Subject:Roots
Entries
Entry 980
Ah was kinda tricked - ah had sores - somebody done a trick tuh me and had me so mah feet was swelled and ah couldn't walk. Mah feet got jest 'bout like - every time ah would get up to move it feeled like pins and needles was sticking in de palms of mah foot and ah jest had to go down to de floor and stay where ah was without moving dat time, pricked me all ovah. Well, ah went to see and went around to diff'rent people to see whut de trouble was and dey tole me ah'd been hurt. Well, ah come back and went to New York and a fortune-teller told me, said, "You've been hurt and the best thing you kin do is to get somebody to work on you - tuh [work on] de person dat tricked - de man dat's been working on you." Well, individual [eventually] - anyhow ah went and had a salve - a salve was mixed up for me - it was mixed up. De first thing they told me to bathe with mullein - dis mullein tea - take dat an' boil it and keep mah feet in dat and always bathe it down and say a prayer over it.
(What kind of a prayer did you say?)
Ah said, "Lord, taketh the one that put this misfortune on me - to move this pain away from my foot - turn dis evil spirit away - amen - in Thy Name." Ask the Lord to remove this evil spirit - bathe it down.
(Why did you bathe it down?)
Dat's to rub it out, out - see, it was come in [through the foot] and want it to go out from de toe. Start down from de head and carry it out - that's to make de pain go out of mah foot - each stroke I gave it out. Jest put it in dat water with mullein, carrying each stroke out. Well, dat 'gin to do a little good. Den dis person made a salve, it was fer me. They made it with snake oil - ah mean, you know, de snake's liver. And [they] made of dat grease - grease from de snake, saltpeter - an' mix dat up and a little of de mullein - it was boiled down and mixed with dat and mutton suet. That mutton suet - and made de salve, and ah rubbed dis foot and dat's whut kinda got me up so ah could walk. But time after time ah couldn't go nowhere. De foot turn kinda black jest like something had bit me.
Entry 2329
Well, from mah own experience, ah have a couple of things dat ah know of in gambling: Ah git some root dey call de High John de Conker, an' Ruler of de Worl' an' King Of Man - lak de king of anything, lak de King of England, somepin. An' ah have anothern dey call de Eve-an'-Adam [Adam-and-Eve]. An' ah experience of de High John de Conker an' Ruler of de Worl' an' King of Man - ah've gambled wit dat. (How would you fix that up? How would you prepare that?) [I tried to avoid prepare - see what he does with it.] Well, it be compared up wit Hearts Cologne in a little bottle [this is a bottle hand] an' as yo' go into de game - befo' yo' go into de game yo' take some of it an' po' it in de palm of yore han', rub it, see [demonstrates]. Rub it on yore han' an' rub it on yore face. Yo' might take de bottle lak yo' put perfume on yo' an' tetch it on heah couple of times. Den yo' goes on in de game an' if anybody have put any cookin' salt on yo' or somepin lak dat, yore luck won't be no good. It can't be touched by no othah man but jes' de one who handles it - yore wife, yore husband, or yore sister or nobody lak dat. If dey do, why den yore luck begin tuh change - it's bad.
(If somebody would put cooking salt there, it would kill that luck?)
Kill it - dat's right. Or either yo' kin take a red pocket han'kerchief an' band dat roun' yore waist with one dose ole hoppy toadfrogs. If anybody got roots or anything lak dat of de kind in de game, why yo' kin tell it by dis frog.
(What will the frog do?)
He will holler jes' lak it rainin' or somepin lak dat - jes' lak a frog holler when it's rainin'. Dat's to notify yo' dere's somepin dere wrong.
(There's something wrong in the game?)
Dat's right. An' if it any kinda root - de King of Man, or either de High John de Conker, or Eve-an'-Adam, dey won't stand no salt or no othah han's on it but yores after yo' git it. If yo' do, yo' conceal it wit bad luck. If yo' kin keep it without anybody han' on it, without anybody puttin' de cookin' salt on it - lak folks standin' in de game behin' yore back dey sprinkle salt on yo'. Dat's tuh put chew in bad luck.
Entry 2554
Dere's a root dey call de king of roots. If yo' have a business, yo' kin take dat root an' bring it in heah, yo' know where yo' business at, if it's dull, why yo' kin have mo' customers den yo' kin handle. (Has that root any other name? Or just called King of Roots?) King of Roots. It grows an' it has three little prongs - leaves. It grows straight up like a okra blossom. It has three little okra blossoms on it, three little okras yo' see. Yeah, it look like okra - pod of okra.
(Like the green okra - like a vegetable?) [This is not okra.]
Yo' kin dig one dem little roots - Jest have room all de way round, yo' kin dig 'em. Some of 'em is big as mah wrist. An' yo' kin jest take a small piece like that an' put it in yore place of business where yo' work at an' yo'd have mo' people heah den yo' kin handle.
Entry 3244
Dere is de roots of de 'simmon tree. Yo' go out dere an' yo' git de roots offa dat. [A rooster began to: crow. I must have put up my hand asking for silence, be- cause informant inquires:] Suh?
(That rooster is crowing in the daytime. Means change in weather doesn't it?)
[I did not ask him what it meant because I was not collecting folklore uncon- nected with spirits or magic rites.] Yes.
[We continue.]
(Get that root of the persimmon tree?)
Yessuh.
(Any place?)
From dis side [demonstrates]. Always gits it from dis side, from de sundown side. An' in de mawnin' yo' git it from sunrise, see. An' yo' take dat off dere den an' yo' carry it back home an' yo' boils it - yo' make a tea out of it. When yo' make de tea out of it, den yo' kin put dat, chew know, into a bathe fo' a woman tuh bathe. Put jes' some in de watah in case she wants - she goin' wit chew [her husband] sompin. An' jes' a little teaspoonful of alum an' dat will make her close up - see, jes' draw up. An' he swears she won' have no- body but 'im. He swears nobody go dere but 'im. (You say if she takes a douche with this bath water, with this persimmon root boiled in it, it makes her close up?) Close up, an' a little piece of alum.
(And who would do this? The woman does that to herself?)
To herself, whut she do it fo'. An' when he go dere he swear she ain't messin' wit nobody but 'im. He ain't nuthin but a fool about it. She jes' ain't goin worry 'im 'bout it. An' she kin mess wit, have a hunderd diff'ren mens; but she nevah git it - close right down. An' he go right behin' dem an' swear she ain't nevah have no one.
(She is having those men. It would be too open if her husband [unexpectedly]
came around. She uses that and she closed it back up again. And he won't think anybody has been there.) Dat's right. [THE THEORY OF MAGIC HERE IS: A ROOT FROM THE SUNRISE SIDE OF THE TREE OPENS; FROM THE SUNSET SIDE, CLOSES.]
Entry 5594
Dey would pick up evah othah one of yore tracks for nine tracks, but dey take de right feet fer nine tracks. An' dey would take it off an' place dat into a bottle. Aftah placin' into a bottle dey would take - yo've seen dese pickanettle roots. People call 'em [par?] nettles.
(No, I don't know them [pickanettle] but I know what you are talking about.)
[This is probably the horse nettle, which appears several times in Hoodoo.]
It grows wit a white blossom into de top. Take dis blossom an' put it into a pot an' boil it. An' put a little linament, Sloan Linament into dat one, an' put watah onto de linament an' some kinda flesh meat. An' take it out an' yo' got a linament of yo' own creatin'. An' put on top of dat - stop it up tight [in a bottle] - write chure name onto de linament [bottle] be- fo' yo' put it [lina- ment] in dere. Write chure name an' turn it into de bottle, an' turn de bottle down to de groun' dis way.
(Turn that bottle down like that. All right. Then what do you do?)
Yes, sir, turn de bottle down dis way. Turn it down an' put chure name on it. Write chure name on it an' use a verse in de Bible.
(Do you know what verse in the Bible?)
Yes, sir, an' use de Second Kings but read it backwards, see. Read it back- wards an' write chure name. Writes chure verse three times an' write chure name three times. It must be backwards. Put on de linament in de bottle an' turn de bottle downward, down dis way [demonstrates].
(Cork down.)
An' dat'll take 'fect on 'em.
(Well, where are these foot tracks now? Where are the foot tracks?)
De dirt ah got from de foot tracks ah got it in de bottle.
(How much dirt did you take up?)
Jis' a small little.
Entry 6680
Yo' kin take nine new needles an' nine new pins an' nails - nine nails - an' put in a bottle. An' den yo' kin take one dese heah worm outa from undah de bottom [bark] see, think dey call 'em sawyah.
(Wood Sawyer?)
Yes sir. Dey got two little bills [horns] whut cuts in de wood. [These worms - the larvae of sawyers, several large longicorn bettles - bore large holes in timber or dead trees. Both worm and bettle are often called wood sawyers.] Put dat in dat bottle an' bury it down in de path where he walks. An' den, when he walk ovah dat, he'll ketch 'em in 'is foot. An' dat same worm [larva] whut chew see in dat bo'd, dat yo' put in dat bottle, jis' true as [what?]. [It will enter 'im an'] eat 'im up. [But this ailment can be cured.] Dat way [if you are in that condition] yo' got'a go tuh a root doctah de same way [as before]. Now a root doctor, he got'a take 'em out. A medical doctor don't do it.
(What would a root doctor do to get that worm out of him, I wonder.)
He goes an' git de root from de - dey call black haw an' red oak bark an' a stingin' nettle root. Put dat up in a bottle an' yo' got'a take. Dat stingin' nettle root, will run 'im out dere. [The other two help and also make 3 ingre- dients.]
(Well, what do you do with these roots? Make a tea of them or what?)
Yes.
Entry 6838
Tea from High John de Conkah, apple tree bark, an' fig tree roots [for pain or swelling].
editorial-only purpose annotation for the short tea item. Role remains editorial, not informant. Preserve pain OR swelling rather than both diseases or a diagnosed condition. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 8005
(What do they do that for? How do they do that?) Oh, dey makes a doll baby an' name it choo. (They do what?) Makes a doll baby an' name it de person dey want. (I see. What do they do with that?) An' fill it full of needles an' pins, roots, an' sew it up an' see it from 'em, jis' like dey wrap de hair [in 379:3].
(They sew it away, sew it from them?)
From 'em. Aftah sewin' it, den dey wrap it from 'em wit a cord, an' tie dat bow on de end of it. Den dey puts dat down in de groun' some place somewhere an' [they] says, long as dat baby lay in de dirt, yo'll withah away an' go [die].
Entry 8242
Well, den yo' kin take a person's pichure at home [and make them love you].
(How could you make them love you with that picture. How do you do that?)
Well, yo' weahs de pichure an' keep it all de time, an' yo' dress it. In othah words, yo' kin dress dat pichure wit High John de Conkah vine, an' yo' kin take dat Eve an' Adam [Adam and Eve] an' dress it. Why den dere's a root dey call de devil's shoestring. Yo' kin take dat home an' dress it.
(What do you do with those roots?)
Well, yo' would have - said when yo' boil de roots, undahstan', an' soak dat pichure an' keep it in a dark room - a dark place all de time. An' dat person will soon be absent-minded. (Thought you were telling me that you could make them love you that way?) Well, yo' kin... [This rite is quite all right.]
Entry 9055
Yo' take de vine, de bramboo vine.
(Is that like a fishing pole?)
[I am asking, is that a bamboo?)
Yes, but it's got thorns on it, bramble vine, an' de devil horseshoe string [devil's-shoestring]. An' take dem two pieces an' put it in a glass, an' put three spoonsful of salt in dere wit it, an' a few reesins [raisins] whut growed on de vine - like yo' buy 'em out de store on a vine [unstemmed raisins]. An' put 'em in dat glass 'bout fulla watah an' put it undah yore baid an' sleep ovah it. Den git up de nex' mawnin' an' take, throw de watah out de sunrise, an' take reesins out an' cast some of dem on yuh an' take de othahs an' de two roots an' carry 'em to de graveyard an' bury 'em. An' dey tell me dat dey won't git a trial an' dey turn 'em loose free. (What are the names of these two roots now that you put in there?) [Machine stopped too soon for answer already given.]
Entry 9148
Well, if yo' go down befo' de jedge, it's a root chew git called de "Be 'shamed brier root," de "be 'shamed Brier Root."
(Be Ashamed? Well, why do they call it that?)
Well, becuz it's de conkah of all roots of de woods. It's conkah of all de roots in de woods. See, lak if yo' go in de woods tuh git dat an' jes' whatevah yo' wanta learn an' know, yo' see dat bush, de little leaves on it closes up. It says, "Be 'shamed of yo'self, be 'shamed of yo'- self, be 'shamed of yo'- self [he hits it]. Well, all dem leaves on dat closes up [because he touched, hit the plant].
(As soon as you touch it that way, then it closes up?)
Close up. Well, yo' dig down dere an' git dat root. Dig down dere an' git dat root out dere. Well, den yo' take dat root, see, an' carry it home. An' if yo' got a case in co't, yo' take dat an' hold it in yore mouth lak dat, an' yo' spit one time 'fore de jedge. Spit dat at his face. Well, when yo' do dat, lak ah'm lookin' at chew, yo' see, yo' lookin' at me an' he think yo' chewin' 'bacco or somepin. He won't know whut chew got in yore mouth. Yo' jes' spit one time 'fore his face. Well, an' den yo' go dere an' set down. Well, when yo' sets down an' he'll jes' - he'll call up evahbody in co't. He'll call up evahbody in co't an' yo'll be settin' ovah dere, an' he look ovah dere an' he say, "Well, whut chew want in heah? Git up an' go on outa heah." See, dat root done got his mind, he done got 'shamed of whut he got yo' 'cused [accused] of, say, "Yo' git up an' walk on out." [They fascinate me, those words near the beginning: git dat (shame brier) an' jes' whatevah yo' wanta learn an' know, yo' see dat bush. de little leaves on it closes up. This suggests to me that some persons at least, and in some way, used the shame brier as a divining device. This plant and the hole of the doodle-bug (ant-lion larva) must have puzzled believers in hoodoo at one time - for beliefs about the doodle-bug, see Folklore from Adams County Illinois, Nos.1398-1404, p.55, 2nd ed.]
Entry 10612
If yo' want a job, yo' go down tuh de boss. Well, if dis fellah want- ed a job, didn't have no work an' didn't have nowhere tuh stay, an' everybody dat he went to, had turned him away. An' he went tuh a fellah dat supposed tuh know. De fellah give him three kind of roots: give Adam an' Eve, an' dis blacksnake root an' dis heah devil snakeroot [see later]. He taken dat root.... (Devil snakeroot or devil's shoestring?) Devil's shoestring! Dey called it de devil root. Take dat root an' fix dat root up in a kind of a compound an' he go down dere. When he git dere tuh dat man he take it an' goes an' git him a buckeye an' puts hit in his pocket. An' he wears dat buckeye. De buckeye made out of - dem lit- tle black buckeye lak dat. He takes dat an' he goes down an' he talks to de man. He put all of dat in Hearts Cologne an' he goes down dere to de man an' he gits tuh rubbin' his hand lak dat. An' walks up tuh de man an' started tuh talkin' with de man. De man will tell him, no, but be shore tuh come back de next day. Well, he'll come back de next dat still a-rubbin' dat root. Well, he'll git dat root, every one of 'em, one in each pocket an' one in each foot. An' he gits dere an' de man go tuh talkin' an' he'll have a piece in his mouth chewin'. When he git dere de man go tuh talkin' an' say, "Well, ah guess, if yo' think yo' kin work, ah'll give yo' a job." An' yo' tell de man yo' kin work. Jes' as long as yo' keep dat roots rubbed up an' keep it fulla Hearts Cologne, well de man will nevah fiah yo', but de time dat yo' lose dat root, yo' lose yore job.
Entry 10619
Well, if yo' have a person tuh leave yo' an' yo' wanta bring dem back- yo' loves dem. Yo' loved ones gits scattahed off an' yo' wanta bring 'em back tuh yo'. Dere's two roots grows in de woods, ah'm tellin' yo' truth, dey has two leaves. We calls 'em Eve-and-Adam an' de roots of dem roots is got two little knots about little bigger den a coffee bean - two little knots. One of 'em is a woman an' one is a man. Yo' take 'em an' dry 'em on a stove. Put 'em on a stove an' dry 'em dere stiff an' spongy - spongy like a sponge. But chew cut 'em up when dey gits dry an' make a softa powdah outa dem - a soft powdah. If dat woman drinks coffee, tea, or anything dat she drinks, well yo' kin jes' sprinkle jes' a little bit in de bottom of de cup an' den pour on it. Pour a drink in an' den she drink dat she'll be crazy 'bout chew. Ah believe dat's de truth. Ah'm halfway telling yo' by experience. [St. Petersburg, Fla., (1008). 1630:3.]
Entry 10625
You get 'em - two together, you know.
(Oh! It's a root that grows together.)
Two of 'em together; one's Adam, the other Eve. Now those, the things they are used for, will keep a man and woman together - they will keep them together. (Well now, how would they use that?) They go to work and get that Adam-an'-Eve root, get it green [fresh], and you name one Adam and the other one Eve, after you wash it off good. And you put it in a bottle, ay old bottle, and don't break 'em loose. One Adam and the other one is Eve. Dren they put perfume in there.
(Any special kind of perfume?)
No, any kind. Put the perfume in there. They name [one] for the woman and Che other the man, when they are speaking about 'em. They may use chamber lye ad perfume in it. Stop it up. Long as you keep that, you will hold the man if you want to.
Entry 10628
Any time root [roots for special times]. Then ah makes a powder tuh sprinkle yore house wit, it call a holy powder... [Informant starts off at a rapid pace and up in the air.] (Now wait a minute! Now, I'm getting my wife back. Now, I put that right underneath, right under the bed?) Yes sir.
(Then what happens.)
Put Eve-and-Adan root undah yore bed, yuh understand, and make a wish - make yore sign [first] - then make a wish tuh the Lord. Make a wish fo' what yore heart desires, you understand, after you carried it [and put it under the bed] and in thirty days she'll be back there. Don't ca' where she gone. An' if she's sued yo' or lawsued choo fo' alimony, then she'll take it out [call off the suit].
(What was that other root?)
Queen Elizabeth. [Informant continues with rites under Queen Elizabeth root and shame brier.] [Mobile, Ala., (655?0, 857:1.]
Entry 11264
[As I said in No.7228, p.3216, v.4, "I met a galaxy of doctors in Charleston, S. Car., before I had sufficient experience to handle them. Two years later I would have been better prepared." This man has also appeared in the preceding text as follows: No.1221, P.434; No.1417, P.464; No.1638, p.507; and No.2209, p.629. Here follow other parts of the interview:] Dey take de watah yo' take a bath in, tuh do anythin' tuh harm yuh. Dat's only de occasion of if a man wanta woman, don't want nobody else tuh be wid'er. (How would you do that?) Well, dey take de [bath] water and put it in a bottle, nine needles, and de sill of yo' doorway - cut a piece of [a splinter from] de sill of yo' doorway, [dat] piece of stick dere [points to the saddle], de sill of yo' door - and dey put dat in de bottle. And you call her names and [informant shakes imaginary bottle].
(While you shake it up.)
While you shake it up. And den maybe she wanta go. Yo' turn 'em [bottle] back [to you] and she come dere - towards yo' place [demonstrates].
(You turn the head of the bottle back to you and she will come back?)
Dat's right. If he know de person and he steal it - if de person [from whom it was stolen] know him, know his [thief'sl name - if he haven't git rid of it, you kin make dis person, dis other person, and he will give it up, because he figured on it and he'd be in trouble. And in doing dat you'd have to have de root chew call Indian Conker [Conquerer].
(Indian Conquerer? What do you do with that root then?)
You take dat root, de Indian Conker and Devil's shoestring and put it toget- her [in a bag with string?] and tote it in yore pocket, and she [bag] spin around jest like a top and tell yo' who in dis section, who got it.
(You spin this around?)
You spins it around and until you asks it any question you wanta, according to how you feel it. [Here we have ubiquitus Jack - an individual, companion, fetish - who answers questions by swinging out the answers. Our great example of this device I have mentioned several times, the Jack-ball (ball hanging from a string) of informant No.1534, the doctor I interviewed in Memphis, who gave us that great page 1254 in volume 2.1
(Then after you have found out who has it, then what do you do?)
You go to the person and he'll give it up. [Yes, at the time of this interview, the average thief would restore the article if a doctor was working on the case.]
(That's when you found out who stole it?)
Yes.
(Where did you learn? Who taught you how to cure? From whom did you learn?)
My grandma Was a West Indies.
(Oh, your grandmother was a West Indian. I see. What part did she come from?)
Kingston, Jamaica.
(Where did she live when she came to this country?)
Why she came down here in slavery time....she died 1909 - see - in dis part of de country - to Meggetts [Meggett], South Carolina, Posting Line [postal ad- dress].
(Where did she live during her life in South Carolina?)
Over to....[?] South Carolina.
(What was her name?)
Flora Linton, Milton....
[I must have turned off machine accidentally.]
(Flora Milton. And she could heal people. She knew all this work. And you learned from your grandmother?)
(And she came over here in slavery time.)
Slavery time.
(Did you ever hear of Doctor Buzzard?)
I have known Doctor Buzzard.
(Was he good?)
Aw, his method all right. Some things was all right and some was not. Any man is good to kilt. Any man kin take a shotgun and write a man name and blow his brains out twelve clock at any time.
(How did he do that?)
With powder!
(And he boosted that kind of work?)
That's his daily occupation.
(I see. How long has he been dead?)
It's round about seven - eight years. A root doctor meet a root doctor dey kin tell one anothah. Why? Because de' use a stick dey calls de gum-bush sticks.
(What?)
Sweet gum.
(They call it gum?)
Gum-bush stick and that come to crossing their mind. You don't tote dat stick, but you cut dat off when yo' first start out and bury it in de ground. Hell, dey may have it buried in New York and may not go dere no more through life, and if I'd meet chew and you do mine [my line], well I kin tell if you outen my line [of work]. I kin tell.
(Well, how can you tell, then?)
By de spirit, using different points.
(You wouldn't question me or anything? You just let the spirit tell?)
That's right. See, I'd git mad wit chew; jest like two dog would meet one another an' git mad. Know then you was out of my line. You ain't not in my line. But I'm better 'em you but you ain't got to won yo' point. Yo' can't hurt me, but I kin hurt chew, but then I don't want you to be long wit me be- cause the other fella think I'm doing the same work you doing. That's how we tell one another. (You bury this stick when you first begin your work before you take your first case up?) That's right. (And always leave it buried the rest of your life, you never go back there again.) No mo'.
(Who cuts this stick?)
You cut it yo'self.
(And you bury it yourself?)
That's right. Cut it with your left hand? (You cut it with your left hand. And where do you bury it? How do you bury it?) At sundown.
(What do you mean by that?)
Jest like you stick a stick in de ground when de sun go down. See, it be dat tall [demonstrates] maybe dat tall, and you beat it down dere until you git it down to the ground. (And then you beat it down to the ground in the sunset - sundown - all the way into the ground, and then what do you do?) Well, then you jest throw a penny in the hole and yo' tole 'em what chew wanta do....whether you want to be de master king or such and such a thing, or you wanta be de master king of....of all roots, and don't want chures root to sour on hand - that's why yo' bury yo' stick. See, if yo' medicine sour and a person bring it back to you next Monday, "This medicine ain't no good - it sour." And you take it back and cure it again. Give dem the same medicine back and ther carry it back there. (You never go back to that stick again, and you drive down all the way into the ground.) That's right.
(Do you do anything before you leave this stick?)
No, jest pay it and then go on about chure business. [No other person men- tioned such a gum stick.]
Entry 11373
Said yo' go to a fig tree an' yo' git a root from de no'th side, a root from de west side, dat de side de sun set on, yeah. An' git de root from three different parts; don't git it from foah, git it from three, three different directions, [they] say. An' yo' keep dat root an' put a little Hearts Cologne on it, an' jest keep it in yore pocket an' yo' kin demand anything yo' want done. Dat's all from a fig tree. [For another version of this rite, also from Waycross, see No.1247, v.1.]
Entry 11374
Well de fig tree is always goin' tuh be good. Yo' work good wit dat. Anything, yo' understan', tuh do or whut chew want it tuh do. (How would you do that?) Well, yo' jes' only put it at de root, anything whut chew wanta use in dat. Jes' lak if yo' wanta do ne good, an' wanta give me even good luck on it, yo'll put it at de foot of a fig tree. Yo'll jes' take me an' name me. An' den when yo' name me, why, co'se den yo' jes' only write mah name an' den yo' write whut chew want done. An' den yo'll put dat down at de fig tree root, but chew put it in dirt. Dat's all ah know 'bout dat.
Entry 11693
Dey say take a piece of dis heah fo' corners of de world [a rare root in HOODOo], yo' know, a lil' piece of root about dat long. It's got fo' corners, call it fo' corners of de world. An' a piece of High John de Conker. An' tote dat [those 2 roots] an' dey say yo'll git work.
