Subject:Protection
Entries
Entry 2206
Whut chew do wit pins, new straight pins, if yo' wanted tuh sell likker - anything lak dat an' to keep de officers away an' don't want no trouble. Why, yo' git chew a new roll of 'em an' jest stretch out up ovah yore do' - say dat'll turn 'em, dey can't come. (You just stretch the whole paper right across the door?) Dat's right - see, let de pins hang down, de sticking part of 'em.
Entry 2260
De herb men see somepin dey call Peter's Protection. Key - and anoint that seven mornin's with Lucky Holy Oil and wear it on yore person.
(What will that do?)
That to protect yo', if people tryin' to do things to you. (What does this key look like?) It look like aluminum or silver or some kind of shiny stuff. It made like a key but it don't fit no lock on a door - made fer dat [protection] purpose. [This key sold by herb men, who buy it from mail-order firms or religious supplies shops, is worn for protection. The same or similar key in New Orleans area is offered to picture or statue of St. Peter (see margin-title St. Peter).]
Entry 5788
Now, de way yo' could stop yore foot track, yo' could take some - git chew a little concentrated lye, an' half-a pint of whiskey, an' 'bout a teaspoon fulla camphor, an' put it in dat bottle yo'understan'. An' also write dere name on it an' jis' shake it up an' down until dat.all come tuhgethah - dat papah an' lye an' stuff come tuhgethah. All right. Wheresomevah yo're at, if yo's in a location wheresomevah yo' be at, jis' bury it down right - jis' at de right side of de do'step, right at de right side of yore do'step. Well, den dey couldn't do a thing wit yo'.
(That would keep that person from harming you?)
Dey won't do yo' any harm.
Entry 7233
Yo' see dem li'le red onions, but chew git chew one dat's small; yo' know, got a li'le tail tuh it, lak dat, [demonstrates] chew know. Yo've seen 'em?
(I've seen them.)
Now, de way yo' gotta do, yo' [go] up to 'im - now, listen good. Yo' kill it [the trouble]. Ah had de claps right tuh mah.... So yo' take dis red onion. Now mix dem good. An' yo' know a coman's vury weak anyway, say, "This ain't goin' hurt choo. Wipe dis on yo' so ah won' have tuh come back no mō'." Now, listen good. Now, aftah yo' take dat onion, yo take yo' a cord string an' tie it up somewhere where nobody won' see it. Now listen good, where it won' touch de wall anywhere. An' ah'll betcha, if she have any other man, ah'll eat chew up. She won' [have] any, anothah man, betcha.
(Now, you have that onion and she takes that onion, doesn't she?)
He has tuh tell 'er, see, say, "Ah have de claps, here. De doctor tole me tuh git some of yuh [your] wiping." Yo' know, it ain't goin' hurt 'er. Yo' know, put it between....
(But you have her take that onion and wipe you?)
Shore. Undahstan', yo' know, jis' lak yo' have a woman, yo' say, "Baby wid dis, will ya? Ah have de claps so bad." An' yo' takes dat [red onion] away from 'er an' yo' take a cord string, an' tie it up somewhere where nobody - not even yuh wife won' see it. Where it won' touch de wall nowhere. An' ah betcha evah day an' evah night she be right on yo'.
(I see. You wipe the woman with the red onion.)
Shore, an' den git roun' dat li'le ole tail of it [onion], git chew a cord string an' yo' tie it, an' hang it up somewhere where nobody can't see it.
(You hang up that red onion.)
Yes.
(I understand now.)
Entry 7654
Well, ah hear'd dey say yo' kin take graveyard dirt - yo' kin take dat graveyard dirt - go down dere at night an' dig right ovah de heart of de grave. Den bring it back an' put it umdah de steps an' po' vhis- key on it fo' nine mawnin's. Den yo' go back dere an' yo' take dis dirt up an' put it in a piece of white flannel an' take de dirt an' bury it in de ground an' let it stay dere. After yo' take it up an' put whiskey on it an' put it undah de step in de groun'. An' if dere any- one [there] dat don' lak yo', dey can't stay dere. [Is whiskey on for 9 mornings a delayed payment for the graveyard dirt?]
Entry 9146
Well, suppose if yo' done anythin' wit'out...why yo'd have sense tuh see a root worker an' git somepin dey call a han', yo' know, fer pertection. It would pertect yuh in case yo' was tried in court, an' if yo' Would ask fer mercy, yo Would git it. See? [While recording machine stopped, informant says something about seven lucky herbs. This is not a common name and may be my only example.]
(There are supposed to be seven lucky herbs?)
Yo' gathah 'em out de woods. (That is all, make just a hand? Do you have to know what those herbs are? Do you know the names of them?) Ah know de names of about five of 'em ah 'pect [expect].
(What are those?)
Southern [John de Conkah] an' High John de Conkah, de fo'-leaf clovah, de nex', Eve-an'-Adam Root, anothah root dey calls de leathah herb, lovett herb. Dat's fo'. De nex' is devil's-shoestring, five.
Entry 9490
Yo' kin put red peppah an' salt - yo' weah dat in yore shoes, see. An' den yo' take salt an' put it in each cornah of de wall in yore rooms where yo' sleep at. An' if anybody [come] tuh yore house dat yo' don' want tuh come tuh yore house - dey come tuh yore house an' yo' don' wan' 'em dere - de time dey'd leave yo' sprinkle salt an' red peppah in dere tracks right out dere behin' 'em, an' sweep it out. See, an' dey won' evah come back a'gin. Well, we tried dat one time 'bout a police, about a law. Dey haven't nevah been dere tuh bothah us no mo'. (That first about that salt and pepper [in 4 corners of bedroom], that is to keep you from being harmed?) Yeah.
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 9629
Well, git chew some salt- petah an' some table salt, a little sulphuh, an' take dat an' nine pods of red peppah an' yo' jes' make a little bag an' yo' weahs dat. Dat's all.
(What will that do then?)
Dat's to keep it back. Dat kill evahthin'. Can't git up to yo' 'cuz dat keep it off.
(That is to protect you.)
Entry 9733
[This is a double-four rite, actually eight nails.]
Take a penny nail an' go tuh a tree an' nail yo' fo' dis way [demonstrates]. Git chew fo' nails, de ten-penny nails, an' git on de sunrise side an' put chew fo' of 'em dis way [demonstrates].
(In a row that way.)
Yes, dat's right. An' fo' dis-a-way tuh de sundown. Come roun' dis side an' put de othah for dis way, an' yo's all right. Nobody can't harm yuh. (You go to the sunrise side of the tree and you put four nails like that horizontal, right in a row. Then you go round to the sundown side and put four horizontal in a row. What do you do that for?) Yo' do dat tuh keep anybody from worryin' yuh.
Entry 9777
Ah've heard dem say if yo' wanted tuh - say if yo' wanted tuh grow tuh be smart an' wanted tuh keep yuh enemy away from yo', why of cus [course] yo' give yuh enemy a needle wit de point tuhwar' de enemy, tuhwar' de person dat yo' believe dat wuz yuh enemy. Han' dem de needle pointed toward 'im, or a scissahs wit de point tuhward 'im. An' dat would break dat enemy off from yuh. Dey would stop comin' aroun or stop being in yuh company, stay away from yuh.
Entry 9928
(Oh, the shoe! You mean the rubber tire - automobile, the inner tube, the inside tube?) Yes, sir. Well, all right. Well, yo' take dat an' burn it an' git de ashes of it an' take sompin - take a little ole rock camphah an' put wit dat. See. All right den, well, now an' den yo' ketch yuh a toadyfrog. Yo' understand now. All right, ketch yuh a toadyfrog an' ef yo' don' wanta kill de toadyfrog - ah done fry de toadyfrog, fry him in a pan. An' git de grease outa 'im an' put dat in dere. An' rub dat on de bottom of yore foot [feet].
(What will that do then?)
Dey can't harm [cunjure] yo'. [The burning of the rubber tire, causing a bad odor, deters witchcraft; see Scatologic Methods to Repulse Witcheraft, Nos.16481- 16499, PP.903-909, FOLKLORE FROM ADAMS COUNTY ILLINOIS, 2nd ed., 1965.]
Entry 10177
Burn de candles ever other mornin'.
(You burn these candles every other morning?)
Ever other mornin'. You burn 'em from seven until nine for nine mornings like dat - ever other morning for nine mornings.
(From seven in the morning until nine in the morning?) Yes. (I see. And what else do you do?)
You jes' burn de candles from seven until nine.
(What is that supposed to do?)
Well, dat's jes' supposed to gain influence wit people and if anybody tryin' [to] harm you, or to keep anybody from harmin' you.
(I see. Well, do you burn any special color or anything of that sort?)
Use a pink.
Entry 10428
Put fork under pillow to keep hag from riding you [for hag or witch riding you see p.136f., v.l, margin title WITCH RIDES PERSON] at Petersburg, Va.,
(447), 423:6; at Wilmington, N. Car., (208), 114:5+85.]
Entry 11166
(What do they do with the devil's-shoestring?)
Dey take dat and put it down in a bottle of perfume with some garlic and ies keep it in a bottle, you see. And if you got it at home, well every time you leave out of home, why you take it and rub it on your hands. Dat's fer luck. And fer your protection op de streets, you git dat devil's-shoestring and you take it and put it around your waist right to your skin. You tie it around your waist.
(What will that protect you from?)
Dat's to protect you from de law. All you gotta do is tie it to yoar shn.
Entry 11187
(You get what?)
Somepin lak de' call de devil's toothpick, dat's a root, an' keep dat in mah mouth 'long as ah'm roun' de house. Well, dey nevah bothah yo' an' nevah have nuthin tuh say tuh yo'. Jis' soon's [as soon as] yo' git out de house yo' kin take dat out yore mouth an' put it in yore pocket, but ah keep it always in mah pocket.
(Why do you keep that in your mouth when you are round the house?)
Well, yo' see, dat call fo' mah luck, yo' see, an' dey won't bothah yo' an' won't have nuthin tuh say tuh yo'. (I asked you if they could make me move out of the house. And if I don't want to move what can I do?) Aw - yo' ah use dat devil's toothpick - dat's if ah didn't wanta move. Yo' kin git dat in de woods yo' see. Very few people know what it is.
(What does it look like?)
Have yo' evah seen Italian [something?] whut made outa pipes [something?] a little root? [Does he mean brier?] It's sompin lak dat [demonstrates].
(It runs along the ground. Is it the same thing as devil's-shoestring?)
No suh.
(Where is the toothpick, on the vine or under the vine?)
It grows in knots jis' lak Italian [brier?].
Entry 12426
Talking about anything of that sort [informant shows me something].
(Oh, yes, un huh. That's to be worn isn't it? For protection, isn't it?)
It's for protection. See this is a picture of...
(Of our Lord?)
Of our Lord, yes. Now, this is for protection. This is for protection, you wears this to your heart, you know, right around your neck here, you see [demon- strates]. But of course I totes it in my pocket and that's for luck. I HAVEN'T GOT ANY OF MY OTHER MEDALS AND THINGS ON ME, but now, I never knowed they take and use medals for harm. I know of 'em using medals for to do good - to do good, you see. [New Orleans, La., (832), 1245:1.] - Hoodoo - Conjuratfon - Witchcraft - Rootwork -
Entry 13306
Then you can fix what you call a scaft [scapular] to wear upon you to protect yourself.
(A what?)
A scafle.
(What kind? How do they fix that?)
You get frankincense, frankincense.
(What kind? Frankincense. All right.)
Yes. And myris [myrrh].
(And what? Muritch. All right.)
Muritch. And you puts it in white linen. See, you make a scaple [scapular] out of it to wear around your neck. And you feeds it with a oil of labena [verbena]. (Lavena?) Yes, you pours that upon it. That's to protect yourself. See that's what I knows about that.
(Now, what do you call this vanovitch?)
Muritch.
(What does it look like?)
It's a rock.
(A rock?)
Yes, it look just like that, but you can beat it up and make a powder out of it. (I see, muritch Yes, muritch and frankincense, they both look the same, but the frankincense is light looking and myrrh is brown. But they both is rocks, just come in pieces like that and larger pieces.
(Muritch or myrrh?)
Muritch 'er - ah myrrh.
(Is it myrrh?)
Yes, sir. That's it, myrrhs.
(I see. I got it.)
Entry 1646
[Take] that there snakeroot and John de Conker root and boil it and take de urine after boilin' it and put some of that in it, and Hearts Perfume, and boil it so it git de odor through the house, and sprinkle in de front do' and back, mornin' an' night.
(What would they do that for?)
That would bring luck and stop de man from puttin' yo' out.
(Putting you out of the house.)
Yes, an' ah didn't have de money - didn't give a cent and he didn't put me out. Suah stopped that.
Entry 209
[Acquainted with Doctor Frizzly more than forty years, I could not include him among ordinary birds of the preceding margin-title; surely the zeal of Doctor Frizzly of Memphistown at the end of this medical group deserves special commendation by separation.] A woman from Beaufort [South Carolina] tole me dat. I went to 'er home one day an' see dis chicken, an' ask 'er why did she have dis little hen. She said she had dat frizzly hen to keep anyone from hurtin' 'er. An' I asked how she could keep anyone from hurtin' 'er. She say, well, dat hen, if anybody put down any roots or anything fer 'er, dat hen would scratch 'em up, an' of course if dat hen died, she would know dat she would die after dat, too.
(Well, why was that?)
Why dis root has [would have] poison 'er.
(Oh, it poisoned the chicken.)
Yeah, if it poisoned de chicken, of course it would poison 'er; but if dat hen lived an' scratched up de root, den she would liye, too.
(Where did you hear this?)
A woman from Beaufort told me dat.
(An old woman in Beaufort or from Beaufort.)
Right here in Charleston.
Entry 212
Yo'll git a black frizzly - dem othah chickens ain't no good - git a black frizzly. Yo'll turn dat black frizzly chicken in de yard an' yo'll gon'a notice her haid be clean as yore han'. Well, she done pick up stuff people done put roun' dere fo' yo' - de same kinda stuff lak ah'm tellin' yo', yo' see.
Entry 488
Well, if you wan'a keep out witches and ha'nts away from your house, you can take bluestone [= blue vitriol], put it in the four corners of the house and right at the steps where you go over, and you won't be bothered with 'em no more. You puts nine grains [crystals] at each corner of the house and nine at the front door.
Entry 1019
[While tying knots in the following cures the operator need not call a name, because the simple-minded spirit causing the disease is so curious about the loose knot that he ventures too near. Suddenly jerked tight the hard knot grasps a piece of the spirit - part of spirit equals whole of spirit (p.21).] Tie nine knots in a string, soak in turpentine, tie around waist and no one can harm you...tie nine knots in a cord string and wet it with turpentine; hit'll stop children's fever - tie it around your [child's] waist.
Entry 1028
Yo' repeat de Lord's Prayer - that's great you know, Our Father, who art in heaven.... (Just once?) No sir, you do it nine times. [For three times, see No. 995, p.383.]
(What do you do that for?)
That's for to protect yourself. You know dey can't stand yo' calling de Lord's Prayer when dey trying to do you harm.
Entry 1029
Ah goes dere [graveyard or crossroad] an' gives God three prayers. At twelve a'clock in de night - don't go dere in de day. Give God's three prayers fo' all mah undertakin' an' different things - transactions in business. That means fo' sickness or death or anything interferin' wit me.
Editorial alternative locus: graveyard or crossroad. The source leaves the location unresolved; this is not a confirmed crossroads visit. The informant specifies midnight, not daytime, and God's three prayers; the source heading does not identify their wording.
Entry 1111
Jes' take some dose ashes out de fireplace dere an' put some sulphah wit dose ashes. Yo' understood [understand] dat good - put some sulphah wit dose ashes an' yo' takes dose ashes [wrapped up in paper and cloth] an' tote 'em in yore pocket. Dat'll keep dat person from hurtin' yo'. Ah've tried dat. [Ashes out de fireplace dere - see my comments about weather and fireplace at Waycross in Introduction.]
Entry 1119
Whenevah ah'm afraid of someone doin' me harm ah read the 37 Psalms [Psalm 37] an' co'se ah leaves the Bible open with the head of it turned to the east as many as three days. An' den sometimes ah read it an' ah have read it an' left it open nine days - each mawnin' until aftah twelve at eatin' an' [then] ah closed it. An' ah found out that it re'lly did help me.
Entry 1125
An' dere's a root dey call de blacksnake root. Yo' kin carry dat in yore pocket an' dere can't anything harm yo'. (Nothing could hurt you?) By walkin' ovah it.
Entry 1152
Brimstone an' fat-lighter [pine] splinters an' feathers an' tar - jes' burn round yore place. Dat'll kill all poison - all ever'thin' yo' [someone] got down dere, can't nobody do nuthin to yo'.
(What kind of feathers would they be?)
Buzzard feathers.
Entry 1209
If they put somethin' down fo' yo' tuh walk ovah, yo'll take devil's- shoestring. Yo' know dis devil's-shoestring. Yo'll git dis devil's-shoestring an' yo' tie it round, possible round heah.
(Where?)
Round yore laigs - devil's-shoestring tied around yore laigs an' let it stay right there round yore laig nine days. After nine days yo' take it an' tie you nine knots in each one dem strings yo' got round laig. Den yo' kin walk ovah anything dey put down dere - won't harm yo'. Tie dat devil's-shoestring right round heah - two strands of it. An' after nine days, den yo' tie nine knots in it an' wear it nine mo' days, understand, an' then yo' kin walk ovah anything an' it ain't gonna hurt cha.
(You tie one piece around each leg just below the knee?)
That's right.
Entry 1219
Now a thing dat brings luck - something fo' bringing luck that's good, yo' kin protect a person from being witchcrafted - something dat goes high an' low [high and low covers all contingencies - a dirt dauber flies high and low]. He kin take that dirt dauber nest an' he take sweet spices - jes' a whole grain spice an' he beat up de dirt dauber nes' an' de spices an' he sprinkles or throw it up in de air an' dat brings luck an' also keep away the evil spirits from dat person's premises or wheresomevah they are dwelling.
Entry 1220
Git dirt dauber nest an' use it as a help to keep a person from harmin' or gittin' up to yo', doin' anything to yo'. If a man taken a sock or somethin' [of yours] an' harmin' yo' that way, a dirt dauber nest kin be wo'n about yo' in yore pocket or eithah in yore shoe an' dey cain't harm yo' in no way.
Entry 1241
Well, she wus a woman, she sold whiskey an' she had a little tree whut be in her yard an' she would say a verse from de Bible to that tree an' den she would burn dragon's blood an' frankincense up undah de tree an' she'd grab de tree an' whip it an' den she jes' turn it back up. An' she'd burn that stuff right at the tree - right at the root of the tree she would burn it. Well, that wus supposed tuh keep away evil spirits an' de law or anything tuh bother her. [See margin-titles Whipping, p.388; Hitting Remedy, p.399.]
Entry 1285
Jes' ketch him an' tie him up some place in yo' fiahplace an' if it's a enemy somewhere about chew he'll leave - de law will git atter him an' run him away from dere.
[As frog in fireplace becomes hot, so it becomes too hot for enemy.]
(This toadfrog?)
Yes.
Entry 1299
There's two or three diff'rent theories along that line. Now the first theory is - if you think you'll be bothered with the spirit after the deceased is taken away from the house. Why the first thing you do when you come back [from the cemetery], you understand, you git a horseshoe, you see, and take the horseshoe, understand, and nail it workways - just like it goes on a horse's foot, up over the door. And de next day [second theory] is to git a gourd, a green gourd, and holler it out on the inside - see, don't break the shell, jis' cut off the end and hollow it out on the inside, take all de peth out of it, you understand, and hang that up over your bed.
Entry 1404
I know one thing - you wear a acorn on a string around the neck beneath the shirt and that will keep spells away.
Entry 1421
Yo' uses red peppah an' fo' pins crossed in a stah [star] in de bottom of yore shoe an' it's no way fo' them to do anything to yo' or hurt chew by no cunjuration or nuthin dey put down fo' yo'.
(You get four pins and cross tHem in the shape of a star. Show me how.)
Yo' take a pin - dis is one pin heah. Yo' take that an' cross it dis way an' yo' take de othah one an' cross it dis way; take de othah one an' cross it dis Way an' den yo' take that an' cross it dat way. Make it jis' as a stah in de sky. An' take dis peppah an' put it in both of yore shoes at de bottom - hot peppah pods an' take it an' put it in both of yore shoes at de bottom an' wear those pins in it an' dey cain't do yo' any harm - don't ca' where they lay something down fo' yo'. [My penciled note on original transcription reads, "Cross in each shoe - so 8 pins." What he have in each shoe is not a star with eight ends, four sharp (pin points) and four blunt (pin heads); instead, each shoe contains two crosses, one on top the other so that the four sides of the upper cross bisect the four sides of the lower cross. This rite is a double-cross. For Double-cross, see Index; for Triple-cross, see p.364.]
Entry 1429
And should you not want anyone to harm you in your home, you get chew some quicksilver and put it under your doorstep with a stick of dragon's blood - you know what dragon's blood is - and just bury that under your doorstep and no one will ever bother you.
Entry 1465
Yo' kin dress yore home tuh keep evil away from yoreself.
(How do you do that?)
Well, now yo' kin take salt an' put it in de fo' corner of yore house, "In de Name of de Father, Son an' de Holy Ghost," an' make yore wish for good luck an' yo' know, good things, an' dat keeps dat evil from ovahpowahin' it. It's re'lly good. Ah believes it.
Entry 1504
Dey use dat if dey 'fraid anybody comin' roun' if dey goin' do somepin to de house. Dey git de ole sole - de ole shoe sole an' burn it. Dat will drive dem away, too - anybody, dose ole witchcraft people or somepin lak dat. Dey say dev ain't comin' round dere no mo. (Florence, S. Car., (1291), 2190:12.]
Entry 1514
Dey wear that roun' their laig, de dime - put a hole in it an' wear it roun' dere laig to keep off witchcraft.
(So if you walk over anything of that sort?) Yes, it wouldn't hurt chew.
Entry 1518
Take ten cents [dime] and put three holes in it and they say that'll keep anybody from hurting you. You tie around your neck or either around your ankle. You gen'ally tie it around your left ankle.
Entry 1647
You can easily just buy some of that van-van - they calls that stuff van-van - 'cause that what they use for to keep the evil spirit away from them. [Van-van, largely used for scrubs (scrubbing water) or human body, is a special perfume and oil of pungent quality originally confined to New Orleans - see p.132 and Index.] [New Orleans, La., (843). 1279:2.]
Entry 1688
Ah said a tree struck by lightnin', if yo' don't want dat person no way 'bout chure home - to stay 'way from dere. Now, yo' kin go tuh dat tree an' yo' kin git chew three chip offa dat tree, an' yo' [take] one an' put it ovah yonder ovah dat do' ovah dere, one put chere, an' one put chere, an' he won't be able tuh come dere. He'll steer an' go on right on 'cross - he won't come disaway, he go right on disaway. Well, dat's all ah heered about a lightnin' tree. (You put the three chips in a row going to your house? The three right in a row?) Dat's right.
Entry 1696
See, lak de haid of de bed, takes de matches an' cross 'em, dey cross 'em jes' lak dat up undah de pillah an' go on tuh sleep. Dat supposed tuh drive spirits away if de spirits are worryin' yo' when yo' kilt someone.
Entry 1697
Yo' take de matches if yo' goin' anywhere in de night an' scared - jes' take dem matches, take two, an' stick one right in yo' haid. Put de strikin' part dis way [demonstrates]. (You take the sulphur part and set it in your head over your forehead - right up through your hair.) An' dat will cross [demonstrates]. (You make a cross.) [The match in the hair crosses the match held in the mouth.] An' put one in de mout' an' go anywhere yo' wants - yo' won't be scared atall an' nuthin won't bother yo', not a thing.
Entry 1707
You take an old toadfrog and you gut him and you spread him on top of a house and you let him dry, and then you take him and grind him, mash him up real fine, and then you sew that in a little sack about this size, sew it up good. If anybody tries to harm you, all you do is put this in your pocket and tote this here along in your pocket and then that will drive the enemy away. He can't harm you at all.
[Informant shows small bag.]
(What is in that sack there? What is that for?)
That is dried frog feet.
(What is that for?)
That is to keep all enemies down.
(You have that in the shape of a triangle.)
No, that's in the shape of a heart. [See margin-title Heart-Shaped Hand.]
Entry 1828
Well, now listen. Tuh keep de officers away from yore house, yo've got'a git devil powder. Ah guess yo' know whut dat is, don't chew? Well, yo git that in St. Louis - devil powder. (What do you do with the devil powder?) Yo' jis' sprinkle it.
(Sprinkle it around. Who sells it in St. Louis?)
Well, now, ah've got a book on it.
(I wish you would bring that book over and show it to me.)
Ah will. [No one ever brought a book!]
Entry 2114
Drive a penny right in de center [sill] of yo' do' - drive one or two pennies, one in de front do' an' one in de back do'.
(What would that do then?)
Well, dat have - yo' go to de chinaman an' he got some stick, good luck stick. Put dat in yore house an' yo' light dat at twelve a'clock in de day. Dat law won't come to yore house. [Good luck stick = joss stick.]
(That will keep the law away?)
Yeah.
Entry 2145
Ah seen 'em nail nine in each do', jis' like yo' comin' in de front - nine dere, nine in de middle an' nine heah an' nine back. Dat keep de policemen away.
(Nine nails right down into that door?)
Nail 'em in a cross in each door [demonstrates]. (In the saddle of the door - down where you walk over - nail them in the form of a cross.)
Entry 2216
(What do you take?)
Queen's Delight an' snakeroot an' some John de Conker an' put it togethah an' keep it round joo all de time an' yo' go in any kinda place an' de law won't git chew. [See Queen Elizabeth, p.596.]
Entry 2236
Git two rattlesnake marster.
(Get two rattlesnake masters?)
Uh-huh. Dey grow in de woods and you put one on one side of yo' do' and one on de other side, and jes' say, "In de Name of the Father, Son an' Holy Ghost, I hope dey won't come." An' he won't come either.
(That is if the law was coming or the rent man?)
Yes.
(Now what does rattlesnake master look like?)
It's a lily - looks kinda like a lily. It grows in de woods.
(Has a flower on it?)
Yes, suh, it has a yellah flow'r and when yo' see one it looks jes' like a snake's mouth.
Entry 2239
If yo' have trouble wit de law yo' kin git dis rattlesnake marster. Everybody should keep it fo' protection, cause it's natch'ly good - ah know personally - for friends or either enemies. A person should keep it an' chew it - at least swallow a piece of it as much as once a day. Now that is something good to keep the law off yo'. [Rattlesnake master as protection, see p.469f.]
Entry 2279
De seals [are] in de Six an' Seven Books of Moses. Yo' take dis parch' [parchment] papah an' de seal dat fits yore complaint. Take dis seal an' yo' put dis seal, aftah yo've copied it [from the book], in de inner sole of your shoe, de right shoe an' yo' wear it dere constantly an' read de 25th chapter of Psalms fo' nine straight mawnin's. (What will that do then?) Dat's supposed to protect yo' from all enemies. [Seals are usually said to be from the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, but an able doctor will sometimes make his own seal (see No. 2281) and occasionally a person will call almost any hand a seal.]
Entry 2462
Have John de Conker root and you chew it. They got stuff to throw by the name of oil of clover.
(Oil of clover?) Yeah, oil of clover - it's a green-looking oil. (And how would they throw that?)
Well, they throws that around the place.
(This place of business.)
For luck, yes.
(Just for luck. And that'll keep the law away?)
Yes, for luck and for protection against the law.
(I see. And you have to chew that John de Conker root the same time?)
Yeah, they chews it all the time. That root, many people think it tobacco
[you are chewing] lots of times. [New Orleans, La.,9782), 1084:1.]
Entry 2469
Yo's sellin' likker - bootleggin' dey call it, used tuh call it boot- leggin'. Now, yo' go tuh work ovah heah an' git chew herbs an' yore stuff whut chew want from a certain person - anybody's [anybody who is] makin' dis. Well, he tell yo' tuh go out dere tuh de fo'ks of de road or somethin' lak dat. Be sure an' try tuh git chew one, understand, dat's leadin' down by yore house - de fo'ks of de road. An' be shure, understan' dat chew git yo' in yore house, make no diff'rence if its a mark in de house. All right, git to de fo'ks of de road, an' yo' know dat mark ah make lak dat - go dere an' dig yo' a hole right in de fo'ks of de road an' bury dis in de fo'k of dat road.
(Bury what?)
[I must ask this question before I forget it, but I interrupt him. He will answer later.] Now if de sheriff's - de deputy sheriff or policeman, an' ev'ry time dey's comin' dere tuh yore house an' dey's gon'a ketch yo' - yo' see, dey gon'a set a trap an' dey ketch yo'. After yo' go up dere to dis road to de fo'k an' do dat, yo' understan', an' dey come down - yo' see, yo' knows which way dey comin', dat's why yo' go tuh de fo'k of de road - dey'll drive ovah it, see. An'when dey drive ovah it, stid [instead of] yo' house, [they go to] somebody else. Stid dey gwine to yore house start worryin' yo', den dey drive ovah it lak dat dere, right straight up de road dey goin', or right down de road dey goin' an' ain't stoppin' take time tuh look at yore house.
(What will you bury in that hole?)
Well, yo' go tuh work an' git some - yo' kin take a piece of bluestone - yo' know whut dat is - a piece of bluestone an' gits yo' den a root dey call devil's- shoestring, an' take one dem dey call High John de Conker. Put dem in dere an' den whut chew wanta do, make it stronger, go tuh de woods an' find yo' snake shed. Git chew a snake shed an' put dat in wit it - put it down in dere wit all dat together. An' dere's a root grows dere right at de edge of de forest, has a great big flower on it, wit a mane hang down lak dat, jes' lak a man mustache... call it De ole man is daid - De ole man is daid. Hit jes' lak it. Yo' go git chew a root offa dat tree. Ain't ever'body kin find dat, dey see it but don't know whut 'tis, an' put dat down dere - de root offen De ole man is daid. De root off hit is de one gotta do de work. An' yo' put dat down in dere, under- stand, an' cover dat down in dere. Den yore safe, yore safe.
Entry 2477
Go to de hardware sto' and buy yo' fo' files, fo' little - two little round-corner [rattail] files, an' den git chew two three-corner [three-square] files, an' put dose fo' files together, turn two of 'em haid down an' two of 'em points up. Nobody in de world kin harm yo'.
(If anybody comes around to your house and harms you?)
No sir, can't come round to yore house and harm yo'.
Entry 2517
De law never was dere befo', see [and you do not want him to return]. You puts de horseshoe right ovah dat door, see, turn de toes up and write three "x's" behin' your door - three "xxx" - and lay one penny right on dis step, de doorsill. Ev'ry time I go [by them], pick at 'em, pick at 'em. Den you git four sticks jest like dat - get four sticks jest about six inches [long], put one in de under sill of yo' door, and put one on de corner, and put one in dis corner, and put one jest about five feet from yo' door and drive it down till you can't see de head. And I'm goin' dress dese sticks ev'ry day, keep up wid de sticks - keep it so dat nobody dig around it, see.
(How do you dress these sticks?)
Well, you see, you puts half cord - wrap one end of it on de end with cord, with the string, and the other with cord and the next one clean. De clean one must be a little higher den de end ones. But dat one in de yard [five feet from yo' door] - don't wanta put nothing on it. That's a footwalk. Ev'ry time dey be walking on dat, dey mighta know what coming. And if you feel, while dis man coming in - turn on it - must never be backward and all - let him come right in de house - let him look - no matter where he look. He might hunt chure house up and down, look at this, looking at that walking stick, that stick what you got in the middle of your yard, and he'll come out chure - ain't nuthin in yore house.
(That's if the law has come after you to arrest you for bootlegging.)
Put 'em [sticks] there and they walk over 'em all de time.
(Well, now, that stick in the middle of the door, how do you wrap that?)
Don't wrop dat atall. De two on de sides [of the door] you wrap dat - dat's de two guards, like two guards.
