Subject:Skin
Entries
Entry 1862
If a woman got a runnin'-'bout spell, you go to work an' wash your feet of a nights from your toe back to de hollow of your left foot - it don't make no diff'rence if's right or de left. Take de same water dat you wash de feet in, take it an' pour back into another bucket, an' let her drink a swallow or two dat water for nine mornin's. Dat'll take de runnin'-'bout spells off of her. [Cf. Bathwater, p.522f.]
Entry 2482
As good a way as any if yo' was selling something - jes' lak a fellah dat wus sellin' some moonshine or somepin an' he wanted to git in trade. Well, now ah heared dat chew could sit down an' take yore foot, wet it, scrape it an' all dat dead skin on it. Soak it [scraped skin] in whiskey or soak it in some water, either one. Anoint de whiskey wit it an' dat would draw customers to you. [Dead foot skin in food or drink is alsd used in love rites.]
Entry 4107
An' den put eithah a man or a woman chamber lye in tea or coffee or whiskey or whichsomevah it is, jis' feeds it tuh 'em - a teaspoonful at de time evah mawnin'. An' take a man - an' cut chure fingahnails, an' cut chure toenails, an' soak yuh feet in warm watah. An' take a razor blade or somepin an' shave dat dead skin from undah de bottom of yuh feet, an' yuh could put it on a little pan an' parch it on de stove. Yuh kin put dat in sompin, tea or coffee, an' dat will hold 'em togethah. AH KNOWS ALL DEM THIN'S CUZ AH'VE TRIED 'EM.
Entry 4484
Take dat where yuh take a bath an' put it in a hole. (What kind of a hole?) Any roun' hole. (Where is this hole made?) Yuh put it in yuh backyard. (Oh, a hole in the ground.) Yeah, see he'd come out an' hafta [have to] walk ovah it, an' dat will strip 'em [him] up, peel 'em up - yeah, jes' like dey have de measles or sompin like dat.
[Walking over his bath water is walking over a part of himself.]
(I see, make this skin - give them skin trouble.)
Yeah, skin trouble call it.
Entry 4669
A woman kin take dat bow if she wants de man tuh be crazy 'bout 'er, an' don't want 'im tuh mess wit no mo' wimmins - jis' follah her. She kin take dat bow an' sew it up in a little rag an' wear it nex' tuh her meat an' he nevah will follah no one but 'er.
Entry 5240
Dey kin take - if yo've wore yore shoes an' got 'em good an' sweaty, dey git chure feet dirt from it an' de scent of yore feet lak dat. An' dey kin take dat an' weah it aroun' 'neath of dere waist an' thing lak dat, an' put some of dis oil of cedah in it, an' make de person follah dem an' ca' [care] mō' [more] fō' dem den dey do any- body else. Jis' lak dey would take dere hair outa dere haid... (You mean they wear it around their waist?). Right nex' tuh dere skin lak dis. An' dey puts it in a bandage an' puts it nex' tuh dere skin, an' put dat oil of cedah tuh it, an' weah it night an' day aroun' dere waist nex' tuh yore skin.
Entry 5735
Dey take dat foot track up an' dey take a piece yo' weah nex' tuh yore skin. An' take dat dirt an' tie it up in dat piece an' let it stay fo' nine mawnin's. An' den take it an' untie it, an' spread it back out, an' turn it whichevah way dey wan'cha to go. Untie de piece an' spread de dirt out lak it wuz.
Entry 6095
An' ah could take yore hair an' ah could ketch me a rabbit, git any Hinda rabbit, an' clip dat rabbit back open an' put chure hair in dat rabbit back, an' ah sew dat rabbit back up, an' yo' nevah will quit'walkin'. Yo' jis' walk till yo' die. If nobody nevah kills dat rabbit, yo'll jis' nevah quit walkin'.