Entry 12250
It have to be Red Devil Lye, de same lye dat dey use for scrubbing porches. You buy Red Devil lye in de groc'ry store, you see, but it's more... [expensive in hoodoo shops?]. Now, you git dis Red Devil Lye and after cut- ting [making an opening in] dis can, you understand, you turns it upside down [a number of "up- side down lye cans have been given in text] you see. And dere's some kind of root dey get. John de Conkah is one and it's another one. You see [there are] several of them, but I do not [remember?] even enough to know each and every one of them. And get some of dis Dragon's Blood and you sprinkle it around dere [the door]. De law will come to de door but dey will never be able enough to enter.
(Well, what do you do after you get that can open?)
Dat can - when you get dat can open you put dat can in de earth upside down, you see how it is, and cover it right back up and leave it stay dere, but it must be right to your front, de leading door dat comes in.
(What do you do with these roots then?)
Well, dose roots, well dose roots dey'll have to be right side de can. John Ce Conkah you have cause dat will conquer everything.
Entry 12377
Lak if yo' go roun' de cornah fo' a job an' yo' go de first day an' de man don' hiah yo'. yo' go de second day an he don't hiah yo'. Well, de third day yo' git dis- gusted, yo' see, an' yo' study some kinda remedy tuh git dis job. Yo' see. Well, yo' go dere an' de first thing yo' do, git chew nine roots of parsley, yo' see, an' put 'em in yore shoe. An' git chew a garlic a yellah garlic, a plug of garlic an' put dat in yore shoe. An' git chew a piece of cloth about that long, yo' see. An' put nine pins in that crossways, yes, straight pins, new pins. Put 'em in dere crossways. An' let each one of dem pins, lak yore name is George, well yo' put de 'nitials yo' see at dem pins. An' yo' go to dat jar...
(Where do you put those needles and those pins?)
Undah dere yo' see, undah de pins.... See where ah got dem nine pins cross. Yo' got de 'nitials dere yo' see.
(You put the initials down with what?)
Ink.
(On the cloth or on a piece of paper?)
On de cloth. See, de pins in de cloth, see, lak dat piece of cloth about dat long. Yo' see yo' jis' put de pins lak dat crossways nine times. Yo' see each on de bottom, yo' put lak his nine dere "George" yo' see wit ink, only each one dem 'nitials. An' yo' go dere dat mawnin' an' yo' git a seal de' [they] call de 'Lucky Seal.' Yo' go to de Crackerjack Drug Sto' an' git dat. Yo' see yo carry dat an' put it right down by de gate where de man hiahs up dere. Yo' press it down dere. He'll call yo' 'fore he calls anybodys else. Lak yore name Mistah Eddy, he'll say, "Well, Mistah Eddy, come on in an' go tuh work. Ah needs yo' dis mawnin'. (That is to get the job.) [See also SEALS in CHANNEL DE WORLD, v.5.1
Entry 12404
Ah know dat chew could git a job jes' by goin' to a magnolia tree. Yo' take an' git - jes' a little piece of cloth an' den sew it up in a heart- style bag in shape of a heart. Yo' take dat heart- style an' yo' fill it up wit nuthin but table salt, salt dat nevah has been used. An' go to a magnolia tree wit three roots dat's runnin' east. Don't care how small or how large it is, an' yo' tie it up together an' feed it off de cologne. An' it's a certain chap- tah in Psalms in de Bible - de Psalms of David. Ah disremembah, but chew repeat dat three times in de mawnin' befo' yo' go fo' three mawnin's, an' aftah dat third mawnin' dat chew'll be successful in gittin' a iob an' holdin' it as long as yo' kin hold dat.
(You put these magnolia roots into this little bag?)
Yes sir, yo' puts it in dat an' sew it up right wit de salt in de heart- style [bag].
Entry 12761
[Roots of course are everywhere in HOODOO, though they are arranged under various other headings. Very interesting among them are shapes such as a root in the shape of a woman cooked for [female trouble], whatever that means (cylinder 702, informant 564, Jacksonville, Fla.); and a root in the shape of a lizard, cooked and administered to remove lizard in a person (same reference on cylin- der 703). Root shapes I did not explore very well. The same thing was true of candle shapes. You are held in check by fear of leading questions.]
Entry 12767
You know - well, dis about - about Adam-an'-Eve. You see Adam is two buttoag [2 root bulbs attached] rep resent two buttons - is locy buttons. I don't know exactly what harm in dem but dey says dey is locy but- tons, Adam-an'-Eve. Well you get dem an' get dis John de Conkah - says dat lucky - and somepin like rattlesnake master.
(Rattlesnake master?)
Yes, sir, is round I think. Dere's [also] sweet root, it's de ost stringy- lookin' root. See, you drink dat, dat's medicine. Jes' Ltke aaybody's got a pain in his stock [stomach?] dat ease de pain. Well, dat's all I know what dat intended for. Dat suppose be for medicine. I know black root and white root, dat's for colds. You cut dem up together, see and bile dem and see, you make medicine outen dat. Rhubarb and some kind of...
Entry 12773
[The following title is one of the finest things in HOODOO. Here we have a professional root doctor telling us how and where to find roots in the woods. A little of the supernatural surrounds the search. Moreover he assumes the author wants to become a doctor! Let me say here, as I have probably said elsewhere, at no time did I ever pretend to be or say I wanted to become a doctor. Always I was collecting material for a book, a usable manual describing these things for other persons. Never was there any pretense. We keep things in the natural world as far as I was concerned. The rite following this one, by the same doctor, should also be read.] Now, dat's if yo' don' know nothin'. All right, yo' go to de fo'k of de road. Yo' got dat prickle feet wit chew. Yo' wants to git nex' to a lotta folks in town. Yo' wants to be a "doctor"? Yo' wants to know how to grab medicine out de woods? Well, to know how to git medicine out de woods, you go to de fo'k of de road an' take chure prickle feet wit chew. Well, now it will come to yuh plain. Go across heah an' take up a certain piece of root. Show yuh exactly what it is. Go across out in de road, de fork of de road. Yuh go an' pick up jes' whatever yuh go to look for an' it will be sompin dere leads yo'. Yo'll come back to de fo'k of de road an' sompin will come to yo' ag'in an' tell yo' to go to yo' right when yo' go to your right yo'll pick up de nex' thing yo' knows: maybe a lobelia, hippo or five-fingah [grass] or de seven seams[?] grass or de blacksnake root. Yo' goin' pick it up. Well, yo' bring dat out but chew gotta learn den what to do wit dat thing. Dere be sompin teach yo' befo' yo' git back dere what yo' does wit it.
(I see. Well tell me how to use these things.)
Entry 13003
Usin' a bull dollah - a silver dollah.
(They call it a bow dollar? Why do they call it a bow?)
Dey always claim they could work roots with it. (That's what they call a silver dollar: a bow dollar - bull dollar? Do you mean like a bow - like this kind of a bow?) [I demonstrate either by holding and drawing a bow, or drawing design on paper.] Ah don't know how yo' spell it. It jes' a bow. Git chew a bow dollah an' go to any sto' an' git chew a bottle of Hearts Cologne. An' yo' take this heah bow dollah an' yo' take an' rub it with this heah Hearts Cologne. An' take an' put it in a red flannel sack an' wear it round yore waist, where it will 'cumu- late money to yo', bring happiness to yo', an' yo' jes' be lucky all de time.
Entry 13087
Belts have roots in 'em fo' luck. Or yo' kin git a blacksnake-skin belt an' dey say dey fix it in a way - grease it - grease it with...an' yo' kin git up in de morning day- light an' do anything yo' wanta do. Can't no man hole [hold] yo' - slick
[you are too slippery].
Entry 13281
Ah hear tell if yo' know where de swallow hatching at - de little birds hatchin' - an' yo' kin git his aig while he off his nest, an' bring it in an' boil it, an' carry it back an' put it to de nest, dat yo' kin conquer anything in de world on it. But ah ain't been able tuh find dat swallow. Ah been try- in' tuh find dat nest but ah ain't nevah found it. Dey say it be somewhere by de chimley somewhere - de' claim. [Somewhere in text I have a note about confus- ion between chimney swift and swallow.] Say dat bird is a shore fact. Say if yo' git dat aig from dat bird, dat bird he'll come an' bring yo' three roots in de place of dem aigs, after yo' take dem aigs out an' boil 'em. Yo' take de aigs an' dat bird'll come back an' bring yo' three roots an' say he'll take dem roots an' do as he wants tuh do.
Entry 13352
Dey git different root an' cork 'em down in a bottle an' bury 'em... (And bath water?) And - dat's right - and you bury 'em, and after you bury 'em you either stop up dere night water [or bath water] you understand, or dey git a pain in de head - sompin like dat. Dey cork dem dat way.
(I'm speaking now of the water you take a bath in.)
I understand. You mean de water that you taking washing in. Can't do nuthin [no hoodoo] wit dat.
(But this water, the night water?)
Dat it [you can do something with that] you kin bury dat.
(Well, what sort of root do you put with that?)
De' goes out and gits somepin dey calls snakeroot. Snakeroot for a pain in de stomach - sompin like dat. Yo' go roun' an' yo' gits cherry bark and chero- kee [cherokee rose?] you understand, and you bile [boil] dat together and yo' put dat together, de' fool around wit chew an' put dat in yo' water, yo' under- stand, an' dey'll cork dat bottle an' bury it.
(What do they do with the head after they cork it? How do you put it, down?)
[SORRY FOR THAT SLIP OF MINE!]
Turn de head down.
(I see. Do you leave the water run out or just tight?)
[I WAS STILL A LITTLE INEXPERIENCED AT CHARLESTON, BUT MY LEADING QUESTION IS IGNORED.] No, you have it fix so de water can't run out.
(I see, that will keep you from making water.)
Yes.
Entry 13449
Well, now a persimmon - de persimmon ain't much good as dat. But de weepin' willow tree, it's mighty fine fo' luck. A weepin' willow tree, is mighty lucky.
(Well, how do you do that?)
Well, yo' take dat an' gits de leave of it, de roots of it, an' dry it. When yo' shake it dry, den yo' jes' put it in a bottle an' set it up on de mantel- piece. About once a month yo' take a taste of it. An' ah declare hit'll bring luck in yore home fo' hit shore brought it in mine. [Since the weeping willow is a tree of ill-omen and generally considered unlucky, our present rite is unusual, one of defiance of fate, or one based upon contraries, or the well- known poison kills poison doctrine.]
Entry 2254
Ah told him [my contact man Edward] absolutely dat ah believed in dese things an' dey could do - dese things could be done. Dere is roots dat ah know of dat ah've got faith in. Yo' take de rattlesnake marster, dat's one of de wonderfulest roots dat will bring luck an' carry it fo' yo' - keep yo'. Ah have experienced whut ah'm tellin' yo'. Yo' take it - yo' kin an' have it round yo' an' yo' kin hold a job. Ah know that - ah believe it - got faith in it. Yo' take de blacksnake root - dat's a good root an' in usin' it with whiskey yo' kin keep love. Yo' kin love them.... Then there's a root dey calls de shoestring - devil's shoestring. Yo' kin wear it - dat'll keep luck. Dat's good fo' luck. Den yo' take the - ah've got faith in it 'cause ah've tried it. Yo' take - dere's a bull nettle. Well, whenevah a man an' a woman - a woman kin fix a man so dat he kin have nuthin tuh do with othah women.
(How would she do that?)
How she do it - dey tell me dey take worms, these earthworms, an' fry 'em an' git de grease an' rub it on him. He can't have nuthin else to do with no othah - take it an' use de grease an' he can't have nuthin tuh do wit a woman. But now, if he take dat bull nettle, he kin overcome it. Nuse [use] it by puttin' it on whiskey, gin whiskey [= white whiskey, either gin or moonshine (uncolored) whiskeyl, puttin' it on gin whiskey an' drink it. He'd overcome it. Well, dere's a butterfly root. Now dat's a wonderful root tuh keep a woman with yo' jes' as long as yo' want her.
(How would you do that?)
Yo' kin use de root dis way. Take hit an' boil it, git all de suction [juice] out of it, an' put it in a vial an' keep it with yo' all de time in that vial - a small vial, jest as small as yo' kin git it. Keep it with yo' all de time an' she nevah will leave yo'.
(You don't use it?)
Don't use it - jest keep it with you....
(What is the name of the root?)
Shoemake root. Dey tell me if yo' take hit an' git tuh de person an' git it somewhere dat dey have tuh step ovah it - they will have tuh come back. Dey tell me if yo' take dis heah thing - ah calls it [Graney?] Greybeard.
(Graney Greybeard.)
Take hit an' use it or wear it. Soak it ovah night de first night yo' git it an' use it gamblin'. Ah tried dat. Ah know dat. Soak it ovah night in some kinda cheap cologne - perfume it an' use it. Do dat once a month an' ah believe it's luck. Ah tried it.
(You just wear that thwn you go to - )
Wear it dat way - soak it once a month.
Entry 8679
[The doctor in the following rite for a job has an organized mind, though I was too recent in New Orleans at that time to realize it. In face, on this original transcription I formerly had a note use with care, which can still be seen despite my later erasure.] When yo' go to get a job - ah'll tell yo' about de job proposi- tion. It just like if yo' was out of a job an' yo' runnin' in bad luck. Yo' can't be success- ful in nuthin dat yo' start. Well, yo' get yo' some of dis seniment. Yo' get some of dis seniment with this rain water. (What is seniment? What is that?) Dat's a powder. (What does it look like?) It look just like - yo' ever seen this powder what they call that brown-skin powder? (You mean cinnamon powder?) Yeah. (Cinnamon powder. All right.) [How did I ever guess it!] Yo' take dat seniment powder. An' yo' get some of dis seniment powder an' yo' get what yo' call this lodestone; but ask for lodestone, see, with candy stripes. It's got a little stripe.
(What kind of stripes?)
Candy stripes. Just say, "Give me some of de lodestone." (Like this candy - now wait a minute! It's like this candy they got in the country stores, candy stripes?) Yes, just like that; round, see.
(And what do they call that?)
Lodestone.
(You said something about four-something. Four what?)
[Informant said it while recording machine turned off.1 Fo' corners. Yo' just get de fo' corners. Well, if it ain't got fo' corners, vell yo' just take anything, a file or somepin like dat an' put 'em there.
(You have to make it square. Four corners. All right.)
Yeah. Yo' go anywhere they got them rams - yo' see, them rams, or anywhere yo' know them ramhorns at. [Cowhorn appears several times in Hoodoo. This could be the only ramhorn.] Yo' gets a file an' yo' file some of that dust down there [with the lodestone dust]. Then yo' get some of this here oil what yo' call that green - Wintergreen Pasture Oil.
(Wintergreen?)
Wintergreen Pastures Oil.
(GREEN PASTURES OIL?)
[SURELY THE ENTERPRISING HOODOO-PRODUCTS SALESMAN SHOULD HAVE NAMED IT "PSALM 23 OIL"!] Yeah, an' yo' take some sugar an' seniment an' lodestone. An' take a silver dime an' yo' file dat silver dime on a piece of paper just where yo' got this stuff [various ingredients] at. Yo' take a piece of yellah paper - it [lode- stone?] comes with yellah paper - an' yo' wrap it up twice. Yo' fold it coming to you. Then, after yo' take this Wintergreen Pasture Oil an' yo' put over it, am' yo' put it in your pocket. Keep that in yore left pocket. Then yo' goes back an' yo' get this he Eve [Adam and Eve] root, see. He Eve root.
(He Eve root?)
Yeah, yo' go back an' get that an' yo' got hit, yo' got de she root in yore pocket, yo' understand. Yo' take that - powder up that. piece there - an' yo' get some rain water an' river water or hydrant water [3 running Waters], or anything like that, an' yo' put it in two glasses. Put it in two glasses like that an' yo' let it set, after yo've mixed it. Well, heap up just about de same amount in each glass. Yo' leave it set there fo' three days. Aftah yo' leave it set there fo' three days, yo' take it an' yo' pour it into one glass. Then yo' take this here - this seniment, lodestone an' dis Wintergreen Pasture Oil. Well, yo' Put it in de glass, in one glass, an' yo' let it set there fo' three days. Den take that water off - take dat watah off before yo' go out to see about a job. Just like, if yo' know the foreman's name, yo' take his name an' yo' write his name nine times backwards, just like if yo' write it backwards this Way nine times [demonstrates]. Then yo' fold it, fold it comin' to yo' like dat [demonstrates]. Then yo' write yore name on de top of it, but yo' must write yore name forwards.
(Write your name what?)
The right way.
(You write your name forwards. All right.)
Then yo' take dat an' yo' put it down in dat water where all yore stuff is in the morning when yo' going out - just when yo' going out to the foreman. Yo' got his name. Well, when yo' get ready to go there, yo' take this water out of Chere. Yo' pour it out in a basin or anything like that, an' yo' take it an' yo' wash yo' hands good with it, an' yo' wash yore fingers. Yo' takes this here lodestone an' yo' put it in yore pocket with this she Eve root. Yo' walk to him a'when yo' get there, before yo' ask, just like yo' take a piece of chewing tobacco, cut a little piece off dat she root an' put it in your mouth. An' get this here lodestone thing in your hand like that an' rub it, an' make yore wishes, as yo' walk up to him an' ask 'im for a job. Probably he may not have nuthin to do right then, but he'll run his hand in his pocket if he got any money an' he'll give yo' a piece of money. The first opening that he have - WHEN YO' LEAVE FROM THERE, YO'LL MAKE A WISH FOR ANY - JUST LIKE ANY JOB YO' WANT AROUND THERE, YO' MAKE A WISH FOR ANY BAD LUCK TO HAPPEN TO 'EM PEOPLE AT THAT PLACE. SAY PRAYERS, AN' IN A WEEK'S TIME [7 DAYS] YO'LL HAVE A JOB. There no favor that yo' ask 'im that he could turn yo' down. If he ain't got it at de present time, he will tell yo' a way to come an' get it.
foreman’s name written nine times backwards, contrasted with own name forwards. Keep foreman nine-times-backwards versus applicant forwards on top; not all names backwards. manually inscribed arrangement of foreman’s and applicant’s names. Retain foreman backwards nine times and own name forwards on top, followed by the use of the inscribed paper in the preparation. employment sought from a foreman, with conditional intermediate outcomes and harmful wish. No immediate job guarantee: preserve probably no work, money if he has it, the first opening, and the subsequent one-week claim as attributed. river as a stated possible source of water, alongside rain/hydrant wording. Keep literal rain water an’ river water or hydrant water and or anything like that; do not convert ambiguous conjunctions into an all-three requirement or flatten all alternatives. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 3556) · Read full source (printed page 3557) · Read full source (printed page 3558)
Entry 9147
[This plant, Shame Jim here, and Be-shamed brier root in rite that fol- lows, is the Shame brier (Schrankia uncinata). We have already met this plant under a number of names: Shame brier, Shame vine, Sensitive brier, Shame face, Shame Jim, Ashamin', Shamin' Judy (p.646, v.1) and Shameful brier No.3797, p.2496, v.3. The verse in the present rite, though well-known, is rare in Hoodoo.] Dat root whut ah tole yo' a li'le while ago, Shome Jim, put it right in yore- rip yore drawahs, yo' know, an' put it in de band aroun' yore drawahs, yo' know, an' let his lay right dere, an' yo' kin go up tuh de co't an' face 'im, an' den say things:: Once ah went out walkin', ah met three men; One was donb an' he couldn't speak; De othah was blind an' he couldn't see; An' anothah one was lame an' he couldn't walk. An' say dat an' look right at de jedge an' he nevah will fined jah 'er nuthin.
(Yes, now begin right at the beginning.)
Ah went out walkin' an' met three men; one was dumb an' couldn't talk; de othah one was blind an' coulan't see: de othah one had no tongue an' he couldn't do anything eithah [couldn't talk]; [and another] he was a cripple an' couldn't walk.
(When do you say that?)
When yo' lookin' right at de jedge when yo' at de trial.
court/trial setting and intended avoidance of a judge’s fine. The first-person verse is recited formula, not the informant’s autobiographical meeting with three men. Its repeated version differs and must not be harmonized. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 3701) · Read full source (printed page 3702)
Entry 12229
They says to have luck: well you know you kin take a piece of lode- stone. You kin take a lodestone an' git choo piece of'High John de Conkah root. An' yo' kin take dat an' put it in a piece of red flannin [flannel], an' take an' sew it up. An' git choo some perfume an' pour it over there. An' you'll have good luck in any games you go in. You will win. That's to draw luck - lodestone would. Jis' bathe [usually feed] it [with the perfume] say about 3 times a week to keep it kin'a mossted [moist]. An' that lodestone will grow. See, that would grow...jis' as long as you keep [feeding it] the larger it be. An' as it grow, little hairs will come out, little teenny hairs. Yo' kin see 'em comin' out. It's a lodestone, look jis' lfke a piece of coal [several places in HOODOO this is called black lodestone]. But only them hairs...an' they will move too. You could take a piece of that an' lay it on this table [between us] in one place, an' then you go back about a half an hour after, it'd be done moved.
Entry 586
( Get some dirt from de grave an' put some lodestone in dere, put some dragon's blood and put a piece of John de Conker, put a piece of Eve and Adam root - puts dem togedder and sew dem up tight.
(Put them in a bag?)
In a piece of red flannin and sew dem tight and you wears it somewheres around you fer two or three days and he [enemy] come around and if he annoys you, you take aholt dat, it be's hot [if an enemy is near], and you carry dat by de string you know - a little piece of string about dat long and you hold on to dat [end of the string so that the bag or sack hangs free] and you talk to 'im, "Come on, Jack, any enemy around me? Any enemy coming toward me?" And he'll [Jack will] move - if he don't move, there ain't nothing wrong.
Entry 650
Mah brother-in-law [was] poison once. Dis man [was] drivin' a truck an' dat [same] man poison him, an' de [boss] man fi'ed [fired] him an' put mah brother-in-law in dis othah man's place, so dis man couldn't git [back] de job dat mah brother-in-law got [therefore he] want put him out de way, kill him or somepin. Well, he say, "Ah kin git him out de way." He didn't bothah [my brother-in-law] yo' know. So he went to a man, he know some roots dat would - de rootworker tolt dis othah man, give him tuh do it tuh mah brother-in-law, give him some grease [dressed with roots] tuh put on de truck; yo' know, on de automobile, on de truck do'.
Entry 664
It's suppose to be dirt come out de bur'in' groun'. An' yo' git little roots right from the root of a tree in de bur'in' groun' - jis' cut de root off de tree. An' yo' take an' keep dat an' let it git kin'a ole, yo' know. Yo' take dat an' ball it up lak dat [demonstrates].
(Grind it up by rubbing it in your hands.)
An' yo' take it [with the graveyard dirt] an' den you sprinkle it right roun' de front cher [someone's] house an' yo' [that person] have bad luck. That's goofer dust.
Entry 718
I have heard an old man say that he once went to a camp meeting and on his way home he walked over a root. And as soon as he walked over the root, a pain came into his leg so terribly that he had to hop all the way home. I do not recall how he got rid of this ailment but I do know that he thought someone had put a spell on him.
Entry 720
My aunt one time - her husband was going with another lady and she found out that her husband was going with this lady and she tried to stop her husband from going with this ladv. And the lady had my aunt fixed. And in doing so, she went to a root doctor. The lady asked the root doctor - she wanted an affliction on my aunt. The root doctor agreed to do so. Afterward my aunt was taken very ill and she was unable to walk for some time. Since then she has had a bad leg and it will never be cured, although some say that another root doctor can cure my aunt. Some say this was really what caused her to be like that. We didn't have any proof that she [other woman] did. She didn't give her anything to eat. It must have been done by some method of walking over a root.
Entry 721
Ah've watched dis from a kid. Ah nevah did believe in roots or anything lak dat but mah experience, it made me believe in roots an' diff'rent things, yo know, fo' dis reason. When ah wus a kid roun' 'bout eight yeahs, ah had a mother an' she liked good times. She'd go out. So at last, one day she went out an' left me an' mah brothah home. So, while she wus away some people came through de yard - jes' a girl an' her sister, an' she made fun of mah brothah. Mah mothah came back an' ah tole dat dey made fun of mah brothah. So she wus a lady liked tuh drink sometimes. So when dey came along - dere wus about fo' of 'em, so she tackled 'em an' dey had a fuss. So about a week or two after, she taken sick. Dese people claimed dat dey poisoned her, yo' know. She wus taken sick an' mah granddaddy and [grand]mother did ever'thing in de worl' dat dey could fo' her - had taken her to doctors an' dey couldn't do her any good. So dey claimed dat dey poisoned her - she dried up an' looked lak [like] a witch, an' would have spells, jes' fall out on de flo'. She jes' come to nuthin' but bones, yo' know, an' went away tuh nuthin'. Dey tell me dat wus whut chew call witchcraft roots.
Entry 738
Now when a woman wants her husband to bring her his money, she takes some kin'a root dey call de king root, an' she takes dat root and she wears it round her waist on a band - see, make a band an' wear it round her waist. Well, yo' kin see dat fellah won't even break his envelope - when he git de envelope he come right dere and give her his money. She say dat's love.
