Subject:String
Other forms: Strings
Entries
Entry 631
Take a girl an' a boy, yo' mo' den apt tuh find a pair of 'em together an' dey be seein' which one of 'em love each other - dey pulls knots in strings to see which one of 'em kin hold de longest. (How do they do that?) Dey'll, yo' know, jes' take a piece of a string an' tie whole knots an' she pull on it an' he pull on it. Well, if de knot that she pull on don't come out, her love is still sticking; an' if he pull on it an' it jump out, why dere ain't nuthin' dere fo' him atall. Ah've done dat mahself.
Entry 2913
They takes a cord string and they measure [foottrack] from the toe - thisaway [demonstrates].
(Back to the heel?)
Yes. Put a knot in the head at the toe, and one in the middle, and one exact on the heel. You take that cord - you measure it. You take that cord, see, and you take a black candle and you make nine notches in the black candle, and you stick that [knotted string] in the candle and burn it upside down. (How would you stick that string in the candle?) You put the string on the side of candle and you stick it in there - pins in it.
(You hold that string onto the candle while sticking pins in it.)
You hold the candle [demonstrates] and just stick a pin in the candle and the string here - right at the toe and you stick it like that. And then you burn it upside down. (You put three pins in there [for toe, middle and heel] - and you burn the candle upside down.) [See margin-titles with pins.] Yes, sir.
(How long do you burn that candle?)
You burn it - one hour Monday, one hour Wednesday and one hour Friday, until you make, burns up those nine notches. You got your candle and you put your notches in it - nine notches. And after the nine days, then you got the case, you see.
(What would they do that for?)
To make you move. (What would the burning of this candle do to me? And that string, what will that do to me?) Oh, that make you travel far away - go on about your business. Travel away off.
Entry 3114
(Have you ever heard of a woman measuring a man?) [Measuring rites will come later.] Well, yes, ah've heard of it. Said dat dey would take string yo' know, an' measure dere privates, an' keep 'em from havin' a intahco'se wit a woman. (What do they do with that string then, after they do that?) Aftah dey do dat, well dey would tote it aroun' up undah dere lef' arm.
Entry 3378
Take a string an' measure 'im when, yo' know, de full length. She'll measure 'im wit dat string, wit 'er undahskirt string. If she have a undahskirt on, she'll have a string on dat. She'll take dat undahskirt string an' she'll measure his length. She take it an' tie it in a hard knot to dat same length. Tie it right in a hard knot an' tie it to her waist, an' at night she take dat string an' break it off. She go to her table an' she git a dishrag, an' she take dat dishrag an' wipe it down by dat string. Pull de string through dat dishrag three times an' roll de string up an' throw it behind de door - or hang it up ovah de door. Throw it behin' dere an' dat will tie him up. He nevah kin have any truckin'. (Now she takes this string from her underclothes and she gets his measure. Then she ties one knot in it. And what piece does she bring out of that, then?) De same end - jes' see [demonstrates] lak he's [his] length heah, she tie it right dere. She tie de knot in dat string to jes' de length of 'i. Yes, she break dat off.
(It's his length then that she pulls through the dishrag?)
Pull through de dishrag.
Entry 3379
Dey tell me dey ties three knots in a string an' wear dat. Dey tell me dat will hold somebody.
(What do they do with the string?)
Dey take an' put three knots in it an' gits a dishrag an' tie it roun' dere wit dat. (What will that do?) Dat will hold a man an' keep 'im from runnin' aroun'. (They just take a string and a dishrag. That's all? She doesn't use it on him or anything?) No, jes' wear it.
Entry 3476
A woman kin git a man's seap [penis] an' measure it. Don't measure yo' roun' but measure disaway [lengthwise], an' war [wear]. Put a hole in a silvah dime an' put dis string [used in measuring] through dis silvah dime, an' war dat cord aroun' 'er leg [left ankle]. An' as long as she war dat cord dis man would nevah have no dealin's wit dat [any other] woman - no feelin's fuh 'er.
Entry 3480
Jes' lak yo' a man an' yo' wife wuz runnin' aroun' - jes' lak a man would run aroun'. Well, when he sleep, de woman could take a cord string an' measure de end of 'is thing an' tie it on de slat undah de bed slat, an' he couldn't mess wit nobody but 'er.
Entry 3481
Takes yo' a piece of string an' measure de root from de end up to yore stomach, an' take it an' tie it aroun' a li'le bottle an' set it up ovah yo' do. An' hit'll - a man can't have no othah woman but 'is ole lady.
(The woman would do this?)
Yes sir.
Entry 3487
Jes' lak yo' have a sweetheart an' yo' wanta hold 'im, well yo' take some bran'-new pins dat nevah been used, an' yo' fix dem haid an' haid [tail], but dey must be even, see. (You mean one goes this way [I demonstrate] and one goes that way - they alternate.)
[Informant misunderstands alternate, a word I should not have used.]
Yes sir, dat's right. Yo' have a connection wit chure frien'.
(How many of those pins do you use?)
Yo' make a gartah of dose. An' yo' fix 'em de haid an' haid - lak de stuck right on de haid - dey can't stick yo', see. An' yo' take dis string an' yo' measure him while he's asleep an' yo take dat. Well, when he have connection wit chew, YO' DON'T HAVE NO 'MUNICATE [COMMUNICATION] WIT 'IM BUT HE JES' HAVE ONE WIT CHEW. Well yo'wrap dat roun' an' yo' ketch dat. Well, now yo' nuse [use] dat fo' a gartah, tie it roun' yore laig. He can't have nobody else but chew.
(What do you put those pins in?)
In dat gartah. (In this piece of cloth that you make the garter with, you put those pins in there after you wipe him? And then you make that garter and you wear it?) Yes.
Entry 3488
I've heard that a woman could measure a man while he's asleep and tie that string around her leg and wear it for three weeks; then take the same string and burn it, and take the chars from the string and put them in an envelope, and seal it and write his name on it, and put it under her pillow. And he wouldn't have any use for any other girl.
Entry 3512
If chew have a man or a husban' an' he's runnin' out somewhere, jes' lak yo' been mate tuhgethah yo' jes' take dat stuff an' tie in a little string an' tie it roun' yore waist, an' when he go back tuh dis lady he can't mate ag'in. [See margin title SPIRIT CAUGHT IN KNOT, p.389.]
Entry 3515
Dat's fo' anybody tuh do anything to yo', see, lak if yo' go wit a woman, yo' know, an' anothah woman, see, dey have yo' tricked an' dey wear it roun' dere waist. Jes' lak a string, any kinda string dey wear roun' dere waist. Dey tie three knots in dere an' wear it roun' dere waist.
(What do they do with that string first or that cloth?)
Dey do nuthin but take a plain knot an' tie it. [Wilson, N. Car., (1456) 2647.
Entry 3518
Yo' kin keep 'im from goin' wit a woman. Git chew a cord string an' measure 'im, hisself yo' know, an' yo' git de length of 'im, an' den yo' measure aroun' 'is waist [the thickness or circumference], an' tie a knot in it, see. (You get the measure around his waist with the same string or a different De same one. Look heah. Yo' see [demonstrates] de string is long, an' yo' measure it sompin lak dat, an' yo' tie a knot at dis end an' yo' tie one in de middle. An' yo' done tie it dat far roun' yo' see. Den yo' take an' measure dat dis way. (The same as the length.) Yes, an' tie a knot dere, an' den yo' tie it all de way aroun' yore waist an' den [or] yo' wear it aroun' yores right in yore laigs an' dat keeps 'im from - he cain't do it wit anyone else. [This should probably be classified under 4 knots, usually reserved for the 4 corners of a handkerchief. Here, however: lst knot is tied in the end of the string; 2nd at end of length; 3rd at end of added circumference; and 4th about the waist.]
Entry 3519
Well. dey take a cord string, lak a. twine string, an' take de length of 'is private. Well, yo' make three knots right in de middle of dat, dat'll keep 'im from: bein' wit somebody else. It will fall evah time he go wit somebody else same as a [dishrag?]. (What does she do with that string, then?) Take dat string an' keep it, wears aroun' 'er waist.
Entry 3521
[The following rite is a good example of what happens when you do not turn on or have turned off your machine because informant is "less than fair" - so evaluated at the time. When I ask for a repe- tition of the rite, here is usually what happens - I have to drag it out of informant.] (She takes a cord string and measures a man, how long, and she puts a knot in each end.) In each end.
(And then she puts it in turpentine, you say, and wears it around her waist.)
Around her waist.
[Here, tying string about her waist makes the third knot.]
(And he is no good with other women.)
No, no good whatever.
Entry 3522
Well, that's so he can't have anothah woman.
(Well, how would she do that?)
She jis' take a string offa some of 'er clothes an' measure dis man, an' den take anothah string an' tie onto it, long enough to reach aroun 'er waist, an tie three knots in it an' wear it aroun' 'er waist. An' as long as she got dat aroun' 'er waist, he can't have anothah woman. (I see.)
Entry 3525
(You tie three knots into a string. Yes?) Ah show yo' now. Yo' ties in dat string dem knots, dey got chew tied - yo' can't leave yo' see.
(Well, would they do anything else with that string first?)
No, don't do nuthin else wit it. Dey will git a piece of yore hair aroun' yore private, yeah, an' tie it in dere, an' yo' can't - see now, dat's three knots in dere an' yo' can't leave. Yo' can't go wit no othah woman but de one.
(Well, what do you do? Tie that hair into that string? Tie it in the knot?)
Knot. Tie 'em in a hard knot.
(Well, they use a piece of string though?)
Yassuh, dey roll it up dere, roll de string once on it, tie 'em. Den she wear 'em roun' 'er...
(Round her, near her privates?)
Yes.
literal tying of hair into string/hard knots, with an attributed partner-restriction effect. Keep private-area hair and the limited no-other-woman/cannot-leave claim as the source presents them; do not convert them into proven impotence. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 2432) · Read full source (printed page 2433)
Entry 3531
Yo' kin keep yore husban' from a woman lak dat, he cain't raise up fo' a [another] woman. Yo' kin take a bran'-new cord string an' name it 'im, an' perhaps while he's sleep, yo' measure him, an' yo' tie three knots comin' to yo', an' yo' tell it whut chew don' want 'im tuh do. Den yo' take dat an' tie it an' wear it aroun' yore wais'. He cain't raise up fo' nobody but chew.
Entry 3533
(And would she do anything else then?)
Well, she kin take an' kin have him.
(What?)
She kin have him, have intahco'se wit 'im, an' take an' tie a string aroun' 'er waist wit a knot in it; wit, yo' see, what come from 'er an' 'im, puts four knots in it an' tie it aroun' 'er wais'. He'll stay dere an' [something = finish?] his days. (I see.)
Entry 3540
Ef yo' a woman an' jis' lak yo' gon'a have a dealings wit a man. He comes an' yo' don't, but yo' see he do's. All right, git up an' git dat cord string - an' he done - an' dip it in dere an' tie all dem knots in it an' wear it roun' yore ankle. (What knots? How many?) Yo' have tuh tie five knots. Put it [string with 5 knots] in dat han'ke'chuf an' put it roun' yore laig. Yo' cain't git rid of 'im. (What did you do with that handkerchief before? Before you put the knots in it [the string]?) Oh, yo' use dat han'ke'chuf.
(You wipe him?)
Yes.
Entry 3548
She'll take a string, see, an' if the man's asleep, you know, she'll take it out an' she'll git the full measure, see. An' then she'll go to work an' she'll tie nine knots in there, in this piece of new twine. An' she'll tie it right around the calf of her leg:
(Which leg?)
Either one, an' that's got chah. You won't want no other woman until you git where she is.
Entry 3563
Heard of 'em tyin' knots in a cord - jes' in a piece of string. Dey say if a man wanta make his wife stay home, he git a piece of cord de length of de bed an' let it stay dere one night an' she sleep on it. Den take it off an' put six knots in it, thinkin' about 'er, an' den three mo' knots In de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost. An' den take dat string an' wet it in chamber lye. (Wet it with him?) Yes sir, an' den take de rollah [roller] out de bed [one of the 4 casters on bottom of the 4 legs of the bed] on dat side an' put it up in dere an' push de rollah back in, an' dey say de man's wife will always stay home. De rollah, take it out an' put dat piece of thread up in dere an' den put de rollah back in.
Entry 3564
Yo' goin' wit dis woman an' she want yo' all to herself, wit all yore affection to her, why she jis' git a little string of some kine - some kinda fine cord or even a piece of thread. When yo' an' 'er go to bed, measure - put one knot in de end, an' she measure yo', yore instrument, see, tie dat knot. Well, aftah she measure yo', den she tie a knot dere. Den [after] yo' - all's up [yo' all is up], an' yo' is gone, or somepin, she put jis' as many knots in dere: if she wan' chew to stay wit 'er a lifetime, jis' put nine knots, see, in dat space of yore instrument, yo' undahstan'.
(Nine knots [including those] between those two end knots?)
Yeah, nine knots in dere, an' take dat right in dere, an' if it's not long enough, put anothah piece on it an' pin it aroun' 'er waist. As long as it stay dere, why yo'll fall fo' her all de time. Regardless of who yo' have any affec- tion about, why yore mind will be on 'er.
Entry 3565
[My opening comments here as in so many places are primarily either to put informant at ease or to suggest that he or she speak louder.]
(That's a boat whistling - the boat coming in from New Orleans, I suppose.) Yes, I guess so. (What did you say, now?)
I said dat she would take a cord string an' tie nine knots in it.
(What?)
A cord string.
(Oh, a cord string. All right, what would she do?)
An' tie nine knots in it an' take two grains of black peppah [see later] an' tie it in each one [end], yo' know, an' she would wear it. Of co'se, anything dat's bein' used lak dat, ain't supposed to wear it aroun' de waist. She'd have to keep it nex' to her.
(I see. Well she would have to put - you mean black pepper?)
Black peppah - no [not ground black pepper], you know black grain peppah.
(What kind? Black grain pepper?)
Black grain peppah. Yo' jis' tie dat black grain peppah.
(You just tie this one thing in each.)
Yo' tie it in each tying in the string, yo' know. (You mean those little round pepper things - little round, they are about the size of a bullet shot?) [I wanted to be certain that informant meant whole black pepper. This exces- sive repetition may also mean that I was having trouble with the recording. Gun shell shot would have been a better term.l Yeah, but yo' have to double de cord string.
(You do what?)
You have to double it.
(You have to double it?)
Double the cord string.
(How do you double it?)
Why yo' know how yo' take a string an' double it?
(Yes.)
Yo' ties de knots in it. (Oh, you tie the knots in the double string - nine knots. But you tie these pieces [whole black peppers] in the end?) In each end.
(I see.)
Entry 3566
She kin measure him an' take de nature from 'im fo' othah people so he have nature fo' her. Well, she take de measure of him, as long as he is, but let de string be dou- ble. Double de string an' take de measure of 'im. An' while she's foolin' wit 'im. Den take dat string an' wear it roun' 'er laig. Well, he won't fool wit no one.
Entry 3567
Den she kin take a bran'-new cord string an' put it up in 'er, an' aftah takin' dat string an' puttin' it up in her - take a cord string an' put it up in yo'. Double it three times fo' tuh wear it aroun' yore waist, an' have him. An' don't chew come, let 'im come. Take dat string out of yo' an' put it roun' yore waist, an' fo' nine mawnin's tie nine knots in it evah mawnin' put a knot in it. An' he won't have nobody.
Entry 3570
Well, dey has nine knot to tie, dey tie 'em in a length of dat length [demonstrates].
(About a foot.)
[These knots on the string are tied a foot apart.]
Yo' tie eight. Evah knot chew tie, yo' names whoevah yo' want dere love. Yo' name dem, yo' want dere love an' bring 'em back to yo'. De last [ninth] knot chew tie, yo' tie dat knot, yo' tie dat string roun' yo' an' yo' wear it; but chew 'noint it wit dat holy oil (see p.588) an' den yo' wear it roun' yore waist. An' dose people will love yo' an' always be dere. Ah know dat pos'tively fo' mahself. (You take any kind of string to do that?) Yes - no, ah take a cord string, yo' know, jes' lak yo' buy a package. Yo' take a cord string an' do dat.
Entry 3575
Yo' supposed tuh wear a cord string roun' yore wais'.... Fust [first] yo' buy de cord string from de grocery man [so that it will be new]. When yo' have anything [to do with a man], look lak, yo' PUT see. When yo' have sompin tuh do wit 'im, don't chew do nuthin. Let 'im do whut he go'na do. Den yo' take de cord string out. De first time, night, yo' put a knot in it de next mawnin', yo' put anothah knot in it fo' nine mawnin's. Keep de string roun' yore wais'. Low [allow] length enough yo' know till yo' kin put nine knots in dere, an' let it be loose 'nough till yo' put nine knots in it, see. Den yo' put de nine knots in dere an' yo' kin hold 'im.
(But you always wear this string inside yourself?)
No, no. See, de first time yo' put de string [in] an' den yo' have a intah- co'se on de string, see. An' den yo' tie de string aroun' yore wais' an' den evah mawnin' yo' ties a knot in it fo' nine mawnin's. See, dat ties 'im up. (THAT WOMAN WHO WAS IN HERE TALKING TO ME, HAS TO SPIT. SHE IS CHEWING [TO- BACCO, NOT A "ROOT'l AND HAS GONE OUT TO SPIT, AND IS COMING BACK IN AGAIN. NO WONDER SHE COULDN'T TALR!)
Entry 3577
If yo've got a man fren' an' he don't come tuh see yo' as reg'lah as yoo want 'im tuh come, yo' git chew a nail an' a string an' tie nine knots in it [demonstrates]. Yo' wrap dat string an' yo' tie a knot, wrap. it roun' an' tie a knot till yo' git nine. Take dat an' stick it down dere to de do'step an' yo' make a wish whut chew want. Dat will make him come. (You just wrap the string around your finger [serving as a nail] and tie it around, tie it around [9 times].) Yes.
Entry 3583
(Just a minute! Tell me the whole thing.)
Well, dey say yo' kin have a cord string in de meantime, an' yo' kin have it fixed so when yo' go to use it in yore rag, an' hit'll git not much on it yo' see. An' den yo' tie nine knots in it an' let 'er wear dat aroun' 'er waist. An' [dey] say, den she can't do anything.
(He can't.) He can't do anything but wit 'er.
Entry 3590
Yo' kin take a string, a cord string an' measure roun' - take it jes' as roun' as, lak yore, measure dat jes' to make it de same size as it. Keep dat de same size, an' yo' take it an' tie it aroun' yore laig. Jes' keep dat aroun' an' tie it aroun' yore laig. (You tie this one string around it and you put two other pieces of string ontd it, and tie it around?)
[Three pieces of string used.]
Tie it aroun' yore laig, or eithah roun' yore waist.
Entry 3607
Well, sometimes dey will tie nine knots in a string an' dey will wear aroun' dere laig underneat' de - if dey want to. An' dat keeps a man tied up. Jes' put nine knots in it an' wear it around dere laig. (What do they do with that string first before they tie those nine knots in it?) No, dey don't wear it atall. Jes' tie nine knots in it an' wear dat aroun' dere laig. An' dey wear dat.
Entry 3609
Ah heard dat chew could take sompin jes' lak some of yore fingahnails, toenails, things from out undah yore toenails, an' trim 'em an' put: 'em in whis- key an' let 'im drink off dat whiskey. An' say dat he'll come back. An' dey say if yo' wanta keep one, tie nine knots in a string an' have lak sompin to dc wit 'im, an' let some of dat stuff git on it an' wear dis string aroun' yo'. An' dey say dat will keep him tied to yo' where he won't leave.
Entry 3611
Ah heard dat if yo' didn't want chure woman to leave fo' nobody else, dat chew take an' take a string outa her petticoat or 'er bloomahs or somepin lak dat an' git it wet wit some of 'er monthly stuff, an' take an' tie it in nine knots an' wear it roun' yore waist, dat no othah man can't mess wit 'er. Evah time he go dere he'll fall right down dere evah time.
Entry 3612
Fo' a man to lose his nature an' - lak if he has a woman an' she loves 'im, or he has a wife an' she loves 'im best. To remove him from 'er, or to take his nature away, she'll take a string, a cord string an' she'll measure his private an' den she puts nine knots in it. See. An' aftah puttin' de nine knots in it, den she'll take it an' she'll bury it or tie it undah de bed an' sleep on it. Dat is to take away his nature. or to keep 'im from goin' wit anybody else.
Entry 3613
Tie knots on a string an' tie it on to de lowah part of de body, an' tie a piece of cloth to dat, an' evah time - why dey have anything to do wit de fren', why dey take whut dey got fixed lak dat an' let him, yo' know, wipe wit it first. An' he wouldn't have mood, no wants fo' no othah woman but 'er. (Well, would she tie those nine knots first into the string?) [She had said nine knots before machine began to record.] She tie dose nine knots first, an' den yo' sew it onto a little bag, an' keep it right aroun' yore waist. An' evah time dat she be wit im, she would let Tim use it but not she use it. An' do dat fo' 'bout nine times. Well, aftah nine times, why yo' take an' bury it undah yore do'step, an' he wouldn't have no use fo' no othah woman.
Entry 3616
Well, yo' kin take a woman's sanitary cloth [a term rarely used at this date by informants], aftah she'd put it dere somewhere. Yo' kin take it an' tie it in nine knots - not take nine knots in de cloth an' tie it, but yo' know yo' kin take a piece of cord string an' tie nine knots hard dis way, yo' undahstan'. Tie nine knots in. An' yo' take it aftah yo' tie dose nine knots in it, an' put turpentine on it an' burn it up.
(You mean you tie this string around the cloth?)
Roun' de cloth wit nine knots in it.
(And then you put nine knots in the string after you tie it?)
Shu' [sure] - no, tie knots wit de string. See, wrap it roun' an' tie dat one dere; den wrap it roun' ag'in, see. (This string, you wrap it around once, around the sanitary cloth, and tie it Once; wrap it around again and tie a knot; wrap it around again and tie a knot. Get nine knots?) Git nine knots. She won' be no mo' [good] to 'erself or no one else.
Entry 3617
Ah have lived wit a woman in dis city, an' ah found some hair, colored man's hair or coman's hair, an' one penny sewed up in a sack an' a string wrapped aroun' it, an' de string had nine knots in it an' a rabbit's foot. But ah knows one thing dat ah couldn't have nuthin else to do wit no othah woman but 'er. But how dat wuz, whut she did, ah don't know. But ah foun' it in 'er purse.
(She did this to you?)
She did dat to me.
Entry 3623
When yo' have a intahco'se wit 'im, yo' take yo' a co'd string an' don't yo' come. She don't come wit 'im. She jes' wet dat co'd string in dat come an' 'is chamber lye an' tie nine knots in it an' wear it aroun' 'er waist. An' take de measure of 'is [penis] an' tie nine knots in dis co'd string an' wear it roun' 'er waist. Dat will stop a man from runnin' aroun' an' he cain't git up no heart fo' no othah woman. When he go it will fall. Dat ties up 'im.
Entry 3625
An' den anothah thing, if yo' away ah kin bring yo' to me. Yo' kin bring a man tuh yo' in nine days time, or eithah a woman. Yo' take yo' a cord string. Dat's simple but it's a fact, ah done tried dat. Yo' take a cord string an' tie nine knots in it a inch apart. An' evah mawnin' yo' urinate on dat string an' tie yo' a knot [inch apart] an' yo' repeat dat verse, have God's Name in it, say, "Ah do dis In de Name of de Father, de Son an' de Holy Ghost, fo' yo' to come an' nevah return [away again]." An' tie dat knot when yo' say dat, call im by his name, an' tie dat knot, an' de ninth knot, why he'll be dere in three days time aftahward. (What do you do with that after those knots are tied in? What do you do with that string then?) Wear it. Keep it wit yo' till he comes.
Entry 3627
Yo' could win a man. Yo' could take, yo' know, a string an' put nine knots in a cord string an' put it in turpentine, yo' know, an' wear it aroun' yore waist, an' it would keep 'im from havin' dealin's wit any othah woman but chureself.
(Well what do you do with that string first before you put the nine knots on it?)
Well, yo' take an' put nine knots in it, see, an' make a wish an' put it in dat turpentine an' tie it aroun' yore waist, an' evah time he git ready tuh have a intahco'se wit any othah woman, see, he couldn't.
Entry 3629
Takin' yore chamber lye an' usin' dat an' yo' can't - yore dick won't rise till yo' see her, yo' know.
(Well, how do they use that? Do that?)
Put it in a bottle an' tie nine knots in a string, an' put de string aroun' de bottle an' put it up ovah top de door where yo' go out at; an' when yo' go out, dey lay dat bottle an' yore dick won't rise. An' while dat bottle layin' down, yo' come back an' den dey set it up. Yo' set de bottle up an' yo's all right den. (Well, what do they do with this string first? Where do they get the string first?) Wet it in de watah.
(Oh, they wet this - in whose water?)
In yores. (The woman gets the string and wets it in the man's water, and she ties these kmots in it.) Yes, ties nine knots in it. I hear'd of peoples takin' yore hair an' puttin' it in a rag, puttin' it in a bottle an' puttin' some vinegar wit it, an' puttin' it up ovah top de door. An evah time yo' go out dey lay dat bottle down, an' yo' have to come back; an' when yo' come back, dey set dat bottle up, an' yo' is all right.
