Subject:Speechless
Entries
Entry 7905
[Before I turned on my recording machine I had asked about spitting.l Dey take dat yo' know [I interrupt]. (This saliva.) Yeah, dey took dat an' fixed it up an' call it by name, an' put dat wit a li'le red peppah. An' take dat an' bury dat at de feet of de - anywheres dere's a corpse, a dead body in de grave. An' dat cuz yo' tuh suffah a stroke. An' it cut de speech, too, yo' know; an' yo' kin drivel up.
Entry 487
I heard my mother say lots of times that witches used to ride people in olden times and she herself. A woman didn't like her and she thought that she came one night. She said she saw her come through the keyhole. There was no other Way to get in, she had fastened the door. It was just something [that came through the keyhole] but when she looked at the fire she saw [recognized] her. And she went to the fire and warmed her hands and walked back to the bed and then back to the fire again. And she saw her pull off her shoes. And she got on her in the bed and for hours she couldn't speak a word. And all the week she seemed to be sick from it. Then night after night she would sit up and watch for her but couldn't see her until she went to bed. Then she decided, if aunt Margaret come again - that Was the old lady's name - she was going to bite her, if she couldn't do anything else. So she did it. From that the witch had a bad hand. [More than this, drawing witch's blood stopped her permanently.] [Girdletree, Worcester Co., near Pocomoke City, Md., (89), by hand; happened 1886.]
Entry 426
Ah ain't nevah seen dem hunt money but dere was money gived to me twice through de spirits - see, whether ah was hoodooed or whut, but anyhow it was give to me jes' lak if ah'm laying in dat bed dere 'sleep. Somepin come tuh me an' woke me up and tole me, says, "Right undah heah dere's $12,00 buried right down heah in de ground three and a half feet in de ground," and says, "ah give it to yo'." Well, ah got in tech wit a man in Ocean City, New Jersey - a hoodoo fellah and he come down dere. Hit was a man dey called to put people, yo' see, together when dey separate - he kin put em back together lak dat. [He is not talking about a marriage counselor but about a hoodoo fellah who uses hoodoo methods for putting together or back together - both technical terms.] Well, he come down and he tole me, "Say, Boy, if dere's money heah, it ain't gon'a cost yo' nuthin'. It was not right whare ah was standin' den, but ah knowed where it was.
(Where were you then?)
In Augusta, Georgia, an' dis happen sixty miles from Augusta. Well, we comes on down dere den to dis place. So when he got dere, was some peoples in de house an' so ah tole him, ah say, "How we goin' git dat?" He say, "Ah fix dat." So we went on in dere an' dis man talked wit dis man - de colored fellah what had de house and de was staying in de house - he was just. renting it, see, but it was a white fellah's place. So, well, we goes to work dere den, and dis man said, "Well, ah'll git all de peoples out from roun' heah tuh work, then ah'll let yo'all go inside dere." So we went in dere and de man took de needle and went over searching fo' it to see was it dere. So he searched all round dere and when he got to whare ah tole him where it was, the needle pointed right there - see, went to drawing his hand right on down to de ground. So he bowed his haid, said, "Us mustn't talk." An' so us went on off den. He said, "Yo' kin go off an' talk all yo' wanta." So we went on off dere to de car and he said, "Well, now, ah'm going dress yo' first," an' say, "an' yo' ahead on dere and go to digging right straight down." Say, "But if it's under de house, right at dat man's pillar whut holds up de house" - you see, we had tuh kinda dig [to keep] from undermining dat house, throwing it down, to ketch up with it [treasure]. An' so ah went on an' dig and when ah got through digging, ah had tuh beg - when ah got tired ah had to beg fo' another fellah - wit chure finger - yo' can't talk. An' so he say, "Ah'm goin have tuh dress yo'all. Yo' rub dis ovah yore face [demonstrates], 'cause somepin will come through directly big [as] a cow an' scare yo' to death." Said, "Ah have to dress yo' wit dis heah stuff to keep yo from being scared."
