Subject:Have
Entries
Entry 2743
Set it eleven 'clock at night and you dress the candles. You get seven candles fer that purpose and you dress them with a certain kind of perfume. But chew have to do these things on the new moon. Anything that's good has to be done on the new moon; the bad thing they do on the waste of the moon. But now, if you wanted a person to come back, you dress the candles and you set 'em at eleven 'clock at night so it work on the new moon. And then you have to set the candles to burn and pray. [Pray while candles are burning.] And burn the High John Conker Incense. An' you do that from about eleven to half-past eleven. And then sometimes you set and concentrate. You know, concentration means a whole lot. Set and concentrate - hold your thoughts on him and you say while you talking to the candles, "John - Mary Louise," what- ever the name is, "In the Name of God the Father, let you be upset and let chew have no rest or peace wherever you are." Then you read a prayer in the book and - but you keep it up and finally they can't stay away. They will have to come back.
(What do you mean by that book? Do you mean the Bible? Or do you mean?)
Or the Bible.
(Do you have to buy these candles specially or just any kind of candle?)
Oh, no, you have to buy them specially. Sometimes you kin git them already dressed. You git them in New York on Lennox Avenue. You gits them there and you kin git them from Lawrence. Dressed candles. (Have you ever heard of people having little altars and burning candles? On little altars like in a Catholic Church?) Yes, ah do that myself. (I am rather interested in that for a special reason. Can you tell me just how you do that?) Well, we have our altar and we have the holy oil because everything must be holy. And because it's a place, people coming and cursing and that, and some- times they'll fergit and so the place is full of evil and dirty. But everything must be clean. We have holy oils - we have holy candles and you light them. You have seven holy candles, large ones, but chew have 'em in the form of a cross.
(Will you tell me again about burning those candles?)
You know you have them in the form of a cross. You see, you have those little candles. If you don't have those candlesticks that have the form of a cross, why you can jest sit your candles in a row there in that cross, you see.
(Two rows crossed.)
No, see. That's one row of candles across, that's 1,2,3,4,5,6, and then you have some here. That's a cross, you see. Then you have seven small candles like they have on birthday cakes. You have those and you burn those too. And you have those little votive lights sitting around.
(Well, now where would you put those little candles?)
You set them right in front of the seven cross like.
(Well now, how do you make a cross out of those seven candles?)
Those seven little ones you don't have to make a cross of them. Jest let them burn there.
(That other cross, how many do you put in that one row?)
Well, you jest - it don't make any difference how many, jest so you have a cross. Make a cross, you see.
(Then you use those little candles.)
Yes, but chew must burn yore incense. We call it holy incense. And then you use holy water. Yo' sprinkle yore place down with holy water and bless your place - must pray and read the 23 Psalms. Course you read the 23rd Psalms when you git up in the morning and you face the east and you say - you read so many verses until you get to, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me to the side of still waters." Then when you say that, and after you turn your face to the east, then to the west, and then you say a couple of more verses. And then when you say those other two verses, turn to the north and say the other two, and when you finish with them, make the last verse to the south. And that will keep your place holy and blest in the form of the cross, you see. And use the 9lst Psalms, if you wanta read, you wanta read a person to be able to git the very best results, to keep out the evil, you read the 9lst Psalm - jest a few verses you want of it. And use the holy candles with holy oil - that keeps the evil out and you aIways be able to get a good message and good vibration. You work better. (Now, you go through this ceremony before you go into this special room. That the idea?) Yes, you do that.
(Before you go in to work for someone.)
Before you start to work. Now if you was goin' tuh have a meetin' heah, a spiritual meetin', you'd come in round about six 'clock and then you'd do all that, and have your place all set up. And then you would git on your knees and you would pray and you jest set your candles all there and you pray and burn the incense.] Burn the incense while you on your knees praying, asking God to bless you and send you in a good crowd and success and let no one be evil, and sprinkle around the holy water and then you set and you concentrate, and you set and you hold your thoughts on success and prosperity and draw the people to you. That's all you do.
(Now do you have meetings? How often do you have meetings?)
Ah have been having meetings three nights a week, but I haven't been very well and not doin' so much now. (I thought if you were going to have a meeting while I am here in Washington, my man and I would come around to be at one of the meetings.) Well, you might come down Sunday - think ah'll probably have a meeting Sunday night.
(Sunday night?)
Yes, 'cause ah'm in kind of a small place now. Ah used to have a big place but ah'm jest having it in my house in mah rooms.
