Subject:Sifter
Entries
Entry 604
Yo' kin take a sifter an' scissors an' anybody taken anything from yo', steal money or any sech that - yo' kin take dat sifter an' talk to it an' set dat sifter up on de scissors an' it'll turn; it won't turn as long as yo' didn't call de right name, but soon as yo' call de right name de sifter turns, de name dat dey done steal it from yo'. (Now here are the scissors - you put them point up? Then you turn the sifter upside down over it?) Dat's it.
Entry 2303
Well, den if yo' cain't git dose things, yo' go to de store and buy yo' one dose sifters. We call dem de ten-cent sifters. Yo' know dey have got 'em fo' a dime but ah think dey cost a little mo' now. (You mean that - they sift flour with?) Dat's right - yo' turn de crank. An' git chew one dose sifter. Well, all right, when yo' git dat and den yo' take dat sifter an' carry it round five times - jes' lak yo settin' in dat chair, carry it round yo' five times.
(How do you carry it - to you or away from you?)
Bring it like dis, see. [Demonstrates.] Carry it round lak dis - take dis hand and carry it round disaway again.
(Oh, the sifter goes all around your body - five times around your body?)
[While sitting in a chair, hold with right hand a sifter resting on your lap; then clockwise pass sifter behind chair, letting left hand meet it halfway and complete the circling.] Den, when yo' do dat and den yo' take dat sifter den an' wrap it up in a piece of unbleached domestic cloth and put dat up under yore steps. Don't bury it in de ground but bed it [lay it down] an' bed it wit de sifter part dataway [d emo ns trates].
(Away from the house and the handle part toward the house?)
Yes sir, dat keeps 'em goin' all de time - dey don't notice yo'.
(I see - that's to keep the law away.)
Entry 5223
[HERE FOLLOWS A RARE SIFTING RITE - SIFTING WITH A SIFTER.]
An' ah've heard 'em say dat chew take like nuthin but wimmen, take three or fo' wimmen here, or jis' me, one person'ly, say. Now, ah take all mah ole shoes now an' burn 'em up, but ah burn 'em on somepin dat ah kin save all dose ashes. An' burn tuh a charcoal an' den mash 'em up. An' den ah take salt an' peppah an' mix wit dose shoes now. An' ah take de siftah an' between nine an' twelve a'clock at night ah go aroun' de house an' sift 'em three times tuhnight.
(How do you mean, sift it three times?)
Jis' put it in a siftah, yuh see, jis' sift de dust [shoe ashes]. (You.mean you go round the house three times, or you sift the dust three times?) How - like ah begin now from de back door, from mah back door, an' ah go around dere an' make mah wish, yuh know. If ah wish fo' all men tuh come tuh mah house, or jis' one indivij'ly [individually], yuh know. An' if dere's some Woman dat ah think she's a enemy tuh me, yuh know, an' ah don't wan' 'er tuh come dere, yuh see, ah wish fer 'er tuh not come, an' wish fer 'im tuh come an' stay always wit me.
(I see.)
Ah'd go aroun' three times lak dat an' begin. An' de last wish, dat ah make right where ah begin dat, yuh see. An' ah wish dat he may come an' stay wit me always. See, when ah says always, ah'm [back] in de house den an' turns de sift- ah loose on de inside. An' den tuhmorrah - ah do dat tuhnight between nine an' twelve. An' tuhmorrah mawnin' now between twelve an' nine, well, prob'ly yuh kin do dat at three a'clock in de mawnin', fo' or five or six a'clock, any time befo' nine a'clock, but de bes' time dat dey do it is befo' sunrise. See, aftah twelve o'clock [and] befo' sunrise - roun' about fo'-thirty or five a'clock, an' yuh do de same thin' an' come back in an' drop de siftah right at de same place again.
(You sift it all over again?)
De same thin' all ovah again. An' dey say, when yuh do dat - well, dey say yuh don't have tuh have many shoes. Doesn't take much, take much siftin's fo' dat dust, 'fo' dat dust is gone. Well, yuh do dat till all dat dust is gone through dat siftah, yuh see, an' dey say he'll nevah leave yuh den. He'll nevah leave yuh.
