Subject:Pepper/Hot pepper
Entries
Entry 4181
Dey stop yuh watah.
(How do they do that?)
See, dey take yuh chamber lye an' put it in a bottle. Dey'll take yuh chamber lye an' dey'll' put it in a bottle, an' den dey'll take an' put yuh name in dat bottle - put it in dere. Den dey'll take an' dey'll stop dat bottle up tight - tight - tight. An' dey'll git some hot pepper an' put it in dat bottle. An' yuh see, den dey'll take an' stop dat bottle up tight an' bury dat bottle upside down. You see? An' dat stops yuh watah up - stop yuh from peein' an' gives yuh a gripe from all ways in yuh stomik. An' yuh can't pee good.
Entry 10176
A bird's nest - a person can take some of your hair and put it in that bird's nest, you see. And take some of that bird's feathers and put that in there and then take your hair and put it in there. And then every, every morn- ing they take and set a light [candle] right in there [the nest] but not burn the nest. Just take that light and set that light in there [in a drinking glass]. And if they want to do you harm, get you some coarse snuff [often leaf of dried tobacco rubbed in hands] some hot pepper [sauce] and put it in there. And burn a light on it for nine mornings - you see, one hour for [each] nine days.
Entry 10902
You clip de hair off de dog W'ere he bris'led up, a bad dog, an' a he cat. An' yo' mix that hair together jis' like yo'd mix up salt an' peppah. Then mix that wit de person name. You kin use like that an' yo' kin make a per- son move. You take de dog hair an' cat hair, an' yo' mix it jis' like yo' do salt an' peppah, an' yo' put this red ciyine [cayenne] peppah wit it. Yo' git bitter aloes, Yo' git yo' some John de Conkah root; not the powder, yo' git de root, yo' boil that. Yo' mix this dog hair an' cat hair together, an' yo' have that in a big bucket with hot peppah [pepper sauce] in there and war watah. An' whosomevah it is you want to move you take it to de house an' sprinkle de porch, chuck it back under de steps. An' de next day they cross over it, de next mornin', comin' out. It jis' make 'em move.
Entry 456
Dey have some oil what dey grease wit, called witch oil, and dey grease wit dat oil and dey stretch demself and dey out dere skin. Den they go through a keyhole with a fellow, you know, and have a big time with de skin off 'em lak dat; you see, witches. Dey say, one time a old lady done dat and a boy saw her done it, and dey tell me dey put red pepper all in her skin, and so when she come back dat morning for to get in it, to get in her skin, dere was bubbles [?] on her and she couldn't get in it, and said she was laying down in de bed raw - all de skin off of her. So old master come dere and call her to go to work and she couldn't - wouldn't get up, you know. And dey pulled de covers off her and all de skin was off her.
Entry 1269
Well, my daddy know whut de matter. My daddy was a riverside man. I ain't born by de riverside but I'm 69 years old right now. My daddy was a man, you know, he was purtty wise. And he says, "Well, I don't [do] know what to do with my Charlie." He went to work and takes [four] live toadfrogs and cut it open, and like he [the frog] is in dere [the raw inside], you know, git some sulphur and you fix like a batter for to fry bread - he daubed the [inside of] the frog with that red peppah and sulphur, and he bind dis one here and bind the other one here [but by action he indicated four frogs - one at the front of Charlie's head, one on each side, and one at the back]. And he done that fer nine days. And my brother commence to come back to us. My brother - I'm a year older than him. He is dead now. Tie 'em with a new bandaging of cloth that never was used - homespun. And he bind 'im with that and my brother lay there fer nine days. He stunk like a buzzard.
Entry 1472
(Now, wait. In other words, you make a cross like that in your path. Then what do you do?) Fill it with table salt. Nawsir [not that] - jest sprinkle dose marks, right in dose marks.
(In the cross marks. What else do you do?)
You could put a little cayenne pepper in with that.
(What is that supposed to do?)
Well, anybody walks over that why it runs them - git rid of yo' enemies.
Entry 1598
Use chamber lye an' stop poison. Jes' take it an' boil it - grate a dime an' put it in it an' boil it wit red peppah an' wash, bathe it down. Dat'll kill poison. (You mean poison that someone has put into you like live things, things of that sort?) Yes sir, like skippers - something like dat.
Entry 4391
Ah heard dey kin take yore bowels an' put some hot cayenne peppah on it an' burn it an' den take it an' bury it an', yuh undahstan', yuh couldn't pass no mo'.
(That's to upset [lock] the bowels.)
Entry 4393
Yuh take dere urinate, if yuh kin git it. Dere's two ways yuh kin hurt a person wit dere urinate. Yuh kin take it an' put it in a fiah wit cayenne peppah an' [or] put salt on it an' coal oil an' burn it. (You mean their passage?) Yes, dere passage, an' burn it an' dat'll gi' [give] dem de bloody piles. [The second way of hurting a person is given later under margin title OAK TREE - NORTH SIDE.]
Entry 4912
Ah heard a lady said dat she had a son, sent away. See, he wuz gon'a marry dis gurl. She [his mother] didn't wan' 'im tuh marry dis gurl, see. So she turned aroun', she had 'im sent away [by a woman conjurer]. Den, when she Wanted tuh bring 'im back, why she [woman conjurer] brought 'im back. So she [the conjurer] taken a dirty sock of hissen an' she poot some red pePpahs on it. I GUESS YUH SEEN DESE HOT PEPPAHS OVAH FOOD? An' she put it un' do'step [under doorstep]. An' in less time dan nine days - well, she heard from 'im tellin' 'er dat he would be home. An' de nex thirty days she brought 'im home dataway.
Entry 8656
Just like if yo' wanta dere's a woman dat ah was livin' wit an' she's livin' wit someone else an' ah want tuh put 'em in hot watah. What ah mean, ah want tuh keep 'em afightin' dat dey can't git along. Ah go an' ah gets me a lemon, an' ah cuts dis lemon open. Ah get me a fresh box of cayenne peppah an' gunpowdah. Ah mix 'em up de same amount an' puts it intuh dis lemon. An' ah puts dere name in it. Dat is if ah ain't got none of 'er wearin' [clothes], see. Ah buries dis upside down. Every mornin' ah boils me a pot of watah 'fore sunrise an' ah pours it on dat. Yo' see. An' dat keeps 'em in a uproar all de time.
Entry 11321
Parch dog manure with graveyard dirt, red pepper, dirt dauber nest; put in your room anywhere you walk; causes you to travel, drift about, unsettled mind.
Entry 11447
Dey take yore fingernails an' plant 'em down by de do' an' people walk ovah dem an' den dey throw red peppah behin' yo', see, an' keep de windous down an' keep 'em from comin' back to harm yo'.
(If I were in the house, I would plant my own fingernails down there?)
Listen, if a person is tryin' tuh harm yo', understan', yo' kin take yore fingernails an' toenails an' cut 'em off an' put 'em down by yore do', an' as they come along, yo' kin sweep out an' throw dat red peppah behin' 'em. (But they walk over those fingernails? After they walk over them then I throw that stuff behind them?) Yes. [Memphis (959) 1542:5.]
Entry 11775
Mix graveyard dirt, cayenne pepper, and henhouse manure, and throw at victim's house 9 mornings to run that person out of town. [Wilmington 260:2.]
Entry 12191
You get you a horseshoe. You get you a horseshoe and put it at your door. You put one at the top and you put one at the bottom and nail them down. When [where] your friends come in the house where you is. And put the horseshoe down and make friends which had been your enemies. But now they're friends when you put the horseshoe. They come and see you. And if you're out where they is, you just tote you some pepper in your pocket, red pepper in your pocket. Well, they're going to come where you is after you done put the horseshoe out to make friends, they can't do you any harm. This is like to keep anybody away from you. (Right on the top of the door and let the two pieces
[the toes or 2 prongs] hang down?)
Let the two pieces hang down.
(How do you put it on the bottom?)
You put it at the door but you gotta cut a track down in the door where the door can open, you see, and put the horseshoe down in there where the door just comes right on over that.
(Which way do the ends point, in or out, do you know?)
Ends point out, out of the house.
(And do you cover that with something? Can they see it down there?)
Yes, they can see it but they don't know what it is.
Entry 12632
An' yo' kin sprinkle cayenne Peppah in yore chair where yo' sit at, an' roun' yore bed, an' yo'll begin takin' wit a itch, an' if yo' jis' continue on stayin' dere, why yo'll break out wit sores. No doctah [M.D.] cain't do yo' any good. Dey [who put the powder] git rid of yo'. [Memphis 1520:10.]
Entry 13154
Dey take a sock an' put some red peppah in it an' a dime, some sul- phur an' burn it a little bit an' soak it in de alkyhol, an' dey kin do jes' whut dey wanta do wit chew. [Florence 2186:2.]
Entry 12630
If you throw red pepper in departing person's tracks, he will stay away or cannot hurt you. [Richmond 293:6.]
Entry 12633
Throw red pepper into fire and persons living there will move or guest will soon depart. [Norfolk 525:12.]
Entry 12635
Wear a pod of red pepper in each shoe as a protection against walk- ing over any "planted" cunjure. [Wilmington 143:3+85.]
Entry 560
I've been hurted with this here witchcrafter twicet in my life. The first in 1918, I was workin' down to the Broadford [Bradford?] Iron Works- dat's down here to foot of Church Street - an' I was a mechanic helper an' I was installin' a motor there one day. They'd pull de truck from de river up to de machine shop that was to haul de heavy tools out from de water up to de shop an' one day I was workin' along an' workin' along an' didn't thought about anything. That night I come on home an' de nex' mornin' I got up, aimed to get up - this ahrm heah felt like it weighed hunderd pounds. It would carry me down lak dis, as fer as that [demonstrates].
(Bend you over.)
Look like it would weigh me on down like that. I laid down [on] de cot in there an' hold it up like that an' kinda feeled it. So I called my wife, I said, "Look here," I said, "this ahrm look to me lak it weighed a hunderd pounds." I thought it would pull my head off of me. She said, "Well, whut's de matter with it?" I say, "I don't know. I jis' can't hold my shoulder up heah an' dis ahrm jis' heavy. "` "Well," she say, "if you can't go to work today, well you'd better git de doctor." Well, I got Du Bose[?], he was de family doctor. So, she went out there an' called him up. He came there an' gave me his medicine. He give me some rubbin' medicine to rub it with an' some internal medicine to take an' I took that about two months. That didn't do me any good atall - it jis' look like it was gittin' worser an' worser an' worser an' worser. I jis' had to put that hand an' hold it in a sling like that. There came a man heah from Greenville, South Carolina. His name was Doctor Daniel - Daniel somepin, I can't remember his whole name now. But he claimed to be a medical doctor - he was a medical doctor an' he was also witchcraft doctor. So I went to him. I heerd about it, I went to him that day. I told him about how this ahrm was an' I had my family doctor workin' on it an' he seemed to not do me no good. He say, "Well, I will examine it an' see what's de matter." He say, "I don't care what's de matter wit joo or anybody," he says, "fis' as long as you're hurted by witchcraft, an' if you's hurted, if it s rheumatism or your blood or somepin like that, I can git you all right." So, he set me upon [a] chair an' we set down there in the bedroom an' [he] took a bag [imitating doctor's kit]. He looked down an' he looked in it an' got out a glass - it wasn't a water glass - about - it was about dat high [see later] an' set it down. An' he brought out a great big white ball [demonstrates].
(Three or four inches in diameter.)