(Well, what time does the meeting begin as a rule?)
Round about nine 'clock. People don't git out until that time. (If a person wanted to get into this work, must he be initiated into it or what.) You would have to be born psychic and after you born psychic why then as you grow older it comes to you but then you have to have some one to instruct you, teach you.
(Then there is no form of initiation or anything of that sort?)
Then after a meeting, after you accepted in a class, course there's certain kind of instruction telling you what to do, and if you say you seen anything - sometimes you see things and don't know 'em. But they will tell you, explain to you. Then you get so - you get so then that you kin jest talk - jest open your mouth and the words will come right out. Then sometimes you see things - you see symbols, you see signs and you see jest the words. You get the words mostly in this ear sometimes [demonstrates] and you walk along.
(Your right ear?)
No, the left ear. This is the left ear. You kin hear it in the left ear, but you have to be born psychic. You were born psychic yourself.
(I'm born psychic? I suppose I am. Never have been sceptical about it.)
[We are talking about different things - see comment later.]
(About the people who are called Holy Rollers or the First Dominical Penta- costal Church. Do you think they have a spiritual gift?) Well, ah think they have a spiritual gift, but ah think that they don't quite understand the Bible. Now for instance, this Holy Roller, ah don't know anything about that, but this - what did you say the word there, The Holy Sanctified?
(This is something different from The Holy Sanctified.)
Well, ah think The Holy Sanctified has a gift of tongues - course it's in the Bible [1 Cor.12, and 14]. You see, if you pray enough and live close to God, the spirit will git on you so will talk in tongues. Your mouth will jest thuth, thuth, till the spirit got on yuh. But as far as being sanctified, ah don't think anybody is really all sanctified. Cause when you sanctified, ah think God takes you away from here when you get so holy. (If a person thinks he's hurt or anything of that sort, could you give him help in any way? Tell him anything about it?) Yes, if they was hurt and the spirit would show it tuh me, and I would see it and tell them about it.
(Then you could describe how they were hurt or something of that sort?)
If I see so. Most generally I see jest how it's done.
(Would you prescribe any remedy for them?)
Well, depends upon how they were hurt. Sometimes if people - lots of people comes to me and say that they are hurt and they are not. You know some people, the southern people, are very superstitious. And if they get a pain in their laig they think they are hoodooed or hurt. Not all the time it isn't that. If you don't tell 'em that, they'll go round and pay somebody else and give em the money. But lots of times they're not hurt. Sometimes people do's has things in them, but I have nevah seen anybody yet that had anything in 'em. Cause when I was a child somebody said that a person had something in them, but I don't - any that talk - I never seen any of it.
(Weren't you born in the south?)
Ah was born right in Washington, but ah lived in New York quite a while. (Well now suppose a person has this pain in his leg, what would you advise ordinarily?) Well, ah would give 'em a treatment with mah hands and pray over him. Or if I wanted, if the place was swollen I would get some herbs and mix a solution and bath it down. See. (But you don't believe that there is any spell? I mean, you don't think that he is hoodooed or anything of the sort?) Ah don't know really. They tell me they kin do it, but ah don't know. Ah never heard or seen. [My comment about being psychic merely means being aware and having a sense of direction (see Introduction). What little I have of this came from training; it was not a gift.]
Entry 3334
[When dey git togethah dataway.
(The man and a woman?)
Yeah, man an' a woman dataway. Dere's no way to git 'em apart unlessen case one 'tother of 'em will have to die. Co'Be now, if dey could git a probe in de woman, dey could do it, but it be fixea [cwnjured] so dat dere's no way to git 'em apart unlessen one 'tuthah [or the other] of 'em have tuh die.
Entry 6606
Snakes, any kinda snakes, any kinda insex [insects], if dere somebody yo' wanta put snakes an' scorpions in an' kill 'em. Yo' kin take de snake an' kill it, any kinda snake yo' wanta be in a person. Yo' kill dis snake an' aftah yo' kill dis snake yo' name de person whosom- evah yo' wanta kill. Yo' would name 'em. An' fo' nine days yo'd go dere an' turn 'im ovah. He'd be dead. Yo' turn 'im ovah callin' de person's name fo' nine days. An' de ninth day yo' go dere an' take dat thin' an' parch 'im up, yo' know, an' jis' make a dust outa it. An' if yo' wanta put it in whiskey or amythin', or pat it in some tea or anythin' lak dat, yo' put de dust in yo' knoy vtut cheo make from dat dead snake, or scorpion or spidah or anythin', an' den yo' give it to den. It won't hurt nobody but dem dat chew called dere name. An' den when de ninth day's up dey'll take sick, an' den yo' know, dem dere snakes an' scorpions ll be livin' in dem people, whut yo' give dat dust to - in nine days tine.