(What would she do about getting his nature? What would she do with that?)
Put it in a bottle an' lay it 'cross, put it up in de do'r - see, anywhere yo' go out. An' when yo' go out she lay dat down when yo' come back, she stand it up. But yo' kin easily do somepin fer dat. [Norfolk, Va., (469), 475:7.] [I had intended to comment at the end of KNOTS NINE about the number of them in HOODOO. Instead I write a few words to fill in the end of this page.] [I agree with the informant who supplies our first margin title: AH'M GON'A TELL YUH SOMEPIN OTHAH DAT BEAT DE WORL'. Snail rites do beat de WOrl'. They are so amazing I have been more than generous with examples. HooDoO as a whole will show that no special effort was made to collect them, because sex in itself was never emphasized in field work. When I first heard about the snail rite in 1936, I thought the man was lying - see 3635.]
Entry 3708
The follow- ing informant gives 4 separate cures:] Dey say yo' kin take in measurin' a man - well now, in yore husban', if yo' don't want 'im tuh fool wit somebody, why yo' could take an' measure him when he's sleep, if yo' git a chance. Or eithah, yo' fix 'im to pay no 'tenshun - have connection wit 'im fo' a chance tuh measure 'im wit a piece of cord string, dis little cord string dat come off a wrappin'. An' take an' measure 'im wit dat - jes' de length of it. An' den yo' kin take an' tie nine knots in it, an' yo' kin wear it in yore shoe, or if yo' kin, put it down undah de innah sole of yore shoe, an' he can't have anythin' tuh do wit anybody else. Den yo' kin take a piece of new homespun. Jes' lak yo' be playin' an' yo' have a piece of new homespun about de bed, or sompin yo' wus sewin', an' dey kin use dat aftah dey git through. Put it undah yore mattress an' double it up in a piece of papah an' put it undah yore mattress an' he ain't goin' bothah 'bout anyone. An' den if a person gits where dey kin't bothah wit anybody an' wants it taken off dem, dey kin go an' steal a dishcloth - steal someone's dishcloth. An' if dey got greasy dishwatah dere, dey jis' skim off dat grease wit dat dishcloth an' squeeze it up in dere. An' den yo' kin take dat dishcloth an' use it an' wash it off yoreself an' dat will kill it out. An' den yo' kin take an' git some cedar - these cedar leaves. Don't chew know, yo've seen dese cedars in de cemetery. An' take sulphur an' sprinkle it ovah dem, an' put a little fiah undah it, an' yo' kin kinda stand ovah dat an' let dat smoke go ovah yo', an' dat'll kill it. (That will kill it, if his nature has been taken away from him - restore his nature. But you don't have to get that cedar from the cemetery, you can get it any place?) Yes, anywhere. Yo' ain't gotta git it from de cemetery. [Yet, informant prefers graveyard.]
Entry 3717
If yo' got a husban' an' he's runnin' roun' too much an' not, yo' know, any service to yo', why yo' kin take a cord string an' measure his thing. An' aftah yo' measure it, take an' tie it up in ninekmots an' den wear it roun' yore laig. An' den yo' wear it roun' yore laig an' whenevah he git ready tuh have a woman or anything, why he can't have 'em an' he won't know whut's de mattah wit 'im. An' he'll be dat way as long as yo' keep dat string. BUT IF YO' EVAH LOSE DE STRING, WHY HE'LL BE JES' LAK HE ALWAYS WUZ. He take sweet milk an' bathe himself in it an' he kin git rid of it - dat if he wants tuh. Put cream or sweet milk.
(If he was tied up that way by being measured?)
Yes.
Entry 3809
(Well, how do you get rid of that?)
How could yo' git rid of dat? Well, yo' git one of dem turnips, dem green turnips.
(Get a green turnip - green, turnip green.)
Yes, sir. An' take one of dem green turnips an' yo' squeeze it - yo' squeeze it. An' yo' take some of dis same snail dust lak dat, an' yo' mix it up an' yo' rub it, jes' tryin' to get juice out of de turnip lak dat wit dat snail dust. Yo' take dat an' yo' bathe yoreself wit it, jes' be- fo' yo' go to fool wit 'er. Yo' bathe yore- self wit it unbeknowst to her. An' when yo fool wit 'er, prob'ly she may want to put yoreself in 'erself. Yo' say, "No." Pretend. Make out yo're playing wit 'er an' fool aroun' wit 'er. An' when yo' get dat stuff, yo' try to get some hair. When yo' get dat hair, yo' take it an' rub it wit dat turnip. She have to turn yo' loose, de way it burnin' 'er, yo' undahstan'.
(You get a piece of her hair?)
Yeah, yo' get dat hair an' yo' mix it up wit dis turnip an' dis snail dust, an' den yo' rub it, jes' lak yo' rubbin', an' yo' jes' put it down In some pep- pah. It burns 'er all de time. Den she wants to know from yo', she say, "I'm got a burnin' down here all de time." Jes' lak dat. Den she say lak dis here, "Huh, yo' know what's it all about? Yo' got a idea whut's it all about?" An' yo' say, "Well, de last time yo' had yore panties on." She say, "Well, I ain't had my panties on since dis time." Yo' say, "Well, I feel a cord roun' yo'." Yo' say, "Prob'ly dat's by yo' wearin' dis here cord." Yo' undahstan'?. [This last to the author.] Yo' say, "Whyn't yo' [why don't you] cut dat off?" She say, "Oh, no, dat don't make dat. Dat's jes' to keep my back from hurtin'." [Somewhere I have given a rite in which a dime with 9 knots is worn about ankle for love under the pretence of a cramp cure.] Yo' say, "Oh, here, I'm going to cut it." Yo' take yore [pocket] knife an' have a [blade] dere an' befo' she say, "No, don't cut it." Well, yo' make a [reach] fer 'er an' yo' cut it. Jes' cut yo' loose right from dere.
[While recording machine turned off, informant explains how he was tied.]
Yo' take a person's length [with a string].
(You mean that's to tie? You call it keeping them tied?)
Yes. When yo' got 'em tied, meanin' dat yo' can't fool [with other women].
Entry 3836
Well, dey say yo' take a piece of string, not a rag string but a cotton string yo' know, an' yo' tie a knot. Now, evahone says if yo' wan'a man tuh love yuh, or a woman, yo' kin jes' squeeze dat little thing [finger] on yore lef' han' [demonstrates]. (Squeeze the little finger on the left hand.) Squeeze it till it git kinda dead [numb], yo' know. Den yo' take a needle an' jes' keep pickin' till yo' git one drop of blood. An' yo' take dat drop of blood an' put a little bit on all nine of dem knots, an' weah it roun' yore waist. Dey'll run crazy ovah yo'.
(You take that blood from your own finger?)
Yes.
Entry 3908
Git a string an' tie three knots, a man would do dis, an' git a drop or two of blood from a woman an' wear it aroun' 'is waist, an' he'll be able tuh hold dat woman. (Where would he get the blood from her?) Durin' de time of 'er ministration.
Entry 3909
He'd [author's contact man Carter] ask me if yo' wanta woman to stay wit yuh, how coot [could] cha make 'em stay wit yo'. Well, ah've been tole, see. Now jes' like she's - jes' like she goes an' have her, yo' know what I mean by dat. Well, yo' git dat rag an' yo' wrop it up into anothah rag, see, an' yo' tie it longways an' yo' bring it across [demonstrates]. Yo' put three knots in it, see. Bury in yore yard. Well, she couldn't leave yo' fer nuthin in de world. She goes, but she will have to come back. (Here's her rag, and you put it here and wrap it up. You have another rag there.) De longways first, one knot. No, don't put no knot longways. Yo' jes' - jes' like yo' tie a package, yo' see. Tie it longwise, an' come an' tie it across.
[Tying this package longwise and across makes sign of the cross.]
(You tie the string.)
Yes.
(I see.)
Sure, an' yo' put three knots in it.
(Three knots into that.)
Three knots onto dat cloth yo' tie up de rag in.
Entry 4362
They take the underclothes and they can cut a piece out of the man from under his arm or from the tail of the shirt and wear it on a person. They sew that up in a piece of red flannel. They take that and satu- rate it, you know, with the same in- gredients, urine and Hearts Cologne. [This, of course, is a hand - pp.519-669.] They say then they can control 'em like that. Or they can take them and throw them away. They can carry them back in the woods and hang 'em up on the west side of a tree where the wind just blows and wears it all the time. They say whenever that blows and wears down from up there, why then the person will die. But chew got a new cord, like this wrappin' twine. You get that right off from the ball, right off from the cord where there's never any been pulled off, and fasten it on that tree or bush or what chew put it on. But you put it so the wind can blow it and the rain beat it. And whenever this cord rots, you see, and that blows away from where it's at, they say the person then'll soon die.
Entry 4366
If de person know de man name - yuh goes an' know de man name. Yuh care [carry] a li'le bottle, dis cologne bottle, an' yuh call 'is name an' stop 'im up - jes' bottle up de man [see 38, p.24f.] in yuh fob pocket. An' den yuh [go] talk tuh 'im an' he say he ain't got no job. All right, chew go back home an' fer de nex' nine mawnin's - an' yuh got 'is name all right - yuh take a cord an' tie it aroun' yuh waist an' double it nine times. Make yuh chamber lye on it an' put it in de bottle. An' go back [to the boss] an' call 'is name ag'in, stop 'im up, an' den he'll give yuh a job.
(I see, you get the spirit of his voice in this bottle.)
[An old comment of mine in pencil about this rite reads Use with care. This rite is quite all right, except I failed to understand the word double when first checking transcription with the cylinder. Thinking that the waist measure was increased 9 times, I wondered how such a long string could be squeezed into one of those tiny bottles of perfume then sold for lOc at the Five-and-Ten-Cents Store. At the time of recording I probably knew the meaning of double because I do not ask a question about it, but I must not rule out knowledge coming from later experience. Here is what happens. The man wraps a piece of ordinary pack- age-wrapping string about his waist, ties a knot, and cuts off the two unneeded ends. He now has a loop or circle of string, say about 30 inches in circumfer- ence, which he pushes down over his thighs and off his body. This string he stretches out into a straight line of double string 15 inches long and at a right angle to his body; the knot being at one end, this end away from hi. This knot he now folds toward him until it coincides with the other end of the string. This once-folded string is now 4 parallel strings each 7 1/2 inches long. Turn- ing this shortened string 180°, so that the knot is again away from him, he a second time folds the knot to him, reducing the multiple strings to a 33/4 inches length. Remember, he is folding strings soaked with his urine. The strings are folded to him 9 times, at least theoretically. All this is not stated explicitly in the rite itself; it is implicit in this type of folding rite. No boss having his spirit triply captured - tied into a knot about applican'ts body, folded up towards applicant and in applicant's urine, and finally stopped up in a bottle - no boss could possibly resist such multiple magic.] [Charleston, S. Car., (519), 616:3.] [Human excrement rites are less numerous than those about urine. Numerically the ratio is perhaps 1 to 10. As a special feature, most of them concern trees - two-thirds to be exact. The best one, an unusual love story, will be found else- where in 822, p.284.]
Entry 4597
Dat bow - yuh take a bow out of a man's hat an' git chew a bottle of Heart Cologne, an' yuh dip it in de Heart Cologne an' yuh sew a cord string aroun' dat bow an' tie it round yore waist. Dat'll make 'em crazy 'bout chew, jes' love no one but chew.
Entry 4612
(I didn't understand what you said at first.)
Dey take dat bow in de man's hat an' put it in a piece of new cloth, tie it round [with string], put nine knots in it [string] an' put it round yore waist. An' dey say yuh wear dat an' dat'll keep dat man dere an keep 'im from goin' off. If he gone off, yuh git somebody to git it fo' yuh an' he'll come back an' stay dere.
Entry 4613
Well, yuh take dat out of a man's hat, chew know, de little bow dat's right back of de hat heah, out of de man's hatband. Den yuh git a little hair from de mole [mold] of de head - no, yuh git three strands right out of de mole of de head. Chew wrap dat aroun' dis little bow an' git chew a piece of new cotton cord, cord string, an' yuh wrap dat aroun' an' tie nine knots in dat string. An' den yuh put undah de little flap of yuh shoe - yuh know dat inner sole, or de heel of de left shoe. An' as long as it remains in dat shoe, dat person's supposed tuh remain dere.
(That's all for love.)
Entry 4708
Yuh take de little bow. Yuh take de little bow an', if they kin git it out of dere jis' as it's in, dey take dat bow an' dey'll make what chew call a twist. Yuh see, if dey kin twist it like dey want, tuh keep from tyin' it, dey'll twist it. An' if dey kin git de edges, de ends, de way dey want it, dey take dem ends an' dey twists until dey cut - till dat end is jis' as thin as one stran' of yore hair, jis' by twisting it, but it'll be locked. [The weave of the bow will still be there, twisted into one thin string.] It'll be locked an' yuh twist till it gits thin as one stran' of yore hair. Now, if yuh leave [you do leave] a hole in between, see [demonstrates].] Now, yuh leave dat hole in between dere an' yuh take an' yuh git yuh a stick, an' yuh cut dat stick as roun' as yuh kin an' yuh put dat hair [twisted bow] on dat stick. When yuh put dat hair [twisted bow] on dat stick, yuh put it in de centah of de stick. Put dat hair [twisted bow] in de centah of dat stick an' carry it tuh where dey got runnin' watah, an' yuh take an' yuh hang - yuh git chew a string an' yuh put it on each end of de stick an' yuh let it hang in dat runnin' watah, but don't sink, yuh see. Evah day yuh go dere, evah twenty-fo' hours, see, yuh go dere. When yuh go, yuh let down on dat, see. Yuh let it down evah time - evah twenty-fo' hours yuh go an' yuh let it down until de length of yore thread would give out, which would be about two feets of string dat yuh would have on each end of de stick. See. An' when dat thread give out, yuh see, yuh go an' yuh give de same party dat yuh got dere hair [twisted bow] you git dem, an' yuh carry 'em jis' about two blocks tuh dis runnin' watah. See. Well, when yuh carry dem de two blocks tuh dis runnin' watah where yuh got dere hair at - see, dey goin' tuh go wit chew all right, dey'll have good intentions. Dey'll go, but when dey git jis' about two blocks from dere, dey ain't goin' tuh go. Dis party, dey goin' tuh turn aroun' an' come back. See. Now, when dey come back, yuh know yuh got 'em den. Dey goin' tuh come back. Don't beg 'em, don't force 'em tuh go at all. If dey want tuh come back, let 'em come back, but dey goin' tuh come back dere own indi- vidual self. Dey'll come back demself tuh see what it's all about. Dey'll jis' have - yuh want tuh lead 'em tuh come back, see. An' dey'll go dere an' dey'll set. Set right dere an' dey goin' tuh wondah maybe fo' days an' days, jis' stay dere wit'out nuthin tuh eat or nuthin, maybe prob'ly sleep. People will be won- dahin' where dey at, wondahin' what's de mattah, tellin' 'em dey're makin' a tramp of yoreself an' all sech things as dat, but dey won't know what it's all about, see. But dey'll stay dere as long as dat hair is dere an' until he die. He would not move from dere - starve tuh death.
[I stop recording to ask a question or two, then start machine again.]
I'm got it on a stick.
(The little bow from the hat?)
Yes, I'm got it on a stick, see.
(What about the hair?)
I'm talkin' about de bow of hair - yuh see, de hair an' de bow.
(Talking about the hair and the bow?)
I'm got it wrapped up on de stick, yuh see. I'm got it wrapped up an' I'm got a hole in dere an' I'm got de stick. Yuh see here?
(Yes.)
I'm got dat stick 'tween dat dataway an' I've thread on each end of it - jis' about two [feet on each end].
(You've got hair in that bow?)
I'm got de hair in dere.
(Oh!)
Yes.
(And did you put a hole in the stick or did you split the stick?)
De stick is not split, I'm only got de stick. Yuh see like dis here ridge in mah fingah [demonstrates]. I'm got de stick. I only got a ridge [groove] jis' all de way round it dataway.
(I see.)
An' I'm got thread on each end of it. See [demonstrates], on each end I'm got jis' about two feets of thread - on each end of de stick. (And you hold the stick over the water and it swings? You hold it and it swings over the water?) Yes, jis' let it swing. But evah twenty-fo' hours, evah twenty-fo' hours, go dere an' lowah it down until de two yards - or rathah de fo' yards of thread is gived out. Undahstan' (I see. YOU HAVE THIS BOW WRAPPED AROUND THAT STICK THEN? THAT YOU LOWERED DOWN IN THE WATER?) Yes, sir.
(I see.)
[This informant is not lying, he has a confused mind - often from long addic- tion to alcohol. Versions of this rite - lowering or floating objects in running Water - occur elsewhere in HOODOO.]
Entry 4777
Well, if ah'm a enemy tuh yuh an' wants tuh confuse yuh in yore home, ah mah- self, ah cain't do it. Got'a git someone tuh help me tuh do it, an' dat's by goin' an' gittin' a piece of yore clothes, sompin othah dat chew wears, don't chew know - sompin dat chew wears. An' ah takes dat an' tear it up, makes a very small string out of it. Take it an' twist it.
(Tear the whole piece of cloth up?)
Not de whole cloth, jis' git yuh a strip off about lak dat [demonstrates], whatevah it is, an' jis' tear it up in small strips. Take an' twist it dis away [demonstrates]. One [strip] dis way an' one dis way, jis' lak dat, yuh know. Jis' keep atwisting it till yuh git right intuh a fine - down-lak yuh know, tuh a string. Yuh take it den an' yuh put it - draw a knot intuh it. Yuh know how yuh tie a knot intuh anything. Well, yuh take dat an' git it intuh whatevah yuh kin git it intuh [a jar, see later]. Den yuh take some salt an' take some vine- gah an' anything dat dey'd use lak a garlic. Yuh git yuh some garlic tuh put in dere an' nine drops of turpentine. An' tighten dat up real - tighten it down howevah yuh wanta tighten it down.
(Tighten that jar down?)
Tighten de jar down, yassuh, an' den yuh prob'ly cain't git tuh de house; but git somebody tuh bury it tuh de back of de steps.
(What will that do then?)
Dat will - dey cain't git along in dere.
Entry 4781
Tie nine knots in yore - jis' lak yuh pajama strings or sompin lak dat. Jis' tie nine knots in it an' it'll make yuh successful.
Entry 4825
[A string or thread from clothes, also called raveling, is rather rare. Usually the wearer prefers something more substantial. This raveling, not long enough to reach round the waist, would be too fragile and easily broken. A small piece can be worn in a bag or sewed into a garment frequently used.l Same thin' as dat, or yore ole lady or somepin, yuh know. Yuh don' wan' 'er tuh pay attention tuh no one [she] runnin' aroun'. Yuh take a string an' wear it aroun' yore wais', any of 'er clothes. Wear it aroun' yore wais'.
(Take a string from her clothes, did you say?)
From 'er clothes, any kin' of 'er clothin' - jis' a sock or some of 'er bloom- ahs or somepin dat she wear undah, yuh see. Take it an' wear it aroun' yore wais'.
(And she can't run around.)
Entry 5017
In case of tyin' a man, keepin' a man, makin' love, yuh take dis sock. Yuh kin take a dirty sock an' yuh kin dampen it in some ole black molasses syrup, an' yuh roll it up lak dis nine times. Yuh roll it tuh yuh nine times. Yuh take yuh some brown papah an' yuh git chew a bran'-new cord string an' yuh wind dat nine times. Yuh tie dat.
(How do you wind that string?)
Yuh wind it tuh yuh. Yuh still bringin' it tuh yuh. An' yuh take dat an' yuh win' dat nine times an' yuh tie it. An' yuh put it right undah de middle, undah de centah of yore bed where yuh sleep. [This is a quincunx.] Yuh sleep ovah it all de time. Dat keeps a man down.
(You fix one of his dirty socks. Either one?)
Yes, eithah one of 'is dirty socks.
Entry 5042
Den dey take de worn stockin' - change de stockin's an' den dey take de stockin's an' put 'em in a bundle in de mattress, yuh know. An' yuh put dem stockin's an' tie it tight dataway - tie two stockin's tuhgethah an' yuh put it in de middle of yore bed, undah de sheet of de bed. De stock- in' will be up heah. An' den dey'll have ah - dey'll put some strings in dere. Dey'll have a string tied. An' dey draws a pitchure of dereself wit a pencil. Ah seed [saw] a woman do dat mahself. Ah know she done dis. She takes a pencil an' she draws. Ah don' know what pitchure she did draw, but she'll take dat sock an' she'll put it down dere. An' she'll take dat thing dat she draws an' she'll put undah dat same place. An' dat man cain't leave her.
(You don't know what she draws on there?)
No, she won't let me see dat.
Entry 5048
Jis' say, if yuh wanta bust up [broken-home remedy], see. A woman kin take his socks an' take her stockin's an' put 'em tuhgethah, heel tuh heel an' toe tuh toe. Use de lef' foot. Some say de right but de lef' foot is bes'. An' yo' put some sugah in dere an' some peppah, black peppah: if it's white person, put white peppah; an' if it's a black person, put black peppah. An' den yuh put a little cayenne peppah in it, see. An' den yuh roll it to yuh, lak dat [demonstrates]. An' aftah yuh roll it tuh yuh, den yuh git chew a bran'-new co'd [cord] string an' yuh wrap it nine times.
(How do you wrap that?)
Tuh yuh. Yuh roll it tuh yuh an' wrap it tuh yuh. An' den git chew a needle an' git chew some red silk thread an' sew it on each end, nine stitches. Pull it tuh yuh all de time dis way [demonstrates]. Pull it tuh yuh all de time.
(You put nine stitches on each end.)
Dat's tuh bring peace.
(What do you do with that then?)
Well, yuh kin wear it in yore pocket or put it where yuh kin evah day jis' dress it. Yuh know, jis' take yore han', don' have tuh put nuthin on it. Jis' take yore han' or jis' put a little perfume on it - good-luck perfume, any kinda good-luck perfume an' jis' rub it in yore han'. An' den yuh kin sleep on it. Or yuh kin put it where nobody won' go by [near] it but chew. See.
(That is for them to live together in peace.)
Yes.
Entry 5533
They measure your footstep with a string and tie that around a ten- penny nail, and drive it right in the ground where you have to step over ft, and that puts a curse on you. [Fredericksburg, Va., (45), by] Ediphone.]
Entry 5534
If a man have a woman dat's run away from home, she won' stay home an' won' be satisfied, she wanta do jis' as [she pleases] - de fellah don' wan' 'ah [her] tuh move away from dere. Take a cord string, cotton cord string, put de end of 'ah heel an' de end of 'ah toe, an' git 'ah measure- ment. An' put it roun' a nail an' drive it right ovah in front of de do'. An' den he wanta read de 90th Psalms of David.
(What will that do?)
She'll stay home.
Entry 5538
Ah'll answah yo' dis guestion. (All right.) Dey'll take yore foot track an' dey'll take a cord string, a bran'-new piece of cord outa de store, an' dey'll measure yore foot track. Dey will measure each one of 'em, right an' left. Dey goin' tuh put one foot track goin' dis Way an' dey goin' tuh put de othah goin' data way [demonstrates]. An' dey goin' tuh write yore name on a bo'd - it goin' tuh be on a bo'd [symbol of graveboard]. Dey goin' tuh write yore name on dat, an' dey goin' tuh take an' throw it ovah de lef' shouldah in de rivah [Mississippi] or in de lake [Ponchartrain] air [either] one of dem two go; if it go in de lake, it's all right an' if it go in de river, it's all right. Well, dat's tuh - dat is so yo'll jis' git sick, lingah sick, an' yo' don' know whut's de mattah wit chew. Firs' thing, a pain'll take yo' an' yo'll git paralyzed-lak, but yo' isn't paralyzed, yo' is tricked. See. Yo's [you has] no control of yore feet an' jis' puts yo' in a dragon [dragging] con- dition. (Now, they turn one foot track that way and one this way [author demon- strates]?) Yes, sir, jis' lak dis [demonstrates].
(Do they use the same string for both or two different strings?)
It's de only one string. Dey wan' dat track.
(Do they dig up that track or do they [merely] measure it?)
Dey takes 'em up. Dey takes 'em up, de whole measure of it. But how dey do, dey take 'em up - dey have a li'le flat bo'd an' yo' see, dey take dat dust an all up tuhgethah.
(They just slip it under those tracks?)
Dey slip it right undah dese tracks, an' now dey goin' tuh put one track goin' dis way an' [demonstrates] - one feet goin' out dis way an' de othah feet go dis Way. An' dey goin' tuh write yore name on a pastebo'd.
(Pasteboard?)
Shoe pastebo'ds whut chew buy shoes in. Dey goin' tuh write yore name on dat. An' aftah dey write chure name on dat, dey takes it an' dey goes tuh de rivah or de lake, an' throw it ovah de lef' shouldah.
(Well, wait a minute. Do they throw these foot tracks in with the pasteboard?)
Yes, sir. Dey throw dat ovah de lef' shouldah an' In de Name of de Fathah, an de Son, an' de Holy Ghost.
(I see.)