Entry 6096
Now along de hair line. Yo' kin take de hair outa de top if any in- dividual's hair, say if yo' wanta send 'em away. Dis is mo' from sperience ah'm tellin' yo' dat. [Now follows a good example of giving a rite and then illustrating it with a personal ex- perience.] Yo' take dat hair an' ketch a rabbit den, an' split 'is skin right in de fo'head dere, an' place dat hair in dere an' sew it up. Jes' turn 'im loose. Well, who- Cvah hair den dat yo' put in dere, if yo' want 'em tuh leave, when yo' turn dat rabbit loose dey can't stay. [We lived] cross town togethah. I an' 'im were good frien's, too. Well, he bad a right clevah wife. So ah nevah said nuthin tuh anyone heah 'bout dese things jes' like yo' talkin' tuh me now, 'bout runnin' off people. So ah says, "Well," says, "ah kin take de hair outa anybody's head, outa de zole [mold or mould] of de haid an' ketch me a rabbit," ah said, "an' ah kin nm a off quickly." She said, "How do yo' do dat?" Ah said, "Well, yo' git de hair out de mole of dere haid an' ketch chew a rab- bit an' split 'im right in de fo'haid," say, "an' put dat hair in dere an' sew it Turn de rabbit loose. She say, "Shuah 'nuff?" Well, ah didn't pay no mo' 'tenshun tuh it. Two-three days latah ah wus out in de woods cuttin' crossties. [Railroad rails are laid on and spiked to crossties.] All of a sudden he pulls off 'is clothes, all but 'is top-shirt. Ah nevah bothah. Ah reckon about fifty yards distance betveen us - us dere a log-cuttin'. An' when 'is cuttin' stopped, ah stopped aattin', looked tuh see whut wus he doin', weren't thinkin' about nuthin. So chen ah looked he wus standin' up on de log lookin' right straight off tuhwards de cypress pond. He got down off de log an' he walked right straight on off de Way, de direction he wus lookin' tuhward dat pond. He walked on off down dere an' he walked on it. Well, ah nevah pay any 'tenshun, ah went on back cuttin'. Ah say, "Maybe prob'ly got hot an' he's about gone [to] cool off." Dat's whut ah thought tuh mahself. So ah worked on about a hour an' he hadn't came back yet. Ah jes' worked on, hadn't nevah give it a thought. Well, it's about three hours he hadn't come back, so ah thought ah'd go down tuh de pond. Ah went on down tuh de pond where it wus muddy goin' in jes' 'fore yo' git tuh de water. Ah tracked 'im on tuh de watah. Ah whistled an' whistled an' called an' called. Aftah ah couldn't [find] 'im, ah went on aroun' de pond, an' when ah got on de othah [side] de back of de pond - ah seed where he come out. Still ah couldn't git no hearin', ah called an' whistled. So ah went on back, ah said, "Maybe he jes' went off tuh look fo' some [something]." But still he wus in his shirt, nuthin but 'is shirt. Ah went on back an' ah worked on till time tuh knock off. He hadn't came back yet. Time tuh knock off, ah couldn't call 'im up, couldn't whistle 'im. So ah went on back home. So ah went on down tuh his house aftah ah got suppah. He hadn't showed up yet. His wife couldn't tell nuthin about 'im atall. De nex' mawnin' he hadn't showed up. So ah went back out in de woods where his clothes still hangin' dere where he lef' 'em. Well, ah come back tuh de house den tuh tell 'er about it. He git plenty time to git 'rested [arrested for being in his unclothed condition.] Some- body mdght search fo' 'im. Well, de people dat know 'im - de law, dey took 'imup an' dey look fo' 'im dem two weeks. Dey nevah did find 'im. So' 'bout six-eight weeks latah dey got ahearin' from 'im. He wus in de 'sylum. So, I an' 'is wife wus talkin' dere one day aftah he had gone on an' she say, "Yo' know one thing?" "Whut?" Say, "Yo' know whut chew tole 'bout dat rabbit?" Said, "'Yes?" She says, "Ah tried dat. Ah thought yo' wus roun' devilin'," say, "an' dat's whut run mah husban' off from heah."
Entry 6391
De bottom of de feet, dat didn't happen tuh me once, but.it happen by dem people though. Yo' take de bottom of yore feet an' yo' take yore toenails an' yore fingahnails off. Yo' trims 'em yo' know wit de scissors. An' yo' takes dat an' yo' burys dat, see. An' when dey burys dat, dat keeps yo': aroun' home - keeps yo' from goin' away. An' dat makes de woman keeps yo' all de time undah huh control.
(I see, I see.)