Entry 7153
Dey tell me dat de women kin - 'fact a woman tried it on me - take her shoes an' turn 'em right undahneath de head of 'er bed, an' put a half a dollah undah each shoe, an' go out an' stay out, den come in, an' yo' won' know it. Yo' won' wake up until she come back an' move 'em.
Entry 7648
Whenevah dey's [there is] someone livin' at a place dat dey didn't Wan'em dere, wan'em tuh move or somepin. Dat dey'll go tuh a grave an' take de haidstone an' put it tuh de foot, an' take de foot- stone an' put it tuh de haid. An' reach down in de middle of de grave an' jis' as fah [far] a'zhoo [as you] kin reach - yeh ahm [arm] will go down - an' git some de dirt an' bring it up. An' mix it tuhgethah wit some cayenne peppah, an' sprinkle it aroun' de home where dey äh [are]; an' dey'll leave, dey won't come back.
Entry 8098
Yo' kin take dat, jis' a tintype. Yo' kin take it an' bury it an' kill a person jis' as daid as dey evah have tuh die. Yo' take it an' carry it out somewhere an' yo' dig a hole an' put it in it, an' yo' jis' curse an' say, "Ah hope dat yo'll die an' nevah come back ag'in." An' bury it. Dat's de way tuh bury an' dey'll die. As dat tintype fade away, why dey'll fade away. Dey will shore die.
Entry 8783
Dey do dat. Well, yo' jes' - lak yo' be's whippin' a natchel [natural] person, yo' whippin' on a bush. Yo' name dis bush dis person. Well, yo' could do dat, too. Yo' take dat an' yo' git up early in de mawnin' befo' de sun rise, an' takes yo' a hick- ory switch. An' yo' kin name dat bush dere my name or yore name or whosomevah it 'tis. Yo' could whip dat bush tuh death, an' tell it whut yo' want it to do or don' want it to do. An' dey'll go down jes' lak dat [demonstrates]. Jes' by whippin' it an' tellin' 'em why it'll do jes' lak dat. (In other Words that bush will die, and when it dies just whatever you want done will be done?) Dat's right.
Entry 8810
Dey could take yore handwritin' on a piece of papah, but de way how it is, how it comes in, ah'm goin' give yo' de beginnin' of it. It's de same if yo' should happen tuh go - if somebody should happen tuh go away an' dey should write tuh yo'. Well, all right, dey'd put it in an envelope. Well, dey puts some kind of powdah in dere. Ah forgot de name of de powdah, but dey put dat powdah in dere to seal it, yo' know, an' dat powdah will come out de minute yo' open it. Yore handwritin' will be in it. If yo' should happen tuh go an' write a person a lettah [like that] an' dey. take it an' burn it on de fo' cornahs, or pro'bly burn it all up tuh dust, an' put it back in de mail an' mail it back tuh yo' - well, dey stay dere demself. Dey find dat dey jes' don't care tuh have nuthin to do wit choo.
Entry 8852
Dey kin take yore handwritin' an' mess yo' up a great deal. An' maybe kin take yore handwritin' an' by takin' a glass an' holdin' ovah yore handwritin' like dat an' read yore writin' through a glass. An' aftah yo' read yore writin' through de glass - read down from about de second line - den cut de second line in a "v" shape an' throw it in de fire at sundown, an' dey say dat will give yo' a nervous feelin' in yore hand. (Like you would hold a mirror over this writing and you read that writing in the mirror. Read down to the second line. And then how do you cut that?)
[See my comment on word mirror at end of rite.]
Dat's right, cut it in a "v" shape.
(How do you mean cut it in a "v" shape?)
Jes' take a scissors. (Here's the letter now. [I hand my Numbers Book to informant.] Here, what would you do with that?) In a "v" shape...
(How do you mean you cut that in a "v" shape?)