(Ohl You wrap that string around the two on the sides?)
De cord. Wrap it about that thick, couple inches on both ends - what chew leave on de top and drive it on down you know. And have it clear dat nobody won't have to stub. Drive that other one down without anything on it. Wit de fourth sticking out - one about five feet from de door, de step, put dat down so dat nobody will stumble over it.
(Do you put any cord around that one?)
No, de two of 'em dat be - two have to be not have anything on 'em. (The one in the middle of the door [at the sill] and the one out in the middle of the yard [five feet from de door] don't have anything on them.) See, dat's what you call dressin' dem two on de [each] side [of the door] - de guards, see. (I see. Now here's the stick on the side. You wrap around the top of that, wrap around the bottom of the stick, and then you drive it down in the ground.) Even down in the ground - see, so's nobody won't see it.
(You leave part of that stick outside the ground?)
No, don't leave part of that out of the ground atall. De middle stick, you leaves jest about a tip-end - dat's you guide, you see. You use de head right out, leave dat little out and then you kin pull dat eny time. When you pull dat you see, you shake de whole three. See, dat's fo' dem to care fo' you and yo' whole house.
Entry 6892
Take some of dat same rattlesnake mahstah an' put it in yuh pocket an' go anywheah. If a man wan'a dress yuh, he cain't do it.
Entry 6899
If yo' got some peoples in yore house is evil an' bad luck tuh yo', all yo' gotta do is sprinkle plenty a red peppah roun' de house. Git de pod peppah whut grows lak yo' fingah [finger peppers] an' crumble it up. It's got seeds in it, little seeds fine an' white. Jis' sprinkle dat round de do' an' dey says none yore enemies will come 'bout. Ah often do dat times mahself, jis' keep up wit dis ole [turn machine off too soon].
Entry 10432
Git a strand an' tie it round yore wrist. (Strand of what?) De animal hair, tie it round yore wrist. Dey say dat keeps 'em back, de witches.
(The hair from any kind of an animal? What kind of an animal?)
Anything. Mule [or horse] anythin' [with long hair] like dat. Jes' since it's a hair yo' kin git round yore wrist.
Entry 11289
[Margin title STATIONARY ROOT OF DOCTOR KING IN RICHMOND gaVe us a rare root indeed (No.7254, Pp.3235-3237, v.4), but now the doctor will describe for us an even rarer root:] [In answer to my question about a man attracting women, the doctor answered:] Well, in that instance you have to ob- tain them Four Brothers. Yo' got to git a High John, Low John, Long John, and Short John [all together called] the Conkah [= Conqueror]. Yo' got to get all four of 'em, cuz one ain't gon'a do you no good. Yo' kin git that in Beaufort, [S. Car.]. An' they grows together but ever' one of 'em got a diff'rent leaf. (They grow detached but near each other.) [Doctor ignores or did not under- stand my comment to the microphone.] Yo' don't have to do nothin' with it when you git de Four Brothers but jis' care [carry] it with yo'. Yo' kin do anything yo' want. Anything yo' do is in yuh favor. An' specially if yo' kin git close to a person to rub dat on 'em. Another thing, them Four Brothers is suppose to protect chuh. [The Four Broth- ers of course represent the four corners of the earth (The Revelation of St. John the Divine, 7:1) which appear so frequently in HOODOO. A final comment of mine reads "not so sure, may wait for par(allel)!" I still had to learn that each real doctor had things specially his or her own. This, my transcription made in pencil a few months after the recording, is attached here.]
Entry 12391
Go to de sto', de groc'ry sto', an' git chew a box [2 boxes] of lye. An' yo' scrub yore house wit chure box of lye an' git chew a whole box an' put it undah de foot of yore steps, well de law'll come to yore steps but he won't come in, he'll turn roun' an' go back.
Entry 12741
Ah have tote 'em fo' protection.
(Those rattlesnake buttons? For what?)
Ah have tote 'em fo' protection, fo' workin' 'mongst mens. Now, ah'm a man an' mah bossman - make 'em think that he's workin'. An' yo' can't run me off.
(That is if you want to hold a job?)
If ah wanta hold it.
Entry 9634
Yo' weah sulphuh, salt or eithah cayenne peppah [or] red peppah in yore shoes.
(What would that do then?)
That keeps yo' from ketchin' anythin' dat's put down fo' yo' if yo' walkin' ovah it.
Entry 9811
[The rite that follows is a folding-into-triangles rite, a fairly com- mon belief for which also see: Nos.3189, 3527, vol.3; 8648, 8766 with diagrams, 8767, 8768, vol.4. There are also rites folding into squares: 3162 and 3182, vol.3, as well as folding into oblongs, 3184, vol.3.] Yo' buy a papah of pins - aw, jes' as much as yo' wanta. Yo' git nine new pins. Listen now, git chew a piece of new homespun cloth 'bout dat long [demonstrates]. (About six or seven inches long.) Yessuh, an' yo' fol' dit. Yo' see yo' fol' dit dis way first [demonstrates]. (Going away from you first.) Den yo' take it an' fol' dit back lak dat. Yo' understan' now, dat's two fold dere den. Den yo' fol' dit again. All right. Yo' take two pins - now listen. Two new pins an' make a stah [star] in dis cornah, an' take anothah two [new pins] - dat's fo' ain't it? An' put a stah in dat cornah. Den dat in de firs' cornah. Den in de cornah dere yo' make yore firs' lap. All right, now dat's fo' [pins]. Den yo' take two an' put 'em straight up an' down on dis side dis way. Point it dat-a-way, dat sharp point. Den yo' take two mo' an' turn it down an' take de middle an' turn it lak dat [demonstrates]. Dat's nine. An' tote it in yore pocket or in yore pocketbook. Dat will give yo' all de sharp luck yo' want. (Just to be sure of that. Suppose you show me how you wrap that up now. How you fold that.) All right, ah will. Listen now. Yo' see, dis is a cornah, an' dere's anothah cornah, but it may be jes' about dat odd, yo' see. Cut in a cornah. Den yo turn dat cornah lak dat. Dat's one fold isn't it?
(Yes.)
All right, yo' take dis ovah heah lak dat. Dat two fold isn't it?
(That's two folds.)
When yo' take dat ovah dere, dat's three ain't it?
(That's the whole piece you are talking about?)
Yeah, dat's de whole piece.
(Now wait a minute, you've got the paper now.)
[I hand informant a piece of paper to fold.]
Ah think dis'll be a little bit too large [begins to fold]. (You fold it. All right, now there's the piece. Wait! Now you fold over one corner - you fold one corner over the other corner. Then you take the other cor- ner and fold it over the other corner, as if you were making a little [paper] hat that you put on your head.) Dat's right. Den yo' takes an' fold it dere. (Then you take one of those and fold it like you are making a little boat now?) Dat's it. Now yo' take dis an' yo' make a stah on dis end. Two.
(Two pins down there like a "v" in that corner?)
["v" is not the shape here. Since informant calls it a "star, " the two pins are crossed.] Put de othah ones in dis cornah. Dat one dere. Yo' undahstan' dat. Den yo' take den ovah heah an' yo' put two. Dat's six isn't it? Don' chew see? All right. Well, den yo' take two mo' of dem an' turn 'em down - on de opposite side, yes. Well, now dat'll be eight, isn't it? Dat leaves a odd one, isn't it? Take de odd one an' stick it right in de middle.
(Right in the center?)
Yeah. (You have four parallel pins and the ninth [fifth] crossing. Now wait! At one end you have the two in the shape of the "v" and then at the point of the hat you have two in the shape of a "v". And then in that triangle you have the four "v's" parallel, four up and two are down. Then you have the ninth pin across them.) That's correct.
(Now what do you do with that?)
Now yo' take dat an' yo' will fold it lak dat, an' tote it in yore pocket or in yore pocketbook, an' it will give yo' sharp luck. An' nobody can't hurt chew.
Entry 1091
A boy was livin' down our house and he was goin' wid a girl and he quit her, and she says she gon'a have him fixed. So about a week after dat his leg swoll up, you know, jes' a kin'a roun' place like. So dey taken him to de doctor and it look like de more de doctor do for him de worser he'd git. So they taken him to a root doctor and he taken and give 'im a package, you know a piece of cloth, about as long as his leg was, and put nine needles in it and told him to, you know, when you go to sleep to lay his leg on that. And so he got all right. [The preceding medical pad for the leg is actually a hand. Many of these protective hands will be found in the following two subsections - (l) Cure and Protection, (2) Hands - and see Index.] [Wilmington, N. Car., (258), 253:4.] FOLK MEDICINE (2) [In Part One of Folk Medicine, Principles of Healing (p.361), some of the principles were given. Also, as I previously summarized: To catch a spirit or to protect your spirit against the catching or to release your caught spirit - this is the complete theory and practice of hoodoo (No. 38, p.24). We have now reached a place where specific substances must be named for guarding the uncaught spirit as well as freeing the caught spirit. Some of these substances have been described - here is a further list.]
Entry 2310
[During my collecting days I saw many hands (see 1706-1707, p.519f. and Index), but the one with the most unusual indwelling spirit or power I found at Savannah, Georgia. Its maker and owner, an old root doctor, showed me a small cloth bag containing roots - so he described the contents. This root baa he called a guard. Pointing to it he said, "That [[bag]] is the Spirit of Jesus." This substantiates my remark in introductory note, A hand can become a fetish, even a part of oneself (p.519). More interesting than the Spirit of Jesus, this old man himself is a hand of Jesus - "I'm a Jesus Christ Doctor." (For this doctor, see margin-title I'm A Jesus Christ Doctor.)]
Entry 11832
"She has a guard as well as she [the other woman] had and she [first woman] say [the other woman with a guard] couldn't turn it [spell, trick, etc. back] on her." [Here we have irresistible force meeting immovable object! A hoodoo standoff! (See TWO FIGHTING "DEVIL- No.917, p.337, v.1.) As you can see, this word quard has nothing to do with sex, it is a protective device, something worn or kept in the house or elsewhere to protect its owner from hoodoo or witchcraft. Normally such pro- tection would come from a special hand, jomoh, toby, etc., one formerly prepared by a professional doctor. In other words I found guard rare compared to the more usual names.]
Entry 12399
"An' if it's anything sprinkled at chure home...well, yo' go to work, you get a [new] box of lye, you knock a hole through that [box of] lye. You don't take any of it out. You put it underneath your steps an' that lye'll per- tect the home. See, that ole stuff that was put down, it [lye] kills it." [New Orleans 1120:4.]
Entry 12630
If you throw red pepper in departing person's tracks, he will stay away or cannot hurt you. [Richmond 293:6.]
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 13049
Whut ah heard wus dis. Yo' could take a silver dime, if it's any- thing yo' could walk ovah, an' put it on yore laig - see, each laig - an' as yo' walk ovah, dat silver dime would ketch onto dat harms, see, dat's down fo' yo'. [Notice those words down fo' you. Theoretically loo people could walk over that dime and not be hurt. The intention is for a specific person or perhaps a family.]
Entry 13052
If you are wearing a dime on your ankle to protect yourself and it turns dark, you have been tricked. [Deal Island 24:4.]
Entry 737
Well, oftentimes fellahs carries a lucky piece in dere pocket. Maybe it be lodestone or John de Conker or five-finger grass or some kinda perfume in lodestone - oftentimes fellahs carries it. An' den sometimes fellahs has a pocket-piece like dis dey carries fo' luck. Dat's a piece of John de Conker [he shows it].
(How do you prepare this?)
Well, yo' take it an' yo' put it in a little bag like dis [he shows it].
(In a red flannel bag.)
In a red flannel bag. Yo' take a piece of lodestone an' put in that bag with it an' yo' take a little bit of sachet powders an' put in dat bag. Yo' take a silver dime an' put it in dere between de lodestone an' High John de Conker root. Take yo' a piece of white thread an' carry it round dat-a-way nine times. Yo' carry it round dat-a-way nine times an' take it right in dere wit yore finger an' bring it right dis way nine times. Tie it into nine knots. (Now wait a minute. The first time you carry this thing away from you or towards you?) You carry it away from you nine times.
(On this side here you tie a knot?)
No sir, yo' don't tie no knot - yo' jes' carry it heah.
(You just hold it there?)
An' hold it there, yo' understand, an' make a loop ketch it - don't tie nc knot atall, make a loop ketch it. Bring it back to yo' nine times. An' yo' bring it back to yo' then nine times an' tie nine knots in it right in de center like that. All right, yo' carry it this-a-way nine times.
(Nine times lengthwise - away from you?)
Yes sir - right this-a-way nine times. All right yo' git done with it an' yo' take a straight pin an' stick right down in there - right in de top. Take dis bag an' yo' tie it real tight - tie in de top like dat an' wear it either up heah or in yore left pocket.
(Either under your heart or in your pocket.)
Or either in yore left pocket.
(And what is that bag supposed to do for you?)
Dat supposed to give you luck - drive away de evil spirits an' bring luck an' success an' make friends wit everybody - yore enemies will be yore friends, fellahs who don't like yo' will come tuh like yo'. Ah've got a piece of dis John de Conker [which he had just showed to me] supposed to be good fo' dat. Yo' supposed tuh use it wit holy oil. Dere's a oil dat yo' use wit it - it's a little red oil, dey call it de holy oil. Yo' have to order it. Yo' takes dis oil an' yo' keeps it 'nointed wit dis - keep dis root anointed wit dis oil. [The technical word for anointing is often called feeding.] An' when yo' git ready tuh leave home dat mawnin' yo' take some of dis oil an' po' it in yore han' an' rub it on yore han' dat-a-way an' rub it cross yore chest like dat - jes' like that. (Your right on your shoulder and you bring it down across your chest. And your left hand you have on the right side and bring it straight across.) Straight across it like that. An' while yo' doin' that why says de Our Father prayers.
(That's when you go down to get a job from the boss?)
Yes sir.
(That little red bag like that - where do you get those, buy them?)
Ah ordahs 'em.
(Oh, they have draw strings on them.)
Ah ordahs 'em from Tennessee.
(From Memphis - the Curio Products Company?) [That probably surprised him.)
Yes suh. Ah makes a straight nail for runnin' a person crazy by usin' three strands of dere hair in a pine tree -
(Oh, you told me that.)
Entry 896
I had a uncle, he went crazy and stayed crazy about, I reckon about three years. They kep' him home that long and then they sent him to Goldsboro [North Carolina, to the asylum] and he stayed up there a long time. And so a few years back they went and got him and brought him back home and he was still crazy. So they sent for a fellah from down South to come down here. He told 'em that he'd cure him for twenty-five dollars. So he taken and brought a big bottle of medicine there for him, root medicine, give him that. Then he put somepin under the steps for him so nobody couldn't git in there to do him no harm. He wouldn't let him take nothin' that nobody give him. He took a little bag and got some kind of sand, they say he went to the graveyard and got some sand, and put some more little stuff in that, some rocks he brought with him, and wrahpped it up right tight and put it under the steps. He had to go to the [Wrightville] Sound to git some salty water to soak it in, throwed it all over that stuff, he says, so nobody couldn't git it up. And then he give him somepin to wear. He give him a belt to wear right next to his meat and put a dime on each one of his legs. And he come to git all right.
Entry 1116
You get bazley. You take this bazley and you boil it. (You mean this vaseline out of a bottle?) No, bazley - it grows like a - smells sweet. (Basil?) Basil - sweet basil, they call it.
(Is it a flower?) [I still was not too certain.]
It's a leaf - it grows - you plant it - you gets the bazley seeds and you plant it, and it grows and it smells nice and is good around the place. Now, you take that bazley and you take some of those leaves and you boil 'em. And you take that water and you get you a handkerchief and, for instance, put it in a bowl with fust a little - that little water you boiled it in - and take it and do all this [demonstrates].
(Just wipe or wash yourself down.)
Bathe yourself with that - bathe yourself with that for nine mornings and they can't do you no harm.
(This sweet basil - is that called sweet basil?)
Basil - you buy it at the seed store and you plant it.
(Is this a kind of a flower?)
It comes up like it has a little flowers on it when it's going to seed.
(What color are those flowers?)
Little white flowers. [Good.]
(White flowers.)
And sweet smell all over - you can just put your hand over it like that and smell it - nice basil, sweet basil.
(Now, after you bathe that way, then what?)
Just throw that water out for nine mornings and they can't do you no harm.
(Just throw that water any place?)
Any place.
Entry 1309
De objec' of de graveyard dust - now, we'll have tuh git dat graveyard dust a sutin [certain] way. Now, yo' gotta pay nine cents. That's, yo' might say, buyin' spirits from de graveyard to perteck yo'. Yo' see whut ah mean. Take nine cents an' carry it to a graveyard, an' go to a pusson who hasn't been dere grave, who hasn't been dead fo' very long, somepin lak two or three yeahs, somepin lak dat. Dat ain't too long. An' go right about midways of their heart of the body - 'bout where dey heart is. Yo' drives it down in dere about eight or ten inches, an' drop that nine cents there and bring up that much dust - see. When yo' bringin' up dat dust, yo' say, "I git chew in de Name of God de Father God de Son, to protect me in all affairs of life." See. Yo' take that an' yo' compose it with that same salt, sulphur an' stuff. That keeps that spirit alive an' full of activity an' vigor - watch fo' him, see.
Entry 1436
Do you know what rattlesnake marster is? (I have heard of it, I have never seen it.) Well, you get a small piece of that and a small piece of John de Conker root - de High John de Conker root and a new dime and a piece of lodestone, and yo' sew dis into a little bag called a toby [another name for hand]. Sew it up and yo' kin either put a piece of red flannel or shammy skin - sew that up in it and keep it into yore left pocket always and never let anyone touch it. If you do that, 'that is a Wonderful thing.
(What will that do then?)
That will prevent anyone from harming you.
[For rattlesnake master and knots, see No. 1126, p.418.]
[Rattlesnake master - a name for several plants said to cure rattlesnake bite: Liatris squarrosa and L. scariosa, and Eryngium aquaticum of southeastern U. S. A. All plants of the genus Liatris are called button snakeroot.]
Entry 1517
Well, you take a silver dime and you tie nine knots in a cord string and you wear them in turpentine [knots soaked in turpentine, see Turpentine title later] - [or] six of them in green coal oil, and you bore a hole in that dime and wear it around your ankle, and you take the dust that you bored the hole outa that dime and put it in vaseline and make a salve and rub it around your waist, and they can't do you anything. Yes, if they put it down for you, it won't take on you. That silver, it'll keep it from taking on you. [No question asked at the time indicated I thought I knew the meaning of green coal oil. This could be crude oil, green indicating unrefined rather than color; otherwise, a coal oil (kerosene) colored green sounds like a hoodoo commercial firm product. The choice is between 9 knots in turpentine or 6 in qreen coal oil.] [New Orleans, La., (851), 1317:6; informant "excellent."] 011.
Entry 1533
If someone is tryin' tuh do yo' evil, well yo' begin tuh take yo' some prayahs. Yo' takes a prayah outa de Bible. Yo' takes one pod of peppah, red peppah, two silvah dimes - dat's twenty cents. Yo' takes de pod of de peppah an yo' puts it into a cloth an' yo' grinds dat peppah an' salt togethah jes' as a powdah an' yo' sews it up in a bag an' yo' keeps it undah de bottom of yore feet always - don' nevah go without it. Take dat dime [two dimes] an' dat peppah an' put it all undah yore foot an' always wear it, an' de ones dat is trying tuh do it, if yo' git their name, yo' kin write their name down, which is nine times, an' put hit in yore shoes. An' wear it jes' with that peppah an' it's no harm dat dey kin do to yo'.
(You wear one of those pods under each foot then?)
Under each feet. (Each has a dime an' each has a piece of pepper and each has some salt in it and their name?) Yassuh, each one of their name in dat shoe.
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 1642
[This rite and the following one are examples of the well-known scrubs of New Orleans, which offer protection against anything, even the law. More of them will be found under subsection Business and Customers.]
(You say you get up early in the morning. What time is that?)
Roun' six o'clock or five o'clock in the morning.
(Yes, and you do what?)
You get up and you take you a bucket - you understand, your wash-scrub bucket and you put you some urinate in it and put some of that incense in there. Take you some lye and pour down in there, and you come there and you scrub it - don't put no clear water at all in it. Just mix all that up together and scrub your porch, just back and forth you know, but be always scrubbin' yourself inside always. Don't never scrub yourself out. Just like you'd have to scrub, you know, just scrub this way - scrub yourself right on back in your door. Like there's a step there, you are going to scrub from your step up - bring yourself inside all the time.
(What do you do that scrubbing for?)
Well, you see, that's to keep them from putting anything - from planting anything around your home to harm you. They can't do anything.
Entry 1936
Take graveyard dirt an' put it in yore pocket - graveyard dirt an' Sampson snakeroot an' blacksnake root an' measure it. [Three ingredients.]
(Measure what?)
De blacksnake root when yo' take it up. Yo' measure it de length of yore finger, de blacksnake root.
(Which finger?)
It either be's [these] two or dese two - this or the other one [demonstrates]. Ah don't know, don't want be positive.
(Either two of the fingers of the right hand.)
Yes sir. They take three of those Sampson snakeroot an' measure 'em, den dey take three of blacksnake roots an' measure 'em, an' weave 'em together with raw cotton thread, weave 'em together, an' put 'em in dey pocket, an' git some grave- yard dirt an' put in it.
(What is that supposed to do then?)
That is luck - luck to win. Or way back in slavery time that was luck to keep yo' boss from whuppin' yo'. Ole people carried dat - dat's all dey had to pertek deyself. [Informant born 1858.]
Entry 2126
Now, if yo' tryin' tuh hol' a place an' somebody don't want chew tuh stay in dat place, yo' take yo' ten [eleven] nails an' yo' nail 'em in yo' do'- sill an' den put dat do'sill [door saddle] on top of 'em an' put chew one penny an' nail dat one penny down. Nobody can't cause yo' tuh move or do anythin' else wit chew dere.
(You put ten [eleven] nails in a row under the saddle of the door?)
Right undah dat do'sill.
(And also a penny under there - nail it down.)
Nail one [nail] through de penny.
(You nail one of the ten [eleven] through the penny?)
No, de 'leven one through de penny, but let de 'leven - let de penny be in de middle an' have five on each side.
(But you use eleven nails?)
Dat's right. But de ten nails is substantial [necessary structurally], but dat penny is fo' protection becus it's got a image on de haid watchin' fo' yo'. [The ten nails merely hold the removed saddle in place. A symbolist could see them as the ten fingers of the human hands, meaning a guarding hand (hand) on each side of the concealed hand - the nailed penny. For nail as hand, see margin-title later.]
Entry 2128
[A few prices for hands have already been given - here are more:]
I had one man make a hand for me once. He tole me he was going to make me a lucky hand and he charged me $50 for it. As long as I had that hand he claimed I'd always be lucky. I was lucky for about three weeks and luck began to change with me. I'd paid him for his hand then. So I went to see what was in this hand. And I began to look. And there was some black pieces of stuff that looked like lodestone, and a whole lot of hair, it looked like horse's hair, and some clay, red blood it looked like, all wrapped up nice in two pieces of rag and sewed over again with a piece of canvas bag. I paid $50 for that. The canvas bag was grey and the rags was black. I was supposed to put that around my neck and keep it over my heart. Wear it all the time, even at night. You keep that hand so no- body can fix you, and you will always be lucky.
Entry 2234
In case yo' an' me are bootlegging an' ah wanta keep de law away from you, well it's a weed dey calls de rattlesnake marster. [I had been called a bootlegger before - see No. 808, p.279.] (Did you tell me why they call it the rattlesnake master?) It's de master of all snakes - it's de rattlesnake master, it conquers ev'rything. Well, it grows out heah - ah intend tuh bring it down heah an' show it to yo so yo' kin know. Yo' see it has wide leaves on it jes' lak dat an' yo' gits two of 'em - it's a he an' a she. De she one de leaves is got speckled splotches on it - red, jes' lak blood; an' de he one ain't got it on dere. You see you put that in two cans an' sell it. Yo' see those pair goes together. Yo' see yo' sets dem on each side of yore door an' no sheriff or nobody kin interfere wit yo' atall. (If you are bootlegging.) [For rattlesnake master identity, see No. 1436, p.469.]
Entry 2243
Dey tell me yo' go tuh work an' git chew some John de Conker an' some rattlesnake marster an' blacksnake root [three roots] an' git chew three new needles. Put de needles right up ovah yo' do' there yo' see, an' keep dat John de Conker, rattlesnake marster an' de blacksnake root in yore pocket.
(That will keep the law away?)
Keep de law away.
Entry 2251
If de law's botherin' yo', yo' go to work - see, yo' happen to go to another fellah yo' hear talk of [from] somebody dat he kin do [your work]. Well, he'll tell yo' dis - say, "Well, ah tell yo' whut ah do, '' say, "now, if he's botherin' yo', ah'li stop him for so-an'-so much." Yo' say, "Well, if yo' stop it ah'll pay yo'." He'll go to work an' he'll fix yo' up a little bag about dat long - jest about fo' inches long. He'll put chew some black pepper in it, put chew about eight grains of spice an' he puts chew nine grains of red pepper, an' he'll put chew in about a little piece of saltpeter 'bout big as a black-eyed pea, an' he'll put chew in about three grains of'sulphur. An' he'll take dat, see, an' den he'll wrop a silk thread string - sew it wit silk thread. Yo' take dat den an' yo' wear it in yore pocket. An' any time de officers come by yore place, why, yo' have nuthin tuh do when dey come in talk wit chew - run yore han' in yore pocket an' jest kinda roll dat round in yore hand, in yore pocket. Every once in a while kinda take yore hand out an' do somepin lak dat [demonstrates]. Yeah, jest rub it ovah yore face, yo' see, an' put it back. An' he'll pass right on by yo' an' dere's no kick to come. [Rolling is a common magic rite - see following margin-title St. John's Water.]
Entry 2346
Mop in turpentine, bluestone an' dragon blood an' dat'll keep de law away; an' sprinkle lye aroun' yore house, aroun' de steps, all de way round de house.
Entry 2694
Well, just like if you thought someone was doing you something - trying to harm your house or your home or something - you pour that [urine] around your house and also this here consecrated [concentrated] lye with the hog on it. [Hog roots out things.]
(With the hog on it? Or a pig?)
Uh-huh.
(With the hog on it or the pig, you mean?)
[This was new to me. I wanted to be certain.]
You seen consecrated lye got a hog on a can, a pig. (I haven't seen the hog on the can but I know what the lye is. They have to have a hog on that can?) Yes. That's the best - it's got a big old fat pig on it. Well, you sprinkle that round your house and that'll keep people from harming you.
(You sprinkle it all over with that chamber lye?)
You don't have to mix it - just either one of them's supposed to cure any kind of harm. Another thing that you kin do - just like women you know have lots of men they can get money from. They call it tricky [tricking] you know. Well, on Monday morning and Friday morning you get up, sweep and scrub your house with this lye what I'm talking about now.
(This hog - this concentrated lye.)
That's got the hog on the side of the can. And you mix it with sugar and yo' urinate in it - use chamber lye. And you'll be successful.
(That's to bring in trade.)
Yes.
Entry 2762
Well, my wife.
(You what?)
[He's a little hesitant, nervous at first.]
I had went there over the river for my wife - to Miss Helen. [Long pause.]
(Yes?)
Yes, sir. My wife had left me. [Long pause.]
(Yes. All right.)
So, when she left me, I went over in Algiers to a lady by the name of Miss Helen.
(Miss Helen?)
Yes, Miss Helen.
(I see. All right.)
So she charged me $50. So ah paid her $25 down. So she called me in a room like this [my interviewing room at Patterson Hotel]. So she sat me down and so she made me take everything out of my pockets.
(How was the room - was it decorated or furnished with anything?)
It had candles. It had an altar - like an altar. It had candles.
(How many candles were there?)
They had about twenty diff'rent candles.
(Different?)
Some reds - some blue - black - green.
(Anything on the walls?)
Anything on the walls? No, they didn't have anything but some pictures on there. [Pictures of saints?]
(I see. Was she dressed in any special way? This Miss Helen?)
Yes, she was dressed at that time when she called me in. They told me to wait a minute she Was busy, but in a short while she dressed and she called me in. Well, she had a hat like a cap on, a silk cap, and a big robe - a robe on. You know, a robe.
(A robe?)
A robe, yes sir.
(Any special color - different colors?)
It was a purple robe.
(Purple robe?)
Yes, sir, with a big key - a chain with a big key like the oldtime door key hanging in front of her. (I see. Now, tell me when you went to visit her, just exactly what she told you - everything she told you to do, now. All right.) Well, when she told me, she say for me to go ahead and burn a candle.
(Wait a minute. What about your pockets? She told you about your pockets?)
Yes, sir, she told me to take everything out of my pockets and I done taken everything out. And I left some silver money in my pocket and when I left the silver money in my pocket, she say, "You ain't right, ' says, "ah cain't do any- thing for you 'cept you take everything out."
(Why did you keep that silver in your pocket?)
[I was trying to discover whether silver was for protection.]
I didn't want to come up with all my money.
(Oh, I see. I see.)
And so, after I take the silver money out, I lays it on the table. All right, she takes the other money out of the pocketbook and she lay it all down straight. She asked me, did I stay in town or did I stay out of town. I told her I was staying out of town. Then I was in Vicera. I was staying out of town at that time. She say, "Well, how much is your train fare?" I told her my train fare was $3.35 at that time.
(You were staying where?)
In Vicera.
(In Vicera, Louisiana. I see. All right.) [Nearest I can come to name.]
So she asked me what was the price of the train fare. So I told her the train fare. So she put the money aside and so, she said, "Well, I charge you $50." I say, "I haven't got $50." She say, "How near up to $50 you can come to?" I say, ''$25." She say, "Well, all right." And so she writ me out a receipt and when she writ me out a receipt she give me the receipt but it didn't have no price on it. So she tole me, "Don't send no money by the mail, just send it in a plain letter." So I sent her money just like she said. I sent $5.00 on the first pay- ment. She asked me how I got paid. I told her I got paid according to what I was doing - that I was picking, picking cotton. And so she said to me, "Well, all right." She said, "Don't send the money in no letter - registered letter. She say, "Send it just like - put it in there - a bill - you put it in there." She say, "I'll get it all right." So, I says, "All right." So, I written back to her to lets see if she got the money. So I didn't get my wife back at that time. See? But finally I got her back, but now I don't know if I got her back through that way or not. (What did she tell you to do? To do anything special? What did she tell you to do? Did she do anything?) Well, she told me to send a pictchure back.
(Her picture back.)
And she said I was crossed - see, the reason my wife left.
(Did she tell you how?)
She say how I was crossed. She say the woman had taken my thing and measured it and tied nine knots and put it around her waist. And say that there was some- thing buried - my pictchure was buried underneath the steps, beside the steps'. So she told me where I could find that pictchure. But I found that pictchure though.
(I see. Now, who took that measure? Your wife or some other woman?)
The wife takes it - it's supposed to be my wife what taken the measure of it on the cord. See. Nine knots they put in it. (Now, this woman Madam Helen, she didn't do anything - give you any treatment or anything when you were in her room did she?) No, she give me some powder.
(What did she call that?)
It's luck powder.
(Iuck powder.) )
She give me some other stuff they call van-van. (Well, what did she tell you? How to handle those or anything? What you were to do with them?) She say that when I pass by the house I throw it - throw it over my shoulder. And she give me another thing by the name of John the Conker root. She told me to chew that, see. And she give me another oil to keep and rub, see. She say nobody could hurt me after that.
(I see. What kind of oil was that?)
That was a green looking oil.
(It had no name?)
No name.
(I see. And your wife finally came back?)
She finally came back.