An' set it on de table. An' he put that ball right on top of de glass [stand or base], an' he set there, an' the ball started to turnin' right on top of de glass. He says, "Now, if anything [is] wrong wit you," he say, "after de date that you was hurted," he say, "you'll see what'll be the consequence nine days after they hurt choo." After that the ball kin'a stop. The ball stop, it got as black on de other side yonder as that table there [which I was using]l, an then it [this side towards informant] was jis' like a lookin'-glass then, only turn to me. An' I looked on that glass like that an' seen a man comin' from down out de boiler shop wit somepin in his hand jis' about that long - it looked like a feathah about that long, about a foot long, an' he comes there where dat I was installin' some motor up to de shed up there, an' [demonstrates] he picks up mah hammah an' took de hammah up by de ball [steel head], an' hold dat hammah up an' took dis thing out of his hand an' hold de hammah down on dat side an' hold de hammah down on dat side, an' hold de hammah down on dat side. [I now comment:] (Holding the iron head of the hammer, with the handle pointed downward, the man took this dressed feather and rubbed it down both sides of the handle and he did this three times on each side.) An' I was lookin' [at] him jis' de same as I'm lookin' at you. An' he laid the hammah down. So, he went on back down de shop an' then I come out de shop an' go up there an' got up mah hammah, I nailed the motor down an' started de motor, then went on back de shop. I was feelin' jis' as good as any- thing in de world. I went back de shop an' went on to work - worked on aroun' an' worked on aroun' that after he had did that. Well, I set there. He told me, "Well, now you see - you see what's happened to you," he say, "now you were hurted nine days 'fore dis thing [pain] happened." He says, "Now I kin cure you." I says, "Well, all right; if you can cure me cure me." He says, '"Now, you do what I'll tell you to do - you take jis' whut I tell you to do an' I'll guarantee you I'll cure it. I'll cure it for forty-five dollahs an' you give me fifteen dollahs now an' the others after you're cured." I say, "All right." I give him fifteen dollahs. He say, "Now, you go back home." He say, "You got any red peppah?" I told him, "Yes sir." He say, '"You got any saltpeter?" I told him, "Yes sir." "Well, you go on back home an' git joo about a quarter of a pound of red peppah an' get choo two balls of saltpeter about as large as the end of your finger. An' grind that red peppah up good an' fine an' put it in a pint of Water, an' grind that saltpeter up an' put it in with that - saltpeper an' dat red peppah together. An' git choo" - then I went an' got a five-cent box of sulphah - "take a half a teaspoon of that sulphah ever' night an' mornin', take a teaspoonful of dat peppah-water three time a day, '' an' that was fer nine days a piece. It cured me.
Entry 1609
How dey cure it - well it's very easy. Yo' use your own chamber lye, salt and red pepper and bath in it nine times - nine mornings.
(Nine times?)
No, jes' nine mornings, and you bath over running water - you know, either has a hydrant or anything where the Water is running. [In Brunswick, Georgia, a Woman buried something over the waterpipe coming from the street into the house.] And you bath in it and then you say a prayer when you bath in it and it'll carry that away, because nothing kin go against salt and pepper.
(What sort of a prayer would you use?)
Jest the Lord's Prayer.
(You say this happened to you?)
That happened to me.
(How was your hand harmed? How did they fix your hand that way?)
Don't know how they fixed it - don't know whatever they do to you, don't you know.
Entry 2191
Take yo' a red onion, see, take a pencil an' mash yo' nine holes in it an' yo' fill dat up - dat hole - dem nine hole - jes' fill 'em up wit sulphur, an' physic salts an' table salt - sulphur, an' yo' got chure red peppah, yo put it in dere. Den yo' stop 'em back up, jes' seal it up wit a piece of papah or somepin lak dat till it git cake[d] in dere. If it stand, it will git hard in dere. Yo' take nine single pins an' stick in de end of it - roun' lak dat, right in de end of de onion - see, de top come out de top of de onion - stick 'em right roun' in dere. Den yo' take it an' yo' wear it in yore left-hand pocket on de back till it git dry, den yo' keep it an' yo'll be lucky from den right on. But chew keep de onion.
(What kind of luck do you do that for?)
Gambling, so forth an' so on. [See stickpin and straight pin in two preceding rites.]
Entry 8979
(In this court case now.)
Now, if yo' got a case an' yo' know it's a bad case, well yo' go tuh de market an' git chew a beef tongue, an' aftah yo' git dat subpoenee. Den yo' git de iudge name an' yo' git chure witness name whut ag'inst yo'. An' yo' write all dat down on dat same subpoenee whut de judge name on it. Yo' git chew hot peppah tuh ketch 'em an' yo' put dat in yore lamp. Yo' burn dat until yo' go tuh co't., 'Fo' [before] yo' go yo' turn de chairs, mattress, bed, every- thing, upside down. De shoe, dat left-foot shoe, turn it upside down, whut chew ain't been wearin' fo' quite a while - turn dat upside down. An' yo' git chew a pink candle, a St. Raymond candle [St. Raymond's candle more likely to be green - see No.3042-3051, Pp.877-880] dat a pink candle. An' yo' leave somebody at de house an' dey'll burn it tuh keep it from ketchin' de house [afire] or anything. Yo' git dere an' yo' git chew some cinnamon, some ground cinnamon an' de brown sugah; an' yo' only have tuh have dat much in yore han', as yo' goin' up when de judge call yo'. Jis' have it lak dat an' jis' sprinkle it an' go ahead on up, sprinkle it aroun'. Den aftah evahthing is ovah, yo' come back an' yo' git dat tongue.
(After the case is all over?)
Aftah de case is all ovah, yo' come back an' git dat tongue an' yo' put it down in de ground an' yo' leave it stay in de ground three days. An' aftah dem three days, yo'll take it up an' let it stay up, a day an' a night, on top of de ground. Den yo' take it an' carry it tuh de graveyard an' bury it if yo' yanta. If not, yo' kin carry it tuh de rivah. BUT DE CASE IS OUT. IT'LL NEVAH BE CALL UP ANY MO' ON DIS SIDE OF JUDGMENT [DAY].
(Now, how is that pink candle burned while I am down at the court?)
Well, yo' have tuh have somebody dere tuh burn it all day - all day.
(Where is that tongue all this time? Where is that tongue?)
De tongue gonna be at de house in de smoke, in de smoke an' de needles - in de smoke of wood, papah, anything yo' kin keep it a-burnin' wit, until yo' git back.
(You keep it smoking and the candle is on a table burning?)
Well, de candle is jis' as good as de tongue. Let me tell yo' dat right now.
(Wait a minute! Are we using both the candle and the tongue or what?)
Yo' kin use both, both of 'em.
Entry 11505
"Pick up his track and puts some salt in it, gunpowder, red pepper. You tie it up [in a piece of cloth] and put it on a string and set it afire... [swing it at least once about head and let loose] turn it loose in de air where that it busts and scatter it. He goin' leave here." [Charleston 548:2.]
Entry 11849
They tell me that you take de fingernails and toenails, and some of your hair right here [points to back of the head]. You totta put that all to- gether, mix it, you see, with cayenne pepper - red pepper. Go to de fiahplace, wrap dat up good, tight. Yo' wrap it up with a piece of new home- spun cloth. And wrap it all up together good and tight. You wrap it up like this [demonstrates]. You wrap it away from you. Dat's to drive you away. And take it and go to de fiahplace, take up a brick and put dat [package] down in dere, and put dat brick on top of it.
Entry 5507
If yo' wan' anybody leave home an' wan'a send 'em away fo' good, jis' git de dirt undah de lef' foot an' mix it wit cayenne peppah an' carry it tuh a stream of watah. An' git some of de hair, if yo' kin; but if yo' cain't, jis' git de track. An' yo' take dat an' cayenne peppah an' go tuh a stream of watah, a runnin' sorean of watah, an' throw it in de stream of watah. An' dey'll go jis' de way d atah will go.
Entry 12605
Now, secondly, the next thing is to do, that is, to get cayenne pep- per, black pepper and take that and bury it with limburger root. (What kind of root?) Limburger root. (Limburger root?) Yeah, limburger root.[Root with a strong odor, probably so called by some root seller.] You put those three mixes together and you go right under the step, and dig a hole and bury it and cover it up, and put that fire brick - if you can get it - right across it. [The fireplace is taken out to the steps!] And it has a tendency from two to - from three to seven days. Sometimes they moves.
(They what?)
They move out.
Entry 493
That's if he is a human an' be a livin' pusson.
(What have you heard about that?)
Dey [hag or witch] jis' take an' strip off necked [naked], jis' strip off necked, if dey gon'a ride joo. Dey write chore name down fo' diff'ren' places - write it on one piece of papah, write it on anothah piece, write it on anothah, an' on anothah one. He'll take it an' tie it roun' his ahm, he'll tie one roun' dis laig, an' one on dis laig, an' one on dis ahm. An' he'll put one roun' dere [his neck]. Dat'll be five pieces - jis' yo' name on it - two feets an' yo' ahms, an' put one piece aroun' de neck. An' aftah dey do dat, why dey grease all ovah wit fresh hog lah'd [lard]. Dat make 'im go to bed wit dis thing on his min'. An' in de night when you lay in bed sleepin', his spirit wandah an' git where you's at, an' jis'beat on yo', knock on yo', choke on yo', an' have yo so yo can't har'ly ta'k. An' de way to git 'im, de only way yo' can git 'im, is jis' take some peppah an' pu't in a bottle, red peppah pu't in a bottle, an' open de top of it. An' he'll go down in dat bottle an' he can't git out, an' he'll stay thah, in thah till nex' mawnin'. He'll put on his clothes [next morning], wherevah he be he'll put his clothes on, an' it'll be de firs' one at yo' house dat mawnin' axin' yo' fo' somepin. An' if yo' don't care wha' chew give im out chore han', dat'll turn 'im loose out dat bottle. An' while he's in dat bottle he turn into all kin' of insex, ants, bugs. An' when he come to yo' house dat mawnin', an' if yo' give 'im anything, a couple of matches or any- thing, why you turn 'im loose. When he come thah he'll be down [dejected], lak dat, chew know.
(Suppose you burn that bottle up?)
He'll die. Dat is his spirit.
Entry 542
Well, I know a lady one time that was sick from - ah don't know what was de cause of her sickness, but they said that they thought someone was mad at her and they claimed that the witches Was riding her. But what I was just speaking about was here in - this has been 'round about twenty-one years ago. And - oh, the witches would ride 'er nights. A witch got after her one day in the daytime and she described the lady's dress and called de lady's name, and de lady came there to de house that day. She said the man [doctor] told her that he would bring her there to her. And the lady came there and she said this lady had on a blue dress with white round the sleeves - said that she had a real fat wrist. And this lady, we children used to call her butter-wrist. She wasn't neither light nor red; she was a kind of a pumpkin color and we used to call her butter- wrist - her complextion, you know. And so she said this lady was mad with her - see, over a young man. Seems if - she had a niece that, why she had raised, and this young man you know had visited her [the niece] once or twice and he liked this other girl better than he did her, and someone had circulated the news that they were married, going to marry. And this girl [niece] got sick, and then when she began to get better, why then this witch commenced to bother her. And sometimes you could be settin' beside of her bed and you could hear just like someone came in the door, but the door would still be shut. Sometimes the door would shake and the people would say it was the wind. And then you would hear her keeping [imitating?] the noise - see if it would go away. She'd say, "That witch pest is after me," says, "there she go." And so one night we said we were going to stay there and watch - I was always like a little curiosity. So we said we were going to set up and watch for her that night. So they heard 'em say you could hang a sifter over the door, you know, or over your bed, and the witch couldn't bother you because it had to count all those holes, and before they'd get through counting those holes it would be dawn. So we hung the sifter up and then they crossed nine needles and nine pins in the back - said they would stick in her when she come down the back of the fireplace.
