Subject:Harm
Entries
Entry 6237
Well, yo' kin take de hair out de comb if yo' cain't git it no othah Way, an' yo' kin go to a tree, a green tree, an' bo' a hole in dere an' stop dat hair up in dat hole when dat tree is yet alive an' de germ [sap] is passin' in dere up an' down, an' dat will run dat individual crazy. Dere no air kin git in dere wit dat hair.
Entry 8307
Yo' could take a pichure. Now, if yo' wanta do good, if yo' wanted de person tuh love yo' or somepin an' - yo' put dat pichure tuh de haid of yore bed, an' call de person's name nine mawnin's. An' wit a pin dat's nevah been used, a new pin, yo' put nine holes intuh dis pichure fo' nine mawnin's. An' while yo' punch dose holes, yo' talk tuh de pichure jis' lak yo' talkin' tuh de person. An' aftah de nine mawnin's, jis' whatevah de statements were dat chew made, dat person will do jis' lak yo' ast dem tuh do, but chew must keep dat pichure dere.
(You punch one hole each morning or nine holes?)
Nine holes for nine mawnin's.
(That's nine times nine?)
Eighty-one.
(And you keep it at the head of the bed?)
Yo' keep it dere tuh de haid of yore bed.
(Now you do harm you say with the photograph. Tell me about that.)
Well, if yo' wanta do harm wit de pichure, yo' could take dat pichure an' yo' take dat tuh de graveyard, an' yo' go an' yo' call de spirits of de dead. When yo' think dat de spirit is dere, yo' take out nine han'fuls of dirt out of dat grave. Den yo' place dis pichure down dere an' yo' explain tuh de spirit jis' whut yo' want 'em tuh do tuh dat pahticlah [particular] person, see. An' what- evah yo' say, den yo' pay dat spirit.
(Well, now. What do you usually pay the spirit?)
Well, it goes - Well, NOW DE FIRST DEGREE IS THREE PENNIES. DE SECOND IS NINE AN' DE THIRD IS THIRTEEN. [I do not recall that these sums of money paid the spirit are called degree elsewhere in Hoodoo.]
(Then you cover that picture up in there?)
Let it stay dere. An' yo' have tuh explain tuh dis spirit whut tuh do tuh dat pahticlah person, an' pay dem tuh do dat. Dey'll do it jis' lak yo' ast dem tuh do.
Entry 8577
Yo' could take a silk stockin' dat anybody's used an' had dey sweat on it, an' go tuh de fo'k of de road at twelve a'clock at night an' bury it. Yo'll take a brand-new pocket han'ke'ch'ef, any kin' dat a person is got dat sweat on, an' yo' kin put dere name down wit it an' tie it up nine times, an' bury it right at de fo'k of dat road at de hours of twelve a'clock at night. (What will that do?) Whut dat do? Well, dat's if yo' wants tuh do a person harm. Yo': see, dat's whut dere sweat take, any- thing dat have been used. But chew kin git de new pocket han'ke'ch'ef, an' dey don' have tuh use it, an' git dere name an' yo' kin do 'em harm.
(You tie that handkerchief nine times.)
Yo' tie it nine times lak dis. Say fo' instance if dis is de han'ke'ch'ef. Well, if yo' wanta do anythin' an' yo' wanta do anybody harm, yo' don' bring it to yo', yo' bring it from yo'. See, an' evah time yo' tie it, lak yo' take de end of de pocket han'ke'ch'ef an' yo' tie it once. Yo' have dat one piece of papah dere wit de names on dere. Yo' take an' put anothah piece 'cross dat an yo' tie it ag'in, until yo' make dem nine. Git de han'ke'ch'ef big enough dat chew kin make dem nine knots. An' yo' buries hit. Nine pieces of papah wit de name on it.
(The name of the person on each piece of paper written once.)
See, until yo' put nine pieces of papah, an' each piece of papah wit de knot. An' yo' bury it.
Entry 8772
They say if yo' take de twelve apostles an' write 'em on [a piece of paper or twelve sage leaves?] an' put 'em in yore left pocket or eithah yore left shoe, why dey say dat'll keep harm from comin' to yo'. [A note following write 'em on reads: A noise made here so do not know what they were written on.]
Entry 9664
All right. Well, first, if they trying to harm you, you get you some Epsom salts, take you some table salt. All right. And you take you some warm water and let that set overnight. Then you take you a good bath with that. Well, they can't do anything with you.
Entry 9836
Git chew nine needles. Yo' have tuh git de goldhead [usually goldeye] needles an' put five of 'em haids up an' turn fo' of 'em [heads] points down. An' yo' kin bury dem at chure gate where de people walk ovah - at de front gate. An' nuthin in de world will do yo' any harm.
Entry 9864
[As another protective device by using a frog eye, we have the follow- ing rite:] If someone wants tuh harm you, to keep 'em from harming you, you must get a frog. You gets a frog and you kill de frog. After you kill the frog, you just take the heart and the gizzard out. You take the heart and the gizzard out. [I failed to ask for a description of a frog gizzard, probably assuming stomach was meant. The true gizzard of course, is the second (posterior) stomach of birds.] Then you dry it - you dry it right in the sun-like. Just good sunny days put it out. After you dry the frog eye and it's heart, you take...
(Just a moment, you said the frog's heart and gizzard before?)
Heart and gizzard, yes.
(Yes.)
[Yet, I still think the word is eye rather than gizzard.]
After you dry it thoroughly, then you put it - you could put it in your purse and just tote all the time and no one can harm yuh.
Entry 9892
Yo' take dat frog an' yo' write dis name on a piece of papah. (What name?) Anybody's name. An' yo' tie it roun' dis live frog an' carry it an' throw it in de runnin' stream of watah. Tie it tight where de papah won't git off in a runnin' stream of watah. Dat's a party dat yo' wanta do harm tuh. Well, dat'll carry him right on off in dat rivah.
Entry 9965
Take a toadfrog an' skin 'im an' put 'im in yore pocket, an' nobody cain't hahm [harm] yo' no way. An' yo' [also] kin go all ovah in games, play games, an' yo' win.
Entry 10055
Ketch a black cat an', yo' know, put 'im in a hot pot of watah, see. An' dey say de lucky bone'll rise, yo' know, tuh de top of de watah. Dey take dis [bone] an' go tuh de forks of de road nine mawnin's. Say yo' go dere tuh meet de devil. An' say, if yo' go, yo' know, in any place [to rob it or where you could meet trouble] an' long as yo' keep dis bone wit 'im [you], yo' know, nuthin wouldn't hahm [harm] 'im [you].
Entry 10058
Take a black cat an' throw it in a pot of hot watah... [I turn off machine here be- cause rite did not appear to be promising. This was a frequent habit of mine to save time and cylinder space. Once more I shall stop machine before letting it continue to the end. My questions show what had been omitted.]
(After they boil this black cat what do they do?)
Take 'is bones, all de bones an' carry it down tuh de...
[I stop machine and then begin again.]
(After they get this bone that goes up the stream, then what do they do?)
Dey take it an' goes tuh de fo'ks of de road fo' nine mawnin's an' pray tuh de Lord an' say dey sell deyself tuh de devil. An' den dey kin do anythin' dey wan'a do an' can't nobody hahm 'em.
Entry 10173
[I know something] on that charm. (What kind of charm is it?) Dey gits a red can'le - some gits a black one - an' w'atsomevah mah name is, if he wants tuh harm me, he'll take it an' write mah name on dat. Den he'll burn a certain amoung every day. Somepin like dat.
(And then what happens?)
Jis' accordin' tuh w'at dey want tuh do tuh yuh. If dey wan'a make yuh sick... [This is different from the usual headache caused by candle burning on you, see p.834, v.1 and elsewhere.]
Entry 10698
[Unlike the preceding rite, a hoodoo one, this following example can be religious, though mechanical. These I often did not collect or collected later discarded.] If it wus me an ah thought some- body wus tryin' tuh harm me, zh'd git de Bible an' ah'd read de 4th chapter of Psalms; from de 4th chapter of Psalms to de 17th chapter of Psalms. Ah'd read de 4th chapter of Psalms espec- ially. Den ah'd read de llth chapter of Psalms and de 8th chapter of Psalms. 血' all de time ah readin' dem Psalms, why don't forgit de prayer - de Our Rnther Prayer.
Entry 11073
Well, if you wants to stop 'em, if yo' goes out, from the law getting in connection with you. That's very easy to do that, too. Here's whut chew do. Yo' [go] an' git chure own garment, git a piece of your clothes that you had on this day, that has perspiration on it, an' git a piece of theirs. Take those two pieces together an' tie 'em with a piece that you don't want. Tie 'em together and put 'em in a running stream of water. And they never will do nuthin to yo'. That nmning stream takes away the evil thought between you an' him. Run that away. Run that spirit away. [I had asked about keeping the law away from the house, but informant turns my question into anyone seeking to harm you. You begin your protection with a piece of clothing you wore that day, because the perspiration in it is a part of your spirit, hence the whole of your spirit (see PART OF SPIRIT EQUALS WHOLE OF SPIRIT, p.21-23, v.1). Next, you obtain something recently worn or handled by the enemy. Then, using a spiritless piece of clothing you have discarded, you tie your spirit and enemy spirit together, making a tight knot. And immed- iately and finally you rush off and throw this package into running Water. Run- ning Water kills or purifies evil work. You understand, of course, that the evil spirit permitted itself to be tied only because it was being tied to you, now even an easier prey. This rite is called a trick. I did not understand this rite when I heard it back in 1939; the reason why my note about informant on the original transcription reads, use with care! This rite is logically illogical!]
Entry 12246
You git you a assafidadee [asafetida] see, an' beat it up fine, an' put some turpentine in it, some Hearts Cologne. And git chew a piece of John de Conkah root, and cut dat up fine and sew it up tight, and wear it right around yo' neck, an' leave it lay right on yo' chest, and nothin' kin nevah harm yo', if somebody goin' poison you.
(Nothing will ever harm you, I see.)
Even if somebody give you [him] sompin to eat, it couldn't go into his stomach. His stomach like a stone.
Entry 9583
Git salt an' red peppah an' mix all dat up tuhgethah, see, an' put it in yore shoes. See, pertect yo'self anywhere yo' goes. See, nuthin cain't harm yo'. Well, ah've heard dat.
(When you walk in anything it wouldn't hurt you.)
Entry 955
If any one of those things that I was outlining to you - if the moon is very weak, that's the time it is taking effect on the individual; see, when the moon is weak. When the moon is strong, then - well, they don't be as bad. For instance - (Someone knocking.) [Comment by transcriber.] (Yes?) [I call out - person knocking probably my man Edward - I turn off machine for a moment and then continue.] For instance, if a fellow would do anything to anybody and when the moon is weak, look like they take full control over 'em; when the moon is strong, well it don't take such an effect.
Entry 1057
It shore a sign of bad luck, if yo' goin' some place an' dere's some reason fo' yo' tuh turn roun'. Why if yo' don't [do] make a cross-mark an' spit in it, why dere's nuthin to it. An' then too, dere's anothah superstition among men dat if yo' urinate an' don't spit in it - ah learned dat from childhood, ah can't help but take dat forward when unwittingly I will do - ah learned dat from childhood an' ah will do it. But somebody kin do somethin' tuh offset chew, yo' understan', if yo' don't do dat.
(To harm you?)
Yes, to harm yo'.
(Where did you live during your childhood? Where did you hear that?)
Ah wus born in Fairfield County, Winnsboro [county seat], South Ca'lina, 'bout three miles from de village proper.
Entry 1165
We had [here in the neighborhood] once [about 1886] a sick boy and they said somebody hurt him and he was very low. Someone told him to get a black chicken and cut that chicken open - don't kill it, and bind it alive to his feet. They say that cured him of cunjuration. They said it would draw it out [through the feet]. [Boxiron, Md., by hand; my note "old cunjure-woman" in parentheses indicates she handled the case.]
Entry 1209
If they put somethin' down fo' yo' tuh walk ovah, yo'll take devil's- shoestring. Yo' know dis devil's-shoestring. Yo'll git dis devil's-shoestring an' yo' tie it round, possible round heah.
(Where?)
Round yore laigs - devil's-shoestring tied around yore laigs an' let it stay right there round yore laig nine days. After nine days yo' take it an' tie you nine knots in each one dem strings yo' got round laig. Den yo' kin walk ovah anything dey put down dere - won't harm yo'. Tie dat devil's-shoestring right round heah - two strands of it. An' after nine days, den yo' tie nine knots in it an' wear it nine mo' days, understand, an' then yo' kin walk ovah anything an' it ain't gonna hurt cha.
(You tie one piece around each leg just below the knee?)
That's right.
