionally discusses 'any kinda bad disease' in an ear-wax account; the described reaction is a reported belief, not a diagnosis.
Entry 3178
Dey say yo' kin take somepin [cloth or] stick an' put it in 'is year [ear] an' get wax outa his year, an' play wit 'er an' he fin' dat burn 'er an sting 'er so dat she can [have a bad disease].
Disease is an editorial completion in a reported burning/stinging account. Neither a disease type nor a verified bodily effect is established.
Source passage
printed interview with editorial and production layers · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I says, "an' when I dress this house," I says, "if it's true," I says, "you will have no trouble."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' I goes to work. I goes down to the drug store an' gits me a box of sulphur, goes to the store
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[grocery]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
an' gits me a box of cayenne peppah an' some salt brian. I goes out on the hill.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Fresh fish salt brian
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[fresh (= unused) brine from salted fish]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
. Gets me botter
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[bottle]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
of vinegar. I goes out dere on the hill an' fields an' I digs mah'erbs. I goes on back an' boils 'em, strip zim
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[strips 'im]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
off, bathe zim from his knees on down.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What sort of herbs?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Whut did I get? Runnin' brier an' pokeberry
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[poke or pokeweed]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
root. An' he's up walkin' an' goin' all up yonder on the railroad track now, pickin' up coal ev'ry mornin' of his life.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Theoretically, large lumps of coal fall from an overloaded tender of a steam engine or smaller lumps from coal cars of a freight or coal train; actually, human hands usually assisted the coal. Any walking along tracks was illegal.1
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' after no sooner 'an
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[than]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I got 'im up, the prior
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
told 'im he wanted his room - he couldn't rent it no longer. An' told 'im he wanted 'im keep me away from there. He
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
was goin' to these here so-said-to-be cunjures an' gettin' dus'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[dust]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
an' stuff, an' I found stuff 'tween the mat- tresses
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[while]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
he
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
out at work. So after I cut mah cards an' find out where de stuff was, why I went on an' get it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What do you mean cutting your cards?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Cuttin' mah cards? Run a deck of cards. I kin run a deck of cards an' tell anything I want to know. Yes sir.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What did you want to find out?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Find out where he had it put.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one continues.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Now listen. I wan'a tell yah. I take a deck of cards an' tell anybody more than they wan'a know. Not only take a deck of cards, I kin take a cup an' tell anybody more than they wants to know.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
See.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Uhuh.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I'm out of a family - I'm a son of a mother that could even down-tell
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[out- tell]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
you - she walk in here an' call your name, tell you where you live, tell you the number of your house, how many children you had, whether your wife was livin' or not, w'a' kin'a hair she had, how old she was, W'a' her name is. That's the kin'a mother I had.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one will continue later.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Where did she live?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Greensboro, South Carolina. That's where I come from. I come from there where it
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[root working and allied practices]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
is known to be the very best dey is goin'. Yes sir, yes sir.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one continues.]