Now, jes' lak dat's a line an' dat's a line an' dat's a line [informant is pointing to lines in Numbers Book]. Read tuh de third line an' den take a scis- sors an' cut a "v" shape in dat. (You cut a "v" out of it, make a hole like a "v". That's the little piece you throw into the fire?) Yes. [My word mirror in paragraph 2 was badly chosen, magnifying glass in the pre- ceding rite would have been much better; but best of all, the meaning here is surely an ordinary drinking glass. Few persons receiving letters and intending evil work with them had a magnifying glass handy. Quite different are these two glasses. Look through a magnifying glass and you see the real world enlarged; look through a cheap drinking glass, probably an ex-jelly glass in informant's case, and you behold a distorted world, the confused and unreal world of hoo- dooism. Understand, look through the mouth of the drinking glass and out through the bottom; use it as a magnifying glass. After three consecutive lines of the letter are read, a solid "v" shape is cut with two strokes of the scissors from the second line and dropped into a fire. This 'V' shape can be made on either edge or side of the page. Though informant says nothing, I suspect he did not touch the "v" with his hand, but clipped and carried it to the fire with the scissors. His own fingerprint Would not be burned. WHAT DOES OUR "v" SIGNIFY? First, since this trick produces a nervous feeling in yore hand, our 'v"', despite its solidity, symbolizes the Roman numeral V, the Arabic numeral 5, the 5 fingers of the hand. Second, our solid "v" is a triangle, showing that this rite works In the 3 Highest Names. True, the triangle should be equilaterial for the Trin- ity, but do not expect such theological accuracy of hoodoo. Three, our "v" as- sures Victory or success for the rite.]
Entry 9107
Now, here's another way. If yo' goin' to de judge - sup- posin' yo' goin' down dere to Judge Landix, why yo' just take Judge Landix' name. Take parch- ment papah an' cut out just de sole of yore shoes, stick in your - sew it to de heel of yore shoe. An' yo' take his name an' write 'is name down nine times. He's a nine-months child, see.
(He is a nine-month child?)
Yeah, his mother carried him nine months. Yo' take yore name an' yo' write hit down dere nine times, over his. Yo'll say, "Judge, ah want yo', In de Name of de Father an' de Son an' de Holy Spirit, to have mercy on me today an' let me go. An' dat same thing, whensomevah dey call yo' up befo' de judge - yo'll have a lawyer dere to do yore talkin'. De judge goin' to ask yo' a few question an' de lawyer goin' to take part. Yo' just keep a-sayin' dat inwardly. De policeman get up an' make 'is testimony.'Don' yo' come back here no mo'." Ah say, "Thanks." Dat's fo' dat. Now, yo' use nine drops of Van-van fo' dat.
(How do you put that on?)
Yo' put dat right on - right in dat parchment papah an' den put it in yore shoe an' walk on dat, dat right shoe.
(Is Van-van an old oil?)
An ole oil, but yo' must know when yo' gettin' Van-van. Ah was kiddin' a boy here month befo' last, ah say, "Now, look, ah'm not in de business but, " ah said, "dis is fo' a personal friend of mine, an' she done gone down here [to where Van- Van is sold] an' got some [Van-van] perfume down [there]. Ah don' want dis othah stuff [she got]. Give me de othah stuff." Van-van [of good quality] is kind of
[hard to get]. [For Van-van, see p.662 and elsewhere.]
Entry 9820
Latsa people dey take nine needles, bran'-new needles an' dey git a piece of lodestone an' put 'em in dis way an' dat-a-way [demonstrates].... (Now wait. [I try to repeat informant's demonstration.] Put in this way and that way?) [I am making a cross.] Yes sir, cross [demonstrates].
(Cross them all.)
An' den yo' go tuh a blacksmith shop an' git chew some anvil dust, de steel from de anvil where dey make de iron, an' put it in dere. An' git chew a piece of lodestone an' put ten cents [a silver dime] in it. It's lucky tuh yuh if yo' keep it an' let nobody touch it. Feed it wit whiskey. Yo'll always have silvah money. [Even during my collecting days back in 1938 the preceding anvil dust never saw an anvil; it came from ma- chine-shop filings. Anvil dust and steel dust were the same thing, depending upon age, size, color, etc.] [In the following comment I am not talking for informant's benefit, I am an- notating for the future.] (Now in putting these needles, you put one needle like that, and then you put another needle on there like that - like a cross, sort of like little squares, like tick-tack-toe.) Yes. [Everything is arranged or sprinkled into the form of a cross before the combined materials are put in the bag.]