Entry 1758
In de 'bacca country, yo' heah of certain - yo' jes' have harm 'ginst 'em, yo' go out dere an' cross dem sticks [broonstraws] - take one dis way an' one de othah, cross 'em lak dat. An' if he [a worker] an' de boss- man is gittin' 'long purtty good an' yo' want him [worker] to leave, yo' or de othah man [worker] want [to influence] dis foreman, why he [you] lay de straws. An' if he [worker] step across 'em an' not knowin', well fo' de yeah is out he an' his bossman dey crossed up, yo' know, so bad he have tuh leave his home. Dat used a whole lot by de country peoples - gits far from one 'nothah. (He just takes these two broomstraws and crosses them out here in road for this fellow to walk over. You say that is used a good deal in the tobacco country?) Yessuh.
Entry 1784
Ah heard dat chew could take a person - jes' lak if a person slept in a room an' yo' wanted tuh do 'em some harm. Jes' like yo' wanted tuh hurt 'em up, don't want 'em to die, jes' fixed - yo' know, jes' linger an' linger. Yo' take a shingle offa dere house an' take dat shingle an' cut it into fo' diff'rent pieces. A shingle offa de top of dere room wheresomevah dey sleep in, yo' git it offa dere, an' cut it into fo' diff'rent pieces an' fix it jes' like a casket [coffin] in de ground - jes' like a casket.
(What do you do with that, then?)
Yo' buries it in de ground.
(Where do you bury it?)
Yo' bury it under dere house somewhere - somewhere where dey have tuh come out ovah it or somepin othah.
Entry 3052
St. Rita is a woman, she never got a good husband. She had some of them but they were all cruel to her - they beat her and they give her black eyes and they were mean to her. She never could keep a husband. The last husband she had he beat her so bad it turned her against all men, and any woman that has got a husband, St. Rita is bad luck to them in the house. Now, if she is a single woman, St. Rita will help her. But she won't do anything for men at all because she don't like them.
Entry 6690
If dey don't git it in yuh, it can't do yuh no harm. [This is also generally believed everywhere, even though to some it may be whistling while passing a graveyard at night.]
Entry 6869
Carry a small [Irish] potato an' a piece of High John de Conker an' no one kin harm yah.
Entry 10192
A green candle is for luck [usually green money], red candle is for luck, and a black candle is for devilment; a black and a purple candle, that for devilment to do anybody harm.
Entry 10205
They tell me that if you wants any evil work did, get St. Joseph or St. Peter for anything that you want harm did, you know. If you want anything good did, you gets St. Theresa.
(Have you ever heard of St. Expedite?) [No answer.]
Entry 11038
If anything buried anywhere around yore house, they tell me tuh git a frizzled chicken an' put it on de yard, wheresomevah dey put down something to harm yo' - it will scratch it up. [For these remarkable chickens see DOCTOR FRIZZLY pp.59- 63, v.l, and many places.]
Entry 12679
A person could take one of yore photograph or picture an' bo' a hole in a tree an' wish yo' some harm an' put dis picture in de tree an' after so many days when de tree close yo'll die - jes', yo' know, pine away an' die.
(Do they put a peg in that hole or anything?)
Yes sir, peg de hole up after it - puttin' dis picture in dere an' shet dis hole up. [Brunswick 2012:4.]
Entry 9757
Now, if you got a place where the business is good. Suppose you got a place, the other fellow got a place, and he is doing better business and you want to knock his business. Nine pennynails, that repre- sents the nine hours Christ hung on the cross, nail in the nails in the center of the door overhead or under [nails are above or under door]. I guarantee that when two people come in there, three will go out. Nine pennynails [any size but not too large]: altogether six this way and three across, making a wish while you are driving in the nails. They represent the ninth hour that Christ hang from the 6th to 9th hour on the cross.
Entry 2988
Take some matches and put in your head across, a little salt, a little ammonia and rub it in the middle of your head. And if you want them candles to go out, you wear your clothes on the wrong side. Every piece you got underneath, excusin' the top, you wear em on the wrong side and the candle'll go out. Well, you can tell when someone knows the candle's burning on 'em, when they take and change their clothes. Just like the candle was burning on you, you come and you say, "Oh, my head hurts me so bad." I say, "Someone is burning a black candle on you. I say, "Put your clothes on the wrong side." You'll change your clothes and when you start to change your clothes, the candle goes - start to popping. The candle don't go out. You keep your clothes on there and put that salt in your head, them two matches like a "x" in your head, and in that way the candle will go out. And if you don't wear your clothes on the wrong side, them candles is not going - they going to burn 'em until you die.
Entry 142
Dat whirlwind is a daid spirit - jes' somebody jes' wandering around or some daid spirit somebody send to yo'. An' that spirit jes' wandering roun', he Wandering roun' where yo' at. He come to yo' from de grave to where yo' at; but dat wind, see it ain't de wind. An' hit come down dat way - yo' kin tell it de minute yo' see, don't care whut time a day it is; but it coming to yo"cording to whut time a person send it to yo', cause yo' see dey works on de moon wit it. It's always jes' a bad spirit. If hit comin' tuh harm yo', yo' goin' know it. If it comin' tuh harm yo', it goin' git direct in yore way where yo' kin see an' yo' can't he'p from seein' it tuh save yore life. But if it ain't tuh harm yo hit goin' work clean 'way round yo' an' it gwine to somebody's else path. (Suppose it is coming toward you, is there anything you can do to stop it or break that up - you know, to protect yourself against it?) No suh, ah nevah heard whut dey do to stop it. But dey tells me when yo' see one, if yo' usin' a hammer - yo' see, it ain't got [to be] a natch'ral nail, but den dey got de nail in view, an' den jes' so many time a day dat hammer nail, dat gain yo' so many days from bad luck or good - it's always mostly fo' bad. I don' nevah hear talk dat it was fo' good. [If you have a hammer in your hand or near- by when you see a whirlwind, as many times as you hit a nail or an imaginary nail that day will be the number of days you will be free from bad luck.]
Entry 1559
(Well, what kind of medicine would take that - get those things off - that snake out of there?) Well, ah tell you what you kin do. You ever hear tell of slippery elm, nightshade. Well, you take slippery elm and nightshade and running water, them's three simple things, and you kin take a tea- spoonful three times a day and run eny kind of poison out cheh, yes.
(Now, what do they do with that - steep it in there or boil or what?)
No, ah don't know anything about roots. I don't know anything about dat but jest the slippery elm [also called red elm], the nightshade and the spring water, and then that'll run 'em out cheh. And then when they'd come, you'd put that, whatsomever pass from you - ground puppies, frogs, in my instance I had a turtle was in me - and then you throws it in de running water. And as fer as that goes, long as that keeps arunning and molt in de river or in de canal, or wheresomever you put it at, long as that'll keep agoing, the person will keep agoing. Then when that lodge - you know, everything lodges in the water, in de seaweeds or something, you see - well, then that will be the end of the person what did that harm to you.
Entry 2758
[Good material about the private shrine is difficult to find. Most of my information I have included under subsection Saints or left intact in the Interviews section. Here I will include one more example - a unique offering of food to enemy spirits living and dead.] (Your aunt did this, had the altar?) Yes - she's daid now.
(And you say she burnt these candles?)
Yes, an' she'd put food there.
(What would she put the food there for?)
Fo' certain people - the people she thought, yo' know, would harm her. An' she would put their name on a piece of papah, an' write it there.
(Well, who ate that food?)
Well, she believed in de spirits.
Entry 6707
[The following 3 beliefs I reduced years ago to short statements or footnotes: Carry black master root, no one can harm you (Norfolk, Va., 476: ll; chew black master, if given poison, brings up (Norfolk, Va., 530:11; informant says in North Carolina black master is called silkweed (Norfolk, Va., 477:4).] [Silkweed is the milkweed.]
Entry 50
In country places in the wintertime you can pass a warm stream going over your shoulder and all up and down your face. You're kinda like where they was over a stove right out of doors. There's something funny about that. But olden people said it was a spirit that you met. I've passed them many a time in my time. I've been awful frighten because I hearn the olden people speak about them so much. I thought they could harm me. I used to tell my mother about it. She said, "There's no harm in them. Don't be afeard."
Entry 1649
Yo' could take de same thing ah tole yo' about de success an' den yo' could take three buckets of watah an' pitch out yore do' an' yo' scrub it - yo' know, right in front yore do', lak yore steps in front. Take that an' that'll keep 'em from doin' yo' any harm.
(Just three buckets of water, that is all you use?)
Jis' three buckets of watah, clear watah. Jis' keep throwin' dat out dere ever' mawnin' roun' six a'clock - see, aftah yo' say yore prayers. Yo' git three buckets, if yo' got a hydrant in yore home - yo' know whut ah mean, inside yore house, jis' pitch out de three buckets of watah an' make yore wish. See, any evil works - cus lotsa people work de evil yo' understan'.
(That will keep down the evil?)
De three buckets of watah - dat's supposed tuh be the Father, Son an' de Holy Ghost.
(Say that when you put it down?)
Yes.
Entry 1655
Well, jes' lak if dey put anything down fo' yo' an' yo' finds it. Lak if dey buries anything down for you - yo' know, dat cunjuration dey calls it, make it little plainer to yo'. Well, yo' take that chew see when yo've found that - don't put chure han' on it. Jes' take a little iron or somepin other an' take it out an' put it in a paper sack an' carry it to a runnin' stream of water an' throw it ovah yore left shoulder. Turn around three time on yore heel an say, "In de Name of de Lord, drive mah enemies away from me." An' dey can't do yo' any harm.
Entry 4066
Well, dey take dat - well, if dey git holt-a yuh fingahnail an' yuh hair, an' prob'ly maybe some-a yuh urinate, see. Well, dey stick 'em in a bot- tle an' dey bury dat in de groun', see. An' dat will do all de harm dey want. (What will that do for example?) Well, it will make yuh mindless.
Entry 5816
Some people won't have their hair cut in a barbershop at all. They'll cut it at home, afraid their enemies might get it and harm them. There are any number of women after they comb their hair will take it and put in the fire.
Entry 6220
If dey wants yuh tuh suffah or eithah wants yuh tuh git well, dey takes a' dey go tuh a oak tree an' take some of yore hair or eithah yore name. Write It on a piece of papah an' drive fo' nails in dis tree halfway. An' take an' tdve dese fo' nails in dis piece of papah wit yore name in it halfway. Uhat do they do that for?) Dey do dat if yo's sick an' anybody harmin' yo' an' yo' wanta git well. Puts dese nails an' dis name of yore in dere an' drive dese fo' nails in dere halfway in dis tree - dis oak tree or any kinda tree. [Here we have a general cure for ailments rather than a specific one for the tree spell only. The ail- ing victim sacrifices himself to the sickness-harm causing spirit by offering this spirit his name, magically his person. However, the nails driven halfway into the name reveal a mock sacri- fice, a trick played against the troublesome spirit, always a simple-minded fel- low.]
Entry 8077
I heard that they could take your photograph and, if the person wanted to harm you, they could take your photograph and bury it; and that they thought you'd have bad luck or some ill omen would befall you.
Entry 8109
Dey git hold of dat photograph so as tuh do yo' any harm. Well, dey could take it an' take it home wit 'em an' bury it an' keep it about, say two or three days sompin, somewhere round de do'step. But it ain't nuthin tuh kill yuh or nuthin lak dat. But it will, yo' know, put chew in bad luck or give yo' a bad feelin' or somepin othah lak dat.
Entry 190
Dey study where de whirlwind stop at, mostly settle, so dey kin git some of de dust. See whut ah mean. Jes' de last whirl an' go way an' leave it, when wust part gone, see. It will go 'way an' it might have several places, yo' know, it leaves where de whirlwind's gone an' left off, dere be's a whirl. See. Well, if they kin git some of that an' make a wish with it, dat yo' kin do a lotta persons some damage with it. Git some parts of it. See whut ah mean. Dey does a lotta trouble wit dat.
Entry 450
There was a old witch. She said, "I'm gon'a get out of my skin and when I come back I will get in my skin." She lifted it right off like this [informant demonstrates, putting her hands to her shoulders and taking hold of the skin, lifted it off as she would her nightgown]. If you haven't anybody wise enough, she can go and stir up trouble. One time when she was out of her skin they put salt in it and when she got back she said, "Oop! My skin doesn't know me." She couldn't get in it. She died.
Entry 451
I've hear'n about one getting out of his skin and couldn't get back in. That had been going on for a long time. They had been missing some of the food, so they decided they would really watch to see. So this old man came in. They said he commenced to shake and shake like that [twisting his shoulders]. They said they were a-watching of him and they said he got out of his skin. They said he looked to be putting something [grease] on himself. I don't know what he put on. And they said when they came to look at him, sure enough, he pull it off and laid it aside, then he commenced going all over the place and getting ever what he wanted. In the meantime some of them said to put pepper and salt in that skin. They said he couldn't get back in. The last they saw of him he Was saying, "SkinI Skin! Don't you know me?" That's the last they saw of him. Then they left. They were scared to hang around for fear he might do them some harm. That's the end of it as far as I know. I was a small child when I hear'n that. That was seventy years ago [1866].