Entry 2764
Well, my wife, she was what you call goofer dust. [For Goofer Dust, see pp.222-227.] It was put down on the step for her. In the morning she used to have to go to work very early, you know. And in the morning she come out be- fore leaving-time, come out to clean up the step - didn't have any idea that any- one was harming her, was out to harm her. She stepped in some stuff - it was very white. And that night she came home and she said - that evening late she kind of got a little ailing in her head, you know, hurting. Didn't pay.much attention to it. Well, probably for a week or so later she didn't pay any atten- tion and finally it begin to swell on her. It swell and she went to the doctor and the doctor never could reach her sickness in no way. Well, she was talking to an old lady. Well, this old lady is kinda two-head, a two-headed woman. So she told her, she said, "Daughter, you're hurt." She said, "Your leg is not infected in no way; you never stepped on nuthin or caused a bruise to have this swelling, or something like that." She say, "I want you to go to somebody that can do you some good." She didn't tell her to come to her. So she sent her across the river to a woman by the name of Miss Helen.
(Miss Helen?)
Madam Helen.
(Madam Helen. All right.)
She sent her over there and she goes over there, and the minute she got in there, the woman didn't asked her her name or nuthin, she told her just what she came in there for. She told her, say, "You're hurt." She says, "There's a woman wants your husband," she say, "and she figure by hurting you in some way like that that he'll go off and leave you because you are not able to work." You know. [The husband is telling this.] Well, the woman she told her, she say, "Now, I can take care of you." She say, "I'll charge you $20," she say, ''$20 and I'll put you sound and well again." She say, "And if you want to, I can put it across back on the people." Well, she say, "No, all I want to do is get my- self straight," she say, "I don't have to worry about her." So, I taking her back over there - it was every Wednesday she had to go there. Every Wednesday she had to go there 'fore nine o'clock in the morning - 'fore nine o'clock. Well now, she had a dominic hand. You know what is a dominic hand?
[I did know, though there is momentary confusion here.]
(A hand?)
A dominic - dominic hand.
(A dominic hand?)
[I evidently thought he was talking about a hand made from a domino.]
Yes, kind of like a checker - black and white.
(All right.)
[I knew what he was talking about.]
Sells it. It's a dominic hand. She took this hand. She didn't ring it like some people ring it; she just pops his neck.
(She broke his neck.) [I am repeating his his.]
[At this point my transcriber knew what informant was talking about and over every preceding word hand typed the word henl The word hen was often pronounced han or han or something else. When people were closer to country life than they are today, the word dominic was fairly common. A variation of the word appears in the following couplet: "Dominicker [speckled] sky; storm close by" - FACI, 1st ed.. 1935, No. 540, p.21. I guestion the preceding word 'sells in the text: "Sells it. It's a dominic hand [hen]." As soon as hand is replaced by hen, the word sells is nonsense. The word should be spelds [= splits from Scotland] - see one of the remedies under margin-title Zippy Tull. My informant rightly feeling that I would not understand the word spelds, changes it to pops.]
(She broke his neck.)
Popped it, yeah. She popped his neck and she catches this blood - she holds the chicken up like that [demonstrates] and let the blood drip. She let the blood drip into a little cup-like. And she takes this blood and she puts to it sulphur - it's yellow, sulphur, and some molasses and mixes 'em, turns it into a salve-like. It turns into a salve and she takes this leg and she strokes this leg down with that. Every Wednesday she do that, she stroke this leg down. She don't kill the hen every Wednesday, though. She make enough salve from that to apply. We didn't have to go but for nine Wednesday - it was nine Wednesdays she had to go. And for nine mornings what she had to do - get up every morning be- fore the sun rise, and get her some running water and bathe this leg. She bathed this leg down and after bathing this leg down, then she take a complete bath in this household ammonia and saltpeter. See. This is supposed to take the condi- tion off of her. See? And walk to the east and take a glass of water, make the sign of the cross and throw it over her left shoulder and walk away. Well, she did that for [nine mornings].
(Did she do that before she went to see Madam Helen?)
No, that was when she went to her. She told her what to do.
(No, but she did that each time just before she went over to see Madam Helen?)
Yes, she had to do that before she go there - every morning, see.
(Oh, she did that every morning?)
Yeah, every morning she do that, for nine mornings straight, but she still had to go over there nine mornings. See? That was to help to take this condition off of her. See? And after she did that for nine mornings, well, she stopped, but she continued to take this bath. See, she warned her and told her forever to take this bath because if some more harm was to come to her and if she would take this saltpeter and household ammonia and bathe herself in it, and some running water, that no evil could come to her. You understand? It would guard her - it would be some kind of a safeguard to her. Saltpeter is supposed to have, be pro- tective for all such lines of hoodooism.
(And you wife got well?)
Yes, sir, she's well and working today:
(I see. Now, what your wife got hurt with. Was it goofer dust?)
Goofer dust, yeah.
(What's that?) [See, Goofer dust, pp.222-227, and Index.]
That's a hoodoo - it's a powder. You call it goofer dust. They take it - they puts it down and you're supposed to walk on it and if you walk on it, and it get on you, it will work through the sole of your shoe and it will commence to swelling. And it will make you drag, sick - sick, you know, sick with your leg - just cause it to swell and pain.
Entry 2930
Well, say for n'instance if you are in trouble - anything of that sort.
(Anything.)
If you in trouble, you take a red candle - for n'instance, you take a red candle and you get the judge's name. You get the judge's name and you write his name like I 'fore told you, but it's a diff'rent candle - you write on the red candle. You burn that candle. (You write the name down?) Yes, sir. Down. Now, say for n'instance that you goin' to go to trial - today's the day which is the 13th. All right, you goin' to go to trial, say the 20th. Well, you might get you a subpoena to go to trial - maybe today and get that sub- poena. You got the judge's name. Well, you start from today. You get you a red candle and you burn that candle daily. See, you write that judge's name down on that candle. Now, as you writing his name down on that candle and you burnin' his name, you take and you write the judge's name down nine times on one piece of paper, and you keep that in your right shoe. You wear your underwears on the wrong side until the day of trial. And on the day of trial you still got your paper in the shoe. If that paper should happen to wear out, which some people sweats in the feet aplenty - that wears out, well, then, you write that name over nine times and put it in the right shoe again and keep your underwears on the wrong side. When you leave on the morning of court to go to trial, you turn your bed upside down. You leave the whole house in fact in - you know, the whole house upset. See. And you go ahead on to trial. When you go to trial, it won't be nothing to that. That'll be over with - without lawyer, no money or nothing.
Entry 7254
[Doctor King, my first great failure, I remember quite well. In a group of ten dissimilar men, I could still identify him: very black, very formal, very professional. Yes, he carried a medical kit! A recent arrival in Richmond, so he said, my contact man Carter found him just as he was about to leave home on a professional call. Only because Carter had an automobile, that would save time, could he see me for a few minutes to make an appointment for the following day.] If he git holta [hold of] yuh shoe, dere's a root dat yuh call stationary root. He kin take yuh shoe an' shave off a li'le dust, off dat root, an' put it in yuh shoes. An' yuh kin put yuh shoe back on yuh feet, yuh unnahstan', an' dere ain't nuthin yuh kin do. Yuh unnahstan'? Well, if yuh wan'a be successful or anythin' lak dat, yuh unnahstan', dere's nuthin yuh kin do. Anythin' yuh do is stationary, yuh cain't do nuthin. This stationary root is any root the mail-order firm or hoodoo drug store says it is.] [Richmond, Va., (392), 446:1.] Dere's a certain bone dat chew git a holta [hold of]. Yuh'll fin' dat bone right ovah 'is left eye. Yuh notice when anybody, somepin gon'a happen tuh any- body, yuh've heard people says, "Ah'm gon'a have bad luck, mah left eye jumpin [see Folklore from Adams County Illinois, 2nd ed., Nos.4035-4050, p.176]. It's de only sign bone yuh got. Yuh unnahstan', it's a soft bone, it's right ovah yuh left eye. Dat's de bone dat zhoo git. Now, dat's de bone dat chew waäh lak yuh do a black cat bone (see Hoodoo Pp.74-97, etc.). Keep yuh outa all dangah, any time yuh're goin' intuh trouble or goin' tuh be disappointed or anybody goin' tuh do somepin tuh yuh. Well now, listen. If yuh know a man or a woman dat dey wuh [were] undah forty-seven yeah ole, not oldah but undah forty-seven, an' if yuh know dat person, an' anybody kin git dat bone an' wrap it up in a black han'ke- chef, aftah he's daid, an' - yuh take dat bone an' put it in yuh cloz an' weah dat bone continly [continually]. An' evahthin' dat's gona happen tuh yuh, wheth- ah it's bad or it's good - when somepin gona happen tuh yuh dat's good, dis bone will git hot, yuh unnahstan', an' yuh kin feel it burnin', yuh unnahstan' fō'a short while. Now, yuh know yuh're gona git in good luck. But if yuh're gona git intuh trouble de bone will move, jis' lak yuh eye jump lak dat. It will move So dat choo kin feel it. [446:2.] Now, if yuh have a paralastic [paralytic] stroke, somebody give yuh [has given yuh] somepin, put somepin down aroun' de house [for you to walk over or touch] an' yuh cain't git along. Yuh stay sick all de time, yuh haven't got no pahtic- lah [particular] ailment, yuh unnahstan', but choo jis' pō'ly [poorly] all de time, bad health, no courage, no man of 'bility [ability] tuh make connection wit yuh wife, an' all dat kin'a stuff. Yuh absolutely know dat dere sompin wrong. Well, all right. NOW, YUH KIN DEDICATE AN' KILL ANYTHIN' DAT IS AROUN' YUH HOUSE AN' IT WON'T HAVE ANY POWAH TUH IT AN' YUH GIT WELL. [Doctor King Says to dedicate and kill an animal around the house will not cure no courage. The killing of animals as a remedy for impotence is common in Hoodoo: ants, Nos.31ll-3112, p.2342; frog, Nos.3198-3203A, Pp.2360-2362; liver of live dog, Nos.3425-2443, Pp.2411-2414; snail, Pp.2458-2470, and duckling, No.6787, p.3122.] To dedicate the animal before its death is not so apparent, except by intention. There may be in Hoodoo an example or two of real dedication.] Now, ah tell yuh [a second method] whut choo do. Yuh go tuh work an' cut a piece of cloth outa de baid [bed] when yuh be sleepin'. Unnahstan', cut a piece of cloth outa de undahgarment dat choo wheah. Set it afiah [afire] an' let it Smoke. An' git chew a handful of natchal [natural] table salt, pō' [pour] it in- tuh a bottle, an' hold dat smoke right on dat bottle an' it will fill dat bottle up wit smoke [demonstrates]. (You hold the neck of the bottle down [tilt it]. Yuh put a rag dere, de smoke goin' in de first hole it comin' in. Well, fill dat bottle up wit smoke yuh unnahstan', an' stop [up] dat bottle wit dat smoke in dere. De smoke will live, it cain't escape.
(The handful of salt is placed in the bottle before it is corked up.)
An' yuh dig a hole undah yuh step an' put it undah dere. An' yuh git well.
[346:3.]
[Doctor King gives us another impotence cure:]
Now, whu' choo [what you] gota do now, yuh gota go tuh work an' git a male horse, a stallion. Ketch some of 'is watah, yuh unnahstan'. Ketch some of 'is watah an' baz [bathes] yuhself [the penis] down in watah [stallion urine] an' dat will...yuh git chure courage [sexual potency] back. [A penciled note of mine made at the time of my pencil transcription attached reads: Do not use unless par [lparallel]] secured. This rite of perfect magic needs no parallel, though there may be one in Hoodoo or elsewhere. Since this rite was never typed I have attached to this sheet my original penciled tran- scription made a few months after the collecting.] [446:4.] Yuh [someone else] kin take yuh photograph an' go tuh de graveyard, an' walk aroun' de grave seven times, jis' lak de walls of Jericho when dey walked around it seven times de walls fell. Pick some dirt off de daid man grave an' put it intuh a envelope, an' put dis pitchure in dere. An' bring it back an' put it anywhere yuh wan'a put it, upside down yuh unnahstan', an' [the person of the picture] yuh'll pine away tuh death. [467:1.] [At the end of this brief interview Doctor King left to visit his waiting patient. Carter let him out of the automobile somewhere. Next day Doctor King failed to appear for his appointment with me. As soon as convenient Carter went after him. No one at the house had ever seen or heard of a Doctor King! Unfor- tunately the landlady Was out shopping. Normally I would probably have returned to New York City after my work in Richmond. Instead I took a flyer down to Petersburg to visit Doctor King's old address, the one he had given us. Again, no one had ever heard of him or his name. What had happened? Doctor King had probably sprinkled some of his stationary root dust in my interviewing room. At least, as far as he was concerned, we were stationary.]
Entry 10064
If yo' wanta have yuh way anywheah in de world yo' go, wanta do any- thing yo' wanta do, yo' git chew a jet black cat. Don't let 'im have no spot on 'im atall - jet black. An' yo' take dat cat an' take yo' a kettle, an' yo' go down heah tuh de swamp alone, by yo'self, no one wit chew. Put dat cat in dat kettle of watah an' put sompin on de lid tuh hold 'im down in dere. Make yuh up a fiah an' bile it [kettle] till de meat come way from dat cat bone. Aftah doin' dat yo' take all of 'is bones an' yo' go tuh a crossroads. All kinda things comin' tuh yuh, but don' chew git frightened. Don't chew git scared. Jis' stay right dere. All kinda things comin' tuh yuh: things wit no haids, no laigs, no ahms - comin' tuh yuh. But chew stay dere. An' aftah yo' stayin' dere yo' take dese bones an' yo' go back tuh runnin' watah an' throw dem in, an' de one yo' see travel up - up - yo' git dose bones. Aftah gittin' dose bones, yo' go tuh a graveyard. An' when yo' git tuh de graveyard, why yo' put dese bones down dere an' let 'em stay down dere fo' nine days. Aftah nine mawnin's yo' go back dere an' git dem bones an' yo' left yo' [you leave] nine pennies. [For paying spirits of dead in graveyard, see pp.3316-3323, v.4 and other places in HOODOO.] Dig yo' a hol' an' let dem nine pennies down dere - at de graveyard, attah yo' git de bones. Yo' put nine pennies dere. An' when yo' take dem bones, yo' take dem bones an' yo' wrap 'em up in a piece of red flannel. An' yo' weahs dese bones. An' yo'll be all right anywhere yo' done go. Nuthin'll worry yo'. Nuthin'll trouble. If yo' in trou- ble, yo' kin git out. Nuthin will hindah yuh atall. [I put in italics that wonderful expression: alone, by yourself, no one wit chew!]
Entry 10129
I have heard the old people say you get the two hind bones of a black cat's leg, both legs, they should be dried, and sew up into a woolen rag and they should be carried all the time. And you use these bones as your guard against evil spirits.
Entry 10609
What you can do for.... Well, you see, you goes and you gets some of this here Eve. Just say, "I want Eve root."
(Eve root?)
Eve root, a she Eve root.
(Wait a minute! She Eve root?)
Yes. Well, it's made something like a peanut. And you take that and you take the biggest one and you put it in your pocket, you take the smallest one, and you use it in your mouth; just like if you'd got an idea that someone Was to do you harm. Well, you take that piece and keep it in your mouth, inside of a small piece of paper or something like that, or either a little piece of clean rag. Then you gets you a glass of water, river water, and a glassful of any other kind of water - rain water like that. And you takes it and you sets it like that and you gets a Durham sack. [Evidently this is the small sack with draw string that had held Durham (trade name) cigarette tobacco.] You carries that Durham sack in nine waters - just like if you washed it once, in one water, you pour that out and you wash it [again 8 times]. After you strain it like that, but continue on pouring the water down in the same place until you gets it like that, about so high. And you leave it setting for nine days. After the nine days... (Wait! You have this Durham sack and you wash it in one water and then you pour this water in a container. Then you get some more water and wash it again, the second time. You wash it nine times. And all this water you save in another container.) You just keep it there.
(I see. All right.)
Until you get it later - until you get a glassful, just in the amount, that amount in nine times. Then you take that water and you puts it inside of a jar, or either a keg, you know.
(Any kind of an old can.)
Just any kind of a can.
(Oh! a can. A can, all right.)
And after that you leave it set for three or five days [odd number of days]. And after you've taken it out from there, you get some this here parchment paper. Parchment paper. And you write your name - 7 - 3 - 5 - [odd numbers] but you write it just coming. Don't write it straight across, just coming cater-corner you write it. And afterwards you take that and you get he Eve roots. Well, then, you takes it and you mash it up. And every morning you wake up, you take some of that, wash your face and head like that, all the way down - just a little on your hands. No way in the world for anybody to move you or do you any kind of harm.
(I see. Where do you get this ''he" Eve root?)
In the drug store.
(And you say it looks just like a peanut?)
Just like peanut and it's got...
(Are there any nuts inside of it?)
No, nothing. And it's just like a peanut but only it got a fine little string, just like a kind of string between there to hold it. Then it's got this she Eve root, you see. And you take this she Eve root and you just mash it up...
(Wait! The "she" [or] "he" [Eve] root? You mean a "she" Eve root?)
Yes, then you got the she Eve root. Then you take that and you keep it in your pocket. Now, look, even you could - afterwards, you could come along - after that going on, and if you cause - done want to make anybody drift. (Now, wait a minute! After you've used that "he" Eve root in this water, then yoa would carry that piece of she Eve root in your pocket. I understand nou. Now, you are going to tell me something different now, another story. All right, tell me the next one now.)
Entry 249
Ah haven't heard 'em say nuthin' much about it, but ah has understandin' in dis way. Ah've been travelin' wit roots purtty good fo' awhile [for a pretty good while]. Ah'm twenty-eight years old an' ah had about eighteen years in it. See. An' ah went tuh a root man an' he explained it tuh me in dis way: Jes'if yo'wanta have luck yo' kin tote some de roots, dey say, "De Lawd is mah green pasture - -ah shall not want. He'p me to de green pasture." An' walk around de house three times befo' goin' tuh bed. Seven steps from de do' walk in back- wards, an' den he give de stuff to rub ovah yo' - yore han's, an' den yo' go to bed. De next mornin' yo' go roun' one time - dat's fo' luck.
[I did not record his story; now I want him to repeat it.]
(What kind of luck?)
Well, fo'gambling.
(You went to this fellow to get this luck?)
Ah went tuh him fo' two kinda lucks. Ah went to him fo' gamblin' an' ah went to him 'cause ah wus runnin' a business.
(This is what he did for you - told you what to do?)
Yes sir.
[Cylinder changed - I talk while changing.]
(You went to this root man for luck in gambling and luck in business. Now, just what did he do when you went there? Tell me the whole story.) When ah went dere, it was a good while befo' ah could see 'im, an' after ah went in an' tole mah position an' tole him whut ah needed an' everythin', he grabbed me in de pam of mah hand an' when he grabbed me in de pam of mah han' he tole - tole me de history of mah life an' tole me whut kind of shape ah was in - whut wus gon'a come an' whut was gon'a be happen, an' he say it'd [it would] take twenty dollahs tuh stop it. So after ah paid him, he fixed up de little bag of roots an' give 'em tuh me, an' ah left. An'befo' ah left he wrote me a story tuh tell [Psalm 23?] an' so after ah left den, he wrote me den fo' tuh come back up dere an' ah went back up dere an' ah tole him dat de officers wus givin' me right smart of trouble. An' he tole me, said, "Well, it will cost yo' eight dollahs to stop it." An' he wrapped me up a bag of dat tuh stop de officers, an' dey did stop. Dey stopped botherin' me any atall, after ah used it, an' he tole me how to use it. Drink three glasses of watah.
(Well now, wait a minute - the story. I want to straighten it out.)
The whole limit [?] of it?
(That's right.)
Well, mah uncle come from Florida an' he wus goin' down dere an' he tole me, said, "Come on, git in de car an' let's go down dere." So ah went down dere wit 'im. He went in dere first an' he give me twenty dollahs tuh go in dere. So after [afterward], ah went in dere an' explained it to de fellah an' he explain it back tuh me 'bout how much it cost.'Well," he say, "yo' be fixed up an' ah guarantee it - if yo' don't, yo' git chure money back." So after he [doctor] went in dere, him an' his wife fix up de stuff, a snake - whut ah mean, he brung a cup in dere but it turn into a snake an' it crawled through mah han'. An' he said, "Don't git nervous - if yo' do, it won't work so good." An' after ah did it, did whut he say, ah wus a little nervous; but ah kinda changed it when he brung de second snake in, an' ah got brave an' ah left. So dat worked pretty good. (Forget what you told me before. I want to begin right at the beginning and tell the whole thing. I don't know a thing about it, now. Now, tell me right from the beginning, all the details, the whole story. First, why did you go down to see this man? Tell me from there.) ['My voice a little exasperated" - this is my notation when I listened to the cylinder to check the transcriber's tran- scription.] Well, ah wus in bad luck, an' mah uncle come by an' ah told him 'bout it. An' he say, "Well, ah'm goin' tuh see a man to he'p me out on mah bolito in Florida. An' us went down dere an' after us got to de man, he [uncle] went in first. An' he give me twenty dollahs fo' me tuh go in. An' ah went in dere an' den de man commenced tuh workin' on me an' tole me how much he would charge. An' after he tole me how much he charge an' ah tole him it would be all right, he got de Bible an'read a verse in it. An' he went back an' got his wife. She brung a cup in dere an' it turnt into a snake or de snake wus in de cup. De snake crawled through mah han' an' he tole me not to git nervous. Well, ah did got nervous.
(Why did he tell you not to get nervous?)
Well, he said it wouldn't work, if ah got nervous - dat it wouldn't work. So de second time ah did not git nervous of de snake. So he fixed up fo' de gambling an' ah come on out.
(What did he give you?)
He give me a little root - a little bag full.
(Well, didn't he tell you how to use this stuff - or something?)
Yes sir.
(Well, tell me what you told me before - how you were to use this stuff.)
Well, yo' take it an' yo' walk around de house three times, walk seven steps away from de steps an' walk in backwards an' go in an' lay down. De next mawnin' vo' hol' a quarter up to de sun or a dollah - either one, it don't make not much diff'rent. An' after you hold dat quarter up dere yo' say, "Lawd he'p me through de green pastur [pasture]." An' after yo' say dat, yo' walk around de house one time - yo' say, "Lawd is mah shepherd, ah shall not want." Den run yore han' an' take some of dat stuff - yo' put it [the root bag] in whiskey [this is feeding the hand] an' den yo' rub it ovah yore face, yore arms. An' dat's for de luck in gamb ling.
(Then what happened - you said you went back the second time?)
Yes sir.
(What happened - you had a little trouble again?)
Yes sir - de polices wus givin' me trouble 'bout selling whiskey an' gambling. Well, ah went to him de second time an' ah told him. He wrote to me an' ah wrote him dat ah would be up dere on a Wednesday. Ah went up dere on a Wednesday an he tole me - ah tole him dat ah wus havin' bad luck from de polices runnin' me an' getting me fo' whiskey. An' he say, "Well, ah got a idea fo' dat." An' so ah went on in den - went in dis little room an' he got a room to tell yo' every diff'rent thing in. So ah went in one room an' ah tole him how de polices did tuh ketch me, an' so he tole me, say, "Well, it take eight dollahs to stop it." An' after he tole me it would take eight dollahs to stop it ah paid him, an' he give me a little hand to tote in mah right pocket all de time, an' when de polices - during de time dey supposed to travel dat beat, jes' roll mah jomoo an' dey'd pass on by. Well, ah tried it an' it worked. So ah left.
Entry 189
Dat's a wanderin' spirit. (The wandering spirit is that whirlwind. Do they ever do anything with that whirlwind?) No suh. But yo' kin ketch some of de dirt as it fly an' carry [hold] it ovah, an' if dere's any witches be riding, dat kin stop de witches from ridin' yo'.
(How would they do that?)
Dey'll give yo' somepin tuh put on yore bed.
(What will you do with that dirt?)
Carry it to de man - root man.
Entry 199
Ah know one thing 'bout it - yo' kin go out tuh de fo'ks of de road if it's anything yo' wanta do to anyone, yo' kin go tuh de fo'ks of de road - or anything yo' wanta learn - yo' kin go tuh de fo'ks of de road an' sell yo'self to de devil of co'se. But yo' kin run a person off from dey home. Dey kin have evah sech a nice home but yo' could go tuh de fo'ks of de road an' git nine grain of sand, say, "Ah'm gittin' dis fo' puhtection fum yo' - ah want chew tuh puhtec' me." Git nine grains of sand, "Ah want chew tuh puhtec' me fum all things - ah want chew puhtec' me in mah home. Mah home is gotten bad an' ah want chew tuh puhtec' me in dis nine grains of sand." An' yo' take dem nine grain of sand an' git chew a brand new white pocket han'ke'chef an' tie dem nine grains of sand up in it. An' yo' kin go to dat fo'ks of de road fo' nine nights an' git nine grain of sand an' dat las' night yo' go an' git dat nine grains of sand, yo' kin bring it in de house an' put it up ovah yore do' an' if yo' want dat person tuh go out, dat person will go out an' dey won' nevah come in dere no mo'. Dat will do 'way wit dat person altuhgethah.
(That person who is bothering you - you do that for protection?)
Yes. [Sumter, S. Car., (1365), 2413:3.] [This subsection, in addition to animals as spirits, introduces that amazing animal, the doctor's or witch's assistant.]
Entry 242
If people keep coming there and you don't want 'em there, well, you kin go to a hoodoo. Miss Young, this lady I know.
(You go to Miss Young, you say?)
Yes.
(What does she do, you say?) [I am asking him to repeat.]
Say, she sit you down and have a long snake. Well, dis isn't much about it what I know about it. See, that snake have - talk like a human, and she say [to the snake], "What he ask you, you tell it to him." And so then she give you a little bag. And she say, "You go there and whilst they setting down, ' say, "you just take this little powder out of this and just sprinkle on their back behind." And she say, "They'll stay away from your house." (You said, when you go to see this Miss Young, you see a snake - you say a large snake?) Yes, a large snake.
(Well now, a large or a live one?)
A large and a live one - he's large and he's alive.
(And you say that snake talks?)
Yes sir.
(What did he talk about?)
Well, they never told me that.
(You said, it told you [not my informant] what to do.)
Whatever you tell - whatever that snake tell you, you tell dem.
(Tell whom?)
Tell de people you wanta stay away from your house.
(I see.)
[The client asks Miss Young's snake a question. The snake answers. Ventril- oquism? I doubt it. The snake talks into Miss Young's ear and she repeats what the snake says to her. A good example of the routine will be found under the margin-title Earphone in subsection Diagnosis.]
Entry 280
Dey tell me yo' kin take a black cat an' put him in a pot 'live, see, an' boil him. Now, when all de flesh boil offa him, yo' takes him to a branch. See, take dose bones to a branch. De lucky bone hit comes to de top; it doesn't leave - it circle right round. Yo' gits that yo' see an' after that then yo' comes back to de fork of the road fo' fo' nights, an' those fo' nights yo' sees one of fo' diff'rent men - fo' [for] each night yo' come, a man tuh each night. See. An' he will give yo' somepin, speak to yo' plainly an' tell yo' whut that are, to keep yore enemies away from yo' - to keep anybody from doin' yo' any harm or whatevah.
(Four different men - what do you do with that black cat bone then?)
Well, on dat black cat bone yo' kin git money, go to stores an' things - nobody can't see yo' when yo' goin'. Ah've seen dat.
Entry 326
Now dere's a whole lot 'bout dis dat a person kin do, 'cause ah sold liquor once an' mah house nevah was searched two years in dis town. But chew git - ah got holt of a kind of a powder dey calls de black cat powder, understand. Den dey take dat powder ev'ry mornin' fo' seven mornin's, go to de window where yo' got de sunrise an' say de Lord's Prayer, an' sprinkle dat dust - dat powder round yore house. Yore enemy can't nevah come over it. Ah sold it two years heah an' mah house nevah was searched. See, usin' dat powder, yo' understand. [This could be the Black Cat brand of talcum powder, thought by informant to come from a black cat - see Doctor Frank Hall's origin of dragon's blood.]
Entry 328
Well, ah've heard of de black cat. Yo' take dat black cat - ah've heard of dis. Yo' take him whilst he's 'live, take him an' boil him. Ketch him an' put him in hot watah an' boil him. An' yo' take dat watah an' let it cook down an' yo' take an' mix it wit sugah an' oil of bergamot an' oil of cinnamon. Aftah yo' git dat lucky bone - ah'll tell yo' dis first. Yo' take that an' have yo' a pan of watah, aftah yo boil him all tuh pieces. Den yo' take an' put it all in dat watah an' dat lucky bone will stay on top an' de others will go to de bottom. Yo' take dat bone out an' den yo' kin go by polices or anybody else. Yo' take that black cat bone an put it ovah yore do', up ovah yore do', or either undah yore step: De polices ain't comin' no further den dat. Dat's de way yo' got'a git dat bone.
(After you boiled that black cat, what do you do?)
Take an' mop yo' flo' with it [demonstrates while I comment]. (After you put that black cat bone over your door, then you use this black cat water and this oil of bergamot, that's to mop with.) With the sugah an' the concentrated lye. Put a teaspoonful dat concentrated lye in dat watah an' yo' mop yore po'ch early in de mawnin' befo' sunup. Dat keeps de police away an' draws de luck to yore house. [This is one of many ways to bring in customers - see Scrubbing and Mopping in Index.]
Entry 501
Dey only use a broom in case [what] dey call de hag or some kind of a witchcraft rides yo' at night. Dey takes an' put it 'cross de do' an' - sprinkle lot'a salt on de flo' yo' know an' den take an' put it cross de do'. Dat stops dem from comin' in.
Entry 506
Well, now, yo' kin take a broom an' jes' lay it crossways under yore bed an' dat'll stop 'em. Or yo' kin go to three crossways - go to three crossroads an' pick up a little sand outa three crossroads an' throw it up under yore bed an' they wouldn't bother yo' no mo' tuh save yore life. If dey do, ah'll eat dis hat [my black hat containing concealed microphone - see Hat, my black, in Index].
(That will stop these witches?)
Yes sir - dat'll shore stop 'em.
Entry 507
Git yo' three fat-lighter splinters; yo' take a horsehair and tie it with three crosses in it [demonstrates] - yo' cross one dis way and den lay one in that angle. [Yo' cross One (splinter) dis way (over another splinter, making letter X or cross) and den lay one (the third splinter) in that angle (of the X - like this six-pointed star the latter making three crosses).] Take that horsehair and tie it and whoever yo' think that witch is, set a chair by de side of de bed and lay it [three fat-lighter splinters tied by horsehair into three crosses] right in there overnight. If dat witch comes up dere, he will throw that out of the chair on de floor and yo' won't be worried with him any more.
(You have to throw it out on the floor?)
No, he will. He will do that himself because he comes up and sits down in dat chair and he sits on dat and it gits him and he jumps; you know, jest like if you in a chair somewheres and dere's a pin sticking in dat chair - same you, yo' jump up and put chure han' behin' yo'. Well, he throws dat on de floor.
Entry 514
Mah grandmother she used to do dat - she'd take a horseshoe. When dey put shoes on a horse - yo' know, take dose shoes off an' put new ones on, why she'd take dose shoes an' put one ovah her front door an' one over her back door; every do' she had yo' know, an' 'nother one right at de doorstep dere at de right corner. Why, she would dig a hole down dere jest about dis big maybe an' put sulphur down in dis hole an' den cover it back up. An' she den would say some kind of ole funny word dey have in dere mind, an' by dat way dey say dey keep witches away - dey wouldn't come in de house an' bother 'em.
Entry 515
If de hag rides yo', yo' gits a piece of dis rusty iron an' yo' take it an' cut it de length of de first joint of middle fingah yoah lef' han' - yoah middle fingah, an' yo' sew it up in a sack an' wear it roun' yoah neck, an' de hag won' ride yo'. Jes' lak if de hag be ridin' yo', have yo' cryin'.
(You mean that tin that comes off of roofs?)
Dat tin-iron.
Entry 516
An' then yo' kin use a knife crossways jes' lak we wus speakin' about - not straight up an' down - Jes' cross undah yore pillah - cross de bed - right crossways of yore haid, where yo' sleep at night. Dat keep 'em from ridin' yo'.
