Subject:Incense
Entries
Entry 3926
A woman, dey kin take her min'stration an' a piece yo' know, an' dey kin throw it in de rivah or yo' kin bury it. If yo' bury it, it will kill 'er; if yo' throw it in de rivah, it will run 'er an' she'll nevah come back. But dey dresses it. See dey puts dis powdahs on it, incense powdah, an' yo' pin it up wit new pins, bran'-new pins in a bottle.
Entry 4168
Dat stuff yuh talkin' about burnin'. Ah make a wish an' ah will scrub de steps down in chamber lye an' dat will draw trade.
(What do they burn, you say?)
Jis' incense.
Entry 4170
Burnin' sensen [incense] in yuh house an' chamber lye an' lye. Yuh know, have chamber lye an lye mixed tuhgethah, constratin' [concentrated] lye. Dat bring luck an' keep folks passin' in. An' burn sen-sen.
(Keeps the law away?)
Sho'. [As the preceding and following rites show, chamber lye and lye are used for scrubbing.]
Entry 4171
Now yuh kin take dat urine an' burn yuh some incense yuh know. An' den take dat urine an' put chew some lye an' sugah in it, an' yuh kin scrub yuh front po'ch wit it, see. Jis' keep it right in front of yuh house an' it will bring mens intuh yuh home. Really will do it.
Entry 4303
Dey take socks or stockin's an' put dis lump insaint [incense], dey chamber lye. Cut de bottom of it out, roll it an' put it in a bottle in de person's chamber lye, an' dey say dey kin keep 'em. Dey'll nevah separate from 'em.
Entry 4681
Dis little bow here [demonstrates] dat ah've got 'im mah hat chere, a woman kin take dis bow an' - an' take it an' put some peppah in it an' salt an' some incense, an' take it an' bury it, yuh see. An' bury dis bow accordin' tuh de moon. But she gotta bury de bow when de moon is young. An' as de moon go down, de old- ah it git, de more it take effect on me. Ah'd git a misery in mah head, yuh see, until de moon go down. When de moon go down in darkness, well ah'm certain tuh lose mah memory. Do yuh hear? [My hearing is supposed to be weak.]
(I see.)
Entry 5073
Take an' git dere socks. An' take his socks an' wash 'em. An' take de watah an' put it in a bottle wit de soft watah, sompin lak rain watah, in a kinda crystal watah. Let half of it be de watah from washin' de socks an' half of it be's de crystal watah.
(Soft water?)
Yeah, take dat an' put a little sugah.in it an' put Epsom salts in dat. An' yuh take an' burn de incense an' de red onion - lump incense - on de stove, an' sprinkle a little sugah in it. Dey mos'ly use sugah mos' in anything. An' yuh burn dis lump incense an' de red onion on de stove an' call de name three times. Burn dat fo' 'bout nine mawnin's an' he'll come back an' dere won' be no trouble.
(What did you do with that sock water? What did you do with that?)
Take dat an' set it in de no'th cornah of de house an' keep it dere fo' three days - three tuh nine days. An' yuh take it out an' yuh po' it 'cross de do'- steps an' aftah it dries... [I turned off recording machine too soon or accidentally and had to restart it to repeat informant's words.]
(He'll come back?)
Yessuh.
Entry 5104
Ef a person git one of yuh shoes, ef dey put bluestone an' sulphuh an' beat it all up tuhgethah an' git some of dis stuff from de drug store dey call de incense, dey put dat in de bottom undah yuh shoe. Yo' know de li'le piece dat be's up in yuh shoe [insole]. Put it up undah dere an' put it back down. Well, when yo' put dat shoe on, yo' goin' always stay sickly, an' yuh feets will start tuh swell.
Entry 6786
Yo' scrub yuh steps wherevah yo' may be, yo' know, down wit de nine buckets of hydrant watah; [I mean] eight buckets down, yo' know, an' de las' bucket throw it up. An' smoke yo'self in dragon's blood an' wash yo'self down wit linseed oil. (What will that do?) Dat'll keep 'em from harmin' yah. An' keep yuh salt throwed aroun' yah steps, wit chamber lye - yah know, yahurine. [There are many scrubbing rites in Hoodoo, most of them from New Orleans, some of them complicated. For a few of these beliefs see margin titles WATER and WATER THROWN (pp.740-743) and SCRUBBING in INDEX (vol.5). The present 9 buckets of hy- drant water - considered running water and therefore of magic power - are for rinsing what has been scrubbed. Eight buckets are dashed down; the ninth bucket is tossed up into the air, either all at one time or a particular number of times.]
(You do all these things together?)
Yo' mix dat [salt and urine] but yo' smoke yuhself in a new can by itself wit dragon's blood; or insant [incense], dat's good. [This is a protection rite against hoodoo of any kind.]
Entry 7252
Ah heard dat dey goes out an' gits incense an' dey burns incense. An' aftah usin' incense in dere house, dey goes tuh work an' dey git dem ademity cards - imadenithy. [At a guess I would say these are identity cards, cards containing pictures of people, which the rootman shuffles to increase the number of customers. This is a rite to increase business.] Why, dat's from de rootman. He'll go out an' he git dat an' he'll chew [it], an' evah time he chew dat way an' he'll spit. Evah time he chewin' an' he spit, why it draws a crowd mo' largah an' largah an'. dey content.
Entry 8197
Take yure pitchure an' put it in a looking glass [the carboard behind the small.hand mirror having been removed]. An' turn it [photo] upside down [against mercury backing of mirror, restoring card- board back] an' put it undahneat' [you] an' sleep on it or walk on it or put it somewhere somebody'll tread on it an' break de glass, an' yo' [person of photo] got tuh come back. Go tuh de do' an' burn some disinfect [disinfectant] an' make yure wish [wish] an' burn it in de house. Den go to de do' an' make yuh wush [again] an' come back. An' 'at [that] been done in Short[?] William Street alley [here in Richmond]. Den [another method] yo' put it [photo without mirror] undah- neat' de carpet or in a trunk upside down tuh draw yuh back. Well keep yuh on yure haid or yuh feet till yuh git back home. An' use dat powdah, insex, love insex [love incense] dey call it. Burn it on a stove.
Entry 8722
They take sulphur and saltpeter and incense an' burn it together, but chew got to name it, dey claim. An' as it goes up, de effect of it, de scent dat goes out, comes out from it, de individual dat happens to inhale it, why dey get to a place dat dey can't stand anythin'. Makes dem fickle-minded dey tell me. An' dey get so after while dat yo' get 'em confused about anything. They finally lose dere mind.
Entry 8734
This what they have done, when they want yo' to move out de house an' de neighborhood where dey livin' at. Dey goes to de Crackerjack Drug Store an' gets bluestone. Understan'? Gets bluestone an' gets some incense, an' fix dat up together, an' put it in de bottle. An' takes their name an' write it nine times an' put it in de bottle. An' turn de bottle upside down 'neath de steps an' they have to move.
(I see. In how long?)
In nine day's time they leave dere.
Entry 8991
(Now, right at the beginning. You said, he was brought before the judge because he did something.) If yo' go to - if yo' had did somepin othah, an' de judge goin' try yo' fer it, an' yo' was out under bond, yo' read de 109th Psalms ever' mawnin' befo' sun- up, ever' mawnin' three times fo' seven mawnin's until yore trial time. An' den when yo' go down, yo' done read dat, yo' done read an' yo' done read. An' yo' read it. An' de Lord, yo' has asked 'im to an- swer your question. Well, yo's seeking advantage of the judge, an' when yo' goes down, he goin': have mercy. on yo'. He might be goin' try yo' an' give yo' life or your neck, but when yo' go down dere, aftah yo' done read dat seven mawnin's an' burnt dose encense [in- cense] when yo' read it - yo' goes down, an' he'll find, he finally say dat. He'll turn yo' loose. He ain't goin' find yo' guilty. He might fine yo' $100 or $2. He may not fine yo' nuthin, jes' let yo' go on, dismiss de case.
Entry 9089
Dey claim that if yo' use God's Name three times aftah usin' three different kind of roses, one a red rose, a white rose, an' anothah a kind of a pink rose - after usin' those roses - they boil those roses an' get de juice out of 'em an' takes a bath in dat juice. An' den take dat juice an' put a little bit in a vial or sumpin like dat in de pocket. An' put a mixture in dat wit High John de Conkah an' bluestone an' aloes an' incense; an' den use de word, "God de Father, God de Son, an' God de Holy Ghost" fo' nine times in de court- house. Dat'll be impossible fo' a judge to give a heavy sentence. [Elizabeth City. N. Car. (482), 498:8.]
Entry 9711
Salt an' sugah an' perfume; de three combine an' dey say dat brings de crowd in. Or eithah de kind of incense yo' burn will bring 'em in.
Entry 9846
(What's that?) Take nine needles... [I interrupt.] (You take nine needles.) Put 'em in a cross [form] - see, right across dataway; jis' dataway, see. An' put 'em intuh a bag of red flannel an' keep it 'nointed; good perfume, not de cheap, yo' umdahstan'. Put it intuh a bag an' put anothah bag aroun' dit. An' keep it 'nointed wit incense in dat red-flannel bag. [This red-flannel bag here represents the heart. Small needles can be placed head to tail or point, a symbolical crossing; or actually cross them through material in the bag. For this type of hand or mojah, see No.2163, p.621, vol.1 and elsewhere.]
Entry 10610
If yo' vanta build up yo' a trade, or somepin lak dat, jes' have a lotta customah. Yo' go tuh work an' take dis sane stuff ah tellin' yo' 'bout, de Adam an' Eve. Take Adam an' Eve an' some bushes dat grows in de woods called de heart leaves [some plant with cordate leaves]. Git some of dat, but don' take de leaves, take de stem - it's got a red stem. Take de stem an' wrap around dat Adam an' Eve an' bring it back ovah to de house dere an' yo' parch dat stem. Aftah parchin' dat stem, yo' pounds it into a powdah, an' carry it an' drop it all ovah dat house. Dat's conkerin' 'em. Drop dat ever' mawnin' 'fore de sun rise. An' yo' buys yo' a lucky star [incense molded into the shape of a star] an' yo' light dat lucky star an' sprinkle a little bit of dat stuff [parched heart leaf stem] ovah it; jes' a little bit, sprinkle it ovah it, 'fore de sunrise. Have it so dat it burn out 'fore de sun rise. An' when it do dat, sweep it on out, an' mo' customah commence comin' in, reg'lah an' reg'lah an' reg'lah. Have to hol' up burnin' it sometime [because you have so many customers].
Entry 10768
Well, they claim that if you take gunpowder and bluestone and aloes, and there's another stuff they use where they burn. Let me see. What is the name of that, what the Cath'lics use? Incense! And burn incense along with that. And bura all of it together, it'll have an effect, a tendency to keep bootleggers [he means the police] away from your house, and the law can't have an effect on you.