Entry 5643
Ah learnt dat if yo' wants tuh drive a person away wit dere track, git 'em - jis' like yo' see a person walkin' up de street, de firs' track he put down, keep yore eyes on 'em an' go an' pick de firs' track up. Git chew a siftah whut have nevah been used befo' an' sift it through dat. Take it in yore home an' at mawnin', jis' as early as yo' possibly kin git up, jis' take it an' walk out an' look right straight up, an' throw part of it to de east an' part to de no'th, part to de s'uth an' part to de west. Dat will keep 'im goin'.
(Sending you away with your track.)
Entry 10411
Bible under head in bed [under pillow or mattress] keeps witch away.
[Wilmington, N. Car., (206), 113:8+85; also informant 31 at Hampton, Va.]
Bible under head of bed [on floor] keeps witch away. [Baltimore, Md., (near 142), 46:4+85.] Bible under bed and hang sifter overhead. [Deal Island, Md., (108), 16:3+85.] Bible and 3 pins to keep hag away. [Richmond, Va., (343), 287:2+85.] Bible under pillow and 3 stick pins [ordinary pins] underhead. The hag turned into a little piece of red meat, found next morning. Stop the meat up and the hag [unable to breathe] will come. [Richmond, Va., (343), 287:2+85.] Bible and stub of a broom [the straw part of a worn-out broom] at head of bed to keep hag away. [Wilmington, N. Car., (about 249), 161+85, diffuse story not worth copying.]
Entry 10468
Well, dey tell me how tuh ketch 'em [hags] is [tol git a sifter yo see, an' dey'll come in dere roun' 'fore day, yo' see, an' dey count de holes dere an' right dere's where it be yo' ketch [her] countin' dem holes in de sifter. So dey caught a ole lady lak dat once. (What did she look like when they caught her?) Well, she looked lak sompin didn't have no skin on, jes' kinda like butter - not butter, jelly yo' know. So dey caught her an' dey beat her. De ole lady was staying dere herself [living in same house].
Entry 10470
Take a sifter - takes a sifter and turn it down on its face [open side of sifter down] an' 'fore he leaves he's gotta count every hole in dat sifter. (The hag.)
Entry 10471
"The old-fashioned sifter is supposed to have a thousand holes in it." [My only example of this, informant lOl, near Snow Hill, Md., by hand.]
Entry 10472
Take fo' instance if yo' in bed an' a witch begin riding yo', why dey calls it de witch; but my education place me in a position to know whut dey calls dose, but at de same time we calls it de witch. Well, yo' go to bed an' de witch rides yo' quite a bit, jes' put a sifter at de head of yo' bed, by a chair dere. [Why near or on a chair? Make yourself at home?] An' it's quite natural de next morning when yo' git up, why yo'll ketch de witch dere counting dose holes over an' over, cause dey afraid dey made a mistake an' dey count 'em over an' over until day.
[I ask a question too far away from microphone to be understood.]
Well, dey claim dat chew kin see it. An' then when yo' see this person - well quite natural when it sunup - yo' say, "Leave!" It will leave.
Entry 10473
[Here for convenience are two rites together.] Sifter under bed keeps witch from riding you [Vicksburg, (717), 988:5].
Entry 10475
Sifter beside bed, mustard seed by bed; protection against hag [double protec- tion].
Entry 10476
Put a sifter on your breast [imagine!] and they have to go through them holes. [In- informant 102 somewhere near Snow Hill on Eastern Shore of Maryland, by hand.]
Entry 10477
For people come to your house all the time and come and set too long, and see, you want them to go home. Say, you just take a sifter and put it up under their chair. And [if] they'll just sit, sit, and can't go, they is a witch; but after [if] they get up and go home, there [they] ain't witch. But they got to be real old, old people. You see, you do that with a sifter. [Usually a steel instrument is stuck into the bottom of the chair where it won't be seen by visitor. She can leave only after you remove the steel.]
Entry 10478
A witch is worser than a ghost, they tell me. You know these old hand sifters? You put that at the door of your room. He has got to go through every hole in that sifter before he can come in your room. And if daylight catches him, he was found in the sifter. Then kill whatever you find in the sifter and they kill the witch. [Old Point Comfort, Va., (21, from somewhere nearby), by hand, probably out on street somewhere.]
Entry 10484
"Sifter hung over door, next morning a dog walking around in the house will be the hag."