Entry 746
It's a certain part of root you kin git in de woods and dey call it Alivin' Amongst de Dead. I know 'em.
(The root is called?)
Livin' Amongst de Dead. See. And dey takes two - only two grows up in one bunch, and you took dose two - it's a woman and a man and you keep dat and dat'll go to work and carry you through. Alivin' Amongst de Dead. Dat's right. (This Living Among the Dead - that root, have they any other name for that root or is that the only name they have for it?) Yes, dat's de only name. (The only name they have. I see. And if you keep that around you, then no one can hurt you?) No sir.
(What does it look like?)
You see, dere two grows up togethah, and dey bend togethah jes' like dat.
(Stick right together?)
Yes, and de bush grows up about dat tall and turns out like dat.
(Each bunch turns over towards.the ground?)
Yes, sir, dat's right.
(You put The Living Among the Dead - you carry it in your pocket.)
Yes. (When you are hunting a job - when you get there, you put it in front of you and they can't turn you down?) Yes.
Entry 748
I was in a place once in Beaumont, Texas. I was working on a job. A lady sent word by another fellow to me that she could help me out on the job. Well, when he told me that, I told him, say, "Ah don't believes in that." I say, "There ain't nothin' like dat I say ain't but one thing to help you," I say, "and dat's Jesus Christ." He say, "Oh, yes it did, boy, '' he say, "she give me so-and- so and I was so-and-so-and-so." Well, I told him - I decided then I would go. I went to her and she gives me a lodestone, gives me John the Conquer root, some kind of sweet smelling oil and powder wrapped up into a ball [this is a hand]. And I went back to the job and the man told me he didn't want me no more. That's what happened about that.
Entry 797
(How did you happen to learn this work - did you pick it uP yourself or did someone teach you?) Naw sir, ah was gifted to dat. All ah'm talkin' about ah was gifted - took it up mah ownself. When ah was twelve years old ah was showed de spirit - diff'rent herbs jes' fer about twelve-thirteen nights, until ah could go to 'um and tell dem, go to 'em. De five-finger grass dat's one of de luckiest grasses in de world - jes' like yore han'. Juh evah seen dat? (No, I never saw it.) Wall, dat's in dis country - it's hard to find without yo' know dere's some at. An' ah kin go to it right now. (Well, you were shown in this spirit. Did you make any effort to let the spirit teach you these things or what?) It showed me. Den ah went anywhere in de woods to find the same stuff what ah seed in mah sleep and bring it back to de house and showed de people and de older people say, "Well, dat [boy] must goin' be a doctor [or] somepin." Wall, then another night ah lay down and them things arrive befo' me agin and ah see lest little things, but ah go in de woods and ah couldn't find them. Wall, de. same thing arrive befo' me de next night; ah go in de woods an ah keep ahuntin till ah find that thing - dig it up and carry it back to de house. Sell dem jes like he [spirit?] said untul a doctor [which kind?], a white man who Was a doctor, said, "Well," he said, "how old is he?" Said, "He is twelve years old gwine on thirteen." He said, "Well, I would like to have this boy wit me." Wal, ah did not have no mother an' no father. Ah was jest a motherless child, jes' like ah am now - ain't know mah mother and mah father, be's a step-baby. But he's mah step-daddy. So he raised me - ah wasn't no, but get de idea. They knowed mah father and mother when they died and vo' see mah mother and father was under slavery. So dese people have dere freedom dey just taken us and raised us after dey give us freedom. An' so dey didn't have nowhere to go and so fer several nights - ah kin remember as good, we slept in de woods until de lady, name some- thing or other, that they knowed, let 'em have a ole log house to sleep in. Ah remember ah was on de floor. An' so ah kept on selling dem herbs to de white party. So den de doctor tole 'em, said, "Let him stay with me, ah'll give him good wages." And then he'd taken de roots after ah showed him how and tested 'em out and made medicine out of 'em hisself. And yo' see, he wasn't -
(You were born in Como, Georgia?)
Yes. You've heard talk of dat? [I certainly said Como, unless while my machine was turned off he had said something like Comah - in either case, it must have been Comer, a village 75 miles northwest of Augusta. My following yes to his question shows me thinking of two things at once - Lake Como in the summer of 1923, and don't interrupt.] (Yes, but you spent your manhood mostly in Augusta - you went there after you started to grow up.) Mostly in Augusta and here.
Entry 802
(Were you born down here and have you always lived right around here?)
In Mobile - all mah life been right chere - been heah 72 years. (Are there many professional people here - where you can go to get spell taken off? Are there as many now as there used to be?) Dere mo' heah now den dere evah was. (Do people believe more of it than they used to or are they sort of forgetting it?) No sir, dey worser now den dey evah was in mah life.
(How many white people go to these root doctors?)
Oh, ah don' know - pretty some - biggest majority of them goes.)
(The white people?)
Uh-hmm, they go, biggest majority of 'em, cause they believe in that; see, they goes sometimes tuh hold their servants down, all like that.
(To hold their servants down?)
An' pay yo' as little money as they can.
[Only time I ever heard this purpose!]
(Are the root doctor and the conjurer the same thing or are they different?)
Well, dere's a root doctor and den dere's some call deyself hoodoos and some call deyself sleight-of-hand workers; but when yo' come down tuh de whole thing, they all about the same thing. But a root doctor - now dere a whole lotta roots and things like that. Ah know - ah go out in de woods and get 'em.
(Well, the root doctor cures you of just ordinary sickness?)
Yes, sech as curin' people of bad disease, yo' know - now, ah know how to do dat. [So far as I know, informant was not a doctor. '667 - woman 72 - 50 years ago worked in whore-house in Mobile - very good" - Numbers Book 647-822.]
Entry 810
[No matter how a person becomes a doctor, a first-class doctor should be a fortune-teller - a seer and master of dreams and spirits - able to tell what has happened, is happening, and will happen:] Now, I used to use a wash you call Chinese wash [to keep the law away] an' if I had anybody at my house, any enemy of mine, they'd walk on out. (Where did you get this Chinese wash?) Well, this same - the one in New York. You could buy it an' they tell this woman [canvasser for a New York firm] - had a Special root at a New York drug store where she bought it at.
(Did you live in New York or did you send for it?)
I lived in New York eight year. I jis' came here from New York. I've been away eight years. I jis' got chere. Some money - a spiritualist told me dere's some money was be left here for me to fix my place [house]. I came here to get de money. An' she tole me while I bein' here that some dark fellah wus gon'a make love with me. So sure enough he did an' I got married Monday.
Entry 813
Yo' kin go to what chew call a fore-knower - go to a fore-knower and she give 'em somepin dey call de lucky perfume and de John de Conker root; puts one piece in de bottle and she give yo' de rest of it to chew. And when you go to de gang you chews a piece and rubs yore hand with this perfume, and you spit de juice - dat's to give you good luck and put bad luck on de rest of de gamblers.
(Where do you spit this juice?)
Jes' spit it anywhere around de game.
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 1236
Yo' evah heah of dog fennel? Well, de root of dat is good. Yo' evah heah talk of the dogwood? Well, de root of dat is good. Ah used tuh go tuh work an' git a tea - take de root an' make a tea of it, an' dat insec' or whatsomevah it 'tis dey got down in yuh, well dat'll bring it out.
(You use either the dog fennel or the dogwood tree root? Each one is good?)
Each one is good.
Entry 1515
Well, if anybody dat put whut dey call roots at chew, yo' see, yo' kin wear a dime wit a hole in it round yore neck an' yo' kin wear one round yore laigs. Course ah say ah've tried dat mahself an' de dime will change de color - it gits black, see. Dat's fur as ah could say on dat part.
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 2256
De blacksnake root - an' yo' kin take it an' dig it up - it's a kind of a big ole red root done has a blue flower. Well, yo' kin dig dat up an' yo' kin tote it in yore pocket all de time, an' when yo' go tuh git a job yo' kin keep feelin' dat in yore pocket, until dat gits on de boss's mind hard an' den he'll give yo' a job dataway.
Entry 2262
(This animal - what's the name of it now?)
It's de salamander dey call it. He's got skin kinda like one dese brown puppy dogs, an' long claws - dey gits about dis long, see. He's got a pocket [pouch] on each side of his haid, see, an' a little root jest about dat long in dose pockets. An' natchly yo' kin git dose roots outa his pockets - dey jest about de size of a penny, an' yo' wear dose roots jest natchly in yore pockets, or yo' sew it up into somepin - course yo' kin sew it up into a piece of flannel if yo' wanta, so yo won't lose it. It'll shore give yo' good luck. Ah've tried dat. An' ole lady told me about dat. Ah nevah had seen one befo' ah come down heah. Since ah been working down heah we found one out on de job while we was workin', an' quite nach'l it shore has got two little pockets one on each side of his haid. Well, ah got dose two roots - looked in dere an' found dose two roots an' ah got dose two roots. Ah didn't do anything wit 'em but ah got 'em on me heah in mah pocket now. Ah wears them in mah pocketbook every day an' ah has pretty good luck.
(Just general good luck.)
Yes sir. [I evidently looked at them. A pocket gopher (Geomys tuza) is called salamander in southeastern U. S. A.]
Entry 2292
Yo' git cha some dis heah Shame Jim [shame brier] 'at's a root dat grows in de woods. You take it, see, and de leaves 'ull [will] all come to- gether. Dey call it Shame Jim. Yo' take dat Shame Jim and make yo' a tooth- brush, you understand. And go right down dere and talk to him [boss] and look him right straight in de eye, don't bat chure eye atall, jes' look him right straight in de eye and tell him, "Ah want a job - ah want so much money." He'll give it tuh you. Ah know dat well.
(How do you mean make a toothbrush of this Shame Jim?)
Just take it chew know and put it in yore mouth and chew it, yo' know like 'bacco, in yo' mouth and it makes a toothbrush.
(Is that the kind of toothbrush the old colored people used to use?)
Yes, suh - dat's it - dat Shame Jim and Devil's-shoestring.
(What do they do with devil's-shoestring?)
Dey use dat, too. Dey use'ly git it long, yo' know - devil's-shoestring long dat way and dey tie 'em 'round dere waist under dere clothes next to dere hide.
(What do they tie it around the waist for?)
Good luck - strength - strengthen yo' an' good luck [makes you stronger and luckier].
Entry 2293
Yo' kin go out on de railroad track an' it's a lil vine dat grow out dere dey call de Shamin' Judy - yes, Shamin'. Some calls it Ashamin', but it's a Shamin' Judy. See, if yo' touch it, an' it close up - when yo' touch de bush de leaves close up. An' yo' dig dat root an' carry it in yore pocket an' take a piece - if yo' wants a' job, yo' takes a piece an' carry it in yore pocketbook - have good luck all de time. But if yo' wanta go see a man for a iob, chew dat root an' eye 'em - yo' know, jes' look him right on de eyes an' den he wouldn't turn yo' down.
Entry 2342
Luck piece - you carry de luck piece on you." You get you a John de Conquer root, put dat in your pocket and you carry dat along. You use Noonsum oil.
(Use what?)
Noonsa oil.
(Noonsa?)
Yeah.
(All right. What kind of oil is that?)
That's a lucky oil.
(Where do you buy that?)
You buy dat - you order dat.
(Oh, you order that. Oh, I see.)
And you take dat and pour it on dat. You make you a toby, see, and put dat on dat and carry dat in your pocket, see. Well, dat influence de man's [mind] you see, where you tryin' to get a job - he give you a job pref'rence anybody else. You got his mind, you see. You [got] de influence of him, you see. He'll work you where maybe he'll turn off maybe four or five more - he'll take you, you see, and let the other fellow go.
(Now will you tell me the name of that oil once more?)
Nooso - Noozoo Oil.
(Noonzoo oil?)
Yes, sir.
(Do you know how they spell that?)
No, sir - I don't know how you spell dat Noonzoo. (Noonzoo oil.) [See Spelling, difficult to get a, in Index.]
Entry 2343
Ah've heard dat chew kin git dose trumpet roots, git five trumpet roots - de little bush which grows about dat high an' it got a top like dat. Yo' git dose little round roots - kind round like a ball - marble. An' yo' git five of dose an' tie 'em in a rag - tie a knot - put one in each knot.
(Like a necklace - like a string of beads?)
Yes, and have it long enough to go around your waist. An' if yo' wear dat up, why dey claims it takes a great influence, if yo' go up in co't or anything lak dat. (When you go up before the judge. Where do you find these roots? On the ground or in the water?) Dey don't grow in de water - they grow right in a flat place yo' know - course not up on a hill but on de side of a falls like, yo' know. Yo' see 'em, dey got a white top.
(White top and a green stem.)
Entry 2398
I heard 'em say - whether it's so, I can't tell you - ah tells you what I heard. I heard 'em say dey take a blacksnake - go in de woods and ketch a blacksnake and skin him. Skin a blacksnake and take dat blacksnake and fix him - fix him with somepin. Let's see what dey say dey fix him wit. Dey fix him with vaseline and High John de Conquer root. Dat's it - dat what dey said. Dey make a paste and take dat belt - dat blacksnake belt and rub it [preparation] over dat blacksnake skin and put it round dere waist. Make a belt out of it and put it round dere waist. Don't care who dey wrastlin' wit. Dey say dey can't throw 'em.
Entry 3071
We have a great man heah by de name of Doctor Buzzard. He did all dat kinda stuff an' he could see yo' befo' yo' came. He's right cross dis rivah.
(His name is Doctor Buzzard. Where does he live?)
He lives right ovah at Beaufort, S'uth Ca'lina - right cross in de - lak on a little island dere. It's a little island planted dere by itself.
(Is he still alive?)
He's still alive, he is. See, yo' git in de cane [canebrake], cross country dere. He has two large cane buzzards dat is large as eagles. Ah don't know how dey know how to row de boat - maybe it's a motor in it, but dey say ole buzzards rows it, one sittin' in de bow an' one in de stern. Say, when yo' gits dere, yo' go up dere an' go in de boat. Well, dey rows yo' right cross de rivah wit dey wings.
(Anybody else in the boat?)
Nobody else but those two buzzards - jes' dese two buzzards an' dey gits yo' to de landin'. When yo' git to de landin' he be standing at his house dere, an' he say, "Ah knew yo' wus comin'. Ah know de time yo' left home dis mawnin'." Say, "Ah know whut chew came after. Yo' came tuh git roots to kill so-an'-so Yo' came to git roots to run someone - sech-an'-sech a one away." Say, "Well, ah have 'em already fixed fo' yo." He had 'em already wrapped, an' yo' moden apt to carry it [away when you left]. An' he say, "Mah money, yo' jes' put it on yore mantelpiece tonight an' it will be brought to me." An'yocould put it anywhere in yore house an' tell him where yo' would put it befo' yo' leave. But if yo' tell him a story - that chew goin' put it sech-an'-sech a place an' don't put it nowhere an' den he don't git it - he goin' give yo' a stroke fo' life or - dere's many men been messed up tryin' tuh cheat him yo' see.
Entry 3094
My grandmother - well, I'm speaking of my aunt - just as well say grandmother, she was born a slave. She [aunt] said that one night she dreamt that this friend of hers was mixing up something that was green, yet it was sup- posed to be milk. And she said to her husband next day, "Purnell, don't you take dinner with Bettie on Sunday." But sure enough he would go and take dinner with this woman on Sunday - they were friends - and sure enough this woman did poison her [aunt's] husband in milk. So he called on a man by the name of George Jackson who lived out here near Girdletree [Maryland] at that time - he's dead now. [George Jackson never lived at Girdletree.] And he went to call on this old man George Jackson. And he went to get some roots out of the woods and boiled it up. And while he was boiling these up he was singing a song. And the more he'd sing, the more this stuff would boil. I suppose that was just [uncle's] imagination. But when he got it boiled as much as he wanted it, he gave my uncle this to drink. And there had been things crawling up and down - running up and down - inside of him. You could hear them. She [aunt] said this had happened about two weeks after he took this dinner. You could hear these things squealing as if though they were mice and rats. And finally, when he drank this up, an hour or so afterwards, why these things came from him - he discharged these things. And they were wood- bitches - ground puppies.
[For another example of singing while something boils, see 918, p.337.]
This happened down here at St. James [a Negro community in which I was to work a few days later]. St. James is five miles on the other side of Pocomoke [City, Maryland] right on the border of Virginia. [The speaker is Jerry Williams, George Jackson's grandnephew and my contact man. I had interviewed him that summer at Ocean City, Md. We are about to start my second collecting trip in Maryland - Friday, Dec. 14, 1936 - as well as to use the Telediphone for the first time. This unusual story of George Jackson singing to his brew, the first recording for the Telediphone, signifies bubbling luck - also work - for the 3000 cylinders to follow.]
Entry 3461
Othah words, if yo' can't git to her dat way, yo' kin to [with] de undahwear. Take it an' go somewhere an' git choo a male dog. An' whenevah dey [the dog] git in a hard, yo' know, an' den wipe it off. Git choo nine shingle nails - nine little wire nails - an' care [carry] it to a tree. Dig de root, dig down to [into] de ground where yo' find 'em forked roots. Nail it up in dere - tack it up in dere - put dem nine nails in dere an' covah it ovah. Well, dere he's stuck ag'in, he can't git away. But if yo' have sympathy fer 'em an' go an' take it up yore ownself, dey'll come loose; an' if not, YO' GOT TO KILL 'EM BŌF OR KILL ONE OF 'EM to git 'em loose.
Entry 3777
Go out in de woods an' git a bush whut chew call a stingin' nettle, an' dig it up an' git de root off it, an' chew de root an' swallow de juice. It will bring mos' any man nature back - ole man, young man - mos' of 'em.
Entry 3797
Dis shaneful brier.
(What kind of brier?)
Shameful brier. (Shameful brier. No, I never heard of that.) [Afterward I heard of it many times - see p.646 and else- where.] Dey gits dat, dey gits de root of it an' boils it. An' now, if yo' wanta have intahco'se wit 'er, see, an' yo' rub 'er downwards - yore hand, rub yore hands right on down nine times, an' he'll kneel, an he wants to, see, but he'll fall. She'll be so anxious fer 'im, but he'll fall.
Entry 4258
Git a man's chamber lye an' bottle it up. Cork it up aftah yo' put diff'ren' kin'a roots in it an' piece of yore [menstrual] cloth. Turn it up
[upside down]. Fasten it up, you see. An' when yo' turn it up- side down - an' [then]
yo' put where no one won' find it. Well, if yo' wan' 'im tuh come home - if he runned out an' yo' wan' 'im tuh come, yo' shake it upside down an' turn it. An' of co'se he stays in de house. An' when he goes out, why - yo' don' wanta keep 'im in all de time - when yo' wan' 'im tuh come back, yo'.take it an' shake it up, an' turn it upside down ag'in.
(In other words, if that bottle is upside down, he's to come back to you.)
Yes, keeps 'im upset. Have it already fixed [upside down] dere.
(What kind of roots do you put in that?)
Put John de Conker root.
Entry 6641
An' dey could go ahead cross den an' could take a snake, ole rattle- snake, an' dey could pound dat rattlesnake up. Jis' poun' dat snake an' pound 'im up an' put it in bread fo' yo' or anythin' dat go down in yo' - yo' eat. Well, live thin's 'ill come right in yo' - snakes. Dey comes alive.
(Well, is there any way to get those out of you, that you know?)
Well yo' go to de hoodoo an' git dis root medicine an' sompin dey call rattle- snake marstah, rattlesnake marster an' - oh, it's anothah root.
Entry 6791
Yo' kin take de fig tree roots an' destroy babies. Dat's de only thing ah know 'bout a fig tree. Well, yo' take de root, yo' know, an' yo' boil it an' make a tea of it. Dat'll make yo' miscarry a baby, dey tell me. (You just drink that tea?) Yes, yo' jis' drink dat.
Entry 6862
De no'th root. (You have that?) Yes sir, ah've got some of dat now. An' ah kin go tuh dere house, if dey got poison fo' me or got anythin' fixed fo' me. Ah kin eat whut dey give me an' chew dat root, an' if it ain't right, ah brings it back.
(That root will bring it right up.)
Bring it right up.
Entry 7026
Fathah Graybeard. Yes sir, it's a tree grows an' have a beard jis' lak a man. Yo' go dere an' dig dat tree up an' git de very top of de roots. But chew cain't take it off from de end, yo' gotta go up in de - where it grow up in de big part of de tree. An' git de chips outa dat an' put in de whiskey. It'll make dem sick dey lak tuh kill demself.
(You put this root in the whiskey to make a man stop drinking?)
Yes sir.
(You get the root just as it goes into the trunk of the tree.)
[The graybeard tree in the southern states of the United States of America is the fringe tree (Chionanthus virginica), a small tree with clusters of white flowers. The dried root bark is used as an aperient and diuretic. Whether this is the Father Graybeard of the present rite I do not know.]
Entry 9078
Dey has a li'le root dey call John de Conkah. Dey ordahs dat from some company up in New Yawk. If yo' git in any trouble, yo' go down dere an' meet de jedge, an' yo' have one in yore mouth. An' evah time he ast chew a question yo' chew on de root yo' know, an' he will release yo' from dat whut he goin' give yo'.
Entry 9085
Go roun' tuh court. An' yo' gotta go tuh court, see, an' yo' wanta have a easy time wit de judge an' git close tuh 'em. All right. Well, den, if dey haven't got yuh con- fined - co'se yo' may have some frien's tuh work it fo' yo', if dey got chew confined. But if yo' not confined, yo' kin git chew a li'le piece of lodestone an' put it in yuh pocket. Git chew a piece of John de Conkah root an' all de time yo' settin' up dere in de chair, yo' chew dat John de Conkah root, see. Chew dat John de Conkah root, spittin' it towards de judge an' spittin' it on 'em. Jis' blow it on 'em, it's all right. De mo' yo' kin, de closah yo' git it tuh 'im, de mo' yo' draw 'is attention towards yuh. Be apt tuh cleah yuh, yo' see. Den, when yo' git up tuh speak ast de mercy of de court. Dey bound tuh grant it tuh yuh.
Entry 9086
Ah've tried dat tuh help people out wit things. Yo' use High John de Conkah roots an' yo' set down an' concentrate. Get de judge's name an' de law- yer's an' yo' git most of 'em, de ones dat yo' gotta be tried befo'. Yo' git dere names an' yo' set down at night an' burn dis High John de Conkah, an' call de judge's name an' tell 'em jis' what chew want 'em tuh do. An' den yo' weah de lodestone charm. Yo' dress yuhself firs' wit perfume from de High John, see. Yeah, have it [High John] in a bottle, yo' see, an' yo' puts perfume in it an' yo' jes' dress de body wit it befo' yo' go out, all aroun', run yore hands around. An' co'se [of course] dat perfume stays on yuh. Den, when yo' go down in front of 'em.... [Washington, D.c., (627), 804:8.]
Entry 9093
If a person have a fight, a purtty bad fight chew know, an' ah know de man's goin' git me - all of it fell on me becuz ah done mo' den 'nuff, an' ah know it's goin' fall on me, an' dunno [don't know] whut tuh do. Aw, ah'm jes' cryin' an' a-grievin', ah dunno whut tuh do. "Lawd, ah know ah'll gits a whole lotta time." An' ah don' wanta [get time]. Heah comes somebody, says, "Oh, dat's so bad. Ah heared of yore troubles." Says, "Well, ah tell yo'," says, "yo' ain't got no money an' yore po' an' yo'll pay fo' it." Says, "But chew kin git a li'le, prob'ly a dollah or two, but chew will git chew some luck." "Well, where will ah go?" "Ah know a man [doctor] live right ovah dere, right straight ovah dere. Ah know he'll fix yo' up." "Well, ah shore hope so becuz ah'm fed up. Ah dunno whut tuh do." Says, "Yo' go ovah dere. He's a good man. He's a high-class man. He knows stuff." Yo' walk in an' he [doctor] says, "Hello, dere. Yo's in trouble dis mawnin', ain't chah?" "Yes." Says, "Yo's in trouble," says, "yo' goin' have a lawsuit an' yo' come out heah fo' he'p?" [For some of the methods used by doctors when greeting patients, see CONSULTATION TECHNIQUE, PP.307-319.] "Yes." Okay. "Well, ah tell yo' right now, it goin' cost chew five dollahs, an' ah give yo' somepin othah. An' yo' take dis an' yo' go up dere [to court]. Dey jes' ast yo' a few questions. Den come on out." He goes back an' gives 'im a li'le piece of root about two inches, ah reckon. Dere's three notches cut intuh dis root, an' de notch is cut in dere to represent de Fathah an' de Son an' de Holy Ghost. Dat takes ca' [care] of dat. Yo' know whut dat means. Dat's [case is] out. Dat's throwed out. Dey jes' say, "Out."
(That's in a court case?)
Dat's throwed out.