Entry 11122
Draw a coffin, draw the person image in the cof- fin they want to die, then call [victim], then write their name, burn under incense smoke.
Entry 11182
Yo' kin git chew some lodestone [see later], it's sompin dat's lak a incense.
(Lodestone?)
Yes. All right. Yo' take dat an' yo' take some brown sugah an' yo' take some bluein' an' Redbird Epsom Salts an' devil's-shoestring, an' yo' mix allah [all of] dat up tuhgethah, an yo' sprinkle dat aroun' de house. Dat's tuh make dem move. [There appears to be at least three types of what is called lodestone: ground particles or a lump that can be pulverized, both at- tracting iron; and a third substance that is merely an incense.]
Entry 11648
Bringing in customers. Well, first start yo' off burnin' some incense. Yo burn yore incense an' den yo' use de five-finger grass. Hang it up anywhere in yore place of business. Den yo' keep a High John de Conkah roots. Dat would increase yore business.
Entry 11727
Dat goofer dust is made from incense. Yo' take dis lucky incense an' yo' kin burn it an' poun' it up in a can yo' know. Git it out somewhere roun' yore neighbor's an' sprinkle it, yo' know, roun'. Dat makes all of 'em come influenced to yo', yo' know.
Entry 12211
Dey tell me yo' buy some insane [incense] an' yo' burn dat every Friday, an' Friday nights, an' dat will make yore place come to be lucky. An' some say yo' git dis John de Conkah an' put it in a cloth an' sew it up, an' put it round yore waist an' it makes yore home be happy, an' yore place be lucky an' successful.
Entry 12212
Yo' could burn this incense. Some of 'em burn it befo' twelve a'clock in de day, an' dat will draw in a crowd. (If you are selling anything?) Yes. If yo' sellin' or either if yo' rentin' de rooms, dat will rent dem fo' yo'. Burn de incense befo' twelve a'clock.
Entry 12213
Yo' git some incense an' mix a little sugah with it an' yo' burn dat. Dat's drawin' power, dat draws. An' yo' burn dat at hours, yo' know: lak six a'clock, twelve an' six in de evenin'. Dat draws mo customahs.
Entry 12216
Well, yo' goes tuh work an' yo' git chew some incense an' yo' burn it in yore lamp or anywhere, roun' evah mawnin' 'fore de sun rise. An' yo' talk tuh de incense whilst it Smokin' - whilst it burnin' - an' say whut chew want it tuh bring toward yore place, an' dat will bring yo' good luck.
Entry 12217
Well, sometimes yo' kin take incense. Yo' know what dat is. Yo' burn it Thursdays an' Wednesdays. An' yo' take an' wash yore front steps wit dis salt dat chew makes ice cream out of. Den yo' throw de water inside an' let it run outside. Let it run back outside. Den yo' Wash dose things. Ah know dose are lucky.
(Then you wash what?)
Yo' wash yore front out [sidewalk off]. Stand in front an' po' yo' water up [to the building] an' let it run back down [to gutter and] out. An' wash de place all out good an' burn it [incense] Thursdays, Wednesdays an' Mondays.
(Any particular time those days that you burn that incense?)
Well, it's best tuh burn it 'bout five [usually 6] an' twelve.
(Five when?)
In de evening, twelve in de day.
Entry 12345
Yo' git chew a piece of lode- stone an' yo' put it in a little piece [of cloth] or yo' kin put it in yore pocketbook, an' a piece of dat in- cense, an' put it together an' keep it. An' yo' tote it in yore pocketbook an' every time yo' go to work, why yo wash yore face an' hands in dat Van-Van an' dey won't turn yo' off.
Entry 1739
Yo' use black stars an' oil of cinnamon an' oil of bergamot an' mix that together, an' rub it in mah han'. Jes' lak ah'm goin' out now an' ah wanta, ah open mah han' an' ah carry it back that way. Ah'm goin' out fo' good luck now, ah put a drop or two in mah han's heah - ah'm goin' out fo' luck. Ah put dem three things - mix 'em together.
(That is for luck in gambling?)
Yessuh.
(What is that black star?)
That's - hit's black but it's incense.
Entry 2024
Ah uses Jockey Club perfume an' Oil of bergamine [bergamot] an' den ah burns incense and make a wish, whenevah ah'm goin' out, yo' know, tuh gamble.
(What do you do with the Jockey Club perfume and bergamine - mix it together?)
Ah mix it together an' ah 'noints it roun' mah ears see, an' up undah mah arm in de palm of mah hand an' rubs an' ah makes a wish.
Entry 2044
Dey got a root dey call - well, dis root dey call de kina-snake root. Dey takes dat an' wears it. An' den dey gits this other thing dey call - dey burn it in de house - incense, burn it in de fo' corner of de house. Dat will gain yo' customers.
Entry 2193
Burn incent an' take a onion an' keep a onion hang up upside down ovah each one of yore do's. Dat'll keep de law away.
(Any kind of an onion?)
Any kind of an onion.
Entry 2355
Ef a man and his girl friend falls out, I even burn incense fer that. I let her burn it three times and he comes home. Den, in other words, I give de female sex a lesson what to do. De lesson is ids, is fo' yo' tuh - ef yo' are only making up yore bed one time a day at de time of yo' fallin' out an' yo' making up yo' bed one time a day [now], den yo' change. Yo'll make up twice a day. Change yo' linen on yo' tablecloth twice a day. Take a saucer and a cup wit a gold rim roun' it, yo' turn de cup down and set de saucer on top of de cup.
(Upside down or?)
Let de saucer set up - de cup should turn down. An' wit de cup turn down, den set de saucer up on it. See. An' go out and invite him in fer lunch with her. Then in that use sweet spice into yore bedroom. That gain de influence of de individual. Yo' won't have to do it no mo' den 'bout once or twice befo' he come in.
Entry 2404
I've been around places where I've seen it done. They always dress the front of their house and the front of the house is kept - is supposed to be kept perfectly clean, scrubbed every day with lye and ammonia. And after scrubbing your house with lye and ammonia, you have a thing that you burn - a couple of the incense. And then after you burn that, that's in the house and your house is perfectly clean - you uses that in there - causes for the luck to keep the law away.
Entry 2524
Now in that line [bootlegging line] ah have sold whiskey. Ah haven't tried anything but sell whiskey in that line. Ah goes downtown to a drug store and ah git some incense, this incense and burn that and ah have been successful in selling whiskey - didn't have trouble about de police. (What kind of incense did you buy?) Any kind of incense.
(You burn that at a certain time?)
Yes, yo' burn it in de morning and at night - early in de morning and at night.
Entry 2527
Yo' git dragon's blood an' yo' git de wisteria incense an' yo' git lodestone. [Three ingredients.] Yo' pound dis up together - dis dragon's blood an' yo' put it wit dis wisteria an' de lodestone. Yo' git pulverized [lode]stone an' yo' burn dis at de do' at nine a'clock in de mawnin' an' as yo' close at night. Dat'll make yore business prosperous.
Entry 2529
I understand that you get this high-graded incense. You use that, you smokes that up over your door. Course he'd come around, but he wouldn't never come for no kind of trouble. You understand? It keeps him quiet.
(I see. That's all you do - use that incense?)
That high-graded incense.
Entry 2531
The grains [qrins?] of Job - you may hear'd of 'em. You ever seed 'em?
(They say there are Job's tears. Are they something like Job's tears?)
Well, it's a smaller size, but it looks just like a little fish-eye. You ever see a fish-eye? (Yes.) [If the eye of a fish is meant.]. About the color, but they weren't that - they are known to be the grains of Job. The grains of Job was used in the particular way of burning the oriental incense - any incense from Asiar - that's what they call clairvoyant incense. You burn two of them together and you take the ashes of the two what you burn ever' other morning and plant 'em around your place in the earth right outside - any place in the yard or around your place. You may repeat, as lots of 'em repeat, you know, "As I pray the prayer the Eastmen do, may sweet, etc. etc." You will not have to speak, you know, like they do in Asiar, but you kin say a very short part of it: 'In the Name of the Father, of the Son and Holy Ghost, there will be no one be coming to this home - officer or no one into my place of business." Either way that will take care of it and no one will ever bother your place.
(Never bother you.)
"In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, as no one will come near here to harm me - officers, or revenuers, or no deputies."
Entry 2533
Dey gits a powder called de incense an' burn it - it's not a powder but blocks 'bout lak dat. An' dey burn it in dey home. Say - dey claim it keeps de men - dey have customers. Ah have gone in houses an' dey says nobody has been in dere all day an' de time dey light one or two, dere comes two or three customers in.
Entry 2534
Dey tell me that chew could use de incense. When yo' runnin' any kind of a business an' yo' use incense, yo' jes' take an' light chew one an' sets it up on de table or anywheres on de floor an' makes yore wishes dat chure place will be crowded an' that yore place will be successful or anything lak that.
Entry 2537
Well, yo' goes to de drug store an' buy yo' some of dis lucky incense an' burn it fo' de sunrise in de morning an' walk to yore do' an' throw de ashes de way de sunrise. That will keep 'em away.
(Keep the law away from your place if you're gambling or anything like that?)
Yes - keep 'em away.
Entry 2538
Burn garlic an' onion leaves an' incense, dis lucky incense. Lak it's goin' be a big dance or somepin close aroun', an' yo' wanta git in a lotta tran- sients, yo' know, why yo' burn dat stuff hard all dat week on yore stove. An' keep dat garlic layin' roun' an' draw in a lotta customers, transient customers.
Entry 2560
If yo' don't want de law tuh come to yore house, yo' use dis concen- trated lye an' burn incense. Dat concentrated lye goin' keep'away all evils - all kinda dirty acts an' doin's, jes' lak if somebody intendin' tuh sprinkle somepin fo' yo'. Why, if yo' don't want it done, or yo' heard tell of nobody do it, yo' scrubs yore house wit lye, or if yo' mop de front of yore po'ch wit lye, ain't no law comin' dere. Pract'lly, ain't nobody goin' do no harm because that lye drives away all evil things.
Entry 2691
If you want to have good luck, you kin take your chamber lye and yo' sprinkle it - burn incense and put it in there, the ashes, and sprinkle it every morning before you speak a word, out in front of your door, and that will give yo' good luck and bring people to your house.
(Bring trade to you, if you are selling something?)
Yes, sir.
(I see, if I were bootlegging or something of that sort.)
Yes, or running a rooming house - renting a few of the rooms.
