Subject:Lizard
Entries
Entry 4400
Take a lizard. Ah've heard 'em say yo' take a lizard an' tuh split 'im open on 'is back. An' when yo' split 'im on 'is back, take an' hang 'im up where de sun will rise on 'im. An' when de sun rise on 'im, see, when de sun is goin' up, yo' hang'im wit 'is tail up an' 'is haid down; an' dey tell me dat will turn dey bowels up so dey can't be unlocked.
(Well, how do you know what person you are working on?)
Well, yo' take an' yo' git some of dere action, an' yo' put it in dere. Put it on dis lizard, inside of 'im, de fo'wards side nex' to de sun, wit cayenne peppah on it. Yo' know, cayenne peppah draws too, it draws up, an' three drops of turpentine. An' den when yo' git dat bone, den yo' hang it up dere. An' dat lizard will dry up to nuthin but jes' dat skin. An' as long as he's hangin' up dere, why dey can't have an action. Dat's whut ah heard on dat.
Entry 6468
They can take your toenails and fingahnails an' see, like mah nails mog, they could harm me purtty much for this simple reason. They're dirty. See, they are not all that much long, they are dirty. Well, they would take this nail and they would cut these nails as close as they poss'bly could with the dirt a'all into 'em. If they could get to my toes, they'd do my toes de same iden- tical way. Now, they take these nails here, an' mah toenails an' they'd put them together. If they could get a lizard, they'd take a lizard an' they'd kill the lizard an' let that lizard dry.
(They take a lizard and kill the lizard?)
They kill the lizard.
(Oh, they kill the lizard.)
An' let him dry - I mean, till he gets to a powder. When he gets to a pow- der, they mixes him with these nails of mine. They'd put that into a piece of red flannel and they buries that. AN' NOW, WHEN THEY BURIES THAT, THEY BURIES IT WITH A CROSS.
(What kind of a cross?)
THEY MAKES A CROSS THEYSELF. THEY DON'T VERY SELDOM BUY A CROSS. YOu know, ordinary, plain - just a plain cross, wooden cross; just any kind of a small cross you'll use, just since it's a cross. They buries it with a cross into that flannel. See? Well, now, when they buries that, why they got me just the Way they want me.
Entry 6573
Yo' take a lizard or a salamandah or anything lak dat - yo' take a lizard now. Ef a person take him an' ketch 'im an' kill 'im, yo' take him den an' yo' let 'im dry up. Well, aftah he dry up, yo' take him an' pound 'im up an' put 'im in anything, an' aftah while he'll grow. Jis' lak yo' put 'im in watah or sompin tuh eat, an' a person eat it, git it in 'em. He'll grow an' in a very short while he'll be runnin' all through 'is flesh.
Entry 6574
Ah heard dat chew kin take a lizard an' take an' cut 'im an' dry 'im up. Kill 'im an' aftah yo' kill 'im, den yo' cut 'im. An' put 'im out on a piece of bo'd in de sun an' dry 'im up until he come crinkle. Den yo' take him an' parch 'im. Put 'im in de stove an' parch 'im, an' take him out an' grind 'im up an' put 'im in a bottle.
(What will that do?)
Dat dust, yo' kin jis' keep it in dat bottle. See, dat dust will poison people.
Entry 6575
Said dat a lady had some li'le lizards in 'er an' she wuz told by a hoodoo lady dat if dey caught dat lizard alive an' tied 'im in a dark cornah an' let 'im die. An' den took 'im an' parched 'im up, beat 'im up an' put 'im in de walk where she had tuh walk. So in de summah- time she'd go wit'out 'er shoes, an' de powdah would stick tuh de hollah of 'er feet, an' quite natchel [natural] 'er havin' life in 'er feets, she'd carry it on an' put on de shoe an' wear it, an' it create little lizards, an' de little lizards grew in 'er.
Entry 6576
(A lizard can harm her?)
If yo' done wanta, take a lizard, jis' keep 'im swimmin' in watah, jis' keep 'im alive in dat watah. Keep 'im in dat watah, while dat woman is neah 'er time. Always jis' keep dat lizard in dat watah an' evah mawnin' git chew a teaspoonful of dat watah an' drop it in de watah she drinks. An' keep dat lizard in dat watah. An' it will make 'er have a hard birth or a miscarriage.