Entry 6409
Take an' wash yore feets an' take de dead skin from undah yore feet. But now, what dis is fo', what I'd [use] it fo', would do it fo' diff'ren' things. I'd take de dead skin from undah yore foot. An' yo' wash it, yo' scrape dat dead skin an' yo' let it dry. Put it on de stove an' make a powdah out of it. An' aftah yo' make dat powdah out, wellyo' kin drop it intuh dere Coca-cola or anythin' a person eat. Dat's when yo' wanta control 'em, yo' see; keep 'em so dey can't do yo' nuthin. Take advantage of 'em, yo' see.
Entry 6563
You skin the frog, dry the hide out, parch it, an' then you kin put that into somepin to drink to give a person. That'll make frogs come in them.
Entry 6613
Git a snake an' put a snake in yo'. Dey kin go ketch a snake an' kill it, cut 'is head off an' hang 'im on de limb [of a tree] by de tail. Tie a string aroun' 'is tail an' hang 'im up an' put a tin cup or tin plate undah 'im an' ketch 'is blood. Let 'im bleed in dat tin plate or tin cup, whutevah it is. Now dey take dat blood an' dey kin put dat blood intuh yore food or somepin tuh drink; or dey kin let dat blood dry until it comes jis' tuh a hard powdah. Dey kin sprinkle it in yore shoes. An' de perspiration from yore feet will such up de strength of dat blood an' cuz yore body tuh attract dat, an' it will go all through de body an' kill de body. An' it will be crawlin' jis' undah de skin, all about, mostly from de point where dey entered. Depends upon how long it is when it gits in de stomic an' come on up. An' he'll choke yo' tryin' tuh come on up.
Entry 6845
Ah hear'd dat vinegah an' salt - take vinegah an' boil it, see, an' a li'le cayenne peppah, a [new] box of cayenne peppah, a five-cent box of cayenne peppah. Put a li'le lahd [lard] in it. Put a li'le, any kinda liniment in it, an' boil it tuhgethah an' strain it. Anint: [anoint] choreself [yourself] wit it. An' IT'S CALLED GRANDPAH LINI- MENT, LINIMENT MADE BY DE IN- DIANS, DE OLDEST LINIMENT EVAH BEEN. CURE RHEUMATISM, ANYTHIN' EVAH SUPPOSE DEY EvAH HAD. It's name is grandpa liniment, de oldest liniment out. An' it's made by a ole puson, an' it's good today. An' AH'VE SEEN DEY TAKEN SCALES OFF PEOPLE FEET LOOK LAK FISH SCALES WHERE PEOPLE HAVE DRAGGED DEM THROUGH FISH BONES AN' GIVE DEM WHISKEY TUH DRINK AN' CUZ SCALES TO COME [IN] DE BODY.
(How do they do that?)
Well, dey take de scales an' grin' dem up, see. Dey put it in whu' choo drink. If yo' lak coffee or tea, or even if yo' lak bread, yo' can't tell it when it look lak powdah. Dey sift it. An' it's in yuh body in a co'se [course] of time when de fish commence tuh 'eelin' [peeling] scales, yuh 'eel [peel] scales on yo' feet - 'eels [peels] de scales on dere body. Yo' know fish shed scales, an' when dey git ready tuh shed scales, yo' shed dem scales on yuh body.
(How did you say you take those scales off?)
Wit grandpah's liniment. [Grandpa's liniment could be the product of a hoodoo drug store or some hoodoo doctor.]
Entry 6886
De woman might be Impregnant, chew know. Somebody might wan' 'em tuh die in dat state, chew know. Dey [some woman] gits jealous, chew know. An' den dey git tuh a, go tuh a oak tree an' measure nine inches from de bottom, an' skin de bä'k up an' boil dat tuhgethah [with] anythin' whut de woman would eat, chew know. Suppose dey could give 'er dat tuh eat, chew know. Dat child nevah come down, yo' see. (The child will never come down. This child will stay right in her. It will kill her then.)
Entry 8677
Yo' kin take a pencil an' write a man's name nine times an' whoevah yo' is, if yo' want 'im, yo' write 'is name on a piece of papah nine times an' write her name on de top of dat papah - on top de line dat his'n is wrote on. Write it on dere an' take an' let 'er wear it nex' tuh 'er skin on 'er princess slip, an' he will always have 'er on his mind.