Dat's goin' tuh make yo', in nine days time, yo' goin' tuh come, be loose of yore limbs. No more service tuh yoreself. (What do they do with that string they measure it with? What do you do with the string?) Dey takes dat string - dat's de - dat so as - yo' see when yo' be - if yo' be pickin' up - yo' know, if yo' pick up dust, it's bound tuh crack, huh? But chew got de full length of it wit dat string.
(I see.)
Well, dat string goes wit it. It's tied right across dat bo'd. An' throw it ovah de lef' shouldah In de Name of de Fathah, of de Son an' de Holy Ghost.
Entry 5542
Dey would take de cord an' dey'll measure it, an' yo'd draw [stretch that cord over the length of] dat foot track. An' yo'd take dat cord aftah it wus drawed [stretched], an' yo' put it in a bottle wit some devil vinegah. An' write his name in dere nine times backwards [like Smith John instead of John Smith] an' nine times frontwards, dat's 18 times, an' keep it in dere fo' nine days. An' at de end of de nine days he goin' die.
(But you have to find this foot track some place first?)
Yes.
(Where do you get this devil's vinegar? Do you buy it some place?)
In de drug sto'.
(The Crackerjack [Drug Store]?)
Any one of 'em [any New Orleans' drug store].
Entry 5545
Yeah, yo' kin take up a person's foot track jis' lak yo' kin - yo' know, a person walk along, why yo' kin go dere an' take de measure. Take yo' a string an' measure dey foot, de width an' de length. Yo' kin use both if yo' wan' tuh. Dat's whut dey tell me, dat yo' kin use both of 'em wit a string. Measure de width an' de length wit dis string. An' den yo' go tuh work an' yo' bury it at dere back do'steps. Dat string jis' de length of dey foot, yo' bury it dere an' event'ly [eventually] dey'll jis' leave 'way from dere. Dey cain't rest dere.
(You make both measurements with the same string?)
Wit de same string, see; an' yo' bury dat string.
Entry 5546
Take yo' measure an' dey kin weah dat measure aroun' 'em.
(How would they take that measure?)
Dey git 'em a cord string or any kinda string an' take dat measure of yorn an' weah it aroun' 'em.
(The measure of this foot track?)
Yessuh. (What will that do then?) Dat keeps 'em down.
Entry 5547
Git chew a bran'-new piece of cord string, cord string. Go an' buy yo' a ball a nickel[!] ball of cord string, undahstan'. An' yo' ketch dat track. Yo' watch 'em where dey pass an' yo' go dere an' yo' measure dat from yore toe to yuh heel. Tie dat knot in dere [at the length] an' put it in yore pocket. Den yo' got 'em.
(How do you mean you got them?)
If yo' wanta bring 'em tuh yo' or whut chew wanta do. Tuh stop 'em from walkin' or fix 'em any Way yo' want, well yo' got 'em, yo' see.
Entry 5548
[They would] tie - dey'd make nine knots in dat foot track. (How could they make nine knots in that track?) Well, dey'd measure it.
(Oh, they'd measure it. I see.)
Yo' have to measure it. Yo' make nine knots.
(In that string?)
In dat string, an' yo' take dat string an' yo' tie it tight an' bury it. Yo' see? An' yo' bury it in any yard way in de back undah of a tree. Dat would make dem person leg draw up.
(Make the leg draw up?)
Draw up.
(I see.)
Yeah. (Now, would you measure either one of those tracks, measure either one of them?) Yeah, it would have to be one of 'em, de lef'. [New Orleans, La., (798) 1113:1.]
Entry 5571
Ah kin tell yo' how tuh hol' yore husban' or yore sweetheart. Yo' go an' take his track if he's goin' out de do'. Take a teaspoon an' git a teaspoon- ful of de lef' foot, of dirt. Rake it backwards tuhwards yore house. An' yo take dat an' carry it in de house an' a teaspoonful of table salt, a tea- spoonful of red peppah, an' write de name of 'im an' a woman, a woman dat he used tuh go wit, or eithah he goin' wit den [at the present time], three times, an' fol' it up an' burn it up in de stove. An' yo' take a teaspoonful of red peppah an' tie it up in a papah, an' write de name three times, an' put it undahneat' de bed. An' dat'll break den up, an' he'll come right on back home. (Now what you do: when he leaves home you take a teaspoon and you take a Spoonful of dirt out of his left track and you bring it in and put these things with it. Then you take a piece of paper and you write his name on it three times, and then the woman he used to go with or the woman he is going with now, you write her name down three times, each one three times, then you put something in that paper?) Put the salt and de peppah in de paper, a teaspoonful of each one. (Then you burn it up. Then you write the names down again? Three times each on another piece of paper?) Yes - yes.
(And you put a teaspoonful of pepper in that?)
Salt, don't put de peppah.
(The salt. Then what do you do with that?)
Fol' it up an' tie it wit a string an' put it right undahneat' de bed where he sleep at.
(That will break him and the other woman up?)
Yes.
Entry 5597
Now, I heard that you can take and find a man's foot tracks, count nine of them, the right track, and you get a little dirt out of that right track [the ninth right track]. And you take the dirt and take a little piece of brown paper, and put the dirt in it and save it. And when you get a chance you get the woman's tracks and you get the same out of hern, the right one [after counting nine of her right tracks]. And you put both of them together and you put [to this combined dirt] one third table salt, and you make just enough of your water into it to make it mucky. And you roll it up and get a piece of rag and lay this piece of brown paper into the rag and fold it up into a ball. And get a strong string, cottonor something similar, wrap it up as tight as you can wrap it; and as you wrap it make nine wishes, whatever you wish them to do. And you take it and hide it in a dark place and let it stay. And that's putting you two together.
Entry 5601
An' 'e [he] taken dat piece of pastebo'd an' cut it in de shape of yo' shoe.
(You cut the pasteboard in the shape of your shoe?)
In de shape of yo' shoes, yes. An' den yo' take dat dirt out chure track an' put it in [on] dere, an' yo' take new piece of cloth an' yo' stitch it all de way roun', an' throw it right off [throw it away]. (And what will that do?) Run yo' - run 'im away. (You cut a piece of pasteboard out. And what else do you do with that pasteboard, now?) Not enything. Yo' make it de shape of yo' shoe an' yo' git dis track. Yo' take dat dirt an' put it into [onto] dat track [pasteboard].
(You put it onto that pasteboard you mean?)
On dat pastebo'd. Den yo' git a bran'-new piece of cord string dat nevah been used. An' den yo' sews it tuhgethah, an' dat will run 'im off.
(What foot do you have to get?)
De lef' foot.
throwing the stitched pasteboard-and-track-material object right off. No river, shoulder, distance or destination is specified for this throw. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 2892) · Read full source (printed page 2893)
Entry 5715
Jis' lak ah'm on de way now uptown. Ah'm on mah way up an' mah min' is toum. Ah got some pahtic'lah business ah wanta 'tend [attend] tuh, an' ah'm on de way, now. Den yo'll git some of 'is track, undah- stan'. Yo' stan' where he's goin', de direction dat he's goin'. Take some of 'is tracks three times - take dat dirt P outa his track three times, an' den put dat in a piece of new cloth an' bind I up. Put three pods of red peppah in wit it. An' den take dat an' sew it up a' put a long string about dat long an' so it kin swing it. Sew dat string jis batavay an' evah time de win' blow, dat swing. He's agoin'.
(Where do you tie that up?)
Ties it up on a white oak in de woods. Jis' take it, tie it up in dere. He can't stay becuz 'is min' altuhgethah from dere. (In other words you take that track, you take it three times out of three different tracks - one right after the other?) Yessuh. (The same thing as that other one you told me about, about taking all the dree tracks?) Dat's right.
Entry 5716
Yo' take a mockin'bird's nest an' yo' burn it an' git de ashes out of it, an' use it in makin' a man or a woman go 'way. Yo' take dat wit some of dere tracks an' hang dat up ag'in wit a long string. Tie it up wit a piece of new cloth. Put it in a cloth have nevah been worn, an' put dat in dere wit a long string on it. Hang it up on a white oak an' it will swing. Hit will make 'em go off. DERE SO MANY WAYS TUH MAKE A PERSON GO OFF.
Entry 5784
They measure your track with a string and send you out of the neighborhood. And stick it down at the low-water mark. They tie it to a stick and stick it down at the low-water mark. That's to put you on a drift, to send you away from home. When the tide comes in, that covers the stick; and when the tide runs down [out], that's carrying you away from home.
Entry 5835
Yo' take de hair from de mole, take de hair right out de top, de mole [old] of de hair. Well, yo' take dat hair an' yo' wrap a string around it, or thread, any kinda thread aroun' dat hair, an' yo' put dat hair in a bottle, see, an' yo' po' some cphor in it, see. Well, dat will make it 'live. Shake it up, see. Yo' let dat stay in dere nine days an' yo' take dat out an' yo' wrap in a flannen cloth. Let it stay in dat flannen cloth an' den yo' wear it. Dat is tuh draw yore sveetie to yo' or anybody yo' want lak dat.
(Whose hair do you put in that bottle?)
Fell, if it's de man, he put de woman's hair; an' if it's de woman, she put de 's hair.
(What did you say THAT CAMPHOR does for the hair?)
Entry 6155
(Take what?)
If you take a string of thread an' measure it from [I interrupt].
(A string or thread.)
An' measure from de mole of yore haid to de tip of yore toe, yo' know, an' clip a little hair out de mole of yore haid. Take dat an' wrap it up in a forked stick - wrap dat hair an' thread [or measur- ing string] up in a forked stick, an' bury it undah de do'step - dat, yo' know. See, she couldn't quit yo' or couldn't leave dat house until yo' dug dat up.
(I see. This is for the home?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 6165
De way ah heard it - said dey take dey hair an' tie a string roun' it an carry it tuh runnin' watah an' drop it in runnin' watah. An' dey tell me dat will run yuh crazy. Now ah do not know [how true that is]. (How do you mean, run you crazy? Make you lose your mind?) Bake yuh lose yuh mind.
Entry 6484
Well, it's quite natchel if a man love a woman, he wan' 'er tuh love 'im yo' know. When she rub 'er haid - when she mub 'er haid wit 'im, well she love yo' an' yo' love 'er. Well, but if yo' wanta git sho [sure] of 'er, if yo' got dat much 'er toenail yo' cut off - cut chure toenail off an' tie it tuh a string wit jis' about dat much Adam Weed Root [Adam-and-Eve?] in dat, wit dat toenail, an' let it swing off intuh runnin' watah. An' jis' as long as dat vill stay dere, she'll love yo'.
(That's her toenail you tied?)
Sho', her toenail.
Entry 6808
(Suppose I have come to you about taking a spell off?)
Well, ah nuse [use] dis salt, peppah, sage an' stuff - salt, sugah, sage, alum an' saltpetah. Ah got dat ovah in a box, see. An' ah take some new string, nuthin have been worn, an' ah tie dem, an' whatsomevah ah Want chew tuh do [demon- strates]. (Just tie a knot.) Yeah, tie a knot, an' den ah take dat, dis stuff an' sprin- kle it ovah dere, see. An' den if dis spell [is] on me [you], see. An' whosomevah put it on yo', if yo' know dere names, yo' jis' call dere name an' tell 'em yo' want 'em to take dis spell offa yo'. Well, if dey don't, yo' wish bad luck onto dem, see. An' yo' burn dis stuff. An' den YO' STRIP BUCK NECKED [NAKED] AN' DEN TAKE DIS BLANKET AN' PUT IT: OVAH YORE HAID. AN' DIS SMOKE, YO' CAIN'T HAR'LY [HARDLY] STAND IT. If dere's anything in yo' in any way, shape, form or fashion, it'll come out, see. [The preceding term suck necked [[naked]] may be its only use in Hoodoo.] An' den yo' take a li'le whiskey glass an' yo' boil dis heah gourd tea - yo know gourds - an' yo' boil dis gourd tea an' yo' take three glasses of dis gourd tea evah day. An' dat'll take de spell off yo'.
(Especially if they have something inside of you.)
Entry 7233
Yo' see dem li'le red onions, but chew git chew one dat's small; yo' know, got a li'le tail tuh it, lak dat, [demonstrates] chew know. Yo've seen 'em?
(I've seen them.)
Now, de way yo' gotta do, yo' [go] up to 'im - now, listen good. Yo' kill it [the trouble]. Ah had de claps right tuh mah.... So yo' take dis red onion. Now mix dem good. An' yo' know a coman's vury weak anyway, say, "This ain't goin' hurt choo. Wipe dis on yo' so ah won' have tuh come back no mō'." Now, listen good. Now, aftah yo' take dat onion, yo take yo' a cord string an' tie it up somewhere where nobody won' see it. Now listen good, where it won' touch de wall anywhere. An' ah'll betcha, if she have any other man, ah'll eat chew up. She won' [have] any, anothah man, betcha.
(Now, you have that onion and she takes that onion, doesn't she?)
He has tuh tell 'er, see, say, "Ah have de claps, here. De doctor tole me tuh git some of yuh [your] wiping." Yo' know, it ain't goin' hurt 'er. Yo' know, put it between....
(But you have her take that onion and wipe you?)
Shore. Undahstan', yo' know, jis' lak yo' have a woman, yo' say, "Baby wid dis, will ya? Ah have de claps so bad." An' yo' takes dat [red onion] away from 'er an' yo' take a cord string, an' tie it up somewhere where nobody - not even yuh wife won' see it. Where it won' touch de wall nowhere. An' ah betcha evah day an' evah night she be right on yo'.
(I see. You wipe the woman with the red onion.)
Shore, an' den git roun' dat li'le ole tail of it [onion], git chew a cord string an' yo' tie it, an' hang it up somewhere where nobody can't see it.
(You hang up that red onion.)
Yes.
(I understand now.)
Entry 7963
Measure a person's foot with any kind of string and tie a knot in each end of it...put it in a box the shape of a coffin...bury it; as hit grow old, as
[in like manner] you fade away.
Entry 8195
Yo' measure de person. (You mean, measure the length from the head to the foot.) [This is not a leading ques- tion but information obtained before recording began.] Dat's right, yo' measure de person, an' yo' give dem so many things [bad spot in recording]. You take dis person's measure wit some; jis' say now, yo' git a string dat size [demonstrates] an' yo' measure dat person. An' yo' wrap dis around a pichure of de person an' bury dem wit a ceremony as yo' would de daid. Yo' know, yo' jis' take dis, but chew have tuh carry it up on some hill, as ah wus tellin' yuh 'bout where yo' put de hair [in 841:4]. An' yo' use'ly [usually] git some of de hair of de person's haid an' bury it wit it. An' [that] somepin else ah didn't tell yuh.
(What will this do, then?)
[Informant thinks I am asking about the hair.]
Well, dey claim it jis' rots, de person [hair] will. But dey [person] fin'ly [finally] git mindless. Dey git where dey lose dere appetite. Now, ah don know whethah dat's true.
Entry 8473
Dey take alcohol.
(After they got the fingernails.)
After dey got de fingahnails an' aftah yo' take de alcohol, dey put it intuh dis alcohol. All right, den dey go git chure photo, yore pichure. Dey have tuh take yore photo an' dey puts yo' down, standin' down on yore haid. Well, all right, dey takes an' put fo' strings in dat; dat's if a woman wants a man tuh come back tuh 'er. (They put the four strings in what?) Intuh dis pichure. (How do they put them into the picture?) Wal, take a thread, yo' know in de fo' cornahs. Den dey turn it down, turn yuh down on yo' haid, see; an' dey take dis pichure an' dey place it ovah, behin' dis alcohol wheah yo' fingahnails is. See, an' den go tuh de back of de baid an' den dey tie dis string [in each of 4 corners of photo]. Well, dey covah it [photo] up where yo' cain't see it an' den event'ly [eventually], yo' come.
(This man is supposed to come home?)
Yeah.
Entry 8622
(Suppose I want to keep the law away from that bootlegging joint, what would I do? How would I keep the law away? Any particular way?) Well, they have several dif- (4) ferent kind of way to keep de law away, if yo' want de law dat is on dis beat. Now, well, let's fix up - we want de law away. Of course, if we go to work an' work direct on de police on de force, dat Wouldn't stop 'em from raidin'. Now, listen! Let's see what we going to do about stoppin 'em raidin' in general. All right. Yo' going to get de chief of detectives, yo' goin' to get de chief of police, yo' goin' to get de captain's name, yo goin' to get everybody dat's in authority over dat group, which, if they goin' to raid, dey'd have to go up to dese particular men before dey can make a raid. Do yo' get de idea?
(I see.)
It got to come from dem. Well, we'll start wit dem. We are not concerned wit de ordinary man, dat is, de common ordinary police officer. We get de head of 'em. Well, we take dat head in dere an' we are goin' to draw a round ring six inches from de centah - a round ring. We goin' to place all dose names in dat ring on parchment papah.
[No ordinary paper for the important police!]
(Six inches from the center - that is, the diameter will be twelve inches then?) Yeah, just de same [demonstrates] if yo' say six inches from here [center of circle] an' yo' just hold it [a string] dere an' yo' go aroun' [draw the circle].
(The circle is twelve inches in diameter?)
Yeah, twelve inches in diameter.
(All right.)
Now, yo' going to take each one of dose officers - see, de twelve of 'em dat's in authority. [Informant is surely thinking of the 12 signs of the Zodiac rather than the 12 Apostles; the signs to protect place of business from police all year.] Yo' goin' to place 'em direct in dat center an' yo' goin' to sweeten 'em up. An' aftah yo' sweeten dem up.
(How do you sweeten them up?)
Well, yo' can takd dis Lureen Oil [surely Zuring oil, an oil to lure the police], dat Oil of Lureen, when it come for anything beneficial, all good things, this is to use for dat most particular purpose [beneficial to oneself]. Like yo' can use seven drops of dat Oil of Lureen, an' aftah yo' use it round in dere, why yo' goin' to take what yo' call a tappan[?] beans come from Central America.
(What kind of a bean?)
Dat's a bean come from.... Central America, from Las.... G....de capital of Las....
(What do you call those beans, what is the name of them?)
Santoine[?] beans.
(Santoine[?] beans and where do they come from?)
Central America.
(From where? You said some place in Central America?)
Well, sir, G....is the capital of Las....but dey bring 'em from G....to Las.... an' dat's de seaport.
(I see. All right.)
Now, why each one of dose names I done going to take pure white thread. It made kind of like wit four corners an' it grows in a bean [pod] an' dere may be twelve in one bean [pod], eight or ten, like dat. Yo' take it an' yo' sew it right in de center of dat name. Like my name would be Paul B. Dickson. Where the "D" at, yo' could write it twixt de "D" right in de center. An' whosomevah [whatever policeman] go back there [in your place of business, you complain to him] an' say, "Well, this is a quiet zone an' they raisin' Sam an' singing over there. Ah can't sleep at night. How yo' want me to work an' I'se lonesome an' all of that stuff." "Well, all right, " [says the officer] "we'll take care of dat." An' before he [officer] gets out of there [your place of business], dat stuff [you prepared] got him. (How do you do that? You sew one of these beans on each one of those names? Then what do you do with that parchment, then?) On [a bean on] each one of dose name. Den yo' take dat parchment an' yo' just fold it in like that an' just take it ovah dere an' put it in [your] show- case. Just keep it anywhere. Then it has a tendency to - wheresomevah your funds at, yo' can keep it right in yore funds an' it has a tendency to draw funds.
(You mean, the money?)
Yeah.
(In your money box where you keep your money?)
Yeah.
(I see.)
Entry 8882
A brass key, dat's lak a coppah key, Git chew one of dose coppah keys an' put it right in de Bible at a certain chaptah. An' den he'd wrop [profes- sional worker visited by informant would wrap] dis Bible wit a string an' let chew hold dat key lak dat [demonstrates]. Ah've helt [held] it mahself an' den he [hoodoo man] read a chaptah [from the Bible]. It says: By St. Petah, by St. Paul, by de Lord dat made us all, if sech-an'-sech Q man - jes' call de name, see yo' have tuh git de name - is got chure money, ah pray dis Bible turn an' fall. An' it shore will fall when yo' hit it right. Ah've tried it, helt dat [Bible]. But ah don't know as ah could do it lak he [doctor] did. [Informant thinks this by-St. Peter rhyme is a chapter from the Bible! How our hoodoo man and informant held Bible and key will become apparent as we proceed.]
Entry 8890
If yo' wanta find out de person dat done de stealin', yo'll git de Bible an' git a brass key, an' find de middle verse of de Bible - de very middle leaf an also de middle verse in dere. Ah don't know now [what it is], yo' see, 'cuz ah not much of a Bible readah. An' yo' jis' take dat [place] an' take dat key an' put it in de centah, an' tie a string on it an' tie it aroun' on de backside of de book, see. An' den'yo' git chew anothah fel- lah, yo' an' 'im tuhgethah, an' he put it on 'is fingah an' let de othah fellah bold it on 'is fingah. See, jis' put one fingah apiece on it, two persons. All right. Den de man whut wanna find out who did de stealin' - jis' lak us all be lined up, chew say, By St. Peter, by St. Paul, ain't but one God made us all. See. An' yo' supposed tuh say somepin else wit it but ah don't know jis' zactly [exactly] whut chew say, yo' see. An' den yo' say, If so, Henry stole so-an'- s0 - dis box or book - Bible please reel an' fall. An' if he stole it sure 'nuff [enough], dat Bible'll turn ovah. See, dat Bible'll turn right on 'is han' [hand] an' fall on de table or on de flo' on de [Bible's] face; but if not, it won't move. Dat whut chew do tuh find out.
Entry 8894
If yo' wanta find sompin dat's stolen - if somebody steal sompin from yuh - yo' take dat Bible an' git chew a brass key whut we call a skeleton key, but it's brass. Yo' take dat key an' a cord string an' run de string through de Bible dat way [demonstratesl, an' twist it on de string, dis end, an' twist it on de othah end de same way. Each end of de string is wrapped ovah on de key. An' yo' kin take dat key, yo' an' anothah person, an' hold yore fingah upon dat key, an' dat Bible ain't goin' move till yo' call de right name. An' whoevah yo' thinks got it - yo' call several names befo' dem tuh be shore yo's undahstandin' whut chure doin'. An' when yo' git tuh de right person, dat Bible will turn roun' an' fall.
Entry 8896
Well, lak if ah would steal sompin from yo' an' yo' know dat ah wuz de only one dere, but yo' didn't know whethah person'ly dat wuz me. Well, yo' kin git de Bible an' tell dat. Dat tell yo', de Bible an' a key. Well, yo' kin git de Bible an' yo' read de firs' verse of Psalms an' yo' close de Bible. An' yo' ties a string roun' de centah of de Bible. An' yo' gits a key, a do' key, an' hangs on dat string. Hangs it on each string where it hang steady, an' let it stay dere until it git perfectly still. Den yo' say: By St. Petah, by St. Paul, if John took so-an'-so from me, turn Bible an' fall. An' he didn't, dat Bible will not move; but if he did, yo cannot hol' [hold] it till it turn.
Entry 8898
Take a Bible, a small Bible. with a new do' key. an hang de new do' key - tie de Bible aroun' disaway, six times wit a cord. Tie de key into de leaves of de Bible, intuh Genesis chaptah. Hang it on a nail an' name it. An' de nex' mawnin' dat Bible will be turned right tuh de direction of de one who did de damage.
(Whoever stole the stuff?)
Yes.
Entry 8981
[This is a rite for an altar shaped like a triangle, one of the angles being 45°, so that it will fit into the corner of a room. A triangular board as a shelf would also serve the purpose. Sometimes an oblong or a square table is placed catercornered in a corner of the room. Such a device saves space, can be shut off by a curtain, and represents one of the four corners of the earth (Reve- lation of St. John the Divine, 7:1). One of these altars I actually describe under (3) My third psalmist (INTRO- lines 16-21). Though my informant does not say so, the pan of salt holding names and burn- ing candles did not rest on the floor, but upon an altar. We must also suspect the presence of holy objects, such as pictures of saints. My great friend, the Rev. J. Langtry Williams - mentioned in Pictures for Alma at the end of Folklore from Adams County Illinois, 2nd edition - described the reli- gious arrangement of his part-time housekeeper. She being elderly and ill, he went up to Harlem (black section in New York City) on a pastoral call. Her whole room was an altar! Two wires from the four corners of the ceiling sagged and crossed in the center'of the room. Along these wires at intervals were strung holy pictures and objects. In one of the corners was a shelf or small stand hold- ing a colored light with a float. She had seen my friend's sanctuary lamp over in the church, but these private shrines were common long before she met Father Wil- liams. All these religious actions are concerned with what I call the magic of the diagonal, one arm or both of the "x" or St. Andrew's cross. Hoodoo has many similar rites - the old housekeeper's also being a quincunx, which again is well represented in Hoodoo. For similar private shrines see: CUSTODIAN OF A SHRINE, PP.1139-1158; BEER FOR ST. PETER, CIGAR AND WHISKEY FOR ST. ANTHONY, PP.1220-1236; A WOMAN AND HER THREE SAINTS, Pp.1401-1414; etc, all in v.2.] In a sense [instance?] of that kind my godmother always burned nine candles and they have a beef tongue. Well, see different peoples come there and wanted cases dismissed [from court]. They'd get a beef tongue and they'd stick that beef tongue full of pins. And they have a string running from this part of the wall to that part. They'd tie that tongue up there [demonstrates].