Entry 9930
And then you kin take, ah - now this is self experience. Not for my- self but when I was a kid growing up; I guess round about fourteen, twelve, thir- teen, fourteen years. See, I was raised in the country and worked on a farm. My father died when I was small in 1903 and nothin' but a woman raised me. My mother and I didn't have anything, she and me had to work. Well, this was a ageable [elderly] nan and he was able to pay high wages for, you know, a full-grown man and he'd work lotsa children, you see. You see, where those large farmers didn't bother with we children, he'd work us in turnin' [sweet potato] vines and settin' out his potatoes like that. And this was a green frog. It's not a bullfrog. It's between a toadfrog and a bullfrog. I expect you've seen him. He's green and has those black specks on his back. It's long-legged though. Some say eventually after they get old they turn to a bullfrog. But he used to ketch those frogs and he'd tell we children to catch 'em. But if he didn't tell us to ketch, we could ketch 'em. But he'd tell us to ketch 'em and we would ketch 'em and he'd put it in his pocket and it wouldn't jump out. And he said you take those frogs and put it up in a bottle and make your wish. And set him on de stove and dry him out and take that and do anything you want to do with it. Well, of course, dis man I knew was pretty good and he always seemed to be lucky. He tolt another girl and I one day - we was pretty good in settin' out potatoes. So he asked us to ketch every one of those frogs that we could see. See, we'd have to go to the ditch to dip out water, you know, to water those sprouts that was planted there. So we come to him, we asked him. "Well, '' he says, "Well, I'll tell you-all something if you'll [not] tell." Ah says, "Well, What's that?" Ah says, "Never is a long time." He says, "Well, if you-all want those boys you going with," he say, "why go ahead and marry 'em, '' says, ''but I'll tell you, '' says, "Viola," says,"'this boy you going with, '' he says, ''he ain't goin' make you any good husband at all." Says, "They is fast, but you get these little spring frogs, you see, these little green frogs where you kin squeeze 'em and they goes way up into water." He says, "You catch every one of those you Kin find." He says, '"If you all have a fig bush, you kin get plenty of 'em in there." And he says, "And you get that frog," he says, "and put him in a box ad make your wish." And he says, "And set him in de stove or onto the back of the stove." He says, "In a small can like a five-cent or ten-cent baking-pouder box [can] where you kin close it up. Put him in there alive," he say and he Bys, "you doesn't open him in nine days," he says, "but each day make your wish for this man." He says, "When you open that frog, '' he says, "you have you a piece of yellow cotton. Go to the store and buy you five-cent piece of yellow Cotton, or you might buy two or three cents worth if you kin get it." Three oeats worth - that was during wartime [World War I] - was just about as wide as yoar chin[?]. He says, "And make you a little bag and make it four corners, ' be says, "jis' so it won't be anything but the form of the frog." He says, "Sew all that dust in there," he says, "and you'll always have good luck, and get any man you want and go anywhere you want to." And ah know hr made it for real. She really did it. An' she came there and she bought five dollars worth of figs when she got one of those frogs. We [man informant worked for] had a large fig orchard, and she come there and threw the money down. [Elizabeth City, N. Car., (438), 391:5+].
Entry 10060
Ah hear'd if a man wanted any luck, wanted tuh learn how tuh be a ex- pert or a musician, or if he wanted tuh be a expert gamblah or what not, dey goes out tuh dat crossroads fo' nine mawnin's. An' de ninth mawnin' when he go out there - but befo' he go out dere, he goes den an' he git 'im a black cat. Ah bettah [begin again] so yo' kin undahstan' it good. Befo' he goes tuh de crossroads dat nine mawnin's, he goes de firs' mawnin' an' he git 'im a black cat. An' he takes dat black cat an' he cares 'im out dere wit 'im tuh de crossroad nine mawnin's. An' when he cares 'im dere nine mawnin's, de ninth mawnin' when he git dere, dey says dat de devil 'imself meets 'im dere. An' dey says he'll tell 'im anything dat chew wan'a do or anything yo' wan'a know. Says, he'll give me anythin' between de sole of yuh haid an' de crown of yuh feet. [With a mixup like this between sole [soul] and crown, devil still must have been working.] He says, "It shall be granted tuh yo'." An' so when- evah he do dat, he takes dis black cat, which he's got alive, an' he gits 'im a pot.
(After he has gone there nine mornings, he takes the cat and gets this pot?)