Entry 9032
De nex' thing, tuh mah idea, whut's good, take some of yore fingah- nails. Trim yore fingahnails off. Go tuh some watah an' git dat daid skin undah yore feet. Scrape it down. Put it in sompin an' let it dissolve fo' nine days. Den take dat an' strain it. Have it in watah, an' jes' lak de jedge would have a sep'rate pitcher he drink out of, put dat ovah dere in his pitcher. Jes' lak yo' de jedge of de co't, put dat in yore pitcher. See, de chance is de co't goes up dere soon an' dey have evah-thing lined up, de jedge an' de jury. Put sompin in [the pitchers of] both of 'em. Ah'm de crim'nal. Ah'm de crim'nal, yo' know, an' yo' goin' try tuh send me tuh de chain gang. Git tuh arguin' on dat thing. Aftah while dey gits sorry fo' yuh. Things is workin' mah way. Whut chew want 'em tuh [do, that will do it]. Yo' couldn't do it. Simple things whut ah learnt wit de business [of being a hoodoo doctor].
Entry 9250
Yo' can take yore fingahnails an' cut nine pieces - cut off nine fin- gahnails - an' get nine pieces of yore toenails, an' put it into a little bag put some asafetida in there with it. Then you bust a hen egg an' get de thread [the skin in the end] of it an' put in there, an' that'll be all right fo' de purpose. Yo' take an' carry it an' put it at or undah de house. Dat'll make dem leave, put dem to walkin'. [Out in country from Suffolk, Nansemond Co., Va., (Doctor Frank Hall) by hand.1
Entry 9967
Yo' kin take a frog an' put 'im in yuh pocket alive an' yo' kin go tuh a skin game an' yo' kin win all night long. Yo' kin keep dat frog, put 'im in a papah sack an' keep 'im till he dies, continue tuh keep 'im, an' yo' kin make any woman in de world do jes' lak yo' wan' 'em. (How do you do that?) Wal, yo' jes' keep dat frog - yo' see, yo' ketch 'im when he's live an' yo' gamble by 'im. An' den, if yo' keep 'im until he dies an' jes' put yuh hand on dat - he'll dry up tuh a powdah. He ain't nuthin but a powdah. Ah know yo've seen 'em layin' out in de road some- vberes daid. An' yo' kin jes' put yuh hand on 'em an' jes' lay it [hand] up on a woman, on 'er haid or face, anywhere, an' yo' can't run away from 'er. She'll do anythin' in de world dat yo' say.
Entry 10100
Now, dis is not mah personal experience. Dey take a black cat down by a stream of runnin' watah an' a pot, piece of glass an' so forth. An' put de cat in dis pot full of watah. Aftah yo' build a fire an' de watah begin gittin' warm, put dis cat in dere an' have a top on it. Now, yo' must hol' dis cat in a certain way an' slip 'im in dis pot, an' git dat lid down befo he hollahs as yo' do dat. An' den let 'im boil den until he's thoroughly [done] an' de meat absolutely floatin' aroun' in de pot. Den yo' take dat glass an' look through it [it is a piece of glass and not a mirror] an' jis' take up each bone in dere an' bite it. Bite de meat offa it umntil yo' come tuh de right bone. An' yo' git dat bone an' de glass will dis- appeah from befo' yuh. Then yo' take...
(Then you get the right bone. How do you know it's the right bone?)
Well, at de disappearance of de glass. Den yo' take dat bone an' do certain articles wit it. Ah don' know jis' zac'ly what dat is. An' it will enable yo' tuh become in de knowledge of how tuh slip out of dere hide. [I turn off machine too soon.]
(Whom do you say does this? Do the witches do this?)
Yes, den dey become de witch when dey become so dat dey kin slip outa dere hide. An' yo' can't ketch 'em. Yo' know what ah mean.
(You can catch them?)
Yo' know what ah mean. Lak if he'd kill somebody out dere. He come in de store an' steal somepin or othah lak dat. Yo' can't run 'im down an' ketch 'im. So law kin ketch 'im. If dey ketch 'im an' put 'im in jail - dey locks 'im up in dere - an' den walk down de street an' he's standin' aside of 'im pattin' 'im an de shouldah. Walk along an' say "Hello' all dose kinda things. Now dat's vbat chew call tuh mah knowledge witchcraft.
Entry 10126
The way I heard of that, you get the lucky bone of a black cat. You get the bone out of his left hind leg. You have to kill him and skin him and get this out, and you wear that. [Fredericks- burg, Va., Ediphone 39.]