(Where did they cross these needles and pins?)
In the back of the fireplace - you know, the fireplace that has the little shoulders, two of them. And you cross them, you see, and they gets hot. And they took a horseshoe and hung up over the door [demonstrates] - see, that will keep evil ones out.
(They hung it with the open part up - I see.)
Yes - see they hangs this horseshoe with the open part up. Say, long as that horseshoe up over the door with the open part up - and we'd taken and got us a box of new cayenne pepper and a box of salt and a box of sulphur, and we mixed that together and put some of that in a thin bag or a piece like mosquito lawn, so it would just set right down over the door, and anyone come in, see, opening the screen door, why that would touch it, you see. Well, they say a witch, you know, doesn't have any skin on, you see, and if that salt and pepper gets on 'em, you see, that will hurt them. And so then we all goes in de room and lays down and we leaves de door open a crack so we could watch her bed, and so we fixes de light out there in her room. And so we takes some Sunday School books - a man told us to take some Sunday School books and Bibles and turn to a certain chapter in de Bible, but have de whole nine chapters - books of de same chapter and lays 'em open - said, and she would come and we could see her in person. Said the person -
(They used nine books?)
Uh-huh - there wouldn't be any way fer her to get on de bed.
(Nine books of what - nine different Bibles?)
Nine Bibles, all the same chapters - see, use those Sunday School books or whatever books you can; little Bible stories that have the same chapter, just like the 15th Chapter of John, you see, or the Psalms. Well, you see, we had difficulty in getting nine Bibles and they used Sunday School books with them. And you take those Sunday School books, and you just lie them down, you see, on de side of de bed and one to the head of de bed and one to de foot and then she takes the Bible, you see, and lies that right 'cross her breast. [Nine Bibles should be used - three on each side of the bed, one at head and foot of bed, and one on the breast; the latter must be a Bible. These nine books are unevenly, odd-numberly placed.] And so, we hadn't just finished fixing that and been in the room more than thirty-five minutes before she says, "Here she is" - says, "here's Miz So-and- So" - says, "here's Miz So-and-So." She said that she made a shadow between her and de light. She says, "Hurry up - she's done blowed out dat light - hurry up and come on out with a lamp - she's done gone and blowed out de light." The lady [aunt] she says, "No, she ain't." "That was her shadow," says [bewitched woman], 'that's her'" - says, "that's her - the light's not out - that's her - she's in between me and the light - ah thought mah light was out." And the door shook again, but we didn't fix but one door, and then she come in the back door. There was two back doors and a shed on the house, and we didn't fix both of those back doors because it usually been the front door, see, where we come in to, the nearer the girl's bed - see, the bed was like there and we fixed the door there, but we didn't fix these two back doors. So, when she went through this door it just shook, and the back door just opened and shut, and we opened the door - opened the inside door and it looked just like looking out through her kitchen door, and it was still so just like we left it.
(Did you see anything at all?)
No, we didn't see anything, but she seen it.
Entry 705
Yo' take graveyard dirt - go git de dirt off a sinner's grave an' git it right off his heart lak dat, an' take red peppah an' sulphah an' bread salt, an' put all those togethah an' sew that up into red flannel an' lay it away in de yard, in de east corner of de yard. [This is a hand.] Dat will do de work fo' dat. Dat will kill 'em or run 'em away, either one. Or dey kin take, if yo' hurt, an' dat.will cure it. Take that an' make a tea out of it an' let 'em drink that, an' that will cure 'em. (Anybody that has been tricked, you mean - cunjured? You take all this and make a tea out of it? You take the graveyard dirt - everything?) Yes, make a tea of it. If yo' got things in yore well, that will kill 'em.
(You use that to kill live things in the water in the well?)
Yes, jes' lak dey wus in mah well. Ah come home back to mah house. An' mah well, I jes' had it clean out an' dere wus Wigglers [in it again]. Ever' wiggler dere wus dat long - big as mah fingah an' jes' as thick in de watah, jes' as thick as dey could be. Yo' could heah 'em poppin' jes' lak dat - clak-clak. An yo' couldn't even see 'em. An' dat wus tuh kill me.
(Someone put them in there?)
Yeah, a doctor put 'em in dere tuh kill me.
(Did he put the live ones in?)
Yeah, he put 'em in dere an' dey come alive. He put de dust in dere an' dey come alive. But ah have sense enough to know how tuh kill dem.
(What did you do?)
Ah went an' got dat same dust whut yo' heah me talkin' 'bout from de graveyard offen a sinner's grave. An' ah come back dere an' ah put dat sulphah an' dat red peppah togethah an' tied it up in a new piece of cloth an' ah dropped it down in de bottom of dat well. Dey wus daid in two hours.
(That killed them out?)
Yeah, dat killed 'em.
Entry 711
Jes' lak somebody's got a snake or a frog in dey foot, somepin lak dat, yo' go to a stockyard an' yo' git chew a cow dat's jes' dropped manure. Pick it up in a shovel an' carry it home an' git chew fo'teen pods of red peppah - red peppah. Then yo' git chew thirteen pods of green peppah befo' it turns red. Yo' set down an' cut it up in round pieces in dat fertilizer. Yo' put three han'ful of table salt in dere - cookin' salt. Yo' put it on a fiah an' put yo' a quart, from a quart to a half a gallon of watah in dere an' boil it. Yo' git yo' a fiannel rag an' place dat roun' dat person's foot an' whut's in dat feet is comin' out in two day's time. But chew must put it on there hot an' yo' change it three times a day - mawnin', noon an' night. An' if it's a frog in dere or snake, it's comin' out.
[Informant now tells how the snake or frog was put in the person's foot.]
When yo' git 'em that way, ah tell yo' whut chew do. Say, fo' instance, yo' take a person's name an' yo' take de size - de numbah of de shoe dat he wears an' yo' write that on a aig, a fresh yard aig - it matters [not] whut kinda aig it is, jes' so it's fresh. It's got'a be a yard aig, though. Write that on there. Yo' take that an' carry it an' bury it undah dere front steps. If dey got a front po'ch, bury it undah de front po'ch, if dey ain't got no steps. An' when that begin tuh form in that aig - when that aig begin tuh form, den it will begin tuh form in yore instep or your feet. Dat de onliest place it's gon'a be, is right on de instep right in heah. It'll begin tuh form there. When it grows tuh be de full length of that aig, it's in yore feet de same way.
(You put something in that egg did you say?)
Jes' write dey name on dere, whut chew want, an' yo' must bury dat aig - bury it in somepin that it ain't gon'a rotten, lak a fruit jar. Yo' see, yo' take a rubbah - same lak yore wife put up fruit, put rubbers on the jars. Yo' put that aig down in there. See, it don't break it - put it down in there nice an' put the name on there whut chew want. See. Then yo' put the top on it an' go to these person's house - if yo' cain't git in there, pay somebody to do it - an' dig a hole an' put dat down dere an' cover it up an' level it off good. An' when dat frog or dat snake begins tuh form in dat aig, it will form in yore foot, de same way. Well now, de onliest way dat chew kin git rid of that, if de doctah don't operate on yo', is to take dat fertilizer - dat cow fertilizer. (What would you write on that egg, for example? Suppose you wanted to do that to me. What would you write on that egg?) Well, ah would try an' git chure name - jes' git chure name an' says, "Perform in his instep, right or left feet, frog or snake or lizard." See, den ah plant it down dere. But it's got'a be a fresh aig - matters [not] whut kinda hen it come from, but it's got'a be a fresh yard aig.
Entry 1053
Dey came heah an' dey try tuh harm yo'. Well, it ain't but the one thing 'bout dat now fur as ah know. If dey kin go an' do that - now these things seem simple but it's this - red peppah an' saltpeter an' sulphur. An' yo' fix them things all together an' dat's jes' if yo' - jes' lak if dey write dat lettah yo' know. Yo' cut chew some little small papahs in pieces an' yo' put so much in there, much as yo' would think that ought to be hold in yore mouth, jes' as de sun rise. An' when de sun rise, yo' see, yo' git out an' yo' say that - an' yo' say, "Father, Son an' Holy Ghost." Den yo' blow dat out chure mouth - dat papah, but chew hole de papah in dat direction. An' when yo' blow it out, yo' let hit know yo' fightin' fo' me because ah have tried to mistreat yo'. An' yo' blow that fo' me. Well, de same thing ah had intend tuh come to yo', it comin' back to me.
(Well, what kind of paper did you put that on?)
Any kind papah, jes' long as it papah, but we mostly uses brown papah. (In other words if I write you a letter and you think I am trying to harm you, you take this stuff [red pepper, sulphur, saltpeter] and put it in a brown paper and blow it toward the sunrise.) [Then the paper is chewed or torn and blown.] Dat's correct.
Entry 1314
Tuh pertec' yoreself why yo' git yo' some graveyard dirt an' some sugah an' mix it togethah an' put it on de stove an' dry it. An' yo' put a little cayenne peppah in. it an' yo' sprinkle a little of that in yore shoe an' roun' cross yore do' facin' lak dat an' that keeps away enemies.
Entry 1409
If anyone poison yo', yo' take de frog an' kill de frog, or either yo' kin, if yo' got nerve enough to gut him 'live, jes' take all his guts out an' cut both side of him off - all dis flesh an' stuff off. Jest leave his back an' his hind leg an' his front one an' his head - jes' cut his belly off an' put it into dis bottle wit vinegar, red vinegar, an' after yo' put it in dere, yo' put some artichoke, something dey call artichokes. Put dat in dere wit some red cayenne peppah. Put dat in dere an' some sulphur an' set it fo' nine mawnin's - nine mawnin's, an' then yo' drink that three times a day or at night - when yo' want to. That will relief anything dat evah happened.
(What does an artichoke look like?) [It is just as well that I asked.]
Artichoke is somethin' dat grows somethin' like a potato but it's knotty. Ah got some home. (Green - green on the outside isn't it? And you pull off the leaves like that?) [I must have demonstrated.] It's most lak a Irish potato. Yo' see some Irish potatoes got little knots in 'em, comin' out - well, it's jes' lak dat. (Does it grow out of the ground?) [I should have said, does it mature above- ground.] Yes sir - under de ground.
(What color is it?)
It's white. Yo' don't have tuh peel it, yo' kin jes' wash it off an' scrape it lak dat an' yo' kin eat it jes' lak it is. Jes' it ain't got no nice taste to it; it jes' fo' lak vinegar an' peppah an' onions an' stuff dey put in dere wit vinegar. It something lak somepin dey sprinkle ovah greens, yo' know whut chew call dat.
(Sauces?)
Yes.
Entry 1445
You kin take a pod of red pepper, ordin'ry pod of pepper, and take it and put one pod in each shoe. Leave it in the whole pod like it is. You put it in your shoe. You take a common newspaper and you'll cut a sole, and you'll put that on top of that pod of pepper and you know, that will make it too hot, nuthin atall will harm you - see, that will be too hot for anything they put down.
Entry 1446
Now, if someone's trying tuh trick yo' in de feet, yo' go an' git chew ten cents wuth of unbolted [not sifted] co'n meal - dat's de thin, de fine grade stuff. See. Unbolted, dat's de fine grade. Yo' parch dat an' sprinkle it in yore shoe, cover de bottom of yore shoe with it. Put two leaves of red peppah in each shoe, two pods - one in dis toe an' one in dis heel.
(That's two pods in each shoe?)
Dat's right. Yo' kin do anything dat chew wanta an' cain't nobody hurt chew.
