Subject:Drink
Entries
Entry 893
[The following story from my original pencil transcription is about as exact as I could reproduce the recorded text. It shows some of the difficulties of transcribing; a matter I have discussed in the Introduction:] Mah a'nt [aunt] vus [was] name Ella. She vure [were] pyzon [poisoned] on branch watah [water] dey [there] vure she drinked de vatahs from. A lady didn't lak [like] 'er. De lady's name vure Rebecca. She ain't lak 'er. Mah a'ntie had took 'er husban' away from 'er an' she vure mad vid mah a'nt an' she tole 'er, she say, "Ella, ah'm goin' git choo fer dis if it be las' t'ing ah do." An' she done it. She ain't had no idee she goin' put nuttin [= nothing in] de watah way [where] she drinked. An' she vent down tah de branch an' put somepin [something in] de watah. (What she put in the water.) [I unknowingly dropped my did showing I was concentrating in an effort to understand him.] Well, when de [root] doctah test[!!!] de watah [he said] dey [Rebecca an' her doctor] put some 'erb medicine in de watah. Aftah she [go] down dey an' got a dose of it - she drink-dit - she vent tah fallin' off, got poah, got bony, ain't know whut [what] tah do fer huhself. Nobody cain't do 'er no good - [medical] doctah cain't do 'er no good. An' un [one] day a colored fellah come 'long an' tole 'er - a root doctah. He tole 'er, He sayed, 'Lady"' - he ain't know 'er name - he sayed, "Lady, yah hurt." He say, "Ah kin curah [cure] yuh fer jis' a little 'mount of money." An' she sayes [says, not sez], "All rightee, vhut's de mattah wid me?" He say, "Ah kin tell yah." He say, "Yah pizoned." He say', "Yah got yoah dose from watah." She say, "Vhure de watah from?" He say, "Ah don't [know] way de watah from, but yah got pizoned in some watah," he say, "an' yah pay a little 'mount of money, a dollah down, ah'll put chah on yah feet." She say, "Well, come on in de hahse [house] an' le' me talk tuh yuh." He tuck 'er on in de hahse an' he doctah on 'er. [He says] "vell, yeh go down long 'bout a mile from heah an' yah git yuh some alder root." An' she say, "Ah don't know whut alder root is." An' he say, "If yah come on an' go wid me an ah'll show yeh," he say, "if ah go, it goin' cost double money, an'[that is] why ah tole yuh." She say, "Well, ah [don't] caah [care] how much money it cost 'cept so I git on mah feet agin." An' aftah [that] dey vent on down in dere tuh de fahk [fork] of de road, run way down in de voods, an' got alder root an' tuck dat an' made tea of dat. An' she drinked it. Aftah he made dat tea, verms an' bugs come from uh to [through] uh bowels. An' roun' 'bout mont [month] aftah dat she got a relief from it, an' [he] tole uh keep on drinkin' dat root tea. An' aftah while she got huh feet so she could lay aroun' de hahse an' dat same 'uman [woman] come to huh doah an'tole uh, she say, "Ella," says, "yah gittin on yoah feet, ain't choo?" 'Yesuh," she say. "Well, if yuh say I hurt yuh, but I ain't hurt choo; but I vill hurt chah if yuh do me back talk about anyt'ing. An' she run an' pushed de doah, close it in huh face an' say, "Stay away from mah doah cuz yah done cause me lak to die on 'count of pizon me.' She say, "I ain't pizon yeh." She say, "Yeh did pizon me,"' an' she cos [close] de doah right in huh face. An' den she knock off de doah an' say, "Dat'll be all right." An' de same doctah come dere dat same day an' tole huh, he say, "Dat's de 'uman dat pizon yah.' An' aftah dat she lef', he turnt it back on de 'uman, an' de 'uman died in roun' 'bout two year aftah dat. ["A Negro down on the Sound - this happened down on the Sound - his voice is clear but difficult to transcribe" - comment written on my original pencil tran- scription; which is attached to final MS; both comment and transcription made soon after interview. The Sound was Pamlico: "3ll Willie Jones - New Bern, N. C.
[[region]] - fair" - Numbers Book 136-317.]
Entry 3191
If a man wants tuh have a woman undah 'is jurisdiction fo' his life- time! He jes' - when yo' go an' mate wit dat woman an' take whut chey vdpe wit, yo' see. An' when yo' take it - dat whut yo' wipe wit, wit a clean pocket han'-scuff dat nevah been stained - yo' dry off wit dat, yo' see. An' when yo' dry off wit dat, yo' kin take dat an' take a little watah, yo' see, an' wet it, an' jes' drain dat into a little whiskey. Den give dat to her, den yo' can't git rid of 'er. It take death tuh part chew den. Yo' might git tired of 'er an' wanta quit 'er, but she goin' plague yo'.
Entry 3195
An' den ah've learned ag'in dat yo' kin take an' go an' urinate, see. An' den git chure come [semen] an' put jes' a lil' taste [of] dat in dat Coca- Cola an' put it somewhere on ice an' keep it cold, see. An' if yo' got a frien' dat chew wanta git up wit, well, have dat Coca-Cola in yore pocket an' walk into somebody place an' say, "Ah wan'a leave dis Coca-Cola on ice." Dey's a frien' of yo', leave de Coca-Cola on ice, unlessen dat yo' goin' to her house. Yo' got two Coca-Colas, one yo' goin' take, an' dis girl ain't lovin' yo' so good. Say, "Honey, ah got two Coca-Colas heah tuh drink. Yo' take an' put 'em on ice." Well, yo' give her de one dat's got dat dere Heart Cologne an' dat come an' dat pee in it [three in- gredients]. Boy, she'll take dat an' she'll die by yo'.
Entry 3391
Whut could yo' do wit a greasy dishrag. Well, if yo' got a man an' yo' don't want 'im tuh care fo' anybody else, yo' kin take a greasy dishrag an' let 'im drink off an' yo' don't. Take dat greasy dishrag an' wipe him fo' nine times wit it an' den fold it in nine different Ways tuh yo', fold it all de time tuh yo'. Den yo' put it up ovah anywhere dat he's gotta walk in an' out undah. Dat'l keep 'im from goin' wit othah women.
Entry 3458
Take a dog an' ketch 'i, a boy dog, an' ketch 'im an' cut his balls out an' cook 'em, cook 'em right soft an' den crumble 'em up in 'is [a man's] food. Dat's if 'is wife wanta ketch 'im. An' put it [in] somepin tuh eat an' den if he goes wit any woman, she'll find out who it is he goin' wit. When he go tuh be wit dis woman dey'll git hung up... [Three dots show that I turned off recording machine and restarted it in time to catch: Yo' have tuh kill one of 'em.
(To get them apart.)
[The testes of roosters and other male animals have been used for centuries as an aphrodisiac.]
Entry 3814
Wal, dere wuz a gurl ah started correspondin' wit in a - an' she wuz a purtty nice gurl an' we got along purtty tuhgethah [at first]. Well, ah dunno, we jes' couldn't git 'long tuhgethah an' she - ah guess she felt dat she wuz losin' me, see. So, well she used to cook fo' me. Well ah would eat from 'er an' ah would eat from othahs. It didn't make much diff'rence. Ah nevah did pay much 'tenshun tuh how she cooked anything fo' me cuz ah didn't [think] she'd try tuh poison me or do anythin' tuh me. So she fixed me up some meals one day, an' it wuz 'long about de 20th - 'bout 'tween de 29th an' de lst - fixed mah meals fo' me. An' right aftah ah eat dat meal ah got sort of sick. Well ah came out it an' den - well, while ah wuz goin' roun' wit anothah frien' of mine, ah met anothah girl. An' well, she wanted me tuh come an' live wit 'er. So ah would go an' spend nights wit 'er. An' well, ah'd sleep in de same bed. An' it seemed dat evah time dat ah'd wanted tuh have intahco'se wit 'er, it seemed jis' lak ah couldn't git mah mine [mind]. Mah mine jis' seem to fall, jis' couldn't git mah mine set on havin' intahco'se wit 'er. So ah went to a doctor [M.D.] heah an' ast 'im whut could be de mattah. An' he said dere wasn't anythin' de mattah wit me - took a blood test an' all, an' say he couldn't fin' anythin' wrong wit me. So a frien', he heard about dese thin's [women do], so he ast me whut all had she been doin', an' ast me could ah have intahco'se wit 'er. Ah tole 'im suah [sure], anytime ah'd go home an' git in bed ah could easily have intahco'se wit 'er, but othahwise any strange woman ah couldn't. So he wuz astin' me had ah noticed any funny thin's about 'er. Ah tole 'im ah nevah notice anythin' funny about 'er. So he ast me what kin'a food had she been feedin' me. So ah tole him diff'ren' meals. Well one special food she wuz feedin' at least twice a week an' dat be tomatoes. So ah tole him about dat. So he ast me did ah notice anythin' funny 'bout de 'matoes de nex' time she fixed 'em. So ah paid 'tention when she wuz fixin' 'em, but ah nevah noticed anythin'. But ah noticed she strained de tomatoes. Ah didn't pay any 'tention at it becuz ah figured she knows whut she's doin'. So ah tole him about 'er strainin' de tomatoes. So he say, whut kin'a rag did she strain it through. Tole me ah shoulda paid 'tention. So he tole me tuh go ovah heah an' ast 'is brothah 'bout it. So ah ast 'is brothah an' tole his bro- thah what happened. So his brothah ast me de nex' time roun' about de firs' of de mon' tuh pay close 'tention tuh see whut she would do. So it went on lak dat fer about six mont's an' ah wus goin' - still goin' ovah heah tuh see dis othah [second] gurl, an' ah wus livin' on wit 'er. She wus try- in' tuh do evahthin' [about my impotence] she could fo' me. So ah went on an' paid 'tention closah tuh 'er [first girl], an' one day ah caught 'er in dere an' she wus strainin' de 'matoes through some of 'er undah- weah. So ah ast 'er whut wuz de cuz of dat. She said, nuthin, she jis' couldn't fine 'nothah rag tuh strain de tomatoes in lak dat dat wuz clean. Wal, ah seen stains in de undahweah, but ah didn't pay any 'tention tuh it. Ah figured de tomatoes put de stains in dere. So ah tole mah frien' about it an' he said, well, she's been usin' 'er reg'lah rag dat she had on, when 'er reg'lah mont'ly sickness come on, strainin' de tomatoes through it, an' dat's whut wus cuzin' [causing] me tuh feel lak ah did tuhwards 'er an' couldn't do anythin' tuh any othah woman. So he tole me to go see a fellah, a fellah used to be a herb doctor. He's daid now. He died a few years ago. Tole me to go ast 'im whut ah should do. So ah'd seen 'im an' he tole me tuh take - tole me tuh try git holt of a good- size jar of 'er urinate an' take dat, an' boil it an' put plenty a salt in it, an' drink it at least twict a day. So it happen ah got holt of some. One night when she wusn't payin' attention tuh me, she got up an' urinated in a basin [she] had dere, yo' know. So de nex' mawnin' she went outside [away from home] tuh go tuh de baker's [to work?]. So ah'd taken it an' ah boiled it, an' ah boiled it an' strained it lak he tole me. Fixed it jis' lak he tole me tuh fix it, put some salt, an' ah drank it twict a day. An' purtty soon ah begin tuh feel mah- self ag'in. So ah left 'er, an' den ah went tuh stay wit dis othah woman. An' ah stayed wit dis othah woman one night.... [Remainder of this [[cylinder]] cannot be transcribed because of defective reception.[[comment by transcriber]].] See, we [informant and second girl] had been usin' de same towel all de time. So ah didn't pay any 'tention tuh it an' well, de nex' mawnin' when she got through wit dat towel, she took it an' folded it up careful an' put it away in de drawah dat ah'd used. Well ah didn't pay any 'tention tuh it cuz ah wus young an' didn't figure a woman would try any kin'a tricks on a fellah. So ah looked to be gittin' sorta po' [poor] an' skinny. An' ah used tuh go roun' tuh dis othah gurl [first one] an' we wuz lak we wuz goin' go back tuhgethah ag'in.
(The first girl or the second girl, you mean?)
De firs' gurl. So de secon' gurl she kep' on arguin' wit me an' arguin'. We fight an' fuss, back an' fo't' [forth] all de time. So ah went on - kep' on bothahin' dis secon' gurl. So one night ah went ovah an' stayed all night wit 'er, but still an' yet, when ah went to do somepin wit 'er, ah'd have dat strong feelin' until ah'd git right in bed wit 'er, an' den when ah git in bed wit 'er, seemed lak all hopes would drop an' ah jis' couldn't do anythin'. Ah'd Jis' lose mah nerve all de way roun'. So ah'd kep' on goin' lak dat an' she tole mah frien', mah close frien', dat she wuz livin' at 'is mothah. [Informant's first girl was rooming with the mother of the male friend who advised him to see a herb doctor.] She tole him about it. So he ast me [at the place where both worked - see later] whut wuz happ'nin' tuh me. Ah looked to be gittin' lak ah wanted to die [or] sompin. So ah tole him ah didn't know. Ah jis' seem to be gittin po'ah [poorer] an' po'ah an' mah healt' jis' wouldn't seem tuh build up atall. Ah'd eat de right thin's an' all. So he ast me wuz ah eatin' from home. An' ah tole 'im no, ah didn't eat from home cuz ah nevah had time, as mah wife, she didn't fix anythin' fo' me. So he ast me wuz dis othah gurl an' me on bad terms. Ah tole him yeah. Well, we wuz, 'cuz ah wuz about tuh quit 'er. (This was the second girl you were about to quit. The first one was your wife?) Yes, de firs' one wuz mah wife. So - an' ah wuz about tuh go back tuh mah wife, see. Aftah a while he ast me did ah know some man to cure me by. Ah tole him no. So one day he wuz up tuh de house an' we wuz jis' aftah takin' a showah. It wuz real hot [shower or day?], so ah gave him some towels. Ah didn't pay much 'tention tuh it, a towel wit a hem in it, an' ah happened tuh han' 'im a towel dat she had took dat night. An' he noticed dat right outa de centah, a hole wuz cut outa it. An' so he ast me how did dat happen. Ah tole him ah didn't know. So he begin tuh think. He's experienced on it 'cuz he wuz lots oldah dan ah wuz an' dat's one thin' [tricks of women] dat he always believe. Ah called 'im smart. Ah figured he wuz tryin' tuh be smart. Well, anyhow he really did know a lot of thin's. So he tole me de nex' time dat ah noticed, whethah she wuz un- dressin' or not, tuh notice whethah she had anythin' tied aroun' 'er neck or vais' or laig or anythin', an' if she did, tuh come an' tell 'im. Well, ah stayed wit 'er dat night, ah wouldn't stay out dat night. Ah stayed wit 'er dat night an' ah noticed dat when she got in bed, she had a little black bag tied right down in de centah of 'er stomach. So ah ast 'er what it wuz. An' she said dat [was] to keep 'er from havin' pains in 'er stomach. So ah tole mah frien' de nex' day when ah went tuh work. An' he tole me, he sayed dat he believe dat [in the] bag she had wuz a piece of dat towel out [without] de bag. [He now explains this confusion.] Said a woman could take a piece of towel dat a man would wipe on, an' could take it an' put some kinda black-cat-bone dust [see BLACk CAT POWDER, p.526], from a young black cat wit dat piece of towel in a sack, an' hang it in front of 'er an' de man nevah could leave her, no mattah where he go he'd always have tuh come back tuh 'er, an' dat he nevah could have anythin' tuh do t no othah woman but 'er. So ah jis' laughed at 'im. An' ah thought he wuz jokin'. An' ah went on tuh dis othah girl de nex' night an' went tuh 'er house. Well, ah wuz feelin' good an' ah felt lak ah wanted tuh have intahco'se wit 'er. An' so we got in bed all undressed. Well ah had high hopes until de minute ah got in bed wit 'er an' den evahthin' flopped. An' ah laid in bed fer half de night an' still an' yet ah couldn't git up nerve enough tuh have anythin' tuh do wit 'er. So ah tole him about it de next day. So he tole me tuh go back an' see could ah have anythin' tahdo wit mah wife. So ah went back dat day at dinnah time [noon]. Mah wife got off dat day at dinnah time an' I went ovah dere. An' she wuz home in bed, so ah got sweet wit 'er an' got in bed along wit 'er. Well, when ah went tuh have intahco'se wit 'er she took dis here bag from aroun' 'er wais'. Well ah got in bed an' ah jis' had high hopes an' ah jis' carried thin's right on through. Well, ah come back an' tole 'im about it, an' he tole me dat dat whole thin' wuz de trouble. Said where she had dat bag aroun' 'er wais' an' said fer me to git dat. So his bro- thah wuz de same way [impotent by trickery], but 'is brothah didn't believe in dis othah one. Some of 'em don't like dat [drinking the woman's urine]. [A bad spot in the cylinder follows. The next bracket contains my pencil notes made while checking original cylinder against transcription.] [Bad recording from here. [[Substance of informant's words follows.l] So ah went home. Ah ast 'er whut wuz dat bag. She said it was none of my business. So [[ah tried to take it.]]. Well she got mad an' said if I take it she'd kill me...didn't pay any 'tention tuh 'er...aftah awhile I was goin' wit anothah woman.] [To take a woman's hand, called a nation sack in the New Orleans area up to Memphis, can be a dangerous venture - see p.1449f.] So dat night ah come home jis' lak ah goin' stay dere. An' she got undressed, ah grabbed 'er an' got de string an' ah snatched it. When ah snatched it ah took an' run into de kitchen wit [it] an' put it in de stove an' burn it up. De min- ute ah did dat, it seem lak she jis' seemed to have lak a reg'lah fit. She jis' started runnin' all ovah, got real... [Here is a typical reaction - other than outright death - to the destruction of a witch's power. Yes, this woman is technically a witch, she having caught the man's spirit. There are many ways given in HOODOO to break a witch's spell; See also FACI, 2nd ed., Pp.790-920; and for burning the object she uses, Pp.882- 886. DE DOCTORS COME AN' DEY COULDN'T DO NUTHIN FO' HER. DEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WUZ DE MATTAH WIT 'ER. She continued to keep on fer about six mont's an' aftah dat she seemed gradually to come back tuh 'erself... [small remainder of recording bad].