Entry 10486
I know a fellow at home [somewhere in Virginia], a witch rides him. This witch has been riding him for several years. He caught this witch once. I'll tell you how he caught him [notice the sex]. He placed a sifter and a fork under the doorsill. The witch came in and couldn't pass it [had to count the holes in the sifter and was afraid of the fork tines.]
Entry 10487
"Cross two forks in the sifter and turo it bottom upwards, if witches is bad in your house."
Entry 10488
"They, old people, used to say, to ketch a witch get a sifter and hang it up where they came through the keyhole."
Entry 10489
Take a new sifter and turn it aroun' nine times from you and call dere name, and then turn the handle from you this way, and then turn the sifter part that way, and they will never come back to your house no more.
(You turn the sifter toward them?)
Turn it away from you, turn it nine times away from you.
(Then do you lay that sifter down or what?)
After you does that why you takes and lays it down, but you turns the sifter part this way and the handle thisaway [demonstrates]. The handle back towards the house, the sifter part away from the house.)
Entry 10490
[An unusual variation]: "Put down sifter [at night], you will find a bug in the morning. You then take a needle and count the holes in the sifter
[you are playing the witch's part!] and before you have finished, some- one will come in and ask you to turn him loose."
Entry 13442
If yo' got okra dat won' bear, yo' jes' take yo' a switch every mawnin' an' go dere an' whip dat bush lightly an' it start tuh bearin' jes' lak any othah bush. (That okra is the same thing as gumbo, isn't it?) [The two African words refer to the plant, gumbo in the U. S. A. usually means a cooked product.]
(That is to make the thing bear?)
Yes.
[Informant now gives another method for making okra bear.]
Yo' kin take a sifter an' go out dere an' yo' sift it ovah de okra lak dat, an' if it won't bear, it will start bearin'.
(Do you put anything in the sifter or just the empty sifter?)
Jes' de empty sifter.
Entry 432
Mah stepmother told a story of her father an' a witch. Her father went to sleep - he'd often heard tha' chew kin ketch witches if yo' put a Bible undah yo' haid - so he placed the sifter an' some mustard seed down besides the bed an' he went to sleep. The witch tried to lure him to sleep, he said, but jes' about de time dat she thought he was asleep she started to do something to him and he grabbed her; an' immediately when he hollered fo' his mother tuh come an' bring a light, she vanished out of his hands. Ah don't know how but that's all she tole me.
Entry 518
If yo' wanta ketch a witch - now, if a person is riding an' yo' wanta ketch 'um, yo' takes nine mustard seeds an' put 'em undah a sifter an' turn 'em down undah a sifter. De next morning he'll be there tryin' tuh count dose seeds an' yo' kin ketch him right dere.
(What'will he look like?)
He liable to be a ant or liable tuh be any kind of a little bug - you may not pay it no mind but dat's whut it is.
Entry 519
If de witches ridin' yo' at night, den yo' could take mustard seeds - yo' take twenty mustard seeds an' put under de sifter, see, an' yo' ketch dem. Ah've heard dat.
(What would you do if you caught her?)
Say dey'd be under dere tryin' count de seeds - find 'em under dere de next morning countin' de seeds, trying tuh git out.
(What do they look like?)
Well, dey tell me it looks like - when yo' first see it it looks like a little doll, somepin lak dat. [Here, the witch does not become an insect or take off skin to enter a house, he or she reduces size to a diminutive person - again changing form at your first glance. This.protean ability is characteristic of all spirits (see No. 70 and Index); a witch in hag form being a spirit.] Ah had a uncle onest he caught one. He's dead now but he tole us he caught one.
Entry 526
Take de collard or any small seed an' take yo' a sifter an' put de seed down lak dat an' cover it up, an' lay dat sifter ovah it whut chew sift de flour with, if yo' wanta ketch him [the witch], an' yo' wake up de nex' mawnin', say he be undah dere - he got'a count ever' one dose seed 'fore he git out dere, an' yo' kin ketch him.
(How would you know he's there?)
Well, if he's dere, he'll be in a bug or he'll be in a big fly or some kinda insect or somepin.
(What do you call that when you catch that?) [Not a leading question!]
A witch.
Entry 528
I have heard my mother tell how to stop witches from riding you in your sleep and awake. The way to stop them is to hang a sifter on your bedroom door near the keyhole, and when they come in they get in that sifter and has to go through each and every hole in the bottom of the sifter before they can do as they want. Often it gits caught in the shape of a fly or worm going in and out the holes.