Entry 9103
Dere's a small root dat dey call de Moses. An' yo' take dat root an' yo' chew it de whole time dey's fixin' tuh have dis trial, yo' chew it. An' yo' be's chewin' de spit an' dere'll come on some disastah of de trial, it won't come up. Now, ah did see dat. Ah see dat happen in Waycross, Georgia. Ole man Murray dat had a son in dere, an' dey was fixin' tuh give him two years, an' de judge, de sheriff an' all de people dat was in de court, an' dat boy walked right out by 'em all an' was gone. He walks right out de co'thouse. All of de solicitors an' de judge an' evahthin' was settin' dere. It was about three or fo' 'clock in de evenin', an' when he got up an' walked out, dere didn't anybody pay him any attention. He walked right on out an' was gone thirty minutes 'fo' any of 'em detected he was gone.
Entry 11248
(Suppose a person puts a spell on me and that person dies. Can I have that spell taken off any way?) No sir, yo' will die too.
(If that person dies, I will die too?)
You will die. Yo' won't nevah git rid of it.
(The only chance of getting it off is if the person still lives?)
"Less he lives. (What do you call these people around this part of the country that take the spells off you? What do you call them?) Call dem hoodoo.
(Don't they have any root doctors down here?)
Oh, yes, we have root doctors. One right up de street heah.
(Well, now, do they get anything from the root doctors?)
Oh, yes, he kin tell yo' [if you are hurt]. An' dem somethings [he can do for you]. He have medicine in roots. (Oh, he just makes medicine.) [He usually does more than that.]
Entry 11282
Yo's gwine down de street an' yo' jest pass an' measure up on him. Yo' got a good strong han' [hand for protection] see. Well, he goin' meet chew; yo' goin' meet him - gwine right on down to meet him. He's got a pistol and yo ain't got any. All right. An' he ain't goin' follow yo'! Why? Yo' done went off some- where and got chew some root - yo' know what chew call roots - got chew some stuff from some rootmaker.
Entry 11926
If a person buries your hair under the root of a tree on the left- hand side as he approaches tree, you will lose your mind. [Washington, D. C., 799:5.]
Entry 11939
To drive a person's hair into a tree root runs that person crazy.
[Fredericksburg by Ediphone.]
Entry 12241
Well, you use John the Conkah root, just take it and put it in your mouth and chew it. And just like I wanted a favor out of you, I'd just keep achewing it and spit while I be talking to you, and that'll make it all right.
(Especially if you want a job.)
Yes sir.
Entry 12243
John de Conkah, dey say, an' yo' put it in yuh mouth on de lef' side, an' spit aroun' 'im [boss]. Don't let 'im know you got de root in yuh an' he'll do anything in [the] verl [world] fah yah. [Also see following root for another chewing method.]
Entry 12253
Yo' takes - it's sompin yo' chews - it's whut chew might call a Spanish Root, ah think, dat way. Yo' takes it an' yo' chew it an' yo' spits. An' jes' wheresomevah he stay or where his office or anythin lak dat, well it's best tuh go whah he live. Ketch him at home whah yo' kin stand in de house whah yo' kin jes' spit, chew know, an' talk tuh him jes' lak dat wit dat stuff in yore mouth. Well if yo' kin, git up close enough tuh him, close enough tuh him tuh jes' talk wit him. An' yo' know a person kinda do dat. Yo' do dat. An' if he got anythin' fo' yo' tuh do, he'll give yo' a job; an' if he ain't, he will git chew a job. Jes' chew it.
(What is the name of that root?)
It's Spanish, jes' name of a Spanish Root. Yo' orders it. [This shows an influence from the Cuban population in nearby Tampa, a cigar-making place in those days.]
Entry 12260
Tuh have luck in gamblin', why yo' git dat root, dey call it John de Conkah, an' yo' chews dat root while yore gamblin', yo' see. An' in chewin' dat root, yo' have tuh spit. Yo' spit three or fo' times lak dat in yore han's. Well, den dat gives yo' luck. [Algiers 2898:12.]
Entry 12261
(Anything else they use for luck in gambling?)
Well, use de High John de Conkah root, it's mighty good.
(How do they do that?)
Well, dey carry it in dere pocket mostly, jes' keep anybody from passin' yo'.
[Waycross 1975:2.]
Entry 12863
To protect yourself against walking over roots or anything planted for you, grease the soles of your feet [this for persons walking barefoot] with a mixture of salt, red pepper, sulphur and Innocent Oil [for latter see 486:2, wherever that is] and grease soles of feet. [Norfolk 488:5.]
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 12210
To get a job, he showed me a nut. Keep in pocket when talking to boss. Called a horsenut.
Entry 12351
"Lodestone... John de Conkah root...a little dragon's blood an' mix... keep in little bag." [Little Rock 1474:4.]
Entry 15
Now, I think I'll almost explode de whole situation - it's mighty rough on a man's belief. I've been what you might call a globetrotter for about 20 or 30 years. I've spent my life rambling over de world. I'm a descendant from de 'foretime Indians. Well, naturally, we believe in the great virtue of roots, herbs and bark - that is, for medical purposes. But I find after I settled here in dis part of de world dat de people got a great belief in 'em doing wonderful things. These boys that - the big fellow that you met yesterday, he always runs up to see me every time he gets a little strained there. He's one of these hoodoo doctors - so he claims - but my belief about it is just actually where dey work is de will power that you got over de person that you delivering 'em to. Yo' kin take the root - well, all of 'em has some legend behind of 'em. They believe in dat and no sooner you get dat belief, why, they will do wonders for you. If you haven't got dat confidence in em, why, dey's no more than the ordinary root. But I finds through the southern part of this country, everybody is got some belief about 'em that-a-way. And I pretty well knows the growth of 'em - where dey kin be found and all. Dat's why I got acquainted with dese fellows. Dat's why I coming up dere to find out different kind of - the way dey believes, dat's, actually just what it'll do; anything they believe in, you get their belief in it. [This man, a part-time seller of roots, wanted to become acquainted with the beliefs of his customers and their patients.] Course when dey practicing dat witchcraft and all dat junk on de people, you gotta prepare your victim for you, see - you must have a go-between that prepares him for de shock dat's coming off. Well, den natural after it's passed on, you come and relieve de situation and there's no law in the world then that make him believe that you can't do those wonderful things. Well, that's just the way that I've always taken it, and since I've been here I've found that everybody, nearly, has a belief in some kind of a root or know the virtues of it.
(What State were you born in by the way?)
Well, I was born in Oklahoma. Course I left there when I was quite small. I never knew anything about my people till I was round about 27 years old. And after I found out, I made a couple of trips back dere. I brought my mother over here - she's only been dead about five years - 102 year old she was... Through here you meet an awful lot of 'em that's, you know, in that practice, selling roots and digging 'em and using 'em for different purposes - most all of 'ems in the hoodoo business. Lot of 'em comes up around dere to see me a lot of times." I do painting and decorating and I'm a mechanic too, but I just know de names of 'em and most of the natures concerning 'em - what they are in shape or de form dey is and what they kin be used for. Lot of 'em run around there time after time to see me about different ones. (Well, where did you learn these stories about them - from your own people, the stories about these roots?) [If from your own people sounds tricky, it is not intentionally so - see Introduction.] About dese roots - some of 'em and some I didn't. Now, we have a root chere, hit's well known all over de world. It's a grass, it grows with a small leaf, it's called the blood plant [the bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis] and inside the leaf it looks like it circled with blood. Well, now, you take over in de old countries, everybody over dere believes that a hemorrhage or any kind of a bleeding or issue from de flesh can be stopped in a few minutes with a tea made from that plant. Well, they claim the reason why is it's circled - well, that bloodstain, it came from when Christ was killed, when He was hung on de Cross. A man was driving nails in His feet, he got his hands bloody and when he finished he just bent down and wiped them right there at the foot of the Cross, and by Him hanging there bleeding, that from then on that grass sprung and after that it always showed a bloody stain. And they claim up until this day, it will cure any kind of bleeding or any kind of issue that-a-way. It's used purposely for that and nothing else that I know of, but a lot of these hoodoo fellows use it for other purposes - but it is, that's the legend of it. You put it in some water and steep it - the water looks like blood when you take it. (Have you heard that if a person thinks he is going to be hurt, that he can do something to protect himself?) The onliest way for him to protect hisself is the will power he's gotta have. He kin go right to de same person that really is going to fix him through [for] somebody else, and go to dem and just get him a bag of roots. Now, if he's got the confidence, if he's got 'em, nothing will hurt him. As long as he keeps that bag on him and feels that confidence in it, there's nothing they going to do. The moment he lose this bag, why den he's all to pieces - almost crazy, you see, because he knows that's what is going to happen to him...
(What tribe did you say you came from?)
From de Crowitans. (The Crowitans. Well, do the full-blooded colored people believe the same thing that you are telling me about this?) [My mind must have been tired! Fortunately, I do not think he understood the implication of my unfortunate and meaningless full-blooded. This man, like Doctor Johnson just interviewed in Richmond, was both Indian and Negro.] Yessiree - they believe that right out - positively you can't get it out of their heads - they really believe that - no way in de world to change their ideas about it. It's half of dere religion, believing in dis hoodoo stuff.
(Well, they don't believe in it as much as they used to, though?)
No, naturally, they are getting out of it some, but mighty little different you kin see today from what it was 35,40 or 50 years ago. It's actually in 'em, it's impossible to remove it from them. Why, I've talked with some of these graduates and colleges and stuff right here in this city and they are just as deep in it as their grandmother and father was - believes part of it if they don't believe it all. They've got some belief about that supernatural part, the roots and the herbs and stuff of dat kind. [Norfolk, Va., (470), 477:2...480:1.] [The belief in spirits is the foundation of hoodoo, conjuration, witchcraft, rootwork and similar superstitions. Everywhere throughout this investigation spirits are mentioned or assumed.]
Entry 265
Ah heard about if anybody wanta Work roots or somepin othah lak dat. Take a black cat an' carry him in de woods an' boil him an' don' let nobody be out dere late in de night but jes' him by hisself. An' say yo' boil dat cat till dat bone come up on top of de watah, an' dey say de first bone dat come up on top of de watah, say yo' take dat bone an' chunk it in de runnin' watah an' let it go on down de stream an' den cuss. An' dey say when yo' cuss all kinda animals an' things - lion an' all kinda diff'rent things will come roun' - see, an' yo' can't git scared. An' dey say if yo' don' git scared den yo' kin do any kinda hoodoo work yo' wanta do. (Well, when you put that bone in the water and it runs on down the stream, how are you going to get it back again?) Yo' don't git it back, yo' see, after hit done boil. Yo' see, after de cat done boil, dat bone come up on top of de boilin' watah. Well, yo' take that out an' throw it down de stream an' make a cuss. An' den yo' see, when yo' cuss, all dem things will come to yo'. When dem things come to yo', if yo' don' git scared of 'em, den yo' kin do any kind of work yo' wanta do.
(You don't get any bone at all then - you don't use the bone?)
No, no.
(You let it go on down the stream?)
Yes.
Entry 651
You go down in the field and git manure, but you have to git a certain kind of manure. You have to git bull manure, not cow manure. Git that and wrap it in a red handkerchief. He claimed he was tricked. He let someone use his hammer and something they put on his hammer got on his hand and kept him from work. [This proves that he was poisoned.] Some one of these two-headed people that he was dealing with told him he had to git some bull manure. Well, I was jist a boy and they sent me to go git it. I go and git that bull manure and go and git some pokeberry root. Get the he pokeberry root. There's two kinds, a he and a she. The he one is white and the she one is red. The she one has a red skin on it, she come up out the ground. They git that and mix up with this manure together and cook it together and put that on him [his arm] and bind it down. He got so he went to work again.
Entry 892
About fifteen years ago [1922] I was workin' to a place an' didn't seem like de peoples seemed to like de way I was gittin' along. I was gittin' along purty well. [Then he becomes ill.] An' come along a colored fellah and his wife an' he told me, he say, they had buried somepin around the place where I worked at to throw me out mah job an' make me unhealthy. So he ast me - he was out de woods - there's a weed in de woods they call gall of de earth. I told [him] I did not [know it]. He say, "Well, you come an' I'll show it to yah. [It was] a little black place right down in de branch here [near Hartsville, S. Car.] an' he take me down there an' says, "Will you know this when you see it again?" I tole 'im, "Yes, I think so." But I ain't seen none of it around heah [Wilmington, N. Car.]. I've been lookin' close for it thinkin' I'd stay in tetch with it. So he had me to send an' git some vinegar. [Previously] I tole him mah right feet was swell up four times big as mornin [normal] - mah leg up to mah hip. I had to drag it. An' he put on a kittle an' heats some water. He put cookin' salt, vinegar an' chamber lye, some sun-cure [rather than smoke-cured] tobacco in it, and strained it out an' this gall of the earth, an' he boiled it about five minutes. Then he got de foot tub and he put a cover over it like this, an' he stirred it a little bit an' he kep' feelin' in it an' it got so he tole me to put mah feet in it. He took dese leaves of this gall of de earth - they's about dat wide I reckon an' about dis long, look kin'a like somepin dey call dog tongue [= hound's-tongue], [used these leaves] like a cloth, an' he bathed mah leg down [magic rite of down- ward] and feet. An' then he took de other handful of green stuff, gall of de earth leaves. He beat 'em up an' he put de salt an' [corn] meal in it, an' then he taken some of this same stuff he bathe mah feet with an' dampen it good all over an' bind mah leg down dis like I'd wrapped it around a wound. An' de next mornin' I could walk. De swellin', ever' bit of it was gone. An' it ain't never hurt me in that ankle since, but ever' year I have a hurtin' in de hip along between now [February] an' de spring of de year.
(How did he say you were hurt?)
He dug - was some kin'a bottle about half as big as that brown bottle yonder, about a half pint, an' it was a lota diff'rent kin'a roots in it. I don't know what dey was in it. An' he took it an' he shuck it up an' he looked at it an' he put some kin'a seal on it an' done some markin' on de paper [he pasted on the bottle] with a pencil an' he tole me did I know way dey a runnin' stream was. I tole him yes. He ast me how fer it was. I tole about a half of mile. So he said, "Well, you arrange to git dere an' throw it in dere at twelve o'clock mid- night." He say, "When you git dere, you jis' say, "Between the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, beside me dere is no other [only time I ever heard this unusual addition, ' an' throw it right over your head, be sure you throw it in the water, an' don't look back at it." He say, "Go on back home. An' den after dat he went off an' died an' I never could tell no more about it by me changes places [moving] comin' over here [to Wilmington]. This happened in Hartsville, South Carolina. [Wilmington, N. Car., (312), 240: l; I interviewed his wife (313), next.]
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 929
Twus my gate on Campbell Street where I lives at right in Wilmington. At ten 'clock - I'm talkin' about mah ownself, at what I know on Campbell Street. At ten 'clock at night I'd haf to lay down. If I didn't lay down, I would fall. But ten a'clock ev'ry night - I'd notice de clock. An' comp'ny would come to see me, an' when de comp'ny come, I say, "Now, you all set as long a' zhoo want to, because at ten a'clock I git so weak until I haf to lay down." An' I do that. One day when I come from work I met mah cousin on Fo'th Street, an' when I met 'im on Fo'th Street - mah gate fell first on.de side; too, mah fence fell. So I said to 'im, I said, "Joo come home an' help me fix up mah gate, an' alsc mah fence fell." I'm talkin' about mahself now, what I know. An' so he come home [by her house] Monday evening, he said, "Now, Cousin, two a'clock [tomorrow I got to go to work." I said, "Well, all right then; I'm gon'a cook dinnah an' you have your dinnah here [tomorrow] an' you help me fix the gate, fix mah fencei." An' we wus fixin' that fence, de time came fuh him to go. He went on. I had de shovel, I got right to mah gate, jis' as I got to come in the house, somepin say, "Dig." An' I dug, I got a bottle from mah gate, that long [demonstrates], where I'd been walkin' along. Dat wus de thing causin' me I had to lay down ten a'clock ev'ry night. An' it had sulphah in it, it had hah [hair] in it, it had bluestone in it, an' it had some kind of roots in it. An' when I took it up, I hold it right up, I says, "Oh, looka heah! Come an' see this! Somebody tryin' to cunjure me," I say. An' dey cunjured me too, beca' zhoo, zhoo know, ten a'clock at night I'd haf to lay down. An' de people come an' look at it, "Oh well, it's nothin' but childrun put that tharh." I said, "Childrun couldn't put hah." I said, "Childrun couldn't put all this kind of mess zhoo see in it; dey could not put in it." I said, "To banish it right, ah'm gon'a care [carry] it to a cunjure sure enough den dey did dat to do [to do that]." [She was going to take the bottle to a cunjure more powerful than the one who had prepared the bottle.] The people all said, "You ain't gon'a do that? I wouldn't touch it." I said, "Ah'm gon'a care it to a man that kin cunjure and cunjure right." I wus talkin' about takin' an' keepin' it - that's what I meant choo know, when I said that. I says, "No, I'm gon'a care it to cunjure right." An' so I kep' it. An' do you know that night, dat I could set up till 'leven an' twelve a'clock! I could set up till 'leven-twelve a'clock. An' so I kep' it till about on Friday evening. Dat Friday evening I made a fire in the pot in my back yard. An' I wouldn't git right over it, jis' like that [demonstrates]. I opened it like dat an' I burned it up. It wusn't long befo' de lady next do' had to go de hospital an' have her leg cut off.
Entry 939
I had an' a'nt and uncle. Both of them was sick at the time, so we sent fo' a doctor, and it was close to a year and de doctors kept coming and dey said dey couldn't do no good. So we got a kind of hoodoo doctor and so he came to see 'em and he came fer nine days and he told her that she'd have to go out under her step and dig. So she went out and dug an' she got a bottle, and we looked down in it and dere was some roots and lotsa needles and two sets of hair - her husband and her hair. And dey tole her she was tuh take it and put it in running water. And she did and he said in nine days he's come back again [magic delay]. So after that he started to rub 'em - rubbed both of 'em and they both commence tuh git well after that. They'd failed terrible - that's mah aunt, ah know that. Both of 'em got better. (Well that first time - he didn't tell them anything until after he came the ninth time?) No, he didn't tell 'em about it - he say he'd have to come right along.
(I see - before he did anything at all.) [Washington, D. C. (626), 801:1.]
Entry 1831
Fo' a gamblin' han' yo' git chew some blacksnake root an' some devil's- shoestring an' some John de Conker, an' some cinnamon, an' a van-van perfume. An' yo' git chew a piece of shammy. Yo' put dese ingredients in dere wit de silver dime, an' yo' takes dat perfume an' yo' dresses it an' yo' wears dat piece in yore pocket.
(What will that do then?)
That's supposed tuh be a gamblin' han - whut dey call it.
Entry 1899
Totes a toadfrog. If a fellah got roots or anything lak dat, chew go an' git chew a live rusty toadfrog an' put him in a han'chief an' put him in yore pocket, in yore side pocket or anythin' lak dat, an' go in a game, an' yo' wanta kill his luck, if yo' [he] got any lodestone or anything, that's goin' kill it.
Entry 1940
You kin git chew a little dis talcum powder, git chew a little grave- yard dirt. Go as near de center of de graveyard as you can. It don't make any diff'rence where [whether] you git it off de grave or not, but you git from sandy dirt like. Take dis talcum powder and mix dat and de graveyard dirt together. Prob'bly you have to put it in de stove somewhere and let it dry out so's it'll be dust. You go and git chew a little of de best cologne dat you kin find and sprinkle into dere. Well now, if you kin git right on to dis boss or kin roun next to 'im, you may drop some of it roun' his feet like dat or run your hands - keep some in your pocket all de time. Run your hand in your pocket and sprinkle a little roun' dere. Well, you take dis same Adam and Eve root. It don't hurt cha if you put it in yo' mouth. You take and place one in each jaw, walk roun' de boss and talk to 'im. Spit ever' once in a while roun' in dere. If dere's anything on his desk or anywhere [like] dat, you kin prob'bly spit in your hand and go and lean on it - jes' like I'd come in chere and ask you for a job, I'd lean up here [against my work table] and talk to you. Now I got dat spittal in my hand you see and put it on his desk. He can't tell nuthin.
Entry 1949
Den yo' kin git chew some John de Conker an' have yo' a little piece of root an' chew those guinea peppahs every once in awhile. [Guinea pepper = grains of paradise, pungent seeds of a West African plant (Amorum meZegueta) used as a spice.] Lak ah'd walk in heah to yo', went to gamblin', chew dat once in awhile an' spit in mah han' an' rub it an' throw mah dice or play mah cards. Chew dose guinea peppahs - dem little brown seeds dey calls guinea peppahs.
(What do you do with that John the Conker root?)
Yo' chew that. Yo' hold that in yore mouth lak a toothpick. Chew dem [root and seed] separate.
(If a person goes down to get a job?)
Sho'.
Entry 1980
You take a pair of Adam and Eve and you put it in a bag, you put a piece of John de Conker in dere, and you put a piece of Gall of Earth, and you put a piece of King Solomon - dem dere three in dat bag, and put a dime in dere. [See margin-title Three Roots, later.j Dat bag gotta be made outa red flannel or pink silk. Well you sew it up tight after you put dat dime in dere. Den you take some of dis conker root and boil it. Well, you make 'bout a quart. Or either you git yourself a bottle of Hearts Cologne. You put a lot of dat cologne in dere but keep it. Den you git a ole glass and put a little water and put dis conker root juice into it and one or two drops of your own urine - dat's fer to draw - and saturate dis bag in it [this is feeding the bagl. Dat'll do business, too. Dat make so many people lucky on de numbers and things.
(Well, what's the bag supposed to do? Just luck for numbers?)
Naw, lucky bag. Yeah, you gotta carry it on yo'. Don't let nobody put dere hands on it - ain't let nobody know it's on yo'.
Entry 2101
Yo' kin take High John de Conker an' git black lodestone an' Adam an' Eve root. Put them together with violet incense powders, an' sew them in a red flannel. They call that mojo an' dat fo' yore luck in gamblin' an' co'se yo feed it Jockey Club perfume.
(When you go to the game.)
Entry 2755
(Do the people over there have altars?)
Yes, they still got altars over there, yes sir. (How do they handle that? Supposing I'd go over to see one, what would they have me do? I wonder what would be the ceremony they'd go through?) Well now, you see, as you go in, the altar is setting just like this here [points] vanity [bureau] there - yes, sir. The altar is setting there. Well, it's always, the candles are always lit, you see, with saints all around it. It always stays lit night and day. See, you go in there, probably you put a nickel in the box and you light you a candle, if it's a penny even, you can put that in there and you light a candle. You get down on your knees and you prays. And whatsoever prayer you want and whatsomever you pray for or want done, you pray to the saint that you know would help you, understand. You get there and you pray to that saint. Now and then the mother of that church, she would come to you - see, she would talk to you and she would give you information. She would pray for you, and probably she may give you a medal. She'd bless the medal and everything - well, pray over it rather and give it to you. Then, she would tell you just what to do and how to do it. See, she liable to tell you, say, "Well, when you go back over to the New Orleans side," say, "you go to the Crackerjack Drug Store," and she say, "you go and get you some goat- weed." She say, "You get some goatweed and you go out in the woods - if you can get to the woods, if you know how. You go out in the woods and you get some banana leaves." You see. "But get the root of the banana tree, rather - get the root of that," she says, "and you come back and you bring it chere to me, but bring it back in nine days." She say, "Let it be dry when you bring it back." Well, you bring it back to her and she will fix that for you. Well now, when she fix it, she liable to tell you, she say, "I want $100 for it." You pay it to her because you wants something done for yourself. She going to use sugar with it, she is going to use cinnamon with that stuff. She gotta take and sprinkle vine- gar onto it and all that - cook all that together - take a red onion and cook all that together. Make one thing out of it. When she get through with it - it will be just about that much stuff when she finish. She tell you, now, put it in a sack or anything and put that in your pocket and go ahead on. And you have the luck and success in anything you undertake to do. (What do they call these people that do that sort of thing? What would you call her?) Well, we call 'em just by name - some people call 'em the hoodoos - some call 'em spirituals - some call 'em - ah forget the other name they call 'em - but we call 'em all kind of names - fortunetellers and all such things as that, you see.
(Well, does she wear a robe or dress up in any particular way?)
They generally wears a gown, yes sir - you know, a big white gown. Some of 'em be - have a black gown, you know. We call 'em gowns. They look more like gowns than they is robes - and tassel and all around - just in order - just on the order of a priest, you see.
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 3067
[This remarkable man we have already met, along with his friend who was equally adept at sudden disappearance. Perhaps you remember him by his more familiar name, Daddy Snakelegs, "cause he could run so fast and he could disappear." A precious pair! Sorry, I should also include the third member of the group, Ole Sal, the disappearing mule. See 845, p.293.] I've done hear [what you want]. I kin tell you most everything you ask me.
[I turn off machine and we talk until something of possible interest appears.]
(Burying you alive? How do they do that? Do you know?)
Burying you alive and you bound to follow the dirt.
(I see. Well, how do they say they do that?)
