Subject:Hair/Human
Entries
Entry 5810
[I have included this margin title because LIVE THINGS IN YOU (Section 8) is based upon the theory that some animals are reproduced through their blood. Our informant evidently confines the word animal to horse, cow, dog, cat, etc.; a lizard or a snake being an insect.] Yo' kin take yore hair an' put nine drops of any- thing's blood on it - yo' know, insects - an' put it in runnin' water an' run yo' crazy. (You take nine drops of any kind of blood from an animal or insect or any- thing?) Insect - not a animal, a insect.
(Any kind of an insect?)
Yes suh, a lizard or a snake, an' put it in runnin' water an' dey say dat will nmn yo' crazy.
Entry 5840
Co'se yo' kin take, really. [a person's hair] an' ball it up wit hen feathahs an' throw it into runnin' watah wit yore left hand. Dat will run a person off. Yo' kin [take] hair, anybody's hair yo' know, an' knead it wit hen feathahs an' throw it into runnin' watah an' run any- body off - any kinda hen feathah an' throw it wit chure lef' han'.
Entry 5953
Dey tell me yo' git a - say fo' instan', now ah wanta do yo' some harm, yo' know. Yo' comb yore hair yo' know wit a comb. Well, yo' know lotsa times yo' leave hair in de comb, a little bit of yore hair. Well, yo' git dat hair out de comb an' den yo' take an' git a horsehair outa de mane, yo' bre, a'yo' put it in a vial an' bury it [both types of hair]. Jes' lak yo' stayin' beah am'ah bury it undah yore do' or somepin lak dat, dhy it'll do yo' all de harm yo' [ah] want. (What kind of harm will it do then?) Well, it will, yo' know, Zingah yo' an' all de time yo' be's sick an' undah de weathah. An' it's a good way to make a woman love yo', t too. [HERE IS DOUBLE- EDGED MAGIC. WHICH EDGE DEPENDS UPON YOUR INTENTION.]
Entry 6095
An' ah could take yore hair an' ah could ketch me a rabbit, git any Hinda rabbit, an' clip dat rabbit back open an' put chure hair in dat rabbit back, an' ah sew dat rabbit back up, an' yo' nevah will quit'walkin'. Yo' jis' walk till yo' die. If nobody nevah kills dat rabbit, yo'll jis' nevah quit walkin'.
Entry 6096
Now along de hair line. Yo' kin take de hair outa de top if any in- dividual's hair, say if yo' wanta send 'em away. Dis is mo' from sperience ah'm tellin' yo' dat. [Now follows a good example of giving a rite and then illustrating it with a personal ex- perience.] Yo' take dat hair an' ketch a rabbit den, an' split 'is skin right in de fo'head dere, an' place dat hair in dere an' sew it up. Jes' turn 'im loose. Well, who- Cvah hair den dat yo' put in dere, if yo' want 'em tuh leave, when yo' turn dat rabbit loose dey can't stay. [We lived] cross town togethah. I an' 'im were good frien's, too. Well, he bad a right clevah wife. So ah nevah said nuthin tuh anyone heah 'bout dese things jes' like yo' talkin' tuh me now, 'bout runnin' off people. So ah says, "Well," says, "ah kin take de hair outa anybody's head, outa de zole [mold or mould] of de haid an' ketch me a rabbit," ah said, "an' ah kin nm a off quickly." She said, "How do yo' do dat?" Ah said, "Well, yo' git de hair out de mole of dere haid an' ketch chew a rab- bit an' split 'im right in de fo'haid," say, "an' put dat hair in dere an' sew it Turn de rabbit loose. She say, "Shuah 'nuff?" Well, ah didn't pay no mo' 'tenshun tuh it. Two-three days latah ah wus out in de woods cuttin' crossties. [Railroad rails are laid on and spiked to crossties.] All of a sudden he pulls off 'is clothes, all but 'is top-shirt. Ah nevah bothah. Ah reckon about fifty yards distance betveen us - us dere a log-cuttin'. An' when 'is cuttin' stopped, ah stopped aattin', looked tuh see whut wus he doin', weren't thinkin' about nuthin. So chen ah looked he wus standin' up on de log lookin' right straight off tuhwards de cypress pond. He got down off de log an' he walked right straight on off de Way, de direction he wus lookin' tuhward dat pond. He walked on off down dere an' he walked on it. Well, ah nevah pay any 'tenshun, ah went on back cuttin'. Ah say, "Maybe prob'ly got hot an' he's about gone [to] cool off." Dat's whut ah thought tuh mahself. So ah worked on about a hour an' he hadn't came back yet. Ah jes' worked on, hadn't nevah give it a