Entry 10286
Get a red-skin onion, rub juice on penis until burns; let dry, do not wipe. [Since onion is a witch deterrent, the cause of impotence here was witch- craft. Shape and color of this vegetable also added to its magic power.] [Richmond, 341:1.]
Entry 10455
Sprinkle red pepper [on their skin]. Why dey can't go back in de skin. Put it [red pepper] in de keyhole of de door and sprinkle a little all down on de floor. Red pepper will keep dem from goin' back in de skin. Yo' see, dey gits out de skin when dey rides yuh.
Entry 10939
Wal, ah'm goin' tell you dis now, 'gin [again]. Now, in cases a per- son was treatin' yo' dirty, ag'in, an' interferin' wit yore family, what would yo' do. Yo' wanta learn dat?
[I evidently nod yes.]
All right. Well, yo' go ahead and write dere names nine times - write it nine times.
(On what?)
On a piece of paper - on a piece of Bliss [trade name] paper.
(Bliss tablet paper?)
Dat's right. An' write it and den when yo' write dat, roll it under. See, any kinda bad words yo' wanta use on dat, yo' do dat. Wal, den yo' go tuh de river - understand me good now. Go tuh de rivah an' ketch yo' a catfish. See, dis is a catfish yo' ketchin', see. Yo' know he's gotta skin, yo' know. (You catch this catfish and you have this name written on this piece of paper.) Yo' write dis party's name on a piece of paper whut have done yo' dirty, whut chew wanta git rid of 'em at once.
(Now, what do you do with the catfish?)
See, yo' take dis fish, reach and git his skin now lak dis [demonstrates]. See, he's gotta skin. Yo' skins 'im. See, yo' lift up his skin. Yo' know, lift his skin up an' roll dat tight a little space; yo' know, jes' a little space tight as yo' kin, an' stick it [name] in dere up undah his skin an' put him back in de rivah. Well, when he [fish] gone - an' he's gone wit dat message yo' see - well, when he go, dis party jumps in de rivah. And de farther dey go, den dey's tryin' ketch dat fish an' dey jes' drown demselves - fall ov'bo'd an' drown.
(Do you cut this skin on the fish and put it under there?)
Jes' cut his skin an' lif' his skin up. Gotta stick a knife in dere - yo' know jes' a little bit - an' stick it [name] up undah dere, see, an' go to de rivah wit it.
(And turn the catfish loose again?)
He's gone.
Entry 11041
Take a gizzard of black hen, a black pullet, an' dat thin skin inside, take an' sew it up in a sack. Den yo' kin go an' ask a man fo' a job an' he'll nevah turn yo' down.
Entry 11111
But they's got to have more to go with that skin to do you harm, besides just the skin off you feet. They can take the skin off the bottom of your feet and if they can get some of your hair, take that skin and some of your hair, and take a coconut, or either a bottle, and fill it up with vinegar, and throw it in the water where it will run and you start going and you'll never go back home again. In a bot- tle or coconut, but you gotta stop it up so it don't come out.
Entry 11281
An experience of my own self. I tell you about it. Few years ago - a few years ago, just I came to Virginia. Well, I came here with some kind of spell or something on me, and I would suffer so in a way, you know, would break out with those fine spots [bumps?] and then they would dry up and when they would dry, I could peel it. I had days at a time when it would turn right rough- like and peel it out to my fingers - both arms. And usually my hands, anywhere about my face, it would turn dark. Well, I never had been my natural color since, and I come to be all splotchy and everything like I am. But after my husband came here, there was a man told him, say, "you take her to Berkley [the hoodoo cen- ter near Norfolk] and she can get cured." Say, "There is a woman there." Her name was Jenny Bridge and she died four years ago in Ber- ley, Virginia, on Berkley Avenut. And she gave me some medicine. I seen her making something. I didn't know the odor, but I knowed the [something] cuttlebone and I knowed the [some- thing].
(What was the first part of that medicine you mentioned?)