Entry 2797
Burn incense. Burn dis rosewood incense or yo' kin burn a red candle dat's fo' fast tuck an' the green candle. Those is lucky candles. (Well, now, suppose you were fixing that up for me. Suppose I was selling liquor here or something. Just how would you burn those candles?) Yo' burns 'em six a'clock in de mawnin' an' nine a'clock an' twelve - three in de evenin' an' six in de evenin'. Yo' must burn 'em on de proper hours. [They are burned every three hours on the third hour or its multiples between sunrise and sunset.]
(You use one green and one red?)
Yes.
(And how long do you burn them?)
About twenty minutes. Burn dem in de house.
(That is to bring in trade for bootlegging and that sort of thing?)
Yes.
Entry 12214
Yo' git some of dis incense and burn it fo' seven mornings. Now, if you know the name of that person, you call the name, but if you do not know the name, yo' jest say, Whosomever stole mah goods, bring 'em. And they will bring them back.
Entry 12219
Burn incense to get a man's money in the room where he is. [Wilming- ton 114:8+85.]
Entry 12220
Burn incense. Burn that fo' 9 days an' yo'll draw in customers.
[Waycross by No.1172, about cyl.1732.]
Entry 12221
Dey burn incense.
(To keep the law away?)
Yessuh. [Fayetteville 2561:4.]
Entry 1642
[This rite and the following one are examples of the well-known scrubs of New Orleans, which offer protection against anything, even the law. More of them will be found under subsection Business and Customers.]
(You say you get up early in the morning. What time is that?)
Roun' six o'clock or five o'clock in the morning.
(Yes, and you do what?)
You get up and you take you a bucket - you understand, your wash-scrub bucket and you put you some urinate in it and put some of that incense in there. Take you some lye and pour down in there, and you come there and you scrub it - don't put no clear water at all in it. Just mix all that up together and scrub your porch, just back and forth you know, but be always scrubbin' yourself inside always. Don't never scrub yourself out. Just like you'd have to scrub, you know, just scrub this way - scrub yourself right on back in your door. Like there's a step there, you are going to scrub from your step up - bring yourself inside all the time.
(What do you do that scrubbing for?)
Well, you see, that's to keep them from putting anything - from planting anything around your home to harm you. They can't do anything.
Entry 1853
Git chew some lump incense. Some people don't use red flannel - yo' kin use shammy skin an' yo' make yo' a little luck bag. Yo' put chew a little silver dime in dere. An' yo' put chew about three pieces of that lump incense in dere and yo' put yo' some guinea peppahs in dere, an' if yo' got a fishhead rock yo' put that in dere. Den yo' sew it up on a piece of garlic.
(Fishhead rock?)
Yeah, dat only comes in a drumhaid. Dere be's two little rocks in a drumhaid.
(Drumhead fish?)
Yessuh. An' yo' sew that up. Yo' kin po' yo' some bergamint [bergamot] on it or eithah some Jockey Club perfume - yo' have tuh keep it oiled up [fed] lak dat. Dat's fo' yore luck. Yo' kin wear it in yore pocket. Gamblin' luck.
Entry 2067
Dey throw salt an' sech as that behin', yo' know, an' burn incense. Dey use graveyard dirt - mixes graveyard dirt an' git a sewin' needle an' break dat all up an' black lodestone, an' dey makes tobies from dat. Well, yo' git a piece of flannel, yo' know, red flannel an' break dat lodestone, crumble it up, an' take de needle an' break dat up an' sew dat up an' put a little perfume in dere. A man dey always say, carry dat in his left pocket. Dat'll keep lucky - dat'll keep him an' his wife on good terms.
(And it's very lucky to do what?)
Burn incense.
(Where?)
In de right corner of yore house, or eithah underneat' yore bed - burn it all night. We giner'lly burn it all night undah de beds.
Entry 2101
Yo' kin take High John de Conker an' git black lodestone an' Adam an' Eve root. Put them together with violet incense powders, an' sew them in a red flannel. They call that mojo an' dat fo' yore luck in gamblin' an' co'se yo feed it Jockey Club perfume.
(When you go to the game.)
Entry 2525
Yo' git de dragon blood, devil's-shoestring an' incense, an' yo' burn dat in yore house all de time; git chew sulphur an' yo' burn dat an' yo' incense, an' yo' have plenty customers an' nobody tuh bother yo'.
Entry 2542
If yo' got a roomin' house an' yo' haven't no roomers an' cain't make no success, yo' git up befo' day in de mawnin' an' yo' scrub roun' in yore house an' den yo' scrub yore po'ch. Yo' scrub it with urinate, Hearts Cologne, oil of cinnamon - jes' diff'rent things lak dat. Den yo' make a wish. An' aftah that when yo' git through, den yo' come in an' yo' burn sandalwood incense or either dis Lucky Star - jes' anything yo' prefer burnin'.
Entry 2544
First is incense powder. Dey takes dat and dey burn it and den dey takes - ah don't know where dey git dat, but dey takes a Lucky Star. What dey call a Lucky Star. Dey split dat star in half and dey takes a little birthday candle - little bita birthday candles, den they puts it on each part of this star and let chew burn dat in dey home. Dat's to keep de police away. Now I hear'd several people say it worked very good, but still de police don't [stop]. (But now that burning the incense and the star. There are two different ways of doing that?) Yes, dere's two diff'rent ways of doing it, but de Lucky Star supposed to be de best.
(What is the Lucky Star?)
Det git de Lucky Star at Savannah, Georgia - back in dat time from a woman on Miner Street. Dey called her Lizzie H. Yes, Mrs. H. Ah think she gets de Lucky Stars somewheres around Cincinnati, if I understood it.
(What did they look like?)
Jest looked like a little round something but they had four [five?] corners - which dey called Lucky Stars.
(Well, were they made out of metal or cardboard or what?)
No, it gots a something like a powder but it's hard, see - it was diff'rent from de incense powder. Twas a powder too, but it was diff'rent from the incense and then it smelled diff'rent. It smelled kinda sweet.
Entry 2548
Yo' take sulphah an' sugah tuh draw luck to yo'. Yo' take sulphah an' sugah an' burn it on de stove, see, or somethin' hot. Jis' sulphah an' sugah an' mix it up an' burn it an' it will draw luck to yo'. An' when yo' wants a quick way tuh git a small piece of money, yo' lights yo' a - ah cain't think of the name of it. Anything will do jis' since it's incense. Light de incense an' put it on yore bed - place it on yore bed, "In de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost," an' put it in a white saucer. An' in less time den three hours somebody will give yo' a piece of money if it's nuthin but a nickel or somepin othah lak dat - a nickel or a dime.
Entry 2550
They burns a - they got something - sweeps your house in de morning. Just like you done business in here, you sweeps your place out - sweep all your dirt, all your trash one way. You mop it, you mop it all one way and then you got some little old incense candles. You burn one in that corner and one in that corner, one in that corner and one in that corner, and one on your cash register.
[Here five candles form an approximate quincunx - see p.710.]
(I see. And how do you mean by sweeping this dirt one Way?)
All one way - don't never sweep nothing back thataway, sweep it all one way. Just like you going thisaway with it, sweep it all that Way and mop it the same way.
(I see. And what do you do with that stuff after you get it swept up?)
Sweep it right on out de door. (Sweep it outside the door? Do you sweep it to the front of the house or to the back of the house?) Right on out de front. (Out the front, I see. And you burn these incense candles in each of the four corners of the room where you are doing business and put one on cash register?) One right on the register.
(And that is supposed to bring in trade?)
Bring in trade.
Entry 2552
Scrub with Red Seal Iye, table salt an' sugah, bluein'. Take about a teaspoon of bluein' and de mo' sugah, have it white sugah, pure sugah - half a cup, teacup of sugah. Burn a little incense an' call 'em three time while it's burnin'.
(What do you call?)
Call yore wish - if yo' wanta make a call an' wanta make yore wish an' den call. Yo' kin call a special person or yo' kin call, "Send me a man." But chew make dat wish three times.
(Out loud.)
Whilst it's burnin' - not let it go out. Wait until it's burnin' an' make it three times on there. [This is a rite for roomers.]
Entry 2563
Like this [business] burns [flourishes] here and that one over there [burns] - well, if that burns out and the trade here - he ain't got no trade here. And I'll tell you I always seen it did, and I've did it myself during Prohibition. I'd scrub my place out - you see, sweep it out good. and scrub it. But as I said before [in another statement], I'd sweep in all the time, though - never sweep out. Sweep in. When you sweep, you take and get you nine buckets of water. You get you a box of lye, get a bottle of ammonia - get you a bottle of ammonia and a box of lye and use nine buckets of water. You put your lye - you take lye and you sprinkle it all around your floor first. See. You throw a bucket of water to your right, one to your left, but always throw it inside. Stand at your door and throw your water. Don't never let your water go out your door - throw that in your door, see. And when you starts scrubbing your place, you scrub to the back. Start right at the front of your door but be backing up all the time. Don't never walk - back up, see. As you scrubbin', back up. When you start sweepin', then you face your place - going in all the time, but don't use over nine buckets of water. And after you scrub your place good and you get it dried out, you puts you some cinnamon and sugar down. You get you - I think it costs ten or fifteen cents for a box of it, you get you some of that incense and you light that and you burn that in your place. Now, after you got all the inside of your place straightened out and scrubbed clean, you come to your banquette [sidewalk]. You get on the outside and you use nine more buckets of water on the outside. Now, vou sweep both ways there. All the time sweep to your door, you see. You sweep thisaway [to the right], you sweep to your door; you sweep thisaway [to the left], you sweep to your door. See. Now, sweep your water to your door - don't sweep it in the place, but sweep it to your door and let it run down to the ditch itself. And then you sprinkle your cinnamon and your sugar again. See. But you sprinkle it to your door and throw it from your door - throw it in, see. Well, that make that trade come across over there to here. And that'll make - you'll get all the business over here. And, if you see where you can't do no good there, just go over there and sprinkle you some salt after you done scrubbed your place - but you have to pay somebody [to do it]. Get them to go over there and throw some salt down, and it'll cause a big row over there. See, when they start to rumpus over there, everybody will run over here to this place here.
Entry 2629
(What do you do to bring in customers? For bootlegging or something? Have you heard what they do to bring in the trade?) Certainly. (All right.) You'd take that place. For instance, this was the place right here. All right. You come to me and you say, "Well, my business is full and everybody pass and go to the next fellow." All right. You say, "Now, I wants you to straighten this place out for me so the people would come in, so I could draw customers." Well, the first thing is to do - is to go there before the sun- rise. Scrub that place out from the front to the back, 'cause you want luck to come in. Scrub it out with soap powder and Octogen soap: Some people use lye, but you don't want no lye nowhere near it. That's my method of using it. You scrub it out and after you scrub it out, you just.
(You scrub it with what?)