Yessuh. An' when he gits dis pot, den he goes den tuh a stream of watah dat's runnin'. He makes 'im a fiah on de hill right up above de watah. An' when he makes dis fiah an' git dat watah boilin', he throws dat black cat in de pot alive an' lets dis cat cook alive. An' when de cat cooks until all de flesh has come off de bone, he takes de carcass of dat cat an' throw it in de runnin' watah. An' all de bones an' all de ones dat goes down de stream, he let 'em alone. He takes de - an' de bone dat runs up de stream, dat goes back up de stream de object [opposite] way, why he takes dat bone den an' he totes dat in 'is lef'-breas' pocket. An' when he tote it in 'is lef'-breas' pocket why anythin' he desires den, he'll git dat.
Entry 10211
Well, yo' take one of 'er socks, jes' one of 'er stockin's, if yo' kin fin' dit, or eithah her menst'ration cloth. Well mos' people take de menst'ration cloth an' take a quart jah see, an' ketch [rain] watah. Jes' set yore quart jah out in de yard when it rains an' let it run full of watah [see comment later] an' take dat menst'ration cloth an' put it down in dere [the rain water] an' keep it [in the rain water] for nine days. An' aftah de ninth day she be - well, she'll go crazy for you. (Well, that breaks the spell, she had him tied up, when she ties up your [a man's] nature.) Yes sir. [First an empty quart jar set out in the yard during a rain is not going to fill up with water, despite the hoodoo powers of my informant. Finally: if a woman ties up a man, takes away his nature for all women except her, the present rite restores his nature completely.] [Rain water, like running Water, is a magic substance: see No.1431, p.467, v.1; etc.]
Entry 10223
Take a dishrag. If yo' wanta man to mess wit nobody but chew, jes' take a dishrag an' have intercourse an' dry on dat dishrag, an' take it an' put it - keep it somewhere yo' know. An' when he start to mess wit someone else he'll fall jes' lak a dishrag. He can't mess wit no one.
Entry 10229
Like you havin' to do with 'er an' she'll take a dishcloth an' she'll wipe you with de dishcloth. An' she'll take dat dishcloth an' she'll care it an' put it under her bed or under her pillah, see, an' yo' couldn't mess with a yoman to save your life. If dat man [or you] got sense now, he kin git rid of dat. Why, he go, if he wan'a git rid of it, he'll go an' steal...or yo' go [to] somebody house an' yo' steal de dishcloth, see. You go [got to] have sumpin to do with her, or any other woman, an' you'll wipe with dat dishcloth. An' yo' take dat dishcloth an' fold it right tight. An' he kin wear it with him or put it somewhere where nobody but him can reach it but him. An' she can't do nuthin with nobody but you.
Entry 10248
She take an' tie nine knots in a string fo' her husban' so he couldn't have connection wit nobody else but her. She take nine knots - jes' lak mah [his] shirt, she'll take mah [his] shirt see an' tear a string out of it, an' tie nine knots in dere an' she wears it in her shoe. Dat will keep him from havin' connection wit any othah woman.
Entry 10273
He takes and give her his urine to drink unbeknownst to her, like in beer or wine, and she won't even look at another man, won't have any nature to- wards any other man. That urine keeps her mine [mind] on that one man, her husband, when he is gone away from her, on a visit or somepin.
Entry 10443
Dere a hag. You wake up an' dey been aroun' yuh, [you] say, Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Three times. An' den [you can] go to sleep in dere.
Entry 10707
To make de house lucky, if rentin' a house.... Yo' take dis salt an' put it in de Bible or in a leaf [torn from Bible] an' put it on a shelf an' jes' leave it dere. Yo' kin put it in a small place, yo' see [where it will not be seen] an' yo' won' have any trouble rentin' yo' house. (You just wrap this salt up in this leaf from the Bible. You tear the leaf out of the Bible?) Yo' kin take de leaf outa de Bible, 'cause yo' see if yo' leave de whole Bible up dere, dat's suspicious.
Entry 10911
Dog manure an' dog hair - see, dey gotta git dat dog an' cat tuh fightin'; see, if yo' Wanta separate a man an' a woman. See, yo' git - lak mah, ah have two little white dogs now. Well, yo' git a cat an' git dem tuh fightin' an' clip de hair right quick while dey both mad. Yo' put dat tuhgethah, dat cat hair 'de dog hair, an' dog manure an' cat manure, an' rat manure. Well, yo' ba de three things don' git along, don't chew? Yo' know de cat hates de rat 'de dog hates de cat. So yo' throw dat in dere. It really separate any man wife an' it will make 'em move. Throw it in de room, jis' lak ah come in ah. Fo' instance, ah wanta have sompin in mah han'. Ah could be sittin' heah 'd coald be jis' sprinklin' it aroun'. [I replaced the original four-letter odd by amure.]