Entry 454
Once upon a time dey said there was an old woman and there was a certain family that was always pestered with what they called nightmares or hags. They called it hags in those days. Some people would get 'em. It seems it would bear on 'em so hard until they would just holler in their sleep. It was called a hag. And so, once upon a time, an old woman came and she said to the other woman, "You know what you do? You sprinkle salt all around your bed and later on you'll find out what that is that's bothering you." So that night the woman sprinkled salt all around her bed. She got in her bed. At the usual hour this thing came and she got all overpowered with it. She jumped up in her sleep and when she jumped up there was a man standing there. And he said, "Skin! skin! You don't know me! Skinl Skin! You don't know me!" So the woman caught him. And it was some man that she knew that was a witch. And he pulled his skin off and laid it down, then torment her. When he got ready to put it back on that night, it had salt on it and he could not put it back on. They said they caught him and tortured him and really destroyed him, because this other witch instructed them how to catch him.
Entry 605
Whut chew could do to pertect yo'self against it? Well, yo' kin take yo' a silver dime an' yo' kin take dat dime and put a hole in it. Yo' wear it round yore waist or yo' wrist or yore laig - any place you wanta or either round yore neck. Ah guess yo've seen dem wit dimes round dere necks hanging down. Well, whenever dat dime turns black - a dime is silver - when it begin to turn black, dey say dey trying to harm yo', see. But dey can't git up to yo' long as yo' wear dat piece of money - that silver dime. Well, yo' kin tell if they trying to throw at chew or do anything by that dime turning black.
Entry 609
Take a silver dime an' place it in yore mouth undah yore tongue at night an' sleep with it undah yore tongue durin' de night, an' in de mawnin' when yo' wake up it will be black as yore coat [see Coat, my black, in Index] - den yo know yore hurt.
Entry 666
They claim they'll make it from bones, dried bones from people. They call it goofer dust at home. They sprinkle a little goofer dust in your tracks and you're sure goin' wrong.
Entry 670
(Goofer dust - what is goofer, what is that?)
Goofer dust is snake haid, scorpion haid, lizard haid - listen, snake haid dust, scorpion dust an' lizard dust. Dat's whut yo' call goofer dust. Yo' git them things an' yo' kill 'em an' yo' cut de haids off an' yo' dry that. After yo' dry that, yo' powder that up. That's whut dey call goofer dust.
(Do the people around here talk about putting the goofer on you?)
Yes.
(What do they mean by that?)
Well, dey mean do yo' harm - when de say goofer dey mean do yo' harm. Dey don' mean tuh do nuthin' good to yo'.
(That's just doing you harm; they want to goofer you?)
Yeah, dat's jes' doin' yo' any kinda harm.
Entry 671
Ah have heard that goofer dust is jes' diff'rent roots for whatevah kinda work it is yo' wanted tuh do or anything bad; dat's de kind of roots dat chew would git. Dere's some kinda root - devil grass root.
(It has no other name?)
No othah name. Take devil grass an' snake's head an' grind it up togethah an' make a powder out of it. See, fo' instance, if yo' wanted tuh hurt someone or somepin othah lak dat, an' sprinkle it in dey hat, de bandin' of dey hat. It Would run 'em blind. Do different things with it.
Entry 727
Down in Caroline County [Virginia] before the War [Civil War], I heard my father tell the story of an old root doctor. And this man, who was named Jim P., he chewed roots because his master whipped him because he didn't make the fire on due time in the morning. This old man named P., he goes to this root doctor and this root doctor fixed him up with some roots. So he goes back to his master's home. The next morning as usual he was slow about getting his master's fire made. His master and his wife was laying in the bed. He noticed Jim P. continued to chew roots. And he looked at Jim and he said, "Jim, Jim, why don't you get that fire made?" Jim didn't turn to answer his master at all. He just continued to chew these roots. Every time he would chew these roots and his master Would say anything to him, he would spit. So his master laid there quite a while and noticed him. Suddenly his master rose in the bed and said to him, "Jim, you chewing roots." So his master smote him square in the jaw and those roots flew all over Jim P. He went back to the cunjuring doctor and told him these roots that he had given him worked on his master and he like near killed him. And he had no more faith in these cunjuring roots. And Jim P. didn't use any more roots up to the day he died.
Entry 743
An' den dere's anothah way yo' kin do it. Yo' kin take up a fellah's [foot] track. Yo' kin write his name in his track - if yo' know his name, jes' write his full name in his track.
(With what?)
Yo' know, wit yore finger. Take yore finger, dis finger, an' write his full name in his track. Take up dat track [demonstrates].
(You use that right - index finger of the right hand.)
Yes, sir. Take up that track an' go to de woods. Have yo' seen wire grass up heah in No'th Georgia?
(Wire grass? I know what it is.)
[This means I had seen a wild grass. I did not and do not know its name.]
Yes, sir. Yo' go to a big bunch of wire grass an' dig up dat wire grass by de roots; jes' take yore shovel an' have yo' another shovel - dig up dat wire grass by de root, de whole root of dat wire grass. [Presumably two spades are needed for a clump of wild grass.] Yo' dig up de whole root of dat wire grass an' jes put dat track in dere. When yo' put dat track in dere, hit on top of it three times like this, "God de Father, God de Son, God de Holy Ghost" - jes' like dat.
(What do you hit it with - your hand or the shovel?)
De shovel. An' say, "Whosoevah passes dis track with not good things in his mind" - be sure to put it though along where dis fellah travels at, yo' know he travels long dere where yo' carry dat - "whosomevah passes dis track with not good things on his mind, he shall be buried jes' de same as this dirt." An' walk away after yo' say them three words.
(You do that in case he has any hard feeling against you?)
Yes, sir - in case me an' him would git in some kind of a dispute or somepin an' ah thought he wus tryin' tuh harm me any way or he would harm me some way, an' it would better fo' me tuh do dat den to have to hurt him an' den have to go befo' de law, see.
Entry 887
Well, ah know a lady ovah heah in Tampa, that yo' kin go to, an' she'll set chew down an' begin tuh talk to yo' - anoint a little somepin in your head - (You go there and what does she tell you to do?) She tells you to go on back - say, "Well, jest want de name." Den yo' give her de name of de people dat yo' wants to do any harm to 'em. Den she'll get chew down an' she'll 'noint yo' wit some little oil in yore haid, an' tell yo' to go on back an' take it easy an' write her jest how things comes out. But she won't answer de letter. Dat's all she does.
Entry 1015
Well, someone wus tryin' tuh harm 'er 'bout five yeahs ago. Well, ever since then she be diggin' aroun' de step - yo' know, keep lookin' for somepin, lookin' fo' somepin. So fin'lly one day she found a bottle undah our step an' she took it an' break it up - bust it up an' ever'thing. An' anyway, aftah she bust de thing, well, dis woman whut put de stuff dere, she got blind, ravin' crazy. Dey had tuh send her tuh de 'sylum an' ever'thing. Fin'lly aftah she got to de 'sylum she died.
Entry 1036
If yo' find dat anything occurs, yo' walk backwards three or fo' steps, backwards de same as yo' go farwards an' yo' walk ovah it, an' yo' cut de extents of it by walkin' ovah it, yo' know. Why aftah yo' walk backwards three or fo' steps an' then go back the same way three or fo' steps an' go on ovah it - dat cuts de extents of it, dere no trouble in it.
(You do that in case there is any harm in it - to protect yourself from it?)
Yes.
Entry 1042
Like I got to him to get something to hurt joo, why if you go to that same man to have it take off, why he can't take it off, you'll have to go to another man.
Entry 1053
Dey came heah an' dey try tuh harm yo'. Well, it ain't but the one thing 'bout dat now fur as ah know. If dey kin go an' do that - now these things seem simple but it's this - red peppah an' saltpeter an' sulphur. An' yo' fix them things all together an' dat's jes' if yo' - jes' lak if dey write dat lettah yo' know. Yo' cut chew some little small papahs in pieces an' yo' put so much in there, much as yo' would think that ought to be hold in yore mouth, jes' as de sun rise. An' when de sun rise, yo' see, yo' git out an' yo' say that - an' yo' say, "Father, Son an' Holy Ghost." Den yo' blow dat out chure mouth - dat papah, but chew hole de papah in dat direction. An' when yo' blow it out, yo' let hit know yo' fightin' fo' me because ah have tried to mistreat yo'. An' yo' blow that fo' me. Well, de same thing ah had intend tuh come to yo', it comin' back to me.
(Well, what kind of paper did you put that on?)
Any kind papah, jes' long as it papah, but we mostly uses brown papah. (In other words if I write you a letter and you think I am trying to harm you, you take this stuff [red pepper, sulphur, saltpeter] and put it in a brown paper and blow it toward the sunrise.) [Then the paper is chewed or torn and blown.] Dat's correct.
Entry 1061
Take some black peppah, salt an' sulphur an' mix it together, an' if they comes about chure house to harm yo' - come in, yo' know - sprinkle it on de floor an' sweep it. An' when dey come in an' go out, sweep de whole thing out an' that will stop dem from comin' dere an' cut off dere prosperity towards hurtin' yo.
Entry 1076
[Cursing rites come in many forms - here's an unusual one:]
Walk over it an' cuss, it couldn't do anything to yo' lak dat. Ah heered dat.
(If you thought you were walking over something that somebody put down for you. All you do - just curse as you walked over it and it wouldn't harm you?)
Yes.
Entry 1180
Heard of 'em using chicken feathers fo' trouble round de home. Dey take de feathers of a black hen an' saturate it wit sulphur an' yo' bury dat under yore do'step. Dat will run off all de trouble an' harm round yore home.
Entry 1182
(These fingernails and toenails?)
Toenails an' parch 'em - put 'em in de stove an' parch 'em - cut 'em up real fine befo' yo' parch 'em an' then yo' take an' put 'em in de stove. An' they'll put i-dene [iodine] on 'em - i-dene - aftah dey done dried out. Jis' sew 'em in a red flannel an' then git a little piece of feather from a chicken an' put that in there with it.
(What will that do?)
Dat will keep dem from harmin' yo'. [This is a protective hand - see next subsection Hands.]
Entry 1298
Ah've heard of a person writin' a lettah wit blood tuh do yo' some harm...we jes' say fo' instance if yo' were 'fraid of me or somepin lak dat. Dey claim dat if yo' kin git de blood from a goat - yo' kill a goat an' yo' ketch de blood whilst it's runnin', yo' know, hot. yo' see, Yo' take de blood whilst it's runnin' hot an' then yo' would use dat blood to conquer dis person, don't chew see. Yo' take a turkey's quill an' yo' dip it into dis hot blood from a goat...why yo' kill a goat an' yo' ketch dat blood, yo' know, whilst de goat is dying, an' yo' [dip the] quill in dis blood an' yo' write wit dat blood yo' see. It'll conquer yo'.
(What will that do then?)
Dey claim dat dat will conquer anybody that have any evil spirit against chew. Yo' know, yo' afraid of em - jes' lak a woman is afraid of a man, her husband. She left him an' yo' know is afraid of him - afraid he'll do her some bodily harm. They claim dat dis goat blood will vanish away all dat.
Entry 1310
Ah hear about dat too an' ah knows of it. But chew have to pay three pennies but chew gotta go to someone's grave dat chew knows well. Jes' lak, yo' know, some of yore family dat's been buried an' yo' go to de head of dis grave an' yo' pay dat dead man or dat dead woman - whoevah yo' knows -.de three cents. An' den yo' take some of de dirt an' den yo' tell dem to give yo' luck, don't let nobody harm yo', an' yo' bring dat graveyard dirt - git a han'ful of de graveyard dirt an' bury it undah yore steps. Bury it undah yore step an' den nobody can't do yo' no harm cause de dead will pertec' yo'.
Entry 1338
An' then, if you wan'a makes sores on a person - you wan'a know about that?
(Yes.)
Well now, if you wan'a make sores on a person fer jes' sass [perverseness], eat 'em up jes' like it do vitrine [vitriol], you know - eat choo up if they throw vitr'ol on you. Well now, you see these horses go up an' down the street? Well, you see them little black places on 'em? Those rough places?
(Those little knots like warts?)
Yeah. Dat's wha' choo call horse night-eyes. Now, I'll say fer a ninstance - now, if I wan'a hurt choo or harm you in any way, I cut dat out dat horse. Ain't gon'a hurt 'im, cut it out. An' then I take it an' rubs on your clothes, on your wearin' appureZ. See, rub it all on your collah [collar] - see, like this. An' then when I rub it on there, when you put them clothes on, that jes' continues to eat choo up - sores all over you.