Entry 3880
So well, dey do so much wit chure footprints. Now, dey say perhaps, if dey wanted to git aftah yuh sure 'nuff [enough], dey would have to git sompin inside of yuh. Dey would have to git sompin othah inside of yuh to make it work, to make it take well. Now, dey go to work to get somepin othah in yuh now. Ah tell yuh how it is. Dere's nuthin too low fer some wimmin to do's - nuthin in de world. Now, ah've seen wimmin, ah've known wimmin, dey even totes livah undah dere dress, all-like dis mawnin' until prob'bly time fer yuh [a man] to come in [to eat]. An' cook it an' a little of dere, yo' know, in wit it an' season it up wit onion. An' yo' eat dat, why dey hardly [= strongly here] got chew fixed dere way.
Entry 4087
DAT [URINE] ONE DE GREATES' THIN'S IN DE WORLD.
(Tell me one thing you can do with it and why you do it.)
Yo' kin put a little bit in de cookin' an' control 'im - put it in de cookin'. An' yo' kin put some in yore bathwatah. Dat makes 'im stay home.
(Some of that urine - chamber lye?)
Yes. Make him stick tuh yo' an' he won't leave yo'. Mix it up yo' know.
Entry 4129
Yo' kin take yore chambah watah an' put it in a little bit of watah. Jis' lak someone comin' to yore house dat chew think a lot of an' wants dem tuh love yo', yo' take dat an' put it in a little watah an' stir it up - not put enough in dere dat dey kin tell it. An' jis' keep doin' dat an' dey'll come to de place dat dey'll think a lot of yo'.
Entry 4493
Dey'll take dat watah dat yuh bath in an' dey'll take an' put dat watah in a bottle. Well, dey gon'a git chew. Like if yuh take a bath an' yuh wantsme, don' take dat watah an' [throw it away]. Den yuh put dat watah in a bottle an' evah ah come an' ask yuh fer a bottle of watah, drink of watah, yuh'll give dat watah [to me]. An' den dat'll make mah 'fluence [feelings] go towards yuh.
Entry 4857
Well, now in a case like dat, if yuh like any woman an' she doesn't like yuh, yuh have tuh - some case yuh have tuh. Perhaps yuh kin invite her out tuh lunch or perhaps yuh kin fin' some rea- son tuh bring 'er tuh yore home. An' some of yore clothes yuh wear, yuh wash it jis' as clean as it kin be laundryed [laundered], an' put some in de tea or somepin tuh drink. She drink dat an' yuh can't git rid of 'er.
Entry 5088
Yuh kin [take] yore shoes an' yuh kin put alcohol in yore shoes an' wrench [rinse] it roun' in yore shoes. Yuh kin take dat alcohol out an' yuh kin po' it into any kinda drink an' give tuh a person. Well see, when yuh take dat alcohol an' po' it intuh any kinda drink an' give tuh a person, why dat'll give him den - his mind, he'll lose his mind. HIS MIND GONE FROM 'IM RIGHT STRAIGHT.
Entry 5880
Dey say dey take three strand of yore hair an' dey would put dat in a piece of brown papah [for the black victim]. Dey would wrap some white bread Wit a piece of candy dat wus made up of coconut [sweets to entice victim's spir- it.] Dis thing is all wrapped togethah, [with] dis thread, an' den it would be cast behin' somepin dat wouldn't move, lak a piano, or some of dose thin's. Den fer nine mawnin's yo' go to dis place an' make a wish ovah dis thin', an' it would prob'ly make yo' suffah wit headaches, or prob'ly make yo' lose yore nid. Worry yo' so - evahthin' would worry, yo' jes' git vor- ried all de tlme. Dat is a thin' what dey clain Would do dat to yo' - wit chure hair.
Entry 5884
Yo' kin git de hair out de mole of de haid an' yo' kin weah or eithah yo' kin put it in somepin tuh drink an' yo' got 'im dere. An' yo' kin jes' have him plumb crazy [about you].
Entry 6173
Take de hairs from underneath yore arm an' de haid - yo' know, undah yore clothes down dere, an' wash yore feet. An' yo' know, sometime yo' don't wash yore feet in a long time, dere be lots of ole dead skin on it, yo' know, an' yo' kin take an' scrape dat off. An' den yo' kin take dis watah yo' see an' put it in sompin. A woman had mah brothah fixed lak dat. AN' AH PROMISED DE LORD AH'D NEVAH FIX A MAN NO HAY. IF ONE DON'T WANT ME, AH DON' WANT 'IM. So she had mah brothah fixed jes' lak dat - she had 'im fixed up jes' lak dat.
Entry 6378
Yo' soak yore feet an' den yo' git a knife an' scrape dat skin off - some of dat dead skin. Make it up an' put it in sompin tuh drink. Nachurally ef yo' drink tea, put it in yore tea or in coffee. An' take yore fingahnails an' toenails an' parch dem an' beat dem up an' put it in coffee or tea. An' wash undah yuh arm an' put dat in de tea. Dat vill make 'em love yuh, make dem real jealous of yo', too. An' ef yo' don't min' 'en, make 'em kill yo'.
Entry 6396
Well, yo' take a person fingahnail an' yo' cut dem. Dat's fo' love.
(Just how would you do that?)
Yo' trim yore fingahnails. Yo' take an' bake dem an' den yo' take an' beat 'em up tuh a powdah. When yo' feed a person yo' sprinkle dat in dat meal, see, an' dey'll love yo'. An' den ag'in yo'll take - wash yore feet real clean an' scrape de dirt from de hollah of yore foot. An' yo' put dat in de food, an' dat'll make dem love yo'.
Entry 6448
Yo' cuts yore fingahnails an' yore toenails evah Monday or evah Friday, until yo' git a tablespoonful of it, an' den yo' take dat an' put it in whiskey. Dat's makin' yo' love me, see. Put dat in whiskey. An' den yo' put so much of dat - ah would - in yore coffee or yore tea an' let chew drink off it. Or yo' kin git it in dat powdah an' sprinkle on yore food, an' yo' eat it. (But you must cut these fingernails and toenails on Friday or Monday.)
Entry 6461
(No, no, go ahead.)
Well, tuh make a man stay wit chew. Yo' cut all de side of yuh fingahnails an' yuh toenails, hairs undah yuh arms, hairs from yuh head, undah dere, an' yo' parch it brown, brown, lak de dust. When, if he drinks coffee, yo' put it in de coffee. If he don't, well yo' take it an' yo'll make it brown jis' lak it wuz black peppah. An' yo'll take it an' yo'll sprinkle it all ovah 'is fish, an' yo'll give it tuh 'em. Well, he'll come tuh lak yo' an' he'll love yuh.
Entry 6464
Trim de toenails, dat's if yo' wanta keep 'em. De toenails, put 'em in a pan an' put 'em on de stove an' let 'em cook jis' lak yo' gon'a brown 'em see, till dey git brittle SO yo' kin take yo' some an' pow- dah dem up. Yo' don' wanta kill dem. Yo' put dat in dere coffee an' let dat dissolve. Take 'bout dis much, see, an' put it in dey coffee. Mos' likely dey drink dat. Dey's hoodooed.
(You just use the toenails?)
No.
(Both the toenails and the fingernails?)
Yes, jis' three times.
(You put it in there three times?)
Yes. Dey won' go nowhere.
(That holds them.)
Entry 6494
Dat would make yo' painful. Yo' scrape dat off de bottom of a person's feet an' den put it in a glass - in a drinkin' glass. Jis' put it in a drinkin' glass an' put 17 drops of kerosene on it. Put 17 drops of kerosene on it, a pinch of sulphuh - jis' lak yo' put a pinch up lak dat, of sulphuh. An' git some borax - take a level teaspoonful of borax an' put in dere. An' jis' let it set up.
(Where?)
Jis' let it set somewhere in a dark place lak up in de loft of de house or in a closet where nobody nevah visit at. An' it will dry out de marrah in 'is arms.
Entry 6500
Dey scrape it offen de feet an' den dey take dem fingahnails, dey trim dose, an' dey git de dirt off de toenails, from undah de toenails an' undah de feet, an' put all dat tuhgethah an' powdah dat up an' dry it. Den when dey git dat powdah up, dey put dat in a bottle. Dat's when yo' want 'em tuh love yuh an' yo' can't do 'em no harm. Yo' put dat in a bottle an' den yo' fill dat bottle wit chure urinate wit dat stuff, an' let it sit dere nine days befo' dey use it. Den aftah de nine days whenevah dey fix yo' a meal or anythin' lak dat tuh eat, or anythin' tuh drink, dey will put a teaspoonful of dat in there fo' yo'. Well, den dat gits chew jis' dey way. Gits yuh down undah dere foot an' yo' can't do no mo' den dey wan' chew tuh do.
Entry 6505
When yo' go intuh a bath, yo' wash yore feet good an' clean, an' den yo' wash 'em ovah a'gin, an' yo' take dat watah an' yo' put dat intuh coffee or sompin lak dat fo' de person tuh drink.
(What will that do?)
Dat keeps 'em, keep 'em lak yo' want 'em tuh be, yo' know, roun' yo' or sompin lak dat.
Entry 6532
Goin' tuh a red ants' bed - jis' like yo' wanta put ants intuh some- body. Dat will jis' eat 'em up. Jis' git dem antses an' take 'em outa dere an' put 'em in anything dat dey'll parch up tuh a dust. Put 'em in dere live an' put 'em where dey'll parch up tuh a dust. An' git de Bible an' read de 37th Psalms while it's parchin', an' take it out. An' anything yo' put dat intuh, if dey nuse [use] it, drink it or eat it or anything, why dem ants will come alive in dem - jis' eat 'em up. [Why Psalm 37 should be used, I do not know.]
Entry 6534
Ah heard dat dey could take a dozen [12] red ants an' cook dem an' put 'em in a package. An' git dat package tuh a person an' saturate dat package in anything dat he might drink. An' dat would cuz 'im tuh swell up an' give him a' interternal [= internal] disease.
(In other words you would use this in the liquor.)
Entry 6536
Yo' take dis bat an' put 'im in bucket or box or somepin an' let 'im dry - jis' perish tuh death. Den yo' take an' if it's a person dat chew wish tuh harm, yo' feed 'em dat dust in some of dat food or watah dat dey have tuh drink, an' it'll cuz a person tuh have live things in 'em.
(What kind of live things?)
Bugs. [Bats are supposed to be full of bugs - see FACI, 1841, p.83, 1st ed.; 2007, p.78, 2nd ed.]
Entry 6573
Yo' take a lizard or a salamandah or anything lak dat - yo' take a lizard now. Ef a person take him an' ketch 'im an' kill 'im, yo' take him den an' yo' let 'im dry up. Well, aftah he dry up, yo' take him an' pound 'im up an' put 'im in anything, an' aftah while he'll grow. Jis' lak yo' put 'im in watah or sompin tuh eat, an' a person eat it, git it in 'em. He'll grow an' in a very short while he'll be runnin' all through 'is flesh.
Entry 6656
Whilst doin' dat, somebody gota go tuh de country an' git a he an' a she moccasin snake.
(Moccasin snake?)
Moccasin snake an' lays 'em head tuh tails, puts 'em down undah - buries 'em in de north cornah.
(North corner of what?)
Of de fence - right down undah de fence, undah a sill lak dis an' den...:
(Do they bury this under a sill or under a fence out in the yard?)
Out in de yard. It's nobody dat knows it dere but dem. It lays dere nine mawnin's an' dey'll begin to molt. Yo' go dere de nex' nine mawnin's an' turn 'em ovah, an' let 'em lay dere anothah nine mawnin's. After dat is ovah, dem nine maw- nin's, evah time dey touch 'em dey makes a oath. Dey goes dere den an' gits de snakes an' cuts de head off an' puts dem heads tuhgethah an' put 'em up ovah de do'sill an' let 'em dry - make an oath - lay 'em up there an' let 'em dry. Then they gets dry good, they crumbles them up right fine an' gets a powder - beats 'em up fine. Then they take 'em an' put 'em in a bag. Well, enybody they want, they go an' gets de dust of de snake head an' sprinkle it in whatever they gives 'em - they gives a party of some kind, an' they wants to go tuh, they gives it to 'em in somethin' to drink.
(What will that do to them then?)
Kill'em. [Richmond, Va., (?), 380:2. A similar method for killing with graveyard dirt is given by same informant in 300: l&3.]
Entry 6709
Dey tell me dat if a woman wants tuh take de uppah han's [hands] of a gan an' take him in, dat chew [the woman] kin draw de blood from a' animal an put it in any kinda thing he eat or in 'is whiskey - jis' so long as yo' git it inside a him - an' dey have de upperturns of yo' in any way dey intend tuh do it. De only way dat yo' kin git loose from dat, whut ah learnt, jis' take somepin an' strike where yo' kin draw de blood from dem [the woman]. See, den yo' kin git loose from dat.
(They use the blood from any kind of an animal?)
Any creepin' animal [so that the man will creep or crawl at her command].
Entry 7049
(How do you do that?)
Yo' kin even make 'em stop drinkin' whiskey.
(How do you do that?)
Now, yo' know a man dat drinks whiskey. Yo' take a man dat's a heavy whiskey drinkah, when he comes home, if he drink anythin' lak coffee or tea, or anythin' lak dat. Yo' go tuh 'is shoes, when he come in at night, an' take any dust - some dust off of one of 'is shoes. See, yo' jis' take de dust off of any shoe yo' git off of 'is foot. An' take dat dust an' powdah it. Powdah it up good an' fold it in a piece of paper, an' let 'im sleep wit dat undah 'is pillow. Evah time he come, whethah he come in sobah or come in drunk, take it away where - wrap dat good an' put it undah 'is pillah, an' let it stay undah 'is pillah fo' nine days. An' aftah it stay undah 'is pillah fo' nine days, yo' take it an' take dat same dust an' po' it intuh any drink dat he drinks - whiskey or gin or anythin' an' dissolve it an' mix it well. Jis' drop it in, jis' a li'le particle of dust on dere, from any one of 'is shoes. An' let 'im sleep wit dat undah 'is head fo' nine days, an' po' it in 'is drink. An' ah'll bet if yo' continue doin' dat - if dat don't give him de natchal [natu- ral] effect de firs' time, use it on 'im ag'in. An' ah'll bet dat he'll - it'll stop 'im from drinkin'.
Entry 7776
Once ah wuz goin' wit anothah woman - me an' anothah fellah wuz goin' yit de same girl an' we didn't know anything about it. An' she tole anothah girl dat me an' 'im, dat we wuz both ma'ied [married] an' she wuz goin' kill both of us befo' three days. Well, we went on back an' wuzn't pay- in' any 'tenshun an' she fixed a pint of whiskey up an' sont [sent] fo' me a' 'im tuh come an' git some of it. So den de fellah come on an' got de whiskey a' tried tuh git me tuh go an' ah didn't care tuh go. An' he went an' got an caken a drink of de whiskey. He taken sick an' he lived three days aftah dat. An' she tole 'im, when she got through wit 'im, she taken some of 'is hair out from off de left side of 'is haid an' put it in some whiskey an' got some grave- Yard dirt an' went to a place where dere wuz a dead snake, an' got some of 'is womes an' grin' hit up real fine an' put it in de whiskey. An' he drinken [drank] dat an' he died in three days.
Entry 8030
Well, yo' have tuh grind dat up, grind de bone of de dead man up. An' perhaps dey might put it intuh yuh food or perhaps yo' may drink. Why jis' grind it up fine or jis' take a hammah or sompin lak dat an' beat it up - put it in a rag an' beat it up fine, yo' know, jis' lak flour on somepin. An' put it intuh yuh food or jis' put it intuh whiskey yo' drink or soft drink or anything lak dat an' yo' drink it down. Why dat would give yo stomic trouble. De balance of yuh days yuh stomic will nevah be no good tuh yo'. Keep yo' in lingahin' death.
(What do they call that?)
Suffahin' a man.
Entry 8402
Well, dey kin run yuh crazy, or kill yuh, or make yuh git down sick, eithah.
(How do they do that?)
Dey take dat photograph an' git chew a saucah an' fill it about half full of vinegah, an' turn dat photograph down on de face in dat vinegah, an' take yo' a drinkin' glass an' set ovah it, an' let it set dere. An' when de vinegah eat all dat, yuh future [features] out of dat photograph, why yo' go crazy. Dey keep dat glass ovah it tuh keep de air from hittin' it. Yo' see, yo' can't let de air git in dere.