Entry 6577
Ah heard a woman in Birmingham, Ala., say dat if yo' had a enemy an' if yo' wanta git de enemy out de way, say yo' could take a lizard an' dreene [drain] it. Yo' know, make de blood come outa it. An' take dat lizard's blood an' put it on a rag all de way roun' de rag. An' den take dat bloodly rag from de lizard an' put it in de band of a hat. An' dey said dat yo could take dat from a lizard an' put it in dere, an' in nine days, lizards be run- nin' all roun' in yore haid an' up an' down yore body.
Entry 6579
I've heard them say you go to a root doctor and he fixes something in a bottle, something about as long as a lizard, dries it up, and put it down for a person to walk over. And a ground dog comes in his leg.
Entry 8822
They kin take yore han'- writin' - dey kin receive a lettah from yo'. Dey take dat lettah an' dey clip all four cornahs of it, see. Don't clip the whole lettah, clip all fo' cornahs of it off like dat, see. Dey take dat lettah den an' dey burn a little hole in it right in de middle, see. Aftah dey have burnt dat den, dey goes out an' dey. gets a lizard, an' dey takes an' dey kills dis lizard, yo' see. An' dey parches 'im up to where dey kin make a powdah out of it. Aftah dey make dat powdah, den dey sprinkle it all ovah dat lettah, yo' see. Dey folds dat lettah up good, see, an' dey folds it up an' dey take it an' bury it some place in de ground, yo' see, an' yo' lose control of dat hand.
(I see.)
Entry 9096
Well, if yo' gotta go over there to meet a case an' yo' wanta miss de case, yo' gotta go in de woods. Aftah yo' git in de woods, yo' git yo' a lizard. MY GRANDMOTHER WAS A TWO-HEADED PERSON an' dat an' she know a whole lot about dat Yo' go git yo' a lizard. Aftah yo' get dat lizard, see yo' take its palate out. Yo' take its palate out. (Out of his mouth?) Out of 'is mouth. Jes' take 'is pal- ate out. Aftah yo' take its palate out, then jes' cut 'bout de tip-end of its tail off. Aftah yo' git his palate out an' de tip-end of his tail off, den, why yo' take some watah dey call glucose [or bluecose] watah.
(Glucose?)
Glucose. Glucose, yo' could mix it up, yo' could mix it up yoreself. Dey sell dat at de Crackerjack Drug Store [in New Orleans].
(Oh! You mix it up. What's it made out of?)
Yo' make it up. Yo' git some watah an' yo' mix about dis much of it. It's jes' like a blue pencil-like, yo' know. [He is talking about bluestone.] But aftah yo' put so much amount of watah in it, it come to liquor-lak, yo' know.
(What's the blue stuff called?)
Called bluecose [= bluestone].
(Bluecose?)
Yes. Yo' see, it come to a liquor-lak, yo' see. Aftah it come to a liquor, an' den yo' just put it in, de day dey try yo'.
(What do you do with that?)
Yo' got de lizard's palate.
(And this little piece of his tail? Now, what do you do with that?)
Yo' put dat in the bluecose [bluestone] watah, aftah yo' done mix it up, an' set it undah de steps. Aftah yo' set it undah de steps, dat's de only way I kneu make yo' miss de case.
(Under what step do you put that?)
Undah de jail-house steps.
(I see, I see.)
Some one gotta set it undah dere fo' yo'.
Entry 10726
Boil blacksnake root and lizard [a trouble combination], put under enemry's doorstep; if he walks over them, he'll have a headache and then loose teeth.
Entry 12988
Yo' could take a lizard or a snake or a frog or anything like dat an' Perish it tuh death. Jes' put it in a can or sompin, yo' know, an' let 'im die. Sell, when he die yo' could, yo' know dry it up. Yo' could make a powder out of hin like dat. Well, den if yo' kin git dat in anybody's food, he gonna have dem Live things in 'im - hit'll come back tuh life. Yo' see, dey grow. Well, not de thing dey is tuh git dat out of him - jes' say, if yo' put it in 'im or anybody else put it in 'im, an' dey come tuh yo' [author become a root doctor] fo' tuh git it out of 'im, yo' git chew a silver piece of money. An' yo' wash dis heah, every edge, if yo' use a dime or a quarter or fifty-cent [piece] or anything. Let it be solid silver. An' hit every edge dat dey is round dere. Well yo' give him dat silver [intern- ally] an' dat silver will git dat out of 'im. Hit'll take every bit of dat poison out of 'im.