(So it's hanging between the walls, you mean?)
Yes sir, yo' see just like de corner there [points].
(Yes.)
Well, they'd tie it hanging - hang it in the corner that way. An' they'd put them [demonstrates].
(Across - well, just one over the other.)
Yes.
(You put the strihg across one corner, one - show me how you do.)
See [demonstrates]. (Like that, I see. One cord over the other cord just so it cuts off a corner.) Yes. (They cut off the space in a triangle [the cut-off space becomes a triangle]. All right.) The left-hand corner of the house.
(Well, which is the left-hand corner of the house?)
Well, that [points to it] would be the left-hand corner of this house. You mean coming in? (Oh, it's the left-hand corner coming in. All right. And [demonstrates again] they hang this tongue in that [2 wires] like a swing? They put it in a swing?) Yes, see.
(All right.)
Just put two string between two corners - see, like that.
(Holes [nails] right in the corner.)
An' they puts [in the tongue] a whole paper of stick pins, pointed pins, yo' know. Stick 'em in this all ovah, all around. An' they write dat name on them candles - they got nine candles there.
(What name do they write on there?)
They write your name [client] on there.
(The person that wants to get free.)
Sure. Now they write your name on there. And then they take any kind of pan an' they'll fill that pan with salt, an' they'll write that judge an' the dis- trict attorney name on there, an' put it in this salt.
(What will they write all that on?)
On paper.
(I see, and put it in the salt. All right.)
An' put it in this salt. An' when they light them candles they go ahead on to the court house. If yo' not discharged that day, the case is throwed off. An' when they come back again, make another dressing [repeat the candle ceremony], maybe it throwed off again. (Now, you put all these nine candles in that pan of salt, burning. Are they all lighted at once? What color are the candles?)
[All candles are lighted at the same time.]
Different colors.
(I see.)
Red, blue, green, yellow, white - different colors. (Different colors, I see. But my name [client's name] is written on those candles, I see.) See, an' they write de judge an' de district attorney name - put that on that paper upside down like that an' light them candles an' go on out. Now, that case liable to be thrown out today. All right, call that case up again, fust de morning before that case is called at 9:15, dey light them candles again. Maybe throwed out that time. Next time....
Entry 9091
Yo' kin use dat [string] fo' lawsuits. Jes' lak if yo' was in a lawsuit, somebody had yo' prosecuted an' yo' had tuh [go to court] an' if ah wuz a witness against chah. Ah don't care how many witnesses against chah, yo'll [tie] dat in about nine knots. Evah one of us - yo'll tie us down in nine knots, an' we can't harm yuh. Yo' don't do no mo' den tie dat. Yo' jes' tie dem knots an' tell it whut chew want it tuh do. See. An' when yo' tell it whut chew want it tuh do, it goin' work directly de way yo' say.
(Then what do you do with that string?)
What chew do wit it den? Jes' hol' it in yore han' tight.
Entry 9092
Jes' lak yo' got a case in co't, sompin othah lak dat, yo' kin tie - ah think it's twelve knots in a string. An' take an' put it [string] on a stick, yo' know, an' cut so many notches. Ah think it is nine or twelve notches in dat stick. Drive it yo' know lak a peg at de da'k cornah of yore house, an' dey tell me dat'll cleah yuh in co't. (You have to have as many notches on the stick as you have knots on the string?) Dat's right.
Entry 9100
If yo' have somebody in prison - it's mo' easy fo' yo' tuh take a cord becuz dey'll notice too much if yo' take a string, if yo' go tuh see yore people dere. Yo'll go dere tuh see 'em an' yo'll have tuh do dat slightly [carefully] yo' see. Lak if he's standin' up, den yo' stand up an yo' jis' put dat cord lak back of his haid lak dat... [demonstrates]. Jis' stan' up lak dat, an' yo' take dat cord an' put it behin' his haid. An' den yo' unwrap de othah part an' let it fall on de flo'... [demonstrates]. Well, now whilst he standin' dere, yo' tell 'im don' move, say, "Don' move." (Take that whole measure from the top of his head to the foot). Yo' take dat up an' den yo' fix dat in a ball. Yo' see, yo' fix dat an' den yo' burn dat wit a brand-new han'ke'ch'ef. Yo' burn dat. Let 'im wipe his face an' burn dat an' wit 'is name - de judge's name. Yo' burn all dat tuhgethah, dat papah an' all tuhgethah, yo' see, an' de lawyah's name. An' yo' burn all dat tuhgethah. An' when he'll come, if he won' discharge 'im, he won't let 'im go no fu'thah. Yo' jis' drap [drop] it from de do' an' yo' jis' drap it [ashes]. (When you go back to see him again, you sprinkle that [string and paper] dust around, and they will turn him loose?) Yes.
Entry 9789
Yo' kin take two pins an' lay 'em crossways lak dat [demonstrates] an' tie a string right in 'tween heah on each side [the crossing] yo' know, right be- tween dere lak dat [demon- strates], so dey won' fall apart, an' hang it up side de house. An' dey say dat will part a man an' his wife. [This tying of two or more objects into the form of a cross to make a rimless wheel is fairly well-known in hoodoo, some of these forms and rites at times being quite complicated; see Nos.9796, 9797, etc.]
Entry 9865
All right. Chew take a long homespun string jes' about long enough tuh make nine knots. Den yo' ketch dis frog an' a - yo' don' want him daid, keep him alive. An' which is dis about, if yo' wanta run a person? If yo' take dis heah homespun - take a string an' tie it nine times an' yo' tie it tuh 'is laig. Den yo' go tuh de person's house, dere do'step, dere front do'step, an' put it undahneat' of de do'steps. Den yo' let de frog stay dere till nine mawnin's an whosomevah de party dat [is] yo' calls dere name, an' let 'em walk ovah dat fo' nine mawnin's, den dey will die, if de frog dies. If de frog is goin' tuh die de ninth mawnin' yo' goin' also die.
(You simply tie this string around the frog's leg?)
Aroun' de lef' laig, nine times [demonstrates]. (You just loop this around his leg and tie a knot. Then loop it around his leg and tie a knot again. And you tie nine knots in string on frog's leg and bury frog under the door.)
[Here for informant's word put I substitute bury!]
Bury him undah de door right at de steps lak when yo' come out. Put it right up undah de sill of de steps. [The frog is not buried but kept alive: yo' don' want him daid, keep him alive.] Well, when he come out well - well, he kin stay dere nine mawnin's, nine days, dat frog is compelled tuh die wit'out food. Well, he'll die an' den yo'll pass also wit de frog.
(You actually bury that under the ground?)
[Here again I am suggesting the frog is buried!]
Yo' bury de frog under de ground.
(That's to kill the person living in the house?)
Yessuh. [Magically we have enough here to kill anyone: the intention, home- spun = new string, 9 knots in, tied about left [back] leg, animal buried under step victim must walk over, victim's name called, etc. For something similar, including steps, see No.9871, six rites forward.]
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 10115
First you catch the cat, kill it, then you take the bone out of the front right leg. Take this bone and let it dry and tie it around your leg, either leg, and wear it all the time. That'll bring you luck.
[Fredericksburg, Va., Ediphone 50.]
Entry 10213
She kin measure him if she wanta with a string or with ribbon when he goes tuh sleep. She kin tie that roun' her laig or she kin put it in her pocketbook or in her pillow an' she kin control him, but that will lead to accidents in de long run. He'll hurt her.
Entry 10217
Wal, she measure him dere. She takes dat length an' she measure him lak dat an' she takes yore hair an' begin dat thing about dat. She takes de string an' takes dat measure of dat [demonstrates a hand]. (Of the hand?) Dis one [demonstrates]. (The left hand?) Dat's right [informant contin- ues to demonstrate, I describe actions]. (And she measures the middle finger....from the end of the middle finger, right up over the hand joining to the wrist. And from the second joint of the middle finger down to that bone.)
[Bone = wrist bone, see later.]
She takes dat den, takes dat little cotton string an' holds it an' vraps it. Takes dat hearts [Hearts Cologne] an' put it on it, an' ever' time dat she messes wit chew, yo' see, she take it an' put her han' lak dat. An' when she git through she rub dat on yo'. Dere's no other woman dat chew kin bother wit.
(She rubs that string on herself after.)
Zackly.
(But how could she measure a man? Would he let her measure him that Way?)
Dat's de length of his.... [informant demonstrates].
(Oh! I see, she has to measure his hand - he's asleep - so he won't know it.)
She kin do it if he ain't wise, ain't got no sense. She could [say], "Let's see ho' long yo' finger - long as mine." Jes' lak dat. See, dat's de way dey get it.... [informant demonstrates again while I comment]. (They measure the middle finger of the left hand, the second knuckle from the top dam to that protruding bone right by the wrist joint.) [Here a woman afraid to measure a man, substitutes a left-hand measurement supposed to indicate his size!]
Entry 10241
Measure a man. Yo' kin take a new cord string. Dat's whut ah heard. An' take his measure dis way, de long Ways, an' dis way [probably made a sign with fingers]. (Around.) Yes. An' then yo' tie those knots. Tie one [knot] in each end [of length measurement string] and tie de othah two [ends of] around [measurement], one right here jes' around dat way. An' wear it right in front of you, see. An' dat'll make him stay at home. [To repeat: a knot is tied at the end of the usually new cord held against the body. A second knot indicates end of the length. While second knot is held at the beginning of the circumference measurement, a third knot in the same string will establish the end of this double measurement. Remember, measure- ment is taken while man is asleep.]
Entry 10247
Tie knots in a string an' measure the length of a man, an' wear it roun' yore laigs [either leg] an' he can't have a woman.
(How many knots would you tie?) Nine.
Entry 10248
She take an' tie nine knots in a string fo' her husban' so he couldn't have connection wit nobody else but her. She take nine knots - jes' lak mah [his] shirt, she'll take mah [his] shirt see an' tear a string out of it, an' tie nine knots in dere an' she wears it in her shoe. Dat will keep him from havin' connection wit any othah woman.
Entry 10251
Well, now jus' what one [woman] he be with. And the one what wants to stop him, well she'd get her a yard of brand-new yellow cotton [usually called homespun = unbleached cotton] and she'd take an' when they go to bed, and then they finish, well that's what she use. She use [wipes him with] that. And she have her piece of [white cotton] cord and she takes the measure [of his penis] and she puts nine knots in it, in each [this one] piece in the white cotton [cord]. Well, she keep the white [yellow] cotton [piece] up under her mattress and the cord with the nine knots in it, she wears it around her waist. And every time, if that's his wife, and he leave his wife to go to his lady friend, well there's nothing doing [with the other woman].
Entry 10252
[This rite comes in two parts:] (l) [A woman will] take his shirt, fold the arms together, crossing [each other], put on side of bed where he sleeps [put under mattress]. [The folding of shirt arms is a sym- bol of dead man in a coffin.] He'll be back. (2) [If he runs around with other woman, here is what she does.] Quite natural she kin git de measure of his private down dere an' tie as many knots in it as he [his] private is long, an' wear it aroun' her waist. Dat'll stop him.
Entry 10270
When mah husban' left home ah had some of his [pubic] hair an' ah taken it an' put it in de bottle an' stopped it up an' put it up undah de steps. An' jis' lak me an' him be to- gether, well ah got de string an' got some of it [semen] an' put it roun' mah waist; an' he always be's by me all de time. An' ah got de dishcloth an' put some [semen] on de dishcloth an' put it up ovah de do', an' whenevah he go out - he had been goin' out an' stayin' an' stayin' an' goin' off runnin' roun', an' he got so he jis' stayed at home all de time. An' den ah quit him. Aftah he got tuh bein' so good tuh me, den ah went tuh treatin' him mean. Yo' know, him treatin' me mean, ah went off tuh show him how it feel fo' him tuh do me lak dat. An' he jis' cry all de time tuh try tuh git me back.
(Did you go back to him?)
No, ah didn't go back to him. He in hospital now.
Entry 10274
Dey have to take de measurement of a man, say it's such as a man run- nin' aroun' after women. An' if a woman take his measurement with a piece of string, an' his water, an' put it in there [bottle], as he go to fool with any other woman, whenever she shake this [bottle] up, he'll lose all nachure fer any other woman but her. She keep that [bottle] in a secret place, an' whenever she think that he's doin' somepin wrong, shake that, an' nachurely that would cause him to lose nachure fer any other woman but her.
Entry 10589
Dey tell me yo' kin take de heart of a leather-wing bat an' yo' kin tie it up in a piece of silk cloth, an' tie a little silk string to it, where yo' kin tie it on yo'. Tie dat round de left wrist. Dey say dat's wonderful to bring a gamblin' hand, a regular gamblin' hand.
Entry 10593
When yo' first ketch him, yo' cut him open an' git his heart an' have yo' a sharp - sompin lak a ice pick an' place dat straight through de center of his heart. Take yo' a red piece of ribbon or string an' run it through dat - tie dat an' den yo' put it in a red piece of flannen an' say yore prayers ovah dat - aftah yo' say yore prayers ovah dat, yo' use de lodestone with it. Dat's fo' gamblin'.
Entry 10678
Yo' got a girl friend an' yo' like her. Yo' tie nine knots in a string an' pin it in her back [on her clothes in back] while yo' lovin' her. Pin it in de back. Tie nine knots in it an' pin it in her back while yo' lovin' her, be huggin' an' kissin' her.
(What will that do?)
That will make her love yo'.
(You yourself take the string?)
Yes sir, tie nine knots in it an' pin it in de back like yo' got chure arm around her. (You have to pin it on her back clothing, and that's to make her love you. How do you mean make her love you?) Well, that makes happiness wit yo' an' her. [For woman to tie a silver dol- lar into a man's shirttail while he is loving her, compare, p., v.]
Entry 10966
If yo' livin' in a house an' ah want chew tuh move, yo' [I] git a black hen's aig an' let it be fresh, an' go to a ole cow lot an' git some fresh cow manure. An' wrap it in a piece of red flannel cloth an' wrap it tight an' tie it with three white strings. (Just how do you tie that with three white strings?) Take yore aig an' put it [manure] all ovah it an' wrap it. When yo' wrap it up in de center, always turn it to yo'. Don't turn it from yo', turn it to yo' and fold it up, an' den git chew three white strings - oh, about dat long [demonstrates].
(Several feet long.)
An' wrap it to yo'. Den wrap it round dis way. Den yo' take dat aig...
(You make a little parcel out of it?)
Yes. (You wrap it one way and then turn around and wrap it the other way, always wrapping it to you.) An' den yo' take dat aig an' go tuh a runnin' stream of watah an' put dat aig right down in dat watah, an' leave it, an' jes' de same as dat watah wash dat aig away, it'll wash yo' from where yo' are. (Well, now what connection has that egg with me? Has it some connection with me?) [The connection I wanted expressed was that the informant was trying to send me away. The rite is legitimate as it stands.] De connection ah don't know, but ah'm jes' tellin' yo' whut ah heard.
(This will make them move out of the house, make them move out of town?)
Yessuh.
Entry 11334
Yo' kin git a dove, a turtledove. an take de heart out an' let it dry. An' when yo' dry it, yo' kin take a red strip - a string - an' wear it round yore right arm. [I turned off recording machine too soon.]
(That's luck for what?)
Fo' gamblin'.
(You get this from a turtledove?)
Yes, turtledove. Yeah, de heart of a turtledove.
Entry 11375
De fig tree - take a bottle an' urinate in de bottle. An' it's jes' lak if yo' got it in fo' me an' yo' wanta hurt me, urinate in de bottle an' den take somepin else [what?] an' po' in dat urinate, an' take dis red string an' tvist it real tight an' slash it to de main root of dat fig tree. Anybody go to dat fig tree an' eat it dey poisoned. If dey eat a fig offa dat tree dey's poi- soned. [The preceding word slash I evidently understood as lash according to my following question.]
(How do you tie this string around it?)
See, yo' takes de cork stop- per an' puts it into dis bottle. An' yo' takes a small nail an' makes a hole right into de center of dis stopper, right down in de cork, see. An' de end of it, take it out an' jes' twist it real tight an' jes' take yore knife an' jes' open de end of a tendril, jes' break off de tendril an' jes' let de thread in dere, an' jes' let it close right back up. See, dat urinate po' right into de tree.
(You have part of the string into the bottle and part of it hanging outside?)
[This is one of several transfusion rites in HooDoO, another example of how doc- tors imitated M.D.'s.] Yes.
Entry 11643
It all depends upon what kind of fits they have. (What for example?) Well, if they have what you call epidetic [epi- leptic] fits, of course, you have to take them to the doctor [M.D.] for that. But I tell you what I do know. Like I have a young baby and a woman come in my house be real sick and she hold my baby, she will give my baby what you call a string and he'll begin like that [demonstrates] to draw up, you know, like he Want - his bowels Wan'a move. Now, I'll go back to her and get a piece of her underclothing and tie it around my baby's wrist like that, and he will be all right.
Entry 11644
You take an' get you a twine string an' put five knots in it, see. An' then, after you put those knots in it, then you'll wrap it roun' another string; you know, like a string where you go on Broad Street [and buy something]. Dey, you know, bind it [package], tie it up. Well, jes' put them knots on that string. An' tie it on that string an' jes' wear it all the time an' [it] help you, keep you from havin' those fits.
Entry 12281
Yo' kin during so many days tie knots in a string an' dey say dere a way of dressing dat. Git chure clothes an' put [knots] in dat an' bury it. When dem 9 days out yo'll be a corpse. (How would you dress those strings, those knots?) Dey dress with whut chew call - it's a root dey call a ~uampole root." It grows lak a great big white onion...
[I turned off machine and turned it on again.]
(It's a bitter weed, you say.)
[Is informant talking about wild onion?]
Yes sir, a hog loves it, de bitterest in de world. He scream when eatin' it. [This screaming sounds like folklore.] An' if yo' bite it an' swallow dat, it Will tie yo' up inside an' kill yo'. [Is this based upon pigs hunting for truf- fles, the pig being hit on the nose when he finds one (the cause of the squeal) so that he does not eat it?]
(Constipate you?)
Yo' kin bite it but don't swallow it.
(That's warpole root?)
Yes, wampole root. Dey takes dat string an' de salt[?] outa wampole root until dat thing git wet through an' through an' put dem knots in it. It will tie yo' up jes' lak...
(That is to tie your bowels up?)
Yes sir. Yo' heard of people wit locked bowels from dat. (What do they do with this string first? Do they have to get it out of your clothing or something?) Dey git chure clothing an' wrap dat string wit it. (Oh, you wrap that string around your piece of clothing.)
Entry 12284
Yo' kin git saltpetah, sage, alum, sugah an' salt - yo' know - stuff, yo' know, whut he nuse [use]. Yo' know, salt an' sugah an' stuff lak dat whut chew wanta know in dose strings. Yo' say, "In de Name of de Fathah, an' de Son, ah'm bringin' yo' back tuh me." Call his name, see, an' say, "Long as yo' eat sage, as long as yo' eat sugah, drink sugah in yore coffee" - sompin lak dat. An' call dose names, an' tie dose strings, an' tell him yo' want him tuh come back tuh yo'. Well, he'll come den. An' aftah yo' tie dose strings, put dose strings in a pile an' sprinkle dis saltpetah an' stuff ovah it, an' red peppah, an' yo' take kerosene. An' den yo' say, "In de Name of de Fathah an' de Son, ' an' burn it. An' put it out in de yard an' let it smoke.
Entry 12288
Ah heard tell of a person takin' a string - a cord jes' like dey ties - if yo' want a person hurt. Why, where it will kill 'em, yo' know, or sompin like dat. Jes' git some of dis heah string an tie 9 knots in it, jes' as tight as yo' kin. An' bo' a hole into a green tree, any kind of a tree, jes' so it's green, an' put dat knot in it, dat dere string dat chew tied dem knots into dat tree, an' stop it up.
(Don't you say anything or do anything?)
Nosuh, jes' makes 'em sick till dey dies.
(You have to get a string from them, or what?)
Yassuh, from dey house. Anywhere roun' dere house yo' git dat string dat dey been usin'.
Entry 12289
Tie 9 knots into twine string or raw cotton string an' wear it around their waist, an' they say just once in a while they just dip it in Hearts Cologne and they own water [urine]. That's sure to hold them.
Entry 12290
Go tuh any groc'ry an' git chew a new piece of cord dat haven't been used, whut chew tie up packages with, an' jes' lak anything dat yo' wish, an' nine is yore... [What? Number?] Take nine tuh do it. Yo': can't do nuthin until nine days. Jes' lak yo' git up dis mawnin', say, "Ah'm goin' start dis mawnin' an' ah want sech- an'-sech a thing tuh happen.' Jes' tie one knot [in] it an' make yore wish re- gardin' tuh whut it is. An' de nex' mawnin' de same thing fo' nine mawnin's. It'll come true.
(What do you do with this string after all these knots are tied in it then?)
Let it hang right dere, an' when de nine days up, an' yo' sure yo' got de nine knots, jes' take it an' git chew some sulphur an' some salt an' burn it right in yore fiahplace.
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 12292
Dat's in de lines of castin' a spell upon a person. Go tuh work an ties 36 knots, if yo' wanta cast a spell upon a person. Put a spell upon a per- son, ties thirty-six knots. Take a strand of thread and tie 36 knots an' let 'em be three inches apart. Dose knots, let 'em be three inches apart 'sposed tuh be in dat thread. An' yo' wil] throw dat thread, after yo' git dose 36 knots tied in it, why den yo'll throw dat thread ovah yore haid an' don't look back. An' yo'll step out de road - anywhere's dere a road - from de middle of de road, throw dat thread ovah yore haid an' don't look back. An' dat will really, de fac' 'bout it, suh, will give dem a purtty tight time. Make 'em crazy - whushy in dey mind.
(How do you know you've got the right person when you are tying those knots?)
Why dere 36 knots! "Cos' yo' know yo' absolutely got de right person.
Entry 12301
Pass a hole into a lemon an' squeeze de juice out of it an' full it up wit sulphur an' brimstone an' salt. Take nine pins an' put through it an' den wrop it up jes' as tight as yo' kin, an' tie nine knots in it - into de string dat yo' wrop aroun' it. An' stick nine pins in it an' go ahead. (What will you do with that then?) Well, jes' carry it with yo'. (What is that supposed to do then?) An' den ah'll go ahead an' attack whatevah busi- ness yo' wanta attack, an' dat supposed to help yo' accomplish it.
(Any favors or anything of that sort?)
Yes.
Entry 12421
He lay down in de bed - jes' like he lay down. Now, you go right dere when he's sleeping. Git a little cord, new cord, and if he stiff and hard [if his body is stretched out] you kin measure, you know, right straight on down to yore [his] feet.
(From your head to your feet.)
Yes sir, and then you put nine knots in it, see, an' tie 'em around yore Waist - jes' like you'd lock a person's trunk, dey can't git out - can't gc no more, can't go.
Entry 12570
To git a man an' keep him, that he can't git away. When he goes to sleep and likes he makes a rise, you know, you git you a cord string when it do, you measure it from the tip to the end to where it starts at, and you tie nine knots in that string and put that around your waist. And regardless of what you do or what- ever he can't go. He'll follow you all over the world. He can't get away from you.
Entry 12722
Take an' wear dat [rabbit foot].
(From which foot?)
De left foot.
(Which one, front or back?)
De front 'cause de back is longer, de front is a little short foot. Dey take an' run a string - yo' bo' a hole in it if yo' kin, an' yo' wear it round yore waist or either round yore neck. All right, yo' got a rabbit foot den, an' whoever yo' wearin' dat foot fo', 'cause den yo' be dealin' wit dat person an' yo' goin' keep dat foot rubbed up fo' dem.
(How do they rub it up?)
Hearts Cologne.
(What will that rabbit foot do for them?)
Aw, that's luck, sech as gamblin' an' all, playing bolito...
Entry 12896
Now, if you want to divorce her - if you want to break this up - if you get on to [suspect] her - you are suspicious. [If you suspect she had you tied up, has made you sexually impotent.] Jis' go on, put you on you some clean socks, walk on to a beer joint - some place. (To a beer joint?) Yeah. Get you a bottle of beer and go on walking. Walk far enough where you begin to perspire and when your feet get hot and you perspire, stop and sit down. Take the left shoe off. Pour this bottle of beer in that left shoe. Drink the beer out of the shoe instead of the bottle. Close the bottle. Stand this way [demonstrates] and turn your hands [this way] and throw it [bottle] straight out in front of you, with your wish [that your impotence leaves]. It [potency] comes back again.
(I see.)
Yes, all the affection is taken away from her. (I see. Take this beer bottle in the left hand, then, you bring it around to the back of your neck.) Yes, that's right. And take that [bottle] in your right hand and throw right directly in front of you.)
(I see. And that breaks the spell of that string around her waist.)
Sure. Yes, sir. [My preceding comment is a good example of my using in- formation informant had given before researching began. Woman had "tied him up by measuring him with a string and tying it about her waist.]
(It should do it?)
Sure. I've seen it do it.
(I see, I see.) [The wish is the power!]