Entry 530
They tell me to stop a witch from coming to your house hang a sifter over the door hole and when she comes she'll have to count every one of those holes, and if she misses a count she'll have to start all over again and by that time it will be day and she'll have to leave.
Entry 540
De same thing as ah said - yo' kin take a bread sifter and a fork, jest put de fork in de bread sifter and set dem down on de chair by de side of de bed, and he'll be right dere till morning trying to count de holes.
(What does he look like in the morning?)
Ah nevah caught one. But ah've had some few [patients] to come tuh me for dat, an' ah tole 'em to do dat and dey'd jump out of bed and run, leave 'em dere. Dey looked like a man was skint [skinned] - look like a person what was skint, had just been skint like yo'd skin a cow. It's his frame standing dere and he slip out of his hide.
Entry 1921
Tell yo' re'lly fac' about it. Ah know a little 'bout graveyard dirt. Ah knew dis much, suh, dat graveyard dirt kin put chew in bad luck.
(How would you do that?)
Well, if yo' take a sewin' thimble an' yo' go tuh de graveyard an' de very freshest grave dat's buried, anyone dat's buried yo' understand, an' yo' git nine thimbles of dirt off de grave an' yo' carry 'em back. Well, de re'lly fac' about it, yo' git nine triin's of de person right track an' yo' kin put it into a sifter together an' yo' mix it. Put it in de sifter jes' lak yo' were goin' tuh sift meal or anything of de kind dataway, an' yo' kin take an' spread it anywhere across de crossroad or anywhere wherein dis person walks at, an' dat puts dem in tough with bad luck - see, jes' from hand tuh mouth. See, dat person makin' five dollahs a day an' spendin' ten.
(That puts them to walking you say?)
Puts dem tuh walkin', but chew gits dat an' put it into a sifter.
(And you sift it out there at the crossroads?)
Dat's right.
(And that give them bad luck of some sort?)
Oh yeah, puts'em in bad luck. Re'lly fac' about it - round an' round dey goin'.
Entry 10483
"You hang a sifter over the door and they have to penetrate through all those holes, and by that time it is day and they can only ride at night.
[Near Snow Hill, Md., No.89, by hand.]
Entry 12490
Yo' kin take some mustard seed an' put out at de baid am'a sifter an' dat'll ketch any spirit. "[Florence 2212:10.]
Entry 1659
[Whiskey is frequently fed to a protective hand or to a troublesome spirit.] Well, dey say if a person dies, if he die cruel to yo' or something lak dat, say his spirit will come back. Well, it comes den through a dream - co'se dey has rid me, it jes' as natch'r'l though as I'm lookin' at chew. Dey jumps right up on yo' an' dey ketch yo' an' when dey ketches yo', yo try to call but yo' can't call - yo' jes' [demonstrates] (gasp - gasp) jes' lak dat until he turn yo' loose.
(Trying to catch your breath?) [For a hag or spirit riding, see p.135f.]
That's right - until he turn yo' loose an' yo' kin hear 'im when he hit de floor. An' yo' kin hear 'im when he come in, but chew can't not see 'im.
(This is a spirit?)
That's right.
(Well, can't you keep them out of the house any way?)
Yo' take a new piece of lumber [see p.513f.] an' take yo' a lamp. First, yo' take that lumber, a new piece dat never been used, an' drive it right cross de do' an' set dat lamp about three and a half feet from it, an' he'll never walk in no more.
(What kind of a lamp?)
Jest a ordinary burning lamp, oil lamp.
(You keep that lamp lighted at night or?)
Jes' turn it low an' put dat piece of new lumber down dere an' yo' won't be bothered with him any more - unless you'd use it, take it up. (Did you ever hear of them catching one of those people? Sometimes they catch them.) Well, ah've heard they catch them in a sifter. Yo' takes a sifter an' when yo' put it over yore face, right up on yore breast lak that, or if it's a person dat have drunk whiskey - if he is a whiskey drinker, yo' takes a little whiskey yo' put right round in dat place, an' when he comes, he'll git in that an' yo'll ketch him an' when yo' ketch him, he's jes' a lump of jelly.