Entry 1449
Dere's a protection measure dat you do in order to keep anyone from harming you. You takes a little sulphur inter a little sweet milk and you drink it, you see. Use a little red pepper and a little sulphur to keep in your shoes, you understand, and you contin'lly walk wit dat, you see. Well, tisn't likely that dere is anything dey kin ever do you. Dey kin put down things that will take effect upon you, but you would always get a shock - you'd be over it before there would be any great thing to it. [The informant says that despite "a protective measure...you Would always get a shock when passing over "put down things," but "you'd be over it before there would be any great thing to it." Another informant says, if you walk over some- thing buried for you, the ground will come up like a wave (No.717, p.239). The most frequent indication that you have walked over something evil is an immediate pain in your leg (No. 718, p.239, and Index).] (You take this drink and you wear this stuff in your shoes at the same time? Or are these separate things you do?) Well, now, I tell you, you drinks dis milk fer nine diff'rent mornings into sulphur, you understand. Think it make you sick, but get it straight - it's re'lly purtty good. Drink it - it's re'lly purtty good. And fin'lly, de next nine mornings you puts dis red pepper into your shoes, you see. Nuthin kin be done to you.
Entry 1450
Take red peppah an' sulphah an' gunpowdah an' put it in yore shoe.
(What will that do then?)
That'll keep any evil spirits that are tryin' tuh harm you or something away.
(You could walk over anything and it wouldn't hurt you?)
Yes, walk over anything, wouldn't take any 'fect.
Entry 1469
If yo' wanta keep 'em from doin' anything else to yo', yo' git some table salt an' red peppah, jes' cayenne peppah, an' sulphur an' mix it together an' sprinkle it all roun' yore house. An' while yo' comin' in de path dere, dere where yo' turn off de street into de path, after yo' sprinkle it down, drive yo a ten-penny nail, a new ten-penny nail dere. An' if de path comes into yore house, yo' drive dem nail in dere an' dey can't git to yo' to do nuthin to yo'.
Entry 1473
Jis' like you wanted someone to stay away from you. An' you take a box of brand-new salt an' you git a box of this cayenne peppah. Well, now, you got to take the cayenne peppah an' measure it jist as high as the salt box [the salt pile from the emptied box] is make each one [each pile] even with the other one. Then you take them all an' dump them into a papah right togethah - jist mix it all up togethah good. An' if there's someone jist keep botherin' you or they's put something down for you - why, jis' like they'd come an' sprinkle acrost that doah, whutevah they have - you start from your doah an' sprinkle. Jis' take this peppah [and salt] an' sprinkle it backwards - jis' walk right backwards to it [what the enemy has sprinkled]; an' then you walk aroun', don't come back over it you'self, walk right on aroun', an' come in you' next doah. An' they can't come no further than that same place there.
Entry 1477
You take some red pepper an' salt an' sulphur, an' put it together an' stir it up, mix it up, put in yer shoe [both shoes]; let it go clean back to the toe, heel an' all. Cut you a false [inner] sole - you ought to always git your shoes big enough to cut a false sole - an' put in theah. Put yer shoe on. They cannot hurt choo, an' you walk over anything you want an' it won't bother yah.
Entry 1478
Yo' kin take some salt - table salt an' sulphur an' red peppah, mix it together an' stir it with yore left hand. Sprinkle some of it in each of yore shoes an' yo' kin travel anywhere yo' wanta travel.
Entry 1479
Yo' kin put sulphur in yore shoe an' wear it in dere or either go to some root man or -
(How do you mean you put sulphur in your shoe?)
Well, see, yo' kin either put sulphur or red pepper - red pepper an' sulphur. Git chew a box of red pepper - ah hear mah mother say dat - git chew a box of red pepper an' brand-new box of salt had nevah been used out of. Sprinkle it inside of yore shoe an wear it in dere. Don't use it fo' nuthin else but that. An' that'll keep anyone from - or either sulphur, wear it in yore shoe - keep anyone from tricking yo' or anything like that.
(Do you sprinkle that in both shoes or just one?)
Both of 'em, either one. Either put it ovah de do'.
Entry 1597
At one time I was off from my work and my wife was sweeping our back yard and she swept over a jelly jar. It was stopped up and turned bottom up in the yard. By the sun shining I see that jar and I stopped and asked her what was that shining. I thought it was a piece of money. So I went there and dug it up out of the ground in my back yard. I came to the steps and I opened it. It had some kind of powder.
(Do you know what the powder was?)
No, I don't know what kind - it was a brown powder.
(All right - go ahead.)
And something like a sponge was mixed up and stopped in there. When I opened it, it knocked me down when I inhaled it. [As I explain elsewhere, this sort of thing is a hyperbole, not a lie.] Later on, my wife's leg broke out - swole up rather, and my leg swole up. And we heard of a man who could tell you things, and we went there and he told me that I had stepped over something. And I asked him what could he do for it. He told me that he believed through the help of God that he could cure me. And I told him that I would be pretty glad if he would. And he got some ashes, some salt, some red pepper and some chamber lye and he mixeded that up in a pan - stirred it thoroughly well and he took and got us there to the pan and washed our leg down, washed this leg down. So later on, two or three days maybe, the leg went down, and it broke out little skin - little dry lookin' skin on there. Well, all of that come off and my leg began to get all right.
Entry 1630
I had a sister-in-law her husband tried to hurt her and she'd taken a simple thing - there was table salt, and red pepper and chamber lye and mixed it together, and sprinkled it all around her house - in her house (see No. 1634), and it killed what he had put down for her.
Entry 1631
To protect yo'self against dat if someone had put somepin down fo' yo' to walk ovah, why yo'd git joo some red peppah an' salt an' git joo some chamber lye an' put in that red peppah an' salt, an yo' would put that red peppah an' salt aroun' yore do' fo' nine mornings. This is, if something was planted aroun' yore do', yo'd put dat salt, red peppah an' chamber lye.
Entry 1632
All yo' have tuh do is take some chamber lye an' red peppah an' nine drops of turpentine an' some salt an' take yo' a halfa can of potash - probably a can of potash an' git up soon dat mawnin' an' sprinkle it all de way around yore house an' under yore step. Den dere's no way fo' no roots tuh take effect of yo' at all.
Entry 1633
Yo' kin take chamber lye an' sulphah an' cayenne peppah an' mix it all up togethah, an' go out one dark night, a real dark night, an' jes' throw it all roun' yore house, an' will jes' drive all enemies an' things from yore home.
Entry 2020
[I have already given some hands called Jack, divining hands (pp.190- 193 and Index), but in the following example Jack does not divine, he does some- thing else:] Ah have heard in times past dat a fellah gamblin' - co'se he would take his money an' he would take it an' put it wit sulphur an' red peppah an' alum, table salt an' wear it next to him, see, fo' so many days 'fore he start tuh gamblin', nine days. An' den when he goes in an' gambles, why he would be lucky. An' den, if he would happen tuh have a little bad luck, he would take an' put a little Heart's Own Cologne on it. An' co'se he would name it Jack. He would name that hand, Jack - that would be a hand. He would name it Jack. An' if he would begin to fall [to lose] he would take it off an' say, "Jack, Jack, three times, an'he would go back agin an' he start agin. But he supposed to keep it loaded wit dis heah cologne. [Calling Jack three times is a part of recharging the hand.] (He would put this money in a little piece of cloth or something of that sort. He doesn't gamble with that? He would just keep it all the time on his person? On his body?) On his body.
Entry 2253
Mean dey try to do you harm?
(Yes, if I don't want them to do it, how can I stop them?)
It can't do you no harm in a way. You goes to work an' anyone tryin' to harm yuh - goes to work and git chew about a tablespoonful of gun powder, sulphur, red pepper - sulphur and about Adam-and-Eve and dey son - jest about dat big in de woods. Adam-and-Eve and dey son. See Adam-and-Eve stays right on one stem - Eve-and-Adam and de son. You kin git dat and you put 'em right straight in dat and you know, make a little sack. Put 'em away in de front where nobody couldn't do you no harm. Den you'll take you a two pods of red peppah and put it in your stocking. Anything dey put down can't do you no harm.
Entry 2448
If you are bootlegging and want to keep the law away from you, they say they got some - wait, let me see the name of this stuff. If they don't want them to come around, they got some - well, you take witch hazel, red pepper and salt. When they be passing in front of your door, you know, then you throw that out behind them. And after they been visiting your house, trying to break you up from doing it, and you don't want them there, say you take a chair like this [demonstrates], and you turn the chair bottom up, you know, crossways of the door, and put a broom 'cross that chair. They'll never come to your home no more.
(Just turn the chair upside down and.)
And put a broom 'cross it.
(Just an ordinary broom across it?)
Yes sir, and throw you some red pepper and salt behind them and make a wish - just say, "I wish they keep agoing and don't never come back no more." And when you throw it you mustn't look at them an' they won't never worry you no more.
Entry 2679
Jest take a little urinate, your urinate, and a little pot salt and dis little ground peppah - hot cayenne peppah. [Three ingredients.] " You carry a certain distance from your house, see, and you sprinkle, you know. Jest like de road come up to your house or de street, why you jest sprinkle it across, you understand. Why dey couldn't come no farther than that. Every time dey git dere why dey jest change dere mind and turn back.
(That keeps the law away.)
Entry 2838
White candles or blue candles for peace; black candles for danger or for to kill you or to run you crazy or something like dat. (Just how would they burn them? How do you mean they burn them?) Well, they say that they kin stick pins in black can- dles and roll them in pepper and salt and burn them at seven o'clock in the morning, you know, or eleven o'clock - some [uneven] hour like that, eleven or seven in the morning and the same at night. That will run you crazy or confuse you or something of the kind. That's a black candle. And the white one, they say you sprinkle them with sugar and burn them - you know, at the hours of seven-eleven, or a blue candle for love. Ah've heard that.
Entry 3252
If he is away from home dataway, yo' see dose red peppah pod, split de peppah open an' hull it out well - only one. Durin' de times he's sleepin', yo' take de scissors an' cut a little piece of hair off of dat, way down below. Put it in dat peppah, sew it up in a little band, an' wear it aroun' yore waist dat way. She may talk to men but huh mind will have no dealin's wit: 'em, yo' see.