Entry 8980
Now if yo' go before de iudge, de judge goin' to discharge yo', ac- cording to what kind of case, yo' know, yo'll have. Well, if yo' got people against yo', yo' know, an' yo' don't want to have dem part of de jury. Yo' going before de judge, like if it's a criminal case, yo' know, yo' got to have de jury. Yo' see, dey have [a panel of] 75 jurors [to select jurors from]. Well, yo' don't know what people [will be on the jury]. They don't pick out but twelve. Now, yo' don't know what twelve dey going to pick out. Dat makes yo' gotta use de whole panel. Yo' see, ah [in my work] done use 'em all.[ Well, now, de person - what jurors is against yo'. Yo' go an' get yo' a beef tongue, a fresh beef tongue. Pay odd money fo' it, not even money - 25 or 35 cents or somepin like dat. Let de money be odd money. An' yo' go an' take dat tongue an' yo' get these peoples names what is against yo', what done harm yo', don't yo' see or what yo' done harm. Yo'll take dat tongue, yo'll write de names on a piece of papah, an' yo'll write all dem jurymen's names, de dis- trict attorney.
(The whole 75 of those names?)
Yeah, just put de whole 75. Yo' have to use de 75, because outa dem yo' get twelve.
(I see. All right.)
Now, yo' get de district attorney what is de man to prosecute yo'. Yo'll get his name an' put it on dere, but not de judge in dat part. An' yo'll -git yo' dat tongue. Yo' get yo' nine needles an' nine pins. Yo'll get yo' dese people names an' yo'll put down on dere an' yo'll put dat down in de throat of dat tongue. Yo'll take dat tongue an' yo'll hang it up in de chimney. An' den aftah dat, yo'll take an' git yo' some watah an' yo'll get yo' some peppah. Yo' git yo some coarse snuff an' yo'll burn a - light a candle.
(Coarse snuff?)
Coarse snuff, dat coarse snuff; not dat in a box. An' yo'll light dat candle an' yo'll put it.in dere. Now, yo' want to come clear an' yo' want de judge to be lenient wit yo', so yo' take de judge's name. An' yo'll take de judge ame, den yo'll git yo' a block of ice, 'bout fifty pounds of ice. Yo' put it in a little pail an' yo'll sweeten it. Den yo'll light de candle, but yo'll light it straight up [the candle will be standing upl. An' den yo' see, sweeten de judge. But this othah part what yo' do, yo' take an' yo' put de candle - yo' turn 'em upside down, yo' get dat coarse snuff an' all dat, an' put in dere. Well dat make de district attorney be fightin' against dem. An' de people, what he got fo' witness, goin' to speak against yo'. Anything dey drink, perhaps dey drink whiskey. Some might drink gin or somepin like dat. Well yo'll get dat [liquor] an' yo' put dere name an' set yo' a little glass. An' put dat candle on dat [name and liquor in the glass] an' ah'll guarantee every one of 'em will go to court drunk. An' yo'll come out clear 'cause dey'll be drunk. Dey won't know what they're sayin'. They'll be lying backwards and forwards.
(What'll that ice do?)
Well, yo' see, de ice, dat's to cool, dat's fo' yore part. De ice makes yo' cool. Yo' know ice makes yo' cool. [Usually ice freezes apponent's tongue.] Well, de judge won't be fiery wit yo'. See, he'll be cool an' calm. But on dis othah side, yo' get dat snuff an' yo' put dem names in dere an' yo' get dat beef tongue. Yo' put dem things in dere an' shove dat tongue, all down in de throat, an' just hang dat tongue up an' den yo'll see. Yo'll see an' dey'll be lyin' an' dey'll be drunk. Just what dey drink, yo' set dat candle in dere [in the glass]. An' dey'll be lyin' an' dey won't say a thing against yo'. What color...just what candles you select. Don't try de black candles.
(Anything but black?)
But black candles.
(How many do you burn?)
Yo' burn - see, if dere's five people, yo' put five candles. An' if it's three, yo' put three; just accordin' to how many is against yo', yo' put dem many candles. An' den what they drink, yo' get a little glass, just what fit de candle an' put dat [liquor] in dere, an' ah'll guarantee yo' every one will be drunk.
Entry 9915
"To take off spell - boil frog - bathe down - then mix some water with this and let patient drink it."
Entry 9921
Take a frog's blood an' squeeze it in somepin [to eat or drink] an' give it tuh yuh an' dere came de live frogs in yuh.
Entry 9925
Take a toadfrog an' squeeze him an' take his watah [urine] out of 'im, if a person yo' don't like, see. Squeeze him till yo' git 'is watah outa him. An' when yo' git 'is watah outa 'im, take a li'l blue- stone an' mix it up wit dat toadfrog watah, an' add some of yore watah [urine] tuh it. It will cause de person tuh swell up. Yo' give it tuh 'em in a drink or somepin, dey'll swell up an' bust.
Entry 9936
Lak a frog or a fish dat dries. It must be dried intuh a dust. De frog killed an' let it go tuh a dust an' kin put dat intuh people an' it be a frog. Give it tuh 'em in dey food or drink. (Is there any way of getting those out?) Well, ah don't know.
Entry 9940
Dey take de frog an' parch it up - kill it an' parch it. Save some of de blood an' den yo' parch de frog an' grind it up, an' put dat blood back in it an' put it in watah [to drink] or put it in yore food. But dey have sulphuh in it - sulphuh an' brim- Stone in dis frog wit de blood. An' dey put it in yuh food or in yuh water [you brink] or somepin othah, or whiskey or somepin, an' give it tuh yuh an' dat would Huyuh.
(What would that stuff do when it got inside of you?)
It would eat on yuh intestines an' eat all de linin' out chore stahmuck an' yuh intestines, an' kill yuh.
Entry 10176
A bird's nest - a person can take some of your hair and put it in that bird's nest, you see. And take some of that bird's feathers and put that in there and then take your hair and put it in there. And then every, every morn- ing they take and set a light [candle] right in there [the nest] but not burn the nest. Just take that light and set that light in there [in a drinking glass]. And if they want to do you harm, get you some coarse snuff [often leaf of dried tobacco rubbed in hands] some hot pepper [sauce] and put it in there. And burn a light on it for nine mornings - you see, one hour for [each] nine days.
Entry 10194
[Informant has a good rite here but fails to explain it.]
Write that name down and put a glass of water - write that name down over a glass of water nine times. Then put that glass of water before dat, put the... Now, I take and I put that glass of water there over that paper and take three swallows out of that glass of water nine mornings [see correction lat- er.] (Drink that water for nine morn- ings.) For nine mornings take three swal- lows out of that glass of water - I mean for three mornings. You take nine swallows out of that glass three mornings. Do that for three mornings. Den after you do dat for three mornings, get you a blue candle and let it burn right over dat man name. Don't you worry about him.
(After you burn that candle over his name.)
[I am merely making a comment to myself.]
What?
(I say, all right, go ahead.)
Well, you just - like I explain. Like you burning that candle over his name, perhaps you don't want the man - you don't wanta see him. You drink three swal- lows of water out of there for three days!!! That keep him away. See you drink three swallows each three time a day, twice in the day, and three [the third] at night. That'll be nine swallows. You take those glasses of water. Then you... see, like you agreein' with him, see you drinkin' with him. Then, you put your candle there and let it burn. Set that candle there and let it burn there.
(What will that do then?)
Well, he can't come there.
(The law can't come there?)
Yes.
(You write the policeman's name down on that piece of paper.)
Shore. (Well, how do you burn that candle? Do you put the candle down in the glass to burn?)
[The shaky answer is according to my following comment.]
(You take the glass away and put the candle on the name?)
That's what you do.
(Long as that candle burns, it keeps him away?)
Shoh, he keeps away, too.
Entry 10712
Ah heard dey tke, not de egg, dey take where a bird sit at in dat nest an' take some of de trash out of dat.
(The manure.)
Yes sir, an' put it in dat, an' yo' can't stay nowhere.
(Put it where?)
Put it in whiskey or tea or coffee, an' give yo' wandering mind.
(That gives you a wandering mind.)
Entry 10738
Fo' nine mawnin's jes' drop it - jes' drop it in dere fo' nine mawn- in's.
(You save this [menstrual] blood for nine mornings?)
Fo' nine mawnin's. An' if ah wanta gain de influence of yo' mo' den whut chew is [interested] in me, ah'll cook yo' a pie, or, [if you are] a customer or sompin or [put it in] whiskey. Buy yo' a bottle of whiskey. Ah'll make it closer, an' drop it in dere - nine drops. [That statement of aine Ne in the parenthesis show I did not understand this rite at the time. My comment about informant later may ea- plain why: This woman was so long-winded she almost drove me crazy. Bnd of 1526. Not a very Christian remark about someone trying to help me, but at least it shous some of the tension under which I worked.]
Entry 10740
Yes, ah knowed a young man 'cause he wuz goin' with me. His name wuz Joe. He wuz married to her but he didn't love her. He tole me he didn't. An' afterward [after his wife fed him these things] he said he loved her a lot bettah. An' he did have her, 'cause she fed him all de time offa dat - de periods. An' he caught her at it an' he tole me of it. An' he said dat he learned tuh hate her; yo' know, couldn't have no love fo' her.
Entry 10832
And then you take a card, playing cards, you see; you know, like you [picture of man: jack or king].
(Playing cards?)
Yes. Well, you take him out and you'll turn him up behind your bed, you understand.
(Behind your bed, yes.)
Behind de head of your bed on de same side that you [man] sleeps. Now, this is a woman fer a man, and then on de other side, he kin do de woman de same way, you see [he uses female card]. And you'll put it there and then you'll take a broom what you have never swept with. I mean a new broom. You git nine straws out of that. And then you'll talk to him every morning. Everything you eat, you feed him and says good things about him. Don't say anything harsh. And he'll be compelled to come home to you.
(What card do you take out of that deck?)
Take de card that run for you.
(Oh, you have to run the cards?)
Yeah, now like you might run a spade. You might run a diamond. You might run a heart. You might run in a jack and you might run in a king, you see.
(I see.)
Well, you take de card that run for you.
(And you put that up behind your bed - upside down, you say?)
Oh, no! Don't turn dat upside down. You nail it behind your bed. Like I lays on de right side of de bed, well, you nail it on de right side of de bed.
(Behind the bed?)
Yeah, behind de bed, out of search from everyone. No one knows it but you. You do that to yourself. No one sees it.
(Is the face against the bed or the face out?)
The face is out. No, the face is out. The back of de card is against de bed. And you feed that with everything that you eat. Even now, like you would get water - just like you was really feeding him sure enuff. And you talks sweet things - like you 'pologizing, you know.
(I see, to this card?)
Yeah, to that card, for ninr mornings and he will be forced to come back. As to the woman [if a man is working this rite] she'll be forced to come back.
Entry 10851
You take buzzard manure an' then you put that into calf-manure. Some- time he [a professional worker] say sheep shed [manure] - well, it's the same thing [a manure] - an' that, he gon'a give that to somel body in a drink. An' he put half of this, den fill that glass up with [alcoholic] liquor an' give that to a person to drink. That'll make 'em act jis' like a buzzard, flop an' care [carry] on like a buzzard. [Calf manure makes him childish; sheep shed, timid and simple-minded.]
Entry 10891
Yo' kin put cat hair in a person's whiskey or coffee or tea or somepin lak dat an' dey'll begin tuh have fits an' act lak a cat or somepin. Den too, yo' kin take dog hair an' do de same thing, an' de dog hair git in it [drink] an' it'll run yo' crazy.
Entry 10970
Take a aig an' boil it, cut it half in two, an' take de yelloo part out an' fill that up with salt, an' take it an' eat it without drintdn'gyatah at all. An' ask to see de man dat chure goin' tuh marry or the w yo goin' tuh marry, an' yo'll see 'em when yo' drink dat watah. [You vill see the that night in a dream. This is ordinary folklore. I have included it bere becamse divination is part of a hoo- doo or root doctor's work. He or she might offer this advice to a client.] [Fay- etteville, N. Car., 2572:16.]
Entry 11022
Well, yo' take those chicken feathers - you know, jest like you take 'em and burn 'em. Put 'em in a piece of tin and burn 'em, and then take the ashes from 'em and you know - burn 'em, don't put much [feathers], jest put a [few] after you dry 'em and - they jest look like powder. Then you put it in the water and drink off it and make yo' franzy. You know, you hear of people being franzy, yo' know. Makes you franzy-minded. Not criticize, you know what ah mean. [Unknown to informant this could be a black chicken feathers rite, or black feather could have been mentioned before recording began.
Entry 11301
Ah heard dat chew could git de blood from a dog, a black dog. Jes' git his blood from him an' put it into - jes' lak ah git de dog's blood, see, an' put it into yore coffee whut chew drink, or water, anything yo' drink. Let yo' drink it an', well, yo' have a dog in yo'. Most everything yo' eat will make yo' sick on de stomic.
Entry 11335
"Bout takin' de mo'rnin' dove [= turtledove] an' takin' his heart out, dat's fo' fixin' somebody. Yo' know, fixin' 'em in any kinda way dat chew wanta, so dey mindless. Dey take de heart out of a mo'rn- in' dove an' have it parched up until it jes' be like ashes or a powder, anythin'. An' say yo' kin take dat an' put dat intuh any watah or anythin' dey use tuh drink, or anythin' dat chew Wanta put it in, an' from time tuh time after yo' give it tuh 'em in de weeks dat dey live, dat dey would be jes' mindless or go jes' crazy.
Entry 11377
Yo' know, during when de figs is green, dey have a little white sompin dat chew kin mash up. An', if yo's in love - lovin' someone an' she wus treatin' yo' so jes' like yo' wanted tuh git out, quit lovin' her or sompin - dey claim yo' take two of dose figs an' squeeze. Don't git de seeds, jes' git all dat milk out an drink it with yore milk an' all, an' along - along gradually she'll come to leave yore mind. Jes' like yo' have yore mind set on somepin, yo' can't think of any- thing else but dat. An' dey claim dat dat'll settle it. Dat's whut ah hear de ole people say. Ah've nevah tried it.
Entry 11639
You take the fish, you take the front part of his mouth and let it dry - dry good, perfect. And then maybe when yo're [yo'll?] be goin', it will come apt to be some kind of a rain, or somepin other like that. Then if you kin get [it] into the water where the woman drinks, uhen you [she] will come to love you too. The front part of his mouth, you know, iis' take the front part, that ring around his mouth. [Probably demonstrates by ruing a finger around the mouth.]
(Part of the upper and lower jaw there.)
Yea, that whole thing - jis' like that. And take it out, and then you let that dry. You put that away and let that dry. Then [put it into] the water that a woman drinks. Then you make wishes over that, you understand. Or any- thing that she drinks or eats, why then you use that fish mouth over that. Then she will come to love, too.
Entry 11856
To make the man stay home, you takes a piece of the strand of the hair right in the mole of the head, and get you two copper cents - but let it be two women's faces.
(Two pennies that have a woman on them. All right.)
And take the strand of the hair and then put it in between the women's faces. You get a piece of string or thread [demonstrates].
(You place these two pennies face to face.)
Face to face.
(And put that hair between them. All right.)
And then you wind the thread all around it until it holds together. Then you take a bag and you put it in a little bag with your name and his name in there, wrapped up in a single. paper, and every time you take a drink, you gotta give it something to drink. [There are a number of these rites in HOODOO of- fering food or drink or both to absent person.] (Water or liquor?)
Entry 12324
Yo' could use de strucken wood, de wood where it strucken by lightnin', an' dey said dat dey use it on a person an' dey said dat dis person will soon die.
(How would you use it on a person?)
Well, jes' go tuh work an' make a tea an' put de tea tuh de bread, from de same wood. Jes' take it an' put it in a pot an' boil it, an' give de person de tea. Or eithah jes' mix it in whatsomevah dey eat. From lightnin'-strucken [wood]. (Well, what about burning the wood. Did you say something would happen about that?) If dey burn de wood, de person will soon die.
(Who Would soon die?)
Whosomevah goes tuh work an' use de wood. Well, if dey use it In de Name of de Lord, dey couldn't take it, dey say. But yo' kin use it fo' whut chew wanta use it fo'.
Entry 12736
Well yo' know dese little rats [mice?] be's in de house. Well, yo' git one of dose an' buy yo' some mo' whiskey, see. Jes' git half a pint or a pint, but put it in jah where yo' kin put dat rat in it, see. Put him in dere 'live an' shet it down an' set it in a cornah till dat rat drown, see. An' yo' git all his strength in dat whiskey. Yo' take dat rat out an' throw him away or eithah barn him up in de fireplace. It would be best fo' yo' tuh burn him up, see. Den yo' take dat whiskey - don't strain it or nuthin, jes' put it back in a pint bottle, see. See, jes' lak yo' ole lady come in, see, an' she wanta drink, she say, "Well, yo' know ah so wished ah had a drink." Yo' say, "Ah think d've got a little drink." Yo' still continually give her a drink out of dat. Hit'll make hah sick but when she git bettah of dat sickness, she won't nevah Ak anothah drink of whiskey.
Entry 12890
You kin take three mens.
(What?)
Mens, like you and I.
(Oh, take three men. Yes?)
Three men and in between these men you can just say that you wanta take one of them mens as a trap. You wanta take this man here and trap these two men. Well, you kin give that man there anything that you wanta eat [or drink]. Take a bottle of whiskey that's never been used and you take your hand and play with yourself until you discharge. [Human semen is common in HOODOO.] You put it in this whiskey and you stop it up and you turn that down like that and leave it for nine days.
(So that it is leaning against something?)
Yes, in the corner of the house - in the left hand corner of the house. [This is a cornering rite, very common. The left-hand corner is to the left as you enter house or room.]
(All right.)