Entry 579
Ah has been told that if he has an enemy in the town that he's living in seeking to take his life. An' so he has in mind of taking a red handkerchief, using a red handkerchief as a flag or as, we might say, a protection to himself, an' he attaches it to a standing boxcar but is ready, of course, to be pulled off by an engine. An' he attaches it there an' waits until the train pulls off an' [he] stands an' looks toward that train as long as he can see it, an' if that flag that he attached to the boxcar is on there at his last sight, as long as he can see it, why that's a sign that he will have a chance to get out of the town an' he leaves. See, but, if this flag drops off beforetime, why it's a warning to him that he's to be cut off befo' evah he'll have a chance to git out of the town.
(In other words, he uses this flag to find out what's going to happen to him.)
If it's safe fo' him to stay in the town or to leave. An' if the flag stays on, why he has a chance to leave town an' will leave, but if the flag drops off, yo' see, he conceives the idea that he has no chance.
Entry 590
Yeah, you kin git a piece of lodestone and you kin go to de drug store and git you some turpentine - not de one you drink. You know some turpentine you gits you kin drink it - put on sugar or something like dat and take it, but chew don't git dat kind. You git de kind you can't - you see, you rub wit it but you can't drink it. Well, you kin take dat and if anybody tryin' to do you anything you know, you take dat and sulphur and burn it and dey couldn't do you nothing - dey couldn't stand you, dey wouldn't have nothing to do with you.
(What do you do with that lodestone?)
Well, dat lodestone, it just let you know when anything critical or wrong - you see, it just keep movin'.
(What do you mean?)
Oh, well, dat turpentine - you keep dat lodestone and den at times you jes' take dat turpentine and wet it [lodestone], chew know. And den jes' like if anybody's tryin' to do anything to you or putting down anything for yuh - well, dat lodestone, it would move, you know. You could feel it movin' in yo' pocket or somepin like dat and then you kin jus' rub yourself jest all over, you know, with dat turpentine and just burn it with sulphur an' old shoe, and that will kill that whatsomever it is.
Entry 605
Whut chew could do to pertect yo'self against it? Well, yo' kin take yo' a silver dime an' yo' kin take dat dime and put a hole in it. Yo' wear it round yore waist or yo' wrist or yore laig - any place you wanta or either round yore neck. Ah guess yo've seen dem wit dimes round dere necks hanging down. Well, whenever dat dime turns black - a dime is silver - when it begin to turn black, dey say dey trying to harm yo', see. But dey can't git up to yo' long as yo' wear dat piece of money - that silver dime. Well, yo' kin tell if they trying to throw at chew or do anything by that dime turning black.
Entry 638
Graveyard dirt kin be used in many different things. It kin be used in love cases. Well, graveyard dust, if yo' wanta use fo' protection in love cases, yo' use it wit de wonderful water.
(What is the wonderful water?)
It's got from a spring runnin' dead no'th, a spring runnin' no'th - lak dis Way, de stream dis-a-way an' de spring heah runnin' no'th. (You get this wonder water and you get this graveyard dirt. How do you prepare this thing now?) Well now, we'll come on down an' prepare it fo' yo'. Yo' git the stream runnin' no'th - de spring is ovah on whut ah would call de south side of a stream runnin' dead no'th. Be sure dat chew find a spring wit de stream runnin' no'th. Well, we takes our graveyard dust an' we gits it in a clear bottle den wit a stopper to it dat we kin stop up, an' we goes an' puts some of de dirt in de bottle an' we gits our spring wit de watah runnin' no'th - we gits dat an' put it in dere. Den when we's goin' pull a deal of any kind, we sits our bottle with this heah graveyard dust in it. Well, quite natch'l, de dust will settle to de bottom of anything. Whatevah we gits our mind on, what de object we got befo' us - whatevah it may be, whether we make good or whether we lose out. Well, we handle dis bottle - we sets it on de table so de top of it will come clear. Yo' know spring watah is clear as a crystal, an' since [if] it clear as a crystal, why we knows everything whatevah we goin' do, we know we'll put it through. We put it ovah whatsomevah it may be. Well, den, if it's not dat way clear, it not fo' our luck tuh change right at dat time, dis heah graveyard dust will come up dere an' cloudy dat water jes' lak a cloudy day - change - de skies will change. It will change within de period of fifteen minutes. It will come on up an' cloudy dat water so yo' can't be sure atall. Den we jes' keep it dere, an' whenevah we goin' tuh do anything - in love cases or whatevah we may do, we goes an' git our bottle an' set it on de table in a quiet place. It's a great magic watah - it's a magic gift. Den we use dat tuh conquer spirits, yo' see, for sech things as whut dey call hants. We use dis heah spring watah wit de graveyard dust in it.
(How would you conquer a hant in that case?)
Well, if we conquer a hant in dat case, we put a little add into dat watah - we add somepin to dat watah, we'd add sulphur. We'd add burnt sulphur, we'd burn it - we'd burn it on de watah, somepin tuh form a little clond on de watah. Den we go up on dere an' git de cloud off an' put de cloud in dere on top of dat. Dat give us mo' force to conquer de spirit - we'd keep spirits away from anything we'd go tuh do. How to make a man come back. Yo'd have tuh use dis same watah in a case lak dat - it's a mind drawin' thing: First, yo' gotta git chure mind on whatevah object yo goin' tuh undertake tuh do. An' aftah we git our mind pin on dis heah, then we sits de watah befo' us an' we looks at de watah. We naturally sits dere an' looks - sometimes it takes us hours, until we kin git contact with the party whosomevah dey may be. They mind an' mah mind contact wit each othah, an' den he'll come tuh me, at de same time whether dey wants me or not. Den if ah want tuh draw 'em back, ah'll turn de watah, ah'll git de square bottle - see, ah'll turn de square side to me, an' ah'll give dem three days tuh roll in. Dey come back an' dey send fo' me. De same watah draw 'em back - draws through de mind, yore mind an' dis othah party's mind would come in contact together an' why, quite natch'ly, yo'll see 'em in three days aftah that. That is, if yo' stay on it dat long.
Entry 754
There was a man that had a farm and people would go backward and forth through this place. There was a public road and they wouldn't go around. He Wanted them not to go through here. So all he could do to them they continued. Well, he goes to work and an old colored man [a cunjure] came along and he said, "What seems to be the trouble that you are always worrying about these people?" And he says, "I can't stop them from going through here." And the old man said, "Well, give me ten dollars and I'll stop them." He said, "I'm going to give you ten dollars in the morning, you come here." He said the next morning he came there and he says, "Come on back and see what I am telling you to do. Now give me the ten dollars." He takes some flour, he takes some salt, and he goes to the path where they get over the gap and draws a mark, an O [the letter O - that is, a circle], and he steps off a little Ways and draws an X [the letter X - that is, a cross]. He sprinkles this salt, he sprinkles this flour on both of them - the X and the O. He goes back to him and says, "They won't cross over there any more." When the old lady came there to the fence, she crawled over, and when she crawled over she seen this salt and this flour. She crawled right back over the fence. She goes back to her husband and says, "Husband, don't go over there. They done trick us across there. "'
Entry 780
Well, you see, mah husband, he wus a kinda like dis he wus jealous of me; and he wanted to run aroun' hisself, but always, if I even smiled at a man, he wanted to 'cuse me out wid dat man. And so he come to me and he'd beat me and he'd abuse me, he wouldn't - it seemed like he jis' didn't care. I tole 'im I was gon'a leave 'im and I mean' it. And he saw me talkin' to a fortune-teller man dat come to de house one day, and he sayed, "Whu' yah doin', gittin' yore fortune told?" I say, "No," I say, "he jis' come dere and wanted money for him to tell my fortune," I sayed, 'but I didn't," I sayed, '''cause I didn't have de money." I jis' tole 'im dat. So - and it went on like dat, he kept seein' de man dere. But one day he had a talk with de man. So de fortune-teller man, he would tell 'im whut he wanted to know and tell me de same t'ing: He seem to tell Bernice about me and tell me about Bernice; see, jis' breakin' peace.
(Just working one against the other.)
Yes sir. He wouldn't care, jis' so he gittin' de money - he wouldn't care. He'd tell on you jis' as quick as he would on me, and he'd tell you about me as quick as he would tell me about choo. And he tole me dat de best t ing for me to do - he said, to put a little salt and sulphah in mah shoe, and to get away from Bernice as quick as I could. And he tole Bernice sumepin 'nother. But anyhow, Bernice startin' gittin' meaner and meaner. And he must of tole 'im sumepin 'nother to do to make me stay wit 'im, aftah he saw I wus gon'a leave 'im, becuz one day he came home he gave me a quarter - I tole 'im I wanted to go to a show. He say, "Well, '' he say, "take dat, a nickel of it and git me a box of powdered sage." Dat's whut he tole me to do. And I thought it was sumepin mighty funny, becuz he had never ast de sage befo'. So when de fortune-teller man come back I tole 'im. And he say, "Joo git dis sage," he sayed, "but don' choo give it to 'im." And he said to take dis sage and a raw sweet patatah. He sayed, "Cut de sweet patatah in half and scrape some out of both sides de sweet patatah and put it on a little piece of papah, and put a pinch of dis sage in dere and a pinch of sulphah, and wrap it up and put it in de middle of your shoe, on both of 'em." I cut de patatah in half, den de piece heah, I scrape it and put it [the scrapings] in a piece of papah, den I puts some sulphah in dere and some sage, and I fold dat up and put it in one shoe; while off de othah side of de patatah, I do de same t'ing and put it in mah othah shoe. And I did dat.
(What did you do to the sweet potato?)
You throw it away. You mustn't eat any of it or nothin'. You have to bury it or eithah throw it away where nobody can find it. And so I did dat. And Bernice ast me did I get de sage. I say, "No," I say, ''and that isn't all," I say, "I'm not gon'a get it," I say, "becuz you're not gon'a be able to fix me," I say, "if I can help it." He sayes, "Huh, I wasn't gon'a fix yah." And so dat night I picked 'im.
(Started a quarrel with him.)
When he came home I picked 'im. I sayed, "Bernice, you played up nice to me," so he would tell me, becuz I know if I picked 'im I could git anyt'ing I wanted out of 'im. And he tole me. He sayed dat de man tole 'im to git some of mah hair and some sage and some sulphah and some dirt out de graveyard, and mix all of it up in a box, he sayed, and carry dat in his pocket and dat would make me stay wit 'im; you see, cuz he'd have some of my hair and some dirt from de grave- yard and a piece of lodestone. He tole 'im to git 'im a little tiny piece of lodestone and - lodestone is suppose to draw yeh - he say dat would make me stay wit 'im, jes' draw me to 'im. He wouldn't tell me who tole 'im dough [though]. And I tole de man [fortune-teller] about it and he played like he didn't know nuthin' about it. Well, he tole me to take some of mah hair, and take some dirt out of Bernice's tracks, out of both of his tracks, and put 'em in a can, and some sulphah and some sage, he sayed, and to keep dat with me. And he tole me to take some salt and sprinkle it all aroun' mah baid and put some in mah shoe and keep it in mah shoe. And I did dat and I certainly have got along good since I've been doin' dat.
(How long ago did this happen?)
Jis' about two months ago [December 1936].
(Are you still with your husband?)
No, sir.
(You were able to get away from him?)
Yes, sir. And another thing. He tole me dat if I didn't make mah get-a-way from Bernice - he tole me dis on a Sunday night - he tole me if I didn't make mah get-a-way from Bernice by Wednesday, he sayed dat Bernice wus gon'a kill me. And he saw Bernice right up de street dat same Sunday night and tole Bernice dat I wus gon'a leave 'im by Wednesday. And Bernice came right on back and tole me. He sayes, "Make your break Wednesday night if you wanna," he say, "I'll see yah in hell first." Dat's whut he tole me. And so dat Monday I lef' while Bernice was workin'. I lef' becuz I know dat all dat Wednesday he would be watchin'. And he kep' comin' back by de house, even on Monday, to see was I goin', but I managed to slip away. I haven't been back wit 'im since.
(Did he come after you, after you left?)
Oh, yes sir. He tried his best to get me to go back but I'm not. And I wear salt in mah shoe now to keep 'im from harmin' me. [The informant, a girl about 18, had just related the childhood experience given elsewhere.]
Entry 803
When ah wus 'bout twelve yeahs ole, ah used to lead one of dem expert spimits men aroun', see, and he told me a heap a things and I ain't nevah forgot it. But ah got some experient about few things mahsel' - see, ah got a family and dese things come tuh me and dere's some of de things ah learnt by being roun' people. But dere two-three things what's absolutely de truth, so help me Lawd, come to me and ah try it - pay [it pays] to try it and ah knowed it worked.
(You say you worked for one of these men?)
Oh, ah used to lead a spirchul man around when ah was about twelve. Oh, he cud tell yo' anything or he cud do anything. Ah know dat and he used to give me 50c a day - used to lead him around because he was blind, see. ["549 - garage man - 40's - good - would tell about spirits - put two quarters between us - had lent [[Twins? or T-something]] 50c - [[I]] lent him $1.00" - Numbers Book 442-621. Silver between us and other protective devices happened so often; man in Mobile making sign of cross at door, someone turning round, wearing silver - I paid little attention to them. He probably had mentioned the power of borrowed money, especially silver - I "lent him $1.00" - in addition to the fee I gave him, otherwise my loan would not have been lucky.]
Entry 822
I'll tell you whut happened to me. Now, I wus goin' with a gurl an' I liked 'er. It wus mah firs' wife. An' there's anothah fellow [by the name of John] liked 'er - he lived over in Baltimore aftah while an' he died over there. He left home shortly aftahward [the present story] - he liked her. He [John] goes to - there is an ole sign tha' choo kin go to a grave wahr [where] there's a preacher bur-ried an' de's a certain bone in that preacher, if you kin get it - I don't know whut it is, but I think it's a rib bone, maybe a short rib; but, a certain bone you kin get out of that preacher - an' a certain amount of dirt joo kin get. That clay, you kin git it somewahr by the head or the foot of someone's [grave]. But anyhow, you kin git a little bit of that dirt an' you work this trick. An' you could have this woman so that she can't - she won't notice the other man, she won't notice nuthin but choo. So he [John] did this. Well, I had a friend goin' with me, a great whiskey man, drinked all de time, staggerin' around. So he told me, he said - the girl got so she didn't notice me, I couldn't do anything with 'er at all, befo' that she didn't like nobody but me - he says, "There's somepin wrong" - she wus a cousin to him, too - he says, "there's somepin wrong about Henrietta." "Oh," I says, "I don't think so - jis' a kin'a way she's got." "No, no, helll Joe, there's somepin wrong, an' I'm gon'a find out." So by an' by [several days later] he come back to me an' says, "Well, I found out whut I want." I says, "Whut?" He says, "I wus to John's house the other day," he say, "an' I see'd [seen de] clay on his pants - ole overalls he wus wearin' last week." So he says, "I seen these ole pants." He says, "I seen this clay. You know wahr that come from?" I says, "No." "My GodI' he says, "that come out d'ole [the old] man Brodick's grave" - this is d'ole preacher, ole man Brodick. He says, "This come out of his grave." He says, "That scoungrel [scoundrel] has got somepin out of Brodick's grave." An' the other fellah [who enters the story for the first time] happened to come up at that time an' he stopped, talkin' with us. Both wus her cousins. He says, "Now, if I ain't too interestin'," he say, "I guess I ain't interferin' wit you fellah's business?" "No, indeed, whut we talkin' about." So we kept right on talkin'. He savs to me - he stood there with his haid down, an' when he did speak - he says, "Well, well I spect [expect] that may be so." He says, "I don't know. I don't think John would do you that way. Anyhow, he might. Anyhow," he say, "if he did do that," he says, "I'm gon'a tell you somepin to do, an' you'll know how to stop it." I says, "You will?" He says, "Yes." I says, "Well, I don't know wurther I'll do it or not, '' I say, "I ain't gon'a harm 'im." I says, "He ain't got no more sense than do that to git de gurl, he'll have to take 'er. I'm not gon'a harm 'im." "Oh! No, no," he says, "i' tain't gon'a do 'im no harm [if] you do whut I tell you." So he told me whut to do - a very peculiar thing. Now, he told me to go wahr I could find wahr somebody had made a passage - some human being, you see, passed some dung. He says, "Now, you want it to be maybe about a week or so old, two or three days old anyhow. You don't want a new pile, you want a ole un," he said, "an' you mess yourself all up, git it all on your feet, so you kin smell youself. An' if you ever ketch him aside of that gurl," he says, "don't you h'yessitate" - he say, "you knowed de time he's with 'er - he say, "you git jis' full of it." He say, "Even if you git it on some of your clothes, it don' make no difference," he say, "you kin git it off - jis' so she kin smell it - an' he could smell it - an' you could smell it. You walk right up side of her an' don' choo stop until you follow her an' him both right to de doah," he say, "an' if he's done anything like that" [put a spell on you], he says, 'he'll nevah go thah no more.'"
(What would you do, carry this stuff with you?)
No, that same night dat I knowed she wus out an' he wus to go home with her, why, fer me to git ahaid of 'em somewahr, you see, an' mess mahself up; an' then, when they come by, fer me to be already to break out. I did it. An' man! I wus smellin' turrible dat night. I didn't even like mah ownself. That's right. I thought it wus awful to be that way. But, I got aside of her an' I aimed to make out to stay aside of her. And before I got - oh, yes, I didn't git much further from here to Mr. [So-and-so's] garage [which we could see through the hotel window] before she begin to talk with me. Now, I nevah could git her to answer me - if I was aside of her, she wouldn't say nothin' to me.
(The other man was there, too?)
He was there, too.
(Did you follow them to the door?)
Right to the door. I nevah left. Soon as I got aside of her I nevah left no more. We walked about a mile - she lived about a mile, an' I walked -
(Did they smell you?)
Oh! They couldn't help it, choo know. Man! I wus in a furiosity! I wus furious! I wus in a furious shape! So I went on until I got from here to that garage, she commenced to talkin' with me, an' she talked all the way along. Ever' now an' then she'd answer me anything I ast her, all de way to her door. Now, he begin to git dumb. He begin to git so he wouldn't talk, he wouldn't have much to say. But yet he walked along with us. He didn't have much to say. When she got to the door he jis' said goodby.
(Do you think the dung affected him?)
I don't know whut it done. I nevah did know whut had happened. All I know, I did that.
(How long ago would that be?)
I'm sixty [in 1936] an' I don't guess I wus much over eighteen years old.
(Did it happen around here?)
Right over at Whitehaven, there over in Wicomico County. I lived there, born over there. [Princess Anne, Md., (133), 35:2.] [The preceding story is true - not a funny story. Was it a practical joke? Were the girl's cousins trying to help or hinder the romance? Did informant's rival belong to the conspiracy? Whatever the purpose, the conspirators devised it in terms of ancient witchcraft - human excrement (also urine) is a powerful protection against or cure for evil intent (see FACI 2ed. p.905, Nos.16488-16489 and others).] [I have preserved the name of the man who told this story; he also the teller of another remarkable story: "133 - Joe Dorman began with snake whistling - head of people expression - told story of old Indian - told story of dung - his first wife, never told her" - Nunbers Book 83-134. Snake whistling story perhaps lost. Head of people = group or crowd of people. For story of Indian, Marcellus Gates, see margin-title Zippy Tull.]
Entry 1036
If yo' find dat anything occurs, yo' walk backwards three or fo' steps, backwards de same as yo' go farwards an' yo' walk ovah it, an' yo' cut de extents of it by walkin' ovah it, yo' know. Why aftah yo' walk backwards three or fo' steps an' then go back the same way three or fo' steps an' go on ovah it - dat cuts de extents of it, dere no trouble in it.
(You do that in case there is any harm in it - to protect yourself from it?)
Yes.
Entry 1054
Really, de fac' 'bout it suh, yo' kin take a piece of new cloth an' yo' kin put it into a glass of watah an' let it wet good - dat is soak good an' den open it out. Yo' kin take a penny an' put on dat new cloth an' blow yore breath through it three times dat is a penny. Sew it up an' put it roun' yore neck or anywheres roun' yore waist, an' dere's no harm dat dey kin do to yo'.
(They can't put anything down for you to walk over or anything of that sort?)
Not a bit in de world. [For penny in cures, see next subsection and Index.]
Entry 1067
Heard if anyone sprinkles things in your home, and I've known it to be true - if they sprinkle anything in your yard, in your home - Mondays and Fridays or certain days - Sundays, Mondays and Fridays - but you do this before the noon hour. You get up and sweep the trash thoroughly out of your front. Put sulphur in it and stick a match to it and burn it. You sweep your back thoroughly and you do the same otherwise, twice every week, that is to keep things found from around your home so no one kin [sprinkle] anything round to take to your body.
(I see, you must do this before noon on Mondays or Friday.)
Mondays and Fridays before noon.
(I see, that's to protect yourself against anything put down.)
To protect yourself and also change your clothing. And on Sunday night turn your clothing or either be sure that they are on the wrong side. Put 'em on twicet a week of that other same, the same days that you burn.
(I see. You change your clothes on Sunday, you say?)
You turns your clothes [Sunday night] so you kin put 'em on on Monday, Monday mornings as you burns the trash. Wear your clothing on the wrong side. Fridays the same. Then nothing kin be taken to your body. (I see. When you burn this trash on Mondays and Fridays, you must do it with your clothes on wrongside out.) And put sulphur in it whilest it's burning.
(Put sulphur in this trash that you sweep out.) [Mobile, Ala., (710), 979:2.]
[Broom rites, used for many purposes, are endless.]
Entry 1106
A good many of 'em use assafitidee and pepper and salt and dey put it in a little bag around dere neck and dat supposed to keep 'em from hurtin' you, too. They put all these things together in this bag. Dey sew it up in dere and put it around dere neck.
(I see. Any kind of a colored bag or any kind of cloth?)
Yeah, a yellow homespun bag. It have to be a yellow homespun an' it has to be new.
Entry 1108
You can get some assafitidee and gunpowder and wear it around your waist, and sprinkle a little in your shoes; that'll keep the spell off of you.
Entry 1110
You kin take three sticks of assafetidee an' you kin wrap 'em up in a black rag an' sew it up, you know, an' you jis' wure [wear] it in your clothes. But you had'a soak [feed] it once a week with yore urine an' once a week with whiskey: An' jis' as long as you wure that in your clothes, why you needn't worry - nobody kin harm you.
Entry 1128
I tell yuh I heard 'em say where - say dey go up de street and get ten cent worth - dey say dey get de bloodroot. (The bloodroot.) I hear 'em say de bloodroot and High John de Conquer. I hear 'em tell dat. And dey say dey take dat and make a tea of it. And put table salt with it dey says and dey take it and make a salve of it, and rubs deyself down good wid it, dey says, and dey can become so dat people can't do anything with 'em. I heard dat.
(Well, where would they rub this salve?)
Dey say dey rub from dere neck to de feet.
(From the neck all the way down to the feet.)
And say you rub your hands just like dat [demonstrates], and say dey rubs 'em right on out, and dey can't do nothing with 'em.
(That's to throw the spell off you.)
Throw de spell off. Dey say that throws de spell off.
(Oh, that is used when-the spell is on, already?)
Yes, sir, and to fix it so dey can't put de spell on you.
Entry 1129
Well, you've gotta go to work then to get you some - you kin dress your home, you have to dress your home with bluestone water to keep down all danger, you see. You sprinkles with that every morning - you sprinkle your home with bluestone water. You have a sprinkler, you know, and you go round and you sprinkle all around your steps and everything like that. That kills out the power of everything. Bluestone is the strongest thing in the world that you could use.
Entry 1132
Git yo'self some 20 mule borax and bathe yo'self in it - in luke- Warm Water and if anythin' went wrong, why you bathe yo'self all ovah and dey won't hurt chew.
Entry 1138
I have heard that sometimes, if they die dissatisfied about something and they will keep coming back until they tell somebody, if the ghost comes in the door annoying you about midnight, that is the time they usually come, put nine broomstraws across the door so they join together, and they can't cross it. A broom sweeps out. That will sweep the spirit out.
Entry 1141
Ah heard dat yo' kin take a broom an' put it 'cross de do' an' if it's a person dat has bad wishes against yo' or any evil against yo', dey wouldn't walk ovah it.
Entry 1153
Heard of 'em takin' buzzard feathers an' runnin' people off - fixin' 'em [as a protective device]. Yo' take dem feathers an' yo' carry it home an' yo' burn dat feather till yo' burn it in a ashes. An' put it in any kinda little can an' set it afire - let it burn into ashes. Yo' take dat feather [ashes] an yo' put it in some vinegar - put it in some vinegar an' let it set fo' three mornin's. An' when yo' set it fo' three mornin's yo' kin take dat vinegar [and ashes] an' sprinkle it either on de steps or any porch - on de back porch or de front. If anybody yo' had dat yo' don't want 'em round yo', yo' sprinkle it - an' yo' see 'em comin' yo' sprinkle it. When dey git dere dey'll turn round an' go back. Dey can't come no further den de steps - wit de buzzard feathers.
(You burn that buzzard feather and then put the ashes in the vinegar?)
Yes - de ashes in vinegar.
Entry 1160
Take a black hen an' bury it alive. (Where?) Bury it under de steps an' that will stop everything.
(What do you mean - stop what?)
Stop 'em if a person wanted tuh harm yo' - dey couldn't git up to yo'.
Entry 1171
A fresh aig an' git to de middle of dem steps an' dig yo' a hole an' turn de sharp end of it up an' cover it up wit salt - cover it up an' all de roots an' things dey put down can't hurt me. Dat fresh aig an' salt sucks it all up.
Entry 1177
When yo' think anybody has done anything to yore home, yo' burn chicken feathers and sulphur there.
(What will that do?)
Say that wards off what they have did. (You mean if they are trying to plant anything around there or sprinkle anything?) You set, yo' know, jest like if yo' were going to fumigate the house and burn that; yo' put pepper, sulphur and chicken feathers together - rather, to get black feathers is the best feathers.
Entry 1182
(These fingernails and toenails?)
Toenails an' parch 'em - put 'em in de stove an' parch 'em - cut 'em up real fine befo' yo' parch 'em an' then yo' take an' put 'em in de stove. An' they'll put i-dene [iodine] on 'em - i-dene - aftah dey done dried out. Jis' sew 'em in a red flannel an' then git a little piece of feather from a chicken an' put that in there with it.
(What will that do?)
Dat will keep dem from harmin' yo'. [This is a protective hand - see next subsection Hands.]
Entry 1187
All you have to do is go to the henhouse and get some of that white hen manure. Jes' take and rub it on your forehead and stroke your jaws with it, and they can't do a thing in the world to you.
Entry 1195
[Oil of cinnamon is usually confined to compounded ingredients.]
Now yo' go - ah go to de drug sto'. Yo' know oil of cinnamon? Ah go git dat. Dat cost a dime, oil of cinnamon - ten cents. An' ah go, ah'll git de oil of cinnamon, yo' see, an' yo' takes dat an' rub it on yore hands all de time. Well, dat will keep yo' out all de trouble in de world. [After this informant leaves I comment to Telediphone:] (End of 1250. That fellow was a fortune-teller. He didn't seem to know very much about my particular work.) [This means his unrecorded conversation lacked interest or was too diffuse. I probably appointed him an assistant contact man. For both of these See Introduction.]
Entry 1218
If anybody's tryin' tuh harm yo' - 'specially if it's round yore neighborhood roun' dere - jes' git some of de graveyard dirt an' fix it up, an' fix de dauber nest an' de graveyard dirt an' de cookin' salt an' de sulphur undah de steps - or take a aig -
(What are you doing that for now?)
Put it up undah de step an' run dem away - keep dem from harmin' yo'. [For dirt dauber protection and health, see Tomb of the Babe of Bethlehem in Interview section.]
Entry 1235
Take de dog fennel root an' yo' kin drink de tea out of that an' yo' kin git anything out of you that a person trying tuh hurt chew - that chew got down. Or if they tryin' tuh, yo' see, do anything to yo'.
Entry 1290
Yo' keeps garlic on yo' fo' hoodoo, keep it in yore shoe - that keeps people from hoodooin' yo'.
Entry 1291
If a person have done yo' a little wrong an' yo' have a pain or somepin about chew - see, if anybody have done yo' wrong, why yo' git garlic and beat it up with a little salt an' wear it in yore shoes, an' den it cain't take no 'ffect on yo'.
Entry 1310
Ah hear about dat too an' ah knows of it. But chew have to pay three pennies but chew gotta go to someone's grave dat chew knows well. Jes' lak, yo' know, some of yore family dat's been buried an' yo' go to de head of dis grave an' yo' pay dat dead man or dat dead woman - whoevah yo' knows -.de three cents. An' den yo' take some of de dirt an' den yo' tell dem to give yo' luck, don't let nobody harm yo', an' yo' bring dat graveyard dirt - git a han'ful of de graveyard dirt an' bury it undah yore steps. Bury it undah yore step an' den nobody can't do yo' no harm cause de dead will pertec' yo'.
Entry 1312
Yo' kin take maybe half a pint of likker or half a dozen aigs an' go to de graveyard, an' right down somewheres on de breast of someone dat yo' knows is buried dere, an' git up some dirt. Put dis down in dere, de aigs or de whiskey.
(How many eggs do you put in?)
Half a dozen.
(Half a dozen and a pint of whiskey do you say?)
Yessuh, tuh pay him tuh take care - tell 'em, "Ah'm payin' yo' tuh take care of de situation." Carry it on back with yo', dis dirt - carry it at chure home. Starts to de right corner of de house an' sow it clean back on round and yo's jes' taken pretty well care of - de house is taken care of.
(What will that do to the house?)
Den yore enemies won't bother yo'.
(You do this to your own house?)
Yessuh, to yore house.
The opening offers half a pint of liquor or half a dozen eggs; the interviewer later combines eggs with a pint of whiskey and receives confirmation. These differences remain unresolved. The quoted payment words are prescribed speech, and the protection claim is source-reported.
Entry 1313
An old lady, she lives out there in [New] Kent [County, Virginia]. I can't call her name now, but she's a dark woman, she's got a daughter name Mattie about chore color, and she goes out to it every thirty days. She goes out to the graveyard and get about, I reckon about a half a pound that dirt. Ev'ry morning she changes that dirt in her shoes - says it keep the evil spirit out. And at nights when she go to bed she sprinkles it all around her door. [My informant, who intended no offense, is merely saying that a dark woman had a daughter name Mattie about as white as anyone could be.]
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 1315
I wouldn't do nothing but git one penny and carry it to the graveyard and git me some graveyard dirt and tie it up and mark it crosstowmways wit a piece of yallah homespun cloth - tie it dis way and tie it dat way.
(Tie it what way?)
You tie it across like dat [demonstrates]. (Across one way and across the other way.) [Two diagonal ends are brought to the center and tied; then the other two diagonal ends are tied.] Cross it. An' I'll take dat penny and I'll wear it in my shoe fer three days and den I take it and throw it ovahbo'rd. No one will harm yuh, dey can't harm yuh. De only way dey kin harm yo' is dey kin go ovahbo'rd and git dat penny, but dey can't go ovahbo'rd to git dat penny - dey can't harm you no way in de world. [Crosstownways means two city streets crossing at right angles - a cityfied version of a country crossroad. Yallah homespun cloth is normally homespun. YalZah equals unbleached.]
The printed account moves from tying graveyard dirt in cloth to wearing and throwing away the penny. The interviewer and Hyatt's gesture and word explanations remain separate; those explanations do not establish corpus-wide synonyms.
Entry 1317
Take some graveyard dirt like at [to] the crossroads - you know runnin' ever' which way, and make a cross and put this dirt right in the middle of it and kiver it over and put sulphur in it, and that keeps anybody from crossing you.
(Does what?)
You know, harming you or crossing you in any kind of way.
The informant describes graveyard dirt with sulphur at a crossroads and clarifies the reported protection after the interviewer's question. '[to]' is an editorial insertion within the printed speech.
Entry 1323
Ah heard dat a fellah was supposed to be a professional in dat kind of thing. He would take dat dirt if yo' in trouble - he'd go to de graveyard an' git it out of de north end of - yo' know de graves be's mostly east an' west. Well, de north side what ah would mean to say.
