Subject:Tack
Entries
Entry 6131
In cases den, if yo' wife is done quit chew, yo' woman's quit chew, an' yo' want 'er tuh come back home. If yo' want yore woman tuh come tuh yo' an' she's gone, yo' go an' see, if she comb 'er hair, yo' gits 'er hair an' go tuh dis drug sto' an' git chew - go tuh a store where dere's lotsa people trans- atin' dere, an' git chew one dose big wire coppah tacks, de head of it, an' take 'er hair an' drive it down in yore left shoe. She can't quit chew, she'll come back home an' stay wit chew.
Entry 8372
Den, if it was a tintype pichure, yo' kin take dat an' carry it out an' cuz a person tuh fade away. Dat kin cuz death, kill a person. Yo'll take dat an' tack on a tree. Put tacks all through de body an' dat cuz de person tuh have actual pains. Yo' see some people doctorin' an' nobody kin cure 'em? Well dat's why a lotta people ain't havin' pichure made tuhday.
Entry 12575
Fo' luck. Yo' jes' take a penny an' yo' tack it right under de piece right by yore do' - right in front de do' ~ where de folks walk backwards an' farwards cross it. Yo' jes' tack it where nobody won't take it up, where dey wouldn't see it [or step on it either, because it is under the overhang of the tread. Normally this coin is reposed, if trade is wanted].
(What will that do then, for you?)
Make luck fo' yore house.
(For customers?)
Yes, an' keep yore house lucky. Jes' lak ah 'fore tell yo' [told you before] about dat same potash an' 'bout dis penny, dat makes luck fo' yore house.
(Keeps the law away.)
Yes sir, de revenuers.
Entry 539
(They do what?)
Three tacks, new tacks, in the doorsill and that broke 'em off of her. I've heard her tell that.
(These hags riding her - or whatever it was?)
Yes - everwhat it was, they use to ride her. I remember her making this awful noise - leastways I was a great big girl but we used to be afraid of her when she lie down and go to sleep, and run and leave the house and get somebody to come in and to shake her. I 'member one [once] we'd taken a broom and throwed on de bed on her - we were afraid to go to her - she was carryin' on so. And so the way she got broke of them, I heard her say that she went to some old root doctor and he told her to go to the store and buy a new box of tacks - drive three new tacks in the doorsill in her bedroom and said they couldn't cross those tacks. I'd heard that story - when you ask me, things come to me.
Entry 1724
Well, you've heard of people being stopped from having their real actions. Have you ever heard about it? Well, now it is very true about that. Jest say for n'instance chew know someone - course it is not always you can get things like that unless it's in a country home, but if you know someone who uses that spot or go some place where you can get their actions. You go and bore a hole in a green tree - some tree that's not dead - it's gotta be green, and you get some of this and wrap it up, jest a small amount of this, and wrap it up in some new cloth and stuff it into a tree and jest force it back in dis tree. Get chew a piece of new tin and nine tacks, new brass tacks, and nail dis down and then paint over this tree - after you got, jest say a piece of bark or something of this tree - paint over that. That stays in this tree, which it will. This person's bowels will never move. Now, I know a lady right here in this town now - her bowels won't move, it moves out of her side. It is said that that caused this woman to be like that. Well, ah know 14 years ago that she was just as well as I am now, and no doctor that have ever diagnosed her case have been able to tell her whut's wrong. But they say for a fact that she was treated that way.
Entry 1795
Now, yo' take a person - I've heard talk of 'em taking a piece of wood, making de shape of a coffin. Well now, yo' take dat wood, see, an' make de shape of a coffin. When dey do dat, now yo' take a piece of paper an' cut it jest like de shape of a person. Well now, when dey cut dat paper de shape of a person an' put in dere, yo'll tack it down. Well, whosomevah it be, if dey's got anything in appearance [any hoodoo started against the operator], 'twon't be but three or fo' days 'fore dey are daid.
[This is a conditional death hand.]
(What do you do with that little box?)
Yo' take de box, yo' see, an' dey cut a piece of paper.
(What do you do with the box after the paper is in it?)
After yo' put de paper in it, yo' take dat box an' yo'll carry it an' bury it jes' lak yo' buryin' a person in a grave.
Entry 8726
Well, yo' can keep a woman de same way. If yo' want to draw a woman to you, yo' take nine tacks an' nail 'em up ovah yore door, wit her name on a piece of paper. Put them nine tacks around it and puts it down at the door underneath of a piece of mat. See. An' yo' nails it down there. Dat's called nailin' [over the door] an' puttin' yo' under yore [their] feet [beneath mat]. An' yo' see, anythin' ah want to do or go out anywhere or anythin', she ain't goin' to worry about. Ah could do jis' what ah want, she ain't goin' to leave me.