Entry 11140
Dere several ways dat chew kin move a person. Yo' kin move a person outa de house by jes' goin' to dere house an' usin' a cross right in front of dere gate like dat. Yo' kin put a cross right in front of dere gate like dat an' dey'll move out. Or yo' kin go to dere house at night when yo' are not seen an' yo' kin stand to dere gate like dis an' put dose two thumbs on dere an' jes' say, "Yo' shall not have dis house." Yo' use dose words. (Put a thumb on each gatepost?) Jes' de thumb but use de two thumbs. Jes' put de two thumbs on de gate like dat an' say, "Yo' shall not have dis house, " or "Yo' shall move out of dis house." An' it will soon be de way yo' wanta an' dey'll come out.
Entry 11259
What happened to me, what I did is true. God in heaven.... [is my wit- ness]. So a fellow came to me one day and he said, "Bo" - his name was Willy Webb, Worked at de Wharf Hotel, chief engineer over there. He said, "Bo," said, "my wife is gone." He said, "We never had a cross word." I said, "What?" He say, "Yeah." He say, "They tells me you know so much." Ah don't know nothing [says Bowes]. "Course I'm 71 all right, but I don't know nothing.
(You're 71?) [Author's comment.]
Yeah, I'm 70 something....
(Oh, you are 75!) [Author's comment.]
And I said, "Ah don't know nothing. He says, "Yes, and I dreamed it - some- thing, someone told me to go to you." I said, "Now, what you. want?" He said, "Ah wants you to do something for me." I said, "Ah don't know what to do for you." He say, "Do something." I said, "Well, all right, give me until tomor- row and I'll do something for you." He said, "What you goin' do?" I said, "I'm goin' t' [going to] fast." He said, "Fast for what?" Ah said, "Don't eat no meat and don't eat nothing. I said, "Tomorrow I'll tell you." [Bowes] said, "I'm going to have a dream. So, de next day morning I got up out of de bed and someone knocked at the door; knocked at the door and was crying just like they was crazy. It was Webb. So Webb told me to do something for him, say, "Lord have mercy, I'm near crazy." I said, "What's all de trouble." He say, "Well, a lady and her daughter used to stay at my house 'fore I was married. And I went to work and married another girl up de country. And then we were on vacation, but I had confidence and let them stay at the house till we come back. So when I come back, in two or three weeks the trouble started." I said, "Oh, I see, now." I SAID, "DO YOU BELIEVE IN WITCHCRAFT AND CONJURATION AND SUCH?" HE SAID, "SURE.″ I SAID, "WELL, DE BIBLE SPEAKS OF IT." He said, "All right, what's does that mean?" I said, "I SEE A COUPLE OF BOTTLES." 'God in heaven, '' he said, "there's a couple of bot- tles!" I said, "There's a couple of bottles buried at your back steps and," I said, "the way you gotta do now to get - is to get them bottles. If you kin get dem bottles, you kin solve your trouble." You understand me [addressed to author]? So I went dere - [I'll] never forget. Dey was knee-high bottles and we dug at de back steps and dug 'em up.
(Well, how did they get there?)
Ah don't - after I looked, I figured they [mother and daughter] put 'em there. And there was some things working up in 'em like maggots - working stuff in 'em just like maggots. So he said, "What you goin' do?" I said, "Take 'em out in the back yard." So after We dug 'em uP, WE TOOK THEM OUT IN THE BACK YARD AND A BLACK CAT WAS JUMPING ALL OVER DE FENCE AT TWO O'CLOCK IN DE DAY! A BLACK CAT WAS FOLLOWING US DERE! AND WE FOUND SOMETHING SHINING! That black cat Was jumping all over de fence. So I looked and I said, "What is dis here, Webb?" He said, "When will my wife be back?" I said, "The third day. She'll be back the third day." I said, "Now you take that and carry it over town to the Warwick Hotel and throw them things in the furnace and you enemies, they will feel it and come over there." LOOK LIKE SOMETHING WAS DEALING IT TO ME WHAT TO TELL HIM. And SO then, I went and carried it over there and there was a big stout woman came over dere hunting for a job; claimed she was hungry, didn't have nothing to eat and asking for a job. So, I told him, be careful now. Well. [Here is the historic witchcraft theme, burn the witchcraft and the witch will appear usually to bor- row something, medicine for her pains, etc.: but here the theme is almost con- cealed, unrecognizable.] So that night, his wife hadn't come back. So then he went home. That lady and her daughter come there that night and when they come there that night, they took a fountain pen and put poison [hoodoo rather than actual] in it and opened it like that I reckon [he evidently demonstrates how. the pen was prepared], and stuck it in the door. After while - it was eleven o'clock in the night and he went to open the door and from the door rising -he struck a match and opened the door and that fountain pen was in there [door ris- ing or saddle of door] with them little prongs [divided pen points] like that. And there was snake blood [the poison] in there: snake blood and acid and some- thing else [3 ingredients!]. I reckon that acid was there so that [snake] blood would go in quick, you know. And so then on the third day, his wife come back as I done said. So, from this story, sometime I says I believe it and sometime I says [end of comment]. So Webb's wife died. Just like I told him, I said, "If you all letting people coming in your house eating and drinking" - and after while she swole up. No- body, the doctors [M.D.'s] didn't know what de trouble was. And they sent her everywhere.