(of the grave.)
Of de grave. Reach down - jest go down an' git - put chure han' way down, even if yo' don't git clean to de body. But dey say yo' must go to yore elbow an' git dat dirt, an' save it till it come to - if it's dry sand, an' if yo' in trouble or want to git 'way from yore enemies, yo' hold dat an' let de wind blow north direction an' dat will free yo' of dat trouble - wit dat graveyard dirt.
(You just hold that dry sand.)
Jest hold it out an' let de wind take it away yo' see. (The wind blowing north. And where do you hold this - out at the cemetery or when you get home?) After yo' git home. Yo' see yo' take dat 'way from de cemetery.
Entry 1324
Take de gun an' take de shots out, an' shoot de powder off roun' de house in de mawnin'. Say dat would keep de things away - keep de hants away.
Entry 1326
Jis' lak if somebody got a spell on me or yo' an' yo' wanta git it offa there, yo' understan'. Yo' kin jis' take dat gunpowder, dat black gunpowder. Ah think it's a number seven - seven-'leven somepin such. But anyhow, de black powder. Spread it on a papah an' po' yo' 'bout a teaspoonful of turpentine on it an' light de papah, an' when de papah git up to de powder de powder will blaze up. An' whosomevah put dat spell on yo', it will jump offa yo' back on dem. (Don't you put anything else on that paper besides that?) [I was probably thinking of a name or incantation. Intention would be sufficient.] Nuthin but de gunpowder an' turpentine.
Entry 1327
You drink gunpowder and whiskey. They say that's good to keep 'em from hurting you. See, gunpowder makes you cross and that will keep the witchcraft work from hurting you. [Whiskey makes?]
Entry 1339
You kin take a horseshoe if you see ghostes and - you goin' in a dark place and you kin look and see ghostes, you kin have yore horseshoe and spit on it and throw it over your shoulder and the ghostes won't harm you all de way home. Like if you stayed in de country and you have a long journey to go late at night, and you used to seeing yore grandmother and you don't wanta see her - you know, it frightens you to see her coming and dere is nobody. Well, you throw that over yore shoulder and yo' all right.
Entry 1342
Yo' hang a left-foot horseshoe ovah yore do', front do', an' dat'll keep all evil an' bad spirits out. [Left-foot horseshoe is rare.]
Entry 1343
Take a horseshoe and put it over the door and take some silver paper [tin foil] and wrap it around it, and hang it over the top of the door and you won't have any trouble with the spirit coming back - the prongs down.
Entry 1348
Dere's a lady out chere dat ah went tuh once about that - like someone was tryin' tuh harm me, and she tole me to take mah sock.
(Both of them?) No, take one of 'em an' cut it up. (Which one - the right or left or both of them?)
No, jest any one my sock. Say, take one of de socks and split it up, and say paint it wit some iodine and den put it in de bottom of mah shoe and wear it. And dey say that nuthin never would - couldn't do nuthin with me.
(Was this a white woman or colored?)
Colored.
(Was she sort of a root doctor? Or something like that? Fortune-teller?)
Fortune-teller. She had hanging on her do' a sign - Madam Roose[?].
Entry 1354
If you chew High John de Conker and spit it around, no one can harm you. [This well-known rite is more frequently reserved for trail before judge, asking job of boss, and gambling.]
Entry 1357
You can mix three diff'rent perfumes and grated High John de Conker and rub with to keep anyone from harming you.
Entry 1363
Well, you take some steel dust - steel dust and Conquer Root Powder, and you mix that together with a little silver. Lift up that back piece in your shoes, don't you know. (That little piece inside there?) Inside the shoe and you puts that - sprinkle that in the shoe and put a dime down in there in your shoe and wear it.
(What will that do then?)
That keep anybody from doing you any harm. Or takes a dime, put a hole in the dime and wears it around the ankles - you know, tied around the legs.
Entry 1364
If a spirit-lak worryin' yo', well yo' kin open a pocketknife an' put it in yore pocket an' no spirit can't harm yo' - any kind of pocket- knife an' put it in yore pocket an' walk off.
[See jack-o'-lantern, No. 136, p.46.]
Entry 1375
Ah hear that yo' kin git a piece of lodestone and take a needle and break in three parts and on a Friday morning - be sure it's on a Friday morning, and stick each part of that needle in de side of that lodestone. Sew it up in a red piece of flannel and wear it and dey can't do you no harm.
Entry 1376
Yo' git yo' a little bit of saltpeter and a little table salt and a little tiny bit of lodestone and yo' put dat together. Git yo' a piece of red flannel - jes' a red little shallow cloth like, and roll it up in a piece of red flannel and make a knot out of it, and you take that flannel and yo' take you a string and tie it and wear it around yore waist. And yo' take that thing and yo' reduce [feed] that thing with Hearts Cologne fer nine days, and den that breaks it up - dey can't come dere.
(What can't?)
If dey tryin' do somepin to yuh - keep it away.
Entry 1378
Git a can of potash - Devil Lye. Yo' hear talk of Devil Lye with the devil with the red head on the can of potash. Git chew nine nails - ten-penny nails an' git - put in nine new needles, dese goldeye needles. Bury it in de center of de gate. Dat's to turn back de devil-like - dat's if anybody tryin' tuh hurt cha.
(What do you do with these needles and nails? Where do you put them?)
Put them on top of that can of potash in the gate, when yo' bury it about that deep.
Entry 1380
Ah heard 'em tell of - say if anybody got poisoned or put down anything fo' yo' an' yo' don't wanta move, yo' jes' git chew two ten-cent can of potash, Red Devil Iye, an' at twelve a'clock in de night yo' dig a hole as deep as yore elbow - measure yore hand all down - gotta do it exactly at twelve though. An yo' bury a can of dat potash an' git chew a brand-new box of cookin' salt.
(Where do you bury that potash?)
Tuh de gate - between de gate an' de steps, at twelve a'clock in de night.
(That's just one can?)
Yo' put one can dere an' a fresh box of salt whut chew have nevah nused any of it.... Yo' dig dat hole an' yo' put dat potash down in dere an' po' dat cookin' salt, de whole box, on top of it tuh yore front an' yore back. Ah don't care whut it is dey put down round dere, dat potash will eat it up. It can't hurt chew - can't harm yo'.
Entry 1381
Dat a very cheap thing, dat lye. Take dat lye an' open de can an' bury it at de foot of de front steps when yo' comin' out, an' bury it at de foot of de back steps. Aftah de lye is sot down, no witchcraft whatevah kin take yo' in, because it eats it all up. See, it cain't set in.
Entry 1382
Now, if anyone try tuh harm yo' or anything lak dat in yore home, yo' heah talk of dis Red Devil Iye. Well, yo' goes tuh work an' git chew - put one tuh de fust: gate chew git in, right as yo' come inside yore gate, an' de nex' yo go tuh work an' put one on dis side of de step an' one on de othah side an' den yo' kin put one right settin' in de middle of de steps. Dat'll keep 'em out.
Entry 1387
Well, a mistletoe is a bush - a little bush dat grows.in de oak tree down in de swamps. Doesn't grow any higher den dat [demonstrates]. An' yo' git that. As long as yo' keep dat - (What do you do with that after you get it?) Yo' take it an' yo' keep it dressed.
(What do you mean by keeping it dressed?)
Wit Hearts Cologne.
(And what do you do with it after you dress it with Hearts Cologne?)
Keep it with yo'.
(What does that do?)
Well, dat keeps yore enemies off yo'.
Entry 1394
I have heard the old people say that you can take a lock of your hair, and a piece of your underwear, and nine nails - five up and four down, and bury it right down at the sill of your door and lean it out from the house. You lean the package out very carefully - you bury it just out of sight. Take your left foot and drag the dirt over it and cover it. If anybody walks over it, that keeps them from trespassing. You won't have any trouble with them any more.
Entry 1396
Wal, yo' jest git yo'self a brand-new goldeye needle and stick it in a stopper - cork - and yo' wear it aroun' yore neck. Let it go right heah below de heart. An' yo' wear it around yore neck an' nuthin dey do, as long as dat needle is on yo' - tain't nuthin dey do kin harm yo'.
Entry 1397
You gets their name. After you gets their name, take a needle, and take that needle and you cross it like this and after you cross it like that, you take it and you put in a piece of paper - brown paper, mind you - and you write their names on there five times. And after you write the names five times, you turn thisaway and you take it [demonstrates].
(This way - they wrap it to you?)
Wrap it to you - don't wrap it from you - wrap it to you and then you takes that and you wear in your pocket - in your pocketbook and keep it on you and anybody can't do you nothing.
(You take one needle, did you say?)
Two needles, and cross them like this.
(Ohl two needles, I see, you just cross them in that piece of paper?)
Cross 'em in there and turn 'em thisaway.
Entry 1398
Put nine needles an' a toothpick in a bottle, an' pbur Hearts Perfrone on it an' stop it up real tight, an' keep dat roun' yer bed all de time to keep peoples away from you from harmin' you.
Entry 1399
They say you take nine needles and put 'em in a bottle of turpentine and you can wear it or either put it down under your bed and nobody won't hurt you.
Entry 1405
If you take a red onion and cut it and put half up over your door or jes' anywhere where it could be kept and take de rest of it and burn it up to ashes and wear it in your shoes, that'll keep anyone from hurting you.
Entry 1415
Say fo' instance anybody wanted to harm me. Ah would take a penny an' place it into de middle of mah foot an' ah would wear dis penny all de time. Ah would put a dime - a silver dime up above mah knee, see - an' dere ain't nuthin yo' kin do. Ah kin walk ovah anything wit dat dime wit a hole in it round mah laig.
(Would you wear that penny, too?)
Could wear de penny - could keep de penny in de bottom of yore shoe, see. Yore left shoe.
Entry 1416
Now, jest like someone is harmin' you, you kin take a penny and take it and knock a hole troo it and have a frog. Ah don't know if you know what a frog is. And cut dis frog open and place de penny in before you knock de hole in it. Cover de frog back together tight, and after covering de frog back, you let it stay fer about thirty or forty minutes. Den take dis frog out - [I mean] take de penny out of de frog, bore a hole in de penny, take a cord and take dis penny and tie one round yore ankle and tie another one around de other ankle. Jes' like the wimmin keep people from hurting them - they take a dime and bore a hole in that dime and put one dime on one laig and one dime on the other laig, and then that will keep anybody from poisoning them or any kind of thing. Protection to the body. An' dat's de way wit de penny.
Entry 1418
Now, ah have got de perfume weed mahself - it's home. Yeah, it's a vine grows in de woods lak dat [demonstrates]. Yo' pick it [a leaf] off at de [growing] end. De leaf on it is jis' lak a heart, yo' see. Now, ah want show yo' dis. Yes, heah 'tis in mah pocket. Ah stick it in dis pocket. Dis is a sanitary pocket han'scuff. See. An' dis pocket han'scuff is got dat perfume odor on it, don't chew see.
[Evidently I did not ask to smell it.]
(This perfume weed?) [For its possible identity, see later.]
Yeah - de vine. Well, ah carry dis, don't chew know jis' all de time. But it's must be a sanitary piece dat's not used at all - it's gota be used on me, yo' see.
(Why do you carry that?)
That keeps anyone from harmin' yo'. Dat's whut chew ast me, don't yo' see.
(Has this perfume weed any other name?)
Yeah. It's jes' call perfume weed, but yo' dress it yoreself, yo' see.
(How do you take the perfume out of that weed?)
Well, listen, it already smells sweet when yo' go an: dig it an' de little leaf is made, it jis' grows lak de shape of a heart. Yo' git that yoreself. Yo' know it grows kinda long.
(On the ground?)
Yeah, an' yo' git that an' dress that yoreself. Yo' dress that wit whiskey an'perfume.
(How do you dress it? What do you do with this weed?)
De roots, put 'em into a quart bottle - jis' as big a bottle as yo' want, if yo've got that much yo' see. An' see yo' po' jis' perfume, but de root always smells nice befo' yo' put it in dere. It smells lak perfume itself. An' yo' put whiskey an' half perfume an' jis' put dose roots - put jis as many roots in that bottle as yo' want, an' fo' two years, or twelve years it'll be jis' lak yo' fixed it there. Now, that's when yo' dressin' it.
(You just use that on your handkerchief?)
Yeah. [His perfume weed could be the heartleaf (see Index), common name for several American species of Asarum, all having aromatic roots; informant's root possibly being A. canadense, used as an aromatic bitter and flavoring agent.]
Entry 1437
Well, ah heard if someone tryin' tuh harm yo', why yo' could git chew some Hearts Cologne an' rattlesnake marster root, an' yo' could take that an' put it in a bottle an' use it; an' as yo' go out, put that on yo' an' it would keep dem from hurtin' yo'.
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 1447
When you make a foottrack in the dirt, if you happens to keep from getting hurt - ah don't know what they put in the track, don't know about dat. But to keep from getting hurt, they tell me you take nine grains of red pepper - you know, seeds, and sew them up in a bag [thus making a hand] and wear it in your shoe. Then they won't hurt cha.
Entry 1448
Yes, ah heard about dat. Dey say dat If yo' think somebody gon'a work roots on yo' or somepin lak that, or somepin dey 'fraid tuh walk ovah, den yo' git chew some cayenne peppah an' put 'bout six swallows of watah in there, yo' understand, an' boil it down to three swallows.
[This is the magic of diminishing amount.]
Yo' take three swallows of dat watah dat night - see, dat first night. Well, yo' don't take nuthin dat next night - yo' skip a night chew see. [This skipping magic is a recurrent magic delay; not the same as alternating magic - left and right, up and down, forward and backward, etc.] Take yo' a teaspoonfula sulphur de next night, chew understand, an' do that fo' - lemme see, yo' take three doses of dis peppah an' den yo' take six doses of dat sulphur. [Here is the complementary magic of increasing amount. Both diminishing and increasing amounts are in multiples of three magic. The exchange between three doses of pepper and three of sulphur is alternating magic; the three additional doses of sulphur being repetitive magic.] An' dat will keep the evil roots an' things off of yuh, so nobody can't harm yo'or nuthin.
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 1459
The best thing you do, when you go out in the morning, if you got - before you leave your home, if you feel that such as that is carrying on around you, you take such an ordinary thing as - take salt, black pepper and mix that together in a bottle, and scrub your place out. Don't scrub it inward, see. Always scrub out from your place. And with that water you mix salt and black pepper and scrub every morning before the sun rise. Make that a habitual habit to scrub in the morning before the sun rise - every morning scrub out your door before the sun rise, and that will give you a natural protection against anything that's evil. Somebody's put something against you, down for you, that will give you protection against that. [Many scrubbing rites for protection are also given under subsection Business and Customers.]
Entry 1461
I have heard a old lady say that along about sundown that if one should go out to the front door and throw out a handful of salt, no evils will approach that house over the night.
Entry 1462
You take salt and put it down on the ground at your door and that would keep all evil spirits away. That's what the colored people used to do to over- come master and mistress. After the master and mistress walks over it, it scatters.their mind.
Entry 1463
If someone tryin' tuh harm yo' or put anything roun' yore house, jes' git up at night an' yo' thinkin' dey goin' do dat, every night fo' nine nights an' put dis salt. Put de pot salt - carry it round de house fo' nine nights an' talk to it, an' why, no one couldn't harm yo' an' put nuthin else round dere atall.
Entry 1464
If someone tryin' tuh do yo' somepin round yore home - maybe injure yo' or cumjure yo' tryin' tuh do yo' some harm, if you wanta prevent this trouble, you might read the 7th chapter of the Psalm of David and then walk around yore home about nine times during de night or in de morning between de sun setting and de sun rising, wit salt in yore han' an' call de name of yore enemies or those yo' think about as trying to do yo harm, an dey'll do yo no harn.
Entry 1466
If a evil person comes in your house, go to the back door with salt in your hand and throw the salt over your right shoulder with your back turned to the door and don't look back to keep from having bad luck.
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 1471
To protect your things when you leave home - I've heard old people say, to keep anyone from entering your house while away, if you'll walk five steps from the door, throw some salt over your left shoulder, then over your right shoulder, then make a hole and spit in the hole and cover it with dirt, then walk ten more feet and make an X in the road, make a circle around the X, and then make a secret wish - if you should go away from home and stay two weeks, no one will enter your house while away.
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 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 1481
Well, ah heard if yo' walk along - jest whut dey put down fo' yo' to hurt chew some way, yo' jest git chew some sulphur, a few grains [seed or pieces] of red peppah, a little gunpowder, a little table salt, an' wear it in yore shoe. It will eat up everything whut chew walk ovah.
Entry 1482
Dey go out dere and sprinkle some stuff down in front of the door and Sprinkle stuff where dey know you have to pass on dat, you see - some kind of powder. If you wants to kick [kill] dat, you get you some bluestone and salt and wear dat in your shoe. That'll stop any person - the stuff dey put down from affectin' you dat's ketching it in yore feet, you see, to keep you from walkin'. And if you ketch it yore feet, dey goin' set you down and you goin' be down in de house helpless and you can't do anything, you see, until - and if you don't know what to do, then you gotta go and get somebody that knows more than you know that get that off of you, you see. And if dey get dat off of you - but they ain't goin' tell you what they done, you see. But you always know dat they got it off of you, you know you wasn't in de fix you always was - they done something but they ain't going tell you. Dey'll give you some stuff to take - they won't tell you what dat is. If you don't know, you see, you just don't know.
Entry 1483
And den, how you dress yo' feet. Yo' through wit dat part. How you dress yo' feet, you takes bluestone, beat up fine - not so much, just a leetle bit of piece and sulphur and salt. Put in each one of your shoes, put it under- neath the lining in your shoes. See. Well, you know what dat is fo'? That is for to keep dem from hurting you. See, dey kin hurt chew all kind of ways and dey can hurt chew on your feet so bad, if you don't hurry roun' and use dat chamber lye and things, saltpeter, you shore will get hit - you'll be out dere in de cemetery, for dey re'lly kin do it. Dat's de only thing whut kin pertect yore feet.
Entry 1484
Anybody put somepin down fo' yo': to protect yoreself, yo' kin get yo' some sulphur an' ashes out of de stove, jest de ashes - sulphur an' ashes an bluestone an' tablesalt, an' wear it in yore shoes an' nuthin won't harm yo'. Yo' kin walk over mostly anything.
(Do you wear that in both shoes?)
Wear it in both shoes, nuthin won't bother yo'.
Entry 1485
Now dis salt an' brimstone an' graveyard dirt is used fo' many things - see, that salt an' brimstone. Take table salt an' sulphur an' brimstone an' burn it together - see, burn it together, an' den make a sack of that. See, that is called a bodyguard, body protection - make a sack of that. [This is a hand.] An' every nine days saturate [feed] dat good an' well wit camphor. That will keep - not sin, but will keep de evil spirits off yuh - using a little graveyard dust in dat.
(Nobody can harm you if you have that on you?)
No sir, can't harm you.
Entry 1486
Take salt, table salt, an' black peppah an' hone, an' mix dat together an' grease yore foot wit it an' use dat in yore shoe. Dat would keep dis offa yo' - lak if dey wanted to hurt chew, dat would keep dat off.
(If you walk over anything?)
Yes.
Entry 1490
[Saltpeter is used in many healing or protective combinations - see Index.] Well, you kin get saltpeter. You kin go and get you a dime's of saltpeter and sprinkle a little in your shoes about every four or five days. Wear that in your shoes and there can't nobody harm you - not do it to the flesh or put nuthin down fer you. But, of course, it's quite natural that if somebody get aholt of something of yourn - your hairs or your clothes that you been wearing for several days, get something out of them - why they kin do you harm. But as fer as putting something down for you, they can't do you no harm over that saltpeter.
Entry 1492
Yo' know, put somethin' down fo' yo' or somethin'. Well, yo' jis' git chew a package of saltpeter an' jis' bathe yore han's ovah good in it an' yore feets an' maybe down heah [demonstrates].
(Your navel.)
An' dey cain't nevah harm yo'.
Entry 1493
"Somebody tryin' to harm yo' and yo' tryin' to protec' yo'self, de first thing is, dey gits chew some saltpeters and bath yo'self down in saltpeters, and den take yo' some sulphur and salt an' sprinkle round dat do' - round de house in front de do' and dey can't do yo' no harm.
Entry 1502
Dey tell dat if yo's livin' in a house that folks is died out of an' there's always been somethin' that's worryin' yo' round de house, that it will be their evil spirit comin' back to see whut's happened out de place since they wus gone from it, an' if yo' burn a ole shoe sole through this house, that'll drive dem 'way an' yo' won't have any mo' trouble with 'em.
Entry 1508
A person's shoes - a woman's shoes - jes' lak if yo' figures somebody is workin' at chew, yo' hunt chew a throwed-way shoe.
(A thrown-away shoe.)
Uh-hmm, a man's shoe an' a woman's shoe. Well, if it's a woman, yo' wanta protect yo'self. Yo' take dat woman's shoe an' put it on top of dat man's shoe an' yo' burn 'em. Yo' put sulphur an' saltpeter, bluestone, gunpowder an' salt on there an' burn it - make yore wishes, whatever yo' want tuh come. An' dat'll protect yo'.
(What would a man do if he wanted to protect himself?)
He'll put de man's shoe on top of de woman's.
Entry 1510
That's for to keep anyone from your home and keep them from hurting you, this here. You take the shoe - now, if it's men and women both you want to keep away, why you take all the shoes of the family, all the old shoes and burn them. And you doesn't burn 'em complete to ashes, but chew burn 'em kin'a so tha' chew can mash 'em up. And you get chew a new box of cayenne pepper, and a new package of salt, and a new package of sulphur, and mix that all up together. Then you get chew a sifter - you put it [this mixture] in a can - then you get chew a sifter and just right after sundown you start from your back door and go on around the house and come on back to the back door right where you began dat. And just make your wishes. And if you want to name the persons in person, why you call those names. Just have like one or two or three individual persons you don't wish to come to your house. You do that for nine successful [successive] days. You do it in the morning and at night repeat the same thing. Well, in the morning you want to do that before sunrise in the morning - before sunrise in the morning and after sundown in the evening. And just repeat your wishes. And you can call, you know, the person's name just the same as if you were talking to them, and wish they'd stay away and not interfere with you. And repeat the Name of God. And you can also take river-shore sand. You take river-shore sand and put that in a sifter and sift it around the house. Mix these same things with it - the sulphur and the cayenne pepper and the salt, but be sure it's packages that never been broken. Just buy it for that especial. And you have the same amount of sand that chew do salt, sulphur, and pepper. See? You have a box of salt and you have the same amount of sand. See? Well, you take the package of sulphur and you take the package of pepper see, and mix with it. And see, that's enough to repeat the nine successful days. Well, you take the shore sand, you begin from yore back door and you go on around the house - like you have a walk away to the well and to the pump or at the gate, you take all the paths with it. You go to your outer buildings with the sand [the complete mixture] and repeat, you see, whatever you wish to be done. And if you think it's someone interfering with yeh, or your stock is dying, you go around the stalls, you know. You repeat and with the same thing may return on them and leave you be - in the Name of God.
Entry 1520
Take a silver dime an' put in a quart of watah an' boil it down to about a teacupful, an' tie de dime down yore laig an' yo' kin walk ovah anything dey is on earth.
(You have to boil that dime first, though?)
[He said this but I am asking for a repetition which often produces other details.] Oh yes! oh yes! Yo' take de dime an' boil it in a quart of water down to about a teacupful [magic of diminishing amount] and put de dime down yore laig.
(Either leg?)
Either laig an' yo' kin walk ovah anything.
Entry 1521
Dey says if anybody put anything down fo' yo' to walk on, why yo' take a piece of silver an' scrape it off lak that an' make a tea out of it an' drink it, an then aftah yo' make the tea, then take an' put a hole in it. Co'se it jingle fo' a time on accounta they's small. An' tie it round yore laig an' then they can't do anything to yo' - or roun' yore knee. They can't do anything to yo'.
Entry 1522
Put a dime roun' de baby's neck when de baby's small. Yo' know, lak people lak tuh look at people's babies, dey say he'll blink himself an' won't grow; so people put a dime roun' his neck an' den keep people from blinkin' so he kin grow.
Entry 1525
I hear 'em said that anybody don't want nobody to hurt 'em, to give 'em nuthin, hurt 'em inside, why they kin take a dime, but no one dime of his own. They got a dime, take it an' swap it with somebody else, git another dime. Well, they kin take that an' file it up an' put it in a - file the whole dime up an' put it in a teaspoonful of sulphur an' take that, put it in the mouth, take some water an' wash it down. Well, if you eat anything, if anybody put anything down in somepin to eat for yeh, you kin eat an' it won't hurt yeh.
Entry 1527
Like someone put somepin in your food, joo can - when you go to eat, joo put a dime under your tongue to keep 'em from hurting you.
Entry 1528
Take a dime made in 1898 an' yo' kin place it under yore tongue an' if anyone is tryin' tuh give yo' any poison or anything, yo' kin drink all yo' want an' that dime will take that poison from it - yo'll nevah git poisoned wit it. Then, when yo' take that dime from under there an' drink dis stuff, yo' kin take it an' wear it round yore laig an' yo'll never - nobody never could poison yo', jes' long as yo' keep that dime round yore laig. Let it be a silver dime though.
Entry 1532
Ah heard dat chew put two dimes around yore laigs, but git two dimes of de same years - 1912. Be sure dey both of 'em is de same year an' tie dem round yore laig an' yo' walk ovah anything an' it won't hurt cha.
(You tie one around each leg.)
Entry 1571
Sulphur, dey tell me, if yo' burn three teaspoonsful on yore trash pile dat'll keep yo' enemies away.
Entry 1573
Well, yo' see, jes' lak if yo' jes' thought now that person had done something to harm yo' or hurt chew. Well, now yo' go to work, yo' take yo' some saltpeter an' yo' take yo' some sulphur. Yo' takes all dat an' yo' puts it in a bag an' yo' wears dat around yore wais' [waist]. Well, yo' see when yo' put dat round yore wais', dat saltpeter an' dat sulphur, yo' put hit in a bag an' wear. Well, yo' see dat kills all dat germ dat dey tryin' to hurt chew wit.
Entry 1574
If people poison yo', goin' poison yo', wear sulphur in yore shoes an' yo' takes sulphur.
(What will that do?)
That keep the poison out.
Entry 1575
They say, if you take sulphur and burn it - you know in de powder, you know it be's in a powder form - jis' put it in de fire and burn it, and put it in your shoe, and they say dat ain't nobody can't work no kin'a roots on you regard- less to what it might be. They couldn't harm yah a bit, see. This sulphur would keep down envy and keep de people from yah.
Entry 1576
Yo' could use brimstone an' sulphur in de bottom of yore shoes an' walk ovah anything - nuthin won't worry yo', won't hurt chew.
Entry 1578
Take the sulphur an' the bluestone an' mix it together an' yo' use it fo' nine mawnin's. Jes' sprinkle it around yore home that yo' dwell in an' say that will keep things from evah gitting bad - yo' know, yo' can't be bothered if yo' use that bluestone an' sulphur.
(People can't bother you?)
Can't bother yo' - interfere with chure business. [Wilson, N. Car., (1486) 2660:15.]
Entry 1586
Dey say if someone bury somepin roun' yore house lak dat an' yo' got a idea who bury it roun' dere - yo' lookin' fo' someone tuh bury somepin lak dat roun' yore house - always keep yore bottle of turpentine an' keep yore shoes dampened inside with turpentine an' it'll nevah hurt chew. Yo' kin walk ovah it all yo' want an' it won't hurt chew.
Entry 1591
Go to the woods and get yourself some turpentine and get you some bark from a walnut tree. Take this turpentine and bark and put it in water and let it boil for ten minutes. Take this water and throw it over your left shoulder. When you get through with that take two teaspoonfuls in your body. And that will keep evils and all hoodoos away from you. Another thing, if you find a bottle underneath your door and don't know what's in it, never touch it, but go to the woods and get some turpentine [raw sap from turpentine tree - several pines] and some walnut tree bark and sprinkle it over that bottle first. Then you move it and you won't be cunjured. That's the best thing I know for cunjures.
Entry 1603
They told me to go to the drug store and get some saltpeter - saltpeter and take my urine when I, you know, urinate and put it in warm water.
(Put it in some warm water.)
And put my feet in that and wash my feet with it. Carry it to my back door. Throw it over my left shoulder and walk back in the house and don't look back.
(That'll keep them from harming you?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 1615
You take a ten-cent piece an' you file it down to nuthin but dust. You take a pinch of sulphur, about a halfa teaspoonful of sulphur, an' you take this on your tongue. An' you take a swallow of your own water. Whoever the person is, now, they got to have their own water - you know, whoever it is urination, just enough to swallow. An' I'll guarantee that ever'thing you eat, that'll come right up, an' it'll come these little ants or anything. While that silver's in you, you never git nuthin - won't nobody kin ever put nuthin in you.
Entry 1617
Lak yo' scared someone goin' hurt chew - yo' know, if yo' got enemies. Jes' take some red peppah an' salt an' sulphur - take an' sprinkle a little bit of chamber lye ovah dat an' wear dat in yore right-footed shoe. Yo' kin walk ovah anything in de world an' nuthin will evah harm yo'.
Entry 1618
Dey say dey use red peppah, sulphur, chamber lye an' make yo' a bag an' ev'ry mawnin' befo' yo' go out yo' takes an' 'noint [feed] dat bag [a hand] good an' yo' rub it in each one of yore shoes an' dey say dat yo' kin walk ovah any- thing dat's put down fo' yo'. (You put this pepper and salt in this bag and then you anoint it with this chamber lye each morning before you go out. What do you do - just rub that bag on the inside of the bottom of your shoe?) Yessuh - in de bottom of yore shoe.
Entry 1619
If they try to harm you and you know dey Wanta harm you, you takes a ball of thread - spool of thread, put nine knots in it. Call three colored fellah - three white fellah - three any man names dat any man you call is a great liar, an' you puts knots in it. Ev'ry time you knot it, you pull de knot to you; but if you finish dat end, you fling the other end around and you pull that to you. You take dat and make yo' water on it - de night water on it yoreself for nine mornings and take it and tie it around yore waist. Nobody kin harm yuh. [Informant is one of 6 or 7 doctors interviewed in Charleston: "Tues., June 29, 1937 - Charleston, S. C.... San Mongain - (R.D.)- good - brought by [[doctor]] Glover" - Numbers Book 442-621. Several years later while checking his cylinders against the transcription, I added a comment to his number in Numbers Book,"(use with care)" - meaning some of his material was not too good.]
Entry 1621
They took urine and sprinkled it around the doors of any house to keep away bad luck and evil spirits.
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 1635
Yo' kin take a - yore urine, see. If yo' think somebody put somepin down round yore place, yore steps, overnight joo understand, to do yo' some harm, yo' kin take yore urine an' put chew some salt an' sulphur in it an' stir it up good, an' bluestone, an' jes' [get] chew a swiss [swish] broom, see. [Swish broom is a one-handed broom; handle broom or stick broom requires two hands. Many substances were used: long grass, broom sedge (which see), leafy twigs, etc. Neither the short whisk broom nor longer besom describes this home- made article. I remember one of the housefly swishes; one large green top, or several small ones, of asparagus gone to seed.] Stick it in dere - put it in a pan - put in de broom, jes' [demonstrates].
(Sprinkle it around.)
Dat's right - yo' do dat fo' two-three mornings. Anytime dat yo' think that things is goin' wrong yo' jes' - dey kin put it there but it will kill it jes' as fast as it hit de ground. Now dese things ah'm telling you, ah've experienced dem.
Entry 1636
Well, dat's whut ah'm tellin' yo' - dat's jis' de same. All yo' do is put chure urinate in that saltpeter into somethin' an' ev'ry mawnin' 'bout fo' a'clock yo' git up an' po' that right down dere. Ah know it.
(Down where?)
Down at chure do' - po' that down at chure do' an' jis' continue fo' a long time an' dere cain't nuthin harm yo'. Dat saltpeter is wonderful.