Entry 1354
If you chew High John de Conker and spit it around, no one can harm you. [This well-known rite is more frequently reserved for trail before judge, asking job of boss, and gambling.]
Entry 1477
You take some red pepper an' salt an' sulphur, an' put it together an' stir it up, mix it up, put in yer shoe [both shoes]; let it go clean back to the toe, heel an' all. Cut you a false [inner] sole - you ought to always git your shoes big enough to cut a false sole - an' put in theah. Put yer shoe on. They cannot hurt choo, an' you walk over anything you want an' it won't bother yah.
Entry 1490
[Saltpeter is used in many healing or protective combinations - see Index.] Well, you kin get saltpeter. You kin go and get you a dime's of saltpeter and sprinkle a little in your shoes about every four or five days. Wear that in your shoes and there can't nobody harm you - not do it to the flesh or put nuthin down fer you. But, of course, it's quite natural that if somebody get aholt of something of yourn - your hairs or your clothes that you been wearing for several days, get something out of them - why they kin do you harm. But as fer as putting something down for you, they can't do you no harm over that saltpeter.
Entry 1532
Ah heard dat chew put two dimes around yore laigs, but git two dimes of de same years - 1912. Be sure dey both of 'em is de same year an' tie dem round yore laig an' yo' walk ovah anything an' it won't hurt cha.
(You tie one around each leg.)
Entry 1583
[The opposite of the preceding rite is also given:]
Throw the article that cunjured you into water running one way; not into out- going tide but into running water. This will either run the evil doer away or harm him.
Entry 1617
Lak yo' scared someone goin' hurt chew - yo' know, if yo' got enemies. Jes' take some red peppah an' salt an' sulphur - take an' sprinkle a little bit of chamber lye ovah dat an' wear dat in yore right-footed shoe. Yo' kin walk ovah anything in de world an' nuthin will evah harm yo'.
Entry 1619
If they try to harm you and you know dey Wanta harm you, you takes a ball of thread - spool of thread, put nine knots in it. Call three colored fellah - three white fellah - three any man names dat any man you call is a great liar, an' you puts knots in it. Ev'ry time you knot it, you pull de knot to you; but if you finish dat end, you fling the other end around and you pull that to you. You take dat and make yo' water on it - de night water on it yoreself for nine mornings and take it and tie it around yore waist. Nobody kin harm yuh. [Informant is one of 6 or 7 doctors interviewed in Charleston: "Tues., June 29, 1937 - Charleston, S. C.... San Mongain - (R.D.)- good - brought by [[doctor]] Glover" - Numbers Book 442-621. Several years later while checking his cylinders against the transcription, I added a comment to his number in Numbers Book,"(use with care)" - meaning some of his material was not too good.]
Entry 1692
Git brimstone an' den git - dere's somethin' grows in de woods dey call Indian turnip or Indian potatuh [jack-in-the-pulpit] - it looks lak a.
(I know - kind of like a potato?)
Yes. Well, dey takes that an' goes in de woods where de lightnin' strike a tree - if it's a dead tree it's all right an' if it's a green one, jes' so de lightnin' strike it an' scatter de splinters, de splinters jes' fly in diff'rent directions. Dem splinters will go in diff'rent directions an' den yo' must take dem splinters after yo' pick up 'em an' den burn 'em till yo' git de ashes, an den compound dat 'tater up wit it an' put dem two together an' sprinkle dat roun' de house. Well, he can't come up there.
(That is if anybody is trying to put anything down for you - harm you.)
Yes - dat'll change his mind, that will kill it, he can't come ovah it.
(That will kill what he puts down?)
Yessuh, he jes' can't come ovah it.
Entry 2052
A root doctor tole me dat if anybody was trying to harm you in any Way - like telling de police to come to yore house and different things or you in some kind of a business - you could go in de woods and ketch a black snake. Ketch him and yo' skin it - kill him and skin right there while he alive, and take that wet skin and you tie it in a bowknot and you take it home, and you sleep with it under yore pillah always. Don't ever move it from undah yore pillah. Even when you change beds let it stay right in the same spot - let it stay dere no matter how stinking it gits, let it stay dere. De law would even come at yo' doorstep but he never would wanta come in. [Jacksonville, Fla., (562), 699:5.]
[For more knots, see Spirit Caught in Knot, p.389f., and Index.]
Entry 2662
If you think anyone wanta get cha now, dat dis party come to you and give you any money, a dime or anything like that, fer you jis' rub some sulphur on your hand before you takes the money, and they say if there anything on de money, it can't hurt cha. Yes, sir. Well, you see I was so scary I was like that.
Entry 2780
You get a black candle, that's a danger candle. You burn a red candle, that's good luck. And you burn a white candle, that's happiness - peace and happiness in your home, you see. And there ain't nobody can harm you then, if you believe in them.
Entry 2819
They could take dat handwriting an' git some red ink - git a bottle a red ink and write chure same writing. Take off whut chew got wrote dere - copy dat off, see, wit red ink on de back de letter whut chew done wrote on dis side. Hit kin be turned over an' be wrote ovah agin wit red ink. (On the back side - but you have to trace just what they wrote on the other side?) That's right. Yore words have tuh be traced offa there with that red ink. [If you receive a letter in black ink, turn the sheet over and on the reverse side trace the letter in red ink. You will be writing backwards. The so-called writing. of names backwards is merely a magic exchange of two objects - first and last names - one behind the other version. By turning the back of the letter up- side down you can by tracing also write upside down.] Then a red candle - take yore letter an' yore name is already on de letter - take de lettah and take de red candle and wrap de candle up with de letter all de [way] roun'. An' wrap it [demonstrates] all de roun' lak dat - jes' leave out a point of de candle, but de candle is covered up wit de letter. An' de individual make dere wish whut would happen tuh yo', even ef yo's on a switch engine or some kinda brakeman or engine' or somepin lak dat. Whatsomever dey say, dey jes' wish dat train 'ud wreck - dey wish somepin would happen tuh yo', you'd fall off de engine or somepin like dat. Dat same thing will happen tuh yo'. Light dat can- dle an' burn dat candle ten minutes every day twelve 'clock until de letter and de candle is burnt, an' somepin other will happen to de parties whut wrote dis letter.
(At twelve o'clock noon or at midnight.)
Noon in de daytime.
Entry 3304
Like, say fer instance, I'm livin' here. I have a wife here. I'm a fellow, I'm accustomed to gittin' up at night an' urine in de night jug. Now, dis: woman wants to - she don't want to kill me or nuthin like dat. She jes wants to harm me so dat she could keep me. Now, she'll take dat, dat urine - see, it mustn't be no watah. She'll take dat urine an' she'll put dat into a quart bottle. She'll put needles into dat. She'll stand it up on de head, anywhere in a cornah. It must be in a cornah so dat yo' can't see it. An' she'll have yo' so dat yo' can't be wit anyone else but 'er. If yo' go to be wit any othah womean, yo' can't do it. Yo' gotta be wit 'er.
Entry 3985
[The following subject is a rather large, important and unusual one. Since little of the material appears here, I refer the reader to margin title T (pp.498-502); also 2356-2367, Pp.660-662; urine rites under section SEXUAL IMPOTENCE; and many places: in the text. Nor should we forget a considerable amount of material about urine taken internally.] It's good too fo' de same iden'ical thing. If yo' think dey wanta do some harm to yo', yo' take de chamber lye an' bath-ah [i.e. bath-er] yo'self all ovah wit it, ah [or] eithah put it in yore shoes; yo know, jis' about nine drops of it in yuh shoes, each shoe.
(You bathe yourself? Or put that in your shoe, both? Or do that separately?)
Yo' kin do it sep'rately. [Waycross, Ga., (1167), 1962:?] [The question mark means there were 2 short rites on the same page, a frequent occurrence; I cutting off the lower one and failing to add the item number on the cylinder.]
Entry 4349
Well, jis' lak if yuh wants tuh harm a person, yuh see, lak dat, or yuh wanta git dat yuh might got 'em down undah yore feet tuh a certain point. An' yuh take dat hair an' yuh put it in a bot- tle, but chew put in it chamber lye an' salt. An' den yuh stop dat bottle tight, an' den yo' kin bury dat bottle or chunk it in runnin' watah - eithah one of dem things. Dat's whut de story ah got. Well, each one of 'em will harm yuh.
Entry 4352
Den dey kin take de chamber lye ag'in an' put it in a bottle an' stop it up tight an' name it. De person whosomevah de chamber lye is, name it. Call 'em dat name an' stop it up in dere an' carry it tuh watah dat's runnin' on, an' yo'll throw it in dere. (How do you throw it?) Jis' take it an' jis' walk tuh de creek wit it. Don't look at it. Walk tuh de creek an' jis', 'Yuh devil yuh go!" An' cast it away. Den walk on back but don't look back at it. An' dat stop 'em. Dat harms 'em, see. Dat will check 'em yuh see.
(How?)
As long as dat bottle stop up tuhgethah, cain't make no watah.
Entry 4859
I heard also that if you have something against a person and you want to harm the person, you take some of their clothes and throw it in the river and it will run the person crazy. [Snow Hill, Md., (85, a school teacher from near Richmond, Va.), 1:4,5.]
Entry 5051
If dey kin git de sock, dey'll take yore sock an' take an' bury it - 'cordin' [according] tuh whatevah dey wish tuh do wit dis [sock]. If dey wish tuh harm yuh, dey take yore sock an' bury it undah a tree. Dey'll cut a hole in dis tree - in de trunk-like at de bottom, an' bury dis sock in dat tree. Do dis tree some hahm [harm] dat it will die. An' as dis tree die, in dataway yuh do likewise.
(I see. Now, do they take both socks?)
Take dat lef'-foot sock.
Entry 5192
Take a person's shoe an' take an' burn it, an' yo' crimp it jis' lak yo' would when yo' take livah sometime. Ah mean yo' may not have nevah did it but Jews does it. Yo' put livah intuh - jis' lak yo' take a shoe yo' put it inside de stove. Now, yo' don't burn it. Yo' put it in- side de stove an' let it burn from de inside of de stove. See, yo' take an' let it burn from de inside of de stove an', den yo' take dis shoes leathah an' yo' git chew some of dis quicksilvah an' drop it all roun' in dat thing. An' den yo' git chew a white of aig wit dis quicksilvah, an' den yo' take dis an' whip it right good an' put dis quicksilvah in dere. See. An' den yo' jis' put it all in dat shoe an' powdah dat shoe all up wit - jis' let it go all up, yo' know. An' den yo' jis' take an' sew hit up, but choo sew it up in a silk cloth. An' den yo' puts a red piece of ribbon aroun' it. See. An' whatevah yo' wanta do wit dat - if yo' fixin' fo' tuh do anybody harm or do anybody good. [If harm], dey'll git tuh walkin'.
(What do you do with it after you put it in the bag? What happens then?)
Tote it in yore pocketbook or tote it...
(You take either shoe? Take one of your own?)
Take de lef' shoe. Always take a lef' shoe.
(Take your own?)
No, don't none of yore own. Yo' got tuh take one of his'n. (What are you going to do this stuff. What are you making this preparation for, now?) Why do you do it? Well now, dat starts 'im walkin'. When yo' fool wit a person's shoe, yo' know, dat's de scent from 'is feet zhoo know. Dat's de nature of 'im, yo' see. (This starts him walking. Well, what do you do with that bag that has this stuff in it?) Jis' take an' tote it, make 'im start walkin'.
Entry 5229
Yo' kin keep from bein' hurt dat way, whut ah know. Yo' kin keep sulphur in yore shoes an' keep from bein' hurt lak dat. Evah time yo' git ready tuh go out, evah pair of shoes yo' has, sprinkle a li'le sulphur in dem. Well, yo' nevah ketches anythin' from any- body. It's hard fo' 'em tuh git on tuh yo'.
Entry 5404
Well, if a person wan'a harm yo' in a foot track, dey got diff'ren ways dey kin harm yo' in dat. Dey kin take fo' ninstance - dey kin take an' git eggs, dey kin harm yo' in dat. Dey kin use salt an' harm yo' in dat. (How do they harm you with the eggs with that?) All right. Dey take a egg. Dey kin take a egg an' break dat egg. Beat dat egg up - beat dat egg an' when dey beat dat egg, dey put sugah in it. Dey'd git what chew would call - de same thin' as ah jis' tole yo', spoke of; but yo' git de powdah, de war powdah. Yo' mixes dat tuhgethah, but when yo' mixes it, it will come as a paste, see. Well, yo' jis' mix dat tuhgethah an' yo' gits - lak DERE'S A DRUG STORE RIGHT HERE, A FEW BLOCKS FROM HERE, WE GOES TO. Yo' gO dere an' yo' git some of de steel dust, or else take a silvah dime an' scrape it. Yo' git de dus' off de dime. An' yo' stir dat up good, an' if yo' git dis person's tracks, yo' put jis' a li'le in each track. Well, yo' know dey's goin' tuh pass an' dey bound tuh put dere feet in it. Be sure yo' know dey goin' tuh put dere feet in it. Yo' ketch one track here an' yo' may ketch anothah one ovah dere. Yo' know some people make big steps. Yo' ketch de track an' yo' put some in dere, in each track of de party yo' doin' harm. See. An' dat be all of dat. Dere won't be nuthin done in dat - see, in tryin' tuh harm 'em.