Cuttleburr [Cocklebur]. You know in the field it's sticky, stick in you. And King of the World [this the second preceding "Something"] - it's a wood, and she had some black [surely black draft or draught, a laxative]. I knew that. And she say that would kill effect [of] the poison. And she had green [something]. And she boiled that all together and she had some kind of other powders, but she wouldn't say what that was and I didn't know what it was, but it seems some kind- like alum. It must have been alum, the way it would [feel?] on my flesh, you know, kind of sharp. And then she gave me one big old halfa gallon glass jug full of it. And it make me awfully sick when I take it, but I'd taken it because I wanted to get well, because I was just a walking skeleton. I whar in a bad fix, but she told me, she say, "Well, you take this now, but what pass from you," she say, "don't you empty your bucket or slop jar." She say, "Let your husband empty it because it be's about him." And I use it and he tell me to leave it. He was running a store you see, a grocery business, and I leave it fer him to come in. And one morning he got up, he said, "Now I will empty the slop jar before ah leave." And he opened this jar and he just cried like a baby. He say, "Oh, you, just come look." And all that, you know, was big-like, bloated. And on top of it it was like skipples [skippers]. You see skipples come out of meat? [Yes! Out of country-cured hams. Skippers in Southern U. S. A., any maggot in- festing meat. Those in ham can jump 50 times own length upward into air! Some- where in HOODOO I describe my experience with them.] It was just as full of skipples as it could be. The skipples just branching out. They coming from worrying. They come from me. And you see I ask her the next time I went for another jug of medicine, I say, "Miss Bridge, what is the trouble with me?" She say, "Why you was hurt with a blacksnake in a stale melon." She say, "That's why my body would get st........ [steaming = fever?]." You know I was terrified all the time. [Our doctor, saying patient's ailment had been caused by a black snake, may have had herpes [snake] or shingles, in mind; but surely much of the skin trouble in HOODOO came from pellagra, disease caused by deficient diet.]
Entry 12291
Wal, say yo' tie twelve knots in a cotton string an' wear dat string right on - next to yore flesh. Quite natural yo' dresses dat string wit not a thing in de world but Hearts Own Perfume an' wear it right nex' to yore skin.
(What do you wear that for?)
Well, yo' see dat give yo' luck - keep hard luck away from yo' an' bring good luck to yo'.
Entry 12299
You can take lemons. Well, that makes you - if you going up the street right now and you got a big transaction on with a person. You take a lemon, just take a lemon and take all the peeling off the lemon. Don't break the white part of that lem- on. See, just take all that yellow peel off the lemon and take that lemon and sew it up. Rub it over good. Just rub it over good in your pockets in your hands. And ball that lemon up and put it in your inside coat pocket. Wrap it up in pure white paper with no marks or nothing on it - pure white paper. Wrap that lemon up. And on your Way down [to business transaction] just take the lemon and pass it through your hands, rub it over your hands good and put it in your inside [pocket]. Wear it on your right side, in your inside coat pocket, or your right side of your right pants pocket. But if you peel that lemon and break that white - that white skin on the inside of that yellow skin - well that lemon is no good to you. Get you a lemon and don't break that skin. Peel it off careful, but don't break through it so the juice will run off. But take that yellow peel off the outside and wrap that lemon up. Wipe that lemon off good with sugar. Rub it over good with sugar and wrap it up good in a piece of red flannel and rub it through your hands. And when you go there [place of business transaction] go in the lavatory or any private place and take that lemon out of that flannel again and rub it. Or take plain white paper. If you don't use red flannel, use plain white paper. Don't use no paper with no marks or nothing on it. No yellow or no colored paper at all. If you don't use white paper, get you a piece of red flannel and wrap it in there and go down the street with it. And as you go to the lavatory take that flannel or that paper off and just rub it over your hand again - before you go on with any business transaction - with the lemon. (What do you go and do that in the lavatory for?) [Informant has me going around in circles!] Well, you just freshen your hands up. Freshen your hands up with this. Con- tinually rub your hands, keep awashing that lemon against your hands.
(Well, what do you do that for?)
Well, that gives you a power over the man that you got a business deal with.
(Oh! I see. You do that until you get his....)
Keep awashing that lemon on your hands - like you get - like you know, you going to the next corner here, and you coming to the place, or you are in a bar, or any private place.
(You do it in secret so he can't see you.)
Yeah, you just do it in secret - just any place for secrecy. That's all.
Entry 12305
There was a girl, that I heerd [about], she was poison by a leeper [leopard] [her skin was spotted like a leopard's] an' she went to de fortune- teller an' she got some lepeer' skin an' keep it aroun' her body an' that cured her. ["Like cures like!" What did this patient wear? Perhaps a piece of polka-dot cloth worn as a waistband. Remem- ber always, we do not know whether there was a cure. I almost forgot. This is Dy original pencil transcription, now attached to the final manuscript. Here are two more original comments written at the time: "Retranscribe before using' and "the person who poisoned her got the poison from another fortuneteller!!!]