Entry 3086
[Madam DeLong is a hand-maker and of the dime-a-dozen variety. She must be included here because my informant visited both women. Besides, her name interests me for a reason given later. Aunt Sally is a master of her craft - original, brilliant.] At Savannah, Ga. (What were their names?) Aunt Sally - Savannah, Ga. Ah first went to Madam DeLong - she was white. Ah went to Madam DeLong.
(In Savannah.)
Dat's right - on Jerome Street in 1914. But ah went to her fer gambling hand.
(What did she do for you?)
Jest a minute, now. Ah don't recall [everything] - a piece of root and some black peppah; yes, it was, and if ah understand well, three grains [seeds] out of a green pepper, cayenne pepper. She had three grains. She took dat root dey call John de Conker and she [didn't] cut it up and [but] she cut another root which is called blacksnake root and a little gypsum [ginseng]. [Three roots.] [And she did them] jest like she did de seeds, like de three seeds dat she took out of de pepper, and she grates it into a flannel. But she had another rag in dere befo' she put it into de flannel. And she sewed dat up and she give it to me for luck in gambling.
[John de Conker was not cut up but worn in one piece.]
(This was the white woman, Madam DeLong: How do you spell that?)
Madam DeLong, dey call it. She's dead now.
(How do you spell that name?)
Ah jest don't know. [I heard this so'often!] [If I remember rightly, there was a curio mail-order firm in Chicago by that name. This woman - a possible agent of theirs or buying some of her hoodoo sup- lies from them - may have used DeLong as her professional name. We have a good example of name-adoption from a firm in G. H. Smith & Company (2740, p.746).] Ah went to Aunt Sally, dat was one of mah race after dat. Le'me see, 'twas about a year after dat, ah reckon. I did [it]. [It] worked very well in dat year cause I was runnin' pract'ly a kitchen gambling house - dey gamble in de kitchen - an' nobody didn't bother me. Well den, after she died, I went to Aunt Sally. Well, I went to Aunt Sally and she give me a fishing hook and she made me step three steps right out in front of her do'. Den she sont a little boy out after that and she told him to pick up her some sand out of each one of those [three] tracks. She told me when I got to de last track, "Don't make no other step." She said, "Jis' swing around." I swung around. And ah noticed dat dat last track - de little boy brought in de sand. She put de other two sand to- gether out of de other two tracks, but dis sand heah, dis last track, she didn't put dat sand in dere. She put it into something look like a sifter and she sift- ed it into a white piece of cloth. After sifting it into a white piece of cloth, she laid it up on de sheft [shelf] and she said, "Now, you sit down fer five minutes." Ah sat down five minutes and when she rech up dere and got it agin, instead of it being sand, it was ants. It was ants! Ah looked at it myself. It was dem little antses. Den she tuk it and put it into de same package. Ah don't know whether de dirt turned to ants or not, but when she did lay it up dere five minutes and den when she looked at it, and I looked at it too, and it was ants instead of de sand. Den she fold it into de other package and fold it up. And she hand it to me like dat [demonstrates].
(With her fist down.)
Yeah, jes' dat way, with her fist down. Ah never will forget it. And den she tuk it back. Dat's how it was done. And she said, "Now," she say, "I won't give yo' dis." Ah said, "Well, why?" She said, "Yo' ain't able to pay fo'it." An' ah asked her, ah said, "What do you want fer it?" She said, "Fifty dollars." Ah say, "Ah'll pay fer it twice." And she wouldn't take de $50. She tuk $5 but she never did give me de package. She say, "Yo' go on you'll be all right.
(What was that for?)
That was for running business, a place of business - help yo' business.
(Or in ganbling.)
Yes, actually that was my business - running a gambling [business]. ["Go on you'll be all right is a common trick (see 885-886, p.319), but to change footstep-dirt into live ants and refuse a large price for them displays the hand of a master. I need not explain that some doctors work upon the theory: if you give nothing, there can be no evidence. The ants? Simple - two packages
(see bottle substitution,792, p.265).]
Entry 498
My mother was rode by a witch. I used to sleep in the next room from her. When a witch rides you you can't talk, you holler, you just make a b-o-o-m sound. Then you know something is wrong. My mother started to making that fuss and I called and asked her what was the matter with her. And she said a witch was riding her. So I told her the next time a witch got after her I was going to catch whoever it was. They say you take a sifter, a bottle of water and a broom. You put it down at the bottom of the [door] steps. The witch has to count all those holes in the sifter, all those straws in the broom, and if day- break catches him he goes in the bottle of water and you stop him up, and you find out who was riding you. The person will come to you and beg you to turn them out of that bottle.
