Subject:Poison
Entries
Entry 4226
Yes, ah have too. Ah heard dat jis' lak if somebody wuz tuh wanta fix yuh or poison yuh some way, an' if yuh kin take it - jis' lak if dey wuz tuh go 'long an' put down poison fo' yuh an' den, if yuh kin git dis heah tuh put ovah it, yuh see, befo' dis person git tuh it, den dat would kill de poison out of de dose dat dey have put down fo' yuh.
(They just sprinkle this chamber lye over it?)
Yeah, dey sprinkle it ovah it.
Entry 6766
Ah've see 'em take dis li'le bit of wasp or dirt daubahs, yo' know de're white. Ah've seen 'em [doctor] take dem [dirt daubers] an' go cah places dat people were poisoned. Dat is some ways tuh beat 'em out dere roney. [These people] thought dey were poisoned. An' [these doctors] have 'em in dere han' an' claim dey would cure 'em an' take out dose things in 'em. Dey gotta take out dose things, but dey didn't take 'em out.
(How did they do it then?)
Dey [doctors] carried 'em [dirt daubers] dere wit 'em. [Informant is skepti- cal about a doctor removing dirt daubers (usually if not always dead ones) from a person. He believes the doctor brought the insects with him and used a little sleight of hand.]
Entry 6792
Know dey taken fish fo' a person dat dey win' [wind] is short [luag trouble]. Take a fish whut got dose bladdahs in 'em whut holds win'. Yo' diy dat, an' aftah dryin' dat, if a person is short-winded, yo' take an' bust it an' swallah [swallow] dat air, an' dat gives yore lungs fresh air.
Entry 6798
Some things is purtty good. Now a person, if he is EAT POISONED, yo' kin take a toadfrog - yo' know dese toadfrogs whut hop a li'le short hop. Yo' kin take one of dem an' split 'im open an' bind 'im on 'is side or on 'is laig an' yo' know, evah bit of dat poison will come outen it. Evah bit of it will come outen it.
Entry 6817
Take guts from a grain [green] gourd and make a tea. Drink, and if hurt inside, you will vomit.
Entry 6977
Well, now, yo' kin take lard an' vinegah an' sugah an' kill any poison in de worl'. Yo' undahstan' me, if yo' use it right away. Yo' undahstan' me, yo' kin take lard an' sugar an' mix it tuhgethah, yo' undah- stan' me, in a quart bottle. Lard, vinegar an' sugah. An' mix it in a quart bottle. If it's right den, yo' undahstan', an' take a tablespoonfulla it three time a day. An' dat'll stop any poison in de worl'.
(That's what you do [use] when people come to you?)
Sure.
Entry 6984
[Here is a remarkable survival, perhaps my only example of the belief. This rite has survived not only time but also my notation doubtful, made only a few months after its collection out in the field!] Dey say if anybody wan'a try tuh poison yuh or anythin', or dey eithah try tuh run yuh crazy or anythin', dey say go tuh de runnin' spring [of water], an' git choo a stran' of [your] hair, an' turn yuh back to it [spring] an' t'row in de watah, an' nevah look at it, an' dey say dat'll kill dat [witch- craft]. [This is a substitution rite. The intended victim substitutes a strand of his hair, a part of his life, for the whole of his life. To earlier man, and even into the Middle Ages many springs or wells were considered holy, each well guarded by its own spirit. The Christian Church renamed these famous wells for saints. I lived for some months on a narrow winding street called Holywell, in Oxford, England. Further, the Old Testament tells us that songs were sung to wells and springs: Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it, " in Numbers 21:17.]
Entry 7238
[The following statement is a penciled note of mine made back in 1937 while transcribing cylinder recently recorded in Wilmington:] Fortuneteller - while eating breakfast in this woman's house [who was hurt] - the woman who he said had hurt her sent over some biscuits - he ate them and told his hostess [and patient] they would have killed her if she had eaten them - long story not worth copying. [Wilmington, N. Car., (215, the story occurring in Evans Co., Ga.), 121:2+85.] [The story should have been cop- ied because it showed that a doctor was immune to poison. It also shows a spell must be prepared for a particular person, a common belief in hoodoo.]
Entry 9926
Jis' lak dey say if yo' poisoned, yo' take a frog an' split 'im open alive an' tie 'im on. Dey say dat will kill dat poison.
