Subject:Fumigation
Entries
Entry 6808
(Suppose I have come to you about taking a spell off?)
Well, ah nuse [use] dis salt, peppah, sage an' stuff - salt, sugah, sage, alum an' saltpetah. Ah got dat ovah in a box, see. An' ah take some new string, nuthin have been worn, an' ah tie dem, an' whatsomevah ah Want chew tuh do [demon- strates]. (Just tie a knot.) Yeah, tie a knot, an' den ah take dat, dis stuff an' sprin- kle it ovah dere, see. An' den if dis spell [is] on me [you], see. An' whosomevah put it on yo', if yo' know dere names, yo' jis' call dere name an' tell 'em yo' want 'em to take dis spell offa yo'. Well, if dey don't, yo' wish bad luck onto dem, see. An' yo' burn dis stuff. An' den YO' STRIP BUCK NECKED [NAKED] AN' DEN TAKE DIS BLANKET AN' PUT IT: OVAH YORE HAID. AN' DIS SMOKE, YO' CAIN'T HAR'LY [HARDLY] STAND IT. If dere's anything in yo' in any way, shape, form or fashion, it'll come out, see. [The preceding term suck necked [[naked]] may be its only use in Hoodoo.] An' den yo' take a li'le whiskey glass an' yo' boil dis heah gourd tea - yo know gourds - an' yo' boil dis gourd tea an' yo' take three glasses of dis gourd tea evah day. An' dat'll take de spell off yo'.
(Especially if they have something inside of you.)
Entry 541
I was about ten years old. Well, mah grandmother used to tell me if ah wouldn't be good that a hag. she would come at night an' ride me. Well, ah never did believe it tull - when ah'd go to bed, jis' about ev'ry mawnin' jis' about fo' 'clock, it would always be some dark woman would come an' git right on mah bed an' seemed if she tried to choke me. An' she'd be chokin' me an' chokin' me an' it seemed like always jis' de time ah'd be tryin' tuh holler she'd choke me all de tighter. Well, she kept doin' dat fer about a week - she never would choke me to death but she always would choke me where ah really would be stran- gled. She did dat about two weeks out of ev'ry month an' it wus jes' like dat fer about six months. De doctor he said ah was nervous. So my mother she kept on tryin' ev'rythin' an' so a ole lady [doctor] tole her to take straws an' put 'em in de center of bed at night when ah go to bed, like a cross, an' dat would stop it. Well, she tried dat - two crosses dere fer a while an' fer a while de woman she'd always come an' bother me but she never would come near to choke me, she'd stand off with one of her hands up in front of her face. So mah mother she started to put mah brother in de bed to sleep with me. Well, instead of bothering me de woman would go to mah brother an' bother him, an' she did him de same way she did me fer a long time until she had him where he Was gittin' pore - losin' weight all de time. She tried de straws on mah brother but dey wouldn't help him at all. So she would take him an' put him in bed with her an she could wake up an' really see him choking at night. But de woman never did come bother me long as: de straws was in mah bed. So de ole lady tole my mother that it wasn't but one thing fer her to do, that Was to burn this heah sulphur in all de rooms at night befo' we go to bed - shut de windahs tight down an' wouldn't open up de windahs no mo' atall at night to let air in - let her in - fer at least a month. So mah mother she did dat for at least a month. Well, grad'lly - we'd always hear a noise lak somebody scratchin' on de side of de windahpane tryin' to git in. So purty soon it stopped an' mah mother she could raise de windahs again. But always, along about around de full of de moon, dis woman she'd come back. She always would come back an' yo' could hear her laugh - a funny laugh at night.
(But she never bothered you any more?)
Nevah bothered us any more but she always jes' come back an' laughed.
Entry 6836
If someone tryin' tuh hahm [harm] yo', yo' kin jis' go tuh work an' git chew some Hearts Cologne an' jis' fumigate yuh rooms wit it an' leave it on yuh clothes all about [all about or over your clothes], an' it's nuthin dey kin do wit yo' 'bout it wit'out dey gits somepin in yuh food.
Entry 13250
I stayed at a place up north. Every morning when I kindled de fire- I gen'a'ly made de fire - they had a package of sulphur there on that stove. When it was hot, they would sprinkle de sulphur on it, to fumigate de house with sulphur. They said that kept off the evil spirits and give it luck. (Every morning?) Every morning they'd sat- urate dat stove, when ft. got hot, you know, so that sulphur Would burn, they would sprinkle some of that sulphur on the stove. Said that kept off the evil spirits and give them luck. Druv [drove] the evil spirits out of the house, which, you know yourself, that there are more evil spirits than there are good ones. We are told by the Bible that many's the soul to walks this earth, visible or invisible. What they meant visible ones is the ones that we want to get rid of, don't want to be bothered with 'em. Well, now, we'll go back to de sulphur question. When you go to dig money, you make a circle around, all de way around de place yo' goin' to dig. Now a fellah tole me this to be a fact. Ah never seen it. An' sprinkle sulphur all around it [circle], an' yo' dig inside de ring of sulphur. When de evil spirit comes up there, he can't get inside that ring over that sulphur.