(You put this either over the door or down below?)
Yo' put it ovah de door an' den this [demonstrates] jis' like dis mat [in interviewing room]. Jis' put it underneath of de mat, see. An' jis' put de [carpet] tacks aroun' it; wit the name on dere, but always have mine on de top.
(Where's your name?)
Mine is on top of hers.
(On that paper?)
Over de door, see.
(And what's down on the floor?)
De same way on de floor.
(You do it twice? You put one above the door and one down there?)
It always be a odd times: three, seven or nine.
(I see.)
Entry 13155
If yo' got a friend and yo' want 'em, yo' take de sock an' yo' tack it to de floor beneath the rug...an' yo' take an' yo' urinate on that for 9 mornings, an' he'll stay with shah until death break yo' up. [Norfolk 529:7.]
Entry 4270
Now, from a man or eithah a lady tuh keep 'em tuhgethah, yuh know, wit yuh, yuh take it [urine] an' yuh put it in a bottle. Yuh put nine needles, nine pins, nine tacks, an' a table- spoonful of steel dust, an' a piece of John de Conker root, an' a tablespoonful of honey. Dat's to keep 'er from injur- in' yuh, undahstan'. Now dat's de way yuh tie up a man or a woman. An' keep it turned upside down, an' keep it behin' yuh bed or anywhere in yuh room. An' any time when yuh wanta see 'er when she is away, or him, yuh jis' take it [bottle] lak dis an' shake it to yuh an' call dere name. Dat's whut yuh call tyin' up a person.
Entry 5031
Well, dey takes yore sock - like if a man an' a woman done broke up an she wan's 'im tuh come back tuh 'er, yuh see. Well, she would take his sock an' bury it up undah de step wit de feet comin' in. An' tack three tacks in de toe, three tacks intuh de heel of it, an' bury dat up undah de front steps. See, wit 'is name written in an' 'er name, an' dat will cuz 'im tuh come back.
(Where do you put these tacks in?)
Jis' intuh de groun' - jis' tack 'em down intuh de groun'.
(Oh, into the ground.)
Intuh de groun' - tack de tacks intuh de [ground].
(You move what? If you move, you do what?)
Yuh move - jis' like if yuh'd move out de house an' yuh lef' de man, yuh'd move de sock an' tack it up undah de nex' steps. (I see. I see, you put three tacks in the toe and three in heel and press it down. Then you write his name and your name and...) An' tack it down...
(On a piece of paper and that's under the sock that is tacked down.)
Yeah, undah de sock.
Entry 9858
Twelve new tacks represent the Twelve Apostles. And you put three over the front door, three over the - there different ways of crossing over it, but this is a bad way of cross- ing it up. You put three new tacks over the front door, three new tacks over the middle door, and the other six tacks in the back room on the floor so that it looks - that nobody don't observe it. And in leaving that house, you take cayenne pepper and guinea-hen root... (And what?) Guinea-hen root. (Guinea-hen root?) Yes. And you take these Chings and sprinkle it all around that house. Nobody ain't going to rent that boose. Now, we'll see. Let's see what we get out of that, now. Cayenne pepper is something hot, that no entry of this immaterial spirit going to dvell. [This could mean that any immaterial spirit - in other words a spirit - sent by another hoodoo doctor attempting to uncross the house, could not cross over the red pepper to do the uncrossing.] Guinea root [this time not guinea- ben root] have 'straction odor that burn their nose.
(Extracting odor?)
[Distracting would be better; keeping person from house.]
Yeah. They drive away anything around that would be - it put you in a most Lcksidasic [lackadaisical] condition - you see, of these things. The tacks you drive in the wall is pinning [tacking] down his power, but you must - there some- Ching more in that. You would [must] understand how to use something else there. Gth a brand-new indelible pencil that's never been used before, with a piece of [] parchment paper, and that landlord name must be on that parchment paper. d take that parchment paper and put it into a coconut and bury his power down i che ground. [Here landlord's power is his name.]
(Where?)
Anywhere! Anywhere!
(All right.)