[For another example of a doctor curing a person of fear, see No. 16.]
(And where did he put it, over your face like that?)
Oil - some kind of oil [holy oil - oil the doctor had blessed].
(He rubbed it over your face?)
Yassuh, he'd taken an' jes' rub it ovah his face jes' lak dat an' his hands, yassuh. An' so dis fellah go back to digging. So, well it looked dat - he come back 'gin an' he put dat needle back dere 'gin and it pointed and draw right up under dere where dat block was. An' dat's where de money was under dat block, but chew see, we couldn't git to it. So he got a wagon axle and stuck down in dat ground where dat money was buried, an' covered it up, an' tole de fellah, say, "We are coming back." Jes' lak dat. But ah believe he double-cross me. See. He went to work den and de fellah tole him, said, "Ah'll burn de house down" - see - "an' let chew know. Ah'll stay in touch wit chew so yo' kin git to dis here stuff." See. He say, "Yes, 'cause yo' git good pay if yo' do dat - yo' won't lose nuthin'." So we never did go back. So we went to de other place where de money was gived to me - see, de money gived tuh me twice. An' we went to de other place an' we couldn't git up to it cause dere some white folks staying dere, yo' see, an' we couldn't talk tuh 'em lak we wanted to, so we wouldn't bring it up atall - jes' wait till dey move out.
(This root doctor, did you give him any money or anything?)
Didn't give him a penny - he wouldn't charge me nuthin' - an' de expenses cost him 'round about $12 'cause we made two trips down dere. But he didn't charge me a penny - give me all ah wanted to eat, an' ah's wandering why he did dat. Dat's why ah figured he double-crossed me. He went back an' got it.
Entry 423
When I was a child I hear'n of the old folks say they knew where there was some hidden money and they come to the conclusion that they would go and look for it. They wasn't positive sure it was there. And they appointed a night that they would go and try and see if something would happen. The leader was a woman. And when they got there they stop and draw a large circle on the ground. They drew that circle right around the money, where they had ideas to believe that it was there. And they was to come inside of that circle. And there must not be any conversation here at all inside of that circle. So she [the leader] said, "Lets try it." And so they got inside of that circle, and she took her stand about here, [demonstrates], and she was reading a lesson from the Bible. After that was over they had to go to work. She put her spur [spear] down into the ground, a rod, a money rod, right in the center of the circle. And there was something else they did but I can't think of that. But anyhow, this rod, after it got to a place so deep, it looked like somebody dancing - it just shivered. Then they start to dig and they got down to the money jar. They were.about to put it on top of the ground, and just as they reached down to get a hold of the jar, the woman said, "Up, up." Boom! it went back into the earth and disappear. So they didn't get it. But they say a fellow came back a couple of nights after that and got it. That happen sixty-four years ago [1872] down here near Snowhill [Marylandl. [Ocean Citv. Md., (16), Ed.
Entry 537
Ah said dat de witch got mad wit me one day 'bout mah husband. (Did you call her a witch - a colored witch?) [I am repeating what she had previously said.] Yes sir - she's daid though now, but she come dat night an' got at me 'cause ah didn't let 'er sew on mah machine an' she said, "Fo'kses be here sewin' on dat machine an' you'll be gone." An' she lit right on me - ah had a little baby an' she took de baby an' laid him off aside - then she jumped - said she didn't Wanta hurt de baby - said, "Ah'll kill you tonight." She jumped on me an' she caught me right in my throat here - an' yo' know yo' can't talk plain when dey ketch yo' an' ah jes' could mumble - mumble - an' mah husban' he wus asleep - sleepin' in another bed an' he heard me groaning. So he jumped an' run up in de room where ah wus an' asked me whut on earth de mattah, an' ah said it wus a woman, "Dat woman whut worked wit you, she jumped on me jes' now." An' when she went to go out, de house popped - an' she said, "Ah didn't git chah dis time."
(She went out of the house, how?)