Entry 3810
An' he told me. I knew de girl dat did it. Well, I'm goin' to tell yo' now how it started. I heard of it befo'. I wuz goin' wit 'er, an' I had been goin' wit 'er, an' I wuz in good health, evahthing. An' de way I wuz, dis girl wuz crooked on me, an' I say, "I'm goin' quit messin' roun' wit yo', I ain't goin' to" - well I got me anothah girl, started wit 'er, went wit 'er a time or two. An' I got hold of dis girl's pit- chure whut I wuz goin' wit. I had been messed up in dat stuff befo' but not wit dis girl. An' she wuz from de same place dat I wuz. She knowed broad people, all dose people down dere roun' South Carolina an' way to Georgia. Dere's a whole lot of people down dere dat knows a lot of stuff, dere's lot of em down dere dat knows plenty. I says - I been wit dis girl a time or two - I says, "I ain't goin' to hide yore pitchure, goin' to leave it in my pocket." Dis girl got dis girl's pitchure. She seed it but she wuz scared to bother wit it. I says, "Well.... [A short lacuna appears on the cylinder, probably an accidental rather than intended stoppage.] Seem lak evah time I'd go roun' where she wuz - where she wuz at - I would get cowardah [cowarder] an' cowardah [more and more he lacked courage], didn't have any manhood atall. I goes on. I [finally] went to a doctor [M.D.] an' he gived me some medicine. Kept on havin' de medicine, kept on havin' it. Well, I'd taken it fer about six months an' nevah seen it [the ailing member], gotten no manhood atall. I wuz workin' an' I says, "Hell, somepin's gotta be done." I went to see dis person [a man mentioned later] an' [he] says, "What's de mattah wit yo'?" [I] say, "He's [ailing member is] sick. He can't do nuthin. He haven't [had] a woman. It must be woman [causing this trouble]." I kept a- thinkin' about 'er if I didn't seen 'er [he kept thinking about the first woman though he had not seen her]. I wuz talkin' to a man about dis an' he told me who to go to. I went to a ole lady dat had one leg longah den de othah, an' she told me, said, "Boy," said, "time yo' got here." [Her opening words are quite professional - see CONSULTATION TECHNIQUE, Pp.307- 319. Her long leg and short leg were good for business - see NAMES FOR DOCTORS and PERSONAL APPEARANCE, PP.293-301.] She told me how I wuz messed up wit - how my manhood wuz cut down, an' she said, "But I kin fix yo' all right." I says, "Yo' can?" She say, "Yes." says, "Well, what yo' goin' do?" She says, "Well, dat's all right about whut I do. I'll fix yo' all right." An' she say, "Well, I tell yo' what yo' do. Yo' go an' buy me a half pint of whiskey." I say, "Sure enuff." I says, "If yo want a drink of whiskey, " I say, "I'll give yo' a drink of whiskey, but yo' say yo' kin fix me. Yo' told me somepin an' yo' must know somepin, ain't it?" She say, "Yo' go an' buy me a half pint of whiskey, an' if yo' wanta give me a drink, buy yo' one an' me one, an' I'm goin' to give yo' nuthin out of dat." She told me - she took a knife, jes' about a, lak a case knife, an' black gun- powdah, an' a little bit of sulphur, an' a little bit of salt, an' a little bit of red peppah, an' told me how to use it - how to take dis, put it in de whiskey an' shake it up. She got a piece of flannel - said white flannel or eithah red flannel would do, which she preferred white flannel. She had de scissors an' she cut it off an' had taken some mutton suet. She told me to take dis den an' jes' lathah [lather] it wit dis mutton suet befo' a hot stove, or anything, dat a lamp would do if it were hot enough, an' put in on jes' lak dis [demonstrates] an' give a wish.
(And pull it up three times.)
An' it would stay dere, keep it stayin' dere. Told me if when I got dere, if it would fall down, to come on back. So. I didn't pay, didn't pay 'er a thing until I came back - if I didn't want to, see. Well, it did an' it's been stand- in' evah since.
(Well, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THIS WHISKEY, then?)
I take a swallah of it three times a day. An' it nevah bothahed me no more. Told me evah time when I started wit anybody dat I wuz payin' attention to, if I thought dey had any underworld ideas - but I nevah had nuthin to do ag'in. [The preceding experience was given on cylinder 482:9. Before that, on 482:6, came the tying-up rite, and now follows on 482:7, the pre-statement for the ex-perience:] Dere's a way dat yo' kin take some salt, an' a little bit a pinch of sulphur on a knife blade, an' somepin lak some sheep suet an' heat it ovah a red hot - somepin lak a red-hot stove. If yo' reach down lak dat an' git it when it cools, an' make a wish, yo' see if it stand up [demonstrates].
(How do you pull it down?)
No, yo' pulls it up, three times.
(Three times?)
Pull it three times an' make a wish.
(And then it stays up itself.)
Yeah.
Entry 3812
Go an' git a bran'-new brick dat has nevah been used, an' yo' put it in yore fire an' git it red-hot. While dat brick is heatin', he make him a pep- pah tea wid dese pod peppahs. Git nine pods an' make a peppah tea of it, an' he po' 'bout a ten-cent drink of likkah into dis an' drink it hot. Well, when he drink it hot, he urin- ate on dat brick - take it out an' urinate on dat brick, an' dat'll bring it back. Dat's one way. (That will restore his nature, his courage that has been tied up by some woman.) Yes.
Entry 3847
De blood, yo' could take dat an' yo could put dat in a bot- tle. Yo' stop dat up, yo' put dat in a bottle. An' yo' put red peppah, sulphuh an' gunpowdah in dat. An' yo' stop dat up airtight, a person blood, an' dat stop dat blood from trans- mission. Dat stop dere passin' of de blood.
(The blood from any part of the body?)
Yeah.
Entry 4036
Yo' takes a man's chamber lye an' yo' puts it in a bottle. Git chew some cayenne peppah, an' yo' git chew some long red peppahs, an' yo'mu all dat up intuh dat chamber lye, see. An' yo' bury dat down In de ground by de steps, by de front steps or de back steps, or de centah underneat' de house [a quincunx]. Dey pass away, jis' molts away - see, jis' molts away tuh nuthin.
Entry 4210
An' de same if yuh owe a debt. If ah owe a debt, prob'ly mahself wit a man, a furniture man, an' ah have no money fo' 'im an' ah don't want 'im tuh come dere, well ah usely [usual- ly] see 'em take de stuff yuh call chamber lye an' like dat. Well, yuh hold dat stuff so many days - think yuh sup- posed tuh hold it nine days until it git strong, an' yuh take dat out in de yard, right where yuh [rent man] got'a come along, an' put nine [spoonfuls?] of de Red Devil Lye in it at de same time an' use dis red cayenne pepper. Well, yuh take an' throw dat right down in front of yuh door, but yuh not supposed tuh put it out in de day - supposed tuh be put in de mawnin'. Say, if yuh put it out in de mawnin', supposed tuh be dere befo' six a'clock. An' den yuh sprinkle dis stuff all aroun' in front dere, at yuh gate, whatevah is dere. If de law or anythin' come dere, why sometime dey may stop an' look but dey keep on by. De same way it is wit de rent man or somepin. Thin's is pretty tough [during the Great De- pression] an' he knows how it's tough or sompin like dat. Well, when he come dere, yuh don't come. Sometime he pass on by. He won't stop.
Entry 4773
(What can they do to make the man come back?)
She kin take her [under] clothes an' put 'er clothes on de wrong side, an she'll go tuh de sunrise an' talk wit 'im. She has sulphur an' red peppah in er shoes. An' she kin talk wit 'im befo' de sunrise. In about three days aftah dat he will come home an' he don't know how he come home. (She turns her underclothes inside out and she has to wear them - while she is talking to him - turned that way.) Tuh de sunrise.
Entry 5087
She jis' gits a piece of de inside sole [insole of your shoe], puts it in a bottle wit cologne an' red peppah, salt, sulphah - dat keep zhoo in love wit 'er - wit Eve-an'-Adam [Adam-and-Eve] in it. Dat li'le root dey call Eve- an' Adam; it grows, looks lak a li'le tinsy [tiny] Ish [Irish] potatah. De Eve is a woman, Adam is a man. De man one'll swim, an' de she one'll sink. Dey grows on a hillside wit a li'le leaf looks sorta lak a heart leaf.
Entry 5205
Dey say yo' kin take a man's shoe an' git chew some peppah an' salt, an' mix it up on a piece of papah - jis' mix it up. Jis' lak yo' be's roomin [with me] an' ah'd git hold of a pair of shoes yo' weah. An' maybe ah won't stay dere [you are not rooming with me], but ah'd go in dere an' jis' sprinkle de stuff right in dat shoe. Dey says when ah sprinkle dat in dat shoe, dat peppah stuff, yo'll git outa mah sight. If yo' do dat, if it's a man a enemy 'g'inst yo', yo' kin run 'im away by puttin' dat in 'is shoe, sprinklin' in it. He'll move.
(You do that with both shoes?)
Both of 'is shoes. [St. Petersburg, Fla., (1008), 1630:2.]
(subsection SHoEs continues in volume four)
Entry 5471
Well, yo' kin ketch a person's lef' track gwine away from yo' an' draw it tuh yo'. An' den yo' kin put it in a bottle an' put graveyard dirt wit it an' cayenne peppah, an' a li'le sugah an' some table salt, an' air- tight it an' throw it in runnin' water. An' den if dat bottle drift away, why yo' drift away wit it.
Entry 5482
Now ah tell yo' sompin else yo' do ag'in. Now ah don' know if yo' kin git de track or not, but now yo' git three of de lef' track. Ah wanta show yo' how tuh git it. See, ah'm walkin', ain't I - walkin' along [demonstrates]? Well, yo' got'a git dis track up dis way.
(From the toe to the heel.)
From de toe to de heel. Jis' git a li'le bit of sand an' put it in yore han'. Git three of 'em.
(Get three out of the left track.)
An' den yo' take it an' mix it up tuhgethah, an' den git yo' a pod of red pep- pah an' yo' open dat pod of red peppah tuh de top; not tuh de pointy part, tuh de big part.
(At the stem part.)
An' yo' put gunpowdah. Yo' gits yo' a shell, yo' know a gunshell, an' yo' put dat gunshell [powder] in dat, some of dat [foot track] dirt in dere. Yo' know it [pepperpod] can't hol' much yo' know, but yo' mix de gunpowdah an' de gunshell tuhgethah - er [I mean] de [foot track] dirt an' de gunpowdah tuhgethah. An' yo' jis' take an' puts it right in front of yo' do' an' set it [afire]. See, dat gunpowdah will make it explode, yo' undahstan'. An' yo' stick a match tuh it an' say, "Stay apart, stay apart, [stay apart]."
(Does it separate them or send them away?)
Separate 'em.
Entry 5505
Yo' kin take her right foot track. Now, lak yo' tryin' tuh make love an' dis girl doesn't want tuh make it wit yo'. An' jes' lak it seem yo' couldn't make it up wit 'er, an' in kinda speakin' tuh 'er, yo' goin' try tuh make it some- how wit 'er. Well jes' take her right track den an' jes' take yo' a flannen rag, yo' know de red flannen rag, an' jes' git 'er right toe track outa dat toe where dat dig up. Git dat. Git about as much as yo' kin pick up [with your fingers] an' put it in dat flannen an' do [tie] it up. An' git some red peppah an' put it in dat, an' git some of 'er hair. If yo' don't do it jes' den, it may be a month or it may be a yeah yo' gotta work. Git one stran' of 'er hair out 'er haid. Don't git de lef' foot, git de right one. An' when yo' git dat, put it in dis rag an' jis' wrap it up. Sew it up. See. Well, aftah yo' sew it, make a knot. See, right befo' yo' git roun', make nine knots in it; an' de las' one at de end of yore sewin' let it be nine knots. See, jes' make nine knots befo' yo' close up de end. See. An' jes' 'ninte [anoint] it good befo' yo' go tuh sewin' wit dis. Let it be a cloth string or cotton thread string. Well, jes' use spirits of turpentine, jes' ninte [anoint] it good wit dat, an' jes' make de nine knots an' den yo' got evahthin'.
(What do you do with that bag then?)
Jes' tote it in yore right pocket - keep it. An' she'll come tuh yo', BOY. [This is the second time I have been called boy.]
Entry 5539
Well, see, if a person is stayin' 'way from home all de time, jis' come home an' eat an' tuh sleep a little while an' go right on off, doesn't have any time tuh be roun' home an' yo' wan' 'em tuh stay at home. Well, yo' ketch de track comin' home to- wards de door. An' if yo' git dat track an' yo' measure it wit a papah or eithah way [another method] yo' kin use cahton; well, if it's a piece dat dere hasn't been anything cut off of it befo'. Den when yo' write de name an' make de wishes - make yore wish yo' wanta make, an' fold it ovah, an' each fold fold it towards de house.
(You write on the cotton cloth or on the paper, and each fold you make?)