Entry 12989
Or yo' kin take an' go to - if yo' believe in the root-working or hoodooing - go to them an' yo' tell them that yo' are out looking for a job. Git a cotton cord string an' take a dime an' put a hole in it an' put this string - run the string through that hole of the dime an' jest hang it around yore left ankle. Let it hang down so it can be in yore shoes, hang down in yore shoes, so anyone can't see it. An' yo' keep that around there an' that will give you luck to have work as long as yo' kin any time.
Entry 13135
[When dey git your socks - gits a man's sock, chew mean? Why he can't fool wit no othah woman. (How do they fix those socks up?) All you gotta do is take dem socks an' tie nine knot in 'em. See, jes' tie de foot an' take a string, a cord, an' make nine knots to dat sock, an' when yo' done tied de nine knots, den yo' take all de cord off an' shake dat stuff up, an' put it back where he kin git it to seah. See? An' he can't do anything.
Entry 13322
Take a teeth [tooth] and dey bore a hole through it and dey wear it around dere waist. And dey could take yo' and jes' tell you to do somepin and whether you wanta do it or not, [they] could tell you to do it, and you do it.
(They take this person's tooth, whom they want to use like that.)
Dey could wear it on dere left side, if it was a woman; and if it was a man dey would wear it on dere right side.[ Choppy recording.]
Entry 13451
An' jes' lak a woman - quite natural a woman git ill sometime an' crabby an' othah things, an' if yo' want her tuh stay 'way from yore house, yo' go down an' git chew some willow string. Dat be's a long branch - yo' know, willow string root. Yo' git de willow string root an' yo' don't have tuh boil it. Yo' dig it up. It's sorta like curls up, it's a root jes' crooked jes' lak when yo' make whiskey or sompin, jes' lak a [distill- ery] worm, yo' know, yo' make whiskey, yo' put sompin in de copper outfit. It jes' bunch up, dat's de way it [root] do. An' yo' take dat an' jes' let three balls [coils] of it be's runnin' roun' an' roun' one another, an' it pile up, yo' know, sorta lak a snake. It crawl up, dat's de way it do. An' yo' bury dat undah yore do'steps, front do'steps, an' she'll nevah stop dere ag'in. Dat will keep her away. Yo'll say to her, say, "Come back." She say, "No ah got [a bet- ter place to live]."
Entry 9816
Git nine goldeye nee- dles an' put 'em on a string an' put a cork stopper in de end of 'em [stick needles into stopper] an' put 'em in anybody's mattress, an' dey won't rest dere. Dey can't rest on dere.
Entry 319
Ah don' know how dey git dat separate, but dey say dey take de left leg an' yo' boil it, an' den yo' always - yo' boil it an' tie a red string on it an' tote it in yore left pocket. Dey say that will give yo' a lucky hand.
Entry 551
You kin take a Bible and tie a white string aroun' it, any kin'a cord string aroun' it, and lash a key onto it - whenever you tie dat string aroun' dere let de key be hangin' onto dat string. And take de Bible, jis' like you take de Bible up - jis' like dis here, like dis is de string and de key is fastened on dat [demonstrates - lifts up on the string, lifting up the Bible], and you say, "If Sich-and-Sich - if anybody has did anything to me, let me know by movin'." And see, dat Bible will be right still, it'll stay right still if dere's nothin' wrong wid jeh; but if 'tis anything wrong wid jeh, it'll swing jis' like dis here [demonstrates - Bible swings back and forth]. If you say, "If dere's anything here on me, swing and drop." Then it'll swing and fall. De Bible will fall. It'll slip right outch your han' regardless of how tight choo hold it - it'll come out. But after dat it swings like dat and let choo know dere's somebody has done somepin, dat'll let yo' know whether to go to a doctor a medical doctor either [or] a root doctor. And after you do dat, why, you kin go to de root doctor and tell him dat you ain't feeling - [you do feel] like somebody has did somepin to you, and then he'll know 'zackly what, you know, start doin' for yeh.
Entry 581
[The following divination device is usually known as Jack, but he has other names. I have never heard him named for a woman. A person asks guestions of Jack. His answers by swinging have at times given him the nickname talking hand (see FACI, 1st ed., p.622; 2ed., p.799). Technically, Jacks are hands. For more examples, see Jack in Index.] When I first come from the country [from near Spotsylvania Court house to Fredericksburg] I was eighteen years old - I'm eighty-one now [1936]. I worked in the paper mill with this man. He wanted to learn me to make money by cunjuration. He had a little ball with something he put in it. He would speak to this ball. It was wool - flannel. He would speak to this ball and itwould go first one way then the other. The ball hung on a string. Anything he would ask this ball would twist around. He would sell you this thing for so much money. "John, now, I want you to be my guide today: If anything is in my way I want you to tell me." He made money on it. He gave this ball a name. He called it John. And John would tell him if anybody was doing anything for good or anything for harm. He was a cunjure himself. He only made this ball and sold them.
Entry 905
[Dey put] on me a sleepin' spell - jes' sleep all de time, sleep, sleep. And so all the man did when he'd taken that spell off of me - he came there and he measured each one of my fingernails on my fingers from here to here, from my fingernails to there [demonstrates]. (Up to your wrist - that bone in the wrist.) Measured 'em nine times. Den he tied nine knots in de strings that he measured 'em, and he asked me if I knew de lady and had any idea who it was or was it a man. He say, "I know who it is, but I just want to see if you got any idea." I told him, no, I didn't know who it was. He said, "Well, I know who it is." And he said, "I'm goin' throw dis in runnin Water," he say, "but before I do this, I'm goin' to send her here," he say, "it's one of your best friends." And it was - a woman that I'd taken for a particular friend of mine. Well, I know that she went on to the God that giveth; she Went to the God that giveth. He sent her dere like dis morning and the next night she was dead. I don't know what he said to it when it got to the water, but I know what he done at my house. Maybe he make a wish [when] he got to the Water and throw it overboard. And he guarantee me that she go to the God that giveth.
(Which hand did he measure?)
Dis hand - de left hand, next to your heart.
(Did he tell you what she had done to make you sleep that way?)
No, he tole me lak dis - I don't want to excite you in your nervous condition, he didn't tell me.
Entry 1016
[In addition to the bottle catching of a spirit (p.24) a spirit can be caught while operator ties a knot:] Take a piece of string. Well, you may hear someone call yo' in yore sleep. You may be sleep or may be in my house. I'll say, "John, ' or whatever yore name is. Well, whenever I say John or Charlie, that spirit will answer me and I snap dat string and I've got yore spirit.
(You just hold a piece of string in one hand?)
Two hands - jest a small piece of cotton string and tie a knot in it but don't draw it tight yet. And I call dat name and as quick as dat name ah call it, "Charlie?" Charlie will say, "Hunh?" I'll snatch it, I've gotcha. (What would you do with that string, after you get that in there? What would you do, then?) What would I do after I gets it? Fasten it right down and tie it up and put it in my purse.
(And you have the spirit then. Well, what would a person do that for?)
What would you do dat for? When yo's in love. A woman would do that when she's in love wid yuh and she wanta gain yuh.
Entry 1020
Take a string an' tie nine knots in it an' put it roun' yore finger - I mean roun' yore wrist fo' cramps. Dat's good fo' cramps.
(Any place you have the cramps?)
Any place - jes' tie nine knots in it an' put it roun' yore arm. Dat will certainly cure de cramps.
Entry 1022
Dey tell me tuh break de chills on anybody yo' take a cotton string an' tie nine knots in dat an' insert it in turpentine, but don't tie de nine knots all at once. Yo' tie one knot dis mawnin', put it around yore patient - tie de string around yore patient, around de body. De next mornin' yo' take it off an' tie another knot, but chew always insert it in turpentine every time yo' put it on till de nine mornings up. Dem chills is gone fo'evah from dem.
Entry 1023
If yo've got chills or anything lak dat an' yo' wanta break 'em on a person, yo' kin tie nine knots into a cotton thread an' tie it around his waist right next to his skin. If yo' tie it today at 'leven a'clock - if yo' have dat chill today at 'leven a'clock, yo' tie dat string round dere today at 'leven a'clock. An' den tomorrow at 'leven a'clock when dat hand gits jes' 'bout on dere at 'leven, why den he takes dat string from round his waist an' goes to the closest black gum tree it is to dat house, an' tie dat string around dat tree, around dat black gum tree, an' go on off an' leave dat. Dat'll break dem chills on him - he won't nevah have another one.
Entry 1024
People tie - hear of 'em take thread-string an' tie nine knots in it an' tie it roun' dey haid.
(What will that do?)
Well, dey claim dat stop de headache.
Entry 1025
Now, if a chile got de whoopin' cough an' nevah seen his father, he'll cut a patch de hair out de top of his haid an' tie it in a string an' hang it round his neck. It's good fo' de whoopin' cough.
Entry 1126
Heard dem say yo' go in de woods like dat an' git yo' some rattlesnake marster or blacksnake root, an' git a string an' tie it tight in so many knots.
(How many knots?)
About six knots - dat's a long string. Well, yo' wear that round yo'. If yo' don't yo' have to, yo' know, keep it in yore pocketbook - or either wear it round yo'. Dey say yo' holdin' dem den.
(By wearing that root - that's the way you do it?)
Yes sir, that's, yo' know, he pin de othah fellow. Yo' know, lak somebody wus goin' hurt chew an' yo' git dat root, why yo tyin' 'em up. See, yo' jes' tie dem knots - jes' as many kmots - why yo' tyin' den up.
(You don't mention anybody's name or anything?)
No sir, yo' jes' tyin' 'em up.
Entry 1369
That's another thing in chills that you kin do. You kin take a cord string and fit it around your waist, that is, leave it long enough to tie. And if you having any chills or anything like that, you put it down in turpentine and pull it out - dip it down with your finger and tie it around your waist. It's a sure cure for chills and fever. It'll re'lly break 'em up that will, too. Put nine knots in it - see, nine knots and if you do it, you ain't goin' to have no more chills. You might have one more but after it you won't have no more. Wear it nine days around your waist and after that you kin take it off and burn it up. Them chills is gone. [Cf. No. 1019, p.390.]
Entry 1370
For backache you take a cord string and you tie nine knots in it and get you a bottle of turpentine and wet that string good in that turpentine and wear that around your waist. And that turpentine will kill the pains in your back.
Entry 1371
Git chew a string an' tie nine knots into that string an' dip it in de turpentine an' tie it roun' dey haid an' dat a good cure fo' headache. Ah've tried that, yes. [Cf. No.1024, p.391.]
Entry 1373
If it's a fever dat chew have nevah been cured of befo' - that is if it's a fever dat yo' wus goin' round wit - if it wus malary fever - that yo' could take an' tie nine knots in a piece of string an' take an' tie it round yore waist an' sleep wit it at night, an' git up in de mawnin' time an' go an' tie it round a tree - jes' any kinda tree an' leave it wit'out lookin' back.
(That would cure you?)
Yes sir, dat would cure yo' because ah've done dat.
Entry 1416
Now, jest like someone is harmin' you, you kin take a penny and take it and knock a hole troo it and have a frog. Ah don't know if you know what a frog is. And cut dis frog open and place de penny in before you knock de hole in it. Cover de frog back together tight, and after covering de frog back, you let it stay fer about thirty or forty minutes. Den take dis frog out - [I mean] take de penny out of de frog, bore a hole in de penny, take a cord and take dis penny and tie one round yore ankle and tie another one around de other ankle. Jes' like the wimmin keep people from hurting them - they take a dime and bore a hole in that dime and put one dime on one laig and one dime on the other laig, and then that will keep anybody from poisoning them or any kind of thing. Protection to the body. An' dat's de way wit de penny.
Entry 1516
Well, ah haven't heard of 'em doin' anything but jes' borin' a hole in a dime an' puttin' nine kmots on a piece of cotton string an' tyin' it through the dime an' puttin' one around each laig fo' cramps an' sprains an' things.
Entry 1589
Well, fo' chills yo' take a raw cotton string an' wet it in turpentine, an' jes' lak yo' had two chills or three chills yo' - jes' as many chills as yo' have had - yo' tie that many knots in de string an' wear it round yore waist an' de chills will be gone.
Entry 1590
If anybody harm yo' or try to hurt chew in some way, yo' take a cotton string. Take dat cotton string an' yo' kin tie it in nine knots, see. An' yo' bind it around yore waist an' keep it thoroughly moist wit turpentine. Dat wus good.
Entry 1686
Ah heard whut hit about but hit will do yo' good. Yo' take a splinter from a tree whut struck by lightnin' an' trim it off clean an' pick yore teeth wit it, an' go to a 'simmon tree an' cut it off 'bout dat long an' split de 'simmon tree an' drive it in - drive de splinter in dere where yo' pick yore teeth with it for de toothache. An' drive dat splinter in dere an' tie a string around it an' let it stay dere, an' dat stop yore teeth from achin'. Dat's all ah heered about it.
Entry 2047
Now, Jest lak if yo' goin' tuh have a trial in co't. They tell me yo' tie nine knots in - tie a knot each morning fo' nine mornings befo' de trial is tuh come up - a big case yo know. Well, each morning yo' tie a knot an' yo' say, "Let me win dis case," 'long lak dat chew know fo' nine mornings. An' each morning why yo' dip this string into de Hearts Perfume an' yo' tie that round yore waist. An' more den likely yo' will win yore case - a big case dat's in de big co't.
Entry 2048
Dis wus a man dat wus buried in de undertaker [was at undertaker's place]. An' she took a long string an' she wet dat an' measured dis man from his haid tuh his toes, see. Den she, yo' know, jes' fold dat string up tuhwards her an' tied nine knots in it, an' she wear dat round her waist. She had dat round her waist when she died an' she tole de wumman tuh take it off. [Auto horn.] Well, she turned round den an' she measured [horn] a live man - see, jest lak yo'd be lyin' down an' somebody come in dere an' measure yo' an' she done hit de same way. An' now you talk about lucky woman - she wus lucky a wumman as ah evah seen in mah life.
(What did she do with the other string then?)
She wear both them strings.
(She measured the live man from his head to his feet?)
Yes sir, an' de dead man from his head to his feet. Ah wus scared tuh do it, you see. And she kept it. An' she tole a wumman befo' she died - if she died first, fo' her to come an' git her strings offa her. She took it off her. So ah went down dere an' ah ast her did she git it off her an' she say, "Yes." She had done it.
Entry 2049
Way ah heard a story - ah heard dat if yo' got a man an' he run out, yo' git chew a string an' git a piece of his underpiece, drawers or anything lak dat, an' yo' take an' tie nine knots in de string an' yo' take an' sew dis piece onto dis string an' wear it round her waist. Dat'll keep him dere.
(You don't do anything with that string first?)
No, don't do anything with it.
Entry 2162
Put nine needles round yore neck.
(Tell me the whole story. How would you do that?)
Well, now dey tells me - yo' know, they said dey git nine needles an' put 'em on a string an' then git a stopper an' stick 'em down in there, yo' know, tuh keep it from stickin'. They tell me that brings luck on in yore house. (Where do you keep this?) Let 'em hang down - let 'em extend from - put 'em on a string yo' know an' then take yo' a stopper an' stick de point of it down dere - let 'em extend right down dere [demonstrates].
(Hang down to the middle of your stomach. What do you do that for?)
That's to bring luck in yore house.
Entry 2184
You take a red onion an' git choo a rice[?] button - well, that's a white button jis' about 'tween as big as 'tween a ten-cent an' a nickel. You put a hole in the onion thataway, you see. Well, you put that button inside of the onion. Then you git some spice an' put inside, jis' put in there an' cork that onion up, an' keep that string in there an' put it aroun' yore wais'. Cause I know a man who fixed mah brother up like that. He had 'im on a $500 bond. When he come to court the jury acquit 'im.
Entry 2222
Ah used tuh gamble an' ah have all kinda han', but de only lucky han' ah evah had wus a rabbit's foot - a lil tiny rabbit's foot. Now ah paid him fo' it. Aftah he gave it to me, ah take dat foot an' wrapped one end of it tight - put three buckshots between his toes an' wrapped it tight, an' soaks it in Hearts Cologne. An' yo' wrap red thread around it wit de bones stickin' up. An' he give that to me. Long as ah carried, nobody in de worl' could beat me gamblin'.
Entry 2223
I've heard them say you take a rabbit bone - cut his right hind leg off, put it in a pot and boil it in milk. Take it out and dry it in the sun for six days, take it and put it in the ground and bury it and let it stay in there for two nights. Dig it up and tie a piece of string around it and tie it around your arm. And anything you want you take it out and talk to it - tell it what you want and you are more than apt to get it.
Entry 2229
Fo' luck in gamblin' yo' kin git chew a rabbit foot an' dress it. Well yo' take dat rabbit foot - yo' git de left foot, de back left foot. Yo' take dat back left foot an' yo' gits a brand-new cord string an' yo' wrap de top of it nine times, wrap it to yo' nine times. Den yo' git chew some kinda perfume an' yo' put on dat. Yo' git chew some lodestone dust an' wrap it - dress it an' den yo' wrap it. See. Den yo' put dat good perfume on it - good luck perfume, real good. Den yo' wear dat. Dat's good tuh tote. Yo' carry dat in yore pocket, carry dat around fo' gamblin'. An' den yo' kin git chw some diff'rent perfumes an' put on yo' fo' luck.
(What kind of perfume?)
Oil of bergamot, van-van oil.
Entry 3468
If he's goin' wit 'er, she kin take de measure of 'is a - 'hawk. (What?) His 'hawk, his tomahawk. If it's seven or eight inches, den she t take a string see, an' she measure dat; an' if eight inches, why she tie eight knots in dat an' wears dat in 'er purse.
(What if it's seven inches?)
Jis' tie seven knots. Yes, she kin fix 'im so dat he can't have anything to do wit any othah woman but 'er. [There are 1 or 2 other examples of tomahawk in HOODOO.]
Entry 3469
Yo' take a piece of string, any kin'a string, a cord string mo' spec- ially. An' de length of de string, yo' see, evah inch - if it's nine inches, evah one of dose inches yo' tie a knot to each one of dose inches, yo' see. Git de measure an' den evah inch, tie a knot in it. Well, den dey sav dey could take dat an', yo' know, dey could take it an' tie it on 'em an' carry it wit 'em. An' dat would have yo' to de place dat yo' wouldn't have no feelin's fo' no othah woman, jes' dat one pahtic'lah woman, de one dat do yo' dat way.
Entry 3471
Dere's two ways a woman kin fix a man so he couldn't have nobody but 'er. Take a cord string an' measure 'im in 'is sleep an' git de many inches as he is long down dere, yo' see. She take an' tie dem many knots in dere, walk to de side of de house an' WRAP IT AROUN' A NAIL. Well, he kin git ready fo' a woman, but when he git up on 'er - well, he gits down.
(That nail is in the side of the house?)
Yessuh.
Entry 3516
If a man leaves home an' a woman wants a man back, he's easy tuh git back. It's very easy tuh git 'im back. She haven't got anything tuh do but go 'head an' have a intahco'se wit 'im an' when dey have intahco'se wit 'im an' git de measure of 'is, yo' undahstan', an' den she'll tie three knots in dat string an' ca'y [carry] it aroun' 'er waist. Ain't no way in de world he kin git up anothah heart fo' anothah woman. He goin' come back where she is.
Entry 3517
[When yo' at home at night, yo' an' yore wife or sweetheart, somepin lak dat. Well, she takes a string, see while yo' sleep, an' put it round yore thing; roun' dere, see, an' git de measure from it. An' dey say if she tie three knots in dat string an' wear it up undah her clothes, right nex' to her skin, say she have yo' tied up den where yo' can't have no discharge wit anothah woman.
Entry 3545
Now, if yo' don't want 'im to go wit nobody but chew, yo' go to de sto' an' buy yo' a bran'-new - uh yahd [yard] of unbleached cotton, yeah. (Unbleached?) Cotton, yeah. Dat's yallah [yellow] cotton, unbleached - not bleached, unbleached. An' yo'll spread [it] right where he lays at. An' when yo' git ready to go wit 'im, have connection wit 'im, now don't chew discharge. Ah'm not goin' to discharge wit 'im, he goin' to discharge by 'isself. Ah takes dat an' ah'll tear a string off it, an' ah'll put nine knots in it an' ah'll wear it aroun' mah wais'. Now, when he git ready to go to see anothah woman, he can't see her. Ah'll stop 'im wit dat.
Entry 3552
Den if yo' want to, yo' kin stop 'em from havin' a intahco'se wit any- body but chew. Yo' take dat raw cotton string, jes' a cord string an' use it when yo' have intahco'se. Yo' take dat an' ketch dat an' tie nine knots in it, an' draw 'em to yo', an' tie it aroun' yore waist, an' evah time he goes out, den he cain't have nobody but chew.
Entry 3561
She measure mah private - she measure eight inches an' she taken a white cord-string an put eight knots in it, an' ah couldn't mess wit no othah woman.
(What would she do with that string then?)
She kept it.
[Eight knots permits the 9th knot by tying it about body or any object.]
Entry 3579
Ah've heard of 'em tyin' knots in strings, women. Dat's whut ah heard dey do. Dey'll tie dem strings in nine knots an' EVAH TIME DEY TIE ONE DEM KNOTS DEY CALL DE PERSON'S NAME, who dey in love wit, an' if dey Want 'em to love dem, dey'll tie de string in dem nine knots. An' den dey'll put it roun' dere waist an' dey'll wear dat a certain many days, an' in dem certain many days dat person who dey want will cling'to dem. Don't kere who it is, if it's a man's wife, she'll cling to dat man. Or if it's a woman's husban', he'll cling to dat woman.
Entry 3585
Yo' kin take - when yo' have intahco'se wit chure wife, or wit anybody yo' like, jes' take dat string, don't chew know, an' as long as - skuse [excuse] me dat expression [which is the following] as long as it is. Yo' jes' tie nine knots on dere an' jes' wear it roun' yo'. Even if yo' [a man] are wit yore wife, or de othah woman, or eithah de man [can measure a woman]. Take a cord string an' jes' tie nine knots an' de way she is yo' jes' tie nine knots an' yo' know, rub some of dat stuff on it an' jes' wear it roun' yore waist. An' dat'll make 'em jes' git crazy ovah yuh.
Entry 3586
Yo' know dese little wrappin' strings yo' wrap wit. An' when he's daid asleep at night, measure him wit dis.
(With that string?)
Yeah, measure him wit dis yo' see, from de bottom-lak [to] de tip-end - yo' know whut ah'm talkin' about. An' tie nine hard knots in dat string yo' see, an' den tie it undah her [bed] springs, or eithah roun' de bed somewhere; an' if he goes off tuh fool wit anothah woman, he cain't do it tuh save his life. Hit'll go an' fall.
Entry 3587
Take a string an' measure de length of 'im an' tie it in nine knots an' hang it up an' he become to de place where he nevah would care fo' her [the other woman].
(Where would she hang that string?)
Anywhere about in de house where dat he can't reach it, or where it won't be reached - so anyone won't evah bothah it.
Entry 3588
Bran'-new cord string jes' off de grocery or wheresomevah yo' git it, but it must be bran'-new. Well, all right, yo' measure his private. Yo' measure dat wit dat cord string. An' yo' take dat cord string where yo' measured it, how big - how long dat so-an'-so is, an' yo' make dem nine knots how long dat is, right on dat, an' yo' puts dat roun' yore waist. Yo' wear dat roun' yore waist. Dat keeps 'im tuh come tuh yo' an' don' want no worry wit nobody but chew.
Entry 3589
Fo' instance, de man would be asleep at night an' de woman would take a string an' measure him, de length of it. She would tie nine knots in dat string. She would wear dat aroun' 'er waist, an' de woman dat he would have am- bition fo', an' he go on away to her, an' he have it till he git to her, den it would fall. An' he won't be able to do anything to her, yo' see. He have ambi- tion befo' he git to her.
Entry 3596
If yo' got a boy fren' an' don' want 'im tuh intahco'se wit anothah girl, yo' take a cotton string an' tie it in nine knots, in de cotton string, an' when yo' have intahco'se, take dat cotton string an' wipe him off an' tie it roun' yore laig dere, an' he cain't have no intahco'se wit nobody else.
(How many knots?)
Nine knots.
Entry 3608
Ah've heard of womens tyin' knots in little strings lak dat an' wearin' fo' menfolkses dat have quit 'em, jes' as yo' spoke 'bout while ago, an' go away. Why yo' kin tie nine knots in a string an' wear it roun' yore waist. Dey claim dat will bring 'em back.
(Do they do anything to the string first?)
Dat's all ah've heard.
Entry 3610
If a man is runnin' aroun' wit a woman - yo' mean yo' don't want 'im to fool wit dat othah woman?
(Yes.)
Well, dey say, yo' know yo' got a husban'. Well, when yore husban' go wit yo' an' yo' an' 'im connects togethah. Well, dey say, yo' takes a piece of cord string. Well yo' catches dat, an' dey say yo' ties dat in nine knots. See, an' yo' ties it aroun' yore wais' an' yo' wears it aroun' dere all de time. Well, he can't fool wit no othah women but yo' becuz yo' got 'im all tied up.
(I see.)
(What can he do?)
He else will have to git it from yo' [the woman]. He has to go to somebody [hoodoo] an' dey'll tell 'im dat 'is wife got 'im tied up. Now, he may kin catch yo' in de bed asleep at night an' cut dat string from aroun' yore wais', yo' see. An' den yo'll notice dat de nex' time he go wit yo', yo' see, dat's de way dat is.