De house popped when she went to go out. An' ah tole 'er, ah say, "You didn't git me dis time," ah say, "you won't nevah git me, '' 'cause she didn't know ah knowed dis trick about whut to do tuh witches. Ah jumps up an' made de watah an' put de bottle up de chimley - turn de bottle up - den in a day or two she come dere beggin' me to take 'er down, beggin' me to take 'er down. Ah tole 'er, 'Take yo' down for what, ' ah said, "ah didn't put chew nowhere." She say, "Yes, yo' got me up de chimley." An' she jes' - an begs me to take 'er down. An' dey said it ought nevah been done - ought nevah took de bottle down - oughta jes' let 'er die. Yes sir. (What did you do then with that bottle? When you released her, what did you do with that bottle?) It was a black bottle. [See also No. 40. Here is the deadly black bottle formerly much used in the New Orleans area.]
(It was a black bottle - you took the bottle out of the chimley?)
Yes sir.
(So she could be all right. What did you do with the bottle?)
Ah just took it an' chunked it away. Dey tole me to chunk it in runnin' watah an' ah chunked it, an' she jes' goin' it all de time - she nevah was satisfied nowhere.
(Did that happen to her? She didn't ride you any more?)
No sir. She nevah bothered me no more.
(Who told you that old prank - where did you hear it?)
Well, a ole lady. She was ole, too - she tole me to do dat.
(A colored woman or a white woman?)
Colored woman.
(Where did this happen - what county?)
Marengo [County], Alabama.
(How long ago was that?)
Dat's been now about thirty-five years ago. [This is my only example of a witch putting a bad mouth on a sleeping or half- sleeping person.]
Entry 5695
Yo' take de foot tracks aftah it rains. Wait till it rains. An' when it rains yo' watch fo' dat person whosomevah yo' wanted tuh harm. Yo' watch fo' dem, an' when he done pass an' gone by on 'is business, why yo' come out an' git three tracks up. (How do you pick them up now?) Well, yo' pick 'em up wit chure han', jis' de whole track, yo' see. Yo' pick one up [demonstrates] lak dis an' yo' go an' yo' pick de othah one up. Yo' have a papah bag an' put dat in dere.
(You pick up three tracks?)
Yeah, an' yo' take a papah bag an' put dat in. All right yo' take dat an' put dat in, an' yo' go home an' yo' git chew a aig, yo' git chew some hot stuff an' some yeast box - de ten-cent box yeast box, do' [though] dey got a big box, an' yo' be ballin' dat up. An' yo' take dat an' throw dat in de rivah.
(What do you throw in the river?)
De tracks.
(What do you do with the stuff you whip up?)
Yo' whip all that up tuhgethah, yo' undahstan', den yo' put it back in a heaviah papah bag, an' yo' throw it ovah yore lef' shouldah out tuh de Miss'ippi Rivah, yo' undahstan'. Or if it's a guttah where it's runnin' watah it's all right. [RUNNING WATER IN A GUTTER IS MENTIONED HERE THE FIRST TIME IN HOODOO.] Well, dat'll be all of it, see.
(What will that do?)
Dat'll jis' send 'im down, dat he won' talk. Yeah, dat cripples 'im.
(It won't send him away or anything?)
No, it jis' sends 'im down, he cain't do nuthin.
Entry 7253
A young boy, a young girl wus wild about 'im an' he wus crazy tuh go tuh school - he didn't caah tuh fool wit girls. Well, her people did all sech as dat [hoodoo work] an' so she slips, knowin' whut tuh git - she had some of dis snail dust, an' worm dust, an' also some ground puppy dust. [The latter is called ground puppy or mud puppy = chango or hellbender or salamander. We have here 3 dusts: snail, worm and mud puppy.] De end of dat, she, knowin' evahthin', bein' aroun' [experienced], she put a li'le [of these 3 dusts] around in de band of 'is hat. He become deaf. Den he got speechless, he couldn't talk. Den he got mindless. He had no misery nowhere but, see, jis' aroun' here [demonstrates].