(What will that do to a person then?)
Now, tuh keep a person from [I interrupt].
(What will that do to him if you put that in his track?)
Well, what will it do tuh yo'? Why, den it would maybe paralyze 'im, his foot. It could paralyze yo', make yo' go lame in one leg or maybe de whole side. See, if a person done harm yo'.
(I see. Then - what would they do then? Do you know how to prevent that?)
Entry 5532
Ah've heard dat dey kin git chure foot track an' measure yore foot track, an' take some of de dirt out de hollah of yore track, see. Den go tuh de graveyard aftah twelve o'clock an' git some de dirt from de heart, about de heart, an' from de head an' from de foot [3 places]. An' mix it wit dat dirt whut dey took out of yore track. An' march aroun' dat grave fo' times, firs'. Den come back an' march aroun' it ag'in five, six, seven. De seven is de uneven numbah. March roun' dat seven times. Den take dat dirt whut dey got wit de graveyard dirt outen yore track, an' go an' mix it tuhgethah, an' boil it in salt an' water an' lime. Throw dat in salt, watah an' lime. Den dey will take dat an' sprinkle it wherevah yo' gotta go, where yo' cross ovah at, if it's yore doorstep or some path yo' go. If yo' in a car, why dey'd sprinkle it aroun yore car - sompin like dat - an' dat will do yo' harm. See, when yo' git in dere, yo'll be painful an' cain't rest, an' have no min' tuh stay at home - only be goin' all de time. (NOW TO MAKE CERTAIN ABOUT THIS. When you get this graveyard dirt after twelve o'clock at night, you get it from three places: on the head, the heart, and the feet. And before you get that dirt, do you walk around the grave four times or after?) Aftah.
(Then you say you walk around it again five times?)
Firs' yo' walk aroun' it, dat make five. Den yo' walk aroun' it seven times.
(Seven separate times or all together?)
Altuhgethah.
(You walk around it four times. Then what do you do?)
Yo' walk aroun' it fo' times an' yo' speak words.
(What will you say?)
Yo' will say, "Ah wan' dis man tuh be subjec' tuh me. Ah wan' 'im tuh go an' not come back. Dat 'is min' may go from 'im, dat he may not undahstan' whut he do." See, dat's whut dey'll say.
(Then you will walk around it?)
Two mo' time. Dat makes seven. (They walk around it four times. They dig that dirt up and walk around it four times. Then what do they do after the fourth time, after they say those words?) Den dey walk aroun' it ag'in one time. Dat makes five, yo' see.
(Then do they say anything?)
Naw, don't say anything. Den de fifth time, den de sixth an' de seventh. Den dey march aroun' dere de seventh time, den dey will repeat de same words over ag'in....
(Then you go on away with the graveyard dirt.)
Entry 5619
Carry away yo' tracks - if he git chore foot track to hur' chew, take it up an' turn yo' toes back to yo' heels an' bury it. He'd make yo' sick. But if he'd take it from yo' toes back to yo' heels an' don' do nuthin wit it, an' yo' could nevah feel sick de fus' [first] time, take an' take yo' some salt, table salt, sprinkle it down in yo' yard an' call dat person name, if yo' kin. Squash it. He can't do no harm den.
Entry 5626
Pick up de lef' foot jis' in de centah, in de middle of de track, an' put it into a bag. An' put a little salt, a little [red] peppah an' throw it into de rivah. An' dey say dat will do yo~ harm - make yo' go away, don' chew know, run yo' outa town sompin lak dat.
Entry 5633
If someone gone away an' dey wuz persuaded away by some person dat's tryin' to do yo' harm in de family or somepin of de kin', an' dey git dis person out an' tell 'em to leave home, ah wouldn't stay dere; an' den, yo' 'see, dey're tryin' to do yo' harm. Dey would git dis person off, an' den dey would give 'em somepin to keep 'em away from yo'. Ah've heard dat.
(What do they give them?)
Dey say dey would fix up somepin in dere food, some kin', lak women have, an' put it in dere food. An' den to bring 'em back, a lady tol' me dis, she wuz a ole lady, she's daid now, she tol' me dis to bring 'em back. She said if yo' wan' 'em, desire dem back home an' couldn't git 'em back, said if dey did come to see yo', if dey happen to come to see yo', yo' git some salt an' red peppah an' some sulphur, an' sprinkle it in dere tracks when dey leave ag'in, so dey come back ag'in dey wouldn't go back any mo'. If dey leavin', dat'll bring 'em back.
Entry 5695
Yo' take de foot tracks aftah it rains. Wait till it rains. An' when it rains yo' watch fo' dat person whosomevah yo' wanted tuh harm. Yo' watch fo' dem, an' when he done pass an' gone by on 'is business, why yo' come out an' git three tracks up. (How do you pick them up now?) Well, yo' pick 'em up wit chure han', jis' de whole track, yo' see. Yo' pick one up [demonstrates] lak dis an' yo' go an' yo' pick de othah one up. Yo' have a papah bag an' put dat in dere.
(You pick up three tracks?)
Yeah, an' yo' take a papah bag an' put dat in. All right yo' take dat an' put dat in, an' yo' go home an' yo' git chew a aig, yo' git chew some hot stuff an' some yeast box - de ten-cent box yeast box, do' [though] dey got a big box, an' yo' be ballin' dat up. An' yo' take dat an' throw dat in de rivah.
(What do you throw in the river?)
De tracks.
(What do you do with the stuff you whip up?)
Yo' whip all that up tuhgethah, yo' undahstan', den yo' put it back in a heaviah papah bag, an' yo' throw it ovah yore lef' shouldah out tuh de Miss'ippi Rivah, yo' undahstan'. Or if it's a guttah where it's runnin' watah it's all right. [RUNNING WATER IN A GUTTER IS MENTIONED HERE THE FIRST TIME IN HOODOO.] Well, dat'll be all of it, see.
(What will that do?)
Dat'll jis' send 'im down, dat he won' talk. Yeah, dat cripples 'im.
(It won't send him away or anything?)
No, it jis' sends 'im down, he cain't do nuthin.
Entry 5723
Ah've heard den ag'in dat a man could - he could take dat if he wanted tuh do yo' real harm or wanted tuh take yore life. Take some of dat same stuff an' go to a tree. (This sand from the left footprint.) Yeah from de left feet. Bore a hole in a tree an' take dat sand an' set it in dat hole, an' take a piece of wood an' make a nice tight stoppah, an' bat it down in dere an' cut it off smooth. An' dat'll put chew tuh goin', dat'll Treck yore mind, perhaps take yore life. Dere's several diff'ren' ways yo' kin do dat, but dat's one of de main ways dat ah always did learn, wuz tole tuh me.
Entry 5730
Ah tell yo' about de foot track as fur as ah knows. Yo' drags dat track from de toe an' drag it back wit dem two fingers, until yo' thoroughly gits back to de heel. [Demon- strates.] (You take the right hand and the index finger and the little finger. Make them as a shovel and drag it back towards the heel. And you begin with that track - your thumb must touch the heel and then where those two fingers rest, you draw them back like that.) Right in de centah of de track. Yo' takes dat track an' yo' buy yo' a bottle of ink, an' yo' mix jis' enough of dat in dat track tuh make a li'le, yo' know, a dough of it yo' might say. Den yo' go tuh a growin' tree on de sundown side an' bo' a hole right down at de foot of it. Put dat in it, pack it up, an' go back dere fo' three days evah mawnin' an' give it [peg] one tap. De third mawnin' yo' have it [peg] in wit [even with] de tree. Den take some of dat same ink an' stain all roun' dat place, an' go on about chure business. Dat man nevah go out in peace. Dat will jis' run 'im com- plete 'way from dere.
Entry 5788
Now, de way yo' could stop yore foot track, yo' could take some - git chew a little concentrated lye, an' half-a pint of whiskey, an' 'bout a teaspoon fulla camphor, an' put it in dat bottle yo'understan'. An' also write dere name on it an' jis' shake it up an' down until dat.all come tuhgethah - dat papah an' lye an' stuff come tuhgethah. All right. Wheresomevah yo're at, if yo's in a location wheresomevah yo' be at, jis' bury it down right - jis' at de right side of de do'step, right at de right side of yore do'step. Well, den dey couldn't do a thing wit yo'.
(That would keep that person from harming you?)
Dey won't do yo' any harm.
Entry 5809
If a person angry wit yo' an' yo' didn't know it, dey could put dere han's on yore haid on de top of yore hair an' it would all come out - from de top of yore haid, an' all yore hair would come out. But it would have to be a person dat is real angry wit yo'. Ah nevah heard where [whether] it wuz anythin' dey would put on de han' or Dot.
Entry 5833
(Well, suppose somebody wanted to harm yo' with that hair. What would they do with that then?) Well, if dey want to do yo' harm, why dey take dat an' burn it with sulphur. Dey kin harm yo' dat way.
(Well, just how would it harm you?)
Well it will give yo' a ramblin' mind, it has yo' goin' from one place to de othah, soonah or latah until yo' don't know zac'ly [exactly] whut chew wanta do. Yo' 'cumulate a silly mind - soon die.
Entry 6382
Well, dey will take dat an' have yo' lame all de time. (What do they do with that then, after they scrape the bottom of the feet? What do they do with that then?) Bottle it up wit some stuff dey call de blue vitrus - wit blue vitrus. An' den dey take it an' aftah dey put dat blue vitrus in wit it, dey take it den wit a mixture fo' tuh do yo' harm - me harm, or somebody else. Don' care whose [who] 'tis. Dey'd mix it, yo' know, an' driv' [drip] it [bury bottle so that it leaks] long wherevah yo' have tuh go, fo' tuh strike yo' wit pain [in the feet].
Entry 6383
An' dey could trim yer fingahnails, yo' know. Say now, like if yo' set dere an' trim yer fingahs, I'd gathah dem up. See, I'd gathah dem up an' take dem - or toenails, eithah one of 'em. Take 'em an' put 'em in a li'le vial. An' aftah yo' put 'em intuh de li'le vial, yo' would keep 'em in dis vial fo' 'bout nine days, wit a li'le vitrus wit 'em fo'.tuh git 'em soft. Den yo' take 'em out of dat vitrus an' dry 'em off, an' put 'em in anothah vial den an' put othah stuff wit 'em. (What other stuff do they put with that second vial? What do they put in that second vial?) Intuh de secon' one yo'll put some of yer own chamber lye, an' a li'le bit of cologne root.
(Cologne root?)
Cologne root. An' yo'll take dat an' shift it aroun' [in the bottle]. Dat is tuh do 'em harm.
[Cologne root is probably a product of the root-seller or hoodoo drug store.]
(Well, what do you do with that bottle then, that has that stuff in it? This second bottle, what do you do with that, then?) De bottle? Well, yo' could take dat bottle out some place an' bury it. Bury dat bottle an' dat'll make dem useless in dere han's or foot, wherever dese nails come from.
Entry 6392
Yo' trimmin' yo' fingahnails an' dey'll tie it up in a cloth an' dey'll bury dat. Dat'll harm yo'.
(Well, how would it harm you? What would it do to you?) Whut will it do tuh yo'? Why, yo' fingahs will rot off.
Entry 6468
They can take your toenails and fingahnails an' see, like mah nails mog, they could harm me purtty much for this simple reason. They're dirty. See, they are not all that much long, they are dirty. Well, they would take this nail and they would cut these nails as close as they poss'bly could with the dirt a'all into 'em. If they could get to my toes, they'd do my toes de same iden- tical way. Now, they take these nails here, an' mah toenails an' they'd put them together. If they could get a lizard, they'd take a lizard an' they'd kill the lizard an' let that lizard dry.
(They take a lizard and kill the lizard?)
They kill the lizard.
(Oh, they kill the lizard.)
An' let him dry - I mean, till he gets to a powder. When he gets to a pow- der, they mixes him with these nails of mine. They'd put that into a piece of red flannel and they buries that. AN' NOW, WHEN THEY BURIES THAT, THEY BURIES IT WITH A CROSS.
(What kind of a cross?)
THEY MAKES A CROSS THEYSELF. THEY DON'T VERY SELDOM BUY A CROSS. YOu know, ordinary, plain - just a plain cross, wooden cross; just any kind of a small cross you'll use, just since it's a cross. They buries it with a cross into that flannel. See? Well, now, when they buries that, why they got me just the Way they want me.