All right, in 9 days you take this whiskey up. At 9 o'clock you meet this party and you ask him if he wants a drink. You gotta be sure that he do's drink, and you take some and give it to him. And then you leave him with the bottle. They drink it all up. Whatever they do with it, you see 'em drink some before you leave 'em. If they got one or two men, they'll finely wean away from them men and crave to you.
(You do this to a woman?)
Yes.
Entry 12896
Now, if you want to divorce her - if you want to break this up - if you get on to [suspect] her - you are suspicious. [If you suspect she had you tied up, has made you sexually impotent.] Jis' go on, put you on you some clean socks, walk on to a beer joint - some place. (To a beer joint?) Yeah. Get you a bottle of beer and go on walking. Walk far enough where you begin to perspire and when your feet get hot and you perspire, stop and sit down. Take the left shoe off. Pour this bottle of beer in that left shoe. Drink the beer out of the shoe instead of the bottle. Close the bottle. Stand this way [demonstrates] and turn your hands [this way] and throw it [bottle] straight out in front of you, with your wish [that your impotence leaves]. It [potency] comes back again.
(I see.)
Yes, all the affection is taken away from her. (I see. Take this beer bottle in the left hand, then, you bring it around to the back of your neck.) Yes, that's right. And take that [bottle] in your right hand and throw right directly in front of you.)
(I see. And that breaks the spell of that string around her waist.)
Sure. Yes, sir. [My preceding comment is a good example of my using in- formation informant had given before researching began. Woman had "tied him up by measuring him with a string and tying it about her waist.]
(It should do it?)
Sure. I've seen it do it.
(I see, I see.) [The wish is the power!]
Entry 12932
Ah knows dat's all right about de shoes. Jes' say if yo' an' a woman wus in love tuhgether, an' by some means dat chew think dat dis woman is not de right woman fo' yo', an' yo' wants tuh git loose from her, yo' put on yore shoes an' jes' git out an' valk. Walk fast. Yo' know dat chure feet will perspire but not smelly. Pull den shoe off an' po' some wine in 'em an' drink dat wine. Dat'll separate yo' an' her. [For another drinking-out-of-shoe rite, see 12896, p.4412.
Entry 12988
Yo' could take a lizard or a snake or a frog or anything like dat an' Perish it tuh death. Jes' put it in a can or sompin, yo' know, an' let 'im die. Sell, when he die yo' could, yo' know dry it up. Yo' could make a powder out of hin like dat. Well, den if yo' kin git dat in anybody's food, he gonna have dem Live things in 'im - hit'll come back tuh life. Yo' see, dey grow. Well, not de thing dey is tuh git dat out of him - jes' say, if yo' put it in 'im or anybody else put it in 'im, an' dey come tuh yo' [author become a root doctor] fo' tuh git it out of 'im, yo' git chew a silver piece of money. An' yo' wash dis heah, every edge, if yo' use a dime or a quarter or fifty-cent [piece] or anything. Let it be solid silver. An' hit every edge dat dey is round dere. Well yo' give him dat silver [intern- ally] an' dat silver will git dat out of 'im. Hit'll take every bit of dat poison out of 'im.
(You have to hit every edge. With what?)
Yes sir, hit every edge [of the milled coin] with a file. Git chew a brand- new file dat has nevah been used an' yo' hit every edge - jes' a little grated silvah an' [and you give it internally to your patient poisoned by lizard, snake or frog].
Entry 13068
If you wanta kill a person, yo' gits de snail an' gits him out of his hull [shell] yo' see. An' yo' kin take yo' some whiskey an' put dat snail in dere - in dat whiskey, lak yo' would put it in a half pint of whiskey. Let dat snail set in dere twenty-fo' hours in dat whiskey - ah mean, take dat snail outa dere an' strain yore whis- key. An' anybody dat yo' give it to, dat chew want 'em - if yo' wanta kill any- one, say, "Come on have a drink wit me, " an' yo' po' it out an' dey drink it. Dat settles it.
Entry 13095
Kin put different things in it to cause yo' feet tuh swell, such as rattlesnake's - take de haid of a rattlesnake an' go out dere an' dry it in a sack yo' know an' take dat dust - dat aw- ful poison yo' know - jes' a little bit of dat. Dat's de same way as dey do tuh kill yo' - right through dis country. Dey'll take dat rattlesnake haid an' dry it yo' know an' git a dust an' lak yo' vanted a drink, dey'd be standin' aroun' an' yo' happen tuh po' de likker out, dey drop de least bit of dat in dere, yo' know. Dat's rank poison. Yo' drink dat whiskey an' it kill yo' an' it hardly kin be detected. Or dey put dat in yore shoes an' cause yore feet tuh swell.
Entry 13225
Lak ah wus yore cook an' ah wanted tuh gain influence wit chew some way, ah would fix yore coffee or yore tea, or yore ice cream an' spit in it. Yo' gotta do dat nine times. Yo' go ahead, yo' done drink it. Yo' don't know whut ah'm doin' an' when yo' do, dat'll give me de influence of yo'.
Entry 13329
You go out here an' git this trumpet root. That's a root that grows - it don't grow now'ere roun' here. It grows in the middle of a pond. When you git to that trumpet it's like a bugle. It's about that long [4 feet], it stays green winter an' summer. You take that trumpet root an' you pour some water in it [the flower] from a pump. Nuthin mus' be but de pump. An' take that water an' boil it. Yo' see, yo' boil that trumpet root all together. Well, when yo' git that water, yo' bottle it up an' take a drink. An' take that trumpet an' cut it up, an' put it out there an' let it git dry. Either put it in de stove an' let it dry. Well, yo' powder dat up. Yo' take that then an' yo' go to captain: 'Captain, I'm out of a job an' I wan'a job." Put some that [dust] on yo' [and take a drink of trumpet-root tea before you go] an' yo' got a job.
Entry 1211
When a person is in labor with a baby an' dey don't have de baby, an' it seem dey can't have it, de ole lady dey had dey take de dirt dauber an' jes' throw de nest - de whole business in right hot boilin' watah an' den took it off an' let it steep. An' den give it to de woman an' dat makes de lil' one come right out. Dat's whut ah heard about dirt dauber.
Entry 2364
Ah heard a woman say dat she broke her husban' of drinkin'. While he wus drunk, lay flat on his back [she] urinates in his mouth, an' it made him sick an' aftah dat he didn't drink any mo'.
Entry 6644
Yo' kin kill a rattlesnake. Yo' kin git 'is rattles an' yo' keep it till it dries, an' yo' put it in anythin' fo' a person tuh eat or drink, it will cuz young snakes tuh come in 'em. Or eithah scor- pions. Git de haid of de scorpion an' mash it up yo' know in some dust, an' put it in anythin' dey eat or drink. Why dat'll make young scorpions come in 'em. Rattlesnakes, yo git de rattZe dust.
Entry 11649
You collect 3 things by moonlight: five-finger grass, wild peppermint leaves, and clear water [pure at a spring or well]. You prepare and drink this concoction [by moonlight?] and you can conquer anything. [Memphis, excellent informant, 965:10.]
Entry 12144
You [a woman] kin take some Hearts Cologne and put it under your arms, and put it down in front of you, between your bosom, and drink a little. And talk in their face, in front of de boss, and they say if you don't git it the first morning, keep a goin'. The chances is you'll get a job.
Entry 13117
Dey say yo' kin take a snake an' cut his haid off, an' put him in de sun an' let it dry an' parch it, an' put it into sompin tuh drink, an' dey said dat will create snakes in 'em. [Sumter 2417:4.]
Entry 2000
Dey say, take Hearts Cologne an' rub it in yore han' an' drink it like dat, yo'll have good luck in gambling; but ah nevah haven't tried it, see. (You mean you rub this Hearts Cologne in your hand and then you drink some of it, after you've rubbed your hands. That gives you good luck in gambling. Ye ssuh. [On one of my visits to Savannah, I interviewed a man with a slightly befud- dled mind. Afterwards I heard he was a perfume drinker, having acquired the habit during prohibition.l
Entry 11402
"Scrape the fingernails into the drink...goes into the man's stomic... that ails him...as if you put a slow poison in a person." [New Orleans 1135:7.]
Entry 11403
"They take your fingernails and soak it in whiskey, and you drink it, and it will kill you AS DEAD AS FOUR O'CLOCK." [Fredericksburg, by Ediphone.]
Entry 11423
Scrape fingernails and toenails and drop into drink for love. [Mem- phis 1570:2.]
Entry 13012
"Take a silver dime, if you think somebody is trying to hurt you. Put it in your mouth right under your tongue and you can drink and eat all you want. That dime takes [absorbs] everything." [This must be a unique exper- ience, to keep a silver dime under your tongue while eating and drinking!]
[Mobile 851:2.]
Entry 2657
Well, yo' kin git chew some garlic an' git chew some sulphur an' git chew some sugar. An' turn yore pan jis' befo' de sun rise - set it in yore do', set it afiah. Close all yore do's while it's burnin'. Yo' go out. Den when yo' git it blue wit smoke, open all yore do's an' de people will run ovah heah. Ah don't ca' whut chure doin', dey'll run ovah heah, comin' tuh see whut yo' got tuh drink. It'll draw 'em.
Entry 2674
You know, that's a special way they do that. It's this. You take one woman - she can walk right before us right now. Now, if you don't believe that, you ask people have done tried it and done it. You can take one woman right now and let her walk downstairs and there be fifteen men - she don't necessarily have to be the prettiest woman round here. You all [the southern you all] see this stuff that they call snuff? Take that same stuff, that snuff, but it must be burned. And sit on a man and drink with him and drop it in his drink, and from time to time get up to each one she can and drop it in the drink. And then she get her house advertised from them, them same men that she get, ev'ry time a cus- tomer come in her house. After she drop the snuff in that building, she can just continue from cup to cup, and they say they'll always come back to her house. Only use nothing but ordinary snuff, that people use in the form of tobacco. (Well, she just drops that. But you say she had to burn that first. The snuff should be burnt?) She has to burn it first. The snuff should be burnt.
(And she uses the ashes?)
Use the ashes. You just burn it and use the ashes.
Entry 13023
Boil silver dime and drink in water or milk for body-ailment by cunjure. [Wilmington 189:10+85.]
Entry 13035
As a cure for cunjure or trick, drink 3 times a day a tea made from filed dime, Epsom salts, coal oil [kerosene] and turpentine. [Vicksburg 1010:3.]
Entry 9919
Put frog eggs in food; creates frogs inside. [Mobile, Ala., 945:4]. Tuo drops of frog blood in drink creates frogs in person. Can be cured by sweet milk, saltpeter, and alum. [Mobile, Ala., 920:4]. Starve frog to death, parch head to powder, feed to a person, frogs inside you. [Vicksburg, Miss., 997:3]. Frog burned to powder, mix with graveyard dirt, across enemy's path for bad luck. [Snowhill, Md., from man born and lived early life near Sewanee, Tenn., 9:1].
Entry 76
I know something about spirits getting thirsty and coming and drinking. If you leave a glass of water overnight, don't drink out of it next morning; for they say, when it sets all night, the spirits drinks out of it. Always pour that out and get fresh water for yourself so in order not to drink after the spirit. That's what olden people used to say.
Entry 78
[An alcohol-loving spirit or the alcohol spirit itself has no scruples about assisting with a drinking spell.] Well, it's a lady doesn't stay so far from me. It was a lady liked her hus- band an' she couldn't git him because her husband loved her more than he did her. So she framed up a way to git him away from her. So she goes an' gits some liquor an' she tells dis lady, say, "Come ovah tuh mah house an' have a drink." Co'se dis lady went ovah there an' she had somepin put in there, an' that has been about two - two an' a half years ago. An' so ever since that lady took that drink she got to de place she jest can't stop drinking - drinking - drinking. Wherever she goes [to a doctor], they all tells her that it's a drinking spell's been put on her tuh make her stay drunk to make her husband leave her. An' so she says, "Well, ah kinda thought that be- cause ah knows that ah can't stop drinking - jest drink all de time" - so she asked him [a doctor], say, "Whut kin ah do to stop me from drinking?"
Entry 79
[There is more than one way to cast a drinking spell.]
But ah do know dis fo' a true fact. Yo' kin take a person's photograph - if he nevah drinked a drop of whiskey befo' in his life - an' turn it down ovah a little small glass of whiskey, somepin like a wineglass, an' let it stay there until de whiskey fade dat photograph, an' dat person will drink hisself to death.
(This whiskey must touch the photograph - you must put it right over there?)
No sir - not touch it.
(Just so the fumes will come up?)
Yes sir.
Entry 80
I know a lady at home had a husband who would drink a lots - he stayed drunk all the time. Someone told her if she went out to the graveyard and got some dirt off of a drunkard's grave and sprinkled it in some of his food, that that would cure him. And afterwards she did. It didn't exactly cure him, but it kind of stopped it.
Entry 747
Dey comin' roun' yore home all de time an' yo' can't keep 'em 'way from dere, yo' go out in de woods an' git chew some John de Conker, which an' dat's black snakeroot. An' yo' git chew halfa pint of whiskey an' yo' take dat whiskey an' den put it in dem roots an' steep it. Po' it back in de bottle an' let it set two days. An' after it set ovah two days den yo' po' it out. Yo' strain it an' when yo' po' it out it will be brown - see, white whiskey [moonshine] will turn it brown jes' de same as charred [legal] whiskey [usually called brown ar red whiskey]. An' when dat party's comin' to yore house agin, offer him a drink an' if dey drink dat whiskey why dey ain't coming back no mo'.
(Is John the Conqueror root the same as this black snakeroot?)
Yassuh - it's de same thing. [This is informant's own identification.]