(Throat.)
So he wus brought here [to New Orleans] an' de second night he wus here de lady [doctor] dat treated 'im dat day when he got here, ah helped 'er. Ah was right dere wit 'er. She sent tuh de drug store an' got a dime of castor oil, an' she got some sweet oil an' laudanum mixed. I am uncertain about laudanum, which transcriber transcribes lavender.] An' den she got pure olive oil. An' den she goes in de henhouse an' she gits a white hen turd, a dry one, an' she put dat intuh a teacup an' drew de tea out. Now, she gave 'im dis whole dime of [sweet] oil, an' as she brewed de tea, why she put nine drops of dis pure olive oil in dere an' she had 'im tuh gargle 'is throat good wit dat. She let 'im lay until 'is bowels moved, an' it moved quickly, becuz he seemed tuh be very much clogged up. An' jis' as soon as dey moved, den she gave 'im five spoonfuls of sal he- patica. An' de nex' mawnin' she goes an' gits some shame flowah. [This Shame flower, the sensitive vine or brier Schrankia Uncinata, is usually called: Shame brier, shame vine, sensitive brier, shame face, Shame Jim, or Shamin' Judy (see P.646).] She gits two of de li'le bu'bs [bulbs], yuh know. Evah heah [hear] yuh look at 'em [the plant] an' say shame, dey fold up? [I probably answered this question by shaking my head, yes or no. For saying shame to the plant or blos- som, see No.2290, p.646.] She got two of dose [bulbs]. She gits de leaf off de flag lily, one leaf, an' one peetal [petal] off de bloom. An' she makes a tea of dat an' she bathes 'is neck an' haid good wit dat. An' den, when she got through bathin' 'im wit dat, she gave 'im three aspirins. He couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't notice nuthin, but he went tuh sleep an' he slept all dat night. De nex' mawnin' we got up, we were fixin' breakfast." "Hello' [he says]. Here he comes walkin', lookin' well. She had a very purtty li'le girl dere which she Vus raisin' [bringing up] an' he looked at 'er an' smiled. Soon as she got close tuh 'im, he threw 'is han's on tuh 'im an' say, "Hey, " the firs' time he had spoken in nine months. Fo' fifteen days dat wus all she done wus tuh keep dat treatment up. His speech wus almost normal. His hearin', his sense of evah- thing wus almost normal. An' den, when she got 'im dat good, she asked me tuh tell 'er a good nerve builder to build 'im up. Ah said, "Well, give 'im Dr. Miles Nerve Medicine, an' Dr. Miles Anti-pain Cure." Ah wish yuh would see 'im today. He is a big hearty man as lives. An' he had lost 'is mind completely.
Entry 7259
Years ago my mother walked acrost the yard one time going to the well. A pain taken her in the foot. She was as well as she could be before. And she became sick. A white doctor 'tended [her] and she became nothing but skin and bones. We saw he couldn't do nothing so we got a cunjure, some lady. I don't know who she was. She came back [with us to our house] and said I was the only one to go and GET WATER FROM A HIDDEN PLACE. If somebody saw us going we had to change and go somewhere else. I was just a little girl. She came back [a second time] and brought something in a box - I had to rub [on] her [the mother] in a bath. No one could do anything for her but me: You're the only one to rub your mother, nobody else but you. You have to do all the cooking, everything she eats. No one else is to cook it. We [I] had to go some- where in the Woods and get HIDDEN WATER AFTER DARK.
[The mother's situation became worse.]