And if you throw it in the Mississippi River, you make him get in trouble. But bury it in the ground anywhere you please and that house won't be rented until the wood in it almost be rotten down. I have done that [this rite] myself. (Now, I didn't quite understand about those six tacks in the room - in that back room. How do you put those six tacks in the back room?) Put one in one corner [he points], one in that corner, one in that corner, one in that corner, one in the middle of the floor [here is a balanced quincunx], and BACK one just three feet - make 1, 2, 3, three steps from the [back] door and put that one there - that six [sixth] tack you put there. And three you put over the one [front] door and three you put over another [middle] door. That's your twelve tacks that you got. You pinning down that man not to rise in successive prosperity [one prosperity after another]. FRONT That is called hoodoo. [This two-room-house diagram is a study in triangulation. To begin we have a second quincunx. superimposed upon a normal quincunx.. which gives us 8 triangles, actually many more which are useless for our present purpose. Notice that the 3 doors are guarded: the front and middle ones by 3 tacks each, the back by 1 tack, totaling 7 tacks. These latter will keep out any spirit sent by landlord's hoodoo doctor to umcross the house. The cross on the house is the original quincunx. The off-center or second quincunx was not intended or forseen by our hoodoo doctor. This seventh tack should have been in the center and under the back door. However, the 3 steps from the back door were sufficient since this involved the Three Holy Names.]
(You pin him down not to rise?)
Not to rise.
(I see, I understand.) [New Orleans, La., (863), 1383:2.]
[Scattered throughout the text of the preceding four volumes are a good many frog and toad rites. Here in this section we shall learn more about the manipu- lation of these small animals, how brutal and demoralizing magic and superstition can be - a strange world indeed, as I said on page 1 of HOODOO.]
Entry 4685
(Dey take that bow from the back of a man's hat and do what with it?)
An' tack it on a tree an' git some of yore hair an' tack it right on de end of dat bow, an' put dat hair on dere. When dat hair go all de way roun' dat tree, it'll meet back to dat bow. Den yuh'll go crazy. (They have to go to the tree with the bow and have some hair in [on the end of] the bow. Then that hair grows all the way round the tree?) All de way roun' de tree. [For detached human hair to continue growing under all sorts of conditions, See examples at the beginning of long section HAIR.]
Entry 8875
Take de han'writin' - jes' lak if yo' got mine an' if yo' want me tuh suffah wit mah han'writin'. Ah tell anyone tuh jes' [bring] me de han'writin' an' ah take dat han'writin' an' ah copy it off tuhgethah, jes' copy it off. An' ah take dem copies an' work 'em out, yo' see, intuh lettah a - b - c - till ah spell yore name. See, ah takes dat lak yo' got dem same two trees ah tole yo' 'bout. Yo' take it an' tack it tuhwards sunrise, facing de 8unrise, an' let dat stay dere roun' twenty-fo' hours. An' yo' take it back tuh de house den an' yo' puts it in a bottle of watah. Puts it in a bottle an' stops it up airtight. Well, yo' wants tuh bring dem back tuh yo'. Dey'll come. Yo' see, dat copy is in dere, but it gotta be a copy of it. Don't chew write it down dere. Don't take de same han'writin' as dere's. Yo' kin copy it off yo'self.
(How do you copy that?)
Copy it off, takes de abc's [letters of the alphabet], yo' undahstan'. Don't have tuh take it all, jes' take de name in de abc's [write name with the neces- sary letters of the alphabet], jes' lak if mah name Edgah [Edgar], sompin lak dat, copy it off in abc's. Git 'is name on it an' take it home an' tack it up.
Entry 1776
You runnin' a house or whiskey or anything, to keep the law away I hear'd people say you could nail on top the door a chicken bone up with some tacks under the doorsill. They say that keep law from you an' you won't have to go to court or nuthin.
(What sort of chicken bone?)
It's a little bone right on the backbone-like - join on together, whut people call a luck bone. Some people say if two people be right together an' break it, the one who had the longest bone has good luck.
Entry 1781
Dat's easy. You kin take an' make a little box. You know you kin git dese, any kind of little box you understand and make it - you know, shape it like a coffin. But co'se you have to have it shaped like a coffin, don't you. Got'a carry it to somebody if you can't do it yourself - got'a carry it to somebody an' have dem fix it jis' like a coffin. You gits some new linen cloth and you tack it around in there with shoe tacks never been used - git chew a nickel box of shoe tacks and you tack dat cloth around in dere, see. After you tack that cloth in there, you git some black dirt and put into it; git some pot salt and sprinkle onto dat dirt. Well, after you have sprinkle de salt, you git chew some clear sand. You know dese sand and gravel whut you mix concrete wit; git some clear sand like dat and put on top of dat salt, see. All right, and you git chew some chamber lye from somebody else - you understand, not yours. You have to git it from somebody else and you pour that onto that you understand and you carry dat [coffin] and bury it into de graveyard. And that will be the end of dem.
(Well, whose end would that be? Whom would you kill that way?)