Entry 858
I was goin' to school. It was two girls. Well, I cared for both of 'em but it was one I re'lly liked bettah. De lady's livin' today, the one tha' hurt me. An' she wanted me to marry dis girl because it was her niece, but de other girl I liked her bettah. An' so we were schoolmates. De girl I care more for, well she'd [she was the] one I kep' right up [with] in mah class. An' so afterward it come to pass, the lady, which dis girl was her niece, she sol' wine an' stuff. Well, I liked wine. Well, mah mothah an' her seemed to be purtty good frien's. Why? Becuz she want me to marry her [niece] I reckon, becuz mothah had a little property an' stuff like dat an' I was de only child mah mothah had, you know. So I reckon she t'ought she'd tie me up, but still I loved de othah girl. An' so after school broke up, so de words got out - she says Carrie an' I was gon'a get married. As fer as I could learn, this lady said, "Well, if you don't marry her, why you're not gon'a marry anybody else." "So I was at her house an' should of notice it but I didn't. I didn't notice it. We boys go down dere on Sunday, you know, in de country - you know Sunday's a big time in de country. I goes down there on Sunday an' we run in an' we'd have a little drinks. I nevah did pay fer mine. I didn't pay any 'tention but it seemed very funny. But aftah I got hurt, den I re'lize what had happen I nevah did have to pay fer my drinks. An' it went on fer a period about two mont's. But in de third mont' I commence to drinkin', I begin to go bad - I feel bad. An' so mah mothah called de doctor an' de doctah come an' she ast him what was de mattah with me - which was a country doctor, Dr. Williams, which is livin' today. He did the best he could. [I apologize for my comment at the beginning of No. 646, p.218 - here is the second person to say a kind word about a doctor and his medicine.] An' so it seem like de more his medicine I took de worser I got. So he says to mah mothah one day, he says, "Ida," he says, "I don't know what's de mattah with de boy. I can't do him no good an'," he says, "the best thing tha' I know fer to do, is to send him de hospital." Well, before tha' mothah sent me de hospital, came ole man name of Ole Man Stuckey - he's dead, he's a white fellah called a faith doctor. He came in an' so mothah ast 'im some instruction about mah case. So Mr. Stuckey [Mr. for a white man] looked at me an' he said, "Well, Ida," he say, "tha' boy hurt." He says, "He's hurt." An' she says, "How you mean?" He said, "Well, somebody have put a spell on him." She says, "Mr. Stuckey, what will happen to him?" He said, "Well, you'll have to see some root doctor becuz a medical doctor is no good." So he referred to ole man Frank Bethe, Dunn, North Carolina, which is not quite a hunderd mile from here. I guess it'll run between ninety an' a hunderd. "I guess we kin git dat boy [well] if you kin git dat boy dere," he said, "Ole Man Frank will see him." Dat's de root doctor. [Here is one of the few documented cases - among numerous possible ones - of a person looking about for clients to send to a root doctor, a doctor almost one- hundred miles distant. The woman in No. 10, p.7, also went to Dunn, 24 miles northeast of Fayetteville where she then lived. Does the person sending in patients receive a kickback? As I from personal experience have explained in the Introduction, it is not easy to find or meet a doctor without a go between.] So mah stepfathah had a little ole Buick automobile. He takes dat ole car an' he goes on to Dunn. So, aftah we got in front of the door, stopped de car, Ole Man Frank walks out. He's a ole man who wears his pants backwards - de front part of his pants is backward. Dat's a'showing, de sign dat he's a root doctor, indiff'rent [diff'rent] from anybody else. Not all of 'em will do dat. So it was five of us in de crowd. He walks out, "That fellah there, he's hot [has a spell on him]." That was before I had said anything to him. An' so Ole Man Frank he turnt around to mah stepfathah an' says, "Well, why don't choo buy you some tires?" Mah stepfathah says, "I got purtty good tires." He says, "Wha choo had two punctures for?" Well, we did had two. We run ovah a nail - it was in a board, it was two punctures, but the punctures were all at de same time but two holes. So mah stepfathah he didn't git [didn't understand] - he said, "I haven't had but one puncture." He says, "You have." He says, "No, I haven't stopped but one time to fix tires, I didn't stop no more." He says, "You had two holes in that tube didn't you?" Mah stepfathah says, "Yes." He says, "Well, you all kin march in an' line up." So we lined up. Now, we walked straight on in past the first and second room and stopped in the third [see the three little rooms in my interview of Informant 1532 of Memphis]. An' he had a long bench an' a nice line of chairs on the left-hand side. He says, "You wanta sit on that long bench?" We all sit on de bench. So we went on in an' we did jis' as he said. Well, he wasn't in there at present then. Well, we was in there awhile there came a light. It was a light lit up the room. It come jes' about dark when we got there. I didn't see [a] light - I didn't see no lamp or nuthin. The room lit up an' aftah the room lit up 'an [= than = then] the light went right out. The ole man aftah awhile come in. He walked on down the crowd and looked ovah them [for the culprit] - before I go any further I'll tell you what was said. This ole man had a very nice lookin' daughter. You know exactly how mens will talk about 'em, about womenfolks. When we was comin' up in the car, one of the boys said, the same boy that was drivin' the automobile, a man, he said, "I would like to, for dat girl to be mine. I'd like to be wit her." So, [we] was waiting for Ole Man Frank to appear when we first come in. Ole Man Frank come in and he says, "There's one of you fellahs" - he say, "who was it spoke slack about her?" Nobody didn't say anything. He looked directly at us an' said, "Listen," he say, "I want you to treat mah house with respect." He say, "I didn't think you comin up here for any devilment or disrespectable manner." He says, "I thought youse comin' up here to bring this patient." He say, "Wha' choo wanna come here an'" he said, "you said when you saw mah daughter aroun' the edge of the field there tha' choo wanted to be with 'er." Well, God knows he said so. Well, I said [to myself], "This ole man here knows somepin." [My informant's reaction, contained in the preceding underlined words, is just what Frank wanted - the mysterious light and two punctures also preparing for it. This reminds me of a man interviewed in Petersburg, Virginia; former owner of a traveling medicine-show - himself, a traveling-bag, and great experience. As a part of the tune-up for the sales-pitch, he would call out to an old man in the audience; first having secretly learned his name and local reputation. Pointing at the man, "You, out there, old Uncle Ben Smith! [[Dramatic pause.]] Everybody for miles knows you - knows you're a honest man. But, you don't look too healthy to me. Don't be frightened! I'm going to tell you what's the matter with you. Better, I'm going to give, present you with a free bottle of my medicine, which will cure you before morning. First, however, I'm going to ask you a question. These people know you will give me a truthful answer. Listen carefully. Every night, don't you have to get up and go outside to the bathroom?" The old man shouted, "Amen! AmenI That's the truth! This man knows somepin!"] An' so I sat down there awhile. He'd stopped you from sayin' anything. He said, "You go here and sit in that chair." I sit on the chair. I was sittin' [in] chair I reckon 'bout five minutes. He say, "Kin you read?" I says, "Yes." He handed me a book. He says, "Why don' choo read?" I started to readin'. I didn't know thing - I was asleep: He put ever'body in the room asleep: [If a buzzard can row Doctor Buzzard's boat - see margin-title Doctor Buzzard - don't be too skeptical.] Well, I woke up before anybody - he woke me up first. Ever'body sittin' over there asleep - snorin'. Then he ast me mah trouble. [He did nothing of the sort as we will see.] He says, "I knowed it was a black woman that's put a spell on yah," and he say, "it's two girls you was goin' with, one of them's daughter [niece] an' she jes' put a spell on you." He says, "I know exactly what's the matter with you. [Doctor Frank is merely repeating the information he had received in a letter from the white-man faith-doctor, Ole Man Stuckey. The latter could have sent the letter sometime before he called on the prospective patient - he says, "Ole Man Frank will see him.] He says, "I'm not goin' wake a one up in the house now until I fix you." He says, "You got any money?" I says, "Well, yes, I got a little bit." He says, "I don't want a dime but, '" he said, "I'm goin' fix yeh." [Frank is now preparing to advertise himself in the patient's community.] I says, "Well, Frank [I doubt that!]," I says, "I'll have to pay you, won't I?" We all knowed his name. You could see the big letters all around the wall - F-R-A-N-K B-E-T-H-E, Frank Bethe. He set down. "Well," he say, "I'm goin' fix it for you." He say, "I'll fix what I'm gon'a use." He said, "You jis' take mah money an' carry it on the back of your house, on the east end, an' put it in a piece of paper - don't bury it - a piece of newspaper an' wrap it up," he says, "I'll git it." [He means] back of mah house aftah I get back home - don't live in no Wilmington, I lived with mah mothah. I lived in Castel [North Carolina]. [What Doctor Bethe should have said, "My co-worker, white-man faith doctor, Ole Man Stuckey, will pick it up for me some night."] [A doctor picking up his fee at a distance or through the air is not rare - see No. 13, p.12 and in Index, Doctor fee.] And so I reckon I'd have spells right aroun' eight an' nine o'clock at night. It was gittin' roun' eight or nine o'clock then and I commence havin' a spell, commence gittin' dizzy an' funny an' sort of shakey, jis' like I ever was. [The Spell happens at the same time it was cast - see margin-title 11:30-5:30 Trains.] [This dizziness could explain his being put to sleep - a sudden blackout.] He come an' put his hand ovah mah forehead an' ever'thing's bright [the bright light again] an' I could look up an' talk to him till he say, "Well, I think ever'thing will be all right." And he told me to go home an' put dat money dere. He ast me how far I lived from there [Dunn]. I told him where I lived. He says, "If you live less than a hunderd miles, I kin work for you aftah I send you home. He couldn't work over a hunderd mile wid jore cast - it had to come in the percentage of a hunderd-mile list before that he could reach you case. But - he didn't want to work on you in his house. And so I left him that night. He told me, he said, "Now, you go on home and in the mornin'," he said, "you won't have any more of these spells but," he said, "you'll be weak for ovah a week." He fixed me a bottle before I left there. And so he told me about this bottle he fixed - the bottle of medicine. He told me, he says, "Now, I want you take this at nine o'clock in the morning [reverse magic - opposite to nine o'clock at night]. I wants you to take on Eastern Standard Time [just to be different or mystifying or to allow for extra hour "eight or nine"]. I said, "Well, listen, I don't know if my clock is Eastern Standard Time or not." He say, "Well, I want choo to take the medicine by one o'clock." He say, "You take it nine o'clock by your clock, take it one the next, and three the next [odd hours] and then you'll git all right." And then he said, "I'll wan' choo to come back to see me aftah you put this money in the paper. So aftah I put the money in the paper like he tole me and commence takin' the medicine, I was goin' strong, feelin' good - I didn't have any more shaking spells. So I return back and I saw him and he told me, he say, "Lewis"-he called my name, I nevah told 'im mah name. He say, "Lewis," he say, "you're coming along all right now, aren't chah?" I told 'im, "Yes sir." Do you think you kin get your money?" I says, "Yes sir, I got it." [Several preceding pieces of bad recording, very short ones, confuse the flow of events here. I am copying the text from my original pencil transcription made soon after the cylinder was recorded; an original I will now attach to this final manuscript ready for publication. The money hidden in the newspaper was not the complete fee; it was two things - (1) more atmosphere, this for local advertising about a doctor who could pick up his fee at a distance, and (2) the kickback to Old Man Stuckey who picked it up. The real fee, no price set, to be paid later.] He say, "Well now, you owe me fifteen dollars. You got it?" I told him, 'Yes sir, I got it." I thought he was goin' to charge me about hunderd dollars. I'd been borr'in' money from ever'body in de neighborhood - the man I was workin' fer I done borr'ed fifty dollars from him, and the ole lady [mother] had to mortgage de place. [This borrowing is like the expression I had ever' doctor in town. So he said, "Well, all right, give me fifteen dollars." So I paid him. I say, "Weli, Doc," I say, "look here." I say, "That medicine done me so much good," I said, "what did you put in it?" He says, "Now, if you want me to learn you what to put in this medicine," he said, "I'll have to tell you but," he said, "it'll cost you five more dollars to learn about it." I says, "I'd rather pay you five dollars," says I, "cause I like to have some more of this medicine - you see, this bottle's gone." He says, "Now, if you'll stay up here this afternoon" - he says, "I'm busy." He say, "I like the folks [patients] to be here this part of the day [all healing is done with the rising sun] but, '' says, "if you'll stay up here dis afternoon, he says, "I'll show you the ingredients that I put in the bottle." So I decided. I told 'im yes I'd stay. And so that afternoon, after he got done with his business, him and I went on out in the woods. And so he got a root that's called Eve and Adam. He showed that 'erb which I knowed today - which I could go git a piece now in less than thirty minutes. He showed me the qroundhoa, the sow and the boar, that's a 'erb that grows - not de groundhog that we talk about, I mean dat fix up de weather - female and male. And de nex' 'erb he showed me was de high John de Conker; the nex', low John de Conker. He told me to take those things an' boil 'em for four hours, add one gallon of water to it and boil it till it come down to one quart [magic of diminishing amount]. Take it jes' 'fore sunrise and go out to de east corner of de buildin', sit de bottle down jes' before sunrise, take nine steps backwards, go back an' pick de bottle up, an' ever'thing will be O.K. until the sundown. Jes' a few minutes before the sun leaves the edges of the trees, take it and carry it away - walk nine steps backwards [pick up the bottle], walk direct west nine steps, turn back and your medicine is finish.
(Did he say how this woman had tricked you?)
Yes, sir. He told me she tricked me in drinkin'.
(He didn't tell you what she had put in it?)
Yes, he did, but I've nevah been able to do nuthin to her. But I'll nevah forgit de name he called it. He told me this woman had [gone] down side de back and got a weed that was called mint calZow[?]. That's what he told me. And he said she'd boiled the weed, that mint calZow, into a quart of water down to a pint [magic of diminishing amount] and he said she poured it into one quart of wine. And he said ever'time that I'd go there she'd give me to drink out of dat, and de rest de fellahs out of what she was sellin'. [I have a feeling that Doctor Frank was pleased to be rid of this patient. Once a woman on leaving me threw a fit out in the hall; again, two doctors out- side got into a fight - see Introduction. You don't want too much of this sort of thing. The preceding medicine-show man - my failure to take down the account of his work was one of my great failures - see Introduction.]
Entry 993
Now the spiritual people when yo' go to 'em an' if yo' got any kinda disease or anything wrong wit yo', they would pray ovah this watah - dey call it de holy watah. They goin' pray ovah this watah an' yo' drink three swallows of that watah three times a day, an' when yo' drink the first three swallows it goin' make yo' sick, but chew keep on drinkin' it an' finally yo'll feel bettah. They do's that fo' some kinda sickness or fever complaint or anything lak that.
(Is that holy water that each person makes himself - these spiritual people?)
Yessuh.
Entry 995
My aunt been tricked and I carried 'er to a lady. We was living next door to a woman and she didn't like my aunt. And she put something down on the plank-walk, but it used to come every evening about three o'clock. It did look like ice-cream salt but it was saltpeter, and it come up every evening at three. [See subsection Time and Hoodoo Spell, p.349.] And when it melts away it melts away like dew. You ever seen like dew melt away and leave everything wet? Well, my aunt walked over that.
(You mean like in the morning it's wet on the grass?)
Yes, sir. Well, my aunt she walked over that - it was on the plank-walk. Well, after that she walked over it - she was big and fat - she weighed 250 - then she had one big leg and she had one little leg. Well, after that she began so she couldn't walk. So I carried her to a lady [a spiritual] and the lady took some holy water and rubbed my aunt's leg with that for nine mornings and made her pray an' take the holy water and that holy water cured her. That holy water is really good - that holy water cured her.
(Made her take it? How do you mean take it?)
She used to drink three swallows of it every morning, and the rest she used tc bathe her leg in, and now she got all her health and strength back again.
(Where did you take her - somewhere here in New Orleans?)
Yes, sir. I take my aunt into her house. Well, when I brought her in she tole my aunt, she say, "OoH, '' she say, "you're hurted." But my aunt tole her, "Yes, but nothing don't hurt me." But you see, by her body being so big - she had a little leg and a big leg - 'cause that woman had put the stuff down for my aunt, well, she had put it down to paralyze this one side. Well, she was really paralyzed in that one side. Well, she made my aunt drink three swallows of holy Water, and she bathed her leg nine mornings in the holy water, and she made her repeat the Lord's Prayer three times a day. But she told her she had to believe in for it to do her any good. So she believed in it.
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 1010
If she get that [menstrual blood] on you, she's got you. She puts that in something you eat or drink and you can't get clear of her. I had that done to me once. There was a old lady that asked me to come over one Saturday afternoon - and I was going with her daughter and she seemed to think a great deal of me. Her daughter said she [the mother] wanted us to marry. On a Sunday morning she sent me to another daughter's and I went [there] and got her a jib bonnet - that's an old-fashioned bonnet made out of slats. So when I got ready to go home she [the mother] give me a molasses cake into [baked in] a tin plate. And her son who was a cripple fellow got on a stool and said, "Sam, give me a piece of your cake." His mother replied to him, 'No, he's [you have] had cake." He said, "Mine was cut-out cake [a slice from a large cake], not that kind." And so on going home I had to go on a road through a field of roasting-years [ears of (sweet) corn (maize) ready for roasting or boiling] - and I ete about half of it and I come to think what the old folks had told me. And I threw the rest [of the cake] off in the corn. And I had a time in getting clear of her [daughter]. I wasn't satisfied nowhere I would be except I was looking at her. There was an old man told me how to get shed of it by taking a brand-new shingle and carrying it to a sandy branch. And I drew her pitchure as near as I could. I was told, you draw the pitchure on the shingle and drive the pitchure into the sand, and I just jumped backwards and forth over the shingle - over her head, and cut her in the face with a switch. You have to do that nine times [once each] nine mornings early. And I didn't have much more trouble.
Entry 1183
Yo' git de inside of de chicken gizzard, see - yo' know when yo' clean a chicken, yo' got a skin yo' pulls out dat gizzard. Well, dat's de part yo' Want - dat skin. Yo' keep dat. Well, yo' pound dat up an' if yo' were doctorin' on anybody dat had any kinda poison in 'em, yo' jes' pound it up an' put it in his medicine or in water, whatsomevah yo' givin' 'im, an' let him drink dat an' yo' would see dat poison leave.
Entry 1192
Dey say dey take chicken manure. Dey take it and dey mix some of it with anything dat chew drink - take and mix it up and you drink it. If you ever drink any of it all yore teeth will fall out chure haid. A lotta people do's it fer revenge.
Entry 1210
(They do what with the dirt dauber's nest?)
Make a tea out of it an' strain the tea an' give it to 'em to drink. Dey give it to 'em tuh drink. Dey give de girls in de home - young girls in de home an it will make dere periods start on 'em if dey have nevah start an' dey won't have any pains. Dat's de onlies' [only-est] thing dat ah heard dat wus good fo'.
Entry 1361
Had a corncob dressed and put in mah flower yard an' mah sister stepped on it - right in de hollow of de foot she stepped on it. And shortly after she stepped offa dat cob, de corncob, she got where she couldn't walk. An' after that it went all over her an' hit turned her eyes - her eyeballs were sharp as de end of yore fingernails. We had fo' doctors tuh her - couldn't either one of de doctors do her any good. Well, my brother went fo' miles from there and found a hoodoo and brought tuh her, and he'd taken some John de Conker and some whiskey and put in a quart bottle and gived tuh her to drink and to bath her knee with, and that's de only thing that cured her.
(Where did this happen?)
Thomasville, Ala.
Entry 1409
If anyone poison yo', yo' take de frog an' kill de frog, or either yo' kin, if yo' got nerve enough to gut him 'live, jes' take all his guts out an' cut both side of him off - all dis flesh an' stuff off. Jest leave his back an' his hind leg an' his front one an' his head - jes' cut his belly off an' put it into dis bottle wit vinegar, red vinegar, an' after yo' put it in dere, yo' put some artichoke, something dey call artichokes. Put dat in dere wit some red cayenne peppah. Put dat in dere an' some sulphur an' set it fo' nine mawnin's - nine mawnin's, an' then yo' drink that three times a day or at night - when yo' want to. That will relief anything dat evah happened.
(What does an artichoke look like?) [It is just as well that I asked.]
Artichoke is somethin' dat grows somethin' like a potato but it's knotty. Ah got some home. (Green - green on the outside isn't it? And you pull off the leaves like that?) [I must have demonstrated.] It's most lak a Irish potato. Yo' see some Irish potatoes got little knots in 'em, comin' out - well, it's jes' lak dat. (Does it grow out of the ground?) [I should have said, does it mature above- ground.] Yes sir - under de ground.
(What color is it?)
It's white. Yo' don't have tuh peel it, yo' kin jes' wash it off an' scrape it lak dat an' yo' kin eat it jes' lak it is. Jes' it ain't got no nice taste to it; it jes' fo' lak vinegar an' peppah an' onions an' stuff dey put in dere wit vinegar. It something lak somepin dey sprinkle ovah greens, yo' know whut chew call dat.
(Sauces?)
Yes.
Entry 1442
(What kind of a tree?)
A red oak. Well, yo' go in de woods an' take yo' an axe or hatchet an' git on de south side of de tree about a foot from de ground, an' git de bark until yo' git to de meat - don't git no meat. An' yo' cut de bark off, den, an' yo' take de bark an' carry it back home an' yo' boil it an' yo' make a tea out of it. An' yo' drink de tea.
(What will that do?)
Dat's supposed tuh cure rheumatism.