Entry 525
If yo' in a house or somepin of de kind an' sleepin' in dere an' witches an' things, sech things lak dat, ridin' yo', tell yo' whut's good fo' yo'. Some- time yo' put chure Bible undah yore haid. If yo' don't do dat, sometimes yo' kin take a knife an' fo'k an' cross it - cross it dataway yo' know an' lay hit undah yore haid. Sometimes dey say yo' kin put a sifter undah yore haid - dat'll stop dat. [Sifter under head but on floor.]
Entry 527
Tuh ketch dat thing yo' call a witch - ah've known of 'em tuh ketch dat. Jes' lak if yo' 'custom to have a witch ridin' yo', yo' always have somebody notified. Jes' lak yo' will snore - yo' cain't holler, yo' kin snore, an' when dey ridin' yo', have somebody dere wit de sifter an' a whole lot'a mustard seed. An' no sonner [sooner] den dis witch startin' ridin' yo', dey come right on ovah an' jes' take dat sifter an' jes' lay it ovah dere.
(They do that while you are asleep?)
Take dat an' jes' lay dat ovah yo'. Now, when dey git offa yo', when yo' wake up den, yo'll find dem standin': Dey ate a hole in it an' dat mustard seed went through dat sifter. An' yo' kin git a - or if yo' kin git a silver ball, silver or copper or somepin lak dat, an' de person whosomevah it is dat jumped outa dere skin -
(That person whoever it is will jump out of their skin?)
Dat's right, dey call dat juonpin' out dere skin. An' if yo' see dat thing, don't kill 'em. Yo' kin go an' put some peppah an' salt on it, an' ev'ry time dev jump in dey got'a git right back out. An' dey stay dere lak dat seven or eight hours, trying tuh git in it. De black peppah burns 'em every time - de time dey jump in it.
(And that kills them?)
Yes.
Entry 534
Ah heard tell, lak ketchin' a person's spirit - if dere's somepin dey calls a witch dat is ridin' yo' - if it's a spirit or somebody dat wantin' tuh tell yo' somepin - or somebody is tryin' tuh worry yo' because yo' worryin' some of dey folks upon heah. Ah heard tell dat at times dey might want a drink of whiskey or somepin if dey wus a big drunkard, an' dey worry yo lak dat; if yo po' down a drink of whiskey, dey're gone away an' won't bother yo' no mo'. If they bother yo' right on, yo' take an' git chew a sifter an' place it in de bed with yo', an' at the time this thing start tuh ridin', if yo' kin ketch it up - but it's kind of a strain fo' yo' tuh ketch it up, an' turn it ovah one time an' yo' ketch de spirit in dere. Dey tell me yo' see a lil' somepin de next mawnin' there in de sifter. [See Spirits, like alcohol, in Index.]
Entry 535
Well, dey say if a person dies, if he die cruel to yo' or something lak dat, say his spirit will come back. Well, it comes den through a dream - co'se dey has rid me - it jest as natchral though as I'm lookin' at chew. They jumps right up on yo' an' dey ketch yo' an' when dey ketches yo', yo' try to call but yo' can't call - yo' jes' [demonstrates] (gasp - gasp) jest lak dat until he turn yo' loose.
(Trying to catch your breath?)
That's right, until he turn yo' loose, an' yo' kin hear 'im when he hit de floor - an' yo' kin hear him when he come in, but chew can't see him.
(This is a spirit?)
That's right.
(Well, can't you keep them out of the house any way?)
Yo' take a new piece of lumber an' take yo' a lamp. First, yo' take that lumber, a new piece dat nevah been used, an' drive it right cross de do' an' set dat lamp about three and a half feet from it, an' he'll nevah walk in no more.
(What kind of a lamp?)
Jest a ordinary burning lamp, oil lamp.
(You keep that lamp lighted at night?)
Jest turn it low an' put dat piece of new lumber down dere an' yo' won't be bothered with him any more - unless you'd use it, take it up. (Did you ever hear of them catching one of those people - sometimes they catch them?) Well, ah've heard they catch them in a sifter. Yo' takes a sifter an' when yo' put it over yore face, right up on yore breast lak that, or if it's a person dat have drunk whiskey - if he is a whiskey drinker, yo' takes a little whiskey yo' put right round in dat place, an' when he comes, he'll git in dat an' yo'll ketch him and when yo' ketch him, he's jest a lump of jelly.