Well, I heard ole man Alexander tell that. He say he makes a coffin.
(Do what? Makes a coffin?)
Makes a coffin and puts this dirt in it.
(What kind of dirt?)
Graveyard dirt. Puts a needle catercorner there and puts another one cater- corner here.
(Like making an X in the coffin?)
No, just.
(Here - that's the coffin there.)
[I probably use my small oblong Nuonbers Book, used for altar, p.886.]
There's the coffin. Well, dey lay de two needles straight, right along here. And right between here they put a piece of cayenne pepper, table salt, and a piece of new salt [sulphur?] right there. Then they lay a piece of devil's root, dey call it - drive that down in there, you see, and they say that draws you up. (I see. Now, they put these needles like this [cross them], sort of making an X in the corners like that, and up here at this top part - up here at the top of the coffin.in that sort of a V there [one of the 4 angles of the crossed needles] they - what do they put up there?) They put a pinch of cayenne pepper.
(Cayenne pepper. What do they put down here in the left-hand corner?)
A pinch of sulphur.
(And what do they put in this corner - the right-hand corner of the coffin?)
New salt.
(And up here - where do they put the root?)
Up here - they put the root chere.
(Up in the.right-hand corner they put this root.)
And there's your head. (That's your head. And they put - what was the name of that stuff they put there?) Ah - ah devil's root. I suppose they want the devil to get that coffin.
(I see. And what [else] will they do for the devil to get that coffin?)
Carry it out and bury it - bury it in the dirt.
(What will that do?)
That's all - just carry that out and bury that down in the dirt. [See Coffin, PP.536-542.]
Entry 4270
Now, from a man or eithah a lady tuh keep 'em tuhgethah, yuh know, wit yuh, yuh take it [urine] an' yuh put it in a bottle. Yuh put nine needles, nine pins, nine tacks, an' a table- spoonful of steel dust, an' a piece of John de Conker root, an' a tablespoonful of honey. Dat's to keep 'er from injur- in' yuh, undahstan'. Now dat's de way yuh tie up a man or a woman. An' keep it turned upside down, an' keep it behin' yuh bed or anywhere in yuh room. An' any time when yuh wanta see 'er when she is away, or him, yuh jis' take it [bottle] lak dis an' shake it to yuh an' call dere name. Dat's whut yuh call tyin' up a person.
Entry 7203
All right, a man take an' do wit a woman de same way. A man cut de seat, a piece where she sweat undah here, undah de ahm. (Under her arm. Both arms or just one?) Both ahms. All right, he takes dat an' he puts some li'le roots in dat - some kinda li'le roots.
(Do you know the name of those roots?)
Dey put - whut's de name of dat root now? Some kinda - devil's-shoestring. Cut dem tuh be short. See, dem shoestring dat long [demonstrates].
(The devil's-shoestrings about three feet long?)
Yes, sir, some is dis long. Some is long accordin' as jis' how much yo' take out de groun' an' dey will pop off.
(You cut them about an inch or two inches long?)
Yes, sir, dat much off see. An' yo' put 'em in de bottle. Well, dat's tuh keep 'em at home. Dat's tuh make a woman dat run about tuh dance an' shows, lak dat, run aroun' lak dat, dat keep 'em home. De mō' [more] he feed dat bottle, dat keep 'er down. If - he don' do it tuh kill 'er, yo' know, jis' tuh keep 'er home.
(And what does he feed that bottle with?)
With cologne.
(And where do you keep this bottle?)
Keep it in 'is pocket. Yo' don't bury dat, keep it in 'is pocket. (That all he puts in there, these pieces of her clothing and the devil's-shoe- string?) Yes sir, an' he shake dat bottle up, yo' know. Yo' see, de man [the doctor] tell 'im tuh shake it up, an' feed it. Feed it an' put it back in 'is pocket. Don' put it in nobody's hand. Keep it in 'is pocket jis' a small ole cologne bottle.
Entry 10063
Now, if it's a hand dat he wants, he'll go in de fo'k of de road 'fo' day in de mawnin' at fo' 'clock. He'll be dere by foah. Well, he take jis' thin's. Yo' evah heah talk of dis root dey call John de Conkah? Well, it's de root dat chew git - it's a blacksnake root also. Well, yo' take de root. Well, it's a bone. It's lak a chicken bone. It's on a black cat. Ah could almost tell yuh where tuh git it from. [I too can tell where tuh git it, wishbone from, but you wo won't find it in a black cat! I have discussed this matter elsewhere in HOODOO.] Yo' take dis cat an' yo' kill de cat, see. Yo' take de bone, it's long lak a chicken. Well, yo' take dis bone, de blacksnake root an' yo' take dis John de Conkah, an' yo' takes dis bone, an' yo' goes in de fo'ks of de road. An' yo' draws somepin in de Way of a triangle. Dis way [demonstrates] in de mawnin' at fo' 'clock when- evah yo' make yuh wish. An' yuh hand dat chew wants, yo' sellin' yuhself tuh de devil, also, whenevah yuh do dat. Den yo' take de sinnahman's dirt from 'is grave an' nine pennies which yo' pays de devil fo' 'is work. Yo' give him dis stuff an' leave it dere. An' he'll come up jis' de same as a natchal man. An' when yo' give him dis, he give yuh a hand an' dere's nobody kin break it up.
[All hands can be broken by counter charm or powerful doctor.]
(This is the hand for gambling. Where do you put all this in this triangle?)
Right in dis triangle. Jis' lak in de fo'ks of de road: one comin' dis way an' one goin' dat way an' one's behin' yuh. Well, yo' stands right in de fo'ks of de road an' yo', yo' know, so nobody cain't git it up. Yo' know, dig it up, an' yo' stand right dere, if yo' have nerve enough, an' yo' fix all of dis in heah [demonstrates].
(In this hole?)
In dis triangle in de hole [in the hole in the triangle]. An' whenevah yo' do, yo' talk tuh hit, yo' know, jis' talk jis' lak ah'm talkin' tuh yuh: Ah wan' chew tuh do so an' so, an' ah wants a "hand, " an' ah wants tuh win evahthin'. Well, whenevah yo' do dat, well, dere's yuh luck right dere. Well, den yo' kin take, when yo' git ready tuh leave, yo' take a piece of each of de roots an' de black cat bone, an' put it in a ten-cent vial of Hearts Cologne. [This ten-cent vial of Hearts Cologne as hand we have elsewhere.] An' when yo' go in yore game yo' 'n'int chureself wit it, an' dat'll cuz evahbody tuh come right tuh yuh.
(Where do you put these pennies?)
Yo' take dose pennies. Well, see, yo' bury dose pennies. Yo's payin' 'im [devil] fo' yuh hand.
(Where do you put those pennies?)
Yo' put it right in de triangle an' yo' bury it. See, yo' won' take dose pennies [away] wit chew, yo'll leave 'em dere.
(You take the roots with you?)
Takes a piece of de root, jis' a piece. See, de roots join. Jew evah seen a piece? De root's [root is] join [has joints].
(You take a piece of it and you leave the rest of the root in the hole.)
Leave de rest of de root. Jis' take a piece of each piece of dis heah, but chew takes dat bone an' put it in de jah [jar], right in de jah, an' den yo' put chure - den yo' stops it up, each piece of de root. Den yo' 'oint [anoint] yuh- self when yo' git ready tuh go on a game.
The informant describes a four-o'clock road-fork triangle rite with named roots, a black-cat bone, grave dirt and pennies, and later carrying parts in Hearts Cologne for gambling. Hyatt disputes the bone identification and indestructibility claim. Preserve the source's shifting root description, represented request, payment recipient and editorial qualifications without equating roots or bones globally.
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 12766
Roots 3: devil's-shoestring, bitter apple, John de Conkah - mix with 4 substances: black pepper, cayenne pepper, salt and sulphur: then name it, sweep it, and man'll leave.
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 8087
Like if a lady or a man - a man wouldn't - or a woman wouldn't even hurt a woman like herself an' a man wouldn't hurt a man like himself. Now, if yo' got a lady friend, say for instance she's gone from here tuh London, Eng- land. Yo' cares fo' dis lady, an' she don't care fo' yo'. Yo' wants 'er back. Yo' kin git 'er back. Yo' go, yo' git choo - yo' got 'er photo already. Yo' git chew some John de Conkah's root. Yo' git choo some Mayfair Powdah [trade name, perfumed powder for body].
(What kind of powder?)
Mayfair Powdah, an' git choo some John de Conkah's root. Yo' take dis John de Conkah's root an' dis Mayfair Powdah. (You take the John the Conquer root and the Mayfair Powder. All right, then what?) John de Conkah's root an' dis Mayfair Powdah. Now, yo' gotta take dis John de Conkah's root an' yo' gotta roll it out 'till it git tuh a powdah like dis May- fair Powdah. Supposed tuh sell yo' Mayfair Powdah or de othah [John de Conkah]. Now, aftah yo' take dis powdah an' dis earth [John de Conkah Powder]. Yo' got 'er photo. Yo' go out in some private place at twelve o'clock. Yo' go in de daytime when de sun is beamin' hot. Yo' stan' dis pichure anywhere dat yo' could stand it, even if yo' gotta put a brick down tuh stand it up. Yo' go roun' [cir- cle] dis pichure nine times an' sprinkle it wit dis Mayfair Powdah an' dis John de Conkah's root.
(Do you have to sprinkle the picture or sprinkle a circle around it?)
A circle around it nine times.
(All right.)
Now, she's in London, England. An' aftah yo' do dat nine times fo' nine days, yo' don't have tuh worry no more. She's gotta come back regardless wherevah she's at. Dat's wit 'er photo. [I believe the person walks round (circumambulate) the propped-up photo once each day of the 9 days, sprinkling as he goes.]
(Why do you say London, England? Have you ever been there?)
I'se nevah been in London, England, but dat jis' [an illustration].
(I See. WERE YOU BORN IN THIS COUNTRY?)
WelI, I WASN'T BORN RIGHT ON DIS SIDE [IN NEW ORLEANS]. I WAS BORN ON DE LOW COAST OF ALGIERS [ON WEST SIDE OF MISSISSIPPI, AN "OVER THE RIVER" PART OF NEW QLEANS.]
(WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE LOW COAST OF ALGIERS? ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI?)
ACROSS DE MISSISSIPPI RIVAH.
(I see, I see.) )
Entry 671
Ah have heard that goofer dust is jes' diff'rent roots for whatevah kinda work it is yo' wanted tuh do or anything bad; dat's de kind of roots dat chew would git. Dere's some kinda root - devil grass root.
(It has no other name?)
No othah name. Take devil grass an' snake's head an' grind it up togethah an' make a powder out of it. See, fo' instance, if yo' wanted tuh hurt someone or somepin othah lak dat, an' sprinkle it in dey hat, de bandin' of dey hat. It Would run 'em blind. Do different things with it.
Entry 682
The way I have heard it, that a hoodoo bag is a bag that one carries and it contains a dust called goofer dust, and whatever they put it on they can conquer. Some wear it in their bosom and some in their pocket. They get these goofer bags from root doctors or cunjure doctors. You give them a certain sum of money. Some call them roots, some call them rabbit's foot. Some people wear these roots around their legs sometimes for luck.
Entry 706
A cousin of mine wus tellin' me that somebody give her somepin in her whiskey an' it 'cumulated lizard an' things in her laig. Yo' could see 'em runnin' up an' down her laigs. She went tuh several people, yo' know, tuh try to git well. So first an' last she got a man dat wus [a doctor] an' he went out in de woods an' got several diff'rent roots an' give 'em to her. An' he tole her tuh put 'em in a half a gallon of water.
(He boiled these roots down you say?)
Yessuh.
(And then what did he tell her to do?)
Take a swallow fo' nine mawnin's outa dat. An' so aftah she done dat, he tole her dat it wus at de corner of her house - somepin dat wus put down, too, fo' her. An' she went there an' dug it up. It wus in a red flannel sack [a hand] an' he tole not to take an' open that but jes' keep it. So the next time she went, he gi'd her another bottle of roots, jes' about dat high, an' she boiled them down to a pint of watah an' she drunk them. An' he tole her on that ninth mawnin' that she would vomit them up an' she done that. She vomit them up.
(The lizards?)
Come right out her mouth.
Entry 735
A man dat workin' cunjures an' things lak dat, up in mah country, dey take an' go an' git some peppah, sulphur, salt, an' goes in de woods an'gits a root dey calls de Friendly John - ah knows it, Friendly John. Yo' go in de woods - it grows on a ridge on a hill.- Yo' go git dat Friendly John an' break yo' off about six limbs of it. Make no diff'rence if yo' git de root of it or not - break off, git de limbs of it an' break off six of 'em an' mix 'em together an' carry dem in yore pockets or anything lak dat. An' yo' kin put some of that devil's-shoestring with that, if yo' want to, an' yo'll go fo' twelve months lak dat an' yo' kin jes' go ahead an' tear down anywhere yo' want to - yo' got a arm, whut chew call a goofer bag or a hand. Yo' got a strong one, yo' understand. Ah bought one one time.
(If you want to do any cunjuring work, that's strong?)
Dat's strong.
Entry 736
The way I have heard it, that a hoodoo bag is a bag that one carries and it contains a dust called goofer dust and whatever they put it on they can conquer. Some wears it in their bosom and some in their pocket. They get these goofer bags from root doctors or cunjure doctors. You give them a certain sum of money. Some call them roots, some call them rabbits foot. Some people wear these roots around their legs sometimes for luck.
Entry 743
An' den dere's anothah way yo' kin do it. Yo' kin take up a fellah's [foot] track. Yo' kin write his name in his track - if yo' know his name, jes' write his full name in his track.
(With what?)
Yo' know, wit yore finger. Take yore finger, dis finger, an' write his full name in his track. Take up dat track [demonstrates].
(You use that right - index finger of the right hand.)
Yes, sir. Take up that track an' go to de woods. Have yo' seen wire grass up heah in No'th Georgia?
(Wire grass? I know what it is.)
[This means I had seen a wild grass. I did not and do not know its name.]
Yes, sir. Yo' go to a big bunch of wire grass an' dig up dat wire grass by de roots; jes' take yore shovel an' have yo' another shovel - dig up dat wire grass by de root, de whole root of dat wire grass. [Presumably two spades are needed for a clump of wild grass.] Yo' dig up de whole root of dat wire grass an' jes put dat track in dere. When yo' put dat track in dere, hit on top of it three times like this, "God de Father, God de Son, God de Holy Ghost" - jes' like dat.
(What do you hit it with - your hand or the shovel?)
De shovel. An' say, "Whosoevah passes dis track with not good things in his mind" - be sure to put it though along where dis fellah travels at, yo' know he travels long dere where yo' carry dat - "whosomevah passes dis track with not good things on his mind, he shall be buried jes' de same as this dirt." An' walk away after yo' say them three words.
(You do that in case he has any hard feeling against you?)
Yes, sir - in case me an' him would git in some kind of a dispute or somepin an' ah thought he wus tryin' tuh harm me any way or he would harm me some way, an' it would better fo' me tuh do dat den to have to hurt him an' den have to go befo' de law, see.
Entry 878
[As the preceding examples indicate, the first part of a hoodoo consul- tation concerns time: either You came to me just in time or You came too late - depending upon whether the doctor thought his cure would succeed or fail. We now come to the second part of the consultation, which is always something like: You're on your way to the graveyard!1 He lived over on the same farm that I was raised on - I left there when I was four years old - and he claimed that he was one of these high fellahs [usually high man = root doctor or cunjureman on the Eastern Shore]. So he got his name out here as being one of those high fellahs. So he fixed the path between his house and our path, our house rather, and fixed this path up like he wanted it. In fact, he got himself a spool and he made some holes in this spool just about the size of a needle point. He takes these needles and he puts 'em down in here. And he goes and gits himself some muratic [muriatic] acid [commercial name for hydrochloric acid]. He bores [small holes] in the bottom of this bottle and lets the points of these needles go through this spool just where they could touch this acid. Well, the needle would stick up just above de earth where these barefooted folks walked. ["The heads of the needles touched the acid and the points stuck up above the ground" - my note made at the time of my transcription, a few days after story collected.] And then, naturally, when a man come along and stepped on one of these spools with his bare foot, you know what took place, with that muratic acid through that needle in his flesh. ["The acid is supposed to go through the length of the solid needle" - my note at time of my transcription.] And in two or three days time this man would be all swelled up and dey didn't know what was the trouble. Now, they had to send for him. [No high man, even a stupid one, would have used such a crude trick as exposed needles in a path. This piece of gossip is merely one of many versions of the buried-needle theme - a pain or swelling in foot or leg comes from walking over a buried needle. However, a person does not step on an exposed needle point; contact between needle and flesh is magical. Originally the buried needle was a buried root (see No. 718, p.239). The author or editor of our story has heard of hypodermic needle but he does not know that it is hollow. How he thought acid could flow through a solid needle I am unable to say.] He'd come around and tell 'em, 'There's first, one thing buried here around this post." Said, "I don't wonder tha' chew being swelled up - no, I don't." He says, "Man, you got somepin awful around your house here. I kin move it. I know right where it is and I kin take it away from here. Well, naturally, you want that thing taken away. You all swelled up there and didn't know what de trouble was. He'd go to work and he'd come there, and he'd git a bottle of hair, needles and pins, first one thing and then another, and bring it in the house, open this bottle, and there you'd find all this stuff. He said, "Man, you're ruined, you ruined for life. You've got to be worked on and worked on quick." And he just gone there and took those few needles up in the earth there, see [those he was supposed to have buried], and he'd know just what to do, you know, to cut that acid from hurtin' yeh or burnin' yeh to death. And you'd pay him your money. And the first thing, you know, he'd go in the pound [cattle enclosure] and git a ole dumplin' of cow dung, you know, and fix it up. And go out and git hisself a few leaves of ole field mullein and elder roots, and boil all of that stuff up together. Then he'd put that on a fire and boil it up, and put some rock salt in there and a little table salt, fix it up, in a few minutes have your feet in there up to your knees. And you sit there now until he tell yeh to get up in a certain length of time.
Entry 885
A lady that I re'lly know went and bought somepin - it was in a little box about that long, it was mailed to her from Conway, South Carolina. But she, you know, she wouldn't show it to anybody no more than show it in the box and take out one dem roots and show it. Some of it looked like little marbles and some of it looked like grass and sticks and diff'rent things, you know, come out de woods. But dis man told her - she went to see him and he charged her twenty-five dollars - told her to go on back home and everything would be all right. So she come on back home and when she get there, in two or three days de box came wit de things, you know, by mail. She opened it up and show it to mah wife. Mah wife came home and told me about it, and told me why don' I buy some of dat kin'a stuff even though I don' need it. I don' need any witchcraft, see, nothin' like of the kin'. And she's been in trouble many a time and it don' even cos' her dime. She gets out every time.
Entry 913
I married my first wife and of course I didn't know she had an enemy, and me and her was coming down the road. So we walked along talking. It was a path that lead to the house from the road, and opposite that path she slapped me on the shoulder and said, "oh, French, somebody done tricked me." And I said, "Go away, woman - who in the Name of God done anything to you?" She said, "I am tricked." She went away from here with the same thing. [The slapping makes me assume that she had a sudden and unusual pain which frightened her; this sudden pain while walking usually caused by passing over a cunjured object - see Burying objects, in Index.] I'll tell you what happened. It was the second week in August. I worked along and worked along and worked along. Finally I had to go to the doctor for her. The doctor said that she had the stomach trouble. I worked and done every way I could. Finally, I sent her to the hospital in Washington, [D. C.]. They worked on her and worked on her there. I told her when she left home, don't let them operate on her. Finally then, she came back home, I says to her, "Fannie, how do you feel?" She said, "French, I don't feel no better." I said, "What did the doctor and nurses say?" 'The doctor said I had stomach trouble and he had to operate on her [me]." One of the nurses told her, 'I could tell you what's the matter with you but we ain't allowed." So she came home on a Friday night and then I went down in the country about twenty some miles on Sunday morning. I seen a man, a hoodoo doctor, and he give me some little packages, three of them, and told me what to do with them. And I came home and done just as he told me on a Monday morning. On Wednesday she died. I don't know what was in these packages. In one of them I couldn't see nuthin but a bunch of roots. He told me to put that on in a pint and a half of water and boil it down to a pint. After boiling it down to a pint, you set it off and let it get cool, then give her three tablespoonfuls before meals. He gave me a package to throw over my left shoulder. I made the tea and give her the first dose, and go right on to running water and throw it over my left shoulder. I did so. He gave me a little pocket piece and told me to give her and carry in her pocket. It was a little package all tied up. That was the third year after the Johnstown [Pennsylvania] flood [May 31, 18891, in this [Spotsylvania] county. I went down in Caroline [County, Virginia] to get the hoodoo doctor.
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 1438
It's a commonest thing as a piece of root chew call rattlesnake master. Well, yo' kin git holt of a piece of rattlesnake master an' yo' could cut it up, a piece of it an' put it into a bottle, see. Yo' po' a bottle of cologne on it see, an' yo' stop it up an' yo' set it one side in yore corner. After nine days yo' kin take dat stuff. (You take this rattlesnake master and you put it in the bottle of cologne. Then after nine days what do you do?) Yo' take it if yo' goin' out round anywheres - yo' jes', every time yo' go out, well, yo' jes' po' some of dat in yore hand an' yo' take it an' rub it all ovah yore face. An' then yo' take anothah piece of it an' sew it into a bag take string then an' let it tie roun' yore waist an' wear dat. See. An' dat keep down all evil.
(If anybody's trying to harm you.)
That protection - dat's chure protection.
Entry 1439
If somebody goin' put somepin down fo' yo' tuh walk ovah or somepin like that, yo' could use salt an' red peppah in yore shoes, or either a piece of root by de name of rattlesnake conker - put that in yore shoes.
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 1892
Fo' gamblin', ah heard 'em say, yo' kin git chew a frog - a toadfrog. Well, a frog is got a numbah undah his neck right undah dere. Take dat frog an' git one wit de even numbah. Don't git no odd numbah lak three or five, but git chew one got a two or fo' an' take him 'live an' put him in yore pocket an' go to de skin gome or any kinda gamblin' game an' yo's lucky in winnin'. An' if yo' think dat dere's somebody else dere dat's got some roots or somepin dat's tryin' tuh win too, yo' jes' take an' git chew some table salt an' put some sulphur in yore shoes, yo' see, 'fore yo' leave home an' go on there. Yo' take dat salt an sprinkle it on their haid an' dey'll lose. Dey roots won't be no good to em.
(That kills that?)
Dat kills dat.
Entry 1975
[Here, as so often, we have within one ceremony a combination of magic rites - feeding, rubbing and smelling. Smelling is important: fragrant odors for Court, Job and Love; unpleasant odors for evil spirits or persons. Examples of Rubbing are given in this subsection and elsewhere - see Index.] De main root, one of 'em ah called now - one of 'em ah done called, dis heah Eve-and-Adam. Dat's good. John de Conker is better dey say cause it don't - hit conker de worl'. Dat's whut dey say. If yo' go 'fore de jedge wit dat - an' dey say dey uses whut chew call dis heah Hearts Cologne on it to keep it alive. An' yo' keep it - it will keep 'live. It will keep it moist. Yo' rub it when yo' go dere - jest go close enough to de jedge fo' him to smell dat Hearts Cologne. Dey say it change his mind. (You would use Eve-and-Adam the same way that you would use John the Conquer root with Hearts Cologne in going before the judge?) Yes sir.
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 2086
To keep de police away is tuh git chew High John de Conker root. Git chew High John de Conker root an' Lucky Heart - dat's a weed dat grow up an' it shaped in a heart like, lak dey call it Lucky Heart. It's a red leaf, dey call it Lucky Heart. Yo' take dem two tuh- gether an' yo' put 'em together in a red flannel sack, yo' see. An' yo' take an' put chew some sulphur in dere wit dat. Yo' understan'. An' yo' bury dat right undah yore do'step. Git chew two sacks so yo' kin make two of 'em. Put in each do'step an' dey tell me if de law come dere, dey can't come in. If dey do, dey overlook ever'thing whut dey come in dere fo'.
Entry 2151
If yo' know de boss name, yo' git chew a piece of High John de Conker root an' put dat same cayenne peppah an' salt in it 'fore yo' leave home, an' says, "Name, son-of-bitch, ah have to have a job. Ah want mah job back." An' yo talkin'to de root. An' den put it in yore pocket an' go on down dere an' he say, "Come heah, John, go tuh work. What's de matter? Where yo' been?"
Entry 2183
You take a red onion an' rub it on yer haid, an' take a little piece of it an' chew it - a little piece of it. It's a little root tha' choo git out of the woods, it's got a green leaf with black spots on it - they call it Adam an' Eve. It's supposed to be a lucky root. An' it's another one called the High John the Conker. You kin take that an' put it in a bottle an' put some Hearts Cologne on it an' it will drink it up in two or three days. An' you keep, you know, puttin' it on there. An' jes' like whomsoevah you wan' to git a job of, you jes' wear that - you know, jes' sprinkle it on yerself an' jes' let 'im git a whiff of it.