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 1521
Dey says if anybody put anything down fo' yo' to walk on, why yo' take a piece of silver an' scrape it off lak that an' make a tea out of it an' drink it, an then aftah yo' make the tea, then take an' put a hole in it. Co'se it jingle fo' a time on accounta they's small. An' tie it round yore laig an' then they can't do anything to yo' - or roun' yore knee. They can't do anything to yo'.
Entry 1534
Yo' take three dimes, if anybody do anything to yo'. Well yo' take three dimes an' put 'em in a quart of watah an' boil 'em down to a pint. Well dat spell will git off of 'em.
(What do you do with the water then?)
Yo' drink it.
Entry 1678
Ah heard if de lightnin' strike a tree an' yo' kin go dere where dat lightnin' strike dis tree an' git some of dat bark offa de tree an' boil it good; if yo' got a person dat any person's been sick for a long time or sufferin' wit rheumatism or somepin like dat, or been hurt in whiskey or anything - let 'em drink dat tea offa dat bark an' dey will gain dere strength back.
(If they have been hurt - you mean tricked?)
If dey been tricked in any kinda thing.
Entry 1679
It will cure de asthmee. If it been struck by lightnin', yo' take it an' yo' boil it an' make a tea of it an' drink it an' it will shure cure de asthmee.
(Any kind of a tree that has been struck by lightning?)
Yessuh.
Entry 1862
If a woman got a runnin'-'bout spell, you go to work an' wash your feet of a nights from your toe back to de hollow of your left foot - it don't make no diff'rence if's right or de left. Take de same water dat you wash de feet in, take it an' pour back into another bucket, an' let her drink a swallow or two dat water for nine mornin's. Dat'll take de runnin'-'bout spells off of her. [Cf. Bathwater, p.522f.]
Entry 2073
[This hand is in two parts, each coming from a different community.]
[Here is the first version:]
A man told me that he went to dig up a woman one night, and before he got tc open it [the coffin] he got scared. And the man was a cripple man and walked with a crutch, and he was about drunk; and when he got there he took another drink and got scared - a whirlwind came on the graveyard and scared him to death. He said he run a mile before he ever stopped running. And when he stopped running he forgot he'd ever been drinking. He said he was never more sober in his life. Somebody told him to get the fourth finger [forefinger] of the right hand [of the female corpse] and carry it in his pocket and he would be a good actor among girls - any girl he wanted would go with him.
[St. James, a Negro community about 5 miles from Pocomoke City, Md., by hand.]
[Here is another version of the preceding story:]
A little humpbacked man, he spent ever' cent he got fer to win girls. I didn't see him do it but I seen the finger. It was told me he went in the grave- yard'and cut off a woman's right [index] finger - I seen the finger - cut that off, and was carrying it around in his pocket.
Entry 2416
If yo' got some business, real important business dat yo' want tuh 'tend to an' yo' don't exactly understan' how tuh start at it, yo' git up at twelve or one a'clock at night an' wash yore face. Yo' cook an' make yo' strong coffee an' drink yo' a strong cup of coffee an' make yore wishes whut chew want tuh do de nex' mornin'.
Entry 2568
Your business get kinda dull, just open your half pint of whiskey or pint, or quart or whatever you want, and take some of your monthlies, clear it, and put two or three teaspoonfuls in it and whensomever they come in give 'em a drink and that'll draw your trade in.
Entry 3155
If a man wants tuh make - eithah a woman make 'im love her. Durin' de time dat dey are havin' a intahco'se, take de discharge an' put it in a li'le cloth wit a li'le coffee grin's [grinds] an' tie it up in a rag an' put it in de coffeepot, an' boil it an' let eithah one of 'em drink it, an' dat'll make her be able tuh hold 'im.
Entry 3684
Well, yo' pound 'im up, poun' de snail up. Dry it an' pound it up an' git it in some likkah or coffee, jes' a leetle bit chew know, so dey can't ex- serve [observe] it, an' dat will kill yo' 'cuz yo' be [become] jes' lak dem [snails] an' yo' be's slow about evahthing. Can't have - nevah git ovah it.
(And it kills their courage?)
Kills dere courage.
Entry 3696
[As ants cause (No.33llf.), so they cure impotence.]
Yo' kin git nine red ants an' boil 'em an' dey will give yo' courage, if yo' drink that tea three times a day.
(If a woman has taken your courage away?) Yes, it will give you courage.
Entry 3700
Ah heard a fellah say if a woman take his nature datavay, if he wants tuh git it back, he have tuh go tuh work an' git some of 'er ministrate. If he git dat, yo' see, an' he'll git it on a rag, an' he'll go tuh work an' take him some gin- whiskey an' put it in qin-whiskey. an' give it tuh 'er tuh drink. When she do dat she'll go tuh work an' release it offa him.
Entry 3709
Well, yo' kin mix yo' a glass of sweet milk an' yo' kin crack yo' a aig evah mawnin' befo' yo' git up an' drink it evah mawnin'. Dat's fo' yore nature. An' in othah words yo' kin suck it raw.
Entry 3723
(To remove this spell, if a man has put this spell on the woman.)
To keep 'er from havin' intahco'se, see. An' evah time a man would go to her, his nature, yo' know, his nature won't rise on 'im. (And you were going to tell me how a man would regain his courage, his nature.) Yes, or a woman, see. Now, if yo' trick 'em wit dat snail. (Yes, what about that milk now? This is to get the person's courage back again. All right.) All right. Yo' take - yo' buy a guart of sweet milk, see, an' yo' wash wit it. Eithah one kin wash wit it, see an throw dat away - jes' wash wit milk see. De next, drink half of de milk out first; an' den do it wit dis third bottle, an' den yo' kin use it. An' yo' kin- see, yore courage go back to yo'. See, dat's to break de spell off a person.
(You use three bottles of milk.)
Yo' use three bottles of milk.
(The first bottle you wash with.)
De nex' yo' drink half of it an' den wash wit it, see. (Wash with the other half and the third bottle you drink, and after the third bottle you are all right.)
Entry 3730
Well, yo' take de dishrag, if a woman has got a run-aroun' man an' she take de dishrag - aftah she take de dishrag, wipe him wit de dishrag. Wipe him wit de dishrag an' iron it with a very hot iron, an' bury it to de left side of a tree. When yo' bury it to de left side of de tree, dat will perish away all nature dey has fo' any woman. He can't run aroun' any mo', he'll have to stay at home. Well now, if he don't go to de graveyard an' den git de graveyard dirt from de head an' de foot, place a penny in de centah of de grave- pay de grave fo' whut chew git in de Name of de Lord. Take it back an' mix brimstone, sulphur an' sweet milk an' drink it. Well, if he don't do dat, he'll nevah be a man any mo'. He goes to T. B.
(But if he does that, it restores his nature.)
Entry 3772
Dere's somepin in de woods dey call a bull nettle. Yo' go in de woods an' git chew some bull nettle an' take yo' 'bout a halfa pint of whiskey, an' yo' let dat bull nettle settle in dere an' evah mawn' in' or two yo' git up an' take a teaspoonful. Drink about a teaspoonful evah maunin' an' carries it along. It'll bring yo' nature back to yo'.
Entry 3846
Yo' take de firs' fingah from de lef' han' an' yo' take a new needle an' yo' stick dis fingah [demonstrates].
(The index finger of the left hand.) Yes, an' yo' git three drops of blood an' it will bring love. (What do you do with that blood after you get it?)
Entry 3910
Well, yo' kin take nine knots, yo' know. A woman kin take dat rag, yo' know, an' tie nine knots in it an' [or] she'll take a string an' tie nine knots in it, yo' know. An' when she make yo' coffee, see, she drop dat string in yo' coffee fo' about sev'ral mawnin's an' yo' become, yo' can't hardly bear 'er out of yore sight.
(What does she do with that string first?)
What she do wit de string, she take de string - yo' know whut wimmins have while dey be - an' git dat on de string yo' know, an' den put nine knots in it an' put it in de coffee. (That is from her monthly cloth. She puts nine knots in that and then puts it into your coffee.) Yo' drink of dat, see, an' yo' come to - yo' can't do wit'out 'er.
Entry 3945
An' then ah've heard if he's runnin' aroun' - see, if a man's got an- othah sweetheart, an' he's got a wife an' he doesn't provide fo' his home as he should. She kin git a beefsteak an' she PUT IT UNDAH HER ARMS, an' de sugah IF HE DRINKS COFFEE, PUT DE SUGAH UNDAH HER ARM - PUT ONE UNDAH EACH ARM. Let It stay fo' 'bout a hour. Den cook dat steak an' take dat sugah an' sweeten his coffee, an' dat'll break up dat.
(She puts the beefsteak under one arm and the sugar under the other?)
Yes.
Entry 4085
Dey says yo' kin take dat chamber lye an' if de woman's fond-a drink- in', anythin' lak dat, if yuh cain't git 'er tuh.yuh an' she's strayed away from yuh. Take it an' put it an' give it tuh some of yuh close fren's, an' let 'er git it an' drink it - de chamber lye. Says dat's whut dat's good fo'. Dat will make 'er 'tenshun [attention] go back tuh yuh.
Entry 5074
Yuh take dat sock - like if yuh wear a sock, yuh pull dat sock off, eithah one, yuh soak dem socks. Yo' squeeze de watah out of dem an' yuh take dat watah come out dem socks an' yuh put dat watah in a bottle. Den yuh take some of yore watah [urine] an' put in dere. DAT'S A TRICK IT AIN'T NO HURTIN' NOR NUTHIN, JIS' A TRICK. [For tricks, see TRICKS, Pp.260-269 and elsewhere.]
(What will that do?)
It will jis' trick 'um tuhgethah an' dey cain't git loose from one anothah. Dat's all it is. Ah know dat. Yuh give a little bit of de watah tuh drink.
Entry 5075
If it's a lady an' she wants dis man an' [or] if it's a man an' he wants de lady, he'll take his socks an' wash 'is socks real good. Or eithah wash 'is sock an' take hit an' make watah on it. Or eithah put it in whiskey an' give her dat tuh drink offa dis foot - enough in it tuh keep from colorin' de whiskey. An' drink dat. An' if it's a man, he'll take his sock an' wash it an' dreen [drain] dat watah off yuh know. Well, den dat holds 'er. Dat holds de woman right wit 'im. Dey don' git away.
Entry 6061
If yo' has a frien' an' yo' loves 'er now, an' yo' wants 'er tuh be wit yo' - yo' take a lotta men, dey don't wanta work, dey wanta sit down an' let de women folks bring in de money. All right. Yo' take dis girl, or woman, who- somevah she is, an' yo' want 'er fo' a wife. Yo' don't want 'er fo' jes' a sweetheart or fo' whut she got - yo' want 'er fo' a wife. Yo' don't know how to drive yo'self up tuh 'er. Yo' prob'ly have a lotta property, lotta money, but still she not aftah dat. Yo' kin take dese foah fingahs, don't cay[care] whut han' it's on - jes' right or lef'. Jes' take dese foah heah [demonstrates], any of 'em, an' cut dose fin- gahnails off. Now, fingahnails sompin not supposed tuh rot. An' put dese fingah- nails into a half a pint or pint of whiskey, an' puttin' dis in dis pint of whis- key, yo' takes some of yore hair from down heah.
(Private hair?)
Dat's right, an' put it on de stove an' parch it, an' put in dis bottle wit dis heah fingahnail, an' den let hit set fo' nine days. Aftah nine days yo' take an' strain it off. Now, yo' kin drink it yo'self an' it ain't gonna hurt chew, an' den yo' kin give it tuh 'er an' let 'er drink it. Aftah de nine days, de tenth day yo' give it tuh 'er an' let 'er drink it.
Entry 6381
Yo' kin make de girl love yo' dat way. Well, yo' kin take an' wash yore feet nice an' clean an' scrape de callous lightly, see. Go git chew a dime's wuth [worth] of beer or 15 cents wuth of beer an' put dat indere. Keep it always shet up good. Keep it in - an' co'se yo' could drink a glass an' give huh a glass, an' SHE BE JES' AS WILD ABOUT CHEW AS SOMEBODY ELSE IS ABOUT DERE BABY.
Entry 6411
If yo' wan'a woman tuh go yore way or if she wan'a man tuh go her way, it works fifty-fifty. Sometimes de woman wants de man tuh go her way an' some- times de man wants de woman tuh go his way. Well, when yo' wash yore feet, yo' kin jis' take yore pocketknife an' scrape dis off undahneat' yore feet. Yo' git off some li'le fine stuff an' dat jis' fall on a papah, an' git dat in somepin tuh drink. Jis' a li'le bit of it, don' take but a leetle bit of it. Put dat in somepin fo' de man or de woman, either one, an' dey goes jis' lak yo' say. BE UNDAH YORE FEET.
Entry 6460
Jis' shave it off, take a little, yuh know - jis' a little bit off yeh fingahnails. An' take a razor an' shave a little bit undah yeh ahms, an' a lit- tle bit of hair down dere. An' take dat an' put it in a pot dat choo not gon'a use any mo', an' put it on de fiah; a pot choo're not gon'a use any mo', becuz yuh know nobody fix anything dat yuh wouldn't wana eat [from] it. An' git a pint of whiskey, somebody dat choo know dat love whiskey. An' take dat stuff aftah yuh cook it - it'll git thick - let it drain off. An' when it drain off, put jis' a little bit in whiskey, until de whiskey won't git so thick dat he'll pay mind tuh it. An' den dat's de way yuh kin draw a person wid jeh. If yuh can't git 'em no othah way, yuh kin git 'em in whiskey.
Entry 6465
Now yo' take a person toenail. Yo' take yo' toenail, yo' fingahnail. Yo' kin take dem yo' see, jis' lak we trim de fingahnail. Well a person take yo' fingahnail up. He kin take dat fingahnail up an' he kin pound it up, kinda parch it an' pound it up. Take dat an' put it in whiskey. Well, in puttin' it in whiskey hit'll create sompin lak a gern or sompin. Take dat whiskey, see, an' as long as dey keep [it], well jis' say yo' fingahnail, well de worms an' bugs will commence to eatin' undah yo' fingahnails.
(And what do [did] you say people think it is?)
DEY CALL DAT CUNJURATION.
(No, people say they think you have what?)
DEY THINK YO' HAVE DE LEPAHSIES [LEPROSY] - SOMPIN LAK DE LEPAH [LEPER], YO' SEE. IT START IN DE FINGAHNAIL AN' IT JIS' EAT, AN' [AS] DAT GERM EAT, YO' SEE, WELL HIT GOES ALL UP YORE HAND. IT MAKE YO' HAND SPOTTED 'BOUT. AN' PEOPLES CALL DAT LEPAHSIES. IT DON' BE LEPAHSY, IT BE'S DAT CUNJURATION.
(That is if you drink your own fingernails, that causes it?)
Dat's right, if yo' drink yo' own fingahnails.
Entry 6481
If dey could git holt of dat - an' if dey git holt of dat, why dey'll scorch it, see.
(These fingernails or?)
Or toenails, see, in ordah if dey wants tuh trick yo'. Dat's if a person is sellin' whiskey or somepin lak dat an' dey wants de customah tuh continue or tuh come on tuh love den, why dey'll burn dat. Dey'll scorch it, yo' see. An' aftah dey scorchin' it, den dey put de spice wit it, see. An' dey tie it in a li'le bag, see. An' maybe, if it's a woman an' she wants tuh use it, she'll [put] her dis- charges in it. An' den she'll jis' put it in a li'le whiskey an' soak in dere. See. An' aftah soakin' it well, she'll take de juice from dat an' den she'll po' it in dis whiskey. An' she'll shake it an' if yo' drink it, yo'll continue tuh go back.
Entry 6487
(You were saying something about a woman holding or bringing something back - to hold it back or something. What were you going to tell me about that?) Hold yo' back? (Yes.) Oh! Keeping yo', jis' keepin' yo'. Jis' lak, if yo' come here, lak yo' is now an' someone taken a likin' tuh yuh. Well, she will fool around wit yo' but she nevah could git yuh mind. Well, dat's like me. Well, ah could be a man of plenty of money an' a woman could heah talk of me. She say, "Well, I heah talk of dat fellow. He got plenty of money. I'm goin' tuh try tuh git in touch wit 'im." Well, she gits - some day she be settin' down an' she'll scrape de bottom of 'er feet. But she'll scrape it a diff'ren' way at least - a man kin take an' git holt of a woman de same Way, if she is a whiskey drinkah. Well, she scrape it back. Don' nevah scrape it fo'ward.
[Informant will continue to confuse person or sex of who is doing what.]
(How will she scrape it back, from the toes to the heel?)
[This is quite evident, but I wanted a statement from informant.]