(You have to hit every edge. With what?)
Yes sir, hit every edge [of the milled coin] with a file. Git chew a brand- new file dat has nevah been used an' yo' hit every edge - jes' a little grated silvah an' [and you give it internally to your patient poisoned by lizard, snake or frog].
Entry 1040
I have a cousin, first cousin of mine, she was hurt. A spell was put onto her about fifteen-twenty years ago and she never gotten over it at all because the man died that did it. He put scorpions and lizards in her and dey bother her now. They say they was put on her in through candy. [The preceding belief is known everywhere (see Doctor in Index). It shows the hopelessness of medical practice in hoodoo and witchcraft; you can never be sure whether person casting the spell is alive or dead, his identity being unknown.]
Entry 688
It was years before I could stand to have anybody tell it to me. Years ago [1896] there was a woman that had something that began to move in the side of her leg and she went on for days and weeks and finally it went into months. And it seems that the moving became larger. First the doctor said that it was her blood. And then they kept waiting. And then the woman said, "Why does my blood move in this particular place and does not move anywhere else?" So she bathed it, rubbed it. And they did everything they knew. Finally, it got so large that you could see the shape of it just above her ankle. They began to bind certain chemicals to her leg which seemed to weaken the movement of whatever it was. So they poulticed it with things that blistered the skin and bound it very tight above. And all of a sudden one morning when she woke there was a little snake on her bed that had come out of her leg from where the blister was made. Then the doctor came and investigated. But he [M.D.] never liked to admit to the conjuration. While the older people that had been working on it told him that it was something that had been put on her leg by a witch. They say that that Was really true. I could have seen the person. Another occasion [a different storyl, pretty much like that, where the lizard came out of the end of the woman's toe. Either of these things I could have seen in South Carolina, if I had just gone to the next little town.
Entry 1359
Take any ole snake dust that is dry or lizard dust or any kinda ole creeping, yo' know, a snake lak that. Take that dust an' place it up undah the lettah an' as yo' open that lettah an' git that on yore han's, natch'ral yo' rub it on yore skin an' it will create. It take yo' in yore han's right immediately. May be a little while befo' those han's goes tuh eetchin' but it will go through an' through. Dose are black art works.
(What happens to my hands?)
Whut happens tuh yore han's? Yore han's start tuh eetching an' burnin' an' if yo' don't take care of 'em with that snake dust or that lizard dust, those bumps will fin'lly graj'ly grow, an' aftah while why that snake or that ole scorpion will grow roun', yo' know, in yore skin. Yo' see people dat have snakes in dey laigs. Dey eithah gits it from sweepin' or not takin' a bath when de had things lak that. Dat whut it comes from. If yo' git it in yore laigs, yo' be sweepin' yore flo' - dat's when it gits on yore laigs, yo' see. Dat rattlesnake dust is on de flo' an' when yo' sweep it gits in de pores of yore skin an' by not takin' an' washin' it off, it'll jis' grow an' graj'ly that little bump will come an' that snake will fin'lly grow.
(Is there any way of getting them out?)
Yes, dere's a way tuh git it out, but yo' have tuh take herbs. Yo' have tuh take jimson weeds an' John de Conker, lodestones. Either git John de Conker an' give it to yo' three times a day in a pint of boilin' watah - a teaspoonful, or a tablespoonful is bettah, an' he will gradually die.
Entry 2746
Well, the trouble I had - first, the misery started in the thigh, the left, and this moved around to the right; then, something came on up and stopped in my throat. It choked me a great deal. I was troubled with that for about eighteen months. I couldn't lay on neither side. I could only lay flat on my back for eighteen months. There wasn't a doctor in Fredericksburg that could do me any good. So I met a fellow from Washington, [D. C.] and he was telling me how it was with him. From his talk he had the same complaint I had. He talked it in me for to go to Washington and see an old lady. So finally I decided to go. He taken me up there for to see this woman. When I got there now, this woman she came to the window and she says to this man, "You got Jim O. [informant] with you." She'd never seen me before. She says to me, "I know what you come for." She says, "Come on in and look around. I haven't got time to do any readin' for you today [magic delay]." So she says to Henry M. [man who took him to Washing- ton], "Bring him back Friday. So he taken me back. When I walked in she says to me, she says, "You've got a snake in your belly." She says, "Take a seat over there," and commenced then to read. When she commenced to read she brought out several people - she brought their photographs out. She showed me these pictures - she named them, she knowed them [see later]. The old lady had a glass of water in her hand and she passed me this glass of water. So I drank this glass of water. Then after awhile she passed me another glass of water - so I drank that. She said she [some woman in Fredericksburg] gave me something in a glass of water, that's why she [doctor] gave me a glass of water. And right from that I commenced to feeling bad. So she says to me, "You got a snake in you - I can't draw it from you alive." I says to her, "No, I wouldn't like to see it." So she gave me a certain glass of medicine to pass that snake the other way. She gave me a treatment in the hair [scalp treatment], then she put me in a tub of something that was black. She gave me a good bath, and while she was bathing me a lot of smoke came out of my flesh, and right from that I commenced getting better. "You is all right now - you can go back home now and do anything you are big enough to do." And while I was there she showed me a lizard in a jar that she took out of a girl's throat. She had that setting on the shelf in alcohol. It looked just like a lizard you see crawling up a log. She told me she had drawn several snakes from different people. The snake pass from me after I left there - I never did see it. I finally got better. I only spent ten days with her - she charged me $12. John N., he was tricked the very same way, so he came to me and I was telling him about this woman. Then I got it for him to go up and see her. And she cured him the same way. Her name was Mother Jones. She came from North Carolina. [These pictures - she named them - she knew them - were a new device to me; an effective one, more so than the similar and impersonal device of a deck of photographs rather than of cards. These pictures were supposedly photographs of persons she had brought out while reading the cards. Informant could not have known any of them; he was not expected to identify any of them. Henry M., man who took informant to Washington, looks like a man out in the bushes beating up trade for Mother Jones. She could not have known Jim O's name without a letter from Fredericksburg or a telephone call after his arrival in Washington. Her words look around are a most important part of the atmosphere - she wanted him to see her medical museum (see in Index).]
Entry 599
Well, ah'm sorta man - ah ain't no crazy man jealous. Ah works fo' mah livin', do ever'thing ah kin in de worl' fo' mah woman, if ah had one, but ah ain't got nobody but mahself now - haven't been fo' yeahs. But ah'm a jealous man, see whut ah mean, but ah ain't crazy. An' a woman come up fo' murder heah at Florala, Alabama. Ah reckon yo' heah talk of dat. Well, ah married her dere an' ah brought her back tuh mah home an' we live together down heah a couple of yeahs. An' she took advantage of me. A lotta people says dat a person can't do nuthin' to yo' lessen dey git something in yo' dere to stay. Dey kin take advantage of yo'. Well now, while me an' her has transaction, she got mine de same as ah would git hers, see. She got me an' dressed mah side of mah bed up. See, she know whut side ah sleep on, an' she dressed it all an' she got me so dat ah didn't pay any 'tenshun to her.
(What did she do when she dressed it?)
She got her sickness an' dres8ed it up an' got mine with hers an' put it in some flannel rag. She got a new one an' got mine an' hers together, an' she cut de fo' corners off it, see - lak de fo' corners of de world. Well, she dry hit by de sun, see, an' she bandage dat up an' dressed dat up an' had her piece wit dat. Well, she got me crazy by that - ah didn't care whut she done, how she come an' how she go. Ah wouldn't say a word. It tickle me tuh see her enjoy herself. Well, ah knowed that weren't nachural an' ah went to a man an' he fixed me. Ah went to a man at mah home an' he fixed me so that ah could come tuh mah- self - said, ah come back to mahself. Well, ah went back home an' ah tole her, "Well, that's all right. Yo' took advantage of me." Ah went dere Sunday an' Sunday night ah woke her up an' said, "Well, listen" - ah wake her up, say, "ah want talk wit yo' a little bit." She asked me, "Whut's de mattah?" So de main thing wus, "Ah ain't angry with yo' an' ah know yo' ain't with me, but we cain't stay tuhgethah any longah, 'cause ah done done de best dat ah know how. If yo' fix me one way yo' fix me anothah." An' ah said, "Bess, in de mawnin' ah'll take yo' back to yo' mother.' Thought, well, maybe some day when ah cain't he'p mahself, ah may call on her tuh do me a favor, see. "Ah'm goin' take yo' back 'way from me." So dat Monday mawnin' ah took her an' carried her back home an' told her mothah ever'thing, how it was. Well, ah came back agin tuh dis man an' he dressed me again.
(Do you know what he did?)
Yessuh.
(What did he do the first time you went there?)
De first time dat ah went dere he - now, ah tell yo' de kinda man he are. He's a lady-hearted man. He won't do nuthin' tuh harm anybody, he 11 take it off yo'. He had a pack of lil' cards dere an' dey didn't have no diamonds or nuthin' on 'em - jes' wimmin's on 'em. Had some wimmins on dose cards, an' he kept turnin' 'em up an' he handed me two, an' he kept turnin' 'em off till he got where he wanted to. So dat's all right. So he took dem back an' he give me two leaves an' he crossed 'em an' ah took 'em in dis han' an' ah couldn't turn 'em loose. Ah couldn't turn 'em loose until he got 'em. He said, "Well, ah know where it's at now." He said, "It's in yore haid." Ah said, "All right." An' he got up an' went off in his othah room an' come back in dere an' he stood up behin' mah haid an' caught me in de back of mah neck, in de spine of mah neck right dere an' he caught me dere an' ah heah him sayin' somepin - he wus prayin' or somepin. An' it jes felt lak ah wus - did yo' evah tote a load an' put it down an' it felt lak yo raisin' [it] up agin? Well, he dressed me dere twice lak dat, an' ah ain't been troubled wit dat woman an' ain't thought about her no mo' an' done fo'got about her.
(What did she do to you, fix you up so that you couldn't do anything?)
Well, ah couldn't fuss with her, see, about nuthin' she'd do.
(You just took everything she did?)
Everything.
(Was it a colored man or a white man told you this?)
It wus de white man straighten me out.
(Did he tell you how this was done?)
Yessuh.
(And what did he say that she did to you to make you that way?)
A lizard. Jes' took dis lizard an' skin dis lizard an' laid him out so many days an' dried him until he come tuh be a ashes. Well, she took dis an' den put it in mah hat, an' took mah bow outa mah hat. Well, she done somepin tuh dat bow but he didn't nevah finish tellin' me. Ah's tuh go back an' he told me he'd finish tellin' me de rest of it. Well, ah didn't nevah go back to him to finish tellin' me all of it, but he tole me dat much. An' well, ah went in dere dis man, he'd rub mah haid up lak dat an' when he'd rub mah haid up, ah'm tellin' yo' true, it jes' felt lak ah had a hundred pound of lead on me.
Entry 670
(Goofer dust - what is goofer, what is that?)
Goofer dust is snake haid, scorpion haid, lizard haid - listen, snake haid dust, scorpion dust an' lizard dust. Dat's whut yo' call goofer dust. Yo' git them things an' yo' kill 'em an' yo' cut de haids off an' yo' dry that. After yo' dry that, yo' powder that up. That's whut dey call goofer dust.
(Do the people around here talk about putting the goofer on you?)
Yes.
(What do they mean by that?)
Well, dey mean do yo' harm - when de say goofer dey mean do yo' harm. Dey don' mean tuh do nuthin' good to yo'.
(That's just doing you harm; they want to goofer you?)
Yeah, dat's jes' doin' yo' any kinda harm.
Entry 706
A cousin of mine wus tellin' me that somebody give her somepin in her whiskey an' it 'cumulated lizard an' things in her laig. Yo' could see 'em runnin' up an' down her laigs. She went tuh several people, yo' know, tuh try to git well. So first an' last she got a man dat wus [a doctor] an' he went out in de woods an' got several diff'rent roots an' give 'em to her. An' he tole her tuh put 'em in a half a gallon of water.
(He boiled these roots down you say?)
Yessuh.
(And then what did he tell her to do?)
Take a swallow fo' nine mawnin's outa dat. An' so aftah she done dat, he tole her dat it wus at de corner of her house - somepin dat wus put down, too, fo' her. An' she went there an' dug it up. It wus in a red flannel sack [a hand] an' he tole not to take an' open that but jes' keep it. So the next time she went, he gi'd her another bottle of roots, jes' about dat high, an' she boiled them down to a pint of watah an' she drunk them. An' he tole her on that ninth mawnin' that she would vomit them up an' she done that. She vomit them up.
(The lizards?)
Come right out her mouth.
Entry 933
There was a lady living in the house with me who called herself a good friend, and her husband had two children by his first wife. She didn't care for his children. They got along so bad together, her husband asked me to take one of the children and I did. She got angry with me and hurt me in my leg. They say she either put it in the water cooler or in my stocking. The woman who cured me, she is dead. They said I was hurt with lizard dust and some kind of weed that blooms in October. I've been down ever' October for years, three weeks or four weeks, I didn't much bother about it because I didn't believe in it [conjuration] until the Lord showed it to me in the spirit. The woman that hurt me came to me as a witch and tried to ride me to death, and said to me that I had tried to hurt her. I said, "No, Mrs. B., I haven't done a thing to you but you are trying to kill me. You'll never kill me as long as Jesus lives." I got a hold of her ankle and said, "As long as Jesus lives her ankle's broke." So after this visioni I went to a fortune teller. She put a belt around my waist and my stomach went just like that [puffed out]. She gave me some stuff to put in my shoes, some dust, and a dime, and I could go over anything I wanted to. After that I got cured. [Fredericksburg, Va., (69), Ed.; woman conjured in Richmond, Va.,1896, and cured 20 years later.]
Entry 5810
[I have included this margin title because LIVE THINGS IN YOU (Section 8) is based upon the theory that some animals are reproduced through their blood. Our informant evidently confines the word animal to horse, cow, dog, cat, etc.; a lizard or a snake being an insect.] Yo' kin take yore hair an' put nine drops of any- thing's blood on it - yo' know, insects - an' put it in runnin' water an' run yo' crazy. (You take nine drops of any kind of blood from an animal or insect or any- thing?) Insect - not a animal, a insect.
(Any kind of an insect?)
Yes suh, a lizard or a snake, an' put it in runnin' water an' dey say dat will nmn yo' crazy.
Entry 6552
Take a frog or a lizard. Yo' know a frog is spawned with a little egg. Yo' kin take dat. It will more or less go to de bottom. If dere anybody yo' wants hurt, yo' kin take it [frog egg] an' dey'll drink it, an' dey'll form an' dey'll grow in 'em - grow in dat person. Ah have seen 'em. An' yo' kin take snakes' eggs an' do de same thing, an' dey'll crawl aroun' in a human bein's body.
Entry 6629
Ketch a frog an' take a snake wit 'im an' yo' hang 'em up tuh de chim- ley. Let 'em stay until dey are, yo' know, dey are dry. Let 'em dry - snake, frogs an' lizards. Dat's what dey all puts in yo' dey tell me. Take 'em an' tie 'em up an' put 'em up in de chimley where dat smoke will dry 'em. An' den dey git tuh work an' powdah 'em up - jis' powdah 'em up soft an' fine. An' yo' takes dat - dey tell me dey take dat an' put it intuh whiskey or anythin' an' give tuh yo' tuh drink off it. An' yo'll drink it an' dey'll become live in yo'
Entry 8063
Jes' lak a person wanta hurt somebody, yo' know, a lady dat dey don't iak. Dey kin take huh pichure an' take it an' put it in a bottle, an' turn dat bottle bottom upwards, bury it in de ground. An' de mo' dat pichure swell, de mo' she'll swell; an' when dat bottle breaks, de woman would bu'st wide open. Ah've seen dat done. (You simply take her picture and put it in the bottle and turn the bottle up- side down and bury it.) Yes sir, an' de pichure swells an' de mo' it swells, de mo' she swell, an' den she bu'sts open an' die from it. Ah've seen a woman die from dat. An' de way ah've seen people git live lizards put in 'em, ah've seen dat done.
Entry 12761
[Roots of course are everywhere in HOODOO, though they are arranged under various other headings. Very interesting among them are shapes such as a root in the shape of a woman cooked for [female trouble], whatever that means (cylinder 702, informant 564, Jacksonville, Fla.); and a root in the shape of a lizard, cooked and administered to remove lizard in a person (same reference on cylin- der 703). Root shapes I did not explore very well. The same thing was true of candle shapes. You are held in check by fear of leading questions.]