Entry 542
Well, I know a lady one time that was sick from - ah don't know what was de cause of her sickness, but they said that they thought someone was mad at her and they claimed that the witches Was riding her. But what I was just speaking about was here in - this has been 'round about twenty-one years ago. And - oh, the witches would ride 'er nights. A witch got after her one day in the daytime and she described the lady's dress and called de lady's name, and de lady came there to de house that day. She said the man [doctor] told her that he would bring her there to her. And the lady came there and she said this lady had on a blue dress with white round the sleeves - said that she had a real fat wrist. And this lady, we children used to call her butter-wrist. She wasn't neither light nor red; she was a kind of a pumpkin color and we used to call her butter- wrist - her complextion, you know. And so she said this lady was mad with her - see, over a young man. Seems if - she had a niece that, why she had raised, and this young man you know had visited her [the niece] once or twice and he liked this other girl better than he did her, and someone had circulated the news that they were married, going to marry. And this girl [niece] got sick, and then when she began to get better, why then this witch commenced to bother her. And sometimes you could be settin' beside of her bed and you could hear just like someone came in the door, but the door would still be shut. Sometimes the door would shake and the people would say it was the wind. And then you would hear her keeping [imitating?] the noise - see if it would go away. She'd say, "That witch pest is after me," says, "there she go." And so one night we said we were going to stay there and watch - I was always like a little curiosity. So we said we were going to set up and watch for her that night. So they heard 'em say you could hang a sifter over the door, you know, or over your bed, and the witch couldn't bother you because it had to count all those holes, and before they'd get through counting those holes it would be dawn. So we hung the sifter up and then they crossed nine needles and nine pins in the back - said they would stick in her when she come down the back of the fireplace.
(Where did they cross these needles and pins?)
In the back of the fireplace - you know, the fireplace that has the little shoulders, two of them. And you cross them, you see, and they gets hot. And they took a horseshoe and hung up over the door [demonstrates] - see, that will keep evil ones out.
(They hung it with the open part up - I see.)
Yes - see they hangs this horseshoe with the open part up. Say, long as that horseshoe up over the door with the open part up - and we'd taken and got us a box of new cayenne pepper and a box of salt and a box of sulphur, and we mixed that together and put some of that in a thin bag or a piece like mosquito lawn, so it would just set right down over the door, and anyone come in, see, opening the screen door, why that would touch it, you see. Well, they say a witch, you know, doesn't have any skin on, you see, and if that salt and pepper gets on 'em, you see, that will hurt them. And so then we all goes in de room and lays down and we leaves de door open a crack so we could watch her bed, and so we fixes de light out there in her room. And so we takes some Sunday School books - a man told us to take some Sunday School books and Bibles and turn to a certain chapter in de Bible, but have de whole nine chapters - books of de same chapter and lays 'em open - said, and she would come and we could see her in person. Said the person -
(They used nine books?)
Uh-huh - there wouldn't be any way fer her to get on de bed.
(Nine books of what - nine different Bibles?)
Nine Bibles, all the same chapters - see, use those Sunday School books or whatever books you can; little Bible stories that have the same chapter, just like the 15th Chapter of John, you see, or the Psalms. Well, you see, we had difficulty in getting nine Bibles and they used Sunday School books with them. And you take those Sunday School books, and you just lie them down, you see, on de side of de bed and one to the head of de bed and one to de foot and then she takes the Bible, you see, and lies that right 'cross her breast. [Nine Bibles should be used - three on each side of the bed, one at head and foot of bed, and one on the breast; the latter must be a Bible. These nine books are unevenly, odd-numberly placed.] And so, we hadn't just finished fixing that and been in the room more than thirty-five minutes before she says, "Here she is" - says, "here's Miz So-and- So" - says, "here's Miz So-and-So." She said that she made a shadow between her and de light. She says, "Hurry up - she's done blowed out dat light - hurry up and come on out with a lamp - she's done gone and blowed out de light." The lady [aunt] she says, "No, she ain't." "That was her shadow," says [bewitched woman], 'that's her'" - says, "that's her - the light's not out - that's her - she's in between me and the light - ah thought mah light was out." And the door shook again, but we didn't fix but one door, and then she come in the back door. There was two back doors and a shed on the house, and we didn't fix both of those back doors because it usually been the front door, see, where we come in to, the nearer the girl's bed - see, the bed was like there and we fixed the door there, but we didn't fix these two back doors. So, when she went through this door it just shook, and the back door just opened and shut, and we opened the door - opened the inside door and it looked just like looking out through her kitchen door, and it was still so just like we left it.