From de toe tuh de heel, right in de hollah yo' see. Well she'll git dat. Well, her feet is got tuh be soft yo' know, got tuh be soft tuh do dat. She'll soak 'er feet in watah, yo' know, tuh git dis skin of it soft. Well, she'll take dat den an' she'll put dat intuh dis whiskey, an' she'll let dat whiskey set about ten days. In ten days time, well yo' kin hold it up an' yo' cain't see anything atall in it. Well, yo' might come an' yo' be settin' aroun' an' she come an' set in yuh lap an' yo' say, "Well, sugah," say, "ah brought somepin fo' yo'." Yo' reach back in yuh pocket. She say, "Whut is dat?" She say, "Aw, yo' been talkin' about whiskey." She say, "Ah'll give yo' a drink of whiskey. Ah bought some fo' yo'. Ah git ti'ed [tired] of yo' worryin' me fo' some whiskey all de time." Say, "Ah bought dis especially fo' yo'. Ah don' wan' nobody drink dis but yo'." Well, she take some an' drink it. Well, yo' still-drink. Yo' ain't drinkin' none atall, 'cuz yo' know whut it is. Yo' say, "Drink - drink - drink. Help yuhself, drink." Say, "I bought it fo' yo'." Well, fin'ly yo' - yo' do dat twice. Unlessen not, if it don' take no effect, well yo' do it three times. Well fin'ly it will take effect. It gits so den, when yo' git ready tuh go, if she'sa young girl - if she - yo' kin take holt of a young girl de same way. Her mothah cain't keep 'er at home. She'll come zactly where yo' is at. She'll - first thing yo' know, yo' look dere, an' yo' see her comin'. She say, "Where's Mr. So- and-So at? "' 'He's not here." 'How long he been gone?" '"Oh, he's been gone such- an'-such a time! He'll be back directly." "Do yo' reckon dat he'll be back?" "Yeah." Well, if yo' don't come, well she'll go on away huntin' yo'. Well, yo've got de underholt of 'er, see. Dat's where yo' take de underholt of 'er.
Entry 6491
When yo' wash yuh feet clean, don' wlpe it, wait until it begin tuh dry an' den yo' scrape de bottom of each feet from de heel tuh de toe. See. Save dat an' put it intuh a vessel an yo' put yuh own chamber lye on it. Den yo' stop it up an' yo' let it stan' nine days - nine days. An' de las' day take it out an' dat party, if yo' kin git neah tuh 'em, drop a drop or two of dat in whutevah dey eat or dey drink. Why dey will eithah have tuh be yuh frien' or dey will die. I've knowed of dat [death] evently [eventually].
Entry 6504
[Contrary to two preceding beliefs, the contrary is also believed.] You take the bottom of your feet and you wash it good and you scrape it. And you put in the water and drink coffee or tea and that will leave a man drink it. If you want him back, he will stay with you.
Entry 6514
Yo' kin take an' put it in whiskey, or yo' know anythin' dey drink, amything lak dat an' make 'em wil' [wild] 'bout chew. Takes de skin, dead skin off de foots, scrape it an' put it in dere. Make 'em wil' 'bout chew.
Entry 6519
Ah've heard dat dey take de fingahnails an' toenails. Yo' mean tuh make a person love yo' or sompin lak dat? Yes, ah've heard of peoples takin' peoples' - takin' yore fingahnails or some othah person's fingahnails. Ah've heard tell of 'em takin' yore fingahnails an' toenails an' scrape from de bottom of yore feet, an' put it intuh whiskey, if a person drink whiskey, don't chew see, an' give it tuh a person.
Entry 6521
A person kin take yore fingahnails - dey kin trim yore fingahnails, trim three of yore fingahnails from each hand. (Which three?) Yo' usely [usually] git dese three [demonstrates]. (The three center ones.) De three centah ones. An' yo' kin take dese fingahnails an' it's a kinda root by de name of devil's shoestring. An' yo' kin boil dose roots in dose fingahnails an' put it in whiskey or somepin lak dat. When a person drink it, dem gristles will grow inside from dis nails heah. An' dis devil's shoestring will be a likkah-lak. An' dey put dis in whiskey an' yo' drink it an' den dey grows gristles in yo' - inside of yo'.
(What will that do then?)
Well, jis' grow gristles - be somepin lak a tumor jis' grow biggah an' biggah an' biggah. Will kill yo'.
Entry 6529
Go tuh a ants' [mound] an' git enough of dose antses an' put 'em in a place an' let 'em dry. Pound 'em up tuh a powdah an' sprinkle 'em on anybody's food or in anything dat dey drink. When dey drink dat, in a length of time de ants will create inside dem de same as dey would [in the ant mound].
Entry 6543
Yo' take some dog hair an' put it in some whiskey. Mix yo' a li'le sulphur in wit it an' yo' give dat tuh a person to drink, an' it'll 'cumulate snakes in 'em. [Snakes are created because hair, usual- ly horse hair, will turn into snakes - see SNAKES later.]
Entry 6546
Yo' kin git de blood from a frog an' yo' kin put dat in whiskey an' let em drink it an' dat'll cuz frogs tuh be in 'em.
Entry 6563
You skin the frog, dry the hide out, parch it, an' then you kin put that into somepin to drink to give a person. That'll make frogs come in them.
Entry 6576
(A lizard can harm her?)
If yo' done wanta, take a lizard, jis' keep 'im swimmin' in watah, jis' keep 'im alive in dat watah. Keep 'im in dat watah, while dat woman is neah 'er time. Always jis' keep dat lizard in dat watah an' evah mawnin' git chew a teaspoonful of dat watah an' drop it in de watah she drinks. An' keep dat lizard in dat watah. An' it will make 'er have a hard birth or a miscarriage.
Entry 6582
[I know of them] doin' things wit de scorpions. Ah've seed dat done 'caz ah waited on de woman. Dey ketch a scorpion an' kilt: 'im an' let 'im dried. Dis was a bright [skinned] woman an' dis bright woman wus givin' dis dark-skinned woman trouble wit 'er husban'. An' she taken de scorpion an' kilt 'im an' she cured 'im dry, jis' lak if yo' dny anything. An' she crumble dat up an' put it in some whiskey, an' she called er an' give her a drink of dat whiskey an' - IF AH NEVAH MOVE AG'IN AH'VE SEEN OSE LITTLE SCORPIONS, DEY COME BACK ALIVE. DEY CREATED IN 'ER. Dem little scorpions jis' like dat.
Entry 6596
Take dat snail. Take his shell an' put it in likkah an' let it stay in dere an' turn intuh a snail. An' yo' drink it yo' git dem snails in yo'.
Entry 6610
(What do they do with that snake blood now?)
Dey take de snake an' kill de snake while de blood is warm, yo' know, befo' de snake git cold, yo' see. An' take de blood an' put in milk or coffee, but if dey put it in coffee it won' show up as bad, dey say. An' yo' drink it, an' dat'll have snakes in yo'. De little snakes will crawl all dhrough.
Entry 6611
Now, dey tell me tuh take a snake, cut de snake's head off, let 'im drip, an' while his blood is drippin' ketch de blood in somepin as it drips. Jis' as many drops of dat blood yo' ketch, jis' as I - if I is a enemy, jis' how many snakes yo' desire tuh be in me, an' I lie - yo' let dat blood drip - drop - fall intuh some vessel. Whut kinda whiskey I drink, why yo' po' dat whiskey drink on dis blood, an' shake it in dere wit dis whiskey. Shake it tuhgethah an' give me dis whiskey tuh drink. Very soon I'll come tuh be fulla snakes.
(You'll have little snakes in you from those drops of blood?)
Yes, dat's right.
Entry 6621
Yo' kin take a snake, mos' any kinda snake - ain't got'a be no special snake, mos' any kind. An' if yo' kin gi t'is aig an' break it intuh a cup of coffee or anythin' dat chew drink, an' whosomevah drink it; well, when dey drink it it'll come tuh be snakes in dere laigs. Dat's de way dat do.
Entry 6627
A fellah kin take a rattlesnake, if he's a rootman an' he has a rattle- snake. Fo' or five or 'em round dere [rootman's home]. Parch it daid. An' he take dat rattlesnake an' grind up dat head jis' lak a powdah. He's [snake is] daid yo' know. [He] got 'em roun' dere [his house]. He take dat rattlesnake an' put it in anythin' tuh eat or drink, an' it will kill yo'.
Entry 6635
Take a snake and kill him and dry him and powder him up. Put it in something you eat or drink. They claim that snake will come alive again.
Entry 6667
Take a spidah fo' n'instance an' put 'im in yore pot an' cook 'im in yore pot. Jis' cook 'im in a quart of watah, let it cook an' cook an' cook until he come tuh pieces. An' den yo' take dat dere spidah an' yo'll see nuthin but jis' li'le teensy pieces on de bottom of de pot; where he done cooked tuh pieces yo' know, jis' about lak de end of mah fingah- nails, jis' about - about so [demonstrates]. Well, yo' take dat an' yo' set it aside till it git good an' cool. An' when it git good an' cool - until it's very cool - den yo' take dat dere. Take yo' a teaspoon an' yo' skim all de way roun'. Skim de top an' gft de top all de way roun', off de top where yo' boiled dat spidah intuh a quart of watah. Yo' skim de top an' den yo' take dat watah an' yo' po' dat watah off. Yo' take dat watah an' yo' put it in a jah [jar], see. Well, yo' take dat spidah watah dat yo' got already new an' put it in drinks, diff'ren' things.
(What will that do to them then?)
DAT'LL MAKE 'EM CRAWL, GIT ON DERE KNEES AN' CRAWL. HAVE FITS. HAVE ALL KINDS OF FITS. BE "FITTY" OFF AN' ON.
Entry 6671
(Tell me that story all the way from the beginning, make a parable of it. What are you going to do now with this turtle?) [That word parable I picked up at the beginning of my field work down the east coast. I found it everywhere, but sus- pected it was dying out. You can see how I qualified Tell me that story to make a parable of it. The words story and tale have a bad connotation in my type of field work.1 Well, ah go back ovah it ag'in. Yo' take an' yo' kill it an' yo' let 'im dry. Den yo' take an' soak it in whiskey - see, yo' gittin' 'is nature. Den yo' give it tuh me tuh drink.
Entry 6673
(A turtle. What do they do with a turtle?)
Well, ah see a person take a turtle aig. Take a turtle aig an' break it raw an' put alcohol on it, an' yo' save it. (You save it?) Yo' put it aside. But ah think a fellah mean an'( dirty enough tuh take dat few drops of al- cohol off dat turtle egg. An' yo' put it in some whiskey or somepin an' give somebody dat tuh drink. It will kill 'em right away. Dat's de way yo' kill people dataway.
Entry 6702
Dey tell me if yo' kin git some red antses, take an' carry 'em an' boil 'em. Boil 'em down therly [thoroughly]. Well yo' kin take dat watah an' give it tuh a person an' let 'em drink it. Dat's good fo' any kinda tricks. [For tricks, see TRICKS, p.280f., and elsewhere.]
(That cures them?)
Cures 'em, yassuh.
Entry 6703
Take some syrup in a bottle an' put it tuh a red antses bed. When it all git full up wit dem red antses, yo' scald. Put some hot watah in dat bottle an' po' it out in a pot an' boil dat, dat red antses. Yo' gits a piece a [piece of] garlic an' yo' puts it in dere an' let it boil. Well, dat is a dope dat it's nobody kin hurt chew. Yo' drinks dat, dere's nobody kin hurt chew. Unahstan' [understand] now, boil de red antses aftah yo' git 'em in de bottle. Put de piece a garlic in dere, strain it off an' drink it. Nobody kin hurt chew.
(What do you do with the syrup?)
De syrup draws de antses intuh de bottle.
Entry 6622
Ah nevah tried it but dey tell me yo' kin take a snake aig. When yo' find a snake aig, break it intuh likkah or somepin. Whutevah a man drinks or a Woman drinks, an' put dat aig in dat likkah. An' if he evah drinks dat likkah dat will cuz a live snake tuh come in 'is body. But whethah it's true or not, ah don't know.
[After I turned off recording machine, informant added lizard.]
(They do the same thing with a lizard egg?)
Yes.
human body as the alleged destination of a live snake after drinking. Retain both nonperformance and uncertainty, without upgrading either to confirmed disbelief or confirmed fact. conditional drinking as the delivery route in an untried snake-egg report. Keep never tried and whether true I do not know with the whole selected claim. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 6762
You mean poison, hoodoo-like?
(Yes.)
Yo' git a teacup fulla sweet milk, halfa teacup of grease, piece of salt- petah about big as a red bean. [Magic of diminishing size.] (A red bean.) Piece of saltpetah about as big as a red bean. Yo' take all dat an' mix dat tuhgethah an' give it tuh yo' an' let yo' drink it. An' yo' vomit it up or eithah it'll kill it [the poison], kill it on de inside of yo'.
Entry 6784
Take dogwood tree an' give it fo' neuralgee.
(How do you do that?)
Yo' take de no'th side of a dogwood tree an' boil it. Skin off de top part of de bark, dat will cure neuralgee. (What do you do with that?) Yo' take about dat much [demonstrates] in yore han', 'bout dat much in yore han', an' yo' put it IN A QUART OF WATAH AN' BOIL IT DOWN TO A PINT. [This is the Mgic rite of diminishing amount, which like the magic of increasing amount is fairly common in Hoodoo.] Dey tole me it cures neuralgee. Jis' boil it an' Strain it an' drink de tea.
Entry 6785
Jis' lak yo' git hurt or anythin', somebody done fixed yo', well yo' lin [get] dat [dogwood] an' bathe in it. Yo' put bluestone, yo' take de bark off de dogwood tree, take de bark offa de east side an' de west side an' kinda boil it yo' know down. Yo' drinks dat. Well, dat'll bring dat stuff on back oh yo'.
(If anybody has put any stuff [hoodoo] in you?)
Yeah.
Entry 6790
If a person bites yo' wit blue gums, yo' kin take a li'le of yore action, yore action an' put it on dere an' rub it in dere roun' good. (Rub it into the bite?) Yeah, an' go git chew some sulphuh an' burn it an' put it on dere, an' slip tuh 'is house. When yo' git dere, an' jis' lak yo' wanta a drink of watah, say, "Git me a glass of watah - git me some watah." An' carry a li'le dat burnt sulphuh wit chew an' - now, lak yo' wan' some watah. Rub it roun' intuh dat glass an' blow yore breath in it three times an' set it down nice, an' tell 'em tuh 'ave a drink of watah. He'll take a drink of watah an' he'll start tuh sufferin' wit de pyorrhea, los' [lostl de teeth outa his haid. (That burnt sulphur that you use in putting on your arm, that is out of the same batch of stuff?) Yes.
Entry 6817
Take guts from a grain [green] gourd and make a tea. Drink, and if hurt inside, you will vomit.
Entry 6819
Now, if yo' wuh [were] poisoned an' yo' find out dat dat dime wuz turnin' black, why yo' would take a silvah dime an' yo'll file it. Yo' take [and] yo' file, file, file an' yo' take de powdahed pieces of dat dime an' put in some watah. Yo' git some killbash [calabash] an' yo' take de seeds an' yo' boil 'em tuh- gethah, an' yo' strain it an' yo' drink dat watah. Dat supposed tuh kill dat poison dead regardless of whutevah it is, eithah brings it out one way or de othah. In de case of yo' takin' a few dose of dat medicine, den yo' [take] some laxative medicine. Yo' eithah bring it out one way or de othah. It's poison.
(Well, do you boil this silver with the killbash seeds?)
Wit de silvah an' de killbash seeds tuhgethah. Boil tuhgethah.
Entry 6930
Take a dime, ah think, or somepin othah, whut it is, an' boil it. Boil it good an' let 'im drink de watah off it. Take silvah an' let 'im drink de watah off it. Boil it an' let it git as strong as yo' kin, an' den drink de watah from dat. If dey drinks de watah from dat, dat will cuz some confusion down in dere [stomach] an' den dey'll vomit it up. At least dat's whut ah heard.
Entry 6943
[Silver will] run it outa yo'. Ah'll run it outa yo'. Ah'll git me a dime or quartah - so it's silvah money - take me a file an' ah'll file dat stuff, dat quartah, yo' see, an' git de dust, git it plumb dusty. All right, ah'll git me some vinegah, some salt. See, ah'll put it in dere. Ah'll put me fif- teen drops of turpentine in dere wit it. Ah'll git me a box of Epsom salts. Ah'll give yo' dat Epsom salts three times a day. Dat's tuh keep yore bowels open. Dat vinegah an' dat, whut ah got made up. Yo' drink it fo' times a day until it take a act on yo'. Well, now, it - in drinkin' dat, why it'll stir dat up in yo', yo' see, stir dat poison up. An' dat Epsom salt [is] tuh keep yuh bowels open, yo' see, an' pass it on through.
Entry 6945
Well, yo' take it an' yo' boil it an' yo' drink it, an' dey say dat will kill de poison. If anybody done anythin' tuh yo', hit would kill it.
(How do you mean? Poison you how?)
If anybody fix a dose fo' yo'. (You mean if they have live things in it or some- thing of that sort?) Yassuh, if yo' drink dis watah, yo' boil three quartahs an' drink it, three quartahs.
(You said three quarters or forty cents. What do you mean by forty cents?)
[Informant had said forty cents before recording began and I want a repetition and explanation.] Dat means fo' dimes. (You do the same thing with the-four dimes that you did with the three quart- ers?) Yessuh, yo' kin boil 'em an' den drink de watah.
Entry 6962
Take a fresh laid egg an' mix de - mix sulphur in it an' fresh milk. Jis' make a li'le crack in dere an' take a straw an' put it dere an' drink it. (What will that do?) Dat'll stop anybody doin' yo' eny harm. See, den yo' kin drink wit yo' frien's. Yo' kin take a - jis' lak somebody would wanta give yo' tuh drink a glass of wine an' dey don' lak yuh, an' dey fix it fo' yuh, say, "All right boys, let's go." Dey jis' take one [drink] an' set it dere, an' dis one [drink] an' set it dere, an' this one [drink], an' set 'em dere [you can safely drink any of them].
Entry 6987
Go tuh de no't side of a willah tree an' scrape de bahk [bark] off - yo' know, jis' scrape - jis' cut de top bahk off an' den scrape off some of dat white bahk offen [off] a willah tree. An' it wus good fo' neu- asmee.
[Neuasmee appears to be a combination of neuralgia and asthma.]