thought. Well, it's about three hours he hadn't come back, so ah thought ah'd go down tuh de pond. Ah went on down tuh de pond where it wus muddy goin' in jes' 'fore yo' git tuh de water. Ah tracked 'im on tuh de watah. Ah whistled an' whistled an' called an' called. Aftah ah couldn't [find] 'im, ah went on aroun' de pond, an' when ah got on de othah [side] de back of de pond - ah seed where he come out. Still ah couldn't git no hearin', ah called an' whistled. So ah went on back, ah said, "Maybe he jes' went off tuh look fo' some [something]." But still he wus in his shirt, nuthin but 'is shirt. Ah went on back an' ah worked on till time tuh knock off. He hadn't came back yet. Time tuh knock off, ah couldn't call 'im up, couldn't whistle 'im. So ah went on back home. So ah went on down tuh his house aftah ah got suppah. He hadn't showed up yet. His wife couldn't tell nuthin about 'im atall. De nex' mawnin' he hadn't showed up. So ah went back out in de woods where his clothes still hangin' dere where he lef' 'em. Well, ah come back tuh de house den tuh tell 'er about it. He git plenty time to git 'rested [arrested for being in his unclothed condition.] Some- body mdght search fo' 'im. Well, de people dat know 'im - de law, dey took 'imup an' dey look fo' 'im dem two weeks. Dey nevah did find 'im. So' 'bout six-eight weeks latah dey got ahearin' from 'im. He wus in de 'sylum. So, I an' 'is wife wus talkin' dere one day aftah he had gone on an' she say, "Yo' know one thing?" "Whut?" Say, "Yo' know whut chew tole 'bout dat rabbit?" Said, "'Yes?" She says, "Ah tried dat. Ah thought yo' wus roun' devilin'," say, "an' dat's whut run mah husban' off from heah."
Entry 6336
Well, dey kin git holt some of yore hair. It's 'cordin' to whut dey wanta do wit yo', why dey kin take dat hair. Now, if dey wanta partly run yo' crazy, frenzy minded, dey could take dat hair an' put it in a bottle an' stop it up an' pore watah on it.
(Any kind of water?)
Any kind of a watah po' on it. Let it stay until it become to be - DAT WATAH GOIN' MAKE DAT HAIR 'LIVE LAK A LITTLE LIVE WORM IN DE WATAH, yo' see. Well, WHEN DAT HAIR BEGIN TUH GIT 'LIVE, dey take an' po' dat Water out an' t'row dat bottle in de rivah. Let it float on de way down - on - on - on. T'row it away. Whenevah dey throw it down, dey [the thrower] jes' turns aroun', dey don't look back aftah it a'gin at all. Well, dat run yo' crazy.
(They pour the water out that bottle before they throw it into the river?)
Yes, 'fore dey t'row it in de rivah, dey must keep it nine days aftah yo' put de watah in it. Yo' keep dat bottle 9 days. Have it roun' yore house an' IN 9 DAYS DAT HAIR WILL COME TO LIFE. (Yes, but I mean, you leave the water [hair] in the bottle when you throw it into the river?)
[The word water in my question is a slip of the tongue for hair.]
Yeah, oh yeah. An' de bottle's goin' float on, be goin' right on doon wit de stream.
Entry 11842
[THE LETTER "H" OF CHANNEL DE WORLD BEGINS HERE and SO dO some extra rites about human hair, a subject already largely concentrated in pages 2937- 3049, volume 4. For various reasons hair, not always the primary element of a rite, is widely scattered throughout HOODOO. The following beliefs about hair start with a few longer rites, which are followed by many brief statements with- out margin titles but with the key words being underlined.] And again they say if you take it [a hair from per- son] and put it [in] some kind of manure or somepin - like if you have a cow or somepin round the lot and they do fresh manure. Say, if you take this hair and bury it in there, and set this manure about in some shady place maybe it won't dry so fast, and say let it stay there. And you take it out of there and put it in a bottle of rye whiskey, a pint bottle of rye whiskey, and say in nine days it will be a snake. I've heard that. (But they don't put that snake in you though? That snake they don't put in you?) Well, if you drink the whiskey, if you drink the whiskey before the thing kin, you know, come to be whole, well hit will come alive in you.
(I see, but you have to put it in this cow manure?)
No, take the hair out it [the manure] if you know right where you put the hair in.