(Something killed her.)
Entry 11301
Ah heard dat chew could git de blood from a dog, a black dog. Jes' git his blood from him an' put it into - jes' lak ah git de dog's blood, see, an' put it into yore coffee whut chew drink, or water, anything yo' drink. Let yo' drink it an', well, yo' have a dog in yo'. Most everything yo' eat will make yo' sick on de stomic.
Entry 12135
Jis' like you'd cut out a heart [from a piece of paper]...jis' like you say you gon'a...you draw a mark heah [demonstrates] - all right - comparin' to a heart [draw shape of heart on a piece of paper]. You kin take them [9] pins an' stick it [them] in that [paper] heart. You kin do jis' what choo wan' 'em to do after you stick dem pins in there. You use so many needles. You got to use needles - real sharp needles.
(How many pins do you stick in that heart?)
You kin take 9 pins an' put in there [demonstrates].
(In the center of the heart.)
You put 8 needles.
(Around the edge of the heart.)
You don't put it even, you understand. It's got to be odd [demonstrates].
(The heads and points of the pins and needles are alternated.)
An' you take that an' put it in your pillah. You kin use any kind of body [person] you want; you kin use 'em to your understandin'. [For alternate needles and pins, see Nos.9836-9837, 9844, 9849 & 9850, v.5.]
Entry 12599
Now a fellow told me, said, that if a person, no matter if they a woman or who it was; said, if you get cayenne pepper and some - yes, cayenne pepper, I think it was - and go to de north winder [window] of your house and take it and sling it out and say, "Go, you son-of- a bitch, go." They say she'll go and never will come back, or de person will go and they never will come back.
(You throw it out the window?)
Yes, throw it out de window on de side of house...
[I stopped machine but turn it on for lost words.]
(North side of the house, but you must get red pepper?)
Yes. (I see, if you want to get rid of a woman or get rid of anybody.)
Entry 12927
(How do they use that?)
Well, they tell me that you have to get it at midnight.
(This shame grass.)
Shame grass.
(What does it look like?)
Well, it's, has thick leaf and if you run your hand over it, the leaf will wither up. If you put your hand over it, you can tell it. (I see.) And you can take the root of that and mens carries it in their pockets or either chew it in their mouths. And every what [whatever] they walks up to a woman and wants her to [do], command her to do, she'll have to do just what he says do. You takes it - you can tell it. It's a herb that grows and runs on the ground like a vine, and the minute you do like that [touch it] the leaves will close together.
(That's all he does, just chew it?)
You chew it or either carry it in your pocket. And any time you rubs it in your hands and lays your hands on her body anywhere, she'll do just what you Want her to do.
Entry 13280
Ah went in de woods in de spring of de year - it been about three years ago now. If yo' know a swallah [swallow] bird - do yo' know a swallah bird? Well, yo' kin take one of de eggs outa dere nest an' bring it home anl boil it. An' den put it back in dat nest. Well, when dat bird come back, she know dat egg ain't jes' lak she left it. Well, she goes somewhere in de woods an' get a root an' bring it dere an' put it in dat nest. Dat suppose to make dat egg right. An' yo' kin git dat an' jes' keep it in yore pocket an' yo' more den apt to keep a dollah all de time, 'long as yo' keep it.
(You'll get the root out of the nest then?)
Yes sir. She puts de root in de nest. (Then you go and take the root out of the nest. Did you try that? Did it work?) Yes sir, it worked. Fact ah kept money, ah reckon it musta been somepin'.