Octogen soap and plain white powder, plain white powder what they wash clothes with. But don't use no lye. Some people, they have: a tendency to use lye: But you must know whether there's anything been put down there or not. If there's something been put on there to offset this man - to keep his - to bear the people off from coming there, well it's very necessary to use lye to kill whatsomever they got down there. But you must know these things. You go on and you scrub it, mop it, and after you get through mopping it, you take clear water - seven buckets of clear water [nine is the usual number]. Now, if it's you, you must throw 'em over yourself, from back - make your wish - this is the front part, you throw it thataway and make your wish.
(You go from the front to the back?)
Yeah, yeah.
(You throw it out?)
Yeah, throw it out - throw it all out - then sweep it out. Then you go back with your mop and you let the place dry out. Now some - it takes you three days to do that sometimes. I've seen a woman's place and a fellow supposed to have done left - knew somebody in the family but he ain't in his right home. He's Open up a success for himself - bringing success. Now, the next day you go ahead back there, if you got three rooms in there, you take a saucer and you take rock incense - don't use no temple - rock incense and you burn it with lucky oil. They have oil they call lucky oil. You pour a little bit of that lucky oil on that incense and you set it up and you light it. Now, rock incense will make a fog, and you keep your shades down - just have a place in the back for the smoke to go out.
(The incense makes a mist - a fog?)
A fog - a fog. Now, you getting rid of all the evil influence. Now, you go on through with that. Well now, the third day you come on back there with you oil of reeve. [This is how word sounds. Could it be oil of relieve = relief? Oil of reve = dream? Or a nautical reeve = pouring oil on troubled waters?] Well, you might use oil of cinnamon. You might use some Van-van - it's not nec- essary. You might use some oil of cocoa. You might use seven oils into one. Well, you take those oils and you mix 'em into one with rain water. You put, say, about two teaspoons - by diff'rent drops and pour it down in there and fill that bottle up with rain water, and you just take that bottle and you cut holes in the stopper - three ways, so it will - and you shake it round in there, shake it round in there. Well, once every week when you are scrubbing, you do that. I'll say, that fellow have the biggest success in this town. I know some of 'em are doing it now.
(You say Seven-in-one oil. Is that one oil, or seven different oils in one?)
Seven diff'rent oils in one.
(Then you buy it prepared that way?)
Yeah, you can buy it that way. [See later, Three-Way Oil, and Three Oils.]
Entry 2647
Well, I couldn't tell you but I know I worked in the [red- light] district thirteen years and around sporting women, you know I know plenty. (Well, suppose you tell us about that. What do they do for good luck or bad luck around those houses? Those sporting houses?) Good luck? Oh, there's plenty of things. There's essence of geranium.
(How would they use that?)
They would scrub in it. Banquette [scrubbed with it].
(What was it supposed to do?)
Well, it draw plenty of men so they can turn tricks - turn the trick.
(That is all they would use?)
Sell plenty of beer.
(Well, what else would they do around those sporting houses?)
They smoke 'em. They get incense and brown sugar and they put it on a shovel and they light it, and you let 'em take and step over it.
(Keep stepping back and forth across it?)
Step over it nine times - each one, each woman.
(Without any clothes on or does she?)
She don't fust let it touch her clothes, she just pull her dress up when she step over it. But now they wear the dresses so short they don't need to hold 'em up.
(Who did that? These white women did that?)
White women Colored women burns it 'cause I used to burn it for them. They paid me for it.
(What was the sign for bad luck? What wouldn't they let you do around there?)
If you eat peanuts, the hulls is bad luck [see p.710]. Pecan hulls is bad luck - crossed to the house, crossed to the house, and the landlady put you out when she find out that you eat plenty of that, 'cause she. ain't going to have you there 'cause you are bad luck to yourself and everybody else around there. Scrub the banquettes - wash theirself - bathe theirself round a little - take a little Japanese Honeysuckle Cologne and put it in the water and bathe theirself off with it.
(What is that supposed to do?)
That will make 'em be lucky, make 'em catch tricks. They always have one they love - they give him money.
(What do they call him? What is he called?)
Called "Daddy," "Honey," and all kind of pet names.
(What would they do to hold him?)
Oh he's - he going to stay there because they giving him money.
(I see. White men?)
White men. He going to stay 'cause he getting by. He ain't working, he ain't doing nothing for a living and they taking care of him - getting his eat- ing and getting his sleeping price. (The same things where they have colored women? Do they do these same sorts of things?) Say where they have colored women?
(Colored sporting houses.)
Oh, yeah - all of 'em does. Oh, yes.
Entry 2670
There's diff'rent kinds of perfume that you can get to wear on you and if you - it's the Three Jacks and the Three Kings and Jack of Clubs. You go to the drug store and you get two bits [25c] of that and have it mixed all together. Don't wear it on your clothes. If you go into a clubroom and sit down to gamble, you'll always have it handy where nobody kin detect you puttin' some on the floor in the clubroom. And then you take this incense, luck incense, you know, and a shoe, a old shoe, if you got a clubroom and you want your clubroom to be - to bring money and to bring plenty people there to gamble to make money. You scrub your place out just as I told you and use those nine buckets of water. And you put that old shoe with some sugar and cinnamon and burn that incense in there. Close the house up and that's luck for gambling. No, don't use lye here - just the nine buckets of water - clear water - and burn the old shoe. Let the last bucket, the ninth bucket be with sugar in it.
(You can do that for bootlegging too?)
Yeah, because I bootlegged several years. Sure.
Entry 2745
To bring in trade or any kind of congregation, you get what they call the Adam-and-Eve root, place that in the front of your door. Then you go to work and get what they call Louisiana hoodoo dust and put that under yore doorsill. Then you go to work and git what they call the good and evil candle and place that at twelve 'clock in the night in your front door with your door closed and burn it. And with the Eqyptian incense and by reading the 37th division of the Psalms of David, reads as follows, "Fret not yourself because of evildoers, be thou not envious in the works of iniquity and so forth. Why each night if you do that three times a week, you will have trade for thirty days.
(What do you do with this incense?)
Burn it.
(While you are reading the Bible?)
Yes, jest light it - light it iest befo' you start de reading.
(Where do you get this Louisiana dust?)
Wal, yo' kin write to - ah don't know her address - Louisiana - New Orleans, Louisiana.
(And she will send you this dust.)
I know fer mahself from an experience in 1923.
(Where was this experience?)
Heah in Washington, right heah. My first wife, we were living at 217 "E" Street, N. W., Washington, and she said to me on a Saturday - she had been invited out fo' dinnah next do'. She wanted me to go there with her an' I refused. Any- way she went. Sunday - that Sunday - [she] came back home [Saturday] - that Sun- day night she got in bed. On Monday morning between 9:30 and 10 'clock I had to rush her to Garfield's Hospital. And with them taking her to the hospital on that Monday morning, of having several specialists to examine her, to give her a thorough examination from time to time, and each one of them said that her body showed as though it was normal from start to finish. Well, her mother said that it was a spell. Later on, the one that she had taken dinner with begin to talk and tell other people about what she had done. And she said this, that she'd taken the skin of a frog and put it in a pan and cooks it real crisp and powders it up and give it to her in coffee and that was the cause of her sickness and also her death. Dr. Fowler, being at the time the head surgeon of the doctorical staff of the District, he give a thorol examination and said that he couldn't locate or tell what her disease was - even up to her death. I noticed on the night - on Saturday night - like she died Sunday morning, I was there at the hospital all that night. I notice between the skin and her flesh there were the figure of frogs. Her eyes begin to turn yellowish - de white of her eyes and her head. She suffered with very severe pains. After the doctors couldn't find out, even by taken a picture - they said her heart were perfect, her stomach perfect, her liver perfect, kidneys perfect - her whole system. But by the misery being in her head, dey couldn't figure or tell whether it might have been a form of an abscess somewhere on the tissue of the brain. So after her death they asked permission of holding an autopsy on her brain, and when they did that why they said that her brain were normal. Well, it goes on to show me that the fruits of the thing that which she [the other woman] had said that she had done was true. Later on ah begin to seek into such [the truth of hoodoo]. I goes to Alexanderia, Va., to a woman by de name of Cely Coles, and begin to seek information 'long dose lines. An' she says to me, she says, "It's true just what she said she done." That was itl But if you had obtained or had of went to work and taken some sulphur, table salt and alum and made a solution out of it, or made a little drink and give her nine tablespoons- ful, why she would have passed them from her and she would have gotten well.
[To remove 'live things conjured into the body, see pp.227-239 and Index.]
(After you found out these things, what happened after that?)
Well, ah came back. Wasn't anything that I could do then - jest to give it up in de hands of God. But I was glad to know these things. And then later from self experience - for mahself - ah had went to what we call a donkey party.
(What is that?)
That's jest the figure of a donkey made up into a picture of some kind and then you buy a whole lotta tails and then you take chances, see. And de one dat pin dose tails in the proper or nearest the proper place, they get the prize. Ah goes to dis donkey party - it was for the benefit of the St. Paul Baptist Church - an' while being there they were serving refreshments or selling refresh- ments and I bought some of them. An' after I had bought a glass of lemonade and drank it, I goes home and nine days from dat day I had hairy worms in my stomach. Now the cause of that was the oil out of the skin of a frog created those worms. A man ovah heah on tenth street at de time - I were carried to him and he give me medicine fo' that. Later on I found out jest what to do to prohibit those things. It matters not what a person might be hurt with, matters not what chew walk ovah, and if they come to be alive in you, you can take a silver dime or a silver dollar and take a fine file and file off part of it and boil it and take a tea- cupful of it. It will remove it one way or the other [above or below]. [See also, pp.484-493.] Not only that, we have a way to tell, there is a way to tell, even if you have just a weakness, whether you are hurt or not. And the way that is, is by taking a salt mackerel fish and bind it wheresomever that weakness is, with the head up and the tail down, and that misery will then become a terrific terror there. You will know then that it's no need of taking any medical doctor's [Doctor of Medi- cine's] treatment. You will have to seek other sources. Well, ah know at mah home town - Richmond, Virginia - there were an' ole lady by the name of Mary Moody lived on Green Street. That's in the east end.
(I've heard of her.) [Her name is somewhere in the text.]
Mary Moody. In other words there Was a woman lived in my neighborhood by the name of Lucy Williams. I leave Coatesville, Pa., an' I goes home and she becomes jealous or envious of me because I wouldn't go or keep company with none of her daughters. She goes to work, she did, an' taken one of those square halfa pint whiskey bottles used to be [before Prohibition] - Sherwood bottles. Comes to my father's house and my mother used to be fond of her, used to let her do all of her washing at times, and she'd taken a part of my underclothes, the seat of them, and a part of my left sock and carried it off with some different roots. Ah don't know what de roots was, but those different roots she packed in that bottle and she dressed it with still water - poured it in this bottle.