Entry 1639
If a person poison yo', give you some kind of deadly poison, yo' know, tuh poison yo', take yo' a hoecake of [corn]meal out chure flour an' take yo' jes' any amount of chamber lye dat chew have from de night ovah an' mix it up. But chew buy yo' a brand-new yard of homespun cloth [almost always homespun; cloth rarely added] an' right at chure fireplace mix it up jes' like yo' mixing up dough. An' yo' make, yo' know, jes' a flat roun' hoecake an' put it in de backside of yo' fiahplace. Dat befo' yo make yo' fiah in de mornin', yo' under- stand, an' den builds yore fiah on top of it. An' whosomevah done anything to yo' - whosomevah poisoned yo', say dat'll turn it back on dem.
Entry 1664
(If you want to keep somebody from hurting you, what did you tell me before?) Tuh keep someone from hurtin' yo', yo'd wear garlic an' sulphur an' brimstone an' red peppah an' salt round yore waist, an' drink whiskey offa garlic[ii!].
Entry 1689
Ah heard that if yo' wanta keep anybody from hurtin' yo' with roots, tuh go to a lightnin'-struck tree an' cut yo' off a piece of it an' don't let it touch de ground until yo' git ready tuh put it in de ground. Be sure yo' hold it whilst yo' cut it an' don't let it hit de ground. An' cut chew off fo' splinter, split chew fo' stakes of it an' carry dem home with yo' an' drive dem fo' stakes to de fo' corners of yore house, an' dere won't be no danger of nobody puttin down any roots or anything roun' yore place to hurt chew.
Entry 1692
Git brimstone an' den git - dere's somethin' grows in de woods dey call Indian turnip or Indian potatuh [jack-in-the-pulpit] - it looks lak a.
(I know - kind of like a potato?)
Yes. Well, dey takes that an' goes in de woods where de lightnin' strike a tree - if it's a dead tree it's all right an' if it's a green one, jes' so de lightnin' strike it an' scatter de splinters, de splinters jes' fly in diff'rent directions. Dem splinters will go in diff'rent directions an' den yo' must take dem splinters after yo' pick up 'em an' den burn 'em till yo' git de ashes, an den compound dat 'tater up wit it an' put dem two together an' sprinkle dat roun' de house. Well, he can't come up there.
(That is if anybody is trying to put anything down for you - harm you.)
Yes - dat'll change his mind, that will kill it, he can't come ovah it.
(That will kill what he puts down?)
Yessuh, he jes' can't come ovah it.
Entry 1702
[Lightwood in Southern United States means pine, often the Georgia or long-leaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill). Lighters are small pieces of pitch-filled pine used in starting a fire; these coming from a lighter pine or lightwood tree. Iighters appear somewhat frequently in other rites but rarely in cures and protection.] Take some lighters. You get them from offen the north side of a pine, you know, the lighter pine, lightwood, and make splinters of it. [Except in this rite, lighters come from any side or part of the pine.] Chew make nine and dig a hole. You.get these sticks, now, offen this pine and you get it offen the north side and you take and make nine splinters of it. You make 'em so many inches long, just as long as you wish. Make notches in them just as many as you wish to make, you see. Most in general you just make nine. And you dig a hole such a depth, I think round about twelve inches or eighteen in the ground. Then you cross them and make your wish.
(How do vou mean cross them?)
You put 'em across like that in the ground.
(Like a rail fence?)
Yeh, like a rail fence - only they're sticking in the ground though. You stick 'em down and cross 'em like that. That's to purwent anyone from inter- fering with you around this home.
Entry 1732
Wal, dey say it's something whut you could fix uP as a bodyguard, but chew fix it up in a bag. Take a piece of shamry skin, something like hide, like dis shamry skin gloves - you know jis' tough skin. Take that and git diff'rent kind of roots and bark. All right, you git de John de Conker root. You git de lodestone and git de devil's- shoestring root and de black cat wishing-bone, and den you take de John de Conker and a piece of dragon's blood and take all of that and mix it up fine - yo' know, beat it up, mostly powder enough to go in a bag. And den you take that and after you git all that fixed up good, git whut chew call dis here Seven-'leven Oil and put seven drops of that. And mix it up all together and put in dis bag and sew it up. See. And take it and put it - and git a piece of red flannen and sew dis bag up in dat red flannen and jes' put a string around it and tie it and wear it around yore waist or around yore neck and dere won't nothing bother yo'.
(That's to keep people from bothering you.)
That's pertection fo' you.
(Where do you buy this Seven-'leven Oil? Where do you get that?)
You supposed to could - de woman told me that she got some from New Orleans but whut part of New Orleans ah don't know. [All black cat bones are hands (see pp.74-97) and therefore they are also in a sense wishing-bones. But wishing-bone here means form as well as power. As to form, one informant said the black cat bone was "made lak de breast of a chicken" (No. 316, p.94), meaning the furculum or wishbone in front of but not a part of the chicken breastbone. Similarly, another informant described black cat bone as "gon'a have three forks [prongs or tines]...two long forks an' a little small fork" (No. 299, p.88). I suggested this three-pronged fork could have been a 'devil's trident." Actually the "little small fork could have been the hypo- cleidium - the end adhering to the winning half of the broken wishbone. Despite informants, wishbone appears only in most birds; it appears in black cats only by the grace of hoodoo merchants. Among other black cat products I should mention black cat oil (No. 1121, p.417), black cat powder (No. 326, p.96), and black cat water (Nos.328-329, p.96f.).]
Entry 1852
Some people down there [round Charleston, South Carolina], they claim they have the evil eye. Whenever they meet one of these persons, especially if they look them right in the eye, they're supposed to walk backward and count ten. That is to break the bad luck spell.
Entry 1958
[Here is mv first knowledge of Doctor Frank Hall, whom I searched for and found the following year - a feat coupled with the finding of Madam Griffin, an experience described in the Introduction.] There's an old man by the name of Hall, a very rich man. He has I guess fifteen farms. He has some very palitable[?] [palatial] houses on these farms. He lives in a little shack. Each day there will be seen many cars around his home, both white and colored. He is known as a cunjure. He is able to keep the law away and many people going to court to be tried always have him to sit in the courtroom. [This practice has been fairly common; see Court in Index.] There is something he does. Nobody can see what he does. His fame has gone out that he clears the person because most every time he's in the courtroom the person being tried gets out light or becomes clear. This old man is known to sell a little bag to law breakers and bootleggers. In every bootlegger's home that is prosperous in this town can be seen one of these little bags hanging up on the side of the wall. You need not worry about the law coming in as long as you see that little bag. This little bag is known as Hall's Hand, Hall's Lucky Hand. That's what they call it. That's down in Suffolk, Va. [Informant came from Suffolk, seat of Nansemond Co., but Hall lived out in the country.] [Ocean City, Md., Ed.]
Entry 1995
At Williamsburg, Virginia, at the Colonial Hotel, the place I was work- ing at, I was working with a boy called Massey. He was about the luckiest boy around the job. He would go away from the job, stay as long as he want, come back to the job and still hold a good hand with the boss. One evening on a dice game I was betting in the game with Massey. Massey and I were good friends. So after the game Was over, I having lost all my money, Massey having won all the money in the game, he gave me my money back and warned me not to play in a game again if he was in the game. I wanted to know why. He opened his shirt at the collar and showed me a little bag, a little dirty bag, of some contents I don't know what, pinned over his heart. It was the shape of a heart. II saw one heart-shaped hand ~ see No. 1053, p.399.] He told me that this little bag Would always pro- tect him in any game, for love or for money. He told me that he bought this little bag from an old man that lived far back in the woods and the path that led to his home was well travelled because there was always seen cars about his home. He told me that he paid this man fifty dollars for this little bag, two dollars down on deposit, and if it worked he paid the other forty-eight dollars. One afternoon I told him that if his bag could work let me see him work it on a white man. He was working for Dr. B. Dr. B. was the owner of the hotel. He had a nice automobile, an automobile that he had just paid $3300 for; and we had been accustomed to renting a car at a garage about four blocks up the street when we wanted to go to a ball game, dances and things of that kind. On this partic- ular afternoon the car that we had rented, somebody else had rented it already. I said to Massey, "Now, your bag, if it is working, let me see it work now." "I told him I would give him five dollars if his bag worked on Dr. B, so far as us getting his car. He told me to come on and lay the bet and go with him, and I when I saw him rub his hand on the bag I would know that the bag Was Working. He went to the doctor and asked him to let us use his car. He was doing the talking. I have know Dr. B's daughter ask him to let her use the car and he Would turn her down. After Massey had spoken to the doctor, he suddenly rubbed his hand over his heart. The doctor told him he couldn't let him take the car because the tire had been condemned. In fact he had to return it to the people he had bought it from and get another for it. Massey ran his hand over that bag again. Quickly the countenance on the doctor's face changed and he began to smile, and said to Massey, "Take that car, go on to the ball game and bring it back, take it to the garage and take the tire to those people and tell them that I want another one." If the bag Worked I don't know. I only know that I lost five dollars.
Entry 2008
That is a hoodoo bag. People have those things to sell. (What are they supposed to do with that hoodoo bag?) Well, they will either give it to you to carry in yore purse - most times they give it to yo' to wear around yore neck, swing it down an' hang it in front of your chest.
(What is that supposed to do for me? I mean that bag?)
Well, that supposed - jes' lak if dey wishin' fo' yo' to leave town, why then yo' supposed to wear that bag an' stay in town.
(Oh, that is supposed to protect you against this kind of work.)
Yes sir.
(Well, what do they usually put in that hoodoo bag?)
Well, they put in there diff'rent kinds of roots - they put in there what they call John de Conker, lodestone and it's another kind of a root but ah can't think of it. [Lodestone is not a root, but some persons called any hoodoo or witch- craft object buried or carried - roots.]
Entry 2052
A root doctor tole me dat if anybody was trying to harm you in any Way - like telling de police to come to yore house and different things or you in some kind of a business - you could go in de woods and ketch a black snake. Ketch him and yo' skin it - kill him and skin right there while he alive, and take that wet skin and you tie it in a bowknot and you take it home, and you sleep with it under yore pillah always. Don't ever move it from undah yore pillah. Even when you change beds let it stay right in the same spot - let it stay dere no matter how stinking it gits, let it stay dere. De law would even come at yo' doorstep but he never would wanta come in. [Jacksonville, Fla., (562), 699:5.]
[For more knots, see Spirit Caught in Knot, p.389f., and Index.]
Entry 2108
[This hand I picked up from my colored porter on the Pennsylvania Rail- road between Chester, Pa., and Baltimore, Md., while on my way to collect hoodoo in Fredericksburg, Va. Later I would duplicate this trick by gathering up a May Day rite on the Mississippi River while ferry- ing between New Orleans and Algiers (see No. 986, p.381.] I just happen to be there in this bootleg place - a man goes around sometimes to get a drink - and I noticed pennies nailed across the door. There was a hole right in the center [of each penny]. I guess there was about four pennies. I asked them what that was and they said that was to keep the police away. That was during Prohibition at Tampa, Florida.
Entry 2117
Nobody can hear us? [This root doctor, a good one, a woman, was evi- dently nervous. Either I nodded or turned off my machine for a moment.] Well, yo' take yore pennies an' yo' put dem down in yore do'way. Yo' take three pennies an' put it down in yore do'way an' that would keep de officers from de house, if yo' was selling whiskey round de house.
Entry 2118
Yo' git pennies in de odd year like 17 or 13, somepin lak dat, an' yo' git three of 'em an' yo' put one to de front do' an' one to de back do' an' one in between where they have to cross ovah de pennies, an' it will keep the law away.
(Where do you put them at the door?)
In de center on the carpet strip.
(Down at the bottom?)
Yes sir.
Entry 2120
If the law's comin' to yore house, you take you seven pennies an' drive holes in 'em an' nail one up ovah every do' yo' got - it jest 'cordin' to how many do's yo' got. But don't nail none up ovah no windah but chure front windah. Nail one up ovah every do' yo' got an' dat would keep de law down.
Entry 2146
Some people say they use nails to keep the police - that's another thing they say to keep the police away an' keep yore enemies out.
(How do they do that?)
They nail one ovah each windah an' talk to it jes' whatevah yo' want it to do, an' ah think yo' dress it with - befo' yo' nail it ovah each windah. Yo' make yo' up some sulphur - sulphur is a thing goes 'bout with ever'thin', an' a little graveyard dirt, an' yo' dress this nail. An' if you can, go write on it whut yo' want it tuh do. Yo' nail one ovah each windah an' one ovah de do', an' they say there's nuthin kin come ovah there.
Entry 2166
They take two needles an' some black peppah an' put it in a bag an' put it under the front do', one in the front an' one in the back do', in a red flannel bag, an' that keeps the law from the front an' back.
Entry 2193
Burn incent an' take a onion an' keep a onion hang up upside down ovah each one of yore do's. Dat'll keep de law away.
(Any kind of an onion?)
Any kind of an onion.
Entry 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 2365
To keep de police from naggin' yo'. Yo' know dis bluestone don't chew. Yo' know table salt don't chew. Pee on it. Put it in pee an' throw it at chure do'step. Dey cain't come ovah it tuh save they life.
(That keeps the cops away.)
Entry 2388
Always some old man or some old woman, they would study what they call cunjuration and, taking a cat's tail, the bone of a cat, or a snake bone, roll it up and put it in your pocket and [you] keep it. Then you are sup- posed to go anywhere and nobody will bother you. They call that a Witch hand. An old man back yonder [years ago] he would make that for his [your] reg'lar steady [companion or guide] and you pay him something.
[Informant born before Civil War.]
Entry 2405
An' then ah heard agin that if yo' want tuh keep - jes' lak say if ah wus runnin' a house, yo' know, an' sellin' whiskey or somethin' lak dat, to keep de polices off yuh, yo' go tuh de sto' an' buy yo' a box of asafetidy an' take it an' cut it in a small little quantity, an' put it on a piece of new homespun - sew it up in a piece of new homespun an' wear it round yore waist. Dey said absolutely dey can't come about chew.
Entry 2497
Dey take de same one foot of yore sock. Git chew - go to a baby's grave an' take three pieces of white cloth an' one silver dime. Yo' dig dis hole like dat, an' when yo' take dis three pieces of white cloth - dat's a baby grave now - three pieces of white cloth. An' a silver dime - yo' paying dis baby off. Yo' understand. Yo' dig a hole about lak dat, "In de Name of de Lord, yo' take care of dis in Jesus name. Ah'm only givin' yo' dis in Jesus name." Yo' put dem three pieces of cloth an' dat dime down dere. Befo' yo' put dat dere, yo' git out a handful of dirt. Den yo' put dat dime an' dem three pieces of cloth in strips - jes' little strips - in dere, an' yo' cover it on back, an' yo' take dis with you an' go on.
(What do you do with that, then?)
Go on an' fill yore sock with dat an' one silver dime. Yo' take it an' - either corner of de house yo' could put it. Or either yo' could run it up under de sill, it'll be good.
(What will that do then?)
Keep de police away. (Keep the law away. Well, why did you put those three pieces of cloth in the grave? What was the idea of that?) It's a baby an' a baby is in de arm an' is harmless an' sinful from de world.
(I mean what do those three things represent - those three pieces of cloth?)
Dese Three are One.
(Those three pieces of cloth represent the Three Who are One.)
Don't chew see.
Entry 2498
Yo' kin keep de law away from de house. Go to a colored cemetery an' git chew - go where yo' know dere's three people dat chew know, dat yo' wus dere when dey buried 'em. Take yo' fifteen cents an' yo' pay each one of 'em nickel a piece, yo' see, fo' each person. But let dis be newly buried - jis' yesterday or de day befo'. An' git chew ten pounds of dat dirt an' put it in yore bucket an' set it where yo' sweep yo'self. Dey won't even come near yore steps. Dose are spirits dat keep 'em back. Dat dead folks dirt whut wus buried, dey cain't come ovah it.
Entry 2516
Dey says dat if yo' take a horseshoe an' nail it ovah de inside of de do', de front do', an' dey said if yo' walk undah dat nine times, that's to make yo move. (You put this horseshoe up over this other fellow's door? Now, if I wanted to make you move, I would take this horseshoe and put it up over your door inside the house?) Yessuh.
(Wouldn't you see it up there or not?)
Nawsir. Dey puts it up so dey see it up dere - dey say dat keeps de witches away [see Nos. 512-514, p.154] but dey put it dere unknown to yo'. Yo{ -jes lak yo' be's talkin', jes' slip one of 'em dere while ah'm dere [some other place] in dey house. An' den whoevah he is, go in dere nine times, he'd have to move. [This is a reversal rite, an unusual backwards ceremony - a through the lookina-qlass or opposite side of the mirror device, because an inside horseshoe has its prongs pointing into the house, thus inviting evil to enter, whereas the prongs of an outside horseshoe point away from the house warding off evil. Remember, this inside horseshoe is over the front door, only a few inches distant from the outside horseshoe, if one is there - a Janus-like situation. Remember also, most country cabins - unpainted inside and the wood naturally aged and stained - could conceal a rusty horseshoe until a person walked nine times through the door. Nevertheless, to nail up the horseshoe while the tenant of the house was near is easier said than done.]
Entry 2520
De horse's left shoe - git two of 'em or git one tuh ev'ry do' yo' got in de house an' put it there. An' take a ten-cent [silver coin] an' a nail it up in dere an' brand dem all dere in ev'ry do' yo' got. Say dey comin' to de do' but dey ain't comin' in.
(You place that ten-cents right in the center of that shoe?)
Yessuh.
(How do you nail that shoe, put the prongs up or put the prongs down?)
Put 'em down lak dat - de left shoe.
Entry 2521
It's de same thing as ah wus tellin' yo' 'bout while ago. Dat John de Conker root, it supposed to be buried to pertec yoreself if yore house is got a front do' an' a back do'. Yo' bury a piece at each place an' aftah yo' bury dis piece dere, yore supposed to make yore ma'ks - dat's a cross-lak. Yo' make dat right at each do', on de do'. An' if it's possible dat chew kin git a brand-new horseshoe, one dat nobody has evah walked on, an' cover it with dat silver-lak dat come offa cigarettes [tin foil] an' hang it dere - it be best tuh put dat in de middle of yore house. Jis' say fo' instance if dere a do' heah, put it up ovah dat do'. Dey not supposed - den yo' supposed tuh not evah be bothered wit 'em any mo'.
(Not supposed to be bothered with the law.)
Entry 2558
[Lye, a protection against evil (p.459f.), is used by itself and in many combinations.] If yo' got a enemy anywhere roun', yo' gits a box of potash - jis' lak if ah wus fixin' it up fo' someone, ah have them tuh bring me a box of potash. If they thought they had a enemy round wus goin' do 'em any harm, anything, ah would have yo' bring me a box of potash an' ah would take this potash an' fix it up in a liquid an' den put so much of it in a bottle an' give it to yo'. Yo' would take dis home an' git up in de mawnin' befo' de sunrise an' yo' would sweep yore steps wit it - sweep yore steps an' repeat de Psalms about de Lord makin' me lie on green pastures. De mawnin' yo' git up an' sweep yore steps wit dis lye- Water, yo' put a little bit in a basin or somepin an' jes' dip yore broom in it an' sweep it an' say de Psalms. An' dat will keep anybody from doin' any harm to yo' - keep yo' havin'" good luck.
Entry 2559
To keep the law away, ah would get me some of van-van, get me some lye, some blueing water, and ah would go to mah banquette and ah would scrub it ev'r - just wherever around mah door, I would keep it - white - white - white - white as snow. And keep it - scrubbed - scrubbed - scrubbed - and they never come across the door. Any time he come there, throw your water each way ev'ry morning for nine mornings - throw your water thisaway - bucket of water this way - and that way - and he never come in your place.
(How - which way do you throw the water now?)
Right - if you living and your front door thisaway, you throw one this way, and you throw one that way, and one this way.
(You throw one out the front door, one to the right, and one to the left?)
That's right - for nine mornings. You keep it up.
(For nine mornings.)
(Just plain water?)
Just plain Water.
(Or just scrub water?)
Plain water.
(Just three buckets?)
Three buckets - thisaway and this way and.
(You just scrub with the other stuff?)
That's right - scrub with the other stuff.
(I see.)
Entry 2560
If yo' don't want de law tuh come to yore house, yo' use dis concen- trated lye an' burn incense. Dat concentrated lye goin' keep'away all evils - all kinda dirty acts an' doin's, jes' lak if somebody intendin' tuh sprinkle somepin fo' yo'. Why, if yo' don't want it done, or yo' heard tell of nobody do it, yo' scrubs yore house wit lye, or if yo' mop de front of yore po'ch wit lye, ain't no law comin' dere. Pract'lly, ain't nobody goin' do no harm because that lye drives away all evil things.
Entry 2618
(What would you do to keep the law away?)
Well, then ah'd get me a can of - two of these five-cent metal cans [new cans must be used]. Ah put 'em both full of chamber lye and put one to de right and one to de left corner - ah'd put one in de front door, behind it, and put one in behind de back door. Then ah would get me some saltpeter and jes' go to de sun- rise [face east]. Ah'd take mah saltpeter and ah'd scatter it across de yard an' ah would say, "O, St. Peter - yo' hear me, St. Peter - yo' hears a sinner calling an' ah knows, St. Peter, you hears me. Well, ah wants to tell mah thoughts to yuh, cross mah yard both ways." Well, then ah won't be worried no more. Dat's 'fore de sunrise...ah'd set-up a five-cent metal can to mah front door full of chamber lye and ah'd set one to mah back do' full of chamber lye. Well, when de law comes dey won't touch mah house. Dey might touch next do'. Dey will talk to me and speak to me. Ah nevah be worried one bit.
Entry 2643
If yo' is sellin' whiskey an' wanta keep de law away, heah whut ah always do. Keep one yore ole shoes, yo' burn it, burn yore shoe up an' git de ashes. An' de police come to yore house, when he go out yo' jes' sprinkle dat ashes behin' where he go out an' sweep it. An' every mawnin' yo' jes' sprinkle a little sulphur around in de corner of yore house an' yo' won't have no trouble atall.
Entry 2661
Well, yo' kin keep de law away from yore house wit sulphur, an' yo' kin have de luck to sell. Everybody come in yore house if yo's a whiskey seller, anything. Yo' git up ever' Sati'day mawnin' soon an' git chew a tray an' use some sulphur. Clean yore house out an' burn yo' some sulphur. Den everybody comin' in dere goin' spend somepin if dey got anything. Jes' burn dat sulphur an' let it perfume de house all ovah, everybody come in goin' spend something.
Entry 2675
[This is a fuller version of No. 1947, p.570.]
You git choo one pound of red beans an' git choo a portion of guinea pepper seeds. Well, they call that [the latter], they call for - it's off the tree of paradise, an' you throw it up under each side of the steps, you see. No, no, put them beans up under that step - one pound of red beans - an' throw the guinea pepper seeds up under the side de steps. An' then you kin take eight buckets of water, you see, an' throw aroun' the door, an' the nin'bucket, choo throw it up, you see. An' then that keeps officers away, too, that nine buckets of water, if the officers all aroun' your door. But choo put blueing water in de eight' bucket an' de nin' bucket be loaf sugar, you throw it up jis' the same. [Tree of paradise I do not know. It and guinea pepper seeds are unrelated except in hoodoo. However, two trees are called paradise tree: Simarouba glauca of tropical North America, and Melia azedarach (China tree) of Asia, the latter being grown as an ornamental tree in U. S. A., and known by many names, chinaberry, Indian or Persian lilac, holy tree, etc.]
Entry 2678
They takes de chamber lye and salt and mix it together and dey takes that, if they have a collector or anything comin' yo' know, dey kin scatter that every morning in front of they do'steps an' back steps, that'll keep them away - won't have no collectors.
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 2686
If yo' sellin' whiskey, to keep de law from yore house, yo' take an' where yo' takes a leak an' throw it out right - jes' throw it out in de front every night fo' nine nights an' in de mawnin's, too. An' throw it out dere fo' nine nights or nine mawnin's. Do it that night an' that mawnin', yo' understan'. Well, dat will keep the law from comin' in yore house. (What do you mean where you take a leak, on the ground? You mean where you do it on the ground or in the pot or what?) Where yo' do it in a can, don't chew see. [Informant has a night can.]
Entry 2699
Ah would use urinate an' concentrated lye an' yo' know soon in de mawnin'. Monday mawnin' an' Friday mawnin' ah'd always mop all de way through befo' anybody would enter - see, that would be roun' six a'clock in de mawnin'. An' aftah ah'd git through mopping ah'd throw de watah down de front steps, yo see. Den ah'd come back in an' burn mah incense befo' ah'd speak to anybody, see, an' make a wish.
(What would that do then?)
That would keep de law away.
Entry 2765
[The preceding informant, No. 820, continues with another account of Madam Helen.] I had a friend of mine, he went over to this same woman - Madam Helen. And she claimed that this woman had 'im tied up so that he couldn't get hisself right to do with no other woman. She told him, "Well," she say, "I can fix you up." She told him, she say, "Look, you go home and you get your wife and you play with her." She say, "You be playing with her and you feel around her waist and if she gets anyways suspicion, just continue on playing but never go right on to the spot. You finally," she say, "you run you' hand around until you find it, and you take and you break it off of her."
(That string?)
Yeah. "Break that string off of her, '' she say, "and bring me that string." She say, "And when you bring me that string," she say, "after you bring me that string, I can take that string and I can work her in a Way that she'll take and throw that stuff out." Well, this string has got her sweat on it - her perspiration, you see. Well, he takes that string off and he takes the string over to Madam Helen, and he brought it over to Madam Helen and exactly what she did with it, I couldn't say what she did with it. But anyhow, this woman when he came back.
(She kept the string?)
She kept the string.
(You don't know what she did with the string?)
What she did with the string, I don't know.
(What did she tell him to do?)
She told him to go home and before she say anything to him to bleed her head. [To draw blood is a well-known device against witches - see Nos. 485-487, p.148, and Index.]
(I see, her forehead.)
Yeah, bleed her.
(Yes, get some blood from her head, draw some blood.)
Yeah. And if he bleed her, it's no more harn can come to him. And he come home, and no sooner 'n he got in the house - he was sneaking in the house before she could see him - bopped her on the head and cut it. He cut it and he was all right after that.
Entry 2794
Well, dey got some women that hustles, they got candles they burn an' dey got de white candles - dey is fo' white men. De red candle is fo' a dark man [= Negro - see next title]. An' dey got a black can- dle, dey burns dat tuh keep de enemv mens away - dat's like a man whut would come aroun' an' ain't got much money tuh spend; dey much ruther fo' dese othah mens tuh come, whut dey burnin' de white an' de red candle on. Well, dem is good people. But chew burn de black candle tuh keep de police- man away. See, de policeman is her enemy in her racket of hustlin'. Well, dat's fo' her tuh burn three candles a day. She burns one tuh St. Raymond an' she burns one to de Mothah of Perpetual help. She burns dat to those saints. Well, wit all dose mens comin - white men an' othah wealthy men with money - dese mens goin' come, but de policeman nevah come tuh her do'.
Entry 2916
You could take holy water and sprinkle it around - just like there any- thing that you had that you thought somebody was going to steal it. You take holy water and make nine steps round your article - whatever it was - like it was this here [my record- ing machine on the table between usl and you had an idea that somebody was going to steal it. Just make a circle round that nine times and set a black candle.
(I see. And what do you do? You take nine steps around that?)
Nine circles around that.
(Oh, you make nine circles around it? I see. And then what will that do?)
After you takes your ninth circle, then you light it.
(Light the candle. What will that do?)
That will - they'll be afraid, they won't even come around your house. [For circle or ring as protective device, see Magic Circle, p.123f., Nos. 2197-2198, p.626.]
Entry 2998
Git St. Expedees up over your door - nail him up over there. Behind that same door you use that pink candle, burn it there.
(Up over the door and behind the same door you burn a pink candle?)
Yes sir, and make your wishes. That's to keep the police away. It will keep 'em away.
(What door do you use for that?)
Let that be the front door.
Entry 3045
(Before prohibition you did that?)
Before prohibition came here, yes sir. You see, you go to the sent [saint] store, you ask for a St. Raymond sent.
(st. Raymond sent.)
He's a fellow with a little short dress on, got a crown on his head. He got something down look like the devil - this thing he got on the ground. It got a tail and horns on its head. He got a sword in his hand like that [demonstrates]. See, if he would get up, he would cut his head off or something. [Informant is confusing St. Michael with St. Raymond.] Now, that sent is for to put in a. place like you are selling whiskey, or making whiskey, to keep the law from being wor- rying you. You put that sent up over your front door where he have to come in. And that sent suppose to protect your business.
(I see.)
Yes, sir. That what you call the - you been in the Catholic Church?
(Yes.)
You see them statues and things?
(Yes.)
Well, they have pictures drawed off with the same statues on them that you use in your home, cause I got 'em in my home now.
(This is a picture of St. Raymond?)
Of St. Raymond.
(You just tack it over the door, that will keep the law away?)
Over the door, that keep the law away. (I see. They did this before - this was during Prohibition days that you used that?) Prohibition days. The reason why I know 'cause I used it myself. I run a place of business down here for a fellow they calls Joseph Faranzi. You see, he's a Italian fellow, but I run it in my name, but it wasn't my place. And I used to sprinkle holy water every morning - when I sweep up, I sprinkle the floor down with holy water. Now, that holy water come from the Catholic Church. You gits it in a quart bottle. Then I take some of that holy water and I throws it on that picture.
(Over the door?)
Over the door, you see. You have to keep that picture damp with that holy water, you see. This here picture, it works by holy water. [Here this saint is a hand which must be kept damp - fed. See p.578 and whole subdivision Hands.] You sprinkle over that picture and that picture suppose to protect your place of business. Now, half of this city is run by sent pictures. Most every home you go in, you be lookin' up to see sents over the door.
Entry 3448
Well, dey say yo' kin take a dog an' kill de dog an' take 'is livah. An' dey say, when a man go to have intahco'se wit a woman, an' yo' kin git de chance to git it [the liver] on 'im some Way or 'nothah [they will be- come tied]. An' dey [cannot] git unloosed unless de doctor [M.D.] come to 'em. If dey's 'fraid of anything lak dat whenevah dey goin' out fo' dat, why dey kin jes' take a red onion, yo' know, an' jes' kinda lightly rub it on dereself, an' dey say nuthin lak dat would happen.
Entry 3690
Dey tell me dat dey kin do things to 'er so dat a man cannot have intahco'se wit 'er at all. Say he kin go an' git 'im a snail, an' GIT DE DUST FROM WHARE DE SNAIL'S CRAWL- IN'. Take de snail an' fry dat snail plumb till it cook up. Yo' kin roll it up, yo' know. Put all dat dus' togethah an' jis' when he kin have intahco'se wit 'er, jis' have dat dus' an' git some of it on 'is han's an' rub on 'er, an' dey say a man nevah could - don' cay [care] how he tried, nevah kin have anything to do wit 'er.
(That's to protect his home while he's gone?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 3706
He kin use his wlfe in a way dat she won't have othah men.
(How does he do that?)
How does he do it? Uses wlt de tongue. Dey call it goin' to de bushes. He goes down when he go to goin' down. She won't have anothah man. [That next-to-last sentence means: He goes down to the bushes, resorts to cunnilingus, when he begins to lose his nature. My informant, though marked professional and excellent is mistaken. Cunnilingus is neither a sign of ap- proaching impotence nor a mark of impotence.]
(Why?)
Well, DE HEAT FROM 'IS BREATH DRAWS DE LIFE FROM DE OTHAH MAN AWAY FROM 'ER. [To breathe, to heat, to suck, and to lick - these can be magic actions; but in this rite I see only intention or wishing. Protection against the other man, like all similar devices, is nonsense. As a matter of fact, all rites in HOODOO are wishful thinking - a dangerous mental activity.]