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 6640
Dey'd dry it [a rattlesnake] an' grin' de dust up - make a dust of it. An' dat's why de oldah people didn't wan' choo tuh open lettahs an' things, becuz if it git in yo' eyes or yo' inhale it, it'd be vury injur'us. Ah think dey say it's de rattles [dust comes from the rattles].
reported drying before dust-making with qualified object/body-part attribution. The rattlesnake identification is bracketed editorial wording; Ah think dey say it’s de rattles remains the informant’s uncertainty. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 6672
De way dat's done in de time dat it's matin'-time wit de terrapins. An' if yo' git it dat pahtic'lah time, yo' git a chance tuh git a terrapin an cook dat terrapin. An' take dat ter- rapin an' wheresomevah, jis' lak a woman, if she wanta hurt somebody - lak she wanta hurt anothah woman, sompin lak dat, see. At dat pahtic'lah time [mating-time] she kin take dat terrapin an' cook 'im, boil 'im good. An' befo' she boil 'im, she kin take 'im an' take some of de blood of dat terrapin, an' mix it wit some wine, some strong wine. An' give it tuh dis othah individual tuh drink in de wine, if she's a drinkah, yo' see. She kin be doped in dat. An' when she drink dat juice out dat terrapin in matin'-time wit dat wine - now when time come de terrapin aigs oughta be hatchin', well dat terrapin goin' from in dat individual. (That will form in them and kill them. That is, if some woman wants to get rid of another woman.) Dat's right.
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 7604
Yuh kin [go] tuh de graveyard three or nine or fifteen days aftah any- body is dead, an' git some of dat graveyard dust, if yuh wanta harm anybody or kill 'em. Yuh dig a square hole [or oblong one, both a grave sym- bol] an' put dat dirt in it, an' take dis little bo'd an' covah dat hole up, an den put some othah dirt on top of dat, an' dey really got chah.
(Where do you put that dirt, this graveyard dirt?)
Well, yuh kin put neah tuh de do' - tuh de front do', or tuh de back do', or any de alley [gallery?], any place where dey gotta walk at, an' yuh know dey've gotta walk across it.
conditional intent to harm or kill in a described account. The source expresses conditional intended harm; no actual injury, target identity or perpetration is established. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 6839
Well, if dey git aholt of yuh foot track an' try tuh harm yo', now yo' kin git chew some cayenne peppah, High John de Conkah, an' mix it up tuhgethah an' put it in a bag. Tie it up, car' [carry] it tuh de rivah an' throw it right ovahbo'd an' don' look back at it. An' dat'll turn it right back on 'em.
(That's if they took your foot track?)
Yes. [Informant may have dropped out a detail of this rite, but intention is sufficient.]
Entry 6844
An' yo' take that person's name an' put it on 25 pounds of ice, an' dat'll freeze out all the harm they tryin' tuh do to yo'.
Entry 6902
(What's the name of it?)
It's called de red shank.
(The red shank root?)
Yes, sir. It's called de red shank an' ah'll tell yo'. If ah came tuh yo' an' if ah've got a bad disease, see. Well, yo' take dat red shank, yu' undah- stan', if it's put out, why yo' take de top of it; an' if it's not put out, yo' take a grubbing hoe an' dig the root up an' wash de root. See. Put it intuh two quarts of watah, an' bile [boil] it down tuh one quart [the magic of diminishing amount]. Unnahstan'?
(I understand.)
Bile it down tuh one quart. Den yo' take - when yo' bile it down tuh one quart, yo' take it an' yo' set it off [the stove]. Unnahstan' dat?
(Yes.)
An' den when yo' set dat off, yo' git a li'le piece of bluestone, lak a speck- led pea, an' beat it up right fine an' stuff it in dere. Git chew a li'le piece alum about dat long. Put it in dere, but let de watah be good an' cool. See, don' put it in dere hot. An' den yo' takes it den, an' yo' give it tuh 'im an' tell 'im tuh take three swallows three times a day. Now de way a boy, or man eithah - whutevah he is don't yo' take it jis' lak yo' drinkin' watah, becuz if yo' drink it lak yo' drinkin' watah, well it don't do yo' any good, becuz it will git down in yore stomic an' it will be dere so much till it will sour. It will be de same as milk, when yo' drinks it. Dat buttahmilk when a man is in bad shape, it's jis' a dose of poison tuh 'im. It keeps sour on 'is stomic. Jis' take no more dan three teaspoonsful a day. Take it as [medicine] yo' know. If yo' take too much of it, why it don't do you any good. It'll do yo' harm.
(Three swallows. One swallow before each meal?)
Dat's right.
(I see, each day. All right.)
An' den don't eat so much grease.
(What did you say?)
I say, let de buttahmilk alone.
(I see.)
Entry 7518
An' dey put it in yore bed.
(This graveyard dirt?)
Yes sir, eithah sprinkle it aroun' yore house or anything like dat. (Well, what do they put it in the bed for? What will that do if they put it in the bed?) Well, yo' see, de dead would come where de dust is. Dat'll harm. Yo' see, yo' can't sleep at night. Take it - an' de bed will 'come [become] de way de dust is, if it wus somebody who wus evil, becuz dey done me like dat.
Entry 7536
Yo' kin go in de graveyard an' de last person dat chew know dat wus buried in dat graveyard dat have a mean spirit - an' yo' kin take a rod an' yo' kin find [ram] it down undah dere coffin, an' call dere spirit three times. An' yo' tell 'em dat yo' want 'em to do zackly [exactly] whut chew ast 'em tuh do. An' yo' kin take de bottoa of dat dirt dat comes up in dat rod, an' carry it along wit chew. An' ah don't care where yo' go or where yo' be, yo' could do mos' anythin' an' nobody couldn't hurt choo. Becuz yo' know, dat spirit answah yo' back an' tell yo' zackly dat dey'll do zackly whut dey tell yo' dey will do. But chew must do it twelve a'clock in de night.
(You don't get this dirt to do anything with it?)
No. [The dirt became a hand, a captured spirit that does your will. At midnight you tell it what you want done. The spirit will answer what it will do and when it is done it also protects you from harm, especially from anyone trying to mrt you - put a spell on you.]
Entry 7644
If yo' got somebody an' maybe yo' Wanta kill dat person or wanta harm dat person. Say now if yo' go up in de graveyard an' maybe it been some man dat have lived a rowdy life. Yo know some people live a very rowdy life, nevah attempt tuh be a Christian, a very rowdy person. Some people cuss tuh de last. Say yo' go tuh dat person an' go tuh de foot of 'is grave an' dig down one foot in de groun', she say. An' git chew a handful of dat dirt an' put it in a bag, an' bring it back home an' go round at dat man's back do', an' jes' take dat dirt an' throw it lak it wuz some flour or sompin. on de ground. Say, why dat man will come afflicted wit 'is laigs, or make his foot swell up, or he'll have some kind of ailment about 'is laigs account dat graveyard dirt bein' around de dō'.
Entry 7690
Go tuh de graveyard an' put a penny down in dere an' take up dat grave- yard dirt In de Name of de Father, de Son an' de Holy Ghost. An' carry tuh dat person house [be- fore] de sunrise an' throw it, an' yo' walk off an' don't look back. Dat'll do dat person harm. Jes' sprinkle it all roun' where dey gotta come out at.
Entry 7705
If yo' wanta hurt anybody, yo' kin go tuh de graveyard an' call de person name. An' carry a piece of [his] ole clothes, leave dat dere, an' bring [a small piece] eidah [either] de haidboard or de footboard; an' yo' kin go tuh a person house an' put it right undahneat' 'is pillah, [but] undahneat' de baid. An' he'll go tuh sleep dat night an' he'll take a pain an' he wouldn't nevah be no good tuh hisself. He wouldn't fin' out until he die. Somebody goin', but she'll nevah let 'im, unless yo' wanta turn 'im loose. Den yo' kin go an' tum 'im loose if yo' don't wanta harm 'im. (How do you mean put that footboard under the pillow. Wouldn't they feel it under there?)
[Actually only a splinter from the board is used.]
No, sir, dey ain't goin' feel it. Dey ain't goin' have sense enough tuh feel it. [This rite is unusual. The man's old clothes has contact with the grave- yard dirt, and the graveyard board splinter is taken to the house as a substi- tute for the dirt.]
Entry 7890
Take de graveyard dirt an' put it in a glass an' set it ovah dere man- telpiece fer seven days, an' aftah [that] yo' turn it undah de bottom of yo' steps see. An' dey says dey kin harm yo' lak dat.
(Well now who gets this graveyard dirt? The person that is trying to harmyou?)
Yes.
(All right, do I put the graveyard dirt on your mantle then?)
Dat's whut ah'm speaking about.
(And then put it under your step.)
Put it undah mah step.
(Well, you would see it on the mantle, wouldn't you?)
Sometimes yo' bury dat.
The informant describes graveyard dirt in a glass on a mantel for seven days, then beneath steps, and attributes harm to what people say. The interviewer supplies the proposed victim perspective in several questions; the informant also mentions burial. The bracketed time completion is editorial.
Entry 7892
Said dey kin take an' git some dirt from de graveyard, an' if dey kin git one of yuh shoes an' put some of dat in it, dey kin hurt choo lak dat; make yo' cripple or lame or somepin lak dat.
The informant reports what others are said to do with dirt from a graveyard and a shoe. The injury claim remains reported rather than independently established.
Entry 7925
Dey tell me if yo' usin' a lavatory, especially a outside lavatory, dat yo' could jes' take a little bit of it an' go dere durin' de night an' sprinkle a little bit around de hole where yo' sit at.
(Sprinkle what around?)
(Around the lavatory?)
Aroun' de lavatory hole.
(And it will injure you, you say?)
Yes.
Entry 8104
Yo' kin bury it on its face [the picture] at chure do' too, ag'in. Wrap it up in flannen an' bury it down dere an' evah mawnin' fo' nine mawnin's yo' kin hit on it jis' lak dat [demonstrates by stamping foot], jis' as yo' walk, jis' hit on it lak dat, an' dat harms 'em. Yo'll fade away. Ah've seen 'em fade away.
(You just stomp [stamp] on it.)
Yo' be goin' but chew fades away tuh nuthin.
Entry 8228
If yo' kin git aholt of someone's photograph an' yo' got it in fo' dem, why yo' take dey photograph an' yo' clip de photograph in nine diff'ren' ways.
(How do you mean, cut it nine different ways?)
Yo' cut de fo' cornahs offa it. But yo' ain't gotta cut it plumb up. When yo' cut de fo' cornahs, dat's fo' ways. Well, yo' kin take it an' cut it five mo' diff'ren' ways. Cut it all de way round, but jis' don' cut it up [photo must be left inone piece]. Den take dat pichure an' carry it to runnin' watah. Well, dey'll be harmed, gits in a car wreck or sompin. Dey goin' git out chure way.
[Stopped machine. Informant added a remark. Restart to repeat the addition.]
(They get cut up or something of that sort?)
Yes.
Entry 8230
Yo' take yore pichure. Ah've heah dat yo' take yore pichure. See, jis' lak if a person didn't lak yo' or wanted tuh git chew outa de way. Yo'd take dat pichure an' go outdo's. If yo' wanted tuh, go right in yore yard at de lef' cornah, [or] de no'th cornah of yore chimley, an' dig a hole an' bury it on yore face. Bury de pichure on de face. Well, yo' see, as long as it lay on yore face, fades away, dat person will die.
Entry 8253
It's lak if a person mistreats yo' an' yo' wanta git even wit 'im, an' he's got yore pichure an' yo' got 'is. Ah mean if de girl is got yore [his] pichure an' yo' got one lak it, take it an' put it an' weah it in de bottom of yore right-foot shoe an' wear it, clean it...
(What will that do?)
Dat will make 'im sick.
Entry 8292
Ah heard dey kin take a tin- type photograph an' carry it tuh de oak tree, an' if dey wanted tuh harm yuh, an' nail it dere wit a tenpenny nail an' den shoot. Say dat would kill yo'.
Entry 8338
Kin do in de tree. Co'se now yo' kin take if yo' kin git a tintype photograph, yo' know, whut takes only dese li'le tencent tintypes, see. An' dat will do anything. An' if yo' wanta ruin a person wit it, yo' kin go right tuh a young pine, a young tree, an' yo' kin jes' take yore knife an' yo' cut chew a deep hole in dat tree, see. An' yo' drive yo' a li'le tack. Yo' tack dat tintype pichure upside down on dat tree, yo' see. Den, if yo' wanta, yo' kin tack sompin ovah it, yo' see. An' dat tree be drawin' [growing] up. An' yo' kin mess a man up, yo' see. Yo' kin lock 'is bowels or yo' kin jes' keep 'im....