(Did you see anything at all?)
No, we didn't see anything, but she seen it.
Entry 9041
All right now, if yo' wanta he'p a person dat is in jail. If yo' kin git some graveyard dirt, yo' supposed tuh git dat from as neah de haid as yo' could. Wal, jes' lak if ah wus in jail an' yo's goin' work fo' me, yo' would wanta walk aroun de jailhouse, yo' know, sif'in' a little - jes' sif' it a little aroun'.
(A little of this dirt?)
A little of dis dirt. Wal, if yo' could git into de co'troom yo'd wanta sif' a little. Wal, in case, in time of co't ah wouldn't have no - so many enemies. Yo' see? But hit sompin else yo' supposed tuh do wit dat graveyard dirt dat ah really don' know whut it is.
Entry 145
(If a fellow sees a whirlwind coming, he's gotta stop it?) [I am repeating informant's statement.] (How will he do that?) He take a sifter an' hold it up.
(Well, what does he want to stop it for?)
Make it turn dat way, it won't come to 'em.
(Well, what if it can't turn, what would happen?)
Nuthin'. It jes' goes an' stop it. Lak ah see somebody separatin' rain, too; lak rain comin', dey hol' a hatchet up - one part [of the rain] go dat way an' de othah one go dat-a-way, split it.
Entries from source headings
These entries are listed under the following headings in the source volume:
- Sifter and Scissors — Volume 1, entries 604. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → DIAGNOSIS.
- Sifter — Volume 1, entries 2303. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS.
- SIFTER: SHOE ASHES - SALT - PEPPER; CIRCUMAMBULATE HOUSE 3 TIMES NIGHTLY - 3 NIGHTS — Volume 4, entries 5223. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SWEAT → SHOES.
- SIFTER - A NEW - SIFT PERSON'S FIRST TRACK - EARLY IN; MORNING - WALK OUT OF HOUSE - LOOK UP IN AIR - THROW; SOME EAST - NORTH - SOUTH - WEST - "KEEPS 'IM GOIN'" — Volume 4, entries 5643. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SWEAT → FOOT TRACK.
- BED - SIFTER AND MUSTARD SEED NEAR — Volume 5, entries 10475. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- BED - SIFTER KEPT UNDER - SOMETIMES BOTTOM UPWARDS — Volume 5, entries 10473. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- BREAST - SIFTER ON — Volume 5, entries 10476. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- CHAIR - SIFTER UNDER TELLS WHETHER VISITOR A WITCH; IF SHE STAYS TOO LONG REMOVE SIFTER - SHE WILL LEAVE — Volume 5, entries 10477. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- SIFTER - HOLES IN - COUNTED BY HAG — Volume 5, entries 10468. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- SIFTER - HOW MANY HOLES IN? — Volume 5, entries 10471. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- SIFTER NEAR CHAIR AT HEAD OF BED; WHY WITCH COUNTS HOLES OVER AND OVER — Volume 5, entries 10472. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- SIFTER TURNED FACEDOWN — Volume 5, entries 10470. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- 2 FORKS IN SIFTER BOTTOM UPWARDS — Volume 5, entries 10487. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- DOORSILL - SIFTER AND FORK AT — Volume 5, entries 10486. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- KEYHOLE - HANG SIFTER AT — Volume 5, entries 10488. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- SIFTER - WITCH IN FORM OF CAT — Volume 5, entries 10485. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- SIFTER WITCH IN FORM OF DOG — Volume 5, entries 10484. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.
- BUG FOUND IN SIFTER NEXT MORNING IS WITCH; COUNT HOLES WITH NEEDLE - BEFORE YOU FINISH; SOMEONE WILL COME ASKING TO BE TURNED LOOSE — Volume 5, entries 10490. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → HAG AND WITCH RETURN.