Entry 4010
[One cylinder later, preceding informant gives another version of the bluestone rite.] Take some chamber lye an' put some bluestone in it an' some saltpetah an' mix it up, an' jes' throw it undah yore step. an' all in front of yore [front] do', where yo' have to walk, an' roun' yore back do', an' dey say while dat down dey can't do nuthin to yo'.
combining chamber lye, bluestone and saltpetah before distribution. Keep the opening editorial one-cylinder-later/preceding-informant note and this distinct numbered version. The neighboring4009 citation says1077 while4010 says1007; no identity or citation repair is authorized here. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 5197
Yo' wear sulphur in yore shoes, if some- body put somepin down tuh harm yo'. Yo' git chew some sulphur an' red peppah an' put it in each shoe an' wear it, an' whatevah people put down fo' yo', it can't harm yo'. Red peppah an' sulphur.
Entry 5198
Yo' kin pertec' [protect] yo'self - yo' kin go ahead an' git chew a pod of red peppah an' sulphur an' put in de bottom of yore shoe, each foot, an' wear dat. Dey cain't harm yo', dey cain't harm yo'.
Entry 5203
Hit's a whole heap a ways tuh nuse [use] de shoes.
(Just one way now?)
Yo' take mah shoe - yo' kin take salt an' [red] peppah an' put in dere an' dat keep yo' from puttin' anythin' in dere tuh hurt me.
Entry 5204
Take red peppah an' salt an' put it in yore shoes tuhgethah. An' mix it in a li'le bag or papah an' put it in yore shoe an' weah it. Dat'll keep any- one from hurtin' yo'.
Entry 5208
People, yo' know, kin take an' weah sulphur in de shoes, an' as long as yo' weah sulphur in yore shoes, ah don' care who put anythin' down fo' yo', it wouldn't hurt chew. Sulphur an' salt eats up de poison.
Entry 5212
[Here is another version of preceding rite by same informant:]
Ah tell yo'. Yo' could take red peppah an' sulphur an' salt [3 ingredients], an' yo' could put it an' weah it in yore shoes; or eithah tie some of it in a piece of cloth an' put it roun' yore waist. An' nobody couldn't hurt chew tuh save yo' life.
Entry 5229
Yo' kin keep from bein' hurt dat way, whut ah know. Yo' kin keep sulphur in yore shoes an' keep from bein' hurt lak dat. Evah time yo' git ready tuh go out, evah pair of shoes yo' has, sprinkle a li'le sulphur in dem. Well, yo' nevah ketches anythin' from any- body. It's hard fo' 'em tuh git on tuh yo'.
Entry 5631
Well, dey gits up de foot track an' dey prepare dat up an' tote it. We use red peppah an' black peppah - sech as dat. We sprinkle dat down an' we salt it. Salt is sup- posed tuh save things. We use salt wit de idea in view of de savin' powdah by dat. We put de salt in dere tuh save it. As long as de salt holds it strength, we got holt of de undahtakin' at de time. SALT IS A GREAT IHING BUT LOTTA PEOPLE DON'T KNOW IT.
(Just what do you do with that track now?)
Well, We takes dat track - IT'S NOT BUT A VERY FEW PEOPLE IN DIS DAY'S TIME HANTS TUH KILL A PERSON, BUT DEY WANTS DEM TUH COME UNDAH DERE CONTROL AN' HOLI "EM, Yo' KNOW. When dey do dis, so den dey use dese means.
[Informant, professional worker, starts another rite.]
Put DUST IN YORE SHOES. PREPARE IT WIT THREE DIFFREN THINGS. An' dey uSe dat tuh sprinkle dat in yore shoes. Dere certain things yo' kin do tuh pertect yo'. Yo' kin walk ovah any kind whatsomevah it is. It melt away. Why.all yo' would do - use salt, nine drops of vinegah.
(How would they use that?)
Weah three needles in yore cap or hatband or whatsomevah yo' gwine tuh do. Stick it - conceal it away.
(What did you do with that salt and vinegar?)
Well we take de salt an' vinegar an' drop nine drops in each shoe. Jis' put a little pinch of salt in dis shoe an' one in dis one, an' we walk anywhere we vanta go.
(You can walk over anything?)
Walk ovah anything a man kin put down.
Entry 6525
Dey take - womens take cut of all yore toenails an' yore fingernails an' take de dirt from underneath 'em an' dey could cook 'em in de bread an' make a man love 'em. Dey could WITCHCRAFT dem dataway.
[St. Petersburg, Fla., (1022), 1653:5.]
(5). A FEW MORE DOCTORS {Folk medicine in hoodoo or witchcraft has a wider field of involvement than the isolated cures given in books of general folklore. This is true because hoo- doo or witchcraft supplies causes for all ailments and diseases as well as cures, and also tells how to protect oneself in the future. Such protective rites, actu- ally preventive medicine, as well as other cures unlisted here, will be found throughout the total text. For the latter, consult especially: FOLK MEDICINE pp.361-519; SEXUAL IMPoTENCE Pp.2341-2509; and 'HER PRIVATE TIME' Pp.2513-2540.] [A considerable number of live things in you will be found on pages 227-239, well as elsewhere in the complete text. May I call your attention to the first two rites in margin title SNAKES.]
Entry 6696
( Git some sugah an' ammonia an' bathe yo'- self in it yo' know. Well, yo' bathe yo'self, dat keeps de cross off yo' - keep it from 'im.
Entry 6703
Take some syrup in a bottle an' put it tuh a red antses bed. When it all git full up wit dem red antses, yo' scald. Put some hot watah in dat bottle an' po' it out in a pot an' boil dat, dat red antses. Yo' gits a piece a [piece of] garlic an' yo' puts it in dere an' let it boil. Well, dat is a dope dat it's nobody kin hurt chew. Yo' drinks dat, dere's nobody kin hurt chew. Unahstan' [understand] now, boil de red antses aftah yo' git 'em in de bottle. Put de piece a garlic in dere, strain it off an' drink it. Nobody kin hurt chew.
(What do you do with the syrup?)
De syrup draws de antses intuh de bottle.
Entry 6719
Take cedah leaves an' burn dem an' git de odor in 'mongst yore clothes, an' dat will keep yo' from ketchin' any kinda germs. Lak yo' goin' in some places dat way an' burn cedah, an' git de odah [odor] in yore clothes, dat keeps yo' from ketchin' germs.
Entry 6724
Yo' take a black hen aig an' write on it, if yo' think anybody is tryin' tuh rootwork yo' or anythin' lak dat. Yo' write on it whut chew want dat aig tuh do, tuh protect yo' in whut way, an' bury it at de centah of yore gate. An' if anybody come in yore yard wit anythin' dat means yo' any harm, why it will turn back tuh dem.
[This is called returning the spell.]
Entry 2366
Red peppah an' ashes an' saltpeter an' dey cain't come ovah it. Pin it up( ovah yore do'. Dey'll come in but dey won't be mad.
(Where do you put that, you say?)
Jis' up ovah yore do'.
(Well, it would fall out wouldn't it?)
No, yo' gon'a put it in a bag an' tie a string aroun' de bag an' hang it on de nail, an' every day yo' got'a pee on dat.
(Not up there!)
Naw. Yo' take it down an' pee in a pan, an' pee on it, an' den yo' put it back up there. Dey cain't bother yo'. Dey kin come in but dey Won't do nuthin to yo'. Dey'll be jis glad.
suspending the tied bag from a nail above the door. Retain visitors can come in but are claimed not to be angry/harmful; do not rewrite the account as absolute exclusion. predicted mitigation of visitors’ angry or bothersome conduct while allowing their entry. No total visitor exclusion These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 661) · Read full source (printed page 662)
Entry 2427
If yo' wanta be a bootleggah an' sell whiskey, don't evah sweep de tracks out do's; always take de tracks an' sweep dem in de corner of de house an' put cookin' salt in em an' put em in de stove. An' if yo' wanta keep de police from your house, keep from runnin' back an' forth out chure house, go an' git chew a new coffeepot an' git chew some loose salt, table salt, an' yo' full up dat coffeepot, two of 'em, an' put 'em to de back do' an' de front do', "In de Name of de Father, de Son an' de Holy Ghost," an' dat will keep de man from yore house.
(That will keep the officer away?)
Yes sir.
informant-recited invocation accompanying salt-filled pot placement. Preserve the exact Father/Son/Holy Ghost formula without appending words, theological identity or Prayer/Incantation equivalence. stated aim of keeping police away, with interviewer-confirmed officer referent. No housing eviction claim These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 6820
Take de grapevine an' de gourd vine an' dese things dey call sunflow- ahs, an' yo' kin make a tea wi' dat. An' dat is very good tuh take fo' de blood if anyone go tuh work an' work on yore blood agains' chuh. Well, yo' kin go tuh work an' work wit dat, an' nobody kin nevah hurt chew. A gourd vine is a very simple medicine tuh take against poison any time. If anybody take it, dey nevah git poisoned.
(Well, what would they take from the gourd vine?)
Jis' de leaves, eithah de vine.
Entry 6844
An' yo' take that person's name an' put it on 25 pounds of ice, an' dat'll freeze out all the harm they tryin' tuh do to yo'.
Entry 6851
Dey say yo' take a box of lye, if a person comin' tuh yore house an' yo' don't wan' 'em in dere - sompin lak dat. Yo' take a box of lye an' where- somevah yore place is spaced out at, yo' puts a box of lye in each fo' cornahs of de yard. Say dat'll keep a person outa dere. Lye'll keep a person outa dere.
Entry 6896
Dese here HOODOO dey git dat onion an' cut it up, fix it up in sulphur, stuff, an' git chew tuh tote it in yuh pocket, an' den if anythin' lak dat, chew - dey try tuh do anythin' tuh yuh, dat will keep it off, dat red onion.
(They fix this red onion up with that sulphur in it.)
Dat sulphur is de main thin' dey use.
(Nothing else, just the red onion an' sulphur.)
Entry 6904
Jis' lak if yo' were stay- in' dere in dis house an' yo' vanted tuh stay dere, didn't want anyone tuh hurt chah anyway. Ah heard 'em say dat dey could git some table salt an' black peppah, jis' whut chew kin make an' hold it roun' in yore hand, see. Mix it up well. Git enough where yo' kin go all de way roun' yore house, undahstan'. Throw dat all de way roun' yore house. Dere no harm dey kin do yo'. But be sure yo' have aplenty so it be put down all de way roun'.
Entry 6906
Git a fresh box of salt, have nevah been used an' a box of red peppah, an' yo' mix a certain amount tuhgethah. Put some aroun' yore do' an' in front of gate an' yo' weah some in yore shoes. An' dat would keep dem from crossin' yuh, if dey wanta put hard luck on yo'.
Entry 6907
Or eithah yo' kin take sulphuh. Say yo' kin [take] sulphuh if anyone comin' in yore house an' salt an' mix it tuhgethah. Jis' go round de edge, go all roun' yore yard an' sprinkle it all aroun'. Dat will keep dem out from comin' in, keep yore ene- mies from comin' in.
Entry 6913
Dey call it sen-sen [an incense]. It's a li'le powdah. An' dey take dat prob'ly [probably] in de night, any time aftah nine a'clock, jis' sprinkle dat out aroun' de do'. It's sen-sen, whut dey call it. Put dat outside an' den take a li'le, as ah tole yo', about burning de Hawthrone [Hearts Own] Cologne an' de sulphur. It's a powdah. Dat's tuh keep yuh enemies away from yo'. Den no enemies cain't come.
Entry 6922
[Silver - especially the American dime or ten-cent piece - was one of the most widespread and frequently used magic articles in hoodoo. Has the de- basement of metallic currency in the U. S. A. killed off these beliefs, or is there a brisk sale of true silver dimes? Despite that extensive collection of silver beliefs previously given on Pp.484-493, there are many more scattered throughout Hoodoo. The rites that follow may be duplicates, but they are un- printed in Hoodoo.] Dese people in St. Petahsburg, weahs a dime roun' dere ankle tuh keep 'em off - as a preventive.
(To keep off what?)
Any kinda HOODOO or hard luck or stop anythin' dat would happen tuh 'em. Why some of 'em weahs one on each laig!
Entry 6925
Fo' pertectin' yo'self if yo' thought dat dey wus goin' tuh put any- thin' down, lotta people goes tuh work an' take a silvah dime an' put it roun' dem laigs an' weah dat. Dey say de silvah dime will ketch de poison.
Entry 6937
One thing you can do to keep anybody in the world from doing anything to you, you get a silver dime, grate it, put it in water and drink it. Put a dime in each shoe. I guarantee you that you'll never be hurt. That silver dust will stick to the lining of your stomach and remain there indefinitely, and if it is not right, it will come right straight back up.
[Fredericksburg, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 6938
Put sulphur an' a dime in yore shoe an' weah it in dere, an' dey couldn't hurt chew.
(If you walk over anything, it wouldn't hurt you?)
Yes.
Entry 6942
Folkes 'ave dose roun' dere neck, an' on dere laig, fo' tuh keep somebody comin' dere tuh do anythin' tuh 'em. When anybody do anythin' tuh 'em, den dat silvah turn black. (You say they wear one around the neck, one around each wrist and one around the ankles? They use fifty cents altogether - five dimes?) Yessuh.
Entry 6958
If anyone wanta try tuh put a spell on yo' - whut chew take an' weah it fo', tuh keep dem from doin' dat - is weah a li'le sulphur in yore pocket evah day an' eat a pinch evah now an' den. See, an' dat will keep dem from puttin' de spell on yo'.
Entry 6974
Put sulphur an' bluestone an' brimstone, tie all dat up tuhgethah an' put it in chamber lye an' throw it roun' yore house, an' nobody kin put down any cunjure fo' yo'.
Entry 7271
If yo' kill any person an' yo' kin git a chance tuh step ovah 'im, can't git no kinda bloodhoun's tuh git behin' atall any mo'. Jes' step 'cross 'im aftah yo' kill 'im, see. [As we shall see in a moment, any stepping over the corpse, forward or backwards, makes the sign of the cross, a sacred symbol that will protect the murderer against the avenging spirit of the dead body.]
Entry 7516
Dey take graveyard dirt an' put it in dey shoe an' dat will keep dem from interferin' in de family, an' it will cause dere death. Say, if yo' kill dat person yondah, well yo' bury 'em. An' ah'll go take some graveyard dirt an' sprinkle it ovah yore flo' an' put some in yore shoes, an' when yo' go out an' travel on, yo' tell it 'fore yo' know it.
(You'll find out on me that I killed that man. How would you find it out?)
By dat graveyard dirt. Yo' lay down an' go tuh sleep an' yo' know yo' did a bad crime. an' yo' - why den yo' go an' tell it. Dey go an' stick yore fingah in a pan of watah [while you are asleep] an' yo' tell evahthing about it. [Wilson, N. Car., (1474), 2654:7.] [This section contains merely a part of the many beliefs and rites in Hoodoo about death, burial and graveyard (see preceding section MURDER and everyvhere); therefore the subject matter here is not as complete as it could be. I have divided the section into three subsections, the first two concerned with grave- yard dirt: (1) HOW TO OBTAIN GRAVEYARD DIRT, and (2) WHAT TO DO WITH GRAVEYARD DIRT; and (3) COFFINS REAL OR MOCK - PHOTOGRAPH AND COFFIN - DOLL BABY - ANIMAL SUBSTITUTE - BONES FROM THE DEAD. This latter subsection (3) will be given in lettered subsubsections as we reach them.] [Graveyard dirt or dust, the most deadly and feared hoodoo substance, is act- ivated by the spirit of a dead person - a dangerous power to handle. An amateur would be wise to leave graveyard dirt in the hands of an expert, but if he or she desires a do-it-yourself experience or wants to avoid professional expense, here are the rules and procedures to be observed, beginning with a few words about the spirit itself.] [The Spirit in Graveyard Dirt is the same spirit we met at the beginning of Hoodoo (vol.1, Pp.19-164) and elsewhere in the text. Beliefs and rites in this subsubsection reestablish former atmosphere:]
Entry 7602
Den it's de las' one ah know - pahtic'ly [particularly] good, yo' see. Ah wanta tell yo' sompin whut ah done experienced mahself. Now, if yo' goin' off anywhere an' yo' goin' wit some mean folks, befo' yo' go, yo' goes yo' knows people at de cemetery becuz mos' any cemetery - people dat lives in a city or anywhere dey come tuh know somebody dat buried in a cemetery. Yo' goes dere first dark an' yo' carry one penny wit chew. An' yo' goes right tuh de head of 'is grave an yo' call 'im three times, yo' say, "So-an'-so, So-an'-so, [So-an'-so], ah come fo' some of yore dust, an' ah goin' pay yo' fo' it." See, an' yo' take it right off 'is breast right heah [demonstrates]. (Right off the middle of his breast.). An' yo' stick dat penny down an' - stick dat penny way down fur as yo' kin git it. Den yo' take dat dirt an' put it in whut chew wanta put it in [the container unimportant here], an' covah dat grave back up.
(What do you do with that dirt after you get it?)
Yo' kin take dat dirt an' yo' jis' kin sew it up in a red flannen or any piece of brand-new - yo' gotta sew it up in a brand-new piece of cloth, not no cloth dat been used. Jis' go an' git a nickel worth of some kinda cloth, an' sew dat dirt up in dere good an' yo' totes it. [This becomes a hand.] An' about once a week, yo' take a little bit of dis ten-cent cologne, yo' know, an' yo' puts on it [you feed it], an' yo' totes it in yore pocket. An' yo' kin go anywhere in any crowd of mean people, dey won't say a word tuh yo', an' yo' git 'long jis' as good as yo' want tuh.
Entry 7734
It's jes' lak pow- dah yo' know an' dey'd sprinkle it all undah de bed, so dat it couldn't be seen yo' know; cuz natchly [naturally] people whut come in would wanta know whut's all dat dirt dere fo'. But it wouldn't be so conspicuous dat way, it would jes' be sprinkle... [I interrupt].
(Where would you get this dirt?)
Outa de graveyard.
(And why do they use it?)
Tuh keep people away, dere enemies away. An' dey'd keep it undah de bed, see.
Entry 7909
Also, yo' kin use dis graveyard dust an' start from de stairway dere an' jes' sprinkle it roun' de house an' git chure broom an' sweep it out, out behin' dem an' on out de walk. An' yo'll nevah be bothahed wit dem no mo'.
Entry 7921
Take chamber lye an' graveyard dirt an' mix it de same as ah jes' tole yo' while ago, an' jes' keep it all roun' de house. That will keep de law away. Dat chamber lye wit de graveyard dirt an' de peppah an' salt. ah wuz tellin yo' 'bout jes' awhile ago. (That will keep the law away?) Dat keeps de law away.
Entry 8772
They say if yo' take de twelve apostles an' write 'em on [a piece of paper or twelve sage leaves?] an' put 'em in yore left pocket or eithah yore left shoe, why dey say dat'll keep harm from comin' to yo'. [A note following write 'em on reads: A noise made here so do not know what they were written on.]
Entry 8906
See, jes' lak a person leavin' an' goin' tuh town, say: Well ah'm gona leave de house heah an' ah ain't got nobody tuh leave heah. Well, now dat's called, dey dressin' [magically preparing] it [the house]. Yo'll take a cow horn. Yo' take dat an' yo' scrape it - yo' scrape dat cow horn, an' put [scrap- ings] jes' on a piece of tin or sompin an' set it afire. Well, now, hit'll git tuh burnin'. Well when it git tuh burnin' an' it'll burn down tuh nuthin but ashes. When it burn tuh ashes, dat smoke commence tuh rollin' all roun' de house - goin' roun' all de house. Well, when it go all roun' de house, yo' kin go anywhere yo' wanta, leave de house, nobody bothah nuthin in dere. Evahthin' will be right dere.
Entry 9413
Why yo' kin take dose fresh aigs, jes' any fresh aigs outa a fresh nest. (How many?) Two, yessuh, an' write on 'em [what you want done] an' take an' bust 'em up in de front of yore house, an' it will stop de policeman, anyone comin' roun' dere tuh harm yo'. It will do so.
Entry 9488
If anyone will come in yuh house - jis' lak a person wan'a come in yuh home an' broke yuh home up, an' yo' know dey come [for that purpose], take some salt an' go all through yuh house an' throw it in de each fo' cornahs of de house, an' use it In de Name of de Lord. An' when dey use dat salt, throw it through de house. Dey throw it undah yuh do'step too when dey come. Why when dey come in dey can't do a thing tuh yuh an' evahthing will go on pleasant.
Entry 9513
Ah wus told once that the law, the way to keep them away from your Loose is to throw salt behind them, if they ever come. Get a handful of salt Wd throw behind him and they will be very seldom visitin'.[ New Orleans, La.,
(796), 1109:9.]
Entry 9522
I've known people to wear salt in the bottom of their shoe, the left shoe rather, to prevent anybody from cunjuring them; or, if they go any place and walk on anything, it won't injure them. [Snow Hill, Md., (85), grade school teacher who was born and still lives near Richmond, Va., except during the school year,14:2.]
Entry 10131
Ah hear'd 'em say dat dey take a black ket wit not a white spot about it anywhere. An' take it an' put it in a pot alive, an' b'il it till de meat falls offa de bones. [Bones not thrown into running water.] An' take dose bones an' dat Zi'le roun' cur'ous bone dat's in de ket, take it an' weah it in yore pocket. Keep it in dere wrapped up from all dirt an' evah- thin' an' dat wuz good luck tuh yuh, couldn't nobody harm yo' or do nuthin tuh yuh.
Entry 10187
You git choo a white candle. You put it in a half a glass of water [to serve as a candlestick and precaution against fire]. You light it every night at 9 a'clock. You say, I see no evil, I hear no evil, no evil overtake me, an' think what I told, you pin on you. That's for the law away too: I see no evil, I hear no evil, no evil over- take me. An' yo' let that candle burn a half a hour. You burn that every night. That's to keep the law away. An' then you git 9 safety pins, you understand. Sou you put 'em in each shoe, nine in each shoe, an' if there's one [anyone] happens to come to try to worry you, you cut you a Irish potato half in two an you make 4 parts [by cutting each half into 2 parts]. You take that, you go outdoors an' you throw a piece to the east - that potato be in 4 parts - an' yo throw a piece to the west, an' you throw a piece behind you, an' keep the other [fourth or last piece] on you.
Entry 10194
[Informant has a good rite here but fails to explain it.]
Write that name down and put a glass of water - write that name down over a glass of water nine times. Then put that glass of water before dat, put the... Now, I take and I put that glass of water there over that paper and take three swallows out of that glass of water nine mornings [see correction lat- er.] (Drink that water for nine morn- ings.) For nine mornings take three swal- lows out of that glass of water - I mean for three mornings. You take nine swallows out of that glass three mornings. Do that for three mornings. Den after you do dat for three mornings, get you a blue candle and let it burn right over dat man name. Don't you worry about him.
(After you burn that candle over his name.)
[I am merely making a comment to myself.]
What?
(I say, all right, go ahead.)
Well, you just - like I explain. Like you burning that candle over his name, perhaps you don't want the man - you don't wanta see him. You drink three swal- lows of water out of there for three days!!! That keep him away. See you drink three swallows each three time a day, twice in the day, and three [the third] at night. That'll be nine swallows. You take those glasses of water. Then you... see, like you agreein' with him, see you drinkin' with him. Then, you put your candle there and let it burn. Set that candle there and let it burn there.
(What will that do then?)
Well, he can't come there.
(The law can't come there?)
Yes.
(You write the policeman's name down on that piece of paper.)
Shore. (Well, how do you burn that candle? Do you put the candle down in the glass to burn?)
[The shaky answer is according to my following comment.]
(You take the glass away and put the candle on the name?)
That's what you do.
(Long as that candle burns, it keeps him away?)
Shoh, he keeps away, too.
Entry 10202
You do the same thing, you sprinkle the house down with holy water and put your light to your saint, you know. Always keep a light to St. Michael, a red light. (A red light, why?) Well, see, that light, that keeps any evil away from going into your home.
Entry 10203
St. Michael? Well, you take a blue candle and you burn to St. Michael for him; burn the can- dle to conquer your enemies. You get ahead of them, keep them from harming you.
Entry 10208
If there's something that you don't want taken regardless of what it is, if you don't want it taken - for an instance if you take, if you lock your house they going to break in, and you don't know how to do for to keep 'em from taking your things. Well, then, first I would go and I would get me some sassafras [roots or pieces of bark]. I'd get some sassafras and I'd get me a knife and I'd trim this sassafras, see. I'd trim it and every little piece that I'd whittle off it [demonstrates].
(Every piece that comes off, what do you do with that?)
Every piece I trim off - I'm going to trim it off until I get to nine pieces, and every time I get the nine pieces, I'd count the nine pieces. I'd get them nine pieces and I'm going to put nine pieces here [demonstrates]. I cut off until I get nine more pieces and I'm going to put that there until I get four times nine. See? Well, all right. Now, I'm going to set it on the outside of my door. That's the corner of my house and that's the corner of my house. I'm going to set nine pieces there and nine pieces there, and at the back end of my house. I'm going to set nine pieces.
(You have nine pieces in each corner of the house.)
In each corner of the house, but on the outside. Under my house, if I can get under there and get to where the fire part is - the fire-hearth part is; under the house, you know.
(You what?)
Get under the house, underneath the house and get to the fire-hearth, see.
(Oh, the chimney - the fire-hearth.)
Yes, the chimney. I take and I put me a Bible there. I put that Bible there. I puts the Bible up under that house and I puts a candle there, and I leave that candle burning, see, and I leave the Bible open. But I put a piece of something in front where nobody can't learn that candle's burning there, you see, and leave it burning there. And then I come out from under that house and I locks my door, and as I'm coming out I'm sprinkling a little sugar, you see. I sprin- kle sugar as I come out, you see, until I get at least fifty feet from my house, you see. Then I won't sprinkle no more sugar and I can go and stay from three or four days and come back. Nobody will go in that house, nobody never go in there.
(What sort of a candle do you burn on that chimney?)
I'm got a ordinary white candle. (A white candle, I see.) [Here we have a quincunx, 4 corners and a double central point - Bible and candle.] [New Orleans, La., (832), 1249:2.] [If the reader is approaching this multi-volumed HOODOO archive for the first time, he or she must be told that the present beliefs and rites about sex are perely a continuation of 167 pages of similar material published in volume 3, Nos.3ll0-3830, Pp.2341-2509; material listed in logical sequence according to the Table of Contents for volumes 5, 4 and 3. The material now following could not be so conveniently arranged, though it does have a certain amount of alpha- betical order and other continuity. I am dividing this section into two parts: (1) COMPLETE RITES and (2) CONDENSED RITES, these latter sometimes a reference oaly.]
Entry 9582
If a person tryin' tuh poison yo', yo' kin take peppah an' salt an' weah it in yore shoes. Evah time yo' put chure shoe on, keep dat red peppah an' salt in dere [see that it has not leaked out] an' ah don' care whut dey put down, it cain't hurt chew.
Entry 9585
Suppose somebody wan'a poison you or put choo down an' fix you so you ain't able to move or walk. You go to work an' git choo de rock salt, an' you take that rock salt, you pound that rock salt up [as fine] as sugar. You take ciyine [cayenne] peppah w'at's never been used [a new box of cayenne pepper]. You put it into it [the pulverized rock salt] an' mix it, an' wear it in your shoe. An' nobody kin put nuthin down to harm you.
Entry 9596
If de law's bothahin' yo', yo' kin take de onion an' de garlic an' cut it in fo' equal parts. Yo' jis' take de garlic, yo' don't cut it all; yo' jis' take diff'ren' pods, pieces [cloves] yo' know. An' yo' use eithah de white or de red onion, an' yo' kin jis' cut it yo' know, in fo' parts: An' go an' yo' po' a whole box of table salt ovah it, an' den yo' po'a whole box of red peppah ovah it, an' sprinkle a li'l saltpetah an' a li'l bluestone on it. Dat'll keep de law out chure house.
(What do you do with that garlic?)
Well, yo' take dat garlic an' burn it. It's fo' luck. Yo' take dat garlic an' put it in a li'l bag an' fold it up an' wit all kinds - all kinda diff'ren' li'le pieces of stuff dat chew use wit it. Weah it. Yo' know weah dat garlic. (How do you keep the law away with that onion after you prepare it? What do you do with that onion?) Yo' take dat onion an' continue tuh burn it till de third mawnin', an' dat'll keep de law away.
(Where do you do that - burn that?)
Well, yo' take it de firs' night an' let it burn up dere, yo' see. Sprinkle it all round yore house. [In preceding subsection see 3 pepper pods halved, No.9587.]
Entry 9598
If yo' don't know dey name or sompin lak dat, git chew some salt, black peppah an' sugah an' ground real fine. Yo'll have tuh beat it as a powdah. Jes' take yore rollah an' roll it jes' intuh a powdah. Sprinkle it all aroun' yore house, yo' see, tuh keep off all evils. Yo' sprinkle red peppah an' lye behin it. Dat simple thing. Den yo' kin git chew some dis chlorine salve. It's whut chew call - it's sompin lak a asic [acid] - an' dat keeps anyone from roun' yore house, close aroun'. Yo' kin use it about chure body, dat draws all yore enemies away. An' yo' kin use it as a chloride salve, jes' plain chloride salve without asic an' as adraw- in' card, fo' people's tuh yo'. But jes' dis plain chloride asic is tuh keep 'em from yo', from doin' yo' bodily harm.
Entry 9600
Yo' kin weah red peppah in yore shoes an' salt an' coal oil [kerosene]. Dat keeps anybody else from doin' anythin' tuh yo'.
Entry 9604
Take yo' some red peppah, sulphuh an' table salt, or eithah graveyard dirt, an' put it in a little cloth an' put it in de bottom of de shoe an' weah it. [That graveyard dirt is a part of preceding com- bination and not a substitute for it, see following rite about graveyard dirt from near headboard of grave.]
(What will that do then?)
Dey can't hurt chew.
(You walk over anything and it couldn't hurt you?)
Yes.
The informant describes a shoe-cloth treatment and protection claim, using the words 'or eithah graveyard dirt'. Hyatt's bracketed note instead treats dirt as part of the combination and refers to the next rite. Preserve that difference and the red pepper, sulphur and salt as distinct ingredients.
Entry 9632
Put sulphuh an' salt an' red peppah in yuh shoes an' weah it in dere all de time. Den yo' kin step ovah it an' it won't do nuthin tuh yuh. [Sumter, S. Car., (1345 0r 1346), 2328:8.]
Entry 9633
If anybody tryin' tuh harm yo', yo' take some sulphuh, use some cayenne peppah, dis cayenne peppah whut's grind up [ground up] an' dis sulphuh an' some new salt - cookin' salt [not the coarse salt fed to animals]. Yo' weah it in yore shoe an' dey can't harm yo'.
Entry 9635
Yo' kin take yo' some ground red peppah [cayenne pepper], sulphuh an' table salt. An' yo' kin throw dat roun' yore do', or yo' kin put dat in yore shoes - sulphur in yore shoes. Yo' kin walk on dat sulphuh an' nobody can't harm yo'.
Entry 9636
If dey put anything down fo' yo', yo' undahstan' to hurt chew or cripple yo' or anythin' so yo' can't walk. Yo' take dat peppah, cayenne peppah an' salt an' sulphuh, an' mix dat tuhgethah an' sprinkle it aroun' undah yore do'step, an' aroun' yore place whare yo' walk. Quite nec'sary [necessary] yo' weah some of dat in yore shoes. Well yo' see, dey can't do anythin' to yo', can't hurt chew when yo' got dat peppah in dere. It keeps dat down.
conditional threat of injury contrasted with a claimed protective negation. Preserve cripple/cannot-walk threat and can’t hurt negation; no diagnosis or proven protection. mixing cayenne pepper, salt and sulphur in a reported protective preparation. Keep the literal uppercase MIX destination, named ingredients, page order and the adjacent protection claim without efficacy. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 3812) · Read full source (printed page 3813)
Entry 9663
Take table salt now, when dey [policeman] jes' come aftah yo' an' be- hind yo' about chure stuff. When he comes in an' he turns 'is back, yo' throw it behind 'im. An' he would have tuh turn 'is back when he's goin' out. Throw it be- hind 'im on de flo' an' as he turns back, throw some on 'is back.
(Throw some on his back?)