(He has to get that cord from you?)
Yes.
Entry 3621
Den yo' kin take a piece of cord string an' put nine knots in it. Git chew some turpentine an' put it up an' down in dere an' put dat roun' yore waist. Yo' can't git up a courage tuh have an intahco'se wit no woman.
(Well, don't you do something with that string first?)
Jes' only put - no, dat's anothah diff'ren' one altogethah. But see, dat nine knots, an' worked in dat turpentine, put it roun' yore waist. Yo'll have a hard time, yo' know, to git courage fo' 'er.
Entry 3622
She kin take a cord string, see, an' evah time - tie nine knots in it an' evah time she have some dealin' wit 'er husban' put a little dat on dat cord string, see. An' it's a little turpentine ah think goes wit it, see. An' den he won't have any nature fo' any othah woman.
(Where does she keep that string?)
Around her waist.
(She ties those knots in it?)
Yessuh, ties dose knots in it - see, until she gits nine.
(She doesn't measure him with that string or anything of that sort?)
[My leading question here makes informant's answer measure from a distance useless.] She gen'ly [generally] measure from a distance first an' den ties de knot in dere.
Entry 3687
Well, ah've nevah tied any but ah've heard 'em say how yo' tie 'em. Dey say jis' tuh measure 'em, an' if yo' kin measure 'em, git whatsomevah come out, an' tie dat wit a cord lak dat. See, an' put pins an' things in dere. Now ah have nevah did it but dat's whut a girl tole me tuh do, but ah wouldn't do dat. An' den dat would cut 'is nature from dis othah one, or eithah git a snail. See. Git a live snail an' den durin' 'er playin' wit 'im, take dis snail an pass it cross 'im lak dat [demonstrates].
(Like you were making an "x".)
Yh-hah, jis' lak dat. See, dat will kill 'is nature.
Entry 3807
She takes like - like when yo' have intahco'se wit 'er, yo' know. All women always has a towel or something in dere bed what dey use. If yo' want to - if yo' want to run aroun' wit othah women, yo' take dis woman an' new- ah allow 'er to wipe yoreself. Always watch yoreself. If she takes yo' an' measure yo', takes a string an' ties nine knots in it an' wear on 'er laig or aroun' 'er waist. I don't care how much pep yo' have in yo', yo won't have pep fo' no othah woman.
(Well, can you get rid of that?)
Yeah, yo' kin git rid of it, but de onliest: way dat chew kin git rid of dat, yo' gotta steal dat - yo' gotta git dat string from 'er.
Entry 4611
Ah took evah one out of mah cap dat ah'm got now. Yeah, yuh know, mah grandfathah learned me dat long time ago. Dey takes dat bow out of dere an' dey ties it on a string. Dey ties nine knots in a string. An' in tying dat knot dey lets dat bow hang right between dere laigs, an' if yuh say yuh don't want 'em, dey runs yuh crazy wit dat - wit dat bow, dat little bow.
Entry 4731
[As far as I can remember there are few rites concerned with buttons in HOODOO. General folklore has a fair number of them - 21 in FACI, 1st ed., lndex.] Takin' a button off 'is undahwear down dere an' wearin' it. (You take that off this man, the button down in front. What do you do with it?) Yuh take an' wear it aroun' yuh on a string an' dey say he cain't leave yuh.
Entry 4814
Tuh hul' a mantuh yuh, cut a piece off 'is shirttail an' take a string an' wear dat roun' 'er wais'.
Entry 5537
Jis' lak if yo' go an' make a footstep, dey go an' measure dat track... wit a cord string - jis' de way yo' goin' - an' dey picks it up from dere toe an' bring it backwards...put it in runnin' watah an' have yo' walkin'.
Entry 6623
How tuh put things in a person. Say yo' wanta put a snake intuh a per- son or dese ole red-haid scorpions. Gits dose things. An' kill 'em an' git dere haids off an' den hang 'em. Put 'em on a string an' put 'em somewhere until dey jis' git perfectly dry. An' den take 'em down an' put 'em intuh somepin where dat dust can't git up yore nostrils. Put 'em in.somepin an' beat 'em up, an' den take dat dust an' put it intuh some watah or a person's food. An' let 'em eat or drink 'em an' dat'll create live things in 'em.
Entry 6662
(He [my contact man] said that you told him a story.)
Yes. Well, now, heah's de story ah wanta tell yo' - sech as whut dey tell me an' whut ah learned, SECH AS WITCHCRAFT. Well, now, de story ah got tuh tell is sech a thing as spidahs. Yo' know whut ah'm talkin' 'bout, web spidahs yo' seen [not a fryingpan on legs called a spider]. Well, yo' kin take it an' take it tuh de fiah yo' know an' hold it. Tie a string tuh it, he can't crawl away, or put it in de stove yo' might say, in dere alive an' let it bake. [Here is the frequent rite of suffering before death.l An' aftah it git baked, den crush it up. Take dat an' crush it up intuh somepin an' put it in de whiskey. Yo' undahstan'. An' den yo' - ah'm yore enemy, yo' see. Well, aftah yo' taken an' do dat an' yo' kin git me tuh drink dat whiskey, well dere ah go, right dere. Dem spider gits in me an' create, an' dey gits an' eats mah insides out, yo' see. Dat's known tuh be de fact. Fo' me, ah hasn't tried tuh work it on no one. Anothah one, ag'in. Yo' kin take up dese qround dog whut chew fish wit. Some folks call 'em ground dogs, some folks call 'em ground puppies [the changa, or hellbender, a salamander, described elsewhere], see. Yo' take dat an' yo' kin crisp it up in a stove or sompin othah, an' yo' kin put it - grind it up intuh poudah, aftah yo' crisp it up. Jis' lak a locust, yo' see. Yo' kin take it an' grind it up an' yo' kin jes' put it - bury hit right at yore do'step. See, an' po' yo' about a mouthfulla whiskey on 'it, see. An' attah [after] yo' puttin' de mouthfulla whiskey on it, de nex' mawnin' yo'll wake up dere, yo'll find a thousand of 'em - young-uns. Dat's done, yo' know, it's done increase dat much. Jis' one, de one yo' take an' killed an' crisp it up, an' dig a hole an' bury it in, an' po' some whiskey on, put it down at yore do'step, an' de nex' mawnin' when yo' wake up an' go dere an' dig up undah dere, dey say dere'll be 'bout a han'fulla dem - de young-uns. Done create. Done create dat much.
(What do you do that for?)
Well, dat shows dat yo' might - yo' kin put it in me de same way. Dat jis' shoWS, yo' undahstan', JIS' SHOWS, PROVE OUT WHUT DESE THIN'S KIN DO. DEAD THIN'S DAT COME TUH LIFE.
Entry 6926
Make a hole in de dime an' put a string through de hole an' tie it aroun' yuh ankle, an' dey say it yuh hurt any way, dat dime will turn black.
Entry 8021
Ah tole yo' 95 percent of de people in dis town an' othah towns have got frauded outa money goin' tuh people, yo' undahstan', who claim dey kin do dose things an' frauded 'em outa money wit'out any proof. Yo' git a bone, a dead person's bone, yo' undahstan' an' yo' Would bury it undah de step where de party is at, tying nine knots in dat bone, yo' see, an' it will keep sickness in de house, yo' see. It will keep de people who can't undahstan' one anothah - man, wife and daughter, dey can't undahstan' one anothah. Dey all pull contrary somehow or anothah, see. An' dey will nevah make de end Iends] meet.
(Well, how do you tie the knots in that bone?)
Tie them in a cord an' den tie de bone wit de cord.
Entry 10244
Whut he could do fo' himself. Somebody have tuh put him wise tuh let him know dat she have him tied an' den he jes' go an' play with her an' yo' see, den he say, "Yo' got sompin aroun'yo'. Yo'don'want dat ole string aroun' yo'." An' jes' take it off her yo' see. Well, dat'll loose him. [This is informant's preceding rite 10243 from man's point of view.]
Entry 10249
She jus' got to ketch 'im sleepin' when he done been out an' come in broke down [worn out]. In the summertime there he's layin' up there, jus' ketcha piece of string - jus' like this - get the size of it. Then when she get it off, she drop this end an' starts from the other one an' make a knot right chere [here], direct where her hand left off, an' make nine knots in it. [The 9 knots are strung along the measurement, a knot at each end.] An' take it an' make nine knots an' tie it roun' 'er waist. Then he - it have a tendency that he can't raise for nobody but her.
(Is there any Way you get rid of that?)
Well, quite natchal, the string is goin' to weah off an' break off, an' he's going to....
Entry 10250
What would she do to fix him up? She would take a string while he is asleep and get the length of his private. And she'll tie that string in nine knots and she'll wear that string around her waist. And when he goes on the street amongst other womens, why his private will fall, it will never raise up for no one but her, as long as she wears that string. And she don't have to wear the string unless she wants to, for she can easily bury the string. The string will do its work either on her body or in the ground, as long as it is tied and she got the right length of it. It'll never raise up for no woman but her.
Entry 10253
Ah tell you now, the Way ah understand the thing, it's jes' as good. Jes' like yo' have a interco'se with a woman, you tie nine knots in de string and she ain't going have nobody but you. If ah'd have fifty gals, ah betcha she'd wanta come [to me only].
(What would you do with that string after you put those nine knots in it?)
Tie it around your waist or tie it around your laig - right up above your kneecap here [demonstrates]. Co'se ah'm dirty [as I could see]. You know, ah'm a [house] painter you see. Ah betcha she won't have 'em [other men].
[While machine turned off informant says something.]
(Yes, and do what?)
You tie nine knots in the string.
(Yes, but didn't you say you did something else with it?)
Yes, jes' after you have interco'se with a woman [you do this. If some man] Wanta steal your wife, do this. You tie it around your waist. Ah betcha she won't have no one else.
Entry 10254
They say that if yo' have a husband and he runnin' round and yo' Wanta stop him from runnin' roun', of co'se yo' take him, yo' know - ah guess when yo' do fomily duties - an' yo' measure him. And after measuring him, co'se [of course] yo' put nine knots in it, de string. An' then take de string an' wear it round yore waist, an' of co'se he can't have no courage with no one but chew.
Entry 10255
Ah heard dat chew kin take a cord string dat chew buy on a package an' measure his private, an' make nine knots in it an' wear it round yore waist, am' he can't go out an' have nobody else.
Entry 10285
The easiest remedy for a man who has been measured: Man gets the string woman used in measuring. [Norfolk, 459:4.]
Entry 10326
Measure man, wear the string on right leg for 9 days, then permanently on left, or visa versa [Richmond, 373:1].
Entry 10335
Woman measures a man with a string, the length and circumference, and threading a needle with this string works it into her garter [Richmond, 280:2].
Entry 10363
Woman, when man asleep, takes piece of string, measures him, ties it around her leg [making 1 knot in string] so that he will have no nature for any- one else. He can break spell only by getting the string. [Washington, D. C., 798:1.]
Entry 10365
Measure man with string or rag, tie into knot and wear about waist.
[Fredericksburg, by Ediphone.]
Entry 10371
Measure man with string, lengthen it by tying on another string, and tie round her leg [Newport News, 513:7].
Entry 10372
Measure man, tie a knot in each end of string, and put under her steps. She may put salt and pepper with it [Petersburg, 418:2].
Entry 10654
If yore daughter mā'ys a man dat chew don't want her mā'y him, if yo' don't [want] him tuh have her, an' she goin' do it anyhow, ovah yore control, yo' go tuh a great big red ant nest. Dem big red ants, on a sand hill where dey be - a big red ant bed. Yo' ketch up a bottle of 'em or a buck- et of 'em, whut [whatever] yo' kin git 'em in, where dey can't git out. Den go tuh a young dogwood tree dat grows, a young dogwood tree, jes' one, one or two yeahs ole - a lil' young one dat Sprout up. Yo' goes an' take yo' a long white thread-string an' tie yo' nine knots in it, jes' lak dat. Yo' go tuh a young dogwood tree at chure farn. Yo' meedn't bother tuh cut it up. Take dat thread-string an' goes roun' an' roan' an' roun' down tuh de root. Wrap it roun' dere an' draw it tight, roun' an' rou' Tie it dere. Take dem ants an' come back an' go up tuh de house wit dem ants, an' &sys, if yo' want de man tuh leave, yo' says, "Ah means fo' dis man tuh leave yo' in a mng, as fast as dese ants is crawlin' on de ground." Dem ants done go oeg dere at once. An' if not, yo' kin say, "Ah want chew tuh come back home tuh mah booe, Mhere yo' left out of, as fast as dese ants is runnin' on de ground. Ah mean yo' not tuh walk back. Ah mean fo' yo' tuh run back." Yo' let dem ants out. Let dem ants out dere in de yards, an' first thing yo' know, dem ants goin' tear right Off [run away as fast as possible]. Yo' kin watch 'em, see 'em, tear right outen de house, leavin' dat way, goin'. Dey ain't goin' undah de house. Dey goin' from de house, every time. Well, den yo' turn loose dem ants an' do dat way lak dat, an' in about six, seven or eight days, natchly [naturally] see, somepin git wrong in de house an' she git dissatisfied, she gather up her clothes an' come back home. An' if not - now if yo' mean fo' him tuh go, he'll slip off de house an' he'll go tuh his home. He's gone. An' de dogwood tree wit dem nine knots an' de strings, dat's is down on him. Dat dogwood tree dat yo' go out dere, an' dem nine knots in dat white string dat chew wrap round dere tight an' tie it round dat dogwood, dat dogwood is fo' him, dat's down on him. Yo' ain't gotta do dat fo' her, if yo' daughter come back. Yo' go ahead an' talk tuh 'em [ants] when yo' git dem ants bed, turn 'em loose in de house an' say, "Ah want chew come back home fast dese ants is runnin' way from dis house."
(In other words, you are sending the man away and bringing your daughter back?)
Yo' send de man away, understand, an' let her stay dere if yo' wanta. Yo' make him leave her.
Entry 11901
If someone ties up your hair with a string and wears it next to the skin, that will give you a headache [presumably until you love the person].
[Richmond 318:13.]
Entry 12424
An' jis' lak if yore husban' is runnin' aroun' an' yo' don' want him tuh run out with wimmins. Yo' take a cord string an' measure hisself, yo' know, at de length, an' yo' tie nine knots in dat an' yo' wear it roun' yore waist. Dat'll keep him at home. [Memphis 1520:12.]
Entry 13180
He done left home and she want him back, she'll get [one of his socks] an' wear it around her waist. Get her a cotton thread string an' tie 9 knots in it, put dat around her waist. Write his name an' wear dat in her shoe. An' dat draws him. [Vicksburg 996:8.]
Entry 8
[I have four stories about the celebrated Zippy Tull of the Eastern Shore, each told by different informant. The following story, all the material he gave me, came from my hotel manager at Princess Anne, the only white informant in this book. The latter alone makes him memorable in my life, but a favor he also did later made the day doubly a worthy memory. See Zippy Tull in the Index.] This was I would imagine about sixty-five or seventy years ago [before 1936]. This lady [a white woman] was a relative [great-aunt] of mine, [the informant is a white man], she was living in Wicomico County at a little country place by the name of Siloam, Maryland - Wicomico County. She Was going With a young man living in that same neighborhood and they were engaged to be married. There was another girl that this same gentleman was [had been] going with, which of course I can't [do not.care to] call his name, but he was [had been] going with these two girls and they were very much in love with this one particular man. And in order to get the advantage of the [engaged] girl - her name was a Miss B., she [the other girl] tried to find some way to get rid of Miss B., and in doing so, the only way she knew how would be to fix some way to put a spell on her. She had lady friends of course was stopping with Miss B., and also with her, so she got one of these ladies to secure a lock of her hair. And in doing that, Miss B., of course, didn't know that she Was securing this lock of hair. It run on for a little while and she was taken sick. In other words, it was more like her mind - her mind got to be very, very bad, very bad. She consulted doctors frequently but nobody could seem to do her any good. She gradually grow worser in her condition. Of course, the gentleman friend that she had, wasn't paying so much attention to her while her being sick. He figured that wouldn't be the woman for him. He was paying more attention to this other young lady, number two I would call her. But in doing that, this lady tried round different physicians. Finally she couldn't get any relief, she went to see an old [colored] lady by the name of Zippy Tull. She was known for several counties as being a great fortune teller. She could remove spells, as we now call them, from different people; she could put 'em on someone else, if necessary. She consulted Zippy Tull and, in doing that, she [Zippy Tull] told her her troubles, told her what Was causing these troubles. She said, "Well, can I get cured?" She said, "Yes, I can cure you. I can also put this same thing on the one that put it on you." She said, "No, I don't want to do that, I would just love to get well. If I can get well, I feel that that would be the biggest thing in life." "But," she said, "I can tell you how to get well. If you go to the graveyard, your family graveyard, beside your brother that's now dead, there you will find a lock of your hair burried [buried] in the ground with a brick on top of it; there you will find a cord wrapped around a lock of your hair, and just: so.long as that lock of hair stays there, this will gradually work on you; there you'll find a cord which binds that hair perfectly tight. Now, when you go to that grave, don't go until this hour is over - between this hour of twelve and one o'clock at night, and her spirit won't be there or any of her spirits will be there to protect it. You go there at that time. There you dig'in the ground at a certain spot [next to her brother's grave]. You'll find this brick, and under there you look and you'll find a lock of hair just as I have told joo, and you bring it to me. Don't chew tell anyone tha' chew found it, don't tell any of your people tha' chew found it, but bring it back to Zippy Tull and I'll tell you what to do with it." Of course, she was like most people, she felt that anything she could do, you know, to bring her health back to her - she was rejoicing in the fact, if it would do it. But she waited until next morning and she went back to see Aunt Zippy Tull. And when she got there Aunt Zippy said to her, she said, "Well," she said, "you found just what you're looking for?" She said, "Yes, I found it. It was there." She said, "Would joo say that's a lock of your hair?" She said, "Well, it's the same colah and looks like the same hair." She said, "How did joo find it?" "I found it with a little piece of cord wrapped around that hair." "And that cord around the hair, it must be causing you all this trouble, your headaches and your pains; and just so long as that string, cord, was wrapped round that hair, you would have never gotten any better, you would have gradually grown worse. Now then, if you want, I can put the same spell back on the person, which of course you know who it is. I can put it back on them; or, to get rid of your trouble, you must do away with this hair. But chew must first remove that string." And Aunt Zippy Tull - that's how she was known, they all called her Aunt Zippy - she said, "You take this hair and you destroy it by burning it up. And don't let anybody ever have any of your hair, because this same woman will be trying to do the same thing again." This woman, after doing this, she gradually got better. She got well, made a strong healthy woman, and lived to be a quite old age. I would positively say she was around seventy or seventy-five years old when she died. This was the age of about twenty-three-or-four years old when this spell was first put on this woman. Naturally, I know it from actual knowledge. It had been handed down right in the family and we knew this to be a positive fact. This is not a heresay or somebody telling you about it, it's really positive, it's absolutely true. The woman had practically gone crazy and lost her mind. The woman just pulled her hair right out of her head. But her life, it would have been a blank. She went on through life. I don't know her married life of course, I don't know whether that would be necessary now in this particular case or not, but I know this thing Was put on by this woman and was taken off by Aunt Zippy Tull which [who] in those days were looked upon as a great witchcraft and fortune-teller. I would imagine she [Zippy] died between the age of - it's been thirty to forty years ago [before 1936]. But, she was known all over these four counties [Somerset (where we then were), Wicomico, Dorchester and Worcester]. She lived around Siloam; her home was Wicomico County.
Entry 585
(How do you find this money now?)
With John de Conker. [This is rare, to call Jack by the name of a root within the package or bag. Root bags as hands are common.]
(And how do you prepare that?)
Well, yo' fix it in a flannel - sew it up in a flannel, yo' see an' keep it in yore pocket. Keep it perfumed [fed] wit Hearts Own perfume [sometimes confused with Heartsorn or Heartshorn = Hawthorn? perfume]. Put chew nine pins in it an' if yo' go out 'cross de way anywhere - cross de field whare dere's any money buried, it'll point. Yo' talks to it - it's got a string on de side - an' yo' talk to it an' jest where dat money is it's goin' point directly where dat money are.
(Well, you don't point in your pocket though?)
No, yo' has to take it out chere pocket. See, it's got a little string on to it. Dis John de Conker yo' know, it's got little roots to it - all roots kind lak a [centipede?]. [A small piece of John de Conker has so many root hairs it looks like a centipede.]
Entry 1517
Well, you take a silver dime and you tie nine knots in a cord string and you wear them in turpentine [knots soaked in turpentine, see Turpentine title later] - [or] six of them in green coal oil, and you bore a hole in that dime and wear it around your ankle, and you take the dust that you bored the hole outa that dime and put it in vaseline and make a salve and rub it around your waist, and they can't do you anything. Yes, if they put it down for you, it won't take on you. That silver, it'll keep it from taking on you. [No question asked at the time indicated I thought I knew the meaning of green coal oil. This could be crude oil, green indicating unrefined rather than color; otherwise, a coal oil (kerosene) colored green sounds like a hoodoo commercial firm product. The choice is between 9 knots in turpentine or 6 in qreen coal oil.] [New Orleans, La., (851), 1317:6; informant "excellent."] 011.
Entry 1759
Ah hear talk of that. Yo' kin work lawsuits with that even much. Take 'em an' tie 'em in de center - de broomstraws, dem short pieces. Yo' git a piece - Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft.- Rootwork - of shame brier root an' put in between dem straws, an' if yo' wanta come out ahead in anything lak dat, an' yo' got de broom straws, yo' tie 'em together. But yo' always lay it - if he killed an' yo' wanta win, yo' gotta come up higher. Dem othah joints gotta be shorter den yours. An' when yo' git 'em up dere high, yo'll be above, an' even yo' above dat shame brier root. Den yo' kin take de rattlesnake master or a piece of root of hit an' yo'll hold them right together, an' then yo'll tie nine knots in dat string an' yo' tie 'em well. An' then yo wrop it up. Yo'll fix them things an' yo'll tie 'em up. When yo' tie 'em up den yo'll wrop 'em up in a piece of red flannel an' yo' tie it up: An' all you have to do den whenevah yo' go, always, if yo' have to meet a lawsuit or anything, yo' put it in yore pocket an' yo' nevah have to be tried. Ah seen 'em work that.
Entry 1841
You know what they make that out of?
(No.)
Well, I'll tell you what they make that out of - that's made out of snake- hides. That's what they make that out of - they make that out of snakehides. What's sewed inside of it is ordinary sawdust - sawdust and brown sugar. And you can keep that under a person's bed and a man' 11 never have no nature for his wife. [While machine is off we talk about another hand.]
(Well, what shape would they fix it up?)
Fix it up just the shape of a person - two arms and two legs with the body made to it. And if you put that under a woman's bed, she ain't going to be much service to her husband - her and her husband be fussful all the time. (What did you say they make that out of?) [I am trying to pick up what was lost while machine silent.l Sawdust - take sawdust and alum. Take you a piece of alum, powdered alum. Take you a little piece of bluestone and powder it. Take a piece of garlic and tie the garlic around it. Understand? And put it under a woman's bed.
(Well, what do you use for the outside cover?)
Outside cover on it? Just tie it around with a string, you don't have to wrap it in anything - just put in, open her mattress and put it in a mattress.
(What did you say about a snakehide a moment ago?)
A snakehide? You could take a snakehide and use that - just clip a person's, a piece of a person's hair and burn it. You understand?
(In fixing this doll baby - how was that made, did you say?)
You takes ordinary sawdust - just take ordinary sawdust. If you want to make a woman disagreeable - things disagreeable in a home for a woman and her husband, take ordinary sawdust, a piece of garlic, a piece of alum and a piece of blue- stone, and powder that. And mix it in that sawdust and sew it up in that form of a person - see, like - just like a little small doll baby - a small piece of it.
(What kind of material would you use for that form?)
For Wrapping that in?
(Yes.)
Bed ticking.
(Any kind?)
No, not any kind, bed ticking - something that a mattress or pillow is made out of, not any kind of material.
(Oh, I see. Well, why is that?)
Because you wants to lay the stripes according to the rise and fall of the sun. That's why we do that. You want to make the stripes so that on the shape of that thing like a person it lays with the rise and fall of the sun. You lays it like you take a dead person is buried with their head to the east - I mean to the west and their feet to the east. You lay that thing with the head to the east and the feet to the west. That's against the life of any person it's under.
(Now, where do you put this little doll?)
You put it in - you put it under or in a mattress. But the best way you do, if you can open the mattress and put it in there, sew it in the mattress. Just know how you got it - lay it in the position and lay it right in that mattress where they lay on that. And that woman'll have trouble in her house with her husband as long as she sleeps on it.
Entry 2189
I have hear tell of 'em usin' onions wit nine pins in 'em - stickpins. Well, yo' take a red onion an' yo' bo' yo' a hole all de way through de onion in de middle part of it, an' yo' put a string in dere an' yo' tie dat string around your neck an' let it hang somewheres roun' yore waist an' put nine stickpins in it, an' yo' jes' wear dat roun' dere until it git to de place yo' know, dat it dries up, an' yo' have to rechange it. But when yo' rechange it, conceal it wit de same nine pins dat yo' put in it at first, whether it be de same onion or not; but which an' evah it gits so small an' dryin' up on yo', gitin' hard, yo' take de nine pins out whut yo' put in de first an' put in de second one. Continue wit dat - keep it dataway. But soon as one dry up, why exchange wit anothah one.