Each fold fold it towards de house an' repeat de words, "Come home an' stay at home." An' yo' fold dat an' aftah yo' fold it, yo' take a piece of new home- spun an' yo' put dis in it, an' den yo' put some salt. Yo' puts nine grains of red peppah, a pod of red peppah has nevah been any used out. Well, yo' kin put de whole nine pods or yo' kin put de nine grains, which is de seed yo' see. An' yo' put some salt an' some peppah wit dat, be sure it's de salt an' peppah whut yo' jis' bought 'specially fo' dat - an' sulphur. An' put dat down an' bury dat den. Yo' dig de top soil, yo' dig until yo' git down below de top soil, see, an yo' bury dat, an' make yore wishes. An' den de persons will stay at home.
Entry 5574
Providin' if yo' wanted me tuh leave town, say dat chew would git some, ah think it's red peppah, an' dat chew would call me, an' say dat yo' wus callin' me by mah name. An' so dat yo' would git de red peppah an' dat yo' would give me a cuss. In othah words, yo' would git mah track an' yo' would throw it towards de sundown, an' use dat cuss to go away. Dat's de only thing ah know. (What would you do with the red pepper? What track do you take, either track or it doesn't make any difference?) Always de left track.
(Well, how do you use the red pepper?)
De red peppah an' de track go tuhgethah.
(And you pick up the left track, mix the red pepper with it?)
Mix de red peppah in wit it.
(Then you throw it toward the sundown?)
Toward de sundown.
(And say?)
"Go, So-an'-so [a cuss word in here] an' stay."
Entry 5579
Know whut dey put down? Sometime dey could take yore track an' put it. down, bury it, an' yo' have tuh leave. Bury it undah yore do'steps an' yo'd have tuh leave. Dey kin take nine needles an' put 'em crossways an' put it in wit chure track, an' put red peppah in dere an' gun- powdah, an' yo'd have tuh leave.
(Where would you put all that stuff then?)
Put it undah yore do'step.
Entry 5584
Dey take dat[foot track] up, put dat in a bottle. Understand? Put dat in a bottle an' put war watah. Git chew a bottle of war watah an' put some of dat war watah on it, cayenne peppah, yo' undahstan', nine needles, nine pins, an' take dat an' stop it up, an' go to de rivah. Git on de ferry an' when de ferry git in de middle of de rivah, throw it an' turn aroun'.
(You throw it and you turn around?)
Throw it in de watah an' turn aroun' [demonstrates] an' say a oath.
(I see, you throw that as you turn around.)
Turnin' aroun'. Throw it an' turn aroun' [demonstrates]. Wheel like dat.
(I see.)
An' dey'll go right on behind it. Yes, sir, right on behind it.
Entry 5611
Yo' kin take up a person track an' put it in a bag, an' put red peppah in dere on yore track, an' dat'll make yo' lose yore mind, almos' run yo' crazy.
Entry 5612
Well, yo' take, if yo' have someone roun joo an' yo' don' wan' 'em aroun' joo, yo' kin take sulphur an' red peppah an' place it in de bottom of dere shoes, shoe track. [Informant should have put shoe track after an' following red peppah - 3 ingredients.] Jis' lak dey step on de soil down dere, jis' take some of dat soil, mix dat all up tuhgethah. Put dat in de bottom of dey shoe, dat will run 'em out.
(Whose shoe do you put that in?)
Put dat in de person dat chew wan' tuh leave.
(You mean in their shoe?)
In de one yo' wan's tuh leave.
(Put some of their own foot track in there?)
Yes, put some of deres - jis' lak if ah want chew to leave, see. Ah'd git soevhere yo'd been steppin', right 'long where yo's been goin'. Wouldn't git it where yo' comin' towards de house, git it as yo' goin' 'way from de house. Mix dat up togethah an' place it in dere shoes, see, ovahnight. De nex' mawnin' [I interrupt].
(Do you put it in both shoes or just one shoe?)
Jis' one shoe.
(And out of what foot track do you get this dirt?)
Out of the left track.
Entry 5615
Well, yo' take de red peppah an' git dis track of de woman undah de hollah of 'er foot. Den yo' wrap dis dirt up in de peppah tuhgethah wit a lit- tle - in a rag, an' yo' go tuh runnin' watah an throw it intuh de watah an' don't look back. An' when it go on away, dis woman will go away an' won' bothah yore husban', fo' ah have tried dat fo' mahself.
(You just use the foot track - either one?)
De foot track, either one.
Entry 5617
Take a fellah's track. Git right 'long behin' 'im an' take his track, if he be walkin', movin'. Yo' know right whilst he's movin', git 'is track from right behin' 'im. An' dey say dey'll take dat track den an' dey'll go git some black peppah, red peppah, turpentine, Sloan Linament - anything real hot whut'll burn yo' know. Says dey'll put it in dis track den an' dey'll take it den an' go tuh a runnin' stream of watah. Dey'll stan' wit dere lef' shouldah tuh dis stream of watah, an' dey'll throw it ovah de lef' shouldah an' den dey'll walk away. Well, dey say den dat track as it floats down de stream, say dat'll take, carry yo' on off - will run yo' away from home, jis' make yo' go on where- evah dat goes. Yo' jis' go on off till yo' die.
(How many tracks of mine do they take - or just one?)
Jis' takes one track - eithah one.
Entry 5630
Well, yo' take dat foot track goin' dis way an' - yo' take it goin' - an' den yo'. take it comin', see. Well, aftah yo' take dat track - gits both tracks - see, yo' git one goin' an' de othah one comin'. Yo' gits a piece of Lowe's, bran'-new Lowe's cloth. It's thick stuff whut dey make sacks outa, cotton sacks.
(What they call Louis?) [Lowe's.]
Yessuh. Yo' git a piece of Lowe's an' yo' sew it up [into a bag]. An' yo' go git chew a box of table salt. Yo' git chew a box of cayenne peppah. An' take dat track an' yo' compounds all dat up tuhgethah an' yo' put in dere [small bag nade from new Lowe's cloth] an' [put] dat [Lowe's-cloth bag into a bag of] red flannen. [A bag of any material holding the ingredients of a hand is often en- closed within red flannel for added power.] An' yo' goes tuh de rivah an' yo' turn backward dis way [demonstrates] an' chunk it ovah in de rivah. See, lak dat, ovah yore lef' shouldah.
(What will that do?)
Dat will run 'em away.
Entry 5633
If someone gone away an' dey wuz persuaded away by some person dat's tryin' to do yo' harm in de family or somepin of de kin', an' dey git dis person out an' tell 'em to leave home, ah wouldn't stay dere; an' den, yo' 'see, dey're tryin' to do yo' harm. Dey would git dis person off, an' den dey would give 'em somepin to keep 'em away from yo'. Ah've heard dat.
(What do they give them?)
Dey say dey would fix up somepin in dere food, some kin', lak women have, an' put it in dere food. An' den to bring 'em back, a lady tol' me dis, she wuz a ole lady, she's daid now, she tol' me dis to bring 'em back. She said if yo' wan' 'em, desire dem back home an' couldn't git 'em back, said if dey did come to see yo', if dey happen to come to see yo', yo' git some salt an' red peppah an' some sulphur, an' sprinkle it in dere tracks when dey leave ag'in, so dey come back ag'in dey wouldn't go back any mo'. If dey leavin', dat'll bring 'em back.
Entry 5715
Jis' lak ah'm on de way now uptown. Ah'm on mah way up an' mah min' is toum. Ah got some pahtic'lah business ah wanta 'tend [attend] tuh, an' ah'm on de way, now. Den yo'll git some of 'is track, undah- stan'. Yo' stan' where he's goin', de direction dat he's goin'. Take some of 'is tracks three times - take dat dirt P outa his track three times, an' den put dat in a piece of new cloth an' bind I up. Put three pods of red peppah in wit it. An' den take dat an' sew it up a' put a long string about dat long an' so it kin swing it. Sew dat string jis batavay an' evah time de win' blow, dat swing. He's agoin'.
(Where do you tie that up?)
Ties it up on a white oak in de woods. Jis' take it, tie it up in dere. He can't stay becuz 'is min' altuhgethah from dere. (In other words you take that track, you take it three times out of three different tracks - one right after the other?) Yessuh. (The same thing as that other one you told me about, about taking all the dree tracks?) Dat's right.
Entry 5718
De cocklebur.
(That's a bush, isn't it, with stickers on it? What do they do with that?)
Say yo' kin hang anything up in dat tree an' if yo' want me tuh go, ah'm gone. Dey say, all yo' gotta do if yo's mad wid me, yo' take my track an' put it in a cup or a bottle, wit some red peppah an' hang it up in dat tree. (What kind of a tree.) A cocklebur. Evah time when de win' blows, see dat cup will go roun' an' roun' dat way an' come back dataway [unwind the other way]; an' when dat string rotten an' broke, den ah'm gone.
(How high is that cocklebur tree?)
Ooh some of it real high an' some of 'em - de young 'un ain't so high. (It has those little stickers on it, hasn't it, those little burs? The cock- lebur?) Dat's right. [Cocklebur appears twice in FACI, 1st ed., but the present rite is the first and only time I ever heard of a cocklebur tree! Does he mean chestnut, buckeye, sweet gum, or what?]
Entry 5978
Dey take yore hair an' dey will run yo' crazy. Dey take dat hair an' put it in a bottle an' put it in milk, new milk, an' put sugah in dat, an' put dis heah red cayenne peppah, an' put some of 'is chamber lye in dat, an' close it up air- tight. Dat will do de work.
(What do you do With that bottle then?)
Yo' carry it in yore pocket.
(You put all this stuff in the bottle?)
Yessuh.
Entry 6004
Of co'se dat hair - dat hair is very controllin', it's very 'fective, an' it's very dang'rous. Dey kin take dat hair, if dey don't lak yo' an' wants to destroy yo' or make unfit fo' yo' own good. Dey take dat hair an' dey'll wrap dat up wit three whut chew call needles, see. Dey git three needles an' dey gits three pins. But dose pins dey always have de heads of dose pins nipped off. An' dey wrap three needles, three pins, an' den dey git three pods of red peppah, yo' undahstan'. YO' GOTTA HAVE THREE OF THREE. Git three of de red peppah an' put in dis, dis hair, an' dey wrap dem togethah. An' when dey wrap 'em togethah, dey takes dat an' eithah jis' - if dey want a quick death [both quick death and slow death are not rare] in any way, or to run yo'( crazy, dey will take dat an' put it in a runnin' stream of watah on de first new moon. In a runnin' stream of water, an' jis' as dat stream carry yo' [hair] away, yore mind goes.
Entry 6103
Yore hair proposition - dey git chure hair right out de mole of yore haid, right out de mole of yore haid. An' aftah dey git de hair right out de mole of yore head, dey take dat an' wrap it up into some into a rag, some cloth. An' aftah dey wrap it up into some cloth, dey takes it an' puts some red peppah, undahstan'. An' aftah dey put de red peppah in it, dey takes hit, takes de - Put red peppah, bluestone, alum, an' mix it all togethah, an' sulphur, an' put hit in dere an' ties it up. An' dey ties dat up an' dey carries it. Dey'll eithah bury it right at chure do'step - bury it at chure do'step an' yo' walks ovah all dat. Den dat begin pains about chure haid, right about chure haid. Den when it begin painin' about chure haid, put chew in bad sickness.