(What do you mean by still water?)
Water that she had let stand fer a certain length of time. And she dressed that nine days before she buried it, and when she buried it, she buried it in the pathway that leads from my mother's house to her well, that I might walk over it. An I become - begin to go over towards my left side and dwindling away to noth- ing without a ache or pain. An' mah father he'd taken me to Mary Moody. Mary Moody wanted her pichure and mah father happened to have one the pichures on a tintype in the home. An' he'd taken that and she said to him, says, "Now, you go back home and plow up your pathway from your house to your well and when you find this bottle," she said, "bring it to me." An' he did so. An' when he did that, why she'd taken it and drew that Lucy Williams pichure from de other one on a sheet and put this bottle behind it and shot it. She said, "Now, when yo' git back home, the same thing that yore son have on him, she will have on her and she cant git rid of it." An' that happened.
(What did she shoot this bottle with?)
With a pistol - a real pistol. (She drew this picture on a piece of paper and put it up before this bottle and shot through the paper and broke the bottle?) Yes.
(How long ago did that happen?)
That's been - that was in 1916. It's a man lives - he lives in Beaver Falls [Pa.] too - 606 Eighth Avenue. He don't keer if you give a policeman his address, he's iest that smart. He takes - he has five spools, spools what thread come off, takes three needles and run through 'em - that little hole in those spools.
(He puts the three needles right through the spools.)
If the street is coming this way in front of his house, he sets one object to that corner, one obiect at this corner, and one where you turn in off the street to go in de front of his door - with the one at each corner is pointing straight up and down the street.
(You mean this spool is pointing straight up and down the street.)
That's right. The one what enters the door pointing in an' out the door, and he has the two at the back the same way that the two at the first two corners are. An' he gits up and calls on de four winds - five waves of de water with the speech that he makes telling these people - it matters not who it is - to keep on passing his door. Dey would come round an' start to his door and their mind change and they walk right on away. Right today he has two stills turning out round about 90 gallons of whiskey each. (Now here's the street going by his house. On the corner of the street here and this corner of the street are the two spools - they are turned this way, the holes are turned this way [parallel to the street passing house]. Then you come to his house and the [third] spool is turned with the holes going this way - toward his house. And then where does he put - he puts these remaining two spools at his back door?) At the back corners of his house, yes. (And the holes in these spools are parallel with that of his house [the third spool]. He just passes these three needles through each of these holes. He doesn't do anything with the needles.) Man in Norfolk, Virginia, he was telling me one day, said that if you want a person to die, dat you take one of those cut nails.
(Those square nails?)
Square nails and take and carry it to a green tree on Sunday morning and you stump it [start the nail into the tree] and each morning for nine mornings go there and hit it, and you tap that together, and then the ninth morning, the ninth day you drive it up to the head. After that nine mornings, he said that person going crazy - drifting.
Entry 3060
(What did you do to get your husband back?)
Well, I went to her [St. Rita] again and prayed. Well, when I went to her and prayed, I burned incense in my house and scrubbed incense in my house. Well, it was a woman that took my husband clean from me. I couldn't do anything in the world with him. He wouldn't stay home. He wouldn't pay no rent at home. I is a mother with children for him and he wouldn't pay no rent, he wouldn't support me, and I didn't have no cause to go to the white folks to make him support me no nothing. But I took and went on there and prayed, and after I went there, I just took holy water and scrubbed my house out and sprinkled holy water in my house, and light that candle and got me a little altar and put her in there, got her saint and put her in there, and I had three lights. And I had his name writ nine times frontwards and nine times backwards, and I lighted her candle on him - you see, where a little base.
(Oh! What kind of a candle?)
A white candle. But I had one white candle what I had his picture and his name - you know, right on it. And I had his name nine times thisaway and nine times thataway.
(Across. In a cross?)
Yes, just like you'd make a cross. You understand?) Well, all right. I laid that down just like this [demonstrates]. See, that's his picture there. I laid his name over that and set the [white] light on top of it. (You laid the names crosswise, across the picture, and now you put the candle on top of that - this white candle.) Yes, sir.
(Was it a picture or a statue of the saint?)
No, it was a statue of my saint, but I had the picture of my husband - that was his'n.
(But the saint was a statue?)
A statue - little white statue. You can get it in any Catholic church; you can get a little white statue. They give you ary one you want - any one of them.
(I see.)
So, I had my light there, but I had her back here. You see.
(Her light.)
Her light - was supposed to put her light here.
(What color was her light?)
Her light was a blue light I give her. See, that's when you wanta get your husband back. And if you have a dark light, it's for the woman what's got your husband. That white light, that's hers [the saint's] but she's working on that for you. See, she's bringing him home. And my husband come home one night at twelve o'clock and I wouldn't get no upstirring about him - you see, one, two, three, my mind was gone off of him. He stayed away from me three weeks, and when he come back home, he come right home and went and called on the landlord and paid him hisself; asked the landlord how much I'd owed him, and the landlord told him, "Well, she owe for three week's rent." And I was paying $3 a week. And he went there and he paid him. He was working right there on the riverfront, and he really did come back home and I ain't never had no trouble wit him since. That's been three year ago and I don't never move that light - I always keep that light. I always go to church every morning at six clock. You'll find me in that church on Halsey Avenue and Cologne. I'll be to that Catholic church there on my knees.
(Do you do that every morning now?)
Every morning.
(Are you a Catholic?)
Yes, sir
(Well, were you Catholic before then?)
No sir, I was no Catholic then. I was a Methodist.
(I see, you become a Catholic.)
After. I came to be a Catholic after.
(Were you confirmed or anything in the Catholic Church or did you just go in?)
Well, I ioined the Catholic Church, you understand.
(Were you baptised in the Catholic Church?)
No, I wasn't baptised yet. I wasn't supposed to get baptised until Easter Sunday. That's when they supposed to baptize me, Easter Sunday Morning.
(You haven't been baptised yet. You are going to be though?)
Yes, sir. Easter Sunday morning.
(I see.)
Easter Sunday morning.
(And you have this altar in your house and you still burn these candles?)
Yes, sir.
(And you burn the blue and the white ones?)
Yes, sir.
(You put three candles?)
I put three candles for the man - like if you wants your husband back, like if a woman want her husband back.
(One was blue?)
One was blue and one was white and the other one was blue [black]. The blue one was for the saint, but the white one was for the husband [see later]. That dark candle - the black candle was for the woman what was, you know, have took your husband from you. That was against her. [Originally she says the white candle sat on her husband's picture and name - it being the candle for him. Later she calls the white candle the saint's, but only because the saint is working through it. The blue candle is for the saint alone.]
(How did you have this arranged on the altar?)
Well, you see, just have.
(Here's the altar.)
[To represent altar, I open my small spiral-bound Numbers Book on table.]
That's the altar. Now you see, just hold this up just like this here. That's the altar here. You understand?
(Yes.)
Well, all right. That's the Virgin Mary - the Virgin right here, see.
(That's St. Rita?) [She means St. Rita.]
Yeah, that's St. Rita, right there. All right, you takes right here, right in front of the altar, you understand, that's her in here.- in that little hole. Well, you take right in front of the altar, right here [also], that's where you put - lay your husband's picture there and the name nine times, one time cross- way like that, nine time crossway like that, and once like dis, and you lay that right up on here. And you take his picture - have his picture like that with it, but you have his picture laying crossways - see, just like his head would rise to the sun, well, you make his feet get to the sun and you put it right here. Lay that on top of that and put that white candle on top of this. Then you turn round and take that dark candle and put it right here.
(On the left hand [north] side of the altar you put the dark candle?)
Yeah, put it the side of the altar but on this side. See, [evil] all the time on the left side. On the right side put the man's candle - put it right here. That saint's candle, put it right here - that blue one, that's for her, see. (I see. The white one is in the center and the blue one is on the right side of the [statue of the] saint?) Yes, sir. Then, see when you light it, you can light.
(When you light those candles, you do what?)
When you light the candles, see, you light her candle first - that's that blue candle.
(I see.)
You see, all them candles are nickel candles apiece - cost a nickel apiece. Well, you see, you light her candle first. Well, you says your wish. You make your wish to her - just like you wish for him to come home, or you wish for him to stay away. See. Any wish that you make her, say, "Well, I wish that you would send my husband home. You understand, I am in need." And you make that wish for her and light her candle first, and you turn around and you come across there and pass him up, and light the dark candle after you light hers first.
(Then you light the black candle?)
Yes. And you come right on back [to the white candle].
(What do you say when you light that black candle?)
That black candle, "Take him away from this woman, if it's your spirit will." See, that's the way you have to have your hands - just thataway. (Up against the side of your face - folded [in prayer]. Yes, just thataway.
(After you repeat the prayer?)
And after you prays the Lord's Prayer. And after the Lord's Prayer is said, you takes and [hold a match like] that to the light. And you take another match, not the same match - take another match and light this husband's candle, the white candle. And you take and set ~ burn - take all them [matches] and burn them [matches] up. And you set right there and you make the Lord's Prayers to the saint.
(You use three different matches?)
Yes, sir.
(What do you do with those matches after you light them?)
You can't use but one on that one candle.
(No, what do you do with those matches after you use them?)
You take them and throw them in the fire and burn them up. See, you can't use the same [matches again] and drag 'em around. And you make your wishes and you prays to her. And I guarantee you in three days time your husband will be back home. [Here is the prepared or dressed altar: Parentheses in diagram = spiral binding that divides Numbers Book into halves
(p.886, line one) = little hole (line 8).]
Entry 8999
Ketch a fellah an' take him down tuh de judge. If it's so an' dat he has some friends an' dey kin git to him an' kin give him somepin tuh he'p 'iml self. If dey do, why dey sends out tuh de drug sto' an' buys 'em 15 cents of incense. Yo' kin git it now in small packages. It use'ly cost yo' 25 an' 30 cents. Git 'im some incense an' git 'im 'some cayenne peppah. Lak yo' got a friend some place dat chew wanta be good to 'em. Git dat cayenne peppah an' dat incense an' 'bout half of a teaspoon fullah salt. Take a silver [dime] an' put it in yore mouth, an' when yo' lay dat undah yore tongue to yore mouth, why yo' goes back an' read de 23rd Psalms. Dat says, De Lord is mah shepherd. Ah shall not want. Well, yo' repeats dat nine times. An' when de judge calls yo', yo' take dat peppah an' holds it in yore han', when he call yore name, an' rubs it. Yo' hol' dat in yore han' rubs it. An' evah time de judge says somepin, yo' mashes [squeezes] yore dime an' still rubs yore peppah. An' when yo' do 'gin [begin] tuh think dat he's gittin' really rough wit chew, yo' takes an' yo' brushes yore han' lak dat. Well, de fellah dat is clost tuh yo' is goin' burn a candle on yo'. When yore trial begin tuh come, yo' burns dat candle, once in de mawnin' befo' de sunrise, an' in de evenin' jes' as de sun go down. An' whatevah it is, yo' see, yo' makes dis wish 'cuz yo' know at de same time dat chew burnin' dis candle, yo' burnin' it fo' 'im. Well, if he don' turn a-loose, he'll make it easy fo' 'im. Prob'ly he won't git no time an' if he do, he may git a light fine.