Entry 8681
Well, yo' can do a heap with onions.
(What for example?)
Yo' can take a onion an' write names an' open dat onion an' sew it up, put that in there an' sew that onion up. An' take that onion and put it somewhere where nobody walks. That does a lot of harm - mean things. (Do you just write the name once on a piece of paper?) Once only on the paper for that.
Entry 8908
You can take a bone of a person and do lots of harm. They can be the biggest crook in the world, the one that has got the bone - like the professional stealer, the one that has the bone. And as long as they have that bone, they will never be caught because they got the dead man's bone. And the dead man's bone keeps all other spectators away and nobody perhaps hardly sees what this man with that bone is doing because it is a real dead man's bone.
Entry 9091
Yo' kin use dat [string] fo' lawsuits. Jes' lak if yo' was in a lawsuit, somebody had yo' prosecuted an' yo' had tuh [go to court] an' if ah wuz a witness against chah. Ah don't care how many witnesses against chah, yo'll [tie] dat in about nine knots. Evah one of us - yo'll tie us down in nine knots, an' we can't harm yuh. Yo' don't do no mo' den tie dat. Yo' jes' tie dem knots an' tell it whut chew want it tuh do. See. An' when yo' tell it whut chew want it tuh do, it goin' work directly de way yo' say.
(Then what do you do with that string?)
What chew do wit it den? Jes' hol' it in yore han' tight.
Entry 9099
Git powdahs, perfume, dey call it lucky star powdahs [incense]. Yo' burn it an' as yo' burn it de sut [soot], it drops down, an' as dat drops yo' make a wish, an' dat turns evahbody ag'inst chew in de line of tryin' tuh do yo' some harm. But chew [in jail] cain't do it. Some of yore friends will have tuh bring it tuh de co'troom an' do dat.
(You wouldn't do that in the courtroom, though?)
Do it at home an' make a wish as dat falls down.
(What do you call this powder?)
Lucky star powdah. Yo' buys it in de drug sto'. It looks lak dust, an' as it burns de soot drops from it, an' yo' make a wish in behin' dat stuff. An' anybody tryin' tuh do yo' some harm dat turn 'em 'ginst chew. Jis' lak if yo' have somebody in jail an' yo' want 'em out, well yo' take an' burn dat. Go up tuh de jail. Den it won't be long 'fore dey be outa de jail. [Lucky Star is also incense shaped like a star, See LUCKY STAR, No.2088, p.607, vol.1.]
Entry 9277
Take a fresh aig an' throw it - jes' throw, jes' at de house where dat chew feel dat yore enemy at. Throw it tuh de house where dey at an' don't nevah look back at it, jes' go ahead an' dey'll nevah harm yo'. A fresh hen aig.
Entry 9320
(Begin that over again.)
When they wanta do harm to yo', they take an' write yore name on a chicken egg nine times an' they throw it in de Mississippi River, an' just de way it drift, it liable to get bust [that way]. Yo' kin take an' throw it thataway [if you want to]. Where dey pass an' walk all de time, dat be de safest way - where yo' kin pass an' walk all de time. (You say [said before I turned on recording machine] if it gets busted in the river, then it isn't any good?) No, that egg is destroyed then.
(Oh! I see. So it's safer to bury it [where the victim walks]. I see.)
Entry 10082
[I heard of] people using a cat.
(All right, how do they use that?)
Well, yo' git a real black cat. Dat's now in regard if yo' wants tuh hurt someone, yo' undahstan'. Ah've heard yuh git a real black cat, an' yo' heat yuh some watah. Yo' git de watah real hot an' yo' put de cat in dere alive. Yo' put a lid on topa de pot an' jis' drop de cat in dere alive. An' aftah he's in dere alive, let 'im boil 'til evah bone in 'im - 'til it come all off de meat, therly [thoroughly] done. An' aftah yo' boil 'im therly done, den yo' take 'im out an' yo' suck evah bone in de cat 'til yo' git tuh de right bone. Whenevah yo' git tuh de right bone, it'll cuz yuh [to disappear] by yo' cannot see yuhself - yo' can't see yuhself in a mirrah. Yo' kin look in a mirrah an' yo' fail tuh see yuhself.
(Then what do you do?)
Well, yo've got de right bone, an' yo' kin do mos' anything den yo' wants tuh. Yo'll accomplish mos' anything yo' want tuh accomplish.
Entry 10118
Get a black cat, cut the right hind leg and get a bone out...and carry that around your neck, and there won't be any evil spirit harm you, and it will keep cunjures away. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 10203
St. Michael? Well, you take a blue candle and you burn to St. Michael for him; burn the can- dle to conquer your enemies. You get ahead of them, keep them from harming you.
Entry 10646
Take dose antses, see, ketch 'em, an' dat [ant] bed dey done made - some of dat [ant] bed yo' see, an' yo' git it [some of that ant bed] in a box an' yo' bring it back. An' dey tell me yo' jes' keep dat sittin' ahin' yore bed all de time. See. Well, dey say dat's jes' tuh run yo' crazy - yore mind bad, see.
(You do that at some other person's bed?)
Yeah, doin' othah people harm.
Entry 9554
Ah hear'd dey take salt an' peppah an' put it undah yuh dohstep, dat'll hurt choo.
Entry 9580
If dey tryin' tuh harm yo' - yo' know, lak dey put down sompin an' yo' scared yo' walk ovah it - yo' kin take salt an' peppah, red cayenne peppah, an' weah it in yore shoe. (What will that do?) Dat'll - yo' cain't detect nuthin in yuh feet or anythin'.
Entry 9656
[If anyone puts anything down for you] an' yo' wanta walk ovah it, jes' put chew some bluestone an' cookin' salt in yore shoe. Jes' take up dat little piece in de bottom of yore shoe [insole] an' sprinkle a little bit in dere an' put dat back down, an' yo' kin walk where yo' wanta walk.
(Nothing will hurt you?)
Nuthin will hurt yo'.
Entry 9786
If a man wanted tuh do somebody some harm, jes' say, lak it wus a woman, an' yo' know whut happens yo' know in de month. Well, if yo' take needles an' pins an' cross, if yo' could git aholt of dat [piece of hers], yo' cross one [demonstrate]. Yo' see, put one dis way an' one dat way - jes' cross 'em.
(Needles or pins?)
Needles or pins.
(Just two?)
Well, yo' kin use many as yo' want, but when yo' do dat she be all up an' down fo' de balance of huh days.
(What would you do with that cloth then?)
Well, yo' jes' - anything yo' wanta do. Yo' could bury it or throw it away or anything, jes' so yo' leave dem needles in dere. Yeah. Don't care whut chew do wit it.
Entry 9838
Ah heard people say yo' kin take [nine] needles, brand-new needles, an' nine pins an' red flannel. Sew it up in red flannel an' put it undah people's do's, an' dey jes' walk ovah it an' dat will cause them tuh be lingerin'; yo' know, some parts of they body go tuh pieces.
Entry 10649
Ah heard if yo' take a ant, if yo' wus tuh take, if yo' could a - jes' lak a ants' nest. Jes' lak yo' go to a ants' den dey have made. Jes' lak if yore husban' or sompin lak dat would wash his feet an' yo' would scrape his feet, well yo' take dis dead skin offa yore husban's feet an' take an' put it in dis ants' nest. Den dat et [eaten] by de ants an' den dat would cause him to walk jes' lak a ants, if yo' wanta do somepin to him or somepin lak dat. Dat would cause de husban' to walk jes' lak de ants.
(What do you mean, run him away or something like that?)
Yeah, jes' gives him de wanderin' an' sturbin' an' all lak dat. Jes' lak he'd love somebody an' yo' thought yo' could break him - yo' know, stop him from lov- in' 'em. Yo' jes' wanta do somepin ill to 'im. See, yo' takes an' wash his feet an' git some of dis heah, yo' know, dead skin off his feet, an' yo' puts it in dis ants' den, an' say den when he starts tuh walkin', he jes' wouldn't be sat- isfied novhere he goes, jes' lak de ants.
Entry 10657
Ah tell yo' 'bout a red ant's bed. If yo' got a dog in yore yard an' want him tuh be bad, yo' kin put nine red ants' in some bread an' give 'im. Yo' couldn't even come in dat yard where he wus. Dat dog would tear yo' up.
Entry 10846
If someone is a enemy to yo' - dey wanta see yo' linger or somepin - yo' kin use it fo' dat, but 'scusin dat ah haven't hear't [heard]. Dey cook it down to a oil, dat buzzard grease, an' yo' give it to 'em.
(How?)
In dey food or in water.
(What will that do to them?)
An' dey will come to be limber - in other words, dey wouldn't iwould] lose de use of deyself [by becoming too limber!].
(Why would they do that?)
Why, jest lak if a person had a grudge against yo' or anything, if dey wanted tuh do yo' harm some way an' dat de onliest way. Anyway dey could git to git dey 'venge out dey would do so.
Entry 11135
That's to keep you from [leaving the house]. (How do they do that?) Dey put it [cow manure] out and let it get dry. [I shut off machine too soon.]
(Crumble it up?)
Yes, sir, crumble it up, dry out and sprinkle it into your house. That will harm you, that will put chew in bad luck.
Entry 11213
Take the dirt dauber and take dis man's name.
(Yes?)
And you write the man's name and you set this in the bottle, and when you puts this in the bottle...
(Now what do you put in the Bible?)
You puts - in de bottle!
(Oh, in a bottle. You put all this in a bottle?)
All this in a bottle. Well, I call a bottle a jar - one of these pickle jars - and put the vinegar in there with the man's name in there. That's the dauber dust. Then you takes this man's name and you just put the pin and the tacks and the needles in there. And then you put it in there, and every day at twelve o'clock you shake it up and call this man's name. Every day you do the same thing until the ninth day that you see that you get your wishes.
(What kind of wishes do you make?)
Well, the wishes that I would make, would be the bad destruction on him. That'd be bad luck for him to have. That's the bad wishes.
Entry 11326
Those [are] doll babies. But inside of those doll babies, there's somepin they have in there belonging to the person that they Want to do harm to. And of course, they make them a doll baby and sit it on the dresser, anywhere, nobody will never take any- thing of yours. That's how come they make those doll babies to hide what they are doing. [Here a doll baby is an ornament that also protects against thieves, but it is also an ideal place for an evil person to hide his cunjure.]
Entry 11474
Jest like I tole you about de other thing. Dey'll take dat and scrape it and put it in a little paper sack or tie it up in a cloth and they'll drop dat overboard. Dat'll hurtcha.
(What will that do to you?)
That will cause you to be down all de time and you'll go crazy. You go ovahbo'd, sompin like dat [foot] track will.
(That is with the scraping of your feet.)
Yes. [Charleston 653:7.]
Entry 11664
Go to the forks of the road. You gotta get - there's a certain dust on the middle part of the forks of the road. Well, they take that and they put it in a clean cloth and they make nine knots - tie it in nine knots. And they take that and wear it around their waist, and now they got you stopped. [This is a protection against con- juration.] (Well, what do they wear that for?) Well, they - what they wear that for? Well, they kin harm you a whole lot, see. They kin make you go to a certain distance as they want you to go, and they kin stop you at a certain distance, if they wanta stop you, see.
(Well, how would they use that?)
[Informant has already answered my question.]
How they?
(Do they use it in any way? Or do they just wear it around their waist?)
Just keep it around their waist [for protection]. [New Orleans, La., (884), 1457:5 0r 4.]
The informant describes dust from the middle of road forks tied in a clean cloth with nine knots and worn at the waist, discussing control or harm. Hyatt labels it protection, including a final bracketed gloss. Preserve that difference in purpose and the interviewer's repeated questions without converting editorial protection into the informant's explanation.
Entry 11725
They claim they get a whole lot of stuff and put in there, High John the Conqueror, nimphel[?] weed [etc.]. Put all of them weeds together and beat them up good, and call that goofer dust. You are walking along in the mud and you put your whole footprint down there. They claim they can sprinkle that dust in there and make you butt your brains out. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Ediphone 39.]
Entry 11748
They'll git graveyard dirt, just a little pinch of it, and put it in some of your foot. You'll linger, you know, just start to lingering that way. It ain't gonna [going to] kill you right away.
Entry 11757
Graveyard dirt, let dry on stove, get rattlesnake buttons, beat up and mix these two, make 2 piles, put one pile in whiskey, put other pile around waist, this keeps person from harming you. Give whiskey to enemy, snakes in him.
Entry 11916
If you are stopping up a person's hair to harm him or her, it must come from the mold of the head, the vital spot of a person's body. [Wilmington 171:4+85.]