Entry 12530
Yo' take de red hull [skin] of de onion - de red onion now, not de white onion. Yo' take dem an' yo' parch 'em, chip 'em fine an' yo' parch 'em. An' yo' makes a dust out of 'em, yo' makes a dust wit dese onions. All right. An' jes' like if yo' wants tuh dress a place. Jes' lak yo' come in dis room an' ah come in here tuh see yo'. Ah jes' have a little dust in mah pocket an' as ah come in ah jes' sprinkle jes' de least bit of dat in dere. Well, yo' goin' tuh smell it. It may be a little while befo' yo' smell it because dey gotta mighty high odor. All right, yo' ain't goin' pay no 'tenshun tuh what- somever ah ask yo'. If yo' tell me, says, "Come back, ah'll see yo'." Well, ah'd druther fo' yo' tuh say, "Come back." Well, yo' could git de scent of dat. When ah come back if ah said ah would like tuh borrow five dollars, ah would like tuh borrow two of whatsomever yo' may bring dere fo' me.
(With this red onion.)
Entry 12531
Well, yo' kin use red onions for a whole lotta diff'rent things. (Well, what do you use a red onion for in connection with [good] luck or bad luck?) Yo' use red onions fo' luck. Well, jes' say now, yo's goin' to a skin game tonight, well yo' take yo' two solid [= fresh] red onions an' cut 'em up an' put 'em in a spider [a skil- let with legs] put a lit- tle sugah to 'em an' yo' boil 'em till dey come to a sugah. An' when it come to a sugah yo' po' it out into a bottle. An' go in dere [to a game] tonight an' yo' take yo' one or two drinks, an' yo' carry yore [liquor] bottle wit chew - jes' as lucky as it kin be. See, 'cause dey kin smell dat onions on yore breath, yo' know, an' people - a whole lotta folks don't like de smell of onions an' dat jes' draws de 'tenshun from de cards to yore onions. Yo' win up every dime in dere. [Informant does not understand why a red onion is lucky in a card game. The onion does not draw de 'tenshun from de cards to yore onions; the onion pro- tects you against the other man's hand or luck piece, or prevents you yourself from being hoodooed in the game. Nevertheless, if informant, a small-time root Worker believes in his own interpretation, the rite is valid from him.]
Entry 12535
(What do you do with the red onion?)
Well, dey say if yo' break de skin of it an' jes' carry it in yore pocket, some of it, or either throw it away, jes' throw it away, dey say dat's lucky. If yo' boil it, boil yo' three dimes in it an' den drink de watah, dat's lucky fo' yo' - yore in- come will be good.
Entry 12538
Dey used tuh use dem red onion a long time ago. See... [turned off machine and turn it on again]. But people take a red onion, see. Dey take parsley as ah said a few minutes ago, red onion an' parsley an' dey'll git dis stuff dey call mustard, hot mustard. Dey put dat together an' dey'll leave dat onion dry an' dey'll grind it up good. Dey'll leave dry dere good. Yo' seen people to de [old-fashioned outdoor] toilet. It de custom to set on dere. Jes' spread it [this mixture] on de seat dataway. It supposed tuh give 'em some kind of a itch. Ah dunno. Ah see 'em all right. It'll [itch or skin trouble will] come between dere finger an' it'll come on de side an' in de bath dataway. [I have no idea what these 3 ingredients will do but at an earlier date this sort of thing was HOODOO.]
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 13284
If yo' girl fren' happen to leave yo' lak dat, yo' jest follow her fo' a couple of days - follow her up, den yo' go to de drug store an' git chew some of dis heah Beechnut Gum [trade name chewing-gum]. Get some Beechnut Gum an' take it. Yo' take dat gum an' roll it up in yore hand jest lak dis heah [demonstrates]. Roll it up an' wear it to yo' - close to yore skin. Wear it dere an' jest sometime yo' be talkin' - talk- in' 'long wit her. Well yo' say, "Well, have some of dis heah." Break it off a piece an' jest give her a piece of it. An' den yo' natchly [naturally] goin' tuh co't her an' yo' git her back in a minute.