(What will that do for you?)
That's supposed to be luck fo' selling whiskey. [Stickpins are not ornamental pins but ordinary pins; likewise straight pin in following rite.]
Entry 5119
Take de linin' [inner sole] outa fellah's right shoe, tote hit in yore pocket, see. An' take hit an' some devil's shoestring root an' wrop it up tuh- gethah. (Do you wrap it any special way?) Any special way? Jis' as [so] it wropped aroun' wit some asafitadee. Put it in dere an' wrop it away [from you].? Tote it in yore pocket. If yo' wanta run 'im away put red peppah an' salt in it.
(Then what do you do with it?)
Keep a-carryin' it. Has it on a string hangin' down on yore left side. Keep a fellah jis' hangin' dataway. Dat will keep 'l away from dere. Dat's like yuh have a case in co't an' want somebody tuh do somepin.
Entry 7216
Git de width of yore body [demonstrates]. Git a cotton string lak dat an' put nine knots in it, an' take it out an' tie it tuh a tree, or sompin else [fence, etc.]. An' when dat string rots or comes apart, why it'll cuz yo' tuh fall in sickness or prob'ly dead sometime.
Entry 7218
Well dey go tuh de store an' git dese wire nails. Ah calls 'em tins [made of tin or tenpenny?]. An' dey git de lengt' of de man an' de lengt' of de Woman, from up here at de haid all de way down tuh de foot. Well den wrap dat man tuh yuh lak dat [demonstrates].
(Wrap this length - the string around to you, all around this nail.)
Yes, de string tuh yuh lak dat, aroun' dis nail clean until yo' wrap it right even wit de point. Den yo' take it an' nail it right down in de centah of yuh do' an' make yuh wishes. Yo' say, "Jis' as ah drive dis nail down heah ah means fer yo' tuh stay here." An' he goin' stay dere. How ah know about dat, ah got mah husban' nailed down right now. Dat's how ah know.
(Now, you say...)
[I am interrupted.]
Right now.
(Well, does it work? Well, how did you get his length?)
While he asleep. Ah got one fer me an' one fer 'im nailed right in de centah of de do'.
(And you wrap both these strings together right around the nail?)
Tuh yuh, wrap 'is tuh yuh an' yours tuh yuh, too. An' den when yo' wrap down tuh de bottom of de nail, stick it right down tuh de centah of de do', an' hit it nine times an' let de ninth lick drive it up tuh de haid.
(In the wood?)
In de wood. (In wrapping these strings around, do you wrap them both together or first one and then the other?) No, wrap de man's first, den mine.
Entry 6320
Git a plait of hair an' plait it tuhgethah, an tie it wit a rag or string of any kin' an' throw it in de rivah, or eithah bury it undah yuh do'-steps.
(What will that do?)
Dat will cause yuh tuh fade away.
Entry 587
(This is the lucky hand you say - and how is that made?)
It made with peppah an' salt an' a penny or a dime.
(A penny or a dime?)
Yes - an' sew it up in a piece of red flannel. An' dere's a string left to it an' when yo' git ready to - fo' anything to happen in yore favor, you hold it by de string lak dat an' talk to it. An' when yo' git ready tuh go 'way, yo' say, "When ah git ready tuh leave heah - when ah git ready tuh leave dis country, ah hope ah nevah come back."
(That thing will revolve?)
If yo' de nerve tuh go. When it stops, den yo' go. Well, ah tried dat once mahself - ah heard it an' ah tried it.
(What do they call that little bag?)
Dey call dat a lucky hand.
(You ask questions of it?)
Yeah. An' hit goes certain ways, an' whatevah it says, yo' do.
Entry 588
I seed dis. He had dis bottle, little black bottle, looked lak somepin into it like leaves[?] [see later], and he talked to it, you know, and it would bow. "Well Jack, tell me so-and-so. Now Jack, tell me de troof." And that would bow to him. He'd hold de bottle in his hand and hold a string. He had dat string on de end of de bottle and he'd hold dat bottle up, you know, and he'd talk to it and it would bow, you know. [To bow meant 'yes"' - not to bow, 'no."] He said, "Now, you tell me de troof, Jack. Jack don't you lie to me, now." It [the bottle] was kinda white but de stuff into was black, black as that [points to my discarded black hat containing concealed microphone - see Hat, my black, in Index.]
(How long ago was that?)
Oh, I guess it's been fifty years [1876].
(Where did you see that?)
Oh, between Stockton and Girdletree [Worcester Co., on Eastern Shore].
Entry 1120
Chills - like if you are subject to chills every day, you get the bitterweed that grows the yellow flowers on top and the cow eats those weeds and it makes her milk bitter. Well, if a person has got a chill, you take this cord string and measure it around their waist, when the chill is on them, and you measure just the size of their wrist and you take this thread.
(Either wrist?)
Either wrist, either one. You take this thread out to that bitterweed and you bunch it all on this branch, you see, and tie that string around it. Three days after you do that, the weed'll die and there'll be no more chills. I learnt that when I was thirteen years old.
Entry 1376
Yo' git yo' a little bit of saltpeter and a little table salt and a little tiny bit of lodestone and yo' put dat together. Git yo' a piece of red flannel - jes' a red little shallow cloth like, and roll it up in a piece of red flannel and make a knot out of it, and you take that flannel and yo' take you a string and tie it and wear it around yore waist. And yo' take that thing and yo' reduce [feed] that thing with Hearts Cologne fer nine days, and den that breaks it up - dey can't come dere.
(What can't?)
If dey tryin' do somepin to yuh - keep it away.
Entry 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 1819
[In my earlier collecting days a hairball among white inform- ants was: "A cow licks her hair and that hair goes down in the left side of the pouch and that forms a ball, and if you have one of those in your hand you can bewitch anyone." This object is sometimes called a witch-ball: "One morning the cow didn't come up for milking and they went out to find the cow and found it dead. It had been shot in the thigh with a hair-ball.... You see, a witch always uses a silver bullet or a hair-ball to kill anything, and this man [witch] had shot the cow with one of those witch hair-balls." FACI, 2ed., Nos. 15884 & 15885, p.797; see also No. 16151, p.827.]
[In the following account we have a different hairbalZ:]
Now, dere's a hairball - dat's concernin' a lady, misfortune between yo' an' her. Now, yo' kin wear dis hairball tuh keep in contact with her an' yo' kin wear it dat chew may nevah git in contact with her no mo'.
(What kind of a hairbalZ do you mean?)
It's an ordinary hairball.
(Well, where do you get that hair?)
Well, it's hair dat's from ole dead people, yo' know, befo' it's event'lly decayed - it's spoiled. Put it in a thimble or somethin' round that chew may put it in a ball. Quite natural, by it gittin' air it will not, yo' know whut ah mean - fade away. Quite natural if yo' know de person that die - everythin' all right. Now, this hairball - it comes in a ball. To keep in contact with this party, yo must put this in a bag - yo' know, somethin' lak a Bull Durham sack. [The latter was a small cloth sack containing a cigarette mixture used in "rolling your own" - making your own cigarettes. The paper label on the sack had the picture of a bull.] Yo' make a small bag small enough fo' it tuh git in. Now, tuh keep in contact with this person, yo' must put this hairball in that bag an' sew it. Make nine stitches, an' dere's three words yo' must say while sewin', "With me Fo'evah." Yo' know, as yo' make a stitch, jes' say a word. Now at de end, when yo' git tuh de end of de bag, do not make a knot in it. Make three turns wit chure needle - yo' know, lak yo' be sewin' dis, jes pass it roun dere three times. Den yo git chew a string an' put nine knots in dis string an' de ninth knot, yo' take a needle an' attach it to dat bag an' wear that next to yore skin. Now, tuh git rid of dis lady event ally, wear dis hairbalZ jes' outright - don't put it nex' tuh yore skin. Fo' instant [instance], lak yo' got chure coat on dere, dis top pocket heah - jes' keep it in dat pocket, jes' outside from yo'. See. An' yo' wear it thataway yo'll nevah come in contact with her. That's all it is to the hairball.
Hyatt quotes earlier FACI material comparing a silver bullet with a hair-ball as alternatives. The quoted cow account uses the hair-ball. The following Algiers informant describes a different hair-ball; the quoted bullet is not part of that later recipe.
Read full source (printed page 544) · Read full source (printed page 545)
Entry 1832
An' you know dey tryin' harm you. Well, all you got'a do - git chew a piece of devil's-shoestring and git chew some of dis salt and red peppah see, and devil's-shoestring and some sulphur. And you take it and wear some in vour shoes and take an' make a belt out of it, out of de shoestring, see, and wear it around your waist. But chew use a little piece of copper wire, you understand, mix a little piece of copper wire in it. If you ain't got devil's-shoestring, spread it [copper wire] out round your waist - see, you kin just ball de little piece of copper wire up and put it in dere amongst de red pepper, see. And then when you do that, you take and wear it around your waist. That would stop anybody, they couldn't do anything. They can't do nothing to you but put in your stomach, if dey goin' get cha. That's the only way they kin get cha.
Entry 2099
If yo' got a woman an' wanta make love wit her, yo' goes to her house. She don't want chew dere yo' see, but den yo' go to her house - make it specially to go tuh her house to git a few words wit her. Then yo' mess roun' an' if yo' kin git a chance tuh ketch her han's, yo' git de lengt' of dat lef'- han' fingah - dat dog fingah [demonstrates]. (The index finger of the left hand?) The fingah off her lef' han' - de dog fingah. See, yo' git de joint of it, de first joint.
(What do you do? You are not taking it off of any woman are you?)
No, yo' don't take it off, yo' jes' ketch it an' git de measure of it, somepin lak dat. Den go out git chew nine dem broom sweepers - see, git chew nine straws about de same length, every one of 'em, see. Git one of her gloves, see, an' yo' let it go out [straighten it out] an' cut de fingah off right in dere, an' yo' tie it with a string, tie it up in dere.
(What do vou tie up in that?)
Dem nine straws.
(You tie those nine straws in that little finger that you cut off the glove.)
Den yo' put chew nine single pins in dere an' tie it up an' wear it in yore pocket, an' dat girl will love yo' from den on, an' wouldn't make love wit any othah individual either - jes' tie her. [This is called tying a person.] (Here's what you do, get the length of that first joint of the dog finger - the index finger of the left hand. Then you get nine broomstraws that length. Then you get her glove with that same finger and cut the end of that glove finger off and put the nine broomstraws in there.) [To measure a finger joint measures the whole body because part of the spirit equals the whole of the spirit (see p.21). Measuring is like drawing a circle about a person or scratching a circle on the ground for him to walk over - you confine him, control him. By the law of the opposite, treasure hunters put a circle about themselves as a protection against spirits (see the Magic Circle, p.123).]
Entry 2366
Red peppah an' ashes an' saltpeter an' dey cain't come ovah it. Pin it up( ovah yore do'. Dey'll come in but dey won't be mad.
(Where do you put that, you say?)
Jis' up ovah yore do'.
(Well, it would fall out wouldn't it?)
No, yo' gon'a put it in a bag an' tie a string aroun' de bag an' hang it on de nail, an' every day yo' got'a pee on dat.
(Not up there!)
Naw. Yo' take it down an' pee in a pan, an' pee on it, an' den yo' put it back up there. Dey cain't bother yo'. Dey kin come in but dey Won't do nuthin to yo'. Dey'll be jis glad.
suspending the tied bag from a nail above the door. Retain visitors can come in but are claimed not to be angry/harmful; do not rewrite the account as absolute exclusion. predicted mitigation of visitors’ angry or bothersome conduct while allowing their entry. No total visitor exclusion These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 661) · Read full source (printed page 662)
Entry 3173
(Cut the seat out of his drawers?) Where his private lay, yo' know, whilst he's dressin' yo' know - jis' whutevah side it lay on, cut dat off an weah it aroun' dey waist on dis cord.
(What will that do?)
Dat would keep 'im from foolin' wit anybody...any time he'd git tuh...
Entry 3214
(Tell me that again now. What would you do?)
Take de bow out of a man hat. Yo've seen mens when dey buy hats, pull de bow out de hat an' burn it up, haven't chew? Dey won't nevah - very seldom yo' see a man wit a bow in 'is hat. Take dat bow an' tie it an' wear it right roun' heah, roun' yore private, wit a string. Jes' wear it right roun' an' he can't raise no heart fo' no heart fo' nobody but chew.
Entry 3218
She takes a cord string.
(She takes a cord string.)
An' she ties nine knots in dat string. She takes a cord string an', yo' know, she [informant hesitates]....
(What does she do with it, measure him?)
Yassir. Dere's two or three diff'ren' ways yo' kin do dat.
(Tell me the two or three different ways. Tell me the first way.)
She kin measure him an' tie nine knots in dat string an' den she kin - she ties it aroun' 'er wais'. Den she kin git a new domestic piece [a piece of new domestic] of cloth when she have - yo' know, when she - whenevah she have intah- co'se wit 'in. She don't have intahco'se, she'll let 'in have it. An' den she take dat an' she cuts it out in a heart - de shape of a heart. She puts it in 'er. shoe an' he sure can't - he can't go, he can't do anythin'
[with other women].
Entry 3493
Ah've heard dat chew kin take a cord string an' measure de man an' tie a lnot in de centah, an' de woman could tell aftah he had gone out. She could tell aftah he'd leaver [leave her] where he wuz tryin' to have a connection wit dis woman. Dey said dis knot, why she could tie it as tight as she could, but it would loosen. She could tell if he tried, bat he couldn't have dis woman.
(That is, if he were trying, this knot would get loose in the string?)
Git loose in de string. See, she would keep de string dat she measure. She beasured de length of 'im an' den she'd tie a knot in de centah of de string. An' if he goes, wherevah he goes, de minute dat he'd try to have de woman, why dis knot would loosen. An' dat's why - or how she could tell whut he wuz doin'.
Entry 3494
When he's layin' asleep take an' measure his privates wit a cord. Take de length of it an' take de roun' of it. An' take it an' tie a knot dere on it an' wear it aroun' 'er below 'er knee. An' dat will stop 'im from runnin' aftah othah women.
Entry 3495
Ah tried dis mahself, yo' know. Now, havin' a intahco'se, yo' takes string, any- ching dat be's long enough an' measure hisself to de...
(You measure him?)
Yeah, wit de string. An' yo' take dis string an' wear it up above yore knee, an' he kin not have anothah person, no othah one but yo'.
Entry 3562
Yo' take a string an' measure dis person, an' tie a knot at de end of dat string. Yo' see, tie a knot at de end of dat string. Yo' see, tie a knot at de end of dat string, at de firs measurin' place an' den yo' tie it, an' from dere on yo' tie eight more which makes nine, an' den yo' kin eithah pin it aroun' yore ankle wit a sil- vah dime. Stick a hole in a silvah dime an' wear it aroun' de ankle, dey won't love no one but yo'. Well, NOW SOME PEOPLE SAY DEY USE IT FER CRAMPS [see Nos.1516-1517], BUT DAT'S ALWAYS AS AN ALIBI. DAT'S [LOVE IS] WHUT DE USE IT FO'.
(They say they use it for cramps, but they really want to keep a man.)
Entry 3569
Fix it in a way dat she wouldn't forgit 'im, yo' know, when he come back. Now he's git - he'd take an' he'd git 'im a piece of cord string. He'd ketch 'er while she's asleep, an' he'd measure her. See, he'd measure her. Now, when he'd measure her, he'd take an' he puts a knot evah inch of dat string. He puts nine knots but he'd put 'em an inch apart, see. Now, he puts dem nine knots a inch apart an' he folds dat string up an' he tries to make it in nine wraps. As he wraps it aroun', yo' know, he make nine wraps outa it. He'd go an' he'd git 'im a bran'-new silk pocket han'ke'chuf. He'd tie dis in dat pocket han'ke- chuf an' he'd put it in 'is back pocket an' keep it dere in 'is back pocket. An whenevah she go to do anything, her feelin' will fall an' he'll know it, cuz one of dem knots goin' to come loose. See, one of de knots will come unloosed. Evah time she goes to start he'll know it, cuz one of de knots. I don't care if he goes to New York, when she goin' to do anything, one of dem knots vill come un- IOOSEd, BUT SHE AIN'T GOIN' TO HAVE NO FEELIN' FO' DE FELLAH SHE'S WIT, yo' see. SHE MIGHT DO IT, BUT IT BE AGAINST 'ER WILL; an' HE'LL [HUSBAND WILL] KNOW IT, CUZ ONE OF DEM KNOTS WILL COME LOOSE. [The PreCeding SHE AIN'T GOIN' TO HAVE NO FEELIN' FO' DE FELLAH SHE'S WIT is also believed in Waycross, Ga., see No.3550.]
(How would he measure her? Here she is. How would he measure her?)
[Here she is: indicates that I pushed my Numbers Book (see illustration at end of volume 2) over to informant.] Well, he'd take it straight up an' down, yo' see. (Straight up and down - from the top to the bottom. I see.)
Entry 3573
Yo' wear it. Yo' tie nine knots in dat string fo' nine mawnin's, yo' see. Yo' sleep wit 'im nine mawnin's an' git up on dem nine mawnin's an' tie a knot in dat string fo' nine mawnin's an' wear it aroun' 'er waist. (You tie one knot each morning?) Yeah, each morning. (What do you do with the string? Do you have to do anything with the string first?) Yes, wear it around - no, I nevah heard dat, nevah heard it. She jes' wear it aroun' 'er waist.
(I see.)
Entry 3576
She'll take a cotton string, an' she said she use dat cotton string evah time she have dealin's wit 'er husban'; an' jis' how many times, she'd tie a knot in it. An' den she wear it roun' 'er waist fo so many days, an' den she take it an' put it undah de leak of a house an' bury it dere. An' den he wouldn't run aroun', he'd stay home.
(Do you know how many days she wore that?)
She said she wore it three days.
(That kept him from running around with other women?)
Yes.
Entry 3580
Yo' take a cotton string - all dat's tyin' 'em. Yo' take dat cotton string an' yo' git yo' a bottle of Heart Cologne an' yo' drop it in dat bottle as yo' tyin' dem knots, see. An' yo' drop it in dat bottle an' name dem, tie a knot, den drop it in - tie it nine times.
(Each time you tie a knot you let the string fall down into that bottle?)
Down in de bottle till de las' one git on it [string]. Take de string den an' yo' tie it roun' yore waist, an' yo' wear it roun' yore waist. An' yo' git chew a piece of hair from de top [of the head] an' a piece from down dere an' make a li'l' ball - jes' a li'l' ball about as big as a match, de fiah part of de match, an' put a little piece of cloth to it, an' tie it in one dem knots an' let it hang right down, right down on dere.
(On the privates?)
Yeah. An' dey'd wear it. An' see, dat's tyin' 'em.
Entry 3582
When yore husban' lie down to take his rest, when he git tuh sleep good, git chew a cord string. Git chew a cord string an' take it an' measure it an' tie nine knots in it. (Measure him. Where does she measure him?) Start tuh measure him from de head down to de toe, an' put nine knots in dere, an' take it an' tie it - tie nine knots in dere an' wear it aroun' yore waist.
(What will that do?)
Evah time yo' tie it yo' call 'is name an' tell 'im tuh come back to yo'.
(What are you doing that for, tying those knots for?)
Well, dat's tuh bring him back home.
(Make him stay home?)
He'll stay home when he come back.
Entry 3591
A woman kin take a man an' take his concern when he sleep, take a cord string an' measure his concern wit dat cord string, yo' see, jes' in de middle [center] yo' see. An' she'll have a certain mark dere, yo' know, how long [thick] it is. An' she kin put nine knots in dat string right in dat certain place an' wear it roun' 'er waist. An' ah bet chew ten dollahs tuh fifty, yo' couldn't fool wit a woman. Evah time yo' go tuh fool wit a woman, it will fall right lak a rag right heah.
Entry 3592
An' if she got yo' so dat yo' couldn't fool wit no othah womens - prob'ly she done given yo' some appearance [menstrual blood], dat anywhere she be at, yo' wants to be dere wit 'er. Well, quite natchly [naturally], yo'll say to yoreself lak dis, "Huh, well, ah could fool wit mah wife so, an' when ah git aroun' othah women, den ah can't do nuthin. Which yo' really is, but de ninute yo' aim to do things, yore courage will leave yo'. Well, dere wuz a woman, she got a cord yo' know, jis' lak any little fine piece of line.
(A cord, yes - a string, yes.)
Well, she done - while yo' sleepin', she done cut de length of yo'. She done cat de length from yo' an' how big aroun'. She done cut dat. She'll put knots in de twine. She'll put nine knots in de cord. She take dat cord an' she put it right ovah herself lak dat, add it to anothah piece of cord, an' she'll put nine knots in 'er cord what she got, an' she'll wear it aroun' 'er waist, but de knots in yore length dat goes ovah 'er, she got it right in front ovah 'er pri- vate. An' jis' as long as she got dat roun' 'er, yo' couldn't fool wit no othah womens.
Entry 3593
Take a string an' measure his thing, an' tie a knot in it at evah time yo' measure it. Yo' measure de length an' de width of it - ah mean around it. Take it an put some of 'is come wit it an' wear it an' he cain't git up no heart fo' her.
(How many knots do you put in the string?)
Nine.
Entry 3594
Yo' want [to] make her stay wit chew, yo' jis' - yo' take her when she 'sleep, an' yo' come dere an' measure roun' 'er wit a string; an' yo' make nine knots in de measure dat way an' yo' tie it, hang it roun' yo see. [Measure roun' 'er = circumference, a circle, a confining symbol; measuring and circle being confining devices.]
(Round your leg? The man ties it around his leg? That holds her?)
Yessuh.
Entry 3597
A wumman could take a string an' tie nine knots in it an' when he goes wit 'er she could measure his privates wit it. (After she has tied nine knots.) Yessir, she could measure his privates wit de string aftah she tied de nine knots in it, an' take dis string an' wear it roun' 'er waist three days. An' aftah she wear it roun' 'er waist three days, take it an' burn it up, an' he couldn't have no intahco'se wit nobody but 'er.
(Well, couldn't he ever git rid of that?)
No, unless somebody wuz jes' smart enough [a two-header], yo' know, tuh tell him how tuh git relief.
Entry 3626
Say fo' instance, if a woman is havin' intahco'ses wit a man an' she don't want anybody else tuh bothah wit de man. Well, now, one of de towels dat she might use, she takes 'is urine an' she take dis towel an' she wash it in dis urine - de same towel dat de two of dem use. An' den she tear a string offa de towel an' den she make nine knots in dat string, an' if it's not large enough tuh go roun' 'er body she'll make a 'ddition [an addition] tuh it jis' since she make nine knots. An' dat's supposed tuh keep 'im tuh de place where he cain't have any nature fo' anybody but 'er. Dat's whut yo' call a cross [or crossing up a man]. Dere people dat could take dat away, but ah have tuh give yo' mah best knowledge of it.
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 3785
Yo' kin take a penny yo' see, an' drill a hole in it yo' see, an' put a string in it yo' see, an' tie it down - tie it chew know where it will rest, yo' know right in yore privates down dere, an' dey tell me dat will kill it. (That is if his wife has tied him up.)
Entry 3802
Well, if a person go tuh work an' take de measure of yore private an place it on a piece of paper, yo' take an' go tuh work an' git to de place dat chew can't be social wit no othah man, yo' take de five dimes an' swallah dem. When de five dimes came back in passes, why yo'll be a perfect person ag'in. Yo' kin go all de way an' love wit anyone dat chew want to:
(You say a woman will take a man's measure on what?)
On de private.
(How does she measure that?)
Wit 'er fingahs.
(Then what does she do with that, then?)
Take dat an' tie nine knots wit a cord string.
(Then what does she do with that string?)
She take dat string an' place it aroun' 'er waist.
(And that takes the man's nature away?)
Yes.
(Now, how is he going to get his nature back?)
He will have to go tuh work an' [provide himself] wit de five silvah dimes, jes' lak she will. Swallah five silvah dimes.
(Swallow the whole dime?)
All whole.
Entry 4610
Heard dat wimmins - de way dat dey would kinda trick mens yuh know. Jes' lak dat ah'd go tuh some gurl's house an' wuz a married man an' she wuz likin' me an' ah wouldn't take up very much time wit 'er on account mah wife. Why ah hang mah hat up an' perhaps ah may git up an' per- haps ah may git up an' go git a drink of watah, sompin, an' she'd pull de bow outa mah hat an' tie it on a string an' tie nine knots in it an' wear it roun' 'er waist, in ordah tuh make me leave 'way from mah ole lady an' come tuh 'er.