(What color candle do you burn?)
Yo' bums a perfect white candle.
(What do you do with that incense that you bought. What happens to that?)
De incense is fo' de luck an' yore success. De red peppah an' salt kills all evil spirits. Dat keeps de judge from believin' hard witness ag'inst chew.
(Where is that incense burned? Is it burned or what? Who burns it?)
Yassuh, it's tuh burn. De one dat burns de candle burns de incense, at home with de little taste of sugah in it. An' de peppah is on de stove. Yo' have tuh burn it, yo' know, fo' it's somepin hot. An' dat salt, he has hit himself. But no one cain't use no salt outa dat box fo' nuthin else but jes' fo' his use. An' aftah he git out, he takes de salt an' take it tuh de rivah an' throw it in run- nin' watah. Dat throws away all his trouble.
(He only throws away the salt?)
Yassuh, aftah he git out. Why he comin' out. Well, he goes ovah an' throw dat salt in de rivah an' don' even look back. His bad luck is gone. Jes' pitch it in dere an' walk on off.
Entry 10168
Well, you can git those mounds, the blue and brown ones, and git the holy incense. Now she'll go to work and git sugar and a little alum, and start at the back of the house and scrub all the way through to the front. And be sure that you take a sufficient amount to come all the way through; and have enough to pour all the way round her steps. And then, when she do that, then she take some clear water with sugar and put some holy water in that, and wrench [rinse] it off with that light [lightly]. Then when she gets that finished, why she'll light a taper, a holy taper. Take a chance and set it jes' direct in the middle of the window; if she possibly can get it and let it burn for one hour every night. And if he is anywhere close, he will come back to her. Now, if she's havin' a little trouble an' she can't depend on that to hold him; you see, if he's been gone before - now when he comes back now, she must get some Jockey Club perfume, and leave the candies [used on a cake] in the room. Get those candies and you put them into that. She take, put about a half ounce of the Jockey Club and a half ounce of Love Boquet, and put about no more than 15 of the little candies [used on a cake] and be sure every one is a different color[!]. An' when he comes, be very careful, and she'll rub him along - rub it all down him; just love him up and rub it all over. He may want to go but every time he start out, he will turn around and go back again. [The preceding word taper sometimes means candle. The scrub water in this rite is one of the many many different "scrubs" of New Orleans given in HOODOO. The colors of the 15 candies are mixed varieties, not 15 separate colors.]
Entry 12521
Ah heard of people if dey wanted luck in dere homes, dey git up befo' sunrise in de morning an' take some onions an' some sulphur an' salt, an' set it on de fire in de stove, an' jes' de scent - de incense go through de house- round about. An' read a cer- tain Scripture. Ah don't know whut it is, now, in de Bible. An' dat'll bring yo' luck.
(Luck to the house?)
Yes sir. Dat's good, too. Mah auntie does dat all de time.
Entry 2727
Well, yo' git chew some incense from de drug store an' a bottle of Van-van and yo' burn de incense in de house and open de front do' where it will go in de street. Well, everybody dat pass, well dey takes a notion to stop by.
(What do you do with that van-van oil?)
Yo' take that van-van oil and yo' put it in yore scrubbing water and mop yore front porch with it. After yo' git through mopping yo' chunk de water out in de street an' it cause a congregation.... That van-van - po' it in yore scrubbing water, yo' mop yo' front porch an' steps with it, when yo' git through yo' take an' chunk it out in de street. Dey might pass de street, but dey ain't coming in de house.
(That will keep the law away?)
Yeah.
Entry 12218
Take that incense and put it in a lamp?
(No, to keep the husband from running around, you said?)
To keep the husband from running around?
(Yes.)
Well, if her husband is running around, she burn a lamp on him. See. That's to make him come back to her.
(Tell me the whole thing right [from the beginning]. The whole thing.)
She burn a lamp on him, yes.
(All right.)
She take this incense and put it in the lamp.
(Yes?)
Well, she'll light it and burn it low in the daytime and high at night. Well that's to draw him back to her, you see.
(I see. If he's running around with other women.) [Vicksburg, Miss., (737)
1008:1.]
Entry 385
Well, he [informant's father who was a doctor] said dat chew could go to de fo'k of de road an' yo' could contact spirits an' dey would give yo' treasures an' give yo' information of people who've lived long. Den spirits would appear an' dey would give yo' treasures an' tell yo' where hidden treasures were. (Well, how would you contact them - how would you get in touch with those spirits - what would he do out there?) Well, he said burn incense - yo' kin burn incense dere, or yo' could take yore money needle an' it would lead yo' where de money wus of course.
Entry 843
Ah have a catalogue from a company dat gives a 'scripshun of all dat. Dey claim some kind of a powder called devil's powder, an' yo' sprinkle dat round dere door early in de mornin' so dat dey'll walk ovah it an' they'll event'lly git so miser'ble in dat home till dey'll leave dere. But dat's jes' - ah read dat in de catalogue. De only thing ah know of dat - ah guess yo' heard of an incense, a powder called incense. Wal, ah re'lly believe it's not de powder in dat but it of co'se goes wit a prayer - dat's only thing lak dat. It's diff'rent kinds of it - some, it's sandal incense an' some rose. Each has a diff'rent name, yo' know, but after all it's incense.
(Well, do you burn that at any special time or at any place?)
Well, each individual has dey own hours. See, fo' instance, ah may believe that five a'clock in de mornin's an' twelve a'clock at noon. An' someone else may believe in it six a'clock in de evening.
(Each person sort of has his luck at his own time.)
[We had just started to talk about root workers.]
Some of 'em [root workers] stay drunk.
(The root doctors?)
Yes. Ah don't know - dey claim that helps them out.
(That helps them in their work, you say - that's a strange sort of thing.)
Entry 1347
Then burn this plain temple incense. Plain temple incense brings the good spirits to you and the evil spirits can't stay there. Sulphur, you know, that drives them away, too.
Entry 1762
Git de buckeye and wear it in yore pocket. Yo' wanta sprinkle it though about ev'ry other day with some Hearts Cologne and wear it in yore pocket, and git dis incense and burn it around de house co'se, an' git some peanuts and put on de front [but not in the house]. Dat buckeye now, yo' need tuh git on de no'th side of de tree. Dere's a he buckeye and a she buckeye, yo' wanta git dose on de no'th side of de tree. A he buckeye supposed to have two eyes and de she one. Yo' wear dem in yore pocket.
(This is to bring in trade?)
Yes sir.
Entry 2175
She burn incense. An' then she take de peelin' offa red onions, she burn de peelin'. An' she put 'em on de stove on a brown piece of papah an' sprinkle sugah an' let 'em burn ev'ry mawnin'. She say dat bring luck. (You mean just that dry peeling off the onion? She burned the dry peeling - just the dry peeling?) Jis' de dry peelin'.
Entry 2208
Yo' kin tack de king of diamonds, de queen of diamonds, de jack of dia- monds, an' de ten of diamonds up ovah yore do' an' burn incense an' use lye. It will bring all de trade yo' need.
(Who does this?)
People dat are gamblin' an' selling whiskey.
Entry 2410
If yo' wanta take a trip somewhere, a long trip, an' yo' wanta go an' try tuh make money, 'fore yo' leave home, why yo' take yo' a bath an' comb yore hair, an' have yore room shet up an' burnin' incense, an' take yo' a bath in sugah an' white lead - dey call it white lead, it looks lak sugah, too. Den yo' take a bath in dat watah. When yo' git out yo' rub yo'self down in olive oil an' comb yore hair an' clean yore comb out. Den walk to de front do' an' open it an' jes' let de air go through yore house.
(You put this white lead and sugar in the water in which you take a bath?)
Yes, jes' about a half a teaspoonful - white lead an' sugah. It's kind of a medicine lak.
Entry 2439
If dey wanted tuh take roomers an' all lak that an' business wus kinda dull, an' take an' git whut is known - dere's a powder dey call it Good luck Powder. Take it an' use that powder - take an' use that with some of the dust that is swept outa de house. Says dey go an' git that dust that's swept outa de house - lak dey go to de end of the walk when dey sweep back, dey git that an' when they git it there, dey take [and] work it together an' sprinkle it about de house. An' they burn incense with that. An' that would draw his customers.
Entry 2472
Yo' know a dirt dauber makes his nest up high. Well, he gits de dirt from offa de groun' dough [though], don't he? (What?) He git de dirt offa de groun' - from de earth. Well, den he builds his nest up high. Den, say yo' git dat dirt dauber nest an' git yo' some spice, grain of spice an' beat it up an' poun' it all in together, an' jes' sprinkle it all roun' in yore place of business an' also undah de do' an' yo'll gain all de customers yo' want. Yo' kin burn incense.
Entry 2535
Well, you will have to get some incense, lueky incense and brown sugar, and mix all that together and take - scrub the house out in the four corners and you burn your incense in the four corners in each room. You burn the incense in each room and then you wash your house out with oil of cinnamon and brown sugar and you scrub it out with that. Don't put no washing powders or nothing in it - just scrub it out with the clear water.
(What will that do then?)
That will give you luck to get your house rented.
Entry 2539
Burn candles - they's fer luck too. See, then you kin burn incense too. See, some burns these little incense they calls Black Men and some burns red and some burns de orange blossom - diff'rent kinds. But if they have perfume in 'em those incense is very good.
Entry 2547
Yo' git chew some spiritual incense, burn dat in yore place. Burn dat on Friday. On Tuesday burn sulphur. Now, dat'll bring people to yore place.
Entry 2644
Then yo' kin take shoes an' scrape 'em off at de bottom. Take that an' put it in a papah an' git some lodestone an' mix wit it, mash it up wit it, an' yo' read a verse in Psalms - yo' read de 27th verse of Psalms. An' yo' put that togethah an' yo' take dat an' put it down at chure do' or up ovah yore do' where dey has tuh pass in an' out. That's fo' gainin' fren's.
(Bringing in trade.)
Yes, an' fo' lawful business an' all lak dat. An' yo' kin burn incense 'bout three time a week. That's when yo' in busi- ness - lak a sto' or any kind of shop or anything. Yo' burn de incense three time a week. Yo' burn it Monday, Wednesday an' Friday. Dat's in yore business - dat's drawin' mo' customers.