Entry 2200
To keep the law away from your place. Weli, here's the way they told me to keep the law away. You go in the woods and find a he palmette root.
(They find a what?) A he palmetto. (He?)
A he palmetto root like a man - a palmetto - man.
[Somewhere I have a man-shaped root.]
(Palmetto root?)
Yes, sir - man palmetto root. (Do you mean that little thing that looks like a palm? That root? Looks like a spear?) [My questions are ridiculous in words. Actually here is a good example of occasional hand-talking. For little thing I indicate a low bush looking like a palm - I had seen millions of palmettos up and down the southeastern coast. To make certain we meant the same plant, I air-draw a cleft leaf - each cleft looks like a spear. Informant's answer shows the result.1 Yes, sir, got big wide leaves on it.
(All right, all right.)
Well, you get a he palmetto root. You take this he palmetto root and you bring it to your house and you cut it off just at that bush. After you cut it off at that bush, you put three splits in it - right in the bottom of that root, you put three splits in it. And you takes the judge's name, the district attor- ney's and the prosecuting attorney's name in there. Put it [names] on a piece of paper nine times backwards, you understand. And put it [paper] in between them splits, understand, and wear that in your pocket. I guarantee you they'll [the law will] all stay away from there.
(That's if you are bootlegging?)
That is if you are bootlegging.
Entry 2217
But if yo's makin' whiskey an' yo' scared de law runnin' on yo', yo' git gueen weed root an' yo' git it near - on de low end of de mountain. Yo' cain't git it on flat country lak heah. Co'se up roun' mah home close tuh de Blue Ridge Mountains yo' kin fin' all kinda roots. Mah granddaddy, he's been huntin' those things all his life, even in slave time. Yo' git one dem queen weed roots an' yo kin take dat roots an' boil it. It got a elbow on it ovah five j'ints an' de j'ints is ovah a inch jes' lak dat - knots, all lak a rattlesnake's tail, yo' know, got dat bell on de rattle- snake tail. Well, it got lil knots on it an' yo' kin tell where dose j'ints is yo' know. Yo' take three of dem j'ints an' boil it in a lil hot watah. When dem three is boiled in hot watah, yo' put 'em down undah yore front do'step an' de law will not pass ovah there. He'll stand out an' he'll talk to yo', see - 'Well, ah heared so-an'-so 'bout chew, but ah tole 'em it warn't so." See. He'll vell fo' yo' 'fore he gittin' out de car, "Come on, buddy." Well if yo' bury down somepin an' yo' ain't dere, he won't come ovah dere. An' some of 'em do happens somehow or'nother tuh come ovah it sometime, but if dey do, dey'll git down in dey laig an' nevah will be no mo' good. But he'll go roun' tuh back, now, an' come in, if yo' don't set one at de back. If yo' set one at de back, put one or two elbow - not three. See, ah gene'lly put three at de front - one fo' yo' fren's, one fo' yo enemies, an' de othah one fo' de law. See, yore fren's will gi' yo, harm yo, see; an' yore enemies will, dey won't do anything to yo', only steal from yo', see. Dat's why yo have tuh put three.
Entry 2235
Like he wus down on his business. It's a thing look like a lily, name of rattlesnake master. Dat's one of de luckiest roots dey is out for business. Take dis heah rattlesnake master an' set it out in a bucket like yo' would a lily - or pot - an' take some water an' spit on it ever' mornin'. Business will come to yo'.
Entry 2240
Well, sir, yo' hear tell of de rattlesnake marster. Well, git de roots of hit an' git some Hearts Cologne an' cut it up into a bottle; an' jes' when yo' be round people, be wit people, keep yore face an' hands 'nointed wit it. Say it draws friends an' plenty customers.
Entry 2242
Perfume - why yo' use it fo' luck. Yo' takes de rattlesnake marster an' John de Conker an' de three fingers an' put all in dat Hearts Cologne. [A three-roots rite.]
(Three fingers?)
Yes sir, an' put it in dat Hearts Cologne and yo' know, like sportin' womens put it all ovah dem. Dat's gon'a grow money fo' dem.
(Take this juice off those roots and put in that perfume.)
That's right.
Entry 2263
A man kin go ketch one dese heah sandomingos (salamander) in Georgia. [Comment later.] He look jes' lak a white rat. He stays in de ground lak a mole. He's got a pocket lak a 'possum an' he's got it fulla yerbs, all kinda yerbs outside in his pocket. An' yo' ketch one of dem an' git de yerbs outa hit, outa his pocket, an' dey ain't nobody in de world kin beat chew.
(What would you do with those herbs?)
Yo' carry 'em in yore pocket wit chew. An' rub de cards wit 'em. Yes, that's luck fo' gamblin'.
(And you say the sandomingo - does it run around down in Georgia, you say?)
Yessuh, sandomingo, jes' lak a white rat, got red eyes. He stay in de ground jes' lak a mole an' travel, but he comes out.
(And he has a little pocket?)
Yessuh, he has a pocket on de outside - jes' lak dis shirt, his pocket is on de outside.
(And he carries some roots in that pocket?)
Yessuh, he carries it full. [Even my transcriber realizes informant is trying to describe the pocket gopher, because she added the salamander parenthesis. Since this animal is not a marsupial, it has no outside pocket - only cheek pouches. Whether an albino has been seen or exists, I do not know.]
Entry 2350
Well, I tried a little thing like that on myself that people advised me to do. I went to work an' got me some Adam-an'-Eve an' got me a root they call twin brothers, an' got me some Hearts Cologne an' put on them. An' when I went to ast fer the job I take it an' rub it on my hands an' rub it on my face. Then I walked up to him an' ast him for the job. An' he's supposed not to deny yah.
Entry 2361
It's a root choo call de Eve-and-Adam. You ever heard of that? Well, you kin take it and you get choo a bottle of Hearts Cologne and den put those roots in there. Put a little bit of your urinate in that, jis' about three or fo' drops - you know, not enough to smell, and put that little bit on [yourself] like that and always make you have lots of friends and make people be - when you go away from home jis' put a little bit on you, about once a week.
Entry 2383
If dere a person you wants a get a job from, dere diff'rent roots that you kin git, that are used in Heart's Cologne. Now, if you wanta job, go to a white person for it, you go looking fer a root called White Man de Conker. Then, if you go in to get a job at a colored place, you bring along High John de Conker. Well, you kin take that root, and if it's a white man, conquer de white man's mind. You cut it up fine and put it in a little vial. You let it soak over night and you put that on you and that will calm the person's mind towards you. Don't care how angry they are, that will kinda calm their mind towards you. But it's very seldom you kin get dat root without a person know exactly what it is, cause some people sells you fakes. (And you do the same thing in getting a job from a colored man, with the other root?) The Hiah John de Conker and the White Man's Conker.
(Well, do you put anything with that root?)
The Heart's Cologne and a little of your chamber lye.
(Well, what do you do with that?)
Well, after it's soaked all night, you don't have nuthin to do with it but take it with you and sprinkle it on you.
Entry 3280
[Three ingredients is only one of many groups of 3's in the text (pp.651-654 and elsewhere). Blackjack received it's name from the black bark of the common oak Quercus marilandica. Palmetto in the present case are the scrubby palm plants one sees in the coastal lowlands from North Carolina down into Florida. Turpentine weed can be one of several plants having an actual or a fancied odor of turpentine.] [To] fix dat up to keep de mens away from dere [his wife or woman] he'd go out in de woods an' he'd git 'im - jis' ast anybody, any of dem ole people. Dey tel] 'im right, yo' know, right where to git dat, dem kinda roots at. Yo' take a blackjack root - get de blackjack root an' a he palmetto root an' some of dis 'tentime [turpentine] weeds. Dey got some weed dey call de 'tentime weeds. An' yo' mix dat up, yo' understan', an' put it on yore private see, an' let it dry.
(You mean, you just mix the leaves up, themselves?)
Yes, jis' take nuthin but de leaves, see.
(You don't boil them, you just mix the leaves up?)
Mix de weeds [leaves] up, yo' undahstan'.: See, it'll come wit juice all ovah it. An' mix 'em up, put 'em on yore private, see, an' let it dry. Don't wash it off. An' go wit yore wife, yo' undahstan', an' go ahead on out dere an' work where yo' wanta work at. Evah time a man git ready to go wit yore wife - dey won't have it, but he'll get on her, yo' undahstan'. Well, he'll jis' straddle her an' 'is thing will fall - he can't have her.
Entry 3767
She can measure a man's privates an' this man won't be able to go with another woman until he finds out [that he has been measured] and measures her [the woman who did the measuring]. Then he can go with another woman. They tie this string in a tree root.
Entry 3774
Well ah'm tellin' yo' facts about dat, but ah'm tellin' yo' some things dat ah have heard - but it's actually. But now, would yo' lak to know how to remove dis spell? (What I could do or any man could do.) Anyone. Well, ah tell yo' somepin dat ah have heard about last year - year befo' last. An' dere ouz a man dat had some serious disease an' dey didn't know about, an' a lady wuz tellin' me what [would] it cost to remove dat. It would be a very small sum. Cost yo' prob'ly 15c. Well, I told de lady, I said, "Well, I know someone could relieve de spell." She said, "He's got money becuz he draws money from de Gov- ernment, an' he would be able to pay any amount - any price." I said, "Well, I know a person dat would remove de spell an' he wouldn't charge ovah $25, but I'm jes' a person, of co'se." [The preceding, I'm jes' a person, of co'se, means the speaker was not a doc- tor. She sold medicine, roots, powders, etc. Every aspect of the hoodoo field was known to her. She also had personality and brains.] She said, "Go ahead, ah'm goin' send 'im aroun' to talk to you." An' ah said, "Well, now, if yo' know de person really would have de money, ah'll talk to him, but if not, ah wouldn't care to talk to him; but ah know dat dis spell will be removed wit'in nine days." SHE SAID, "WELL, COULD YO' GIT IN TOUCH WIT DE MAN?" AH SAID, "YES, I SELL MEDICINE FO' HIM SOMETIMES. An' I could go to him wit de money an' I could git de medicine fo' him." Well, so when she sent 'im down, he wuz very anxious to talk wit 'im an' HE ACTUALLY PAID ME $25. WELL, NOW, AH TELL YO' WHUT CHEW GIT. DAT DOESN'T MEAN DIS PAHTIK'LAH SPELL REGARDLESS TO WHUT KIND OF WAY DEY PUT DAT SPELL ON YO'.
(THEY PUT IT ON IN DIFFERENT WAYS.)
MORE DAN TEN DIFF'REN' WAYS. Well, now, say fer instance, do yo' know whut bull's nettle are?
(It's a plant that little prongs [thorns] on it?)
[I WAS THINKING OF HORSE NETTLE WHICH I KNEW QUITE WELL.]
Has stingahs on it. Stingahs. Has somepin in de form of de way a bull's [something hangs]. Yo' see dat.
(It's a plant, isn't it?)
It's a plant, an' if yo' touch one of dose ball's, it will sting yo'.
(It's called the bull nettle?)
Bull nettle. Well yo' git de root of dat. It has de very form of a man's privates. Yo' have nevah seen dat?
(I have never seen that.)
[I have a few examples of root shapes in HooDoO, snake and man and woman being important. These and other shapes known and sought for centuries had been dying out in my time, with the disappearance of the old herb or root doctor who gather- ed his own roots. Perhaps the recent revival of witchcraft, all kinds of isms and superstitions, will revive the root trade.] Were yo' born in de South?
(No, I wasn't born in the South.)
Dey grow mostly in dis state [Alabama], Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia - roun' lak dat. Well, now, yo' go an' dig dis root up. It has de very shape of a man. Yo' take dat root an' dry it. Yo' keep it in a bottle of Hearts Cologne an' yo' git - it's anothah little plant, ah can't git it's name right dis minute, but ah will tell yo' latah.
[I turn off recording machine until she says, '"Like a tomato."]
(Like a tomato? Is it the castor oil plant?)
No, no, it's a plant dat has stickahs on it. (Tell the plot [rite or cure] to me. You might think of the name of the plant later on.)
[She tells another remedy for the same ailment.]
It's fer de same thing. But yo' know what cockleburs are?
(Yes.)
Yo' kin git nine cockleburs an' yo' kin mix 'em wit dis same root dat ah tole yo' an' put it in a bottle.
(You get the nine cockleburs and put them in this bottle with the bull nettle?)
Dat's right, an' put de contents of a 15c bottle of Hearts Cologne in dis bottle, an' den three tablespoons of urine.
(Whose urine?)
Dis person's urine, whoevah has dis spell on dem. An' yo' take a piece of new linen cloth, aftah dey have had dere bath in de mawnin' an' jes' bathe demselves wit dat pahtiklah stuff.
(This liquid.)
Dat's right. An' den make a tea of dis bull's nettle an' drink a swallah of it evah mawnin' fo' nine mornings, an' it will absolutely disappear.
(Take that spell off?)
Dat's right. An' WHEN DIS PERSON IS TAKIN' DIS TREATMENT, DEY ARE NOT SUP- POSED TO MENTION TO ANYONE DAT DEY ARE GOIN' UNDAH IT.
(They must keep it secret.)
[Several days later I asked Mrs. Brady to come for another interview, some of her material had been badly recorded.] Yo' remembah me tellin' yo' about de bull nettle. An' yo' remembah ah tole yo' dere wus anothah weed dat grow in de yard dat chew use in connection wit dat one pahtiklah weed. It's called tread salve - t-r-e-a-d s-a-l-v-e. It has a little yellah ball growin' on de weed somepin lak a tomato. Yo' know what dat [tomato] is. Well, yo' kin ask any southerner, dey kin tell you. Dey grows in all southern yards an' in de commons out in de fields or in de yards. [For the identity of this plant, see later.] Now dat is somepin fo' removin' de spell dat we were speakin' of - yo' know, dat people place on people. [I once thought preceding yellow tomato was the mayapple, Podophyllum pelta- tum, a plant I had known from childhood, having eaten its tasteless egg-shaped fruit. Later I realized it must be the maypop, a passionflower (described some- where in HOODOO), the Passiflora incarnata of the southern U. S. A.; also an in- sipid, yellow, applelike fruit.]
Entry 3775
She git a dishrag an' she'll tie three knots in it: ONE ON DE END AN' ONE IN DE MIDDLES AN' ONE ON DE OTHAH END - make three knots. She'll have dat rag damp. When yo' make a connec- tion wit 'er dat night, she won't come herself. Yo' understan' whut ah talkin' about. She'll make yo' do it. When she do's dat she'll tie it up an' she'll put it undahneat' her mat- tress right undah yore haid, where yo' won't know nuthin about it. An' prob'ly yo' go dere to anothah woman to try to make a connection wit 'er. It'll be hard when yo' git up dere, but aftah yo' git up an' start it'll jes' fall right down.
[Here follows the cure for the preceding rite.]
Dere's a weed grows in de woods, dey call it a horse nettle. It's a little weed dat has a little button on it - little berry, yo' see - an' de root is about dat long. An' dat root got little lumps in it. Evah two or three inches dat root got a little knot in it. Well yo' take dat an' yo' drink dat fo' about nine mawnin's.
(What do you do with that root?)
Well, if anybody know it, dey kin go out in a country place an' git it. Yo' takes it an' yo' cuts it up, an' puts it in a bottle, an' yo' PO' SOME OF DIS GOOD WHISKEY ON IT, an' drink it fo' nine mawnin's, an' dat'll bring it back to yo'.
(Bring his nature back.)
Entry 4623
Dey take dat bow an' dey put it in a bag. Yuh know, jes' git a piece of cloth an' sew it up, an' dey put dat bow in dere. An' dey git a piece of asafetadee an' a piece of dis John de Conker root an' put dat in dere. An' make a little bag out of it, tie a string on it an' wear it aroun' dere stomach or eithah roun' dere navel, an' yuh'll nevah stay way from 'em - yuh always come back.
Entry 4829
Take a woman undahweah, if her an' her ole man been fussin' an' been havin' confusion an' she don't want 'i. She kin take some of 'is undahweah whut he weahs nex'tuh 'is HYATT skin, SHE BRING ' EM TUH YUH. [Informant thinks author a doctor trying to learn new tricks.] Yuh kin take 'em. Well, yuh take dat undahweah an' yuh burn it intuh ashes. When yuh burn it intuh ashes yuh git some Solly's Corn Whiskey.
(Sally's - Solly's [Solomon's!] Corn Whiskey?)
Yes. An' yuh take - if yuh kin git any of de herb roots, John de Conkah or any dem kinda roots, an' jis' cut it up fine an' mix it in dere. Carry it right back an' put it down anywhere. Jis' sprinkle it right on de front porch or any part of de house yuh got'a walk ovah.
(What will that do then?)
When yuh git 'is undahweah yuh take it an' burn it [I interrupt].
(What will that do after you sprinkle the stuff?)
He cain't stay dere.
(She's driving him away?)
Drivin' 'im away.
Entry 4866
Yuh take a piece of yuh garment dat choo weah nex' tuh yuh skin, an' go tuh a runnin' stream of watah, an' wade in dere up tuh yuh knee, an' take dis piece of garment an' tie it tuh.one dem roots down in de watah, where it will stay undahneat', yuh know. Dat'll drive yuh away from home.
Entry 4928
If yuh git a forked stick - yuh git a man or woman dat chew don' like. An' if yuh wan'a kill 'em or wan' 'em tuh die or be down undah yuh, sick all de time, take dat forked stick. Yuh git one of de stockin's off dey lef' laig an' yuh take it tuh de root of a pine tree, down de root of a pine tree. Lak yuh kin drive it up undah de roots of a pine tree, an' yuh say, "Ah drive yuh heah tuh stay heah until Lulu, '' or whutevah de woman name, 'until she die." An' jis' leave it right dere. Or de man, an' call 'is name when yuh go dere. Bury it. Lak yuh go tuh bury it in dere an' yuh say, "O, son-of-a- bitch, ah put chew heah tuh stay right chere till yuh die." Well, dat's whut ah heard of 'em doin' wit a forked stick.
Entry 4985
Yes, dere some work dat people do wit 'em, an' jis' say fo' instan' if maybe yo' wan'a man jis' de same as yo' say jis' awhile ago. If a woman wan'a man tuh leave 'er, she take 'is socks an' carry 'em tuh a stream of watah. In othah words, wit de same thing, de rattlesnake mastah. Ain't de rattlesnake mastah, but dey calls it de rattlesnake mastah - but it supposed tuh be a mastah of all roots an' herbs in de woods. An' if yo' place his name on dat in 'is sock, he compel- led tuh go. But de reason ah spoke of de same jis' awhile ago, if yo' want me tuh move from nex' do', yo' could quickah git mah track den yo' could mah sock, see.
Entry 5149
Dey kin take de bindin' in de back right in where yore [a man's] heel rub, cut out a little of dat skin in dere, dat little place of skin. If a woman want a man, dat will keep him. (What will she do with that then, after she took it out of there?) She take dat an' mix it with Adam- an'-Eve root an' wear it with Heart Cologne an' nine grain of spice. Jes' wear it right next to her skin, an' she puts on it a perfume. An' when he be roun' dere an' smell it, yo' know, he don't know whut de contraction [attraction], but he jes' go roun' 'er.
Entry 5531
They say that if you take a rule and measure a [foot] track straight and then measure across, and take that same measurement and mark it out on a piece of paper, and take that paper and put a piece of cube root they call it, it grows mostly in Florida they say, and take that and the Sampson snakeroot and also Adam-and-Eve and 'coon root and High John the Conqu- er, and put that in with that paper, and then take that paper and put it so that it can be used under the head of the individual's bed, and by staying there for nine days in succession the individual begin to pine away and finally die. [Elizabeth City, N. Car. (182), 551:2.]
Entry 5603
"Simmon [persimmon] tree. Ah've heard dat yo' kin take 'simmon, yo' kin git a half-green root - yo' kin git a half-green 'simmon an' yo' kin take a li'le cloth, ah reckon about a yard or half a yard wide. An' yo' kin take dat half-green 'simmon an' dat half a yard of cloth, an' yo' kin take de tracks of a person an' write his name in 'is tracks. Put 'em in dat li'le cloth an' sew it up, an' care [carry] it tuh de rivah an' throw it ovahbo'd; but chew wanta throw it ovah yore lef' shouldah an' yo' leave dere walkin'. Don't nevah look back at it. An' dat'll run dem crazy.
(What do you do with that persimmon?)
Well, ah says yo' put dat 'simmon [track] in dat.
(Oh, you put that in that [track] too.)
Entry 6074
Dey say yo' take a silvah dime an' git nine stran's of a man's hair from 'is private down heah, an' some John de Conkah root, an' yo' chews it up good, an' puts it in dis bag wit dis dime, one dime, an' sew it up anl tie it aroun' yore waist. An' dis man cain't git rid of me, cuz he don't wanta git rid of me, an' still yo' cain't git rid of 'im. Yo' wear dat nine stran's of hair. Well, ah know dat's a fac' 'cuz ah tried it tuh see would it come out.
Entry 6163
Yuh want me tell about de girl. Well, de love ah had fo' girl. She wuzn't doin' right an' ah fom' 'er oat. An' so ah had knowed it tuh be done an ah 'cided [decided] ah'd try it mah- self. An' so ah made 'er come. She wuz in mah house an' ah took a plait of 'er hir right out de top of 'er haid, an' - well, ah kep' it a long time'an' couldn't git 'er tuh do right. So ah takes it down tuh de stream. Ah takes it down tuhde aatah, dis runnin' stream of watah, where dere's root crosses at de bottom of de stream. Ah nailed it tuh dat root in de bottom of dat stream.
(This hair?)
Yessuh, an' in nine days she got where she couldn't stay home. She couldn't stay nowhere she would git tuh, an' finely [finally] at last she packed 'er suit- Oase an' leave dis town. An' she stayed off foah days an' den come on back, an' Stayed home three days an' went ag'in. An' dat's been twelve months ago an' she ain't been seen back heah since.
Entry 6469
[The two rites following explain each other:]
They say, kin get your fingernails. If you kin get a man's fingernails, or his toenails, or a piece of hair, you know, say, you get a piece of red flannen, I think, an' sew that up. An' you get chew a bottle of Hearts Cologne. An' I think you get that on the day when the moon's on the last quarter, I think. An' you fix that up and sew that up between nine and ten, an' make your wishes. An' then I think they wear that somewheres near the body, near the heart.
[Informant starts another hair rite:]
(I see. And what do they put in that bag? What would they put in that?)
Well, they's put in that a bag, it's some kind where they got their finger- nails and toenails or some of the hair where they - it's a kind of root they get dey call de Eve-and-Adam. See, those roots are twin roots together. They name one the man and the other one the woman. And then they keep it saturated, I think, in Hearts Cologne. They wear that near the body and make a wish for every stitch they make, sewing up that bag. They makes a wish. They make a bag an sews on it. They make a wish an' puts nine stitches each way [demonstrates]. (Nine stitches in the bag. This is a square bag, nine stitches on each side, nine stitches on each of the four sides of the square bag. I see. And that wish would get them, or something of that sort?) Yes, then they wear that near the heart. (That's different from the - adding that root? That's different from the first thing you told me?) Yes.
Entry 6521
A person kin take yore fingahnails - dey kin trim yore fingahnails, trim three of yore fingahnails from each hand. (Which three?) Yo' usely [usually] git dese three [demonstrates]. (The three center ones.) De three centah ones. An' yo' kin take dese fingahnails an' it's a kinda root by de name of devil's shoestring. An' yo' kin boil dose roots in dose fingahnails an' put it in whiskey or somepin lak dat. When a person drink it, dem gristles will grow inside from dis nails heah. An' dis devil's shoestring will be a likkah-lak. An' dey put dis in whiskey an' yo' drink it an' den dey grows gristles in yo' - inside of yo'.
(What will that do then?)
Well, jis' grow gristles - be somepin lak a tumor jis' grow biggah an' biggah an' biggah. Will kill yo'.