Entry 12191
You get you a horseshoe. You get you a horseshoe and put it at your door. You put one at the top and you put one at the bottom and nail them down. When [where] your friends come in the house where you is. And put the horseshoe down and make friends which had been your enemies. But now they're friends when you put the horseshoe. They come and see you. And if you're out where they is, you just tote you some pepper in your pocket, red pepper in your pocket. Well, they're going to come where you is after you done put the horseshoe out to make friends, they can't do you any harm. This is like to keep anybody away from you. (Right on the top of the door and let the two pieces
[the toes or 2 prongs] hang down?)
Let the two pieces hang down.
(How do you put it on the bottom?)
You put it at the door but you gotta cut a track down in the door where the door can open, you see, and put the horseshoe down in there where the door just comes right on over that.
(Which way do the ends point, in or out, do you know?)
Ends point out, out of the house.
(And do you cover that with something? Can they see it down there?)
Yes, they can see it but they don't know what it is.
Entry 12275
Yo' kin take a file or a knife an' go to de corner of yo' place an' yo' stick it down in de left-han' side an' name it. An' ever' day go dere an' push it down a little bit, an' when it git down to de last, whosomevah dey name is yo' goin' fix dat fo', dey'll fall. Dey'll fall lak dat. When it git down to de last it will fall. Dey'll nevah git ovah it.
Entry 12755
Yo' could take a razor an' put it in de center of yore bed crossways. An' if yo' was angry with a person an' yo' couldn't git to them yourself, yo' could write their name [on a large sheet of paper] an' wrap this razor in it, an' put it in de center of yore bed crossways an' yo' go tuh bed on it that night. It be between two mattresses or either under one mattress on de springs. An' it would cause them tuh git cut. But yo' would- n't be doin' anything, yo' jes' be there only; but by his name being wrapped in dis razor, yo' could harm dem that way.
(How do you mean crossways in the bed?)
If it's a long razor...
[I interrupt and demonstrate.]
(Here's the bed. Do you put it this way or that way?)
Put it that way - crossways. (You put it across the width of the bed. That would cause them [him] to get cut?) Yes, yes. [There are other rites in HOODOO causing a man to be cut, shot, arrested, etc.]
Entry 8692
(What's that?)
Somepin like that, if they Want to see somepin bad happen to a person, get kilt or somepin. Then you goes to"a [train] track an' yo' take their name an yo' bury it at de track an' somepin bad will happen to them then. They're liable to get runned over by a train, or knocked off de track, or an automobile or somepin will run over 'um. That's what that's for.
Entry 9206
Well, if yo' wanta do anybody any harm, go tuh work an' yo' take a penny an' put it right in de crossin' of de road. An' yo' goes tuh work an' yo' take dat aig, an' yo' bust it right on dat penny. An' if dey wanta cross dat, dey can't cross.
Entry 12845
Put salt in foot tracks to keep person from harming you. [Memphis 1550:2.]
Entry 12921
(They shoot the shadow, you say?)
Yeah. Well, dey do dat to harm a pusson, get him into trouble - harm 'em. Yo' be up dere - standin' dere - of co's [course] dis de individual, yo' understand. Yo' have a walkin' stick, see. While he standin' up, yo' be mark- in' in de ground. Yo' mark where his shadah is, yo' know. Well, after he go yo' know, yo' shoot dat shadow an' yo' shoot right in de heart. See, wheah yo' heart is, yo' know.
(And what will that do to them?)
Dat give dem heart trouble.
Entry 13015
I have heard one thing how you could protect yourself from anybody harming you, that is by wearing a dime around your neck. [At the hotel in Petersburg, Va., after dinner, from the bellboy, by Ediphone in 1936.]
Entry 13094
Well, dey tell me if yo' wanta harm a person dat way, dat chew kin kill a rattlesnake an' let him dry till yo' kin pound his bones up an' make a dust out of his bones - skin an' all. An' put some of de dust in a han'kerchief. Heet dis person an' turn yore back to de wind an' dey face to de wind. Take de han'kerchief out an' shake it jes' lak if yo' were goin' tuh wipe soiled han's, an' let dat dust go in dere face. Dey will nevah see no mo'.
(That will make them blind.)
Entry 13106
Just like I wanted to do you harm. I can get some snake dust and get some graveyard dust and - just like you are in the habit of, when you are cooking anywhere you feel. Like in the country we cook on a fireplace - like you put your hand up there. And perhaps you may find a brick that is loose where I can stick that dust before anybody can catch me. When you have your back turned - and you may rub your eyes or something like that, like you rub your face some- times. They can hide that dust in that chimney and if you should get wet on your hands, it will cause your hands to swell up, and if you get it in your eyes, it will cause you to go blind. [This rite given by a professional doctor.]
Entry 2290
Dat is known as de sensitive brier [Schrankia uncinata], grows practi- cally all ovah de worl' practically, an' it has a small blossom on it - a pink blossom, an' then yo' go to dis blossom if yo' think you have any enemies an' yo' kin say to de brier - jes' pass yore han' ovah it, say, "Be shamed" an' de brier - de leaves will faint as if dey close up. Den when dey close up yo' git six of those - put three in one shoe an' three in de othah, an' then nuthin won't harm yo'.
(You can walk over anything, it won't harm you.)
Entry 2897
The black candle is fo' evil. That black candle does all the harm in the world. Well, yo' jest - say, if yo' wanted to do someone harm, in the day at twelve a'clock, make it no later, yo' go into yore room, pull yore blinds down, set chew a dark candle behin' yo'. An' yo' set wit chure face pointin', say to the east an' yo' set there. Yo' set there until - if yo' haven't got their picture, yo' set there until yore mind jest kinda picture them. An' yo' take that picture, say if yo' wanta cause them to git killed some way - by running into a car, by running into a train, or land somewhere where de train kin run ovah them. Well, jest whut chew want, that one particular thing to do, why yo' jest call dat an' dat black candle will be burning behind yo', see. All right, chew call dat persons name nine times. Den yo' crosses - take yore fingers an' cross it like dat. Pull it, see like dat - pull the fingers together. (Pull your fingers together like that - these big index fingers.) [Crook index fingers and pull.] Uhmm. Say, "To hell, to hell, yo go. Drift forever. No content. There's no rest for the weary." And then turn, blow the candle out an' then kneel in front of the candle an' say, ask for six feet. Then that gives that candle time to cool off. See, ask for it slowly - s i x f e e t. Why den all de smoke from dat candle an' everything will go off. Take yore candle an' go on back about yore business.
Entry 2954
If a person is burning a candle against you, the thing to do, if you find it out, is to burn the same kind of candle against him that you think he is burning against you, and that will stall his evil purpose against you, and that will stall your evil purpose against him; and burning the two candles on each other at the same time, it makes neither one of the candles do any harm. [For similar magic see Like Cures Like, p.394, and Similia Similibus in Index.]
Entry 4236
Yuh take yuh chamber lye an' po' it roun' yuh do'step an' some table salt, if anybody try tuh put anythin' down undah yuh steps. Jis' come right along an' po' dat aroun' de do'step. Dat's no use dere, dey hurt chew.
Entry 4285
chamber lye kills poison. If yuh keep chamber lye roun' yuh house, wit sulphur an' red peppah, no one can't harm yuh.
Entry 4388
Yes, yuh kin. Ah kin come right on tuh yuh house, yuh undahstan'. Jis' lak ah'm a frien' of yern, a pahtic'lah frien' of yern. Yuh figure ah'm yuh frien', but ah'm yuh enemy all de time, see, an' ah'm jealous of yuh [style of] livin'. Well, ah'll come dere an' yuh'll shit. Well, ah'll come dere an' ah'll wait on yuh an' anythin', an' say, "Well, ah know what ah'll do. Ah'll git rid of 'em." "'Cuz if yuh stop yuh bowels, dat'll kill yuh, yuh see. Dey is locked bowels. Well, yuh see, aftah yuh done go, aftah yuh slop [use the toilet] an' thin', yo' know, ah jis' git me a stick of somepin an' git me some of dat outa dat, yuh undahstan', an' take me some red peppah an' stuff an' stir dat up in dere an' burn it up, yuh see - make me a little grass [put dried grass] aroun' it an' burn it up. An' yuh won't go out, yuh see, de locked bowels will kill yuh.
Entry 4648
(What will they do with that little bow?)
Well, dey take dat an' dey totes it. Dey put it in a little bit of bag, a little Durham sack [Bull Durham tobacco sack known since the days of rolling your own cigarettes]. An' tote dat nex' tuh 'em all de time. Does 'im an awful lot of harm. Put de hair wit it - an' de hair, toenails - evahthing dey kin git wit it. Dat jes' makes 'im drag aroun', drag till he die. Won't do 'im no good an' nobody else.
Entry 13251
Well, ah heard dat chew burn sulphur in yore house dat wus luck tuh yore enemies and den it wus bad luck tuh yore neighbors, because it's 'cordin' tuh de way yo' burn dat. Yo' burn dat sulphur certain hours in de night fo' luck fo' yo' friends, an' den yo' burn it certain hours fo' luck fo' yo' enemies. Dat means dat yo' enemies whut chew burn fo' dem will cause dem tuh be in hard luck. An' whut chew burn fo' yore friends dat'll be good luck, but it be certain hours of de night - from 12 to 4 in de mawnin'. Yo' burn sulphur in de night about 12 a'clock. When yo' burn dat sulphur why yo' burn dat sulphur fo' yo' friend providin' if her enemy tryin' tuh harm her an' tuh keep her enemy from harmin' 'er. Well, 4 'clock in de mawnin' yo' burn de sulphur fo' de enemies. See.
Entry 1071
They say if a person is trying to harm you and don't like you or some- thing of the kind like that, they say you must take your underclothes and turn them on the wrong side and wear them like that for nine mornings. See. And get up and repeat the Lord's Prayer three times a day. And that's why, they say, your enemies can't harm you.
(I see. Each morning you repeat the Lord's Prayer three times a day.)
Yes, three times a.day - nine, twelve and three.
The informant reports a practice said to avert an enemy's harm; neither an attack nor protection is verified.
Entry 3998
Dey kin ketch yore watah an' drop some beans into it - yo' know whut beans is.
(Ordinary beans?) Yes, an' bury it in de earth. Dat will harm yo' too. (What is that supposed to do to you?) Well, it hurts yo' down here; yo' know, yore body down here. (Why do they put the beans in it?)
I don't know whut dat fo', but I've seen dat done. [Beans in your bottle urine will swell up your bladder.]
The informant says the described act will 'harm yo'' and hurt the lower body, while saying they do not know the beans' purpose.
Entry 11359
Wear eel skin on waist so that no one can hurt you. Wilmington 268:2+85.
The short account claims protection so that 'no one can hurt you'; it does not establish invulnerability or a verified result.
Entry 11780
If some enemy sprinkle graveyard around the outside of your house, makes a circle of it about your house [circumambulation rite] one of all sorts of dire things will happen to you. [Wilmington, N. Car., 91:5+85.]
The if account predicts unspecified 'dire things'; the circumambulation label is bracketed editorial wording.
Entry 4855
Heard 'em say dey kin take any piece of any of yore clothes or anythin' lak dat. Take de clothes an' dress 'em. An' ah axed, ah said, "How would joo dress 'em?" Dey take it an' hang it up ovah de haid of de do' where yuh wus stayin' fo' so many - jis' lak if yuh wus roomin' heah, yuh see, an' didn't pay yuh rent, dis woman wanta hur ' cha. Well she take yuh clothes yuh see an' dress it. See. An' hang it up dere. See, where yuh went out de do' at fo' so many days - ah think it's three days. Inside of three days somepin goin' happen tuh yuh. An' ah axed de woman whut did she do. So she [say] well, she said she took dis same sulphur - it's great - an' dat salt, an' she went in dere an' she took dat dere shirt. An' she wash dat shirt an' took de suds whut come out dat shirt, see. An' she buried it undah her steps, jis' de suds - jis' po'd [poured] it undah dere, yuh see. An' jis' took dat shirt an' all an' jis' buried it right undah de steps, an' let it rot dere. An' said yuh would nevah have no luck. Yuh'd be in hard luck, an' any kin' of business yuh go at, nobody wouldn't hire yuh fo' workin' or nuthin lak dat. Yuh jis' be out dere [in the world] on an' off.
The informant reports a clothing account with an explicitly harmful aim. The duration and alleged later misfortune remain unverified source claims.
Entry 13391
When you get up in de morning, you take de night water and salt and red pepper, and throw it around your door; if they put down anything for you, it will never harm you. [Charleston 543:8.]
The source claims that something put down for the person will not harm them under the stated condition; no actual attack or protection is established.
Entry 6693
Well, dey'll go tuh work an' git a root dey call John de Conkah an' one dey call Eve-an'-Adam [the name of this root is frequently given backwards as here], an' weah da' 'bout chew [that about you] an' dey say dey can't hurt chah.
The informant reports a claim of not being hurt, using dey say. This is a protective belief, with editorial glosses kept separate and no verified effect.