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' I don't care w'a' kin'a spell's on a person or how a person is sufferin', I kin walk in the house, I'll be in the house five minutes - not only that, I don' haft, I don't har'ly even, don' haf to ast a person. I kin walk along the street an' lbok at a person an' tell w'uther they's hurt or not.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Uhuh. Is there anything about their appearance, their face or anything that.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Well, I tell yuh. A person of that kind kin see it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Oh, I see.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[You]
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
see it.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Yes sir. A person of that kind kin see it - a person of, like myself. You see.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I knows, you see.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(Uhuh. I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I knows. An' then on top of my knowin', I know whut to do to break it up
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[End of side one.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
- whut to cure it.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[The last four words are on the cylinder but not on the record.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
An' then on top of that
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[there is]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
sich a things as they call this here witch'ry. You believe in witch'ry?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(I've heard about it but I don't know. I have never had any experience. I don't know whether to believe in it or not.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[This was about the best answer I could have given to his difficult question. If I had answered, "You believe in witchery, therefore it exists for you; but I do not believe in witchery, therefore it does not exist for me, except in that it exists for you" - if I had so answered, would his second question have followed?]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, did
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[do]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
you believe in there
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[is]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
sich a thing as a witch?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(Well, I don't know.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, there is sich a thing as a witch.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(There're the things that ride you, aren't they?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Yes sir.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(How do you keep them from riding you?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, you kin take a pair of scissors an' put underneath your head or you kin take a new piece of lumber an' put it underneath your head
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[the latter being unusual]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(What are these witches?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, I'll tell you. A witch is a person that has sold herself to the devil an' he comes in a spirishal
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[spiritual]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
way. See, jis' like you has got your mind on a home wheresomever you live, you worry about your parents, your people, your brother or your father or your wife or your sweetheart or your mother or your daughter an' they rest upon you - in your mind - why it's quite nach'al
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[natural]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
fer something to have happened to 'em an' directly they feel it. You kin feel it. You see, you kin feel the burdens of it. Well, the same way with a person dat's so deeply into anything an' 'twill follow 'em in their sleep. Have you read any such or in your travels? Haven't you already see
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[seen]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
the future out of your work in your sleep?
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[Side two begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, that's the way that is. So then, on top of being so interested in it, self confidence is the best of all. Self confident. I walks in a house - if I had someone to send I would go an' say - I could send fo' 'er. I walked in a house up here on Catherine Street in thirty-five
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[1935]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
dat people had come from Petersburg
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[Virginia]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
over here that wus suppose to be root doctors - it's no better than Florence Turner. Dr. E. Turner ou' chere
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[out here]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
wus her doctor. He walked in the house - she'd taken sick. He walked in the house an' ast that
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[whether]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
she had caused her little boy to call 'im. He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"Florence,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"w'a's the mattah?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I don't know, doctor,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
she says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I'm so sick I don't know w'a' to do."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
The doctor looked at 'er. He question 'er an' all. He says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I think you've got broken-down nerves."
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I saw Florence's sickness that night - she got up five o'clock an' went out with a friend of hers.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
(What was really wrong with her?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Well, I'll tell yuh - an' so I 'us at mah home. I gets up the nex' mornin', at duh breakvust table, an' tole mah
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[female]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
frien' w'a' I seed in mah sleep. I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"An' tell Florence when she come to don't go out with"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
- I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"tell Florence when she gets up to don't go out with."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence an' Henry are gone out."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She said dat Florence an' Henry lef' here at five o'clock this mormin' I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, jes' as sure as God's still in heaven,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence is gon'a git 'er dose."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Den, I went on mah job at work in the coalyard. They brought her in home nine o'clock dat mornin' unconscious. I came in
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[after work]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
to mah supper. She wus rollin' to me. I walks in the room - Dr. Turner'll tell yuh the same thing - I walked in the room an' tol' 'em, I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Doctor,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee as represented in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"there ain't no need of writin' Florence no 'scription. Florence is poison.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
The doctor turn aroun' to me, jis' like this here, says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