She was going [barefoot] acrost the floor one night and stepped on a splinter. [This of course was the work of an enemy.] In the meantime [before this] a [strange] man came in. [After he left] that kitchen sprung up. [The floor buck- led causing the splinter her mother stepped on.] I don't know what it was. Every time that spell would come upon her she would rage. One day [some years later] as I was going to work this woman [cun.iure] came around the [corner of the] house and we happen to meet at the same time. And she said, "You're hurt. All your misery is right there." And she put her hand on your [my] stomach. She said, "You're hurt with your hair and with your pic- chure." And I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to said a word to her. And she said, "Let me go in and I'll tell you." [I took her inside.] "Give me a glass of water." I gave a glassful. SHE SET IT ON THE FLOOR. "IF YOU'RE GOING TO GET WELL, I'LL SHOW YOU BY THIS WATER. THIS WATER WILL BOIL." We sat there and looked at the water. And the water boiled over the glass. IT WAS COLD WATER. And she said, "You're hurt." She said, "If you don't say anything about it when you feel better, you'll get well; but if you tell anybody, you'll die." And every time mama felt better and would say something about it, she'd get worse. Just a week before she died she up and got out of bed. She said, "You all think I'm going to get better but I'm going to die." That evening, Friday evening, she Was taken speechless and stopped talking. She called for fish and corn bread. I gave it to her. I was upstairs and I would hear a funny noise. I went down and called her. She said, "No, nothing is the matter with me. I'm just eating. That was just a little while before she stopped talking. She coml menced eating and stopped talking and couldn't say a word. She died that night.
Entry 8974
(A beef tongue and wrap it up.)
They use a beef tongue. It's like if they got somebody done prosecute 'em, see, an' dey'll get up on de stand [to] prosecute. Well, yo' take dat beef tongue, an' write dere name nine times an' sew it up into de - a piece of de tongue - wit nine needles an' nine pins. An' aftah dey sew it up into dat, dey put it on ice de day of court, an' de people dey get to go on de stand can't talk. Stop 'em from talking.
Entry 8982
Yo' go to de slaughter pen an' yo' get yo' a fresh beef tongue. An' yo' write his name, whosomevah, if yo' kin get dem witness names. Yo' write dem witness name down. Write each witness name down on a piece of papah. An' yo' take dat beef tongue an' split it open just like dis [demonstrates] an' put all dem names in dat beef tongue an sew it back up. An' yo' wrap dat up good an' yo' go on down dere [to court] wit dat in yore pocket. An' sit dere. When de witness get up dere, dey can't talk. All dem tongue-tied, dey can't say nuthin - just cross-talk, dey can't say nuthin. An' yo' goin' to get discharged.
Entry 8983
Yo' take a beef tongue an' yo' goin' to court, an' yo' takes it, an yo' put de one's name who got yo' arrested, an' de judge, an' de district attor- ney and the party dat's accusin' yo' [caused the arrest] an' yo' puts de [3] names in dere. An' yo' write it an' yo' stick it a way down in dat tongue. Yo' go to court an' yo' can carry dat tongue wit yo', wrap it up good, in yore pocket. When dey get ready to say somepin, dere tongue will be tied, becuz dere name is down in dat tongue - pushed a way down in dere - an' dere mind get all up [upset], an' dere tongue get heavy. It's just like if yo' take somepin [and put it] on my tongue - put anythin' in dere. It goin' to make it still heavier, if it held wit a weight, ain't it? Well, dat'd make de tongue get heavy an' dey can't say nuthin. So dat's de reason why - dat's what a tongue do's. Yo' put de name in dere, de party dat accused her [had her arrested], de judge, an' de district attorney. Dat's who all names yo' want, Just de three names: de party dat's ac- cusin' 'er, de judge, an' de district attorney. [New Orleans, La., (826a) 1212:2.]
Entry 9379
Ah've hear'd once dat - a woman come an' tole me, ah don't know how true dis is. But a woman come an' tole me once dat she could do anything dat she wanted. Said she could make me do anything dat ah wanted tuh do wit a woman. Said she'd bring me one aig an' ah'm goin' take dat aig, aftah she look at it, an' ah must walk tuh de rivah, an' don' say a word tuh nobody, don' care who meet me, don' say a word tuh nobody, don' care who meet me, don' say a word tuh nobody till ah git tuh de rivah an' throw it in dere an den come back. She say dat aig will make 'em leave town. [Informant's intention of making the person move is the power here.]
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.]