Entry 10559
Dis heah bullbat, yo' kin take one of dem an' kill 'em, an' if yo' git a chance to git a person to eat some of it, dey'll take sick an' dey'll die, if yo' don't git 'em cured.
(A bullbat?)
A bullbat. Yo' jest cook one yo' know an' git somebody tuh eat it.
Entry 10897
I've heard of dey usin' cat hair or dog hair or - I'll tell you. You kin take a dog and you git some hair right from her rear end, you understand; right near where at she do busi- ness, you understand. All right. You take dat hair and you swinge [singe] it, you see. You gits enough [hair] so you kin swinge it, where you kin find it after you done it. You put it on a piece of clot'. Why you jes' set a match to it and swinge it, see. "Fore [before] it burn too much, why you put it out, you smother it you see. After you smother it, de clot' you burn it on, why you don't take it off dat cloth. You jes' tie it up right in dat same cloth, you see. All right, you put nine knots in dat. After you tie it up you put nine knots in it, and perhaps you tie it around your waist, or you could make a sling and put it around your neck, or you could sew it up in your weskit [vest] lining, or sompin like dat, or coat linin', or dere's several ways to tote it. See. Why dat's de way you do wit dat [cat] hair proposition.
(What good will it do you to carry that hair?)
That stand fer a lotta things: dey kin pass poison [you] and it won't hurt you. You can do anything you want with it.
Entry 11018
Now, dere one chicken feathah you could use, to do any harm, dat's a frizzly fowl. A frizzly fowl is good and is bad, onnerstand. Now, yo' kin take a feathah from de top of a frizzly fowl's head and you kin take a feathah from de top of a frizzly fowl's back. And you kin take dat feathah what you git from de frizzly fowl and take one new pin and pin dem two feathah togethah and I kin take dem feathah and put 'em in your bosom or anybody's bosom and you is a crazy man ovahnight - in an hour.
(Supposed to make him lose his mind?)
Yes, sir, crazy fer de next. Yo' kin put 'em in dere dis hour and de next hour somebody gotta tie 'em down.
(Well, what else can you do with that Frizzly hen? Can you do anything else?)
Yes, you kin use de bun gut, you know.
(Gut? The intestine? The testicle?)
[My preceding questions merely ask for more information. The meaning of the word bun in the sense of anus or buttocks I had known for years, but bum gut did not penetrate immediately because I had translated the words into rotten gut
[stomach trouble, etc.l also a folk term.]
Dat's real good. You kin take dat and kill a nation. [You can kill a nation because of all that hoodoo poison that goes through a frizzly hen - see margin title DOCTOR FRIZZLY Pp.59-63, v.1, and many places.]
(How Would you do that?)
Well, you take dat and you cook a soup. Cook in a chicken soup, onnerstand. Well, I hate dat house dere. I wanna poison dat whole house, but dey is my neighbors. Well, I git dat soup and carry over dere, go across wit it.
(You poison them?)
De whole house. But now you gotta put in dat, Doc - des scrape dem in it - de fingernails. Keep dem dirty and scrape 'em - [into the soup].
Entry 11117
Some people dat suppose tuh be poisoned, yo' know, dey'd drink dat coconut watah - not de coconut itself but de watah [or liquid in unopened coco- nut]; an' dey suppose tuh drink it fo' a certain ml ber of days an' nuthin else, no food or anything else, an' dat jes' kills de poison. [Poison here is boodoo, not chemical poison.]
Entry 11304
Dey use hair offa a dog fo' whut ah heard. Ah heard that if a person git a nail stuck in dey feet an' yo' shave de dog an' put de hair on dere, it's good fo' de poison. But fo' anything else ah haven't heard. [Read poison or hoodoo poison? The problem here is did you step on the nail accidentally or did someone cunjure the wound upon you - make you step on nail?]
Entry 13255
You take sulphur, they tell me and mix it together in pure lard and rub with it. You kin move it [poison or cunjure] 股中 away. Sulphur and pure lard, cream it together and rub with it. They say that choo kin get it out choo by that. And [in addition] you take so much sulphur, don' choo understand, with brown sugar. You take it [inwardly]. Well, that purges you, you know, and git all dat bad stuff out.