Entry 922
Well, this case, she wus at some frien's - an' [she] a vury nice lookin' woman - an' they all got jealous of 'er. She had all the bes' fellahs - she had a beautiful head of hahr. An' one of 'er frien's come roun' to brush 'er hahr. An' in the meantime she [the friend] had took some of 'er hahr, an' all of 'er hahr wus fallin' out. An' so she's got hahr now, but it's so short an' it nevah growed. An' she said her..friend wus the one that did this to 'er. Well now, she said she [the friend] cared it to some person [doctor] out dere in Dinwiddie County [Virginia] some place, an' said they takes this hahr an' put it with snake bones an' some kin'a 'erb they got, an' put it in a bottle an' let it float. An' as long as that bottle float, why yo' hahrs fall out; but if that bottle breaks, you die. Tha's whut she said. An' so, now, it's a way to quit this spell, as they say, by some kin'a method they use. They git some of that other person [the friend who cast the spell] urinate an' care it to this other party. [The "other party" was a root doctor living at Richmond.] This party [Richmond root doctor] will put that to float. An' [also] he gits some of this other party's [the friend's] hahr an' put it in there with his [her] own [the friend's own] urniate. An' that'll float. They said dis [second] bottle will cause some kin'a gas to form an' bus' de cork out of it. An' when that cork bus'es, when dat cork come out, why that will kill [remove the spell from] de other bottle. They claim that de other [first] bottle do burs', you gon'a die, because dis other fellah's [the friend's] urinate an' hahr - they claim that hahr turns to some kin'a serpent in that bottle [see Hair, turning to snake in Index.] [This is complicated thought and action. What happened? A woman losing her hair thought a friend had tricked her. The Richmond doctor told her the friend had taken the hair to a Dinwiddie doctor who set it afloat in a bottle with snake bones and a root. The Richmond man, faced with a difficult problem, came up with the logical remedy - float a stronger bottle in pursuit. Actually, the friend was innocent - also, neither Dinwiddie doctor nor first bottle existed. I also doubt the launching of the second bottle. One small point may be missed - the spirit of the dead snake was in the first bottle [see margin-title Snake, p.66 and Index]; in the second bottle was urine, destroyer of evilminded spirits. That Richmond doctor thinks magically; doctors brilliantly.]
conditional predicted death in the narrator’s disputed bottle account. No observed death asserted for the described woman These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified. The informant reports an herb; Hyatt's editorial retelling says root. Those words and voices remain distinct. Hyatt says the friend was innocent and the first doctor and bottle did not exist, and doubts the second bottle. This link does not verify the events or identify a plant species.
Entry 6865
Chip poke salad root fine, wear in shoes for arthritis. [This is my original transcription of informant's statement made soon after it was collected. I identify informant by the words woman sells roots. Here I am listening to a woman who had been selling roots in the public market for years, who had even appeared in a newspaper article, and I took down none of her story, only a few brief remarks about cures! One of the men interviewed was a professional root digger, the man who supplied her with roots! I still failed to realize that my mission should be life itself, not brief beliefs arranged and numbered neatly on a printed page. But soon New Orleans would improve my vision and purpose.
Entry 6902
(What's the name of it?)
It's called de red shank.
(The red shank root?)
Yes, sir. It's called de red shank an' ah'll tell yo'. If ah came tuh yo' an' if ah've got a bad disease, see. Well, yo' take dat red shank, yu' undah- stan', if it's put out, why yo' take de top of it; an' if it's not put out, yo' take a grubbing hoe an' dig the root up an' wash de root. See. Put it intuh two quarts of watah, an' bile [boil] it down tuh one quart [the magic of diminishing amount]. Unnahstan'?
(I understand.)
Bile it down tuh one quart. Den yo' take - when yo' bile it down tuh one quart, yo' take it an' yo' set it off [the stove]. Unnahstan' dat?
(Yes.)
An' den when yo' set dat off, yo' git a li'le piece of bluestone, lak a speck- led pea, an' beat it up right fine an' stuff it in dere. Git chew a li'le piece alum about dat long. Put it in dere, but let de watah be good an' cool. See, don' put it in dere hot. An' den yo' takes it den, an' yo' give it tuh 'im an' tell 'im tuh take three swallows three times a day. Now de way a boy, or man eithah - whutevah he is don't yo' take it jis' lak yo' drinkin' watah, becuz if yo' drink it lak yo' drinkin' watah, well it don't do yo' any good, becuz it will git down in yore stomic an' it will be dere so much till it will sour. It will be de same as milk, when yo' drinks it. Dat buttahmilk when a man is in bad shape, it's jis' a dose of poison tuh 'im. It keeps sour on 'is stomic. Jis' take no more dan three teaspoonsful a day. Take it as [medicine] yo' know. If yo' take too much of it, why it don't do you any good. It'll do yo' harm.
(Three swallows. One swallow before each meal?)
Dat's right.
(I see, each day. All right.)
An' den don't eat so much grease.
(What did you say?)
I say, let de buttahmilk alone.
(I see.)
Entry 6903
Ah heard 'em tell if yo' have a vener'al disease or a bad case of de POps or somepin lak dat, chew kin take red shank root, wild cherry bark an' Queens of Life. [He probably means Queen's - delight = greenroot (StiZlingia sylvatica) of the southern U. S. A., see p.630.] (What is that?) Dat's a weed dat grows out an' it's a root too.] It's in de woods. Wild cherry bark root an' de Queens of Life, an' red shank, an' sasparilla [sarasparilla]. An' take all of dat an' put chew 'bout a gallon of watah an' boil it down tuh a quart [magic of diminishing amount]. Dat's a good Dedicine fo' any case. It'll run it out but it'll kill - run it out chure blood an' cure it up. Den yo' kin cure it up on de outside yo'self.
Entry 6985
[The following rite, a MISCELLANEOUS CAUSE of sexual impotence (pp. 2341-2391), should have followed margin title WATER RUNNING, p.2389:] De willah tree, de weepin' willah. Dey tell me dey kin take de roots of dat an' make a tea or eithah dry it an' sprinkle it on a man an' yo'll stay wit 'im. He'll nevah have no connection wit no one. If he start, he'll fall. (Well, who would do that?) De woman, his wife, anybody, if he's bad fo' runnin' aftah othah wimmins. Or if she's de same way, a man git dat, he can't stay, he'll leave. He'll git mad wit de woman an' leave her. It's eithah way [you can stop a man or woman].
(Well, then when he came home, he couldn't do anything with his wife either?)
Oh, he be all right when he git home - jes' stay home all de time.
(Oh, he wouldn't be all right with other women?)
No, not fo' nobody else, jes' dat woman.
Entry 7213
Ah'm purtty shure 'bout dat becuz ah'm constant comin' in contact wit somepin lak dat. Maybe it be rattlesnake mastah, High John de Conkah an' Low John de Conkah, wild sprig of Sweet John - some people call it St. John. Dat's- ain't evahbody knows, but dey would know, yo' know, whut color it has. Git chew dose, yo' know, five or six tuhgethah, an' den have real good gin. Three times a week. An' red flannel. (You take red flannel. I see. You get this good gin then?) Yes, sir. Yo' know, yo' don' sew it. Be sure not tuh sew it becuz in sewin', why yo' might stick de needle in de roots don't chew know. Yo' don' wan'a sew wit de needle becuz dat is steel, unlessen yo' wan'a include somepin in it. But chew fold it up propahly tight an' yo' roll with black thread [demonstrates].
(And you roll it towards you.)
An' don't make no knot. Roll it an' carry de ends loose. Yo' know, don' tie a knot. IF YO' TIE A KNOT, WHY YUH WORK IS BROKEN. An' whenevah yo' gO out lookin' fer a job, why, when yo' dress, take it [this hand] in yuh hand befo' yo' left de house. Yo' be on hand an' made de wish lak yo' desires, an' take dat [hand] an' put it back intuh whatevah pocket yo' carry it an' den yo' wipe it right down tuh yuh waist [privates] three times. An' ah don' cā [care] if dey don't hire anybody else on de job, yo' will be hired.
(You will be hired?)
Cuz dat's not takin' advantage of no one. [597:5.] Whut ah learned ah learned from a well-learned man, great-experienced man, an' who really did delivah de goods.
(Where, by the way, did you learn?)
Part of what ah learned, in Jamaica.
(Oh, in Jamaica. Where were you born?)
Born and reared right in this city.
(Oh, you were born in this city.)
But ah wuz travelin' at large aroun' de Bahamas and down de British West Indies as far as Kingston, Jamaica. Ah begin tuh practice wit a girl, whut ah supposed tuh be a girl, but ah found she wuz a woman. She really could do things. An' dey wuz so simple an' so - lak it wuz impossible.
(Where was this? Where was this girl?)
In the Bahamas.
(Oh, she was down in the Bahamas?)
And dat's all right. An' ah come on up an' came tuh Kingston, Jamaica, an' ah found many more. Dey could meet chew an' look yo' up an' down, an' dey could do certain things, an' tuhmorrah yo'd be as crazy as a fool. An' ah wasn't sat- isfied until ah learned dat. An' de thing tuh do, yo' know, wuz tuh git right intuh 'em. Aftah ah could git dem tuh undahstand me [my English] an' ah undah- stand dem. An' dey simply do dis. Ah tried dat out while it wuz not mah desire, an' ah tried dat out an' ah found it true tuh de lettah. (Well, did you learn all these things in the West Indies, or have you learned some of them in this country?) In dis country. Now, dis partic'lah thing is de question dat chew ast me 'bout takin' a person's track tuh harm 'em. [Charleston, S. Car., (514 Doctor Glover) 597:5 and 594:1.]
Entry 7229
My grandmother lived across the road from my father and mother, and they found this old woman [Millie, the Witch] burying things under my father's house. And my grand- mother saw her doing it and she went over, and she must of got it, for she got sick and she stayed sick for six months. And someone told my father about a man. They called him a hoodoo doctor I think. Be went to see my grandmother and he told her Millie had planted something under my father's house. He went and dug under the house and found something in a little bag. The bag was about two inches square. My father said it had a draw string. She called it powder, some called it roots. It must grow somewhere. It looked like snuff. Then he fixed some medicine for my grandmother. It was liquid. And real snakes came out of her. [This happened near Gaston, N. Car., in 1890, and concerns the witch previously mentioned in rite No.l, p.1, from informant Julia, collected by hand,1936, in New York City. Did her parents use the term hoodoo doctor as early as 1890? Julia undoubtedly picked up the expression at a much later date.]
Entry 7384
To bring a fellah back whut's went off an' done sompin an' run off, yo' go to work an' git a piece of dis fellah's clothes or eithah a shoe or sompin, an' yo' take dat an' carry it to yore place of [hoo- doo] business, see. An' yo' dress dat wit dis heah - git some of dis Heart Cologne, see, wit drawin'-love powdah an' some dis heah High John de Conkah root. An' yo' take dat an' yo' come back home den, an' yo' take it an' bury it undah yore house, see. Yo' take it an' bury it right undah yore house right behin' undah yore dohstep. Hell, fo' so many mawnin's yo' go round yore house, about nine mornings - one time evah mawnin'. Inside of dat time dat fellah goin' eithah be back or sompin be's happen to 'im.
Entry 7785
(What do you go out to the forks of the road for?)
Yo' go out tuh de fo'k of de road tuh git a kinda root. Yo' git a kinda root de' calls de Conkah root. Aftah yo' git dat conkah root, yo' goes on back tuh de house. Dat's when yuh madam done quit yuh - lak yo' mä'ied [married] an den yuh madam done quit yuh. An' aftah yo' git dat root, why yo' goes on back an' yo' take de root an yo' parch it-lak, yo' undahstand. Yo' make a kinda dust outa it, jis' make a dust an' yo' mix it wit graveyard dust, yo' undahstand. An' den yo' gotta rejoin dat tuhgethah.
(Well, what do you do with that, after you mix all this stuff?)
Aftah yo' fix it, yo' jis' take it in a li'le sack. Take it in a li'le sack an' jis' wash it roun' yuh waist-lak, yo' see.
(I see. That's to bring the woman back?)
Yes.
Entry 7834
Take twelve - yo' kin go tuh de graveyard, lak some fellah yo' know has been bad, bad. Ah mean a bad fellah, he died bad. Yo' go intuh de cemetery, yo' git jis' anywhere 'bout a handful of dust offa his grave. Yo' don't want no mud, yo' jis' want de dust offa his grave. Yo' take dat dust an' yo' come back. Yo' git chew one fresh egg. Yo' git chew some lōg oil.
(What kind of oil?)
Log, loggah oil.
(Lōg? Lōg oil?)
Lōg oil, de name of it is Loggah.
(How do you spell it?)
Well, ah don't know de name of it, but yo' explain dat tuh de druggist. He'd know whut yo' want, if yo' go tuh de right place.
(Oh, all right.)
[I KNEW THE DRUGGIST HE MEANT. I GUESSED THAT INFORMANT MEANT LOGy, A WORD IN U. S. A., MEANING SLUGGISH = sluggish Oil!] Yo' git chew some Miner's oil.
(Miner's oil?)
(Mines with - minus - mind this - mindless?)
Minus.
(Mindless! Like you lose your mind?)
Dat's it!
(Mindless oil?)
Dat's whut choo want.
(All right.)
[We now have logy oil and mindless oil.]
An' yo' take dat oil an' mix it up. Yo' take nine drops of each oil. Co'se dey give yuh a li'le perfume bottle full. Yo' can't buy under 50c worth, dat's de less he'll sell yuh. An' yo' git - befo' yo' - yo' know, befo' yo' leave de druggist, yo' git chew ten cents of John de Conkah root. Yo' git de log oil [lōgy oil] an' de mindless oil an' yo' take dese an' yo' mix it up all intuh dat dust, until it git tuh a real powdah. An' yo' kin do wondahful wit dat, wit dat powdah. Kin do anything yo' want. Yo' kin do good or bad.
(Just using that powder?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 8494
It's a thing dat choo call a John de Conkah root an' yo' see, while dat chew talk tuh de boss, jis' as ah tole yo' befo' 'bout dat piece of papah dat yo' write an' put it in de stove. Yo' write de boss name, if yo' know it, in a cross. (Just how do you do that now?) Yo' write his name dis way an' den yo' write his name dis way, an' den yo' put dat in de stove jis' de same as yo' did - jis' de same as ah 'splain tuh yo' befo', in de ashpan an' let dat hot coal drop down on it. An' when yo' go tuh him yo'd have a small piece of dis John de Conkah root in yore mouth, an' yo' make yore wishes befo' yo' git tuh him. An' yo' chew dis while yore talkin' tuh him. An' it supposed tuh bring yo' a favorable answah. Once each day make a cross.
Entry 8685
A persimmon? Why yo' kin take a 'simmon tree an' go on de east side of a 'simmon an' dig a root, an' whilst yo' diggin' dat root yo' name it. Jes lak if yo' wanta do sompin to a person, yo' name dat root while yo' diggin' dat root. An' aftah yo' git dat root dug, yo' carry it home an' dry it. When yo dy dat root, yo' name it as yo' put it up tuh dry. Yo' name dat root. An' in nine day's time yo' kin take dat root an' jes' whichsomevah way yo' throw dat root, name it. As yo' throw it, name it. Jes' whichsomevah way yo' throw dat root, dat person will go de way yo' throw dat root, an' yo' nevah see 'em no mo'. Yo'll nevah see 'em no mo'.
[I restart recording machine to add further information.] (You can use the root of any tree?) Any tree.
Entry 8711
Yo' go to a place - if yo' know de place where yo're goin' an' know de people's name [name of person who hires]. Yo' git chew a piece of pastebo'd an' yo' cut it down as a shoe sole, de print of a shoe sole [an insole]. Yo' write dem people name down nine times wit a indelible pencil. (You just write one right after the other?) One right aftah de othah, nine times. (Now, if the boss's name was Sam Jones, you just write Sam Jones right underneath Sam Jones?) Yassuh, an' den aftah yo' do dat, yo' git chew some cinnamon an' yo' git chew some sugah. An' yo' puts dat in yore shoe an' yo' weah dat. An' yo' git yo' a piece of John de Conkah root, an' yo' chews dat root, an' as yo' go in dere yo' spits, an' make yore wish fo' whut chew goin' dere, whut kinda job yo' goin' dere tuh be successful. Yo' git dis job.
(You just make one sole [insole] or two?)
Jes' one sole.
(For either shoe?)
Fo' either shoe, it don' make no diff'rence.
(It doesn't make any difference what shoe.)
Either one.
Entry 9073
[Before hearing the judge of the present rite, I must say something about our famous root, the most widely used root in hoodoo. Like the equally well-known term goofer dust, the meanings of these words have varied with place and time and individuals - especially in hoodoo shops, where instead of saying we are out of John de Conkah but have it on order, anything available is handed to the customer. Other examples of our root will be found scattered throughout Hoodoo especially on pages 455-457 and 593-595.] Say, "Yo'all niggahs come here sprinklin' down yer roots an' spittin' round me, goin' send yo'all tuh jail, evah las' one of yuh."
[Yo'all is an expression in the Southern States.]
(Who Was this judge?)
Judge Crutchfield. Used tuh be heah yeahs ago.
(I see. But he knew they were doing it.)
He said dat somebody had taught 'im dat.
(Somebody had taught him?)
Taught 'im tuh [know] but de vury [very] man dat had [taught him] he didn't send 'im tuh jail - discharged 'im.
(I see. He knew they were doing it though.)
Yeah, he use tuh tell 'em about it: "Yo'all niggahs comin' here chewin' yer roots an' spittin' yer powdah around chere," say, "ah'm goin' send evah one of yuh tuh jail, evah one of yuh." But he didn't done it.
Entry 9169
Ah have a John de Conkah root. Yo' take - ah give yuh a li'le piece of dat. Yo' use jis' - it ain't got a thing tuh do about magic. Put it in yuh mouth, jis' a very li'le bita piece. Walk tuh de co'thouse, talk wit de judge an' evahthing. Yuh case come tuh come up. Yo' talk about a case proposition. On de firs' jam [serious trouble] wit de law dat yo' know dat yo' got a case at de co'thouse. It supposed tuh be very bad in any kind of way. De day befo' de case is supposed tuh be tried, dey show up. Dey say, "Yeah." Anyway dey show up dere at nine o'clock nex' mawnin'. An' yo' wake up dis mawnin' jis' about five o'clock. Evah chair yo' got in yuh home, turn it upside down. Evah chair. Now, jis' lak las' night, jis' about midnight las' night, if yo' got de courage, yo' stay up; 'cuz yo's de one in co't, choo see. Yo' take one of dem chairs an' cross de watah. (Cross what?) Cross de watah. (Cross what water?) Any way [anywhere], jis' So yo' cross de rivah. Any wa watah jis' so yo' cross it. Move dat piece of furniture outa yuh house, an' turn all de chair - rockin' chairs an' evah'thing upside down: Yo' be very cold tuh dat co't. Gotta be verah [very] cool fo' dat, 'cuz yo' know yuhself, from nine o'clock maybe until ten o'clock, dey may call evah'body aroun'. An' yo' continue chewin' dat piece of John de Conkah, dey call it. When it comes tuh yuh time, yo' still lookin' fo' it, dey throw yuh case off de side. Neithah yo' or neithah dem know how he have dem tuh be.
(I see, dismiss the case?)
Yes, dismiss de case. [This crossing of water the night before the trial, is surely a witchcraft prevention tacked onto a court rite. If the arrested person or anything in his house had been bewitched, this journey across running water would break the spell - see Folklore from Adams County Illinois, 2nd ed., p.893f. especially the remarkable story about carrying bewitched child across Mississippi River at Quincy, Illinois, and recrossing the river farther upstream. No.16426, a treasure!]
Entry 10236
There's a root called the "sang" root, you kin put it in a....
(Called what root?)
Called the "sang."
(Sang?)
Sang root. You put it in a - it's got a little prong up on it. It's kind of - it's nothin' but a root but it's got a little prong at the top. Put that in what they call holy oil with the little prong standing up. And it's called "erectus" root. It's a little red. (What do you call it?) Called "erex" ["erectus"] root. And keep it [root] up in that stuff [holy oil] and put it in there with it, so he kin 'noint his body. Let it die with it. "Co'se [of course] if you [a woman] go with any man, like dat, why yo' kin just offer it to him and he'll fall for you and he'll have.... [word "erection prob- ably not in informant's vocabulary].
(Now that "sang root, do you mean ginseng root?)
It's the same. We always just call it just "Sang root.
(Sang root?)
It's a little ole bunch at the bottom, nothing but a root at the bottom, but it got a little prong at the top. (I see.) [At one time there was a fair amount of trade in specially shaped ginseng roots, shaped like the parts of the human body that were ailing - the present part for example - especially in the old China trade.]
Entry 10622
Use Hearts Cologne on Adam-an'-Eve. They git a pair, which is Adam- an'-Eve an' 'noint it with this Hearts Cologne perfume. That is to draw the Woman friend to them in love. (What would they do after they anoint those roots? What would they do with those roots?) They keep those roots into a jar or either a bottle, an' they take this per- fume whut they roots is soakin' in an' 'noint themselves.
(That is to help them [women] get a man?)
Yes.
Entry 10624
Get a Adam-and-Eve root.
(Get an Adam-and-Eve root.)
And fix it and write their name and tie it up in it.
(Write their name on a piece of paper?)
Uh huh, and put it in there with this Adam-and-Eve root, and 'cose, you urinate on that for nine mornings, if you wants a man. You get him that way. (I see. Well, now, what do you wrap that up in?) In a handkerchief. (I see. And you urinate on it.) You be more successful in tying it up in a green handkerchief. (I see. And you tie it up and urinate on it for nine mornings. Then what do you do with the handkerchief?) Just keep it.
(Oh, you keep it and then you'll get the man. I see.)
Entry 10626
Adam-an'-Eve an' High John, an' make a bag of it, an' put it cal gethah an' put a li'le sagah dd it - a teaspoonful of sugah vid it - or salt wid it. An' mix it tuhgethah an' sew it up an' care it wid joo. To'll git a job dat way.
Entry 10627
To keep de law away? Wal, yo' kin take a red peppah - John de Conkah Peppah dey call [it], got de leaves [picture of pepper and leaf?] on de box of it.
(Where do you get that?)
Kin buy it. Go tuh any drugstore.
(They call it John the Conker Pepper? It looks like red pepper?)
It looks like red peppah. An' put sart [salt] into dat. But doesn't use it fer anything else after dis. Take it and go scatter it all around de place dat you are in. All around de place what chew in and takes a shoe sole - jes' like a shoe. Take de shoe sole an' de Eve-an'-Adam root. Built yo' a fiah in yo' yard an' put dat salt, dat shoe sole an' Eve-to-Adam root in dere an' burn it. Aftah hits burnt, jis' sweep de yard. But yo' let de ashes be neah de fence or street as yo' kin. Ah've never had none to go in yet; nevah had no law to go in no place yet.
Entry 10632
I've heard them claim that if you chew a certain root, that root is Ωlligator root, and also High John the Conquer, they claim, and chew that root and spit nine times before leaving the home, and nine time before you get to the place, and nine times after you reach the place, without speaking to anybody each time, and by doing that and just use the words, I want a job - you say that [these words] to yourself - that the individual will get a job. That's what they claim. {Alligator root here may be the root of the alligator tree, given to a sweet gum tree because its rough bark is supposed to look like alligator hide; or this may be any root, a rare one, faintly resembling an alligator. The shape of roots years ago, before my collecting days, played an important part in a doctor's pharmacopoeia.]
Entry 9991
High John de Conkah root, red and white lodestone, frog dust, in bag, vet [feed] with Ole Hearts Perfume, sometimes with whiskey, luck hand for gamb- lers.
Entry 10723
He coming back to her. Go in de woods and git some blacksnake root. See, it got two little forked roots to it. An' yo' tie it up in a little han'- kerchief, see, an' git some- body dere an' put it up ovah de door, an' dat's tuh make dem leave dere. [To bring man back to woman he left, someone goes into the other woman's house and puts over her door a blacksnake root with a fork - symbol of a 'Y crossroad. He will soon leave other woman.] [St. Petersburg, Fla., (999), 1616:2.)
Entry 10724
Yo' kin go down to de forks of de road, an' yo' kin put something in a path. Yo' kin git dis root dat's called a blacksnake root. Take dis black- snake root an' yo' kin lay it at de fork of de road like dis an' [demonstrates]. Dis is de fork an' yo' lay dat root jes' at de fork, an' yo' step ovah dat place where dat root is, why yo'll go crazy. (You place that root pointing down each of these roads that meet - the forks of the road like a "Y"?) Yes sir, jest de way de roads fork, why yo' put de root. Dat's de blacksnake root.
Entry 11155
A piece of skull bone or dust ground from skull bone is pat in a bag with roots: John de Conkah, St. Elizabeth root, devil's shoestring, etc.; and kept wet with Hearts Cologne for gambling luck. [Charleston 609:10.]
Entry 11173
Lots of people talk about different things dat ah have nevah tried. but dis heah whut ah'm tellin' yo' now, ah've tried dis mahself, yo' see. If a person wants to mistreat yo' an' dis is yore place heah, yo' take devil's- shoestring - ah don't know whether yo' evah hear tell of it - devil's-shoestring an' blacksnake root. "Co'rse dey roots whut grows in de wood. An' yo' kin twist dem dere roots together [probably tie together so that they will not unravel], put them between yore mat- tress whut chew lay on. Dat'll constipate yore bowels where yo' can't have action an' well, den dat cause yo' to git in misery, make yo' sick. Unless some man come long wise enough to detect dat, dat devil- ment is undah dat mattress, why de doctors [M.D.'s] dey can't save yo', yo' see. But now, if a man come along have done experienced dis devilment, he knows jest exactly whut tuh take an' whut tuh tell yo' tuh do tuh git dat devilment. Look under dat mattress. [Waycross, Ga.,. (1120a), 1798:6.]