Entry 2648
I had a saloon and there is another fellow had a saloon, and he was doing more business than I was and I want the business to come to my place. All right. I go get me some water, some perfume called lucky, lucky perfume you know, and I take some clear water and I put it in a bottle and I shake it up. [Water will make the perfume spread farther.] I do this 'fore day in the morning 'fore anybody sees me doing what I got to do. I go to this place that is in the same block my place is. I go to the corner, see, and I come back and when I get before his door I sprinkle. I go to my place of business and go inside and sprinkle. And I take and go to the next corner, not the same corner, and I sprinkle - behind my back, never look behind, and I sprinkle all along that street. And I go to my place and I go in again. And I go back to that [first] corner, the same corner that is left [left from my door], understand, and sprinkle the same way. Sprinkle before his door and go in my place and come out, see. Then I go to the next [second or right] corner. Do that three times you see, each way. [Informant on coming out his front door turns left and walks past competitor's house to first or left corner (= crossroad of city streets). Here he starts to sprinkle his watered down lucky perfume, turns back home, sprinkling past compet- itor's house and into his own home. Immediately leaving home again, he turns and walks right to the second or right corner (= crossroad of city streets). Here he starts to sprinkle his lucky perfume, turns back, again sprinkling into his own home. This sprinkling from the two corners into his own home is repeated three times. We must assume the cork in the bottle has a small hole through which the liquid slowly drips; the word sprinkle being somewhat generous.] After that, I go in my place and I take some sugar and I sprinkle it on my floor, some plain white granulated sugar. I take some sawdust and I put it over that stuff and I go and I get me this lump incense, see. Can I stand up and show you how I come? [I must have nodded yes.] See, I get some lump incense and I burn it. I burn it, take a lamp, light it and burn, put it in a saucer, this lump incense. Then I take my clothes and smoke my clothes, understand. And after I smoke my clothes, I make my wish [demonstrates].
(You fold your hands across your breast.)
Yes sir, and make my wishes. I make my wish and I be saying, "Lord, I hope I be lucky enough to be successful in all my enemies and all my income." I say that three times. And after that I take my pants this Way and I get my pants smoked good with that incense, open it up this way and let the smoke go up - smoke up my pants leg. Then I turn round and I open my door, after that smoke is got settled in my house. While it is burning in my house, there is nobody in the house but myself. While the incense is burning, if it sparks like a match throw sparks, you know what I mean, well, that will tell that's luck. And if the smoke spreads, that's luck; if the smoke goes straight up, the incense ain't much good to you. After you do that, you put that behind your counter - put that in- cense behind the counter. And you have sprinkled the sugar already. Then you open the door. Then you can talk. You cannot talk while you are doing your business, no sir. (Now when you first make the smoke, you have to take off your pants, then you put them back on - the first time?) Yes sir. [Perhaps I should say, informant did not take off pants during demonstration.]
Entry 2699
Ah would use urinate an' concentrated lye an' yo' know soon in de mawnin'. Monday mawnin' an' Friday mawnin' ah'd always mop all de way through befo' anybody would enter - see, that would be roun' six a'clock in de mawnin'. An' aftah ah'd git through mopping ah'd throw de watah down de front steps, yo see. Den ah'd come back in an' burn mah incense befo' ah'd speak to anybody, see, an' make a wish.
(What would that do then?)
That would keep de law away.
Entry 2725
We going to scrub the house out first with that Red Seal Lye. That's if anything is crossed in the house - the building is crossed before you occupy it. After scrubbing with that Red Seal Lye, you get you some cinnamon powder, you get you some oil of verbena, then you get you some granulated sugar. If you wants white and colored trade, you get that white syrup and you get that red syrup, mixing well, scrubbing from the front porch on to the rear, throwing a glassful in each direction of the globe after scrubbing, and I guarantee you burning cinnamon powder and burning incense in the building when you in there alone, leaving it smoke well, open up the door, and you can't keep the gang out of there.
(I see.)
[After machine stopped, I ask about keeping law away.]
The same though.
(The same thing will keep the law away from there?)
Absolutely.
Entry 2726
If yo' runnin' a place an' want luck fo' customers, yo'd git chew some cinnamon an' yo'd git some sugah an' git yo' some oil of verbena, an' take pars- ley - yo' know parsley whut chew season food with. Yo' put it in a bucket an' put it on de stove an' boil it well. Aftah it boil, yo' start tuh scrubbin' yo' business from de front to de back. When yo' git through scrubbin' it goin' to de back, dis same watah dat chew scrub wit, throw a glassful to each way - one tc de east, one to de west, one to de south. [Presumably, unlucky north purposely omitted.] All right. When yo' git through that, yo' take yo some cinnamon agin an' yo' take yo' three of those good incense, an' yo' let dat burn very slow. Take some sugah an' mix it up well, an' throw it right in front of de do', an' throw three buckets of watah on dat. Den de place won't be able tuh hold the people.
(What do you do with that incense?)
Burn it. Mix it wit de sugah. Have tuh sterilize de'sugah aftah yo' burn it, see. Well, throw it out an' throw three buckets of watah on it.
Entry 2799
Yo' take a white candle an' yo' take a red candle. Yo' burn the white candle in the back an' de red candle in de front of yore place of business. Then yo'll take about - that oriental incense is the best - git about five piles of it an' yo' burn it, say fo' instance, in fo' corners of de house as near as yo' kin git. Say fo instance if the house got mo' den one room, say if it's three rooms, yo' put one in this corner an' one in dis corner [of the front room] an' one in the othah corner of the last room an' one in the othah corner [of the back room] an' put this fifth one in de middle [of the middle room]. [The two far corners of the front and back rooms, and the center of the middle room - these five points create a quincunx. The center of a crossroad is also a quincunx and a magic spot. See Quincunx, p.710.] Yo' understan' an' yo' burn that. That's supposed to bring the customers.
Entry 2800
For luck, you get some incense.
(To dress your house for luck?)
Yes, sir, some incense. Now, I've tried that. And get three candles - red, white and blue and burn them one hour apiece at night and pour some Lucky Heart Perfume on there, and that will make people come to your house.
(Lucky Heart Perfume?)
Yes.
(Where do you buy that? At the store - drug store?)
Yeah, in Memphis. There's a firm in Memphis has that. (Oh, I see. Well, how do you burn these three candles? Do you burn them all at once, or one and then the other?) You burn one - like you burn the red one tonight, the white one de next night and the blue the next. But you don't burn 'em but a hour at a time. Do that for nine nights.
(And what time do you light that candle?)
Light it when everybody is out of your room, gone, and don't let nobody in your room while it's burning.
(Do you light this at any particular time? Like nine o'clock or ten?)
Seven-thirty, if you kin get people out of de room, or else you gotta go to a higher number - nine-thirty or eleven-thirty.
(At night?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 7221
Well, ah've heard 'em say dat if yo' bootleggin' an' yo' wanta keep de law away from yuh house, yo' git out soon in de mawnin'. Yo' take incense. Yo' kin buy dat, an' yuh burn dat, but here's de nex' thing yo' kin do dat ah suggest dan incense. Yo' kin take an' go tuh work an' git dat dirt whut ah suggest tuh yuh.
(What dirt?)
Soon in de mawnin' dat chew go out an' yo' mix up.
(What dirt?)
De dirt dat chew go an' stand on. Aftah yo' make dis dirt, aftah yo' make it up in a mixture. Yo' understand. All right, an' yo' stand on it, an' yo' reach down an' yo' git some of dat dirt. All right. An' aftah yo' reach some from undah de bottom of yuh feet - dis is whut chew call, whut ah told choo 'bout dose twelve head of dose officials, high offi- cials.
(I see.)
But yo' mus' call twelve high officials in de city which yo' live in - names, yo' mus' call dere names. An' yo' put dis dirt in dis pan an' den yo' brings dis pan back. [Then you] goes tuh de graveyard an' git some dirt outa de graveyard. An' den yo' takes dat salt an' yo' sprinkle dat salt ovah dis dirt. An' as yo take dis dirt soon in de mawnin', den de nex' mawnin' 'fo' de sun rise, yo' go all de way roun' yuh house an' sprinkle dis dirt an' say, "As ah cast dis dirt out, ah wants tuh cast [then call some of those officials' names] from dis groun' dat ah stand on." An' dey won't - yo' won' be worried wit 'em. (Will you tell me that story again - over again - you told in the beginning about standing out in a certain part of the house and calling those names. I don't quite remember that.)
[This was a part of the story told before recording began.]
All right. Here it is. Yo' go tuh de east side of de house - de east side, now - an' yo' dig dis dirt [the dirt upon which you stand]. Yo' make it up jis lak yo' wuz makin' a bread; git it good an' crumbly an' soft, yo' see, an' - but choo mus' stand. Yo' want me tuh show yo' how tuh stand?
(Yes.)
Ah'll show yuh [demonstrates]. See? Yo' mus' - aftah yo' git yuh dirt made up good, an' all, den yo' stand upon it lak dis [demonstrates]. See?
(With your shoes on?)
Wit yuh shoes on.
(I see. All right.)
Yo' stand upon it. An' see, when yo' standin' upon it, yo' supposed tuh be standin' on de high officials' heads, becuz dey comes from dust, accordin' tuh de Bible. An' den yo' reach down an' yo' take... [I interrupt].
(Well, didn't you say something about calling names or something?)
Call twelve of dese names of de high officials in dis town, or in de town yo' live. Ah wouldn't know whut dose names is.
(I see. Well, go on again with the story.)
In de town yo' live, see. Yo' call twelve high officials - rulin' powahs in dat town - an' yo' git dat dirt. An' whenevah yo' gits dat dirt from right undah de bottom - de sole of yuh feet - yo' put it in dis pan. An' den yo' takes dis pan an' yo' goes directly from dere tuh de cemetery an' yo' gits some dirt offa de daid body. An' yo' put dat in dere an' yo' mix it wit dat whut choo got from de east side of yuh house. An' aftah yo' do dat, yo' go tuh de table - tuh yuh table or wherevah yuh salt is - an' yo' git some salt an' put in it. An' yo' po [pour] dat salt in it an' den de nex' mawnin' yo' git up soon 'fo' de daylight, den go out an' yo' throw dis aroun' yuh house an' yo' say, "As ah throw dis salt" - jis' throw it out - "dat good fo' nuthin, aftah he [salt] done losed [lost] his savor, but tuh be trampled undah de feets of men." An' den yo' call some of dose twelve officials, high officials, an' yo' won't need worry.
(I see. He would go away, not make him move.)
Yes, keep from makin' yo' move or keep from any officer [keep any officer away] - anything.
(Keep the officers away?)
Yeah, away from your house.
(Trouble of any kind?)
Dat's trouble of any kind.
(I see.)