Entry 6334
Dey git holt of yore hair an' dey take an' dey gits a - put it in a bottle, an' put red peppah, cayenne, an' salt in dere an' yore name, an' stop it up in a bottle. Dat'll make yo' have de headache all de time, an' make yo' feel if yo' ain't satisfied nowhere yo' move. In no time yo' go. Git dat bottle an' throw it. (What do you do with that bottle?) Yo' take an' throw it in de rivah. An' [or] den yo' kin take an' yo' kin put it up ovah 'is do' where [he walks under it] or if yo' [ain't] scared he'll find it dere, if yo' a friend of 'em an' yo' visit 'em, yo' take an' yo' git it in de mattress or undah dat [bed].
Entry 6580
May water, cayenne pepper, nine pods of pep- per, salt; bathe down and take physic. Live things come out.
Entry 6830
Red peppah, hot red peppah an' chamber lye an' bathe yo' laig wit it an' that would give yo' ease. Ah have tried that mahself. (If somebody has put something down for you to walk over.) Yes sir, a fortuneteller tole me someone had put sompin down fo' me to walk ovah. [Here, either while'recording ma- chine is stopped or cylinder is changed, I ask for the whole story.] Well, mah laig kep' hurtin' me an' someone come along an' tole me, say, "Miss Carter," say, "ah knows a good man 'cross town. If yo' would go, he would tell yo' sompin tuh relieve yo' of dat pain in yore knee." It nevah would swell but it jis' hurt all de time. So ah went ovah dere an' he tole me someone had hurt me in mah knee. An' he got me some green moss an' tole me tuh boil dat an' bathe in de watah hot. Put some table salt in it. An' aftah dat, den rub it wit some of dis red peppah an' dis saltpetah mixed tuhgethah. Make a salve. Put some lard wit it or some oil or sompin an' make a salve an' rub wit dat, an' hit would relieve me. An' ah did dat an' it relieved me. An' a li'le latah it commence tuh hurtin' ag'in. Well, ah went tuh anothah lady an' she tole me - least she didn't tell me but she fixed de poultice huh- self; Brown Mule chewin' 'bacca an' earth worms whut chew dig up out de ground. An' she stewed it up tuhgethah an' give me dat tuh put some meal wit it, an' make a hot poultice an' put on mah knee. An' dat relieved me.
(That was the end of that?)
Yes sir, an' mah knee got bettah.
Entry 6839
Well, if dey git aholt of yuh foot track an' try tuh harm yo', now yo' kin git chew some cayenne peppah, High John de Conkah, an' mix it up tuhgethah an' put it in a bag. Tie it up, car' [carry] it tuh de rivah an' throw it right ovahbo'd an' don' look back at it. An' dat'll turn it right back on 'em.
(That's if they took your foot track?)
Yes. [Informant may have dropped out a detail of this rite, but intention is sufficient.]
Entry 6901
Anything wrong, yo' kin take some sweet milk an' heat it real hot, an' put some red cayenne peppah in it an' put some red pod peppah in it. An' scrape some silvah off de dime an' put in de glass, an' put some gun- powdahs in it, an' yo' drink it. An' when yo' drink it, jis' makes yo' bu'st out in a big sweat an' den yo' kin vomit it up.
(This poison?)
Yeah.
Entry 6910
If dey do sumpin tuh hurt dere ahm [arm] an' it's swollen up or sumpin lak dat, dey could take some vinegah an' put it in a bottle an' some bluestone an' salt an' red peppah, an' jis' keep a-bathin' de ahm, rubbin', an' dat'll more or less cure it in dem. (What causes this swelling in the arm?) It will be jis' lak if dey wan' tuh poison yo' or: sompin, sompin dey puts down, an' yo' go an' put yuh hand on dis. See, dat makes dat stuff go through yuh ahm. It'll keep on a-workin' an' a-workin' till it git intuh yuh body. If [you] start in time - den let 'em take a lot of sulphur. Sulphur's good, too. Jis' take it, put it in yuh han' an' eat it. An' brimstone. Joo kin take a pill of brimstone an' eat dat an' yo' kin eat or drink poison an' it won't hurt choo. See, dat brimstone kills it out.
Entry 7350
Yes, in dis way: Ah don't know whethah it's fact dat de law couldn't find or not, but ah do know dis one thing. If yo' were tuh do sompin chere an' dey wus on yore - say, if dey had hounds runnin' yo' or sompin, yo' could put turpen- tine an' red peppah undah yore shoe sole an' dem dogs couldn't track yo' no fu'thah dan where yo' use dat material. Right dah dey'd lose track an' dey couldn't start it.
Entry 7593
(To bring in customers.)
Yo' use de dead man an' de way dey mix it, yo' mix it wit de clay taken from a fresh grave at de full of de moon. Mix de clay an' sulphur an' red peppah an' bury it undah de foot of de step, an' it use'ly brings in per- sons.
Entry 7684
Yo' go tuh a - if somebody troublin' yo' an' yo' jis' want 'em tuh git in trouble, see. Yo' go tuh a sinnah - yo' gotta know somebody wuz a wicked sinnah an' got killed - yo' see, a gamblah. Yo' go tuh 'is haid an' dig down about wrist deep. An' put three pen- nies dere an' jis' tell it - jis' lak yo' talkin' tuh in - jis' lakyo' know'im, say, "so- an'-so-an'-so, ah wan' chew tuh go tuh Such-an'-such-a-one an' give dem hell, jis' give dem hell. Wham! Fight 'em, make 'em fight. Make 'em kill if it's necessary." An' yo' put de pennies dere. Kivah [cover] de hole up an' go off. Walk off an' nevah look back. Yo' take dat graveyard dirt an' yo' ketch yore dog an' cut some hair off de end of 'is tail, see. All right, yo' ketch chew a ket [cat]. Yo' cut some hair off 'is haid an' 'is tail. An' yo' take dat dog an' cut jis' a li'le bit of hair out 'is fo'haid. Yo' git some of dis urinate, see. All right yo' git yo' some red peppah, table salt, put wit dat. An' yo go by where dem people stay an' jis' tell 'em [dirt and its ingredients] what chew want 'em do wit it. An' throw it.] Don't evah look back, keep goin'. An yo' ain't goin' be a minute off fo' yo' see 'em raisin' Sam [Sam = devil]. Dey goin' move from dere. Aftah while dey goin' move from dat state.
(That is to run them out of there, run them away.)
Dat's tuh run 'em away. Dat's hard tuh ovahcome. Now ah heah'n [heard] a man tell dat an' ah seen it work. See, fo' a fact he used tuh git me tuh go by dere sometime an' throw it dere. Dis ole Doctor Bush.
Entry 7688
Well, dis graveyard dirt, dey say dat'll drive anyone from yer home. Yuh take dat an' mix it wit salt an' some red peppah. An' dey say yo' take dat an' sprinkle it all aroun dese people home as neah tuh de home as yuh kin. An' dey say yuh have tuh talk to all dis stuff dat chew doin' an' say: In de Name of de Fathah, Son an' Holy Ghost, an' tell it whu' chew wan' it tuh do. An' dey say dat dey be Wantin' tuh leave dere.
Entry 7864
Take graveyard dirt an' red peppah. Jes' lak if yo' seen somebody yo' hated, why yo' go where yo' think dey walk at in de mawnin'. Go 'fore sun [before sunrise] in de mawnin' Where dey git up an' walk ovah it. Sprinkle it roun' in de yard yo' see, an' den dey'll walk ovah it. Yo' kin fix dem lak dat.
(What will that do to them?)
Well, sometimes it will give dem - dere feet will swell up or dere laigs or somepin lak dat, an' dey can't git it off dem until dey go tuh some root person or somepin lak dat.
Entry 7865
Take de cayenne peppah an' mix wit de graveyard dirt, an' if de person valk ovah it, dey have a burnin' in dey feet, she tole me.
Entry 7866
Well, ah've heard some of 'em say dat yo' could take a penny an' go tuh de cemetery, an' say one or two words an' [say to] jes' de person in de cemetery dat chew want 'em tuh work fo' yo'. An' yo' git a li'le bit of dat dirt an' come back home, an' take yo' some red peppah an' sulphuh an' put it in a sack, an' stick it undah- neat' de house. An' it supposed tuh move 'em in nine days.
Entry 8511
(What do you do with that graveyard dust?)
Well, yo' take graveyard dust an' put it wit - tuh break up a woman an' a man.
[Long pause by informant.]
(How would they handle that? How would they use that?)
Well, dey take de graveyard dust an' steel dust an' guinea seeds an' war wa- tah, an' put it intuh a coconut, yo' see, an' red peppah, cayenne peppah, Epsom salts an' bittah apple an' bury it. An' yo' see, dat cuz a 'sturbance. Den dey writes de man's name an' de woman's name nine times an' dat break 'em up, cuz dem tuh make terrible 'sturbance. An' dat cuz dem tuh break up, see. (Where do they bury this?) Well, dey bury it undah de porch - bury it in de ground, bury it in de ground. [For preceding guinea seeds, see long margin title GUINEA SEEDS... GRAINS OF PARADISE, p.57Of. Red pepper in present margin title could be a repetition for preceding cayenne pepper, but more likely it means a piece of hot red-pepper pod. The preceding bitter apple - also called bitter cucunber and bitter gourd - is the colocynth (Citrullis colocynthis), a Medi- terranean and African vine related to the watermelon.]
Entry 9572
Take salt an' peppah. See, evah time yo' come tuh yore house yo' jes' throw it behin' 'im an' yo' cuss 'im out. Don't say nuthin good, jes' cuss 'im out, jes' say, "Go on! Don' chew come back heah tuh mah house no mo'." Jes' sweep 'im on out de street. An' he stay 'way from dere.
Entry 9573
If yo' got a man or a woman an' yo' wanta git rid of 'em, yo' jes' let 'em come in an' yo' take some salt an' peppah an' sweep it out behin' 'em an' tell 'em, 'Git out heah, yo'devil, yo'! Don't nevah come back tuh heah no mo'!" [That is] if yo' wants tuh git rid of 'em.
Entry 9575
If yo' want to keep people away from your house an' afraid that they Ykrt chah, yo' must always have salt an' red cayenne pepper mixed together. Yo' take that salt an' cayenne pepper, they people go out. When they come in de house, yo' don't want 'em to come, yo'd put that salt and cayenne pepper all behin' 'em. An' then yo' take de broom an' sweep that off de way that they go out. As yo sweep it, make a wish, "Keep outa my house." See? Well, they do that three ties. An' then they won't come back to your house no more. If they mean yo' any harm, they ain't comin' back no more. [This is an unusual preparation for an emergency: You must always have salt an' red cayenne pepper mixed together. Often materials must be new and remainders discarded.] [Richmond, Va., (348), 291:1 0r 348:1.]
Entry 9580
If dey tryin' tuh harm yo' - yo' know, lak dey put down sompin an' yo' scared yo' walk ovah it - yo' kin take salt an' peppah, red cayenne peppah, an' weah it in yore shoe. (What will that do?) Dat'll - yo' cain't detect nuthin in yuh feet or anythin'.
Entry 9619
Yo' kin take salt an' yo' kin take sulphuh and yo' git red peppah. An' yo' kin throw it aroun' peoples' do' an' dey cain't stay in de house. [Little Rock. Ark., (887).1461:6.]
Entry 9620
Take sulphur an' salt, cayenne peppah an' spread it roun' yore house - undah de house or roun' in de house. If yo' got any enemies or any- thin' put down dere, it'll kill it.
Entry 10673
Take some cayenne pepper and asafeda- tee and sulphur, and as soon as you get a chance, put it in each four corners of the room, and they'll have to move out. Can't stay there.
Entry 10894
Any kind of cat hair and a he dog and a she cat to run a person away - break 'em up.
(How do you do that?)