Entry 11183
Yo' go out early in de morning in de summertime when de bushes is blossoming yo' know. Yo' take dat string 'fore day at sunup an' pull dat string up. (What kind of string?) Devil's-shoestring. It's a long root. Yo' pull dat up an' yo' bring it round yore finger seven time. Dere seven day in de week, isn't it?
(You bend that root around your finger seven times. Any particular finger?)
Seven times, jes' any two [adjoining] fingers. Yo' see dere seven days in de week, yo' know. Seven times. An' jes' tie de thing in yore pocket, yo' know. An' keep it dressed with alcohol, yo' know. An' chew dat an' go to a man an' ask fo' a job, why he more den apt to give you a job.
(You only go out there once to get that root?)
Yes sir, one time. (And you bend this around your finger [2 fingers] seven times. That's to get a job.) Yes sir.
Entry 11371
Dey take de root of a fig tree from de no'th side an' hang it up ovah de do' dat chew go in an' out de most, an' it would make yo' be lucky in havin' a job or anything yo' wanta undertake tuh do.
Entry 11372
Ah know if yo' go to a fig tree an' cut a root outa fig tree - cut dat root 'bout large as yo' could hold it in a pocketbook - well, it's luck to yo'. An' den in any kinda games - yo' are lucky in any kinda games wit fig root. Yo' know, put it in yore pocket an' tote it lak dat. It's lucky.
Entry 11850
If you get his hair and some of his underweah, you kin take it and put it all in a sack with some kind of roots. I don't know what. And put it in a corner [outside house] to- wards de rising sun, and go back to it every morning and pour sweet spirits of niter on it every morning [for 9 mornings] and in 9 mornings he'll come in the door. He'll come back home. [A number of these corner-of-the- house rites are scattered through HOODOO.]
Entry 11852
To make love? All right. You kin take dere hair, some sugar an' some bluestone. You understand now? An' some lodestone. Put all of this together with a piece of John de Conkah root. [This root] look like two pieces [see ex- planation later]. Look now [demonstrates], cross that John de Conkah cross there
[these ingredients being mixed or laid in a container] and put it [John de Conkah]
crost de hair, you see, an' tie it at de ends with a little string. You under- stand, at each end you know, with a little string. An' put it [mixture] in a piece of paper, in a piece of brown paper, an' wear that in de bottom of your shoe. [This is a small package.] They kin nevah git away from you. [What does informant mean by saying John de Conkah root look like two pieces? On p.593 (Z.2, v.1) I say, "John de Conkah can be many things; and on p.595 (l.12, v.1) we learn you can git de he one and git de she one. I suggest my informant, a hoodoo woman, is identifying John de Conkah with an actual root called Adam-and-Eve, which has he and she parts, he the smaller, both looking like peanuts (see No.10609, page 4028f., v.5). Our present rite therefore ties our man and woman together with a thread or a string to make doubly certain, magically certain, they are tied to- gether. The sugar sweetens the situation or pays the spirit, the bluestone keeps away evil, lodestone is another drawing power, and brown paper is often used for black clients. My preceding statement about he and she parts among the roots of Adam-and-Eve is a hoodoo, not a scientific one.]
Entry 12149
Go to a hickory tree an' go on de no'th side of a hickory tree, an' den dig down an' git de roots. An' take dis root an' put it in some watah an' boil it fo' thirty minutes. Then yo' kin take it an' put it in bread an' yo' will cause things to grow in 'em - worms.
Entry 12232
Git you White John de Conkah root - piece of white - piece of white root and it's hard. [Only time I ever heard of white!] You take a knife or hatchet or somepin and cut it. And you put it in your mouth and whilst you goin' round to dose person where you wants a job, you talk to 'um, but you kinda spit real fine and let it get on dere clothes.
(Spit?)
Yes.
[I turn off recording machine but soon restart it.]
(To help you with this, to get that job, you get some lodestone.)
Get some lodestone. You get dat lodestone and put it in de red flannel and you ties it up with a ten cent piece [a silver dime] and needle point. When [then] you wear dat in de pocket separate from anything where no tobacco or noth- in' kin git with it, if you have to make you a little pocket [bag] you just wear it with dat, and you - de person you go to 'em and talk to 'em with dat, why you'll finally draw dere attention and you'll get de job.
Entry 12233
Dat High John de Conkah root by hitself, yo' kin take dat in de mawn- in' an' yo' kin git up 'fore de sun rise, an' dere's a word dat chew have tuh say befo' de sun rise, an' look to de east. Po' a little of it out of de bottle, de liquid offa de root into yore han' an' rub it cross yore face three times. (What will that do?) Dat's to inherit mo' money. (What words do you say?) Jes' say, "So we live, so we die, ' po' a little bit in yore han' an' rub it cross yore face an' look to where de sun risin' in de mawnin'.
(What kind of liquid do you put in the bottle?)
Yo' kin put gin whiskey on it, or eithah Hearts Cologne - nuthin excusin' dat. Hearts Cologne or eithah pure gin whiskey [gin or white whiskey].
Entry 12234
If you is gambling and you wants luck, well you'll git you some steel dust. See. You git you a dime - a silver dime. Git that dime and you put it in a piece of flannel, and you take it and you git a piece of John de Conkah root. See, that John de Conkah root. You takes all that and you put it down in there. Steel dust, and then you get you some of that cinnamon powder. You understand. And you takes that down [from shelf] and put it in there, and then you git you some Van- van. You ever heard of that. Or some good Jockey Club Perfume. And you put it [flannel package or hand] in your pocket. See, that steel dust draws. Then you put it in your pocket and every time you wants to gamble with somebody, you take it and rub it like that in your hand. You see. Take it and rub it in your hand but don't let 'em see you. And whatever you doing, you going to be lucky.
Entry 12235
I've heard talk an' I've known it done, gettin' a root they call John de Conkah. An' she taken an' put it in a bottle an' tote [carried] it with her fo' 10 mawnin's. When she get up...dey go to de risin' of de sun fo ten mawnin's an' have dat [bottle] in her right hand by her right side, an' give it throw-off like that [makes a motion of throwing the root towards the sunl. Regain her husband.
Entry 12252
John de Conkah root.
(You call that John the Conquer root.)
It's a little thing like that, supposed to conquer anything that - anything around you: people sneezing and doing like that. Why you supposed to take that and tote it along with you, keep things like that away from you. No evil things - anybody can't do things like that way.
Entry 12262
Use de John de Conkah root.
(You use the same thing when you go to get a job?)
Yeah. An' then yo' kin take Hearts Cologne an' po' that on there an' go down an' ask fo' a job. [Fayetteville 2558:2.]
Entry 12711
Now, lak if yo' wanta job, yo' git - lotsa people say yo' git rabbit foot. Mah ole grandmother used to say yo' could git rabbit foots an' ah think it's fly root. Anyway ah think it's a fly, ah think she say dey used to git. Hit's a root made up jes' lak a onion. [Fly root having a root like an onion I am unable to identify, but an obs6lete meaning for this word fly spirit or a witch's attendamt - should be a clue for a botanist or person interested in plant lore. Could this plant be the wild onion (sometimes called wild garlic, the Allium vineale about which there is a rite somewhere in HOODOO? Poisonous? Did a witch rub or eat this root for the sensation of flying?] Yo' take it an' yo' tack it on one end - put chew a string around de rabbit foot an' tie it on de other end an' put dat in yore pocket book. She say dat's good fo' tuh git a job anywhere yo' wanta git a job.... Well, nobody else couldn't stay dere but chew. In other words de job would come normal to yo'.
Entry 12721
An' anothah thing, yo' ketch a rabbit an' yo' cut his foot off, his left foot, an' turn him loose an' let him go. An' git chew a piece of devil's- shoestrings an' a piece of five-finger root. An' yo' put them three things tol gethah. An' yo' jes' take it an' wrap dat devil's-shoestrings round dat rabbit foot, an' yo' sew it up in a piece of red cloth, an' yo' make a sack out of it, bag-like, an' yo' feed hit on Hearts Col Ogne. An' dat's anothah thing fo' a job - good luck. Long as yo' tote dat yo'll git a job anywhere.
(You get the left foot. Which one? He had two left feet.)
De left front feet.
Entry 12739
Ah say yo' kin make a family break up easy if yo' want tuh. Jes' lak ah wanta git rid of Doc an' his wife, make 'em fuss. Git some rattan root or bush an' tie it up together an' put it to dere house, or either hide it jes' anywhere in de house. Every time dey come in dey'll be fightin' an' fussin'.
(Rattan. What does it look like?)
Yo' know de rattan. It's sompin dat bends so [demonstrates an arch] in de woods. Yo' know how it bends an' twists, yo' know. Grow in de swamps.
(Do they make baskets out of that?)
Some people do, yes sir. Now, it'll break up any home in de world if yo' cut up dat. Git de root of dat an' put it in de house, dey shore goin' tuh squabble. [I am unable to identify informant's rattan.]
Entry 8880
Well, if somebody wrote chew a lettah now - jes' lak if yo' wanted tuh git tuh somebody an' dey wrote chew a lettah, why yo' take dat lettah an' yo' read it. Yo' read it backwards. An' den, if yo' kin read backwards, take dat lettah an' yo' read it backwards. An' den yo' take an' take it tuh a willah tree. Yo' take it to a willah tree. An' a willah's got a forked root tuh it. Yo' dig down tuh dat root where it's forked down dere, an' den yo' turn dat lettah bottom upwards undah dere, undah dat tree, an' kivah [cover] it back up. Well, yo' git de devil's shoestring an' yo' weah it round yore arm, jes' tie it round yore arm. Dat's whut ah heered 'bout dat.
(What will all this do now?)
Dat jes' lak if yo' love somebody an' want 'em back tuh yuh or want - whatsom- evah yo' want done tuh 'em. Whatsomevah yo' want done, when yo' go tuh dat wil- lah tree an' put dat undah dere, yo' speaks dat befo' de Fathah, Son an' Holy Ghost.
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 12891
I tell you how that is did. She takes some of his discharge, and use some kind of solution on it, and use it like dat and have you [a man] so you can't have no ambitions for her or no other woman. (What would she do with that?) Just take it and there some kind of solution that made up with some kind of root, some kind of root you go out and get. I know a old man out chere got some of it. And when she gets up she shake dat bottle.
(She puts the solution together?)
Puts the solution in with the urinate, and with this root and stop it up, and shake dat bottle every morning for nine mornings. And the tenth morning, instead of her shaking it, she throws it over her right shoulder and breaks the bottle. Then as she turns around, she turns to the right.
(She turns to the right?)
Turn to the right when she turns, and pick that up. Just pick up what's left, the roots and things of that kind, and takes 'em and wraps 'em up and places 'em away to some safe place.
(And what will that do to him?)
That will keep him from having anything to do with anybody. His use goes entirely away.
Entry 12926
Tuh make de boss give yo' jobs, now. Now, if yo' wanta job an' if yo' goin' down dere. See, if de boss is mean to all de rest of de people - mean to yo' - he give everybody a job but chew. All right, well yo' git chew a lit- tle piece of saltpeter an' put into yore pocket. Well, den yo' see yo' git dis heah be 'shamed brier root, as ah tole yo', an' have dat in yore mouth an' spit down to his feets. An' den if he's very mean - if he's very hard - yo' sprinkle a little dis heah cayenne pepper cross his path like if dis he office heah. Ah sprinkle little dis cross yore office where.yo' go in to go into yore place of business an' ah have dat in mah mouth, an' ah says, "Say, Captain." Yo' know it's quite natural fo' a colored man to call a white man "Captain" or "Boss, " see. Well, "Say, Boss, listen, whut about a job dis mornin'." Den he'll look around - an be done crossed dis peppah, yo' see - he look around an' he say, "Well, old Doc, yo' don't wanna work if ah done give yo' a job." Yo' say, "Well, all right, yo try me." He say, "Well, den go on out an' see whut chew kin do." Yo' see, he done changed his mind. Yes sir, his mind is changed completely.
Entry 9680
[Take] potash whut chew wash clothes with, an' take table salt, an' take dis here sulphuh, an' take one of dese here John de Conkah roots, an' put all dis tuhgethah, an' yo' take it an' bury it undah de steps. Don't let no one see yo'. If anybody move in dat house an' yo' don't want 'em tuh move in dere, dey ain't goin' stay in dere. Dey can't.
Entry 9866
Lak ah was mad wit chew an' we lived purty neah where we could git tuh each othah. Ah'd take a toadfrog an' git me a quart bottle an' wash it out good an' clean. An' he may be large but he'll go in; jes' mash [squeeze] 'im an' he'll go right on in alive. Take an' tie a string or wire aroun' de neck de bot- tle, an' climb up in a tree close tuh yuh place - 'long as it's about yuh place - an' hang it dere. Let it hang right dere until dat frog dies. Den take dat bottle down. Take dat bottle down an' take de frog out, an' bury de frog an' put de bottle back up dere. An' if yo' won't leave, yo'll nevah be able tuh work roun' dere; yo' jes' be dere, dat's all.
(Where do you put that bottle?)
Put it right back up, up in de tree.
(What do you do with the frog?)
Burry him.
(Where?)
Right down dere at de root of dat tree, burry de frog. An' if yo' stay dere yo'll nevah be able tuh do nuthin an' yo' more den able...
(Where would you do all this, at your own home?)
At de home - lak ah was mad wit chew, ah would do dis at chure home.
Entry 9933
Yo' kin take a person's stockin's an' take de same thing, toadfrog dust an' bury it in de root of a tree, a young tree while it's yet growin', an' in a few yeahs dey'll pass away. Dey daid. (You mean you put this frog dust in this stocking?) No, yo' take de same dust an' wrap it up in de socks an' pick yo' a good little place in de root of de tree, whah de root growin' whah it's goin'a covah it up. Well, fin'ly dat root covah it up an' smothah it so it cain't git no air, yore gone.
Entry 1247
Yo' go to a fig tree an' dig yo' some roots from three diff'rent ways of de world - take some from de no'th, some east an' some south. Yo' don't want nuthin from de west - don't want nuthin tuh carry yo' down, yo' wanta build yo'self up. An' tote dem roots in yore pocket - pocket book. An' de longer yo' tote dem roots de better it will smell. Anybody will tell yo' to put Hearts Cologne on dere, but chew kin take dem fig tree roots an' long as yo' tote dem de better it will smell. Den yo' kin let chure wife or somebody else smell it an' yo' can't smell it - it's dead. [As in any hand, to let anyone touch it, smell it, even sometimes to see it - kills its power.]
(Why do you carry these roots?)
Fo' luck - protection - fo' friends.
(Would this protect me against any bad luck?)
Yes, it's good. People whut will hate yo' will come to be yore friends.
Entry 1541
I heard of a lady - she wusn't none of mah people - an' she got tricked choo see by a snake. And they said this woman had got some ole snake sheds, joo know, an' throwed it into her water bucket. An' she drank water off it an' that create snakes in her flesh. Well, she goes to someone an' they tole her about it - told her whut it wus, an' told whut to get to cure her. An' she went an' got it. She told her to get three pieces of silver money - fifty cents, twenty- five cent, an' ten cent, an' some silkroot an' boil it. Put it in a quart of water an' boil it down to a pint an', you know, jis' keep doin' that an' drink off it. An' that cured it.
Entry 2275
Once dere wus a fellah went an' shot in de church - shot in through de church. All of us in de church preachin' an' ever'thin', an' he came up drunk an' he shot into de church. Some of de fellahs made him mad an' went in de church an' he went home - ran home all de way home an' got his shotgun an' come back - got his pistol an' come back. He's intendin' tuh break up de church - all of 'em drunk. Well, he come back an' shot in de church. He run dem all out, de preacher out de church an' ever'thin'. Well, when he ran dem all out he ranned on out hisself an' went tuh shootin' behin' dem. Well, his father says, "Well son, ah'm goin' git chew outa dis, if yo'be's good." He said, "Yes." He wus goin' to his father tuh git him out. [For man so mad at his church he threw graveyard dirt on congregation, see No. 655, p.221.] Well, his father went to a man an' got a root. It wus a root about that long, a blacksnake root an' dese heah lil roots yo' call de sand root - about that, so long. He give him that root an' tole him to put it - cut it an' put it in his shoe, an' take one piece an' put it in his mouth when he git up there befo' de judge an' chew dat root, an' if he'd chew dat root, he'd come clear or wouldn't have tuh make a oath for 60 or 70 or maybe 90 days. An' he taken dat root an' went up dere an' he tole him tuh keep his foot pattin' lak that while he wus up there an' while de judge wus tryin' him. Well, he taken that root an' put it in his mouth an' had one under each feet an' he's up dere pattin' de root an' de judge tried him. He tole him he could give him a life sentence or have him exe- cuted, but de best thing he could do fo' him wus let him go, tuh give him five yeahs out of town. Dat's whut he did with the root dat he had.
(All he had was the piece of blacksnake root?)
He had a piece of blacksnake root an' whut chew call de sand root. An' he had then cut it an' put in his shoe - in each shoe an' while the judge wus tryin' him he chewed dat root.
Entry 2291
A little vine called de shame face.
(Called the shame face. And why is it called that?)
Ah re'lly don't know why it's called - that's the name that ah was learned. (You just told me why it was called a moment ago? If you touch it what will happen?) Oh! It will close. An' yo' get those little roots an' put them in a bottle of Hearts Perfume an' use that on yoreself. An' then yo' gain the influence.
(That is supposed to be if you are going down to get a job from the boss.)
Entry 4441
Yuh git tuh a green tree, a growin' tree, an' yuh cut a hole in dat tree, an' yuh'll bury it [excrement] down in de tree. Firs', yuh got'a take John de Conker Root, take devil shoestring, an' yuh'll wrap it all up tuhgethah wit it [the excrement], an' yuh'll bury it in dat tree. An' yuh git some red clay dirt [to be used as a stopper or packing] an' yuh put it in dat hole, covah it up good, shet it up good. An' dat's gon'a grow intuh de tree, cuz it's a growin' tree.
[That locks the bowels.]
Source passage
continuous interview · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
An' I goes in the swamps an' I gits mah 'erbs. I know w'a' to go in
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[for]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
. I goes in ole fiel's
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[fields]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
an' git mah 'erbs.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
I know w'a' to go an' git.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[Here he showed his shield - nine articles wrapped up in a very dirty hand- kerchief.]
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Oh yes. Uhuh. You keep those wrapped up in a handkerchief.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
I keeps these with me.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Uhuh.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
The're suppose to be in a bottle. I dropped mah bottle an' broke it. Those
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[are]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
diff'rent kind of 'erbs.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[Bottle instead of bag shows that the contents of this hand were constantly kept moist, that is fed in a liquid (p.578) - here, a perfume.]
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(What's the round thing?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
This here?
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Yes.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
That's a Jeruzlum bean.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Jerusalem bean.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
Yes sir.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Uhuh.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
That's for luck in gamblin'.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
This is a devil-shoestring.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Devil's-shoestring.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
That's a piece of High John the Conker.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(High John the Conquer.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
That's a piece of bloodroot.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Bloodroot.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
Yes sir. This here's a Samson
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[or Sarpson - sometimes called Sampson snakeroot]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Samson.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
Samson This here's the bub
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[bulb]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
off of w'a' choo call the live-an'-everlastin'.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Life-everlasting.)
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[His live pronounced Zyve.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
Yes sir. Now, this here right here. See w'a' this is right here? You see that little small piece?
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Uhuh.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
Why that's a little piece of w'a's
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[what is]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
called devil's-bit.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Devil's what?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
Devil's-bit.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Bit?)
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
Devil's-bit. That's a root. I've got over nine diff'ren'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[different]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
'erbs in here.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
(Uhuh.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
Now, I'll git nine differn' 'erbs that I have. You see I cares
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[carries]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
this daily.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 934
[Side one will continue later.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 935
You kin smell the perfume on 'em. I cares this daily - cares it on me. That is I had it jes' because I was comin' up here
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 935
[to see you]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 935
because there's mah fish an' mah reels an' ev'rything right there. I've got about sixteen pounds of fish hangin' on the porch out there neigh mah fishin' tackle. Tha's the reason why I'm not - didn't make no change
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 935
[of clothing]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 935
.
locally coherent subpassage
Recording-side notes do not close the semantic unit. Botanical glosses remain editorial; informal pronunciation is not taxonomic identity.
bounded_demonstration_account_with_recording_continuation_marker
Nine versus over nine is retained; the passage is not an exhaustive inventory.
The bottle/liquid-feeding explanation is editorial interpretation, not the informant explaining why it is fed.
Printed names supplied or repeated by the interviewer remain interviewer speech.
The Side one continuation marker does not authorize reconstructing any absent recording.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 2, page image · Vol. 2, page image · Vol. 2, p. 933 · Vol. 2, p. 934 · Vol. 2, p. 935 · Vol. 2, p. 936
Source passage
continuous interview or recording context · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
HYATT
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
Now the next voice you hear will be that of the Rev. Mr. Cubby
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
[he had done some preaching]
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
who is going to tell me a story about a doctor who lived just about a hundred feet from where we are sitting
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
[at Mr. Cubby's home in il- lustration at end of volume 3]
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
right here across the street. The house is no longer there. Now this is still Sunday, May 31, 1970. Mr. Cubby here's the microphone.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
CUBBY
informant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
Thank you Mr. Hyatt. The other day on Wednesday when I met Mr. Hyatt in front of the First National Bank, and immediately I recognized that he Was a clergyman, and he asked me about taking him aroun' town for about an hour. Upon gettin' in the cab we began to talk about folklore an' he explained to me about his interest in folklore. I started to tell 'im about the story about a gentle- man who used to live not too far from me, about 100 yards from where I live, a Mr. Huey Dixon. Ev'ryone considered him a root doctor. He was a weird man in his own way. His home was built on a old-fashioned style, way back
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
[from the street]
informant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4753
an' it was completely surrounded by hedges and shrubbery. The house couldn' be seen from the street. The kids in the neighborhood always called.it the haunted house. Mr. Dixon was a man who they say worked re'lly in roots an' craft' an' stuff like that. The people in the neighborhood were re'lly afraid of 'im. There were rumors goin' aroun' that the women were payin' 'im to put roots out for their husban's who were playin' aroun' with other women, gamblin' or doin' whatever the women didn' desire their husban's to do. There was also a sayin' that after Mr. Dixon was run outa town by some of the men in the neigh- borhood an' on a full-moon night you could see him standin' on the corner of 19th Street and Melrose Avenue South here in St. Petersburg. On some occasions I've had an opportunity as a kid to sneak into Mr. Dixon's yard, an' as any energetic boy would do, climb up to the window an' try to peek in. We noticed the windows had these very black and thick curtains and shades up to them an'
informant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
you couldn't see very much at all. You couldn't even see past the window sill. However I am not sure that Mr. Dixon was a root doctor. But there has been on occasion that dogs and cats and other animals have fallen over dead in his yard. He told us that he had cast a spell on them an' made them die. That's why I think everyone in the neighborhood was afraid of him.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
[Poison did this trick.]
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
HYATT
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
Good.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
CUBBY
informant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4754
At this time that's jus' about all I can tell you about Mr. Dixon be- cause he re'lly kep' to himself an' there wasn' very much you could learn about 'im. An' everyone was afraid to visit him. I think he had no visitors at all. The home that he had has been torn down an' the city has put the property up for sale. No longer is there a trace of Mr. Dixon.
Nested source context: explicit uncertainty · Vol. 5, p. 4754
However I am not sure that Mr. Dixon was a root doctor.
Nested source context: reported claim and editorial counter explanation · Vol. 5, p. 4754
He told us that he had cast a spell on them an' made them die. That's why I think everyone in the neighborhood was afraid of him. [Poison did this trick.]
locally coherent printed subpassage
Preserve rumor and I am not sure; Hyatt's hundred feet and Cubby's hundred yards are not harmonized or used for identity resolution.
closed_printed_narrative_with_explicit_epistemic_limits
Hyatt’s hundred feet and Cubby’s hundred yards are different attributed statements, not a locator to silently reconcile.
Cubby explicitly says he is not sure Dixon was a root doctor.
Dixon’s spell claim is reported, while Poison did this trick is editorial explanation.
Prior INFORMANT material is outside this envelope; Cubby is the new live speaker, not that preceding informant.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 5, p. 4752 · Vol. 5, p. 4753 · Vol. 5, p. 4754 · Vol. 5, page image
Source passage
continuous interview · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(What did they use to call this type of work?)
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[Hutters something.]
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Roots, dey call 'em roots.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4495
(Roots. I see. What are the people who cure you? What are they usually called?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4495
Dey call 'em root doctors.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4495
(Root doctors. I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4495
Yeah. Yo' know whut specialize in things like dat.
locally coherent subpassage
This is a short printed exchange about local terminology.
Roots is this speaker’s expression here; no single botanical sense is established.
Hutters something is the exact editorial production note; its apparent transcription issue remains unresolved.
These local uses do not define a profession or establish universal terminology.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 5, p. 4492 · Vol. 5, p. 4493 · Vol. 5, p. 4494 · Vol. 5, p. 4495 · Vol. 5, p. 4496