How do you know?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee as represented in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I saw it last night.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[This is my only example of a doctor and doctor confronting each other. It happens in the presence of the doctor's patientl]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I.sit right down side de bed
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[aping the doctor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
an' tole huh
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[her]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
, ev'ry- where day'd went - I's mah house 'sleep in bed - tole her whut kin'a woman serve de table, how she set, where an' how the glasses wus. She said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, God knows, you shore must'a seen somepin,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"cuz God knows,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"it's true."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, all right,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"now sen' an' git him, sen' an' git chore frien' down here on Secon' an' Canal - South Secon' Street."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She sent an' got 'im. When he come in - he wus about an hour comin' - he come in, he said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence, whut's the mattah?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'm sick."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Uh,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
he said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"anything that I kin do?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"No."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I got some medicine, a 'scription here,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"you got any money to fill it?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll git some."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He gits in the car an' goes to the bank an' gits money, come back, fill the 'scription. He
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[doctor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
gives 'er a dose of that medicine an' made it worser.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[End of side two.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[Side three begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I tole 'im, I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Don't give 'er no more medicine,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll take 'er case up mah ownself."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She's right over here on Catherine Street - I mean on Williams Street, in ten- hunderd block. She'll tell you the same words tonight. I kin go an' call 'er up out of 'er bed. Ev'rybody roun' there tell you who cause her to be livin' today. I went an' got mah stuff an' fixed it for 'er an' I got groun' puppies out of 'er. I got things out of 'er looked like fish lice. You ever see fish lice?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
(Yes.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Made mah tea from mah runnin'-brier root. Got mah grain
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[green]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
gourd seed - guts out of a grain gourd. Went up here on Windsors
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[?]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Farm, paid seventy-five cent fo' one quart of black-cow milk - milk whilest it's hot. Brought it back an' give it to 'er, after I give 'er d'other medicine. An' she jis' as helpless as a newborn baby, couldn't raise her han', an' wus scared to death, scramblin', tryin' to git out de bed. Think ah'm tellin' a lie? Ah'll git me a car and drive ovah dere an' prove it to you. There's another fellah live right chere on Moore Street below me - use to, he
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
don't live there now - call 'im John Ham. John Ham, whut been sick, claimed to have the rheumatism. Him an' his aunt had spent ovah three-hunderd dollahs on 'im. So I tole 'im, I said, one day out dere I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"John Ham, ''
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
there ain't a thing in the worl
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"'
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
- he's showin' me about his leg - I say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
they ain't a thing in the worl' but some of your womenfolks have put a spell on you.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Look, don' choo know I done been all down South
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[where the good doctors are]
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
You believe in that mess?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I boun' to believe in that mess when I do's that mess.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I kin cure yuh.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He call me Lin all the time, yuh see.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Kin yuh, Lin?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Yeah."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(What did he call you?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He call me Lin.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(Lin.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Mah name is Lindsay, but he call me Lin jis fo' a short name.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin you Lin?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"How much you charge me to cure me?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll tell you what I do."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"What?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll go here in the hills an' git the stuff an' I'll make you up some tea,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' I'll drinks a cupful of it mahself to show you that it's not poison, of the same tea."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll make you up a quart of this tea, then I'll give you a bath three times a week."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[End of side three.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[Side four begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
An' when his sistah came - I wus livin' the third do' from 'em - when his sistah came, he tole 'er about it. She said, "The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism." I said, "Well, I don't care whut the doctor says," I said, "the doctah tells a lie." She said, "Whut!" I said, "De doctah tells a lie." She looked at me as hard, "Huh!" Turn aroun', says, "You ain't no damn doctah." Dem's her words - de's of his sistah - said, "You ain't no damn doctah." His mothah is name Lil. An' his aunt stand' on the porch, she says, "Don't talk like that," say, "you don't know who you talkin' tuh." Kin'a 'fraid of me. I tole 'er, "You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking." I said, "Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah," I said, "if Lil says for me to cure 'im," I says, "I'll cure 'im," I said, "an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about." Lil said, "Well, Lindsay," says, "if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him," said, "you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is," said, "cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work." I says, "In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball." I said, "I'm your black Jesus." Told 'im jis' like that an' laffed at 'im, patted 'im in his chest. I said, "I'm your black Jesus." I said, "God above my God an' your God, too." I said, "Well, I'm your earthly Jesus." An' he laff an' he said, "Well."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"an' when I dress this house,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"if it's true,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"you will have no trouble."