Kill de person you want, see. (Well, how would you say that? "This is the person I want?" How would you do that?) You would jest have to call dere name - see, at de time when you buryin' it.
Entry 2456
You runnin' a house or whiskey or anything, to keep the law away I hear'd people say you could nail on top the door a chicken bone up with some tacks under the doorsill. They say that keep law from you an' you won't have to go to court or nuthin. (What sort of chicken bone?) It's a little bone right on the backbone-like - join on together - whut people call a luck bone. An' some people said if two people be right together an' break it, the one who had the longest bone has good luck.
[While my machine is turned off, he says something about tacks.]
I hear'd that you had to nail thirteen tacks.
Entry 2862
People have used wide-headed tacks. People have taken tacks - like you would take and nail 'em down, or like you hang up wall paper. Some people, you know, tack paper up. They'd take nine tacks and driven 'em down in their floor right under their mat right at the entrance of the door - where you come in the door.
(Under the mat?)
Yeah, under the mat. They's taken nine tacks and driven them down there and give 'em a person name. If a person was - that they didn't like or disliked or something or didn't want around that house, they'd take them nine tacks and drive down under there with that person name under that, burn a candle over that nine days, and they won't have no trouble with that person in their house.
(Well, what kind of a candle would they burn over that?)
Burn a blue candle or a white candle. Either one can be used.
Entry 2982
Take yore pitchure an' burn candles on yore pitchure. Well, if dey Want it fo' good, dey use it wit sugah or honey. If not, if dey want it fo' bad, dey take dat candle - dey take de bottom part of dat candle an' cut it an' dat's de part dey light, light it bottom upwards. Dey put dat candle in a lemon an' set dat lemon on yore pitchure. Dat's whut dey do when dey wanta burn it tuh give yo' a headache or any kinda misery or anything lak dat - burns de candle bottoms upwards on top of dat pitchure.
(Do they use any particular color or does it make any difference?)
Well, dey - yo' kin use white. It's jes' as good as any othah color. Yo' use black if yo' wants tuh run 'em away.
(Do you light that candle at any particular time?)
Six in de mawnin', twelve at noon an' six at night. Ketch watah. Take an' leave yore haid - hol' yore haid down anywhere where yo' kin have some watah run on it. Ketch it in a pan an' take dat watah an' put it in a bottle. An' git chew nine needles an' nine tacks an' nine pins dat's nevah been used. Write dere name down nine time an' take dat bottle an' put some cayenne peppah an' table salt in it an' turn dat bottle - stop it up an' turn dat bottom upwards an' dat will put any candle out. An' yo' take yore left-foot shoe an' turn it bottom upwards under de side of de bed where yo' sleep at night. An' draw a glass of watah befo' de sunrise, an' put dat glass of watah undah yore bed an' when de sun goin' down, yo' throws it ovah yore left shoulder.
(What will that do?)
Dat puts de candles out. (That's another way of putting it out. Those are two different Ways of putting the candle out?) Both. All those ingredients goes tugethah. Yes, yo' see, when yo' usin' de watah, when yo' got de name in de watah, yo' gotta have dat shoe. Yo' take dat shoe an' turn dat shoe bottom upwards undah yore bed on de side where yo' sleep. Yo' draw a glass of watah befo' sunrise an' yo' leave it stay undah de side of de bed where yo' sleep till aftah de sun goes down. When de sun goin' down, yo' stan's an' yo' throws dat watah ovah yore left shoulder an' don't cross it [walk over it] - no suh, yo' don't look back at it.
(All that will put the candle out.)
Entry 4892
Ah hear sompin about socks, dat chew take it an' take yore socks, one, dis is de right-foot sock, a man's sock. Ah guess it's de same way about de stockin', whut a man does fo' a woman. Yuh take dat an' put it undah yore do'- step. Let de toe go south an' de heel go east, an' de upper part no'th. Straighten it out straight. real straight undah dere. Yuh know, undah de do'step, rake yuh off a nice clean place undah dere, down in de dirt jis' about a inch down in de dirt, an' yuh lay dat down in dere, see. Git chew some tacks an' put three in de toe an' three in de heel an' three in de uppah part, an' three in de part right in front de heel. Yuh know, jis' stretch it out straight.
(You put three in the toe and three in the heel and three in the top.)
An' den three ovah heah in de front part, right heah, see [demonstrates].
(Right there in the ankle, the upper part of the ankle.)