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 5177
Den yo' git de shoes, yo' take - cut a li'le piece outa de bottom of dat shoe. When yo' cut a li'le piece outa de bottom of dat shoe, yo'll fix dat up in a li'le piece of cloth, a yellah homespun cloth. An' yo'll wind dat, yo' know, wit a string. An' yo'll have in dat nuthin but sulphuh an' eatin'-salt. An' yo'll put dat in dere, an' yo'll tie hit tuhgethah intuh dat li'le piece whut yo' cut out dat shoe. Well, now, if yo' hit [aim] tuh bring 'im back, well yo'll take a li'le piece of saltpetah an' yo'll put [make] dat in a powdahs - all dem into a powdahs, an' yo'll fix dat into dat li'le package. An' aftah, yo' wind dat li'le package up an' yo' bury dat at de back of yore house. An' when yo' put all dat in de back of de house, den yo' call 'im three times - woman or man - an' dey cain't he'p but follahin' back. Now, dat's fer as ah know 'bout dat.
(Do you wind it in any special way?)
No pahtic'lah way but jis' long as yo' know it tied.
(And can you send them away with the same thing?)
No suh, ah don' know if yo' send 'em away wit dat.
(You mean that piece in the shoe, that piece inside [insole] that you pul]
up?) Dat's right.
Entry 5495
Ah says dere wuz once a man an' wife twan't [they were not] gittin' 'long good. Dey wuz gittin' 'long happy at one time an' den dey had some sort of misundahstan'in' an' dey couldn't git 'long tuhgethah. So he wuz studyin' a way how tuh make her love him an' git 'long happy tuh- gethah. So he taken some of de dirt outa her lef' track an' he fixed it up wit Hearts Cologne an' sweet camphor. [Does informant mean sweet niter, or camphor with a sweet in- gredient?] Tuk [took] an' he mixed dat all tuhgethah, an' he got three stran's of her hair out of her haid, an' he fixed it up in a li'le small sort of sompin lak a li'le small package. An' he tied it wit a string an' jes' bind it so it rest right up undah his left, right in de hairs of 'is ahm [arm], so it git de sweat on it. Well, den aftah while dey got 'long very happy.
Entry 5958
If yo' wanted to keep a person, yo' take de hair out of de mole of dere head, an' yo' take dis wit othah things dat I tole yo' 'bout concernin' de cloth dat dey use. An' yo' wrap dis togethah around. Jes' take yo' a cotton string an' ball dis hair togethah an' tie it jes' as tight as yo' kin. An' tie it in a little bag wit de bow of de hat.
Entry 5965
Take de hair if yo' wanta gain a person like a frien'. All right, chew take de hair right out de mole of de head an' yo' takes it an' takes dis perfume. Or yo' may give it a little twist, an' take one of dese little cotton strings an' tie it at each end, an' yo' puts about 'leven drops of perfume in it - an' yo' [puts] dis in it. Dat's to keep it moist an' keep it goin' [feeding it]. Jes' as long as yo' feed, dat's as long as dey gonna stick [to you], an' if it gits dry, dey dries up on yo'.
(As long as you keep that package moist.)
It jes' keeps 'em to love yo'
(If this dries up the person will die?)
No, he won't die but [if it dries up] he won't like yo'. Dat's to gain in love.
Entry 5968
Yo' wants de woman an' man be fightin' all de time - yo' wants de man outa here. Well, see, jes' like yo' wuz de woman's sweetheart. Undahstan'? An' yo' want 'im outa dere. See, you'd make her git some of 'is hair. Undahstan'? Tie de cord string aroun' it. Undahstan'? An' put fo' knots in it an' wear it right aroun' 'is waist, an' dat will cuz de man to leave dere an' dis othah man'll come in.
(I would put that around my waist?)
Yes, sir.
(To make that other man go away?)
Dat's [that's to] cuz 'im to be battlin' an' she'd tell 'im she would leave 'im.
[Since the house is the woman's, this means he must leave.]
(I see.)
[Years ago, soon after its collection, I marked this rite doubtful, but it is quite possible. The man who Wants into the house has complete control over the man within the house. The 4 knots symbolize the four corners of the earth [Rev- elation 7:1] often concerned with sending-away rites.]
Entry 5972
Now if dere a ole lady yo' can't git away from yore house- dere a ole lady dere or someone roun' dere an' yo' want 'em tuh leave an' yo' can' git rid of 'em, stick roun' wit 'em where de man git 'is hair cut or sompin lak dat. Git some of 'is hair, see. Git some of 'is hair an' put 'is hair in a little flannel rag an' use some Heart Cologne. An' yo' take dis hair an' dis Eeart Cologne an' yo' do it up in dis rag. Don't sew it, yo' tie wit cotton string an' yo' do it up good. An' jes' befo' yo' do it up, tie nine knots in it, jes' about a inch from de end of de cotton string. Tie nine hard knots in it an' 'noint 'em all good in spirits of turpentine, an' make a wish evahtime yo' make a tie. See. Evahtime yo' make a tie in it, wrap it aroun' an' make a tie. Well, yo' make a tie fo' nine times, an' den jes' put it in yore pocket an' walk on tuh a runnin' creek an' throw it in dere, an' don't look back, keep a-goin'. Yo' won't have any trouble wit 'em atall no mo'.
(Runs him away.)
Yessuh, he gone.
Entry 6052
Take de hair from undah a person's arm. Jes' lak if yo's mah man, ah would take de hair from undah yore arm an' plait it up undah de hairs undah mah arm, an' wear it. (What will that do then?) Dat'll make yo' love me. (And would you get my hair from any particular arm, or does it make any difference?) Well, yo' kin take it from down heah - de best. Yo' kin git it from down heah an' wear it.
(From the privates. Then where would you wear that, then?)
Where ah wear it.den? Ah jes' take it an' plait it wit mine. Yo' mus' wear it on yo' or eithah wear it on a string roun' yore waist.
Entry 6069
Dey take yore [a man's] hair - yo' see, dis hair [demonstrates from his head] [and wear] right across yore [a woman's] private.
(The hair from [at] the privates.)
An' wear it around yore waist. Let chure head [hair] hang right heah. Tie it roun' wit a string an' tie it roun' yore waist an' jes' wear it. An' as long as yo' wear dat hair de man'll run yo' down [chase or run after you]. (You mean the woman wears a man's hair from his head, right across her privates, and that will keep him as her lover?) Dat's right, shure will.
Entry 6263
Eithah a man or woman, eithah one, git holt of yore hair, undahstan', an' weah aroun' dem. Take an' wet it wit dere pee, yo' undahstan', an' weah it tuh a string, weah it aroun' yo'. Yo' wanta git 'er, yo' see, where yo' wanta. (What do you do that for?) Well, yo' do dat tuh keep anybody else from intahferin' wit yo' an' 'er. Urine de bes' stuff in de worl' tuh wet it.
Entry 7256
(What do they do with that hair?)
Well, dey'll take dat hair an' dey'll tie it aroun' dere waist, yuh know. Tie dat hair wit string an' make nine knots in it. Aftah dey make dem nine knots in it, well in about fifteen days yuh'd go crazy, if yuh don't go see about chureself. Yuh'd have tuh go tuh some strong two-haided person an' see about chureself.
(Where do you get this hair from?)
Out of yuh ear.
(And what do they tie that to?)
Aroun' dey waist.
Entry 7816
In some parts of the South they claim if you get some dirt from the cemetery and put it in a box, and place it under the steps of your enemy, it will cause trouble in their home. And oft times they sought a cunjure-man and he in turn gives them a piece of rau- hide, and tells them at intervals to tie a knot until that string is exhausted. That will do away with the evil spirit. [Informant Was born in Jacksonville, Fla.]
Entry 7817
If a person away an' - yo' could take yo' a cotton string an' yo' tie dose nine knots tuhgethah. Yo' sew dose nine knots up intuh a bag an' yo' take graveyard dirt wit'in dose knots. An' yo' take dat bag an' put it some- place in yuh clothes whut chew veah nex' tuh yo'. An' yo' weah dat bag wit dat string in dere twixt yo', an' dat'll bring 'em back.
Entry 8658
Ah know yo' take a weepin' willow an' yo' put as many notches on it as lettahs in yore name, an' den tie it across an' throw it in de yard where yo' Work at, an' de woman dat yo' think's got yore job, say, "Yo' shall leave dere." An' yo' kin git chure job de next mawnin'. (That is to get the other per- son's job?) She take [took] mah job. Ah Want mah job back. (To get your job back, you take a willow switch and you tie as many notches in it, cut notches in it as many letters as she has in her name.) Yes, an' den tie it dataway an' tro' [throw] it in de yard an' she'll leave dere.
(You tie it like this? What - you cut it in two then?)
Yes. Nawsuh [no sir], we don' cut it in two. Jes' take de two willows an' tie a string aroun' 'em an' throw it in de yard an' dey'll leave dere.
(And you cut the notches in these willows?)
Yessuh, as many [notches as] lettahs in her name yo' see. If she got five lettahs in her name or six or seven lettahs, maybe, cut dem many. (Here are two willow switches. Now she has five letters in her name. You cut five on each stick then?) Yessuh, an' den tie it togethah an' tro' it in de yard where she take de job 'way from yo', an' she'll leave dere.
(You just make an "x"?)
[After restudying this rite I am afraid my questioning may have complicated it. Surely one switch instead of two was used, this stick being bent and tied in a circle so that the two ends formed a cross. To regain her job my informant vas crossing her successor out of the job. Two separate willow switches could have been crossed and tied for the same purpose.]
Entry 8773
If yo' want a man tuh leave town an' travel all his days an' don't stay no place long, yo' take yo' cord string whut chew git yo' round dese groceries. Yo' seen dat. An' when he git dat cord string, he put nine knots in it, but don't have none loose [have knots loosely tied]. An' den when yo' go to his do' an' call him three times, an' aftah callin' him three times, dodge [away from door] an' don't let him see yo' tightenin' dem knots. [The voice is caught in the tightened knots.] Git chew a gun an' anywhere de d'rection dat yo' want 'im tuh go, yo' put hit in dat gun.
(Put the string in the gun.)
Put de string in de gun an' stick a piece of papah in dere tuh wad it down - lak de ole muzzle-loadin' gun lak we used tuh have yeahs back - fifty yeahs ago [50 years before 1939, date of interview] an' shoot it in dat d'rection. He'll nevah stop travelin'.
Entry 10275
Well, if she could get holt of somepin belongin' to a man, if she could get holt of his - but she must be in connection with him once. And she could get the measure of him and get some of her chamber lye and mix it together, she could get him. The only Way he could get away from her.
(She takes the measure of the man with a string?)
With a string, yeah.
(And what did she do with her chamber lye, then?)
Put it in that bottle with the string.
(Oh, she puts the string in the bottle where she put the chamber lye.)
Put it in a bottle and set it up in de left corner of the house. [The left corner is either left corner, front or back, while approaching house.]
(In the left corner of the house, and that will keep him.)
That will keep him right with her.
Entry 10325
Measure man, wear string in shoe 9 days, then tie around right ankle [a remedy of the great George Jackson of the Eastern Shore, see Pp.912-915, v.1. Some of the material about him collected on Eastern Shore of Maryland, some from relative in Baltimore].
Entry 10887
Take de hair out of a dog hair an' de hair out of a cat tail, or eit- her git it out of one of 'em's tail an' de other out one of dere haid - either one of dem animals. Yo' kin git dat an' put it together, an' when yo' put it together, yo' put it an' makes a ball of it. But den yo' wanta put it - yo' jes' have de least little bit of peppah in it, any kinda peppah, an' yo' make dat ball with a string to it. Put de string lak dat, but yo' take de biggest part of it now - chew git dat cat hair an' dat dog hair an' yo' put it in a piece of cloth an' den yo' git three pods of rat manure, an' yo' put dem in an' sew it up together. Yo' make dat ball together an' yo' kin come roun' - if it mah pump or mah bucket or any- thing, an' den yo' dump it in dere three times. An' den yo' throw it away. Dat'll broke us up fo' life, won't.enjoy life no mo'. Ah see dat done.
(You are supposed to go out and'drink that water?)
It jes' make us fall out fo'evah.
(If you drink the water?)
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 12204
Ah've heard about horseshoe nails. Dey tell me yo' git nine horse- shoe nails dat's mighty good luck. But de way ah've heard about de nine horse- shoe nails, yo' take them nine horseshoe nails an' wrap them up in a piece of flannel cloth. Jes' have de head this way heah, jes' change 'em disaway [informant demonstrates].
(You put one head one way and one the other.)
Yes sir. An' then yo' - after yo' put a piece of cord, yo' tie it tight. An' dey say yo' keep dat in yore house. That's mighty good luck in yore home.
Entry 12423
Now, she kin take a piece of cord, or a piece of string, or anything lak dat an' measure him, yo' see. Yo' ketch de string tight an' yo' measure him. Den aftah measurin' it, yo' tie dem nine knots, an' yo' put it in a bottle or put it in a can or any- thing lak dat an' throw it in de rivah. Yo' see an' dat'll keep him driftin' - jes' keep a-goin'. Dat's when yo' wanta run a fellah way.
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 10276
I know at one time a woman and a man were very familiar towards each other, they would do anything they were inclined to do. So at last one day this woman decided that she would take the measure [circumfer- ence] and the length of her sweetheart. And after doing so - just as if you would go and measure a dog's tail. I don't care how bad the dog is, I don't care how much stranger he is, you can measure his tail and take the length of the measure and bury it at your doorstep, and that dog will never depart from you. So this woman, after taking the measurement of this man, goes to work. Then she decreed that, I want this man for myself individual. She would go to work and take this measurement, and wrap it up in a bundle and put it in a bottle, and put this measurement in her trunk, with a small quantity of her urine with this; and stopped it up and put it in her trunk and let it remain. And this man then would always forever be ravish with her and always wanting to get to her. You measure with a piece of string, stick, anything. You put that in the bottle with the urine. The man, you measure the length; the woman, you measure the size. He would do the same sort of thing with her measure. [Hamp- ton (Old Point Comfort), Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 13221
If a man leaves home an' a woman wants tuh make him come back, well - vell, ah understan' she could take de measure of his whole body an' dat she could take de measure of his- self, an' tie nine knots aroun' it. An' den at de bed where he sleep, de side dat he sleep on, tie it de whole length of de bed. An' den whatsomevah... Yo' know yo' always have a spirit dat chew pray tuh, well are him tuh back yo' up, yo' see. An' make yore wish whut chew want him tuh do. If yo' want dat man tuh come back home, make yore wish an' den scrub yore house oat wit sweeten watah. (What do you do with that length from the head to the foot? What do you do gith that length, that string?) Yo' measure it...yo' tie it de full length of de bed, yo' know, on de spring- Lak, from de haid tuh de foot.
(You don't tie nine knots in it do you?)
Yeah, nine knots.
(And you tied nine knots in the other string too?)
No, yo' tied nine knots in dat string.
(What do you do with that short string?)
Well, dat othah short string yo' wear aroun' yore waist.
Entry 3538
Dey say, jes' lak if yo' got a man an' yo' think a whole lot of 'im, an' yo' don' want 'im tuh run roun'. An' dey said when yo' an' 'im have any- thing to do wit each othah, jes' take dis han'ker- cheff or cloth an' tie a knot in each cornah. Take it an' sew it up in yore mattress an' dey say dat sould - jes' lak if he go an' makes a date wit anothah woman, he would fall, yo low. But it's some kinda perfume dat yo' git. Yo' kin git it at any Five an Ten Cent Sto'. Ah fo'git de name of it. Ah know it when ah see. Take dis per- fume an' yo' put on dis stuff [in the handkerchief]. An' yo' git it an' yo' supposed tuh fold it dis way: to yo' half way, an' fold de othah part back. An' den take a string an' tie aroun' it tight. Carry it up ovah yore head three times an' put dis Lucky Heart Powder [trade name] in it, if yo' have any, an' den take it an' sew it up. An' den yo' got 'em.
(How do you fold that handkerchief, now?)
Fold it three times dis way an' three time back dat way. Double it de two cornah lak dat. (You have the handkerchief out flat like that. Then you fold it three times. Now, here's the handkerchief. Suppose you show me how it's done.) Yo' fold it three times here: one, two, three, till yo' get it exactly in de centah of de han'er'cheff. All right. Den yo' fold it three times away from yo': one, two, three. Den yo' take dese two ends an' fold 'em as yo' kin. An' git it jes' as tight as yo' kin possibly git it. Yeah, an' take a cord string an' tie it around. Wrap it jes' as tight as yo' kin git it.
(What do you do with that then?)
Jes' sew it up in anything. If yo' have little bag, den sew it up in a little bag, or in yore mattress or sompin.
Entry 4139
Well, yo' kin go tuh de fo'ks of de road. Prob'ly dere may be somebody or some woman dat chew want. Yo'll learn 'er name. Yo' kin go tuh de fo'ks of de road an' git chew on one of dese old speckled tarrapins. (What? Speckled what?) Turtle, land turtle. Dat's right. Yo' ketch 'im an' if yo' kin git 'is haid out enough tuh git chew a string aroun' it, git chew a string aroun' it an' make yo' a small bridle an' put intuh it. Well now, yo' got'a keep 'im down dere by dese fo'ks of de road. Evah mawnin' yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road an' take a leak on 'im evah mawnin', an' make yore wish dere what yo' wants tuh happen. Take his haid an' stretch out. Yo' tame him. Dat'll tame him so by dat string yo' got aroun' 'is neck. Make yore wish fo' dis woman an' she more den apt tuh meet chah somewhere on de road on yore way. She cain't git aroun' yo'. [An old footnote of mine says, "This was told straightforwardly, informant generally good and reliable, symbolism seems authentic."]
Entry 4346
Well, yuh kin take - which ah've heard - take de urine of a person an' stop it in a bottle an' put it in de rivah. But choo don't - yuh tie de bottle, yuh tie de head of de bot- tle wit a string, jis' let dat stay in de watah. But choo don' let it float on wit de rivah, jis' let it stay on de watah. An' tie it on de bank somewhere an' let it stay tuh a hidden place where nobody will evah find it. As long as dat - evah time de woman or man will git ready tuh urinate, dey have a hard time doin' it.
Entry 10327
Measures the man and keeps the string [Hampton, by Ediphone].
The brief printed account and its recording notation do not establish a verbatim transcript.
Entry 10328
Measure man with string and wear around leg [Norfolk, 475:8].
This is a short printed account; a verbatim transcript is not established.
Entry 10329
"The string [used in measuring] is worn as a garter" [Mt. Vernon, eastern shore of Maryland, by hand].
The wearing statement is printed as a quotation; the measuring explanation is editorial.
Entry 10330
Measure the man and wear the string around her left ankle [Fredericks- burg, by Ediphone].
The brief printed account and recording notation do not establish a verbatim transcript.
Entry 10331
Measure man with string and wear about her body [waist probably meant].
[Elizabeth City, 400:7.]
The source says about her body; waist is the editor’s qualified suggestion.
Entries from source headings
These entries are listed under the following headings in the source volume:
- KNOTS 3; IN STRING; TIED ABOUT DISHRAG — Volume 3, entries 3379. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → DISHRAG.
- STRING; 3 KNOTS IN — Volume 3, entries 3515. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS THREE.
- STRING - HIS NATURE TIED INTO — Volume 3, entries 3512. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS THREE.
- STRING; 1 KNOT AT EACH END; 1 KNOT AT CENTER — Volume 3, entries 3518. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS THREE.
- STRING FOR TYING MUST BE NEW — Volume 3, entries 3548. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- 6 + 3 KNOTS; IN STRING AS LONG AS BED; 6 THINKING ABOUT HER; 3 IN 3 HIGHEST NAMES; SLEPT ON 1 NIGHT - URINE; HIDDEN IN BED CASTER — Volume 3, entries 3563. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- KNOT AT EACH END; FILL IN 7 KNOTS; LENGTHEN STRING; WEAR ABOUT WAIST — Volume 3, entries 3564. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- MEASURE - DOUBLE STRING - INTO EACH END; A BLACK PEPPER - 7 KNOTS BETWEEN 2 — Volume 3, entries 3565. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- DOUBLE STRING - MEASURE - ABOUT LEG — Volume 3, entries 3566. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- STRING DOUBLED 3 TIMES; KNOT EACH DAY UNTIL 9 — Volume 3, entries 3567. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- KNOTS TIED 1 FOOT APART; NAME EACH KNOT; ANOINT STRING WITH HOLY OIL — Volume 3, entries 3570. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- KNOT MADE EACH TIME STRING WRAPPED ABOUT NAIL — Volume 3, entries 3577. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- STRING IN BEDCLOTH 9 KNOTS — Volume 3, entries 3583. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- STRING - 9 KNOTS — Volume 3, entries 3607. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- STRING - 9 KNOTS - BURY OR TIE UNDER BED — Volume 3, entries 3612. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- STRING - HIS STUFF - 9 KNOTS — Volume 3, entries 3609. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- EVERY MORNING FOR 9 DAYS WOMAN URINATES ON SAME; STRING AND TIES KNOT - EACH KNOT 1 INCH APART; CALLS MAN'S NAME - 3 HOLY NAMES - INCANTATION — Volume 3, entries 3625. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CAUSES OF SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → KNOTS AND TYING → KNOTS NINE.
- URINE ON STRING THAT WAS TIED ABOUT WAIST; DOUBLE 9 TIMES - PUT IN COLOGNE BOTTLE; REVISIT BOSS 9 DAYS AFTER HE REFUSED JOB; CATCH HIS SPIRIT BY CALLING NAME — Volume 3, entries 4366. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → URINE.
- HEARTS COLOGNE - STRING SEWED ROUND BOW - WORN ABOUT WAIST — Volume 3, entries 4597. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SWEAT → HAT - SWEATBAND - BOW → BOW FROM SWEATBAND OF HAT.
- KNOTS 9 - IN STRING TYING UP BOW IN NEW CLOTH — Volume 3, entries 4612. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SWEAT → HAT - SWEATBAND - BOW → BOW FROM SWEATBAND OF HAT.
- STRING OR THREAD FROM CLOTHES - WEAR ABOUT WAIST — Volume 3, entries 4825. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SWEAT → CLOTHES EXCLUDING HAT, SOCKS AND STOCKINGS, AND SHOES.
- (13) EACH END OF STRING OVER BRASS KEY; THE STRING IS THEN TIED ABOUT BIBLE; TWO PERSONS - EACH USING ONE FINGER; HOLD KEY - BIBLE FALLS ON RIGHT NAME — Volume 4, entries 8894. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → THEFT.
- (4) INFORMANT GIVES GODMOTHER'S COURT METHOD; HANG TONGUE ON 2 STRINGS JOINING 2 WALLS; FORMING LEFT-HAND CORNER OF HOUSE AS YOU; ENTER - THESE STRINGS COMPLETE OUTER SIDE; OF CORNER TRIANGLE - ALTARS ARE SOMETIMES; TRIANGULAR IN THIS CORNER SPACE - PAPER; OF PINS IN TONGUE - WRITE NAMES OF JUDGE; AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY - PUT UPSIDE DOWN IN; PAN OF SALT WITHIN TRIANGLE - WRITE; DEFENDANT'S NAME ON 9 COLORED CANDLES SET; IN THIS PAN OF SALT - LIGHT BEFORE COURT — Volume 4, entries 8981. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → COURT CASES.
- CATCH BLACK CAT - KILL - TAKE FRONT RIGHT LEG; TIE STRING ABOUT - WEAR ON EITHER LEG - LUCK — Volume 5, entries 10115. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → BLACK CAT LUCKY BONE AGAIN.
- SHE MEASURES SLEEPING MAN WITH STRING OR RIBBON; TIES ABOUT LEG [1 KNOT] OR WEARS IN PURSE OR; KEEPS IN PILLOW - DANGEROUS - HE WILL HURT HER — Volume 5, entries 10213. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → SEX AND IMPOTENCE REAPPEAR.
- WOMAN WEARS 9 KNOTS IN STRING ON EITHER LEG — Volume 5, entries 10247. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → SEX AND IMPOTENCE REAPPEAR.
- FITS - TIE 5 KNOTS IN STRING - WEAR ON SECOND STRING — Volume 5, entries 11644. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".
- REAL SICK WOMAN CALLS ON MOTHER AND BABY - HOLDS; BABY - GIVES IT A STRING TO PLAY WITH - BABY THEN; HAS FITS AND BOWEL TROUBLE - LATER MOTHER CALLS ON; WOMAN WHO CAUSED THE TROUBLE - STEALS PIECE FROM; UNDERCLOTHING - RETURNS HOME - TIES IT ABOUT BABY'S; WRIST - BABY GOT WELL - SPELL RETURNED TO ORIGIN — Volume 5, entries 11643. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".
- KNOTS 12 - TIE IN STRING - WITH HEARTS OWN PERFUME; DRESS STRING AND WEAR NEXT TO SKIN FOR GOOD LUCK — Volume 5, entries 12291. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".
- LEFT FRONT FOOT - HOLE THROUGH - STRING - WEAR ABOUT; WAIST OR NECK - WHOEVER YOU WORKING FOR - RUB FOOT; FOR THAT PERSON - USING HEARTS COLOGNE - FOR GAMBLING — Volume 5, entries 12722. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".
- SOCK AND STOCKING RITES WILL NOW BE GIVEN TOGETHER; HERE IS ANOTHER VERSION OF NO.3543, P.2438, V.3.; SHE TIES STRING ABOUT HIS SOCKS - ONE FOOT ON OTHER; 9 KNOTS IN STRING - UNTIE - HE IMPOTENT FOR OTHERS — Volume 5, entries 13135. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".