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 2, p. 936
I says, "an' when I dress this house," I says, "if it's true," I says, "you will have no trouble."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"Florence,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"w'a's the mattah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I don't know, doctor,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I'm so sick I don't know w'a' to do."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I think you've got broken-down nerves."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"An' tell Florence when she come to don't go out with"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"tell Florence when she gets up to don't go out with."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence an' Henry are gone out."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, jes' as sure as God's still in heaven,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence is gon'a git 'er dose."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Doctor,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, God knows, you shore must'a seen somepin,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"cuz God knows,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"it's true."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, all right,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"now sen' an' git him, sen' an' git chore frien' down here on Secon' an' Canal - South Secon' Street."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence, whut's the mattah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'm sick."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Uh,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"anything that I kin do?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"No."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I got some medicine, a 'scription here,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"you got any money to fill it?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll git some."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Don't give 'er no more medicine,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll take 'er case up mah ownself."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin you Lin?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"How much you charge me to cure me?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll tell you what I do."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"What?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll go here in the hills an' git the stuff an' I'll make you up some tea,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' I'll drinks a cupful of it mahself to show you that it's not poison, of the same tea."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll make you up a quart of this tea, then I'll give you a bath three times a week."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, I don't care whut the doctor says,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"the doctah tells a lie."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Whut!"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"De doctah tells a lie."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Huh!"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You ain't no damn doctah."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You ain't no damn doctah."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Don't talk like that,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"you don't know who you talkin' tuh."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"if Lil says for me to cure 'im,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll cure 'im,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, Lindsay,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'm your black Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'm your black Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"God above my God an' your God, too."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, I'm your earthly Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well."
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 2, p. 939
An' when his sistah came - I wus livin' the third do' from 'em - when his sistah came, he tole 'er about it. She said, "The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism." I said, "Well, I don't care whut the doctor says," I said, "the doctah tells a lie." She said, "Whut!" I said, "De doctah tells a lie." She looked at me as hard, "Huh!" Turn aroun', says, "You ain't no damn doctah." Dem's her words - de's of his sistah - said, "You ain't no damn doctah." His mothah is name Lil. An' his aunt stand' on the porch, she says, "Don't talk like that," say, "you don't know who you talkin' tuh." Kin'a 'fraid of me. I tole 'er, "You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking." I said, "Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah," I said, "if Lil says for me to cure 'im," I says, "I'll cure 'im," I said, "an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about." Lil said, "Well, Lindsay," says, "if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him," said, "you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is," said, "cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work." I says, "In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball." I said, "I'm your black Jesus." Told 'im jis' like that an' laffed at 'im, patted 'im in his chest. I said, "I'm your black Jesus." I said, "God above my God an' your God, too." I said, "Well, I'm your earthly Jesus." An' he laff an' he said, "Well."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"How do you know?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"John Ham, ''
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"there ain't a thing in the worl"'
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"they ain't a thing in the worl' but some of your womenfolks have put a spell on you."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Look, don' choo know I done been all down South
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You believe in that mess?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I boun' to believe in that mess when I do's that mess."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I kin cure yuh."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin yuh, Lin?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Yeah."
Nested source context: editorial counterfactual qualification · Vol. 2, p. 937
[This was about the best answer I could have given to his difficult question. If I had answered, "You believe in witchery, therefore it exists for you; but I do not believe in witchery, therefore it does not exist for me, except in that it exists for you" - if I had so answered, would his second question have followed?]
Nested source context: recording representation qualification · Vol. 2, p. 937
[End of side one.] - whut to cure it. [The last four words are on the cylinder but not on the record.]
Nested source context: reported self context · Vol. 2, p. 938
"there ain't no need of writin' Florence no 'scription. Florence is poison.
Nested source context: reported self context · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I saw it last night.
partial continuing interview window with context only edges
This passage covers part of a continuing interview; neither the complete interview nor every topic is included.
The opening treatment promise continues the preceding introduction concerning Fletcher Powers on printed page 935; it is included as context only.
The closing John Ham and family dialogue follows the recording-side marker and continues on printed page 940; it is included as context only.
Narrated diagnosis/recovery remains attributed historical claim; no medical findings or effects.
Patient, doctor, family and Lindsay names are local source mentions, not resolved person identity.
Retain recording/cylinder distinctions and Hyatt counterfactual commentary.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 2, p. 935 · Vol. 2, p. 936 · Vol. 2, p. 937 · Vol. 2, p. 938 · Vol. 2, p. 939 · Vol. 2, p. 940