(How would they use that?)
Well, yo' take it an' make a tea outa it, an' drink de tea. Good for de neu- asmee.
Entry 7001
[The rite under the present number and the rite to follow under a sep- arate number are almost identical, yet each comes from a different person and trip to Memphis. For a similar situation, see my introductory note on p.1872 to interVieW EUREKA HOTEL WHERE I INTERVIEWED IN MEMPHIS BUILT BY THE DEAD.1 Git a catfish whilst he's live an' stick 'im in de tail, an' ketch dat blood an' put it intuh - make it up firs' 'fore yo' put it in dere cuz de whiskey'll cook it an' make it lumpy. But chew make it up in jis' a li'le watah an' den yo' put it intuh dis whiskey an' shake it up. An' give it tuh dat man an' he won' want no mo' whiskey.
Entry 7002
Take a catfish an' git 'is blood. Stick de fish in 'is tail - he have tuh be 'live - stick 'im in 'is tail an' ketch dat blood an' mix it up in watah first, becuz de whiskey will cook de blood. Mix it up in watah an' den put it in whiskey an' shake it up an' give it tuh 'em. Dat'll prevent 'im from drink- in'.
Entry 7014
Yo' kin stop 'em in two ways ah know of. Yo' kin git chew a piece of deerhide - yes sir, de skin of a deerhide. An' yo' kin make a tea outa dat an' give dem dat tuh drink an' dat'll stop 'em.
(Stop them from drinking liquor?)
Yes sir.
Entry 7023
(You get what?) A eel, yo' see, one of dem fisheels. Yo' git chew a live fisheel an' git one drop of blood from 'im. Now yo' take dat drop of blood an' yo' drop it in de drink dat de man is goin' tuh drink, an' den he ain't goin' tuh drink no mo'. (I see.)
Entry 7048
" Of it he drink likkah, don't chew know, yo' could jis' take de Bible, an' read de 69th Psalms about five times, an' jis' contin'ly [continually] read it, don't chew know, an' say, "Lord, ah hope he'll stop: In de Name of de Fathah, Name of de Son, an' Name of de Holy Ghost. An' he'll stop. An' yo' continue tuh read dat mawnin' an' night an' he'll stop. He'll leave it off.
Entry 7051
Break yo' up completely from drinkin' whiskey. All right, yo' go in de woods an' ketch chew a snail, an' put 'im intuh a pint or half a pint of whis- key, an' shake him until all dat slime come off 'im. When it come off 'im, yo' remove de snail from de whiskey an' den give it tuh whosomevah yo' wanta stop drinkin'. An' dey won't nevah drink whiskey no mo'.
Entry 7210
(All right.) = [Ready to start.]
Ah had a pair of socks an' ah had a undahsuit. Ah came from mah work an' ah rolled it up, ah couldn't git in mah room, an' ah jis' shoved in between de screen an' de do'. An' ah left. When ah come back, mah undahsuit an' mah socks wuz gone. An' ah do know whut taken place wit me aftah dat, an' ah do know whut ah wuz told through fortune- tellahs.
(All right, tell me all about it.)
De fortunetellah told me dat ah were hurt in some a mah clothes. She did not say whut kinda clothes, but it fell back tuh mah remembrance dat if ah wuz hurt, it must have been mah undahsuit an' mah socks. (Well, how did you know you were hurt? Why did you go to this fortuneteller? Did something happen to.you? Were you sick or something before you went to the fortuneteller?) No, sir, ah wuzn't sick den. Ah wuz not sick den.
(What did you go to that fortuneteller for?)
Well, ah went tuh de doctor. Went tuh Natchez Mississippi Hospital in [nine- teen] thirty an' ah stayed ovah dere 'bout thirteen or seventeen days. An' de doctor seemly dey couldn't fin' de complaint, whut wuz de mattah wit me. He said dat ah wuz all right. Well, ah wúz still sick. Well, ah decided in mah mind - ah hear'd de people talkin' about hoodoos an' witchcraft an' fortune- telZahs. It came tuh me in mah mind by a friend of mine, he said, "Why don' chew go an' see such-an'-such a one?' He said, "Dey kin tell yo' things." Well, ah decided tuh go. Well, ah went tuh dem an' dey told me dat ah wuz hurt through clothes. An' ah ast dem, "Well, whut could yo' do fer me? Could yo' cure me?" Dey tole me, "Yeah." Dey believe through de powah of God dat dey could cure me. An' dey made me up a tea. Now, ah don' know whut kinda tea it 'twuz, but any- way dey give dat tuh me fer tuh drink an' ah drinked it an' ah really hadn't rest fer [so many] nights.
Entry 7297
Yes sir, fresh cow 'nure, rub dere face, aftah dis persons - rub ovah each face good an' clean wit it. Rub it until it jes' - git it jes' juicy in yore fingahs, yo' know, den make yo' a tea an' drink it. Den yo' kin go an' git along. (Go along and do what?) About chure business an' won't no one bothah yo'. Ah mean if yo' did sompin, yo' know - ah mean if yo' broke gang or sompin like dat.
(If you run away from the chain gang?)
Yes sir. (Or something of that sort. You do this with cow manure.)
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 7875
Well, ah've heard 'em say dat dey go tuh de graveyard an' git some dirt an' bring it back an' git some salt an' peppah an' mix dem wit it. An' come tuh yore house an' have it fixed so dat dey would throw it from yore front do' to de back an' drop a bag of it up undah yore steps, or eithah slip back up dere at night an' bury it up undah yore steps. Dat'll make dem move.
(You say you take this from the front door?)
Yes, where dey come in from de front an' sprinkle it all de way up de steps as dey come. An' have it fixed so dey have dere han' in dere pocket an' have a hole in dere pocket lak dat an' have it so dat it'll be siftin' out as yo' be goin' on. [Hole in the pocket is a coumon trick.] Git up an' ast 'em fo watah, an yo' go on, yo' know wit yore han' in de pocket an' drink de watah. An' go tuh de back do' an' walk out on de po'ch an' sprinkle it, aftah yo' got de watah, aftah yo' done got through drinkin".
(They must take it all through the house?)
Yes, take it all de way through de house.
Entry 9066
Well, dis jes' lak dis now, tuh change de judge mind. When it time fo' yuh co't - people talk about Hearts Cologne but dat stuff stands fer a lotta things, dis yere Hearts Cologne. Well, yo' take dat. Take a li'le dat Hearts Cologne an' yo' sprinkle it in de band of yo' hat. All right. Yo' take a li'le an' yo' put it intuh de mole [mold] of yo' haid, see. All right. Yo' take a li'le of it on yer fingah an' yo' smeah it across yo' chin. All right. Yo' put some on both sides of yuh face. See. All right. Den yo' drink de rest. An' dat's [that]. Jes' what chew ask de judge tuh do, he will come yer way.
Entry 9235
Wal, yo' take de eggs from a chicken an' yo' take de shell an' yo' grind 'em up, jes' mash 'em up real fine. An' yo' take dose shell - eggs out dem shells an' yo' put 'em intuh a glass of watah an' let 'em set fo' nine days. An' den yo' take dat glass of watah an' yo' strain it out until it come tuh be perfect cleah, an' den yo' give dat to anyone. Jes' lak someone come tuh yore house an' want a drink of watah, yo' take some of dat watah an' po' in anothah glass, an' put some mo' watah intuh it an' give it tuh dem tuh drink. Dey'll certainly love yo'.
Entry 10232
De only thing dat ah heard, whether dey tried it on dem or not, dey say if a woman wants to keep a man home, she kin take her drawers, yo' know, an' boil it. Make a tea out of it an' give it to him. An' he kin go out dere. Any place dey give dem tea, like if yo' be done eatin' in a place an' dey fix chew tea an' dey kin po' it in yore tea. An' yo' kin drink dat a couple of mawnin's - three or fo' mawn- in's - an' yo' kin go out but chew ain't goin' be no good out. Yo' jes' be out dere, it ain't a thing yo' kin do out dere.
Entry 10234
Dis aig - yo' take an' buy yo' a bottle of gingerale, an' break de aig into a glass an' po' de gingerale on top of it, an' stir it up like yo' making milk-shake, yo' know, an' drink it. Dat brings it [sexual potency] back. Do dat three times a day. (That brings your nature back?) Yes. (Drink that three times a day and it will bring your nature back.)
Entry 10932
Yo' takes a person dat's heavy drinker. Yo' git chew a live catfish- alive, any kinda fish. It don' have tuh be no special kind of fish. Yo' cut de tail off an' yo' ketch some of dat- jes' ketch three drops of that blood, an' yo' put dat blood into dat. Yo' git some likker, whatsomevah likker dey likes, an' put dat blood in dere an' give it to 'em to drink. He goin' drink it. [Catfish blood to cure alcoholism is a common belief along the Mississippi River from Memphis down through New Orleans. For cat fish blood and alcohol, see also Nos.7000-7007, p.3156-3158, v.4.]
Entry 11209
Take de whole nest - she say, git it down whole, de dirt daubah nest. Take it whole an' don't break it. An' put in a cup or anything an' put some watah on tt, an' jes' about time it draw - in about fifteen minutes - jes' keep it an' drink off of it. (What will that do?) She says dat brings yore [her] husband down an' puts him undah her feet. Well, she shore got her'n [hers] undah her feet. She say dat's whut she use, she say dat's de best it is.
(Does she drink that water herself?)
Drinks dat. An' she say dat's shure fo' him. Ah know one thing, he's undah her feet all right.
Entry 11411
Entice to love by letting person drink left-foot scrapings and salt- peter from bottle. [Mobile 874:10.]
Entry 11445
Parch fingernails and toenails and give in food or drink for love.
[Norfolk 535:7.]
Entry 11839
Well, dey takes gunpowder an' put it into water an' let it set fo' nine days, an' let anyone drink offa dat gunpowder watah. Dat will keep 'em always flusterated an' mad, hateful an' lowdown all de time.
Entry 11840
Nine needles and nine pins and gunpowder. They put that gunpowder in with it, but they strain that after and give them [this in] what they like to drink. That keeps them far enough, far enough [away] and not fussing all the time, that gunpowder.
Entry 12317
Now, yo' wish tuh git a girl or yore boy fren' back tuh 'em. Yo' go ahead an' go tuh a fat-lightah [pine] stump of a tree dat de lightnin' struck. An' yo' takes an' makes nine pegs. An' aftah yo' make dose nine pegs, yo goes back tuh de fo'ks of de road an' yo' makes three wishes. Dat's de way it wuz tole tuh me. Make three wishes an' aftah yo' make three wishes, yo' takes two pints of whiskey wit chew, an' aftah yo' make de three wishes, den yo' take an' yo' lie down on de flat of yore back at de fo'ks of de road, an' yo' drinks one of dose pints, an' yo' po's de othah one on de nine pegs. An' yo' git chew a match an' yo' scratch de match, an' sets dat whiskey afire an' burns up dose pegs right dere. Den dat cause de girl or de boy, which one yo' made de wishes fo', tuh come back undah yore control.
Entry 12535
(What do you do with the red onion?)
Well, dey say if yo' break de skin of it an' jes' carry it in yore pocket, some of it, or either throw it away, jes' throw it away, dey say dat's lucky. If yo' boil it, boil yo' three dimes in it an' den drink de watah, dat's lucky fo' yo' - yore in- come will be good.
Entry 12537
Ah heard of 'em using onions an' garlic - fo' being hurted - in sweet milk. Dat's good, too. (Well, how do they do that?) Well, yo' makes a tea out of it but chew cooks it all together - onions an' the garlic an' the sweet milk. Yo' puts it on an' yo' cook it together. Yo' strains it, an' then give it to 'em to drink. Well, if yo' poisoned, well, that's good fo' poison [also].
Entry 9399
If a lady wanted yo' tuh leave from yuh home, an' yo' had some chicken dat wus black, coal-black, an' yo' take three of dose aigs. De lady dat wan' shoo tuh leave home - lak if yo' wus married an' yore wlfe wanted yuh tuh leave, she would take dose aigs. An' jis' lak if yo' wus a man dat liked tuh drink an' she Would make yuh a aignog, an' take one or two teaspoons of salt an' stir it in dere, an' a li'le black peppah. Jes' enough where yo' maybe taste it an' maybe not, jis' enough tuh make yuh drink it. An' she would take some of dat same peppah outa de same hand [holding the pepper] dat she put in dose aigs. An' put 'em in a papah an' put 'em in a jah [jar] or somepin, an' stop it up fo' five days. She'll let it stay stopped up. An' den she go back an' open dis an' burn dat peppah an' stuff, jes' tuh where it git hot, an' stop it up an' bury it where dat yo' cross ovah. An' if she wants yuh tuh leave, some way or 'nothah somepin goin' happen dat chew'll have tuh leave. (She puts it in this bottle, some of the eggnog that has this stuff in it, after he has drunk some of it.) Yes.
Entry 10620
Yo' take de root - Eve-an'-Adam root an' yo' fix it up. Grind it up an' put it in some coffee an' give it tuh 'im tuh drink. He'll go.
(That will send him away.)
Entry 12778
Well, tell yo' how you do that. Now, if you got a woman and you want her, say. Now, you and her drink out de same cup. And you'll drink out dis cup and you take yore tongue, and when you drinking in dis cup, you might slobber in de cup, and she [her lips touch cup] or sompin like that. Yo'll throw it up [into air]. She gain that [goes up into air]. Well, she is crazy about chew den. [Two lips coming together, or kissing, used to be called swap- ping spit, an Irish expression according to my wife who was half Celtic Irish, half German.]
Entry 13026
If you are tricked inside, drink tea made of grated silver dime and gunpowder. [Vicksburg 1042:5.]
Entry 13031
Here is an elaborate cure: For inside cunjure, boil 3 dimes and 3 quarters and drink the water - no filings, just water. [Wilmington 255:5+85.]
Entry 13037
To kill live things in baby, drink tea from the dust of silver half- dollar scraped upwards. [Vicksburg 1032:9.]
Entry 1276
Jes' lak if a person have any kinda - been tricked in any kinda whiskey or been hurt by a person by puttin' down somepin, yo' kin take dat frog. Yo' kin cut him wide open an' take an' put him in some boilin' hot water an' let him boil down. Take an' strain dat water out an' give it to a person tuh drink, let him drink de water - jes' put it in a bottle an' jes' give it to 'em to drink.
Entry 1569
Yo' go to de store an' yo' git chew a nickel box of sulphur - dat's a common way, an' after yo' git dat sulphur, yo' take dat sulphur an' yo' mix it up with a - take about three good heaping teaspoonsful or two tablespoonsful - yo' mix it up in some cream or milk an' yo' drink dat about twice a week. An' dat will keep anybody from harmin' yo' - nobody can't harm yo'.
Entry 4111
An' dey say if she kin git a man's watah, if she take dat watah right aftah de man's had action an' GOT 'IS BLOOD MIXED WIT IT[!!!] she kin handle 'i wit it. She kin mix 'er watah an' 'is watah tuhgethah an' give it tuh 'im tuh eat, an' she keep 'im from goin' hithah - from goin' anywhere 'cept comin' home. Mix 'em tuhgethah. Give it tuh 'im tuh drink in drinks.
Entry 4494
De nex' way, she kin take an' wash 'er feet, yuh undahstan', an' make a tea out of it. Put it in yore tea or coffee. Wash 'er feet an' put it in yore tea or coffee an' give it tuh yuh tuh drink. An' when yuh drink it, it be about nine days or so yuh'll be crazy 'bout 'er.
Entry 11354
Put eel powder in food or drink to kill. [Fredericksburg by Ediphone.]
The account names 'food or drink' as alternative media and states a killing aim; no result is established.
Entry 13214
Get live spider, close up until he died, make dust [of him], put in food or drink, live spiders in you. [This is magic of death by starvation, one of the torture riees, such as multilating an animal by cutting off a part, boil- ing animal alive (black cat lucky bone), etc.] [Memphis 1552:8.]
The abbreviated account names food or drink as alternatives. Its claimed bodily effect remains unverified; the bracketed comparison is separate editorial commentary.
Source passage
continuous interview or recording context · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
informant · Current unnamed interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 2099
Take nine ten-penny nails, dese wire nails about dat long
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 2099
[denonstrates]
informant · Current unnamed interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 2099
, an' yo' puts 'em in a jar of watah, clear watah. Jes' go tuh de well an' drav a bocket - a bucket of watah, fill up de jar half-fuli. Put nine nalls in dere. Jes' lak now ah come tuh yore house an' ah want a drink of watah, an' ah ask yo fo' a drink of watah. Ah go git a drink of watah - go git dat jar an' po' out a glass of watah an' yo' drink off it. Yo' drink offen
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 2099
[off of]
informant · Current unnamed interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 2099
dat satah fo' nine days, an' evah time yo' come dere ah give yo' some of dat watah. Bell, yo'll
informant · Current unnamed interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 2100
come tuh be ailin' in yore stomach. Well, dem nails den, de mo' dey stay in dere, de mo' dey come tuh be rusty, an' all dat goes inside of yo'. Fin'ly kills yo' in so many days it kills yo'.
locally coherent printed subpassage
This is a printed hypothetical account of a harmful practice. Unclear source wording is retained; chemical or clinical effects are not established.
Changing first- and second-person positions remain as printed; no specific real victim or actor is established.
The source describes a claimed causal result, not a witnessed event or a recommendation.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 3, p. 2098 · Vol. 3, p. 2099 · Vol. 3, p. 2100 · Vol. 3, p. 2101 · Vol. 3, p. 2102