Entry 8740
Yo' take lump incense. It's stuff dat looks lak kind of a crys- tal-lak. An' yo' use dat sugah an' dat wisterias perfume. Yo' burn it an' call yore man's name three times. Dat'll - Memoirs of Alma Egah Hyatt Foundation - bring him back home. Dat will [bring] peace in de house, too.
(Wisteria perfume?)
Wisterias.
Entry 9669
Yessuh, dere's somethin' dey kin git tuh git 'em away. Git 'em high Life an' saltpetah an' salt an' sandalwood incense, an' mix it up an' throw aroun' yore house evah mawnin' befo' de sun rise. (What is high life?) Ah dunno. It's somethin' yo' git outa de drug sto'. It looks jes' kinda greenish lookin'.
(Is it a powder or a liquid?)
It's a powdah. It's kinda lak sulphuh but chew cain't sprinkle it down where it rains, 'cuz it swells 'way up. Yo' use it when it's dry weathah.
Entry 9880
Yo' take a toadfrog an' yo' split 'im open in de back, see, an' put 'im tuh [point head to] sunrise an' dry 'im out. He's de bes' luck in de world.
(Luck for what in particular.)
Gamblin'.
(Then what do you do then after he is dry.)
Stuff 'im back wit incense an' sulphuh.
(What do you do to him then?)
Put 'im in yore pocket.
Entry 11262
The candles ain't much good, but it is an incense that you kin get and burn it, and talk to dis incense and whatever you want to happen, well, if you handle it right, it will sure do what you want it to do. If you want to drau de person or you want to send 'em. Either come or go. But you must have that HOODOO DUST along with it. It ain't no good to draw along by itself, but it has power. But it takes more than that, you know, to make it act.
(Has that any special name?)
Odor of Bangum.
(Odor of Bengum?)
That's it.
(Incense? And you put this hoodoo powder with it?)
That's the idea. (Is that hoodoo powder made specially, or do you buy that from somebody, mix it or what?) Well, yes, there's people that makes this hoodoo powder and something that you kin buy from the drug store is used for other purposes, but you kin mix it together. Why it's all right just the same. (What would you buy in the drug store? What sort of stuff would you buy there?) Well, you might go dere and get you a little High John de Conquah. You kin get that in a powders, too; most any way you want it. Mix it up dere together with the perfume and so on. Dere's other little stuff that you mix in it. Get it lined up right and whatever you want to happen, it'll happen.
Entry 12215
Ah heard if yo' had a enemy, a unfeeling enemy who was hard an' bit- ter against chew, tuh go out in de morning befo' de sunrise in an open field, an' take salt an' olive oil, ah think it is, an' burn incense. An' take dis salt an' olive oil an' make yore wish, an' throw it toward de sunrise, before it rises, an' dey will feel to [for] yo'.
Entry 12397
Burn incense, scrub out house from back to front with Red Devil Lye, red pepper, 9 spoonfuls of sugar, and throw used water eastward - to rising sun.
[This is for protection in business and also customers.] [Newport News 500:7.]
Entry 2890
Get the rose incense, you know, and smoke your house up for luck and use dragon's blood. Have you ever heard talk of dragon's blood? [I must have nodded yes, because I mention dragon's blood in FACI, 1st ed.,1935, No.9379, p.501.] You take that [demonstrates] and scratch it like that on the stove, and like you Wanta wish for something at the time, you set your purple light and you know, use the dragon's blood. Like you got a stove or any hot oven, you know, just scratch it on the stove just like that - it smokes at the time, you know, and that's very, very lucky.
Entry 2540
Ah have heard of that. Yo' kin buy these Lucky Hearts an' burn them at nine a'clock, twelve a'clock an' three a'clock in de evenin'. An' de incense [Lucky Hearts] yo' burn dat at nine, twelve an' three hours lak dat on Tuesdays, Thursdays an' Saturdays. If yo' got any kinda trade or anything lak dat, dat will draw yo' know de customers to yo'.
Entry 2734
(Use what?)
Yellow wash.
(Yellow wash?)
Uh-huh, they scrub with that yellow wash.
(These hustling women do that?)
Absolutely. They burn that incense powder, see. It's a custom rule, after that they burn that incense powder - then after they use that incense powder and that yellow wash and - not no bay rum - what is this stuff called. Witch hazel.
(Witch hazel. What do they do with that?)
Put on 'em all here, you see [demonstrates, rubbing his chest].
(On their breast?)
Yes, put it on their breast, see. That's for kind of drawing - that's for a drawing sensation. Now, after a man once ever go with this woman.
(He what?)
After a man ever once go with this woman, getting that odor in his nose, an' smellin' that, and if he go with another woman and not getting that same odor, he don't be satisfied. It same as over in the European countries when they had that chlorine gas. That gas, if it was made with a stink scent to it, the moment you'd smell it, you would clamp your nose, but it had a scent like perfume, see, smelled sweet, and the more you smelt, the more you inhale. You see. And the first thing you know, down you'd go. Well, it's the same way, if a man would go with a woman and she'd have a bad scent, well, he wouldn't crave for that odor; but if she have a sweet scent, ev'ry time he go with her he expecting that scent. If he goes to one and don't get that scent, it won't be a comfort.
(I see.)
That's the way it goes. [New Orleans, La., (879), 1449:10.] [Our main title is one of the oldest elements of religion - shrines, private and public. I visited two of them in Baltimore; the one spiritualistic with colored lights, the other Christian and the place where I interviewed. What these shrines are, how custodians differ, we must learn from the material itself. Most important will be the actual words of shrine-keepers in later subsections: Custodian of a Shrine, A Woman and Her Three Saints, Beer for St. Peter and Cigar for St. Anthony, and other interviews. Moreover, we must not forget the doctor and the professor previously met, Nos. 14, P.15, and 427, p.128. At the begin- ning I did not rush to New Orleans, tempting though it was; I gradually worked towards the city for experience along the way. Some of this work pertaining to the New Orleans atmosphere now follows, ending with margin-title Public Shrine.]
Entry 2783
Black candles represents death. White candles represents peace. Red candles represent blood.
(Do you know how they are used?)
Yo' burn the black candles late at night fo' death an' yo' burn six or seven candles fo' death. White candles bring peace. Yo' burn sometimes three candles. Sometimes yo' burn six of dem candles. Dat brings luck to yore home. But also yo' burns in- cense. Church's incense is good incense tuh burn wit de candles fo' tuh make the home happy.
Entry 2792
White can'les [candles] is for white people. They burn that [candle standing] in a white rum and white loaf sugar. (You. mean a white person does this?) No, no. That white can'le is for a white person like if you got chure landlord worrying you a whole lot, choo understand. Well, git choo a white can'le and you light that white can'le six o'clock in the morning and if it goes out, burns out, joo light one at twelve, you see, and six o'clock in evening. You put it in a saucer with white rum and loaf sugar and de names under it. [Informant continues same rite with additions.] Well, get his name and burn your can'le. Burn your can'le for him. If he is a white man, burn your can'le on the white man with the white rum like I first told you, and smoke yourself.
(How do you smoke yourself?)
Well, you get you a new can'le and you get you some dragon's blood. You can smoke that - that's successful - or either the Japanese incense. You smoke that as you take your bath in sea-salt water (see Sea Salt, p.718) and when you go round him, well you can put your piece of John de Conker in your mouth and you spit all round.
(White candle? He's a white boss?)
Yes, sir. Nine times [spit].
Source passage
continuous interview or recording context · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
HYATT
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
Good. Good. Mr. Cubby is going to continue right now. All right there you are.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
CUBBY
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
There's a old neighborhood rumor goin' on aroun' about a Miss Williams who lives at 1911 Melrose Avenue South. I knew Miss Williams ever since I was a kid. I grew up near her. She was a very weird person also. She kep' to her- self. She believed strongly in God. She always said that if anyone ever drink alcoholic beverages or anything of this sort they could never live in her house after she died. This house at 1911 Melrose Avenue South is still standin'. Miss Williams has been dead over 7 years. There has been numerous families who have tried to live there but none were able to live there because they were run out at night. I know for a fac' that doors are openin', lights have turned on without people turnin' the switch, because I lived right across the street at first', at 1910 Melrose. However, now my father resides there. There is one gentleman that I believe could tell you better than I can because he lived next door to her. No one out of the... I'd say 15 or 16 or 17 families maybe, have tried to live there has been able to stay in that house over a period of 3 days. All the families that have moved there have either had to leave that same night or some stayed 2 days and 3 nights, the 3rd day they were gone. I believe that possibly there is a spirit in the house because I've seen even after I've grown up that the lights will come on at night, the doors will open. You can hear voices in there. You can hear jus' as though someone was carryin' on church services in the house and there's no one in the house. The house is still standin' vacant. She has a brother who lives in the back of the house, in a little one room cottage that he has. He has never been able to stay in the house, though the house was willed to him. He continues to fix it up as though someone lives there but there is nc one that resides in the Williams house. This is the end of my story.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
HYATT
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
Have you ever heard - you've told that ghost story - have you ever heard there is something you can do to run the ghost out of the house or protect your- self against the ghost or something of that sort? You know of anything like that?
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
CUBBY
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
I've heard once that you could burn some type of incense. An' the story that goes to get rid of the spirit of Miss Williams is that if this house is re- done that her spirit would go away. But her brother has tried repeatedly to re- model the house. He's never completed one thing he's done. As much as he's got- ten to do is paint the house, put in new windows. He's never been able to tear a single board from the house.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
HYATT
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
They've never been able to tear a board off the house?
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
CUBBY
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
Not a single one. He says that everytime he tries to tear a board away it seems as though it's the hardes' thing in the world to do. He's had on one occasion to slip from a ladder while tryin' to do something. He felt that she possible shook the ladder. This is his own belief.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
HYATT
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
That's what he thinks. Well that's good, that's a good addition to the story.
Nested source context: attributed third party belief · Vol. 5, p. 4754
He felt that she possible shook the ladder. This is his own belief.
Nested source context: interviewer suggested retrieval frame · Vol. 5, p. 4754
HYATT Have you ever heard - you've told that ghost story - have you ever heard there is something you can do to run the ghost out of the house or protect your- self against the ghost or something of that sort? You know of anything like that?
locally coherent printed subpassage
This printed narrative and its follow-up distinguish rumor, possible spirit, claimed observations and the brother’s belief.
The alleged shaking of the ladder is explicitly attributed to the brother’s belief, not Cubby’s witnessed mechanism.
Hyatt introduces protection and removal alternatives; they are not spontaneous interviewee prescriptions.
The house details remain source wording; no current resident, property or ghost identity is asserted.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 5, p. 4752 · Vol. 5, p. 4753 · Vol. 5, p. 4754 · Vol. 5, page image