On 'is back. An' burn dis dragon's blood in yuh house. Yo' burn it in yuh house tuh keep de law away.
Entry 9664
All right. Well, first, if they trying to harm you, you get you some Epsom salts, take you some table salt. All right. And you take you some warm water and let that set overnight. Then you take you a good bath with that. Well, they can't do anything with you.
Entry 9700
If dey wanta be protected aroun' de home sometime, it's a very simple thing dat dey kin do tuh bring protection. Dey do dat befo' de sunrise. Dat is tuh take some table salt an' sulphuh an' fo' seven mawnin's befo' de sun rise, yo' git up an' turn yore back tuhwards de sunrise. An' jes' take dat salt an' sulphuh all composed tuhgethah an' jes' throw it up in de air. An' dat supposed tuh protect de home.
Entry 9803
Well, yo' see, de house yo' lives in has got four corners to it. Well, it's north, east, west, and south. Well, yo' take a simple thing as a needle, one needle, an' take that needle an' put in each corner of your house. An' every night at twelve 'clock yo' read the Ten Command- ments in each corner of that house. Like tonight yo' read them in one corner an' the next night yo' read them in another corner. An' then after yo' get that done, yo' take the needles out wrap them up, buy a little lodestone, put the four needles in that and put them up over the door, tack it there, an' leave it there. Yo' kin get all the trade you want. That will even keep the law away.
Entry 9804
If yo's a keen farmah an' lookin' fo' 'em tuh break yo' up, yo' go git chew six needles, bran' new, an' take yore - now, heah's yore barn-facin', yore barn door facing.
(Facing of barn door?)
Yes. Yo' make a way [split with knife] in dere an' place dem needles in dere. Make a crack in dere wit chure knife so yo' kin place dem needles in dere. But de eyes [of the needles], three of 'em, an' place 'em jes' about de height of a man's body. Go up tuh dat do' an' put three [needles] on each side [of the door]. An' yo'll find no breakin' up of yore farm.
Entry 9852
Go tuh de Ten' Cent Store anywhere an' git chew a package of straight peedles - straight pins whut ah mean tuh say, straight pins. An' yo' kin take an' git chew a li'l bittee hammah, an' at chure front do' tack up eighteen dat way in a line right across dere. M' at chure back do' tack up seven of dem straight pins. An' dere won't no law Ble inside dere tuh search.
Entry 10705
Well, if you wanted tuh be protected from de spirits, ghostes or things - wanta rest - lak if dey worrying yo' at night, yo' take a Bible an' lay it right under yore pillah wide open. An' yo' kin go to sleep an' rest all night long, and it won't no ghost an' no evil spirit or nuthin lak dat bother yo'.
Entry 10776
Ah heard dat if a person keep comin' round yo' - yo' don't want 'em dere - whensomevah dey goes out yore do', jest git behin' 'em an' sweep out. As dey go out, jest sweep be- hin' 'em, till yo' git to de last do'step. An' sweep it on out de gate, an' yo' won't be bothered with 'em back dere no mo'.
Entry 10819
Yo' use black peppah when dey comin' to yore house, an' as dey go out use black peppah an' salt an' yo' throw it behin' 'em. An' den yo' git a broom an' yo' sweep out de do' dey goes, an' git a clear bucket of watah [bucket of clear not scrubbing water] an' throw it behin' 'em. Throw de watah right out in de street right aftah dey go out de do'; throw a clear bucket of watah right behin' 'em.
(What will that do then?)
Dat will keep 'em away. Dat drives 'em away from yore house.
Entry 10820
Say he come in - dis yore house heah - he come in heah. When he leave out, yo' sprinkle some salt right out behin' him an' take yore broom an' sweep it out. Dey tell me dat's mighty good tuh keep him away.
Entry 11131
Yo' take dat in yore home an' burn it. (This cow manure?) Yessuh. An' lotta people burn it because even tuh keep de law from gittin' 'em, or tuh keep dey enemies from upsettin' 'em. Burn dat in dey home.
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 11756
Wear graveyard dirt in shoes as a protection against hoodoo and spirits of any kind. [St. Petersburg 1691:4.]
Entry 12175
I have heard a gentleman, people, say that you take a piece of horse- hair and put it under your doorstep and you won't have any trouble with a evil person coming to bother you, coming to your house. [Some- how this belief sounds old. Horses and hags and witches are associated with horses. Does the presence of a horsehair confuse the hag-witch and hold her to daybreak? My wife and I stop- ped one night here at the hotel in Petersburg, Va., on our way from Old Point Comfort (not in Richmond as I said somewhere in HOODOO some years ago) - to War- renton on our Way back to New York City. At both one-night stands I interviewed the bellboy. My original transcription by hand is attached to manuscript. This vas informant No.33.1
Entry 12185
Dat's very easy. You can take some of this black stone [black lode- stone?] and Van Van and sweet oil. You take all that and you mix it together, and you put that in a lit- tle sack or in a little bottle. You hang that over your door, under a horseshoe. You put the horseshoe up and you hang your bottle under there, but you have the bottle so that no one can see the bottle, but they can see the horseshoe. This bottle be's behind the horseshoe. And no law in the world gon- na come in your place lessen they git permission. They kin come someone to see the proprietor before he [law] come in there. The horseshoe is in the right form just like it lays on the animal's foot [prongs or toes down] but the bot- tle is fixed [hidden] under there.
Entry 12186
(What do you do to keep the law away from a place? The law - to keep the police away?) The policeman?
(Yes.)
Well, I knows some of them puts a cross up on the side of their door.
(What kind of a cross?)
[Informant evidently thought a cross is a cross and I did not insist.]
A horseshoe - you know them horseshoe - a cross. They either take a horseshoe or either they has some silver - just like that is. [He pulls out a piece of tinfoil.1 Take a brand-new that never has walked on [an unusual expression] you see, that never been used. And be sure it's a brand-new piece. Put that there and put that horsefeet [horseshoe] up- side down [prongs or toes up]. The law will never come there. [Do not use tin- foil picked up from street or off floor. For tinfoil from street see No.12192.]
(Just one horseshoe?)
Yes. He [policeman] pass right on by there.
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 12228
Wal, yo' kin git dat John de Conker, called de King of de World. Ah've tried dat an' dat's not so good. Wal, yo' take it when yo' git it an' git chew a piece of red flannen, see, an' sew dat up in a piece of red flannen. (Sew this John de Conkah up in this red flannel.) Dat's right an' den git chew some Hearts Perfume [bottle has 2 or more small red hearts on label] an' put chew 9 drops on dere. An' put chew twelve pins in dat, see, right out a bran'-new package of pins. Wear it in yore left pocket every day yo' go. An' in a cer- tain length of time, dat odor - yo' has to perfume it ovah ag'in - dat means every 3 weeks. It'll work fo' yo', too. Ah've tried dat.
(What do you wear this little bag for? What is that supposed to do?)
Well, dat's to keep yore enemies away from yo'. An' if yo' wanta start any business, yo' have success an' good luck after dat - no cops to bother, nuthin atall [at all]. Dey might come to yore place but when dey come to de place dey'll sit down an' talk with yuh.
Entry 12531
Well, yo' kin use red onions for a whole lotta diff'rent things. (Well, what do you use a red onion for in connection with [good] luck or bad luck?) Yo' use red onions fo' luck. Well, jes' say now, yo's goin' to a skin game tonight, well yo' take yo' two solid [= fresh] red onions an' cut 'em up an' put 'em in a spider [a skil- let with legs] put a lit- tle sugah to 'em an' yo' boil 'em till dey come to a sugah. An' when it come to a sugah yo' po' it out into a bottle. An' go in dere [to a game] tonight an' yo' take yo' one or two drinks, an' yo' carry yore [liquor] bottle wit chew - jes' as lucky as it kin be. See, 'cause dey kin smell dat onions on yore breath, yo' know, an' people - a whole lotta folks don't like de smell of onions an' dat jes' draws de 'tenshun from de cards to yore onions. Yo' win up every dime in dere. [Informant does not understand why a red onion is lucky in a card game. The onion does not draw de 'tenshun from de cards to yore onions; the onion pro- tects you against the other man's hand or luck piece, or prevents you yourself from being hoodooed in the game. Nevertheless, if informant, a small-time root Worker believes in his own interpretation, the rite is valid from him.]
Entry 12556
Burn some brimstone an' sugah together on yore stove wit red onion. Dat's tuh keep de law away. [Memphis 2719:4.]
Entry 12569
An' yo' kin take fo' pegs, yo' know. An' cut little pegs an' put 'em round yore house an' put 'em down out dere an' say 'bout "De Lord is mah shep- herd.... An' de sher- iff - ah don't care how much likker an' stuff yo' sell, dey won't even come round. Don't care whut chew do dere, dey won't come to yore house.
(How many pegs do you put down?)
Jest git chew some little wooden pegs.
(How many did you say?)
Foah - an' peg on each side of yore yard, an' de sheriff won't even come no- where round dere. [The pegs are at the 4 cardinal points of the compass.]
Entry 12585
An' then you kin take a new bag an' put 9 pennies in it, 9 new pennies. Put a whole head of garlic an' a little sugar. An' tie it up over the door. That will keep all law out of the house. [Memphis 1544:3.]
Entry 12592
(Get you a penny?)
Yes sir, an' nail it in de center of yore do'. If yo' don' cover it up, yo' might jes' fix it [dress it in some way]. Jes' nail it in de center of yore do', a penny in money. Nail it in de center of yore do'. De law ain't hardly goin' come up dere. [This center-of-the-door rite - it has just occurred to me - is a type of quincunx rite because the bottom of the door space or the saddle, if one, forms an oblong.] [Savannah 2135:12.]
Entry 12594
Take a penny an' nail it in de center of dat do', an' a penny in de center of yore back do'. Now dat's tuh he'p keep de law offa yo'. [Florence 2270:9.]
Entry 12624
Sift or crush red pepper pod at door or gate to protect against my evil. [Fredericksburg, by Ediphone, informant half-grown boy when Civil War began and was living in what was to become the Bloody Triangle when Lee and Grant met near Fredericksburg, Va. I have a number of rites from him, but can- not find his number at the moment.]
Entry 12643
Fill a stocking with crushed red peppers and sprinkle vinegar on, and wear around waist to protect self against cunjuration. [Wilmington 125:1+85.]
Entry 12647
If yo' think someone tryin' tuh harm yo' an' yo' wanta protect yo self, wear sulphur an' red peppah in yore shoes. Dey can't harm yo'. [Bruns- wick 2060:6.]
Entry 9365
Well, yo' take a chicken aig an' yo' kin broke dat shell, an' put dat in a cup or a [saucer], de yellah, not de white, jis' de yellah part of it, an yo' beat dat up. Yo' git chew den de thing yo' calls Seven Yeahs Adventure. Didja [did you] evah heah about dat? (Seven years what?) Seven Yeahs 'Venture, yeah. (Adventure or [something] or what?) Deventure. Deventure, yes. Yo' know, yo' drops jis' about 12 drops of dat in dat an' stir dat up. Beat dat up jis' lak yo' gon'a make - yo' see, yo' po' dat in fo' bottles [demonstrates]. Put one heah, one dere, one dere, an' one heah.
(Sort of shape of a cross.)
Yas, an' aftah dat ain't no man kin harm yuh. house
(Where do you put those four bottles?)
Yo' kin put dose fo' bottles aroun' in yuh yard [like this]:
[The house in center of cross forms a quincunx.]
Entry 12400
Scrub in and out of house with Red Devil lye, punch hole in the can, bury under steps, no one can put anything down to harm you.
Entry 12401
Git a can of lye dey tell me, can of concentrated lye, an' dig a hole undah de steps an' bury it. An' if anybody put anything down fo' yo', dat'll eat it up. But yo' gotta punch a hole in de top of it wit a nail.
Entry 12780
An' ole lady, she'd dead now, she tole me if a person ever git shoo [gets you] by [bad mouth or cunjure], not to say anything at all to them. Go to work and git me a pocketful of table salt and go to de gate where dey crosses over, ev'ry night and morning, and jis' throw dat salt across dere before de sunrise, and say de Lord's Prayer for 5 times. Soon as dat person goes over dere dey can't harm you.
Entry 12809
Even if you have no suspicion of conjure outside your home, sprinkle salt outside to be on safe side. [Petersburg, first visit, by Ediphone.]
Entry 12830
Bury a small package of black pepper and salt at steps to keep away undesirable visitors. [Fredericksburg, by Ediphone.]
Entry 12837
As a protection, salt and black pepper are sprinkled in the house.
[Wilmington 165:5+85.]
Entry 12840
Make a ring of salt and pepper completely round the outside of your house for protection. [Norfolk 466:4; Deal Island, informant 123, cyl. 34.]
Entry 12843
As a protection against evil, wear 3 ingredients in your shoes: pep- per, fish salt, and burnt alum. [Fredericksburg, by Ediphone.]
Entry 12844
Protect yourself against evil work by bathing with red pepper and fish brine. [Richmond 325:10.]
Entry 12860
You can protect yourself against roots or root work by wearing salt, black pepper and sulphur in your right shoe. [Wilmington 138:1+85.]
Entry 12861
Wear salt, red pepper and sulphur in both shoes as a protection against evil work. [Wilmington 208:2+85; Newport News 506:4.]
Entry 12862
As an unusual method of protecting yourself against conjuration, wear salt, pepper and sulphur on top of your head. [A note of mine reads: This is used in one cure story. Which?] [Wilmington 119:6+85.]
Entry 12867
Now, yo' kin take for instance in yore clothes or in yore shoes, if dey's tryin' tuh git chew tricked. Yo' wear saltpeter in yore shoes - either shoe you put in - dat saltpeter in your shoes. An' whenever yo' go out yo' got dat in. Then you kin put a pod of garlic - garlic. They don't nevah beat the garlic. They cain't nevah do you nothin' atall.
(Where do you keep that?)
Anywhere about. Anywhere you go be sure yo' got dat garlic. Morning and night you keep it on yore person - de pod of garlic. An' dat saltpeter in de bottom of your shoe - any shoe. Jes' go an' sprinkle de bottom of yore shoe with saltpeter.
Entry 12889
Seal ovah de do'. (What kind of a seal? A seal from the Sixth and Seventh books of Moses?)
[Since these were considered by Moses, they also added to the holiness of seals.]
Yeah. No. De Lawd is mah shepherd. Ah shall not want.
(You write that on a piece of paper?)
Dat's right. He made me de light. Ah'm in green pasture. He anoint mah head wit oil.
(And that will keep the law away, if you are bootlegging or anything.)
Dat's right.
Entry 13008
Nine silver dimes, file them, wear in NATION SACK with lodestone for protection and trade. [For the well-known nation sack, private bag worn by wo- men, see interview THE "NATION SACK" WOMAN, Pp.1449-1459, especially p.1458, vol.2.]
Entry 13015
I have heard one thing how you could protect yourself from anybody harming you, that is by wearing a dime around your neck. [At the hotel in Petersburg, Va., after dinner, from the bellboy, by Ediphone in 1936.]
Entry 13016
A dime worn on neck protects against hoodoo. [Wilmington 162:5+85; Sorfolk 494:6. This is everywhere.]
Entry 13061
Wear a dime and a piece of parsley under the insole of each shoe for protection or cure. [New Orleans 1232:4.]
Entry 9764
Take yuh nine bran'-new nails, nine [new] needles. Take 'em an' put 'em in a sack, a piece of white clot' [cloth] whut nevah had no scissah in it, no mo' [more] dan whut yuh cut it tuh sew it, an' put 'em in dere. Bury 'em undah yuh front steps. An' if he come tuh de front, sweep in tuh de back all de time.
(I see. That'll keep the law away.)
He goin' tuh stay away.
Entry 9802
Yo' kin take now an' git chew a bran'new pack of goldeye needles an' put one in each corner of yore house. Yo' know a house is got fo' corners to it, a house dat wuz made straight. An' put 'em in each corner. Have to dig a hole, ah think yo' know, tuh bury it. Yo' know, yo' bury it down in dat hole an' say - but chew have tuh say some words behin' it, too, yo' know. When yo' say dat it keep de policeman away.
(What words do you say behind that, do you know?)
Jes' lak de Son an' de Holy Ghost. Yo' know, jes' ah tole yo' while ago, jes' repeat dose: Hope tuh God de policeman stay away, "In de Father an' de Holy Ghost."
(You don't say the Son?)
No, dey don't say de Son.
Entry 9836
Git chew nine needles. Yo' have tuh git de goldhead [usually goldeye] needles an' put five of 'em haids up an' turn fo' of 'em [heads] points down. An' yo' kin bury dem at chure gate where de people walk ovah - at de front gate. An' nuthin in de world will do yo' any harm.
Entry 1262
A grass known as five-finger grass, they say, if you git a hold of that grass and take a piece of - a real light piece of papah and write the 23rd Psalms on this piece of papah, tie this piece of papah and this five-finger grass up with some clean piece of cloth and wear it next to your body [skin], no one can't harm you with any tricks and things. [This cloth-paper package is a hand.]
Entry 1273
Dey tell me dat yo' kin take a frog an' wrop him up in a silk pocket han'chief an' take jes' dis common bread an' salt. Give him de bread an' put salt in yore shoes, an' have dis frog in yore pocket han'chief an' wear him dere in yore pockets, an' yo' kin walk ovah anything dat dey put down fo' yo' an' it's no harm dey kin do.
(This frog, do you keep it alive?)
Yes.
Entry 1553
Well, if dey had anything down, yo' could take a silver dime an' git some of dat silver offa dat dime an' make a wish - yo' know, yo' don't want no trouble or nuthin tuh come against yore place, or yo' don't wanta be swole up or whutnot. Scrape some of dat silver off an' yo' kin put it in yore shoe. Jes' sprinkle a little bit, take up dat sole in yore shoe, de first sole, an' sprinkle a little of dat silver - all dat in de hollow [arch] of yore feet, yo' might say. Den yo' kin take some cayenne peppah an' saltpeter, jes' about a quarter or halfa teaspoon, an' make a cross an' put hit in his shoe. An' hit won't hurt chure business whatevah they put down; it won't hurt chew or nuthin. It kills dat, whatevah they brought there.
(You mean you sprinkle this stuff in the form of a cross?)
[He reexplains, adding details.]
Yo' kin take a papah, yo' understan' - take some table salt that hasn't been used an' yo' make yore wishes. Always make yore wish to de Father, de Son, when- evah yo' want things tuh vanish away an' don't harm yo'. Yo' put some of that silver first in yore shoes [under first sole] an' then yo' takes that table salt that hasn't been used an' yo' kin take some cayenne peppah that hasn't been used an' then yo' folds it in a little papah, jes' a little thin papah wit jes' a little bit in it. Then yo' folds it like a fan. Then yo' take the peppah an' put up on top of that saltpeter as a cross in yore shoe lak that.
(You put each one in a little package - these two packages are crossed then?)
Dey crossed and you layi 'em cross lak that in yore shoe in the flat part of yore shoe, an' whatevah they brought there it won't harm yo'. [The silver dust and two packages of mixed salt and cayenne pepper above it are crossed first with saltpeter and then these are crossed with red pepper - this being two crosses, a double-cross.]
Entry 1557
Well now, you see, it's two kind - dere good spirits an' dere evil spirits, an' evil spirits is hard tuh control. If yo' don't know how tuh control 'en yo' cain't do much with 'em, dey'll run ovah yo'. But yo' kin take yo' a silver spoon an' yo' kin control 'em with dat spoon. Yo' kin take dat silver spoon an' put it up ovah de do' or anywhere round near de do' wherevah at dey come in at an' worry yo' - dey can't come ovah dat silver.
(The evil spirits?)
No sir, dey can't come ovah dat silver. Or yo' kin use a piece of new bo'd. Yo' kin take any kinda piece of new bo'd, jes' so it's big as my finger, an' tack it right up ovah where de do' where dey - ah 'magine dey come in at. Yo' usually kin tell where dey come in at - dey'll come in - yo'll hear de do' squeakin' or make some noise or 'nother. Whatevah direction dey come in from, yo' put dat up ovah dere - dat'll keep 'em out. [For "new bo'd, ' see margin-title Wood - New Wood Against Spirits; also Index.]
Entry 1568
Yo' mean if anybody try to hurt yo' - how yo' kin protect yoreself. Yo' kin take de least bit of sulphur in a teaspoon nine mawnin's, In de Name of de Father, de Son an' de Holy Ghost, an' yo' kin eat anything that anyone give yo' an' it won't hurt chew.
Entry 1569
Yo' go to de store an' yo' git chew a nickel box of sulphur - dat's a common way, an' after yo' git dat sulphur, yo' take dat sulphur an' yo' mix it up with a - take about three good heaping teaspoonsful or two tablespoonsful - yo' mix it up in some cream or milk an' yo' drink dat about twice a week. An' dat will keep anybody from harmin' yo' - nobody can't harm yo'.
Entry 2290
Dat is known as de sensitive brier [Schrankia uncinata], grows practi- cally all ovah de worl' practically, an' it has a small blossom on it - a pink blossom, an' then yo' go to dis blossom if yo' think you have any enemies an' yo' kin say to de brier - jes' pass yore han' ovah it, say, "Be shamed" an' de brier - de leaves will faint as if dey close up. Den when dey close up yo' git six of those - put three in one shoe an' three in de othah, an' then nuthin won't harm yo'.
(You can walk over anything, it won't harm you.)
Entry 2958
You take and cross two new needles in your head - two new needles in your head and get some holy water, see, and just take that holy water for nine mornings and throw it backwards over your head - over them new needles.
(Over? You just throw it back over the needles?)
Over the needles - over your head.
(I see, and what will that do then?)
That would cause the candle - if the candle been burning, the candle would do no harm. It make it burn out and it wouldn't do you no harm.
Entry 2962
Well, yo' kin take - if yo' see a person's tryin' tuh do yo' anything or somethin' like dat, yo' go an' git chew some holy water and have it blest. See. If you have this holy water blest and bring to yore home, and yo' sprinkle it in each fo' corners of yore house - jes' sprinkle dis holy water in each fo' corners, underneath yore steps an' on yore porch. An' while yo' be's saying dat - well it's a piece in de catechism yo' has to say wit dis holy water, some- thin' about Holy Mary. Yo' sprinkle at each fo' corners of yore house an' dey can't - a person can't burn any candles or can't do anything long as yo' keep dis holy water and keep it sittin' behin' yore bed. (Well, what do they say? How does that piece from the catechism go - Holy Mary?) Well, it's "Hail Mary, conceived without sin, pray fo' me."
(It isn't, "Hail, Mary, full of grace?")
Yeah, it's, "Hail, Mary, full of grace, conceived without sin, pray fo' me."
Entry 4284
Yuh don' do nuthin but jis' de sulphur an' yuh peepee, dat'll keep de law from yuh house an' it will gain dere love.
(Where do you put it?) Jis' sprinkle it on each steps, jis' throw it all roun' yuh house - all roun' yuh house.
Entry 4285
chamber lye kills poison. If yuh keep chamber lye roun' yuh house, wit sulphur an' red peppah, no one can't harm yuh.
Entry 4294
( On a Friday mawnin' befo' de sun rise.
(Yes?)
Yuh kin buy some [kind of] oil, use yuh chamber lye - don't evah empty yuh chamber lye [don't throw it away uselessly] - an' what yuh wash yuh face wit [water]. Mix dat [water] wit yuh chamber lye an' dis oil. An' scrub yuh house wit it - dress yuh house wit it in de mawnin', an' den at noontime right at twelve a'clock on a Fri- day. But be sure tuh scrub yuh house an' use it wit dat - dat's de inside. But in de mawnin' yuh-use dat prakly [practically] on yuh front.
(I see. What kind of oil is this, they get?)
Secret.
(Secret oil?)
Yeah.
(Secret oil. I see. And that's to keep the law away.)
[The oil is identified later.]
Dat's protection where yuh are at.
(What else do they do outside in the morning?)
[Scrub] yuh steps an' right on yuh sidewalk, right in front of yuh do'.
(And then [at noon on Friday] you scrub inside?)
Yes, sir. [Here I stop my recording machine to prepare for a repetition of details a clearer account of the rite.]
(All right.)
[We start all over again.]
In de mawnin's when yuh wash yuh face an' han's, well yuh slop jar dat yuh use durin' de night, jis' yuh po's dat [face-and-hands] watah intuh it. Den add dat oil intuh de same pot.
[There are the 3 ingredients of the "scrub".]
(What kind of oil was that?)
[We had worked out the oil problem while machine stopped.]
(Cedar oil, all right. Now, go ahead.)
In de mawnin's den, yuh use it right in front of yuh do'.
(What mornings?)
Well, dat's on Friday mawnin', but prakly evah mawnin' in front.
(I see.)
But de [main thing] is Friday mawnin' an' in yuh house. It's Friday at noon dat yuh scrub inside. (I see. You said you scrub your outside in the morning and the inside about noon.) Yes sir, on Fridays.
[The special inside scrubbing on Friday is for weekend customers.]
(I see.)
[Here after stopping machine, I decide to ask a question about protection.]
Use dat same oil.
(Cedar oil?)
Yes sir, dat same oil in de same way. Put it intuh a bottle an' shuttin' it real airtight [demonstrates] an' bury it. (Jerk the bottle from you [and bury it at the door to keep anyone from harming you].)
Entry 4540
Dat woman she takes dat out [bow of sweat- band]. All right, she takes an' sew it right up under heah [demonstrates]. (Under her left armpit.) Undah de lef' one, jes' right up dere an' weah it. An' jes' as long as she weahs it, it's nobody in de worl' - whut ah mean, yuh ain't goin' worry wit nobody else - can't nobody git cha, can't nobody do nuthin wit chew. Yuh earnin's an' evahthin' yuh git yuh goin' take tuh dat woman. An' she kin take it from dere an' she kin weah it in 'er lef' shoe. Dat's undah yore [her] feet. When she do dat it's purtty [pretty] hard. Well, yuh see it jes' more den drive yuh crazy becuz she trampin' on yuh. See WHEN SHE WEAR IT HERE [IN ARMPIT] DAT'S FRIEN'LY LOVE, BUT WHEN YUH PUT IT DOWN HEAH [IN HER SHOE] DAT GOES HARD, MORE DAN APT - MIGHT CUZ YUH TUH KILL CUZ IT GITS YUH CRAZY ABoUT 'ER.
Entry 13270
Burn sulphur in your house, don' shoo know, an' keep away, don' chew know, de devil, dey tell me. Jis' burn it, let de scent go all over de house. Yo' kin drive de devil out dataway. [Richmond 390:2.]
Entry 13272
Dey say yo' kin burn sulphur an' dat will keep dem away.
(Keep the law away.)
Entry 13275
Sulphur worn in clothes or shoes or rubbed on hands that might touch conjured articles is a protection against them. [Wilmington 189:6.]
Entry 13393
Boil on your stove your urine, pepper, cinnamon and outside peeling of onion; this keeps undesirable persons away. [Washington, D. C., 814:1.]
Entry 13394
Urine, salt and pepper sprinkled at door or about the house, inside or out, protects the house against any evil. [Elizabeth City 406:6.]
Entry 13395
You can throw outdoors urine, salt and pepper 9 mornings to protect the house against evil. [Wilmington 162:4.]
Entry 13396
Wash floor every morning with urine, sulphur and asfetida to protect yourself against evils and hoodoo. [Richmond 369:3.]
Entry 214
Yo' kin take a frizzly chicken, if there's anything layin' roun' yore place - if anybody dress yore home, put anything down - dat chicken will find it, he'll scratch an' he'll find it an' he'll destroy it. Thare was a lady had one right heah an' he went from heah on 21st Street ovah in Memphistown somewhare. Dat chicken went thare hisself an' he found some stuff Was ovah thare. Dat was right heah in '26 [1926].
(How far is that?)
Well, Memphistown - ah don't know which way yo' come [to the hotel where I was interviewing in St. Petersburg] or.
(Is it a half mile or?)
Oh, Memphistown is two miles. He went all 'cross - well, dey didn't know [he had gone so far away]. Well, it's dis lady an' de lady dat lived ovah dere [in Memphistown] dey was fren's, yo' know, an' she tole dem, said, "Well, ah got a chicken heah an' if dere's anything lak dat - he be's gone [after itl. Ah don't know whare he is now. He's in de town heah somewhare now [looking for trouble]. He jes' goes about lak dat," an' she say, "if dere's anything dere he'll find it." An' sho' 'nuff he went dah an' found it.
(You mean this chicken just wanders around finding this stuff?)
Jes' all he do - dat s all he, dem kin'a chicken do - yo'[see] dem often, of dem kind. [For Memphistown, see Negro communities, some unofficial names for, in Index. Years ago the South End of Quincy, Illinois (mentioned frequently in FACI), used to be called Calftown, because so many of the German families living there kept a cow.]
Protection is inferred from the described finding and destruction of placed objects; the effects remain unverified.
Entry 1468
Mrs. M., the person with whom I live [in Berlin, Md.] there's a family near her who throws salt after every one that comes there. And they throw salt and shake an apron after the person is gone. And they claim that if the person has come there for an ill intention, he won't return any more.
The narrator reports a family's claim that an ill-intentioned visitor will not return after their salt-and-apron practice; protection is unverified.
Entry 1602
[Here is a belief similar to the preceding and following ones but without the bath:] Ah heard 'em say yo' take yore chamber watah - yo' know, in de mawnin' 'fore sunrise take it an' throw it sunset an' it would keep all harm [away].
(How would you throw it?)
Throw it ovah yore left shoulder lak that [demonstrates] an' don't look back. (The water that was made that night and you throw it at [before] sunrise in the morning?) Yes.
The informant reports a chamber-water practice said to keep harm away; its effect is unverified and away is an editorial insertion.
Entry 2004
I seen that done. They would go to the woods on the hilly side where the sun shines, on a hill like you know, and get some of this moss - green moss. And they will get some of this here 'olly [holly] with the red balls - little red berries. They'll put it in some vaseline and let it set for three days. They'll take it and 'noint the steps, the doorway - the steps all over, all up and down. They can't come in there.
(They can't come in. That keeps the law away.) [Holly is the devil's bush.]
The informant says unnamed others cannot enter after doorway treatment. The law-away paraphrase is the interviewer's, and protection remains a source claim.
Entry 2961
Light choo a blue moun' [small incense come colored blue] to [Our] Lady [of] Lourdes, an' then you take the holy water an' go over your house each week, "In the Name of the Father, Son an' Holy Ghost." That'll make it [the candle being burned against you] go out. [For blue mound, see 2507, p.695; for various types of incense, see pp.700-705.]
The editor identifies the candle referred to by the informant's prediction that it will go out. The house practice and protective result remain unverified source claims.
Entry 6822
Go tuh de graveyard on a dark night...put de han' down in de grave... put it [graveyard dirt] in de pocket or in de toe of dere shoe an' dey kin walk ovah anythin' anybody put down fuh [for] dem.
The account claims being able to walk over things put down for someone. Its ellipses remain; identifying it as graveyard dirt is editorial, and no protective effect is established.
Source passage
continuous interview · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1861
Yo take yore silvah dime an' grate it up an' yo' take pulvahize saltpetah an' pat it in de bottom of yore shoe an' wear it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1861
(What do you do with this silver dime after you grate it up?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1861
Put it in yore shoe wit de saltpetah, an' keep it - it be's luck when yo' mix it up. Den yo' sprinkle it from shoe tuh shoe. Den yo' wear a silvah dime roun'
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1862
yore waist in de back an' in de front.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1862
[This may be a new silver-dime rite among the many given in HOODOO. In any case it is rare.]
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1862
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1862
(You do all those things together?)
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1862
Dat's fo' pertection
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1862
[protection]
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 3, p. 1862
- one pertection.
locally coherent subpassage
The account is limited to the printed exchange; the rarity evaluation belongs to Hyatt.
Rarity or novelty is the editor’s tentative evaluation.
The separate waist dimes and shoe mixture remain parts of the speaker’s combined account; they are not combined into a standardized recipe.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 3, p. 1859 · Vol. 3, p. 1860 · Vol. 3, p. 1861 · Vol. 3, p. 1862