An' den yuh put dat dirt back ovah it smooth. Dat's whut ah heard dat yuh could do wit dat. Put dat dirt ovah dat smooth, an' whoevah name is dere or who- evah yuh fixin' it fo', write dey name an' put dat intuh dere. Put dat on de sock befo' yuh put de dirt on it, see. An' den yuh read de 27th chapter of Psalms. Say dat's fo' people - tuh prevent drunkness, drink too much. Dat'll break 'em up from dat. [This keep-him-home rite keeps him from going out to drink with the boys.]
Entry 4894
An' yuh kin take his sock, take one of 'is lef' socks, one dat he's been wearin'. Yuh know, if yuh wear dat, it gits dirty. Don't wash it if it's dirty. Jis' take it an' take a little thumbtack, an' right up in de cornah undah de baid, take a hammah an' jis' tack it down a little bit tuh keep dat sock undah dere. Yuh kin sweep all aroun' dat sock, but jis' don't sweep de sock out an' dat'll keep 'im. Or eithah yuh kin go undah de house an' nail it like dat so he won't find it. If yuh think he kin find it, yuh put it inside. An dat'll keep 'im wid jeh.
Entry 5005
(What do you do with those nine tacks?)
[I ask about 9 tacks informant mentioned while recording machine turned off.]
Well, yuh take a sock, one of a man's dirty socks, an' yuh nail it down anl put nine tacks in it - nine bran'-new tacks. An' dat keeps 'im tuh yuh.
(Do you put those nails or tacks in there in any particu- lar way?)
No, yuh jis', yuh raise de mattin' up [demonstrates]. (You raise the matting up. Oh, the diagonal of the floor.) [See comment later.] Put it on de flo' an' put dem tacks - nine tacks in it. Put dat mattin' back ovah it.
(I see. Either one of his socks?)
Either one.
(I see. And what will that do to him, then?)
Dat will keep 'im fo' yuh an' nobody else. [The preceding word matting my transcriber could not understand the first time, leaving the space blank. The second and third times she concluded that informant meant mattress. Mattress in front of the door! Later when I checked original recording on cylinder, I penciled in the correct word matting for the first blank space and for the second, mattress. The first mattress I temporarily eliminated by lightly penciling out the first sentence of my comment, which I considered a confusing repetition of informant's words. This is the reason why the second matting, the one in my comment, now appears inked in. Only 30 years later (Sept.1971) do I realize that informant was demonstrating and that I should have given a better description of the demonstration. We have here a small mat or matting, of straw or similar material, formerly used in summertime in front of door or bed. I saw many of them during my boyhood. Informant folds back one corner of the mat - my word diagonal shows this - laid the sock along the diag- onal of the fold, tacked down the sock, and let the fold return to the floor. Here again we have the magic quincunx so frequently mentioned in HooDoO. An examination of this page in the original manuscript will substantiate my explan- ation of the rite.]
Entry 5034
[They] take 'em an' dey buries 'em. Jis' like I got a woman an' she lef' me, an' I got 'er socks or anything dere. Well, I takes it an' I buries it undahneath de steps wit de white of an egg.
(With what?)
De white of a egg.
(Well, how do you do that? Do you mean just pour the white of an egg on it?)
Take it an' cobweb it an' mix it up tuhgethah. See, an' I folds it, dis stocking tuh me dataway, undahstan', an' I buries it right at mah step wit nine brass tacks. (This white of an egg. You just simply take the white out of an egg and put it on the stockings, and then roll it toward you?) [The verb cobweb is so unusual I missed the full meaning at the time of record- ing. Informant takes the white of an egg and cobwebs, pours a network design over the stocking, a magic entrapment and holding device.] Yes sir.
(And you put it under the steps and you use nine brass tacks?)
Yes sir.
(I see, and you tack it up under the steps?)
Yes sir.
(Anything else? That all you do?)
Dat's to - dat's if dey gone away, see. An' if yuh wanta draw 'em tuh you, well yuh have dat settin' dere. See, it's a way yuh kin draw 'em tuh yuh, when yuh have dat settin' dere fo' 'em tuh step ovah.
Entry 6181
Take de hair an' put de hair in de socks - yo' know, tuh whom it may concern. Take de sock cloth an' tack it, yo' know, whare de toe an' de heel an de top part, an' nail it down undah de haid of de baid. Dat's supposed tuh make yore husband stay at home.
(Do you use either sock?)
Use his sock, eithah sock. If dis is de haid of de baid, well yo' put de top of de sock undah de haid of de baid, an' den yo' tack yore heel an' tack yore toe [demonstrates]. (The toe is pointing down tovard the foot of the bed.) Dat's it. An' yo' supposed tuh let de toe be turned, not to de do' but from de do' of de room dat chew back tack 'en. Yo' use his hair an' yo' use yore hair