You take this hair and you mix it all up together like that - the hair of the dog and the cat. The dog and cat don't mate together. Call this man John. Jis' say, Mary, you and John can't stay together. Well, then you get this gunpowder and you get nine pods of red pepper, and you put that all together. Don't burn it in de house. Make a fire out in de yard and burn it, and make your wishes and they gone apart.
Entry 10900
Say, for instance, if you was mah husband and you was living with another woman and ah didn't want chew to live with this woman, and I could get familiar enough with this woman to get in her house, or get someone to go to her house. I would cut the hair from under the chin of a dog, right under here [dem- onstrates], and under the chin of a cat, and under their tails, and wrap it up into a cigarette paper. And when I go to their house, have occasion to smoke or do something, if they have fire in the grate, I throw that hair in the fire. Put a little pepper in it - red pepper. And they positively will fight, [even] if they haven't been used to it. They will continue to fight and be in confusion all the time.
Entry 11201
They will spring your doors and things. (Well, how would they do that?) They'll take that - they'll go to three people's house and you can steal you some salt from three people's house, and take that cayenne pep- per and that black pepper and dirt dauber's nest and beat it together and sprinkle your door and you'll move.
(I see. And you'll move. But you only steal the salt?)
Steal the salt.
(The other things you don't take?)
No, you just steal that from somebody's house.
(Just the salt. Those other things you take from your own house?)
Yeah.
(I see. That will make you move out?)
Yes.
Entry 11600
Keep a pod of red pepper in the toe of each shoe if someone is trying to harm you. Or take enemy's footprint or footstep and tie up in red flannel with cayenne pepper. Or bury footprint under your doorsteps and that will keep them away.
Entry 11744
If it's someone behind yuh, the one - you know, someone behind yuh what rid them[-selves] of other people, they will pick it [your foot track] up and mix it with graveyard dust. [Long pause.]
(All right, go ahead. What else?)
And they, they'll take that and mix it with graveyard dust, and they will take and fix it together and sprinkle it around your door, yuh see. And they will take and make - mix it with pepper, black pepper and cayenne pepper, you see. They mix all that up together and they sprinkle it around your house, and that will make for confusion with you and your neighbors, and that will cause you to have to move.
Entry 12613
Whut yo' gotta do tuh keep de law away, yo' gotta use dat sugah an' dat cayenne peppah. Dat sugah an' cayenne peppah will keep 'em away. Jis' throw it at 'em when dey come in [!]. Yo' ain't got nuthin tuh do but yo' got sompin round dis way.
Entry 12964
Put sulphur and cayenne pepper over his shoe. Burn it. Runs him away.
[Memphis 1560:13.]
Entry 9553
Take some salt an' red peppah an' bury it undah de steps. Dat'll make 'em leave.
(Make them move out of the house?)
Yessuh.
Entry 9624
Sulphah an' red peppah an' put nine teaspoonsful of salt in it, an' bary it to de back do' an' to yore front do', an' dey couldn't stay dere tuh ave dere life. Dey may stay two or three weeks but dey won' stay. (You mean in the house or around the house?) No, yo' jes' bury it right undah yore back steps. An' den go to yore front step an' bury it 'bout de same place - under de front steps. An' dey couldn't stay dere to save dere life.
Entry 3550
De stockin's [are] fo' love affairs. Now, dey kin take mah stockin's or mah socks - man or woman, don't make no diff'rence who it is, an' dey kin cut de toe of dat sock off an' de heel part of dat sock off, see. An' aftah dey cut it off, den dey tie it wit nine knots. Now dat's fo' love, [but] dat's not tuh drew [draw] dis love. It's lak if yo' loves a lady - ah should explain it tuh yo' lak dat. Jes' lak if ah loved a lady mahself an' she quit me fo' some othah man, an' ah don't want Ter tuh be intimate wit dis man. Prob'bly she could be wit 'im, but still she couldn't have no intahco'se wit 'im. Yo' undahstan'. All right, aftah ah cut de toe of 'er sock off heah an' de heel of 'er sock off - yo' know women don't har'ly wear stockin's now, some of dem wears socks now. Aftah ah cut dat off, ah takes me an' sets down, an' ah cuts it intuh a kin'a string-lak. Aftah ah cut dat off, see - ah wan'a show yo' whut ah'm talkin' 'bout. Ah think ah got a han'ke'chuf in mah pocket heah. Let dis kin'a be de toe of 'er stockin'. Ah cuts dat off, yo' undahstan'. Den ah takes an' tear dat, an' aftah ah tears dat, ah sits down an' ties me nine knots. See, nine knots In it in a diff'ren' form. An' aftah ah tie dose nine knots, ah pull dem darn tight. An' aftah ah tie dose nine knots, ah takes me a needle. Aftah ah git it all tied up, ah takes me a needle an' ah pins dat - see, wit de needle an' one of de pins. Now, [if] ah kin git a chance tuh git tuh her home, ah go tuh her home an' ah put dis in de middle of de bed. Prob'bly if it's too much [several beds] - if not, if it's only one, ah put it in de middle of it. [The center of a bed is the fifth pOint Of the quincunx.] NOW ANYBODY DAT SHE WANTS TUH INTAHCO'SE WIT, SHE CAN'T HAVE NO FEELIN' FO' DEM AT ALL. NOW, HE KIN DO IT, PROB'BLY HE WILL, BUT SHE WON'T HAVE NONE - NO FEELIN' FO' HIM AT ALL. [This Same nO feeling WIll alsO be found in No.3569.] DEN OTHAH WAYS ABOUT IT. Ah kin take her sock or 'er stockin's an' ah kin cut dat off ag'in, an' not even tie dem nine knots. Jes' cut it off an' take an' go tuh de woods. Now, ah'm goin' tuh de woods an' ah git me whut chew call herb stuff, now. Ah'm goin' tuh de woods an' ah git me whut chew call a holly leaf. Yo' [think] it's some Christmas holly wit berries on 'em, but dere's othah holly leafs hasn't got no berries on 'em - got dose sharp thorns on de leaves of 'em. Now, ah'm goin' dere an' take dose thorns. Ah'm gon'a git me nine leaves an ah'm gon'a break off all dose thorns on de leaves. Aftah ah done cut dat end of dat sock off, put it intuh a mere bottle - a half a pint flask. Put dose nine thorns offa all, each one, of dose leaves intuh dat bottle. An' aftah ah put it intuh dat bottle, den ah takes me a little of whut dey call - it's a water lily, it grows in de water. [This is probably the white-flowered species (Crinum amer- icanum), popularly called swamp lily (see 3246) of the southern United States.] Gits a bud outa dat. An' aftah ah gits dat bud outa dat, den I gits me jes' a leetle bit of salt, an' about, jes' aroun' about, a tablespoonful of hot peppah whut dey call red peppah. An' ah kin parch dat peppah [pod] now, or eithah ah kin let it be [buy it] in de cans. An' put it in dere wit dat an' stop dat bot- tle up. An' ah kin take dat bottle an' ah kin go home an' bury dat bottle any place in mah house ah wants tuh bury it. Take dese two fingahs [demonstrates].
(0f the right hand.)
Of de right hand.
(The index finger and then the finger next to the little finger?)
Dat's right. If she but been to mah house one time, ah kin take dese two fingahs heah an' git me a sharp match stem an' pick dese fingahs until dey bleed. Now her name is Miss H. M. Smith or H. M. Williams. Wit de blood of dat, dat come outa mah han's, ah writes 'er 'ritial - see, "H. M." See. An' puts dat in dat wit dat bottle an' bury dat bottle. Now, ah'm drivin' 'er tuh me, see. Ah'm bringin' 'er tuh me. Ah'm not drivin' 'er from me. Ah'm bringin' 'er tuh me. See. Now hit gotta set dere fo' nine mawnin's, an' aftah dese nine mawnin's den, in de tenth mawnin' yo' see her comin'. Don't kere who she is, she'll come.
Entry 4042
Yo' take chamber lye an' peppah an' throw it undah de house at night, red peppah, an' if dey keep movin' in dere it'll burn it up - it'll ketch afiah
[afire]. (What did you put that under the house for?) Fo' movin'. (So when people come into the house, that'll cross the house up and.)
Cross de house up an' make it crossed. Make a cross jis' befo' throwin' dat undah - jis' befo'.
(Where do they make the cross?)
On de ground, near de house. (They cross the house up so that nobody can stay in it. If I had a fight with the landlord or anything of that sort?) Yes.
Entry 4061
Dey git holt some-a yuh chamber lye, yuh see, an' dey bur' [bury] it. Dey git holt-a yuh chamber lye an' dey put it in a bottle. Dey put somepin else Wit it. Dey put some kin'a Ceylon peppah [says my transcriber, and that is what it sounded like; but here we have a hoodoo drug store or mail-order house product - Sea Lion Pepper]. Kin'a white-liken peppah. [This pepper is white-like and the label probably shows the figure of a sea lion.] But dey have it fine. [The pepper comes ground.] Put dat [pepper] wit it. An' dey make a hole in de top of yuh chamber lye [bottle cork] an' dey turn it [bottle] upside down an' dey bury dat chamber lye. An' if yuh don' find 'at bottle of chamber lye in time an' unburies it, yuh'll die. Dis thing leaks, it will leak out. See, be leaking, but dey do make a hole in it fo' hit tuh leak. Dey bur' 'it. Dey try tuh git it tuh yuh home if dey kin. Dey'd ruthah [they had rather] fo' it tuh be tuh yuh home den be tuh dere house. An it leak out. An' WHEN DAT BE GONE, all dat chamber lye, YUH BE GONE.
[I start fishing for details.]
(What did you say they get for that, the stuff in the can - pepper?)
Be in a pasteboard box. It's white cayenne. Think tuh buy about 15c or 25c but it's kin'a high [expensive].
[Again I fish, for time, anything.]
(And when do they put this in - altogether?)
Put dat in de chamber lye.
[My third fishing trip catches a rare detail!]
(And where do you put that, then? That chamber lye, what do you put that in?)
Oh, any kin'a [bottle] - HOLY WATAH BOTTLE - if yuh leave a little bit of hole. [Use any bottle, but a holy water bottle is more convenient.] Yuh [see] DESE HOLY WATAH BOTTLE GOT DEM KIND, YUH KNOW CAPS, WHERE A LITTLE BIT OF HOLE COME OUT AN' LET IT LEAK.
Entry 4233
(What do you put in your shoes, you say, to keep them from harming you. What do they put in your shoes?) Bathes 'em in chamber lye. Puts cayenne peppah an' sulphur.
Entry 4240
Sprinkle red peppah, salt an' chamber lye roun' de house, git chew 'way from dere. (That will make you move?) Yes.
Entry 4292
Yuh go dere early in de mawnin' jis' a little befo' day - tuh dis house, yassuh, an' yuh sprinkle red peppah all around it, all in de yard, an' heavy undah de steps where dey have tuh go in an' out. When yuh git through sprinklin' dis red peppah, den yuh take yuh some chamber lye an' throw it undah de steps on de peppah dat's undah de steps. An' den yuh leave. Dat brings up confusion between 'im an' 'is family an' de person dat he's dealin' wit, an' he'll have tuh leave dere.
(That is to get even with the landlord? To keep people out of the house?)
Yessuh.
Entry 1095
They tell me that chew can wear some roots - High John the Conker, alligator root, and 'coon root, and put a little salt in that, a little cayenne pepper, and make a sack out of it [thus making a hand] and wear it round your neck with a little bluestone and alum in it, and that the individual can't hurt yah. [AZligator root is either shaped like an alligator or root from the sweet gum tree, often called alligator tree in Southern U. S. A. because of its bark - "wing-like projections" from the smaller branches. Coon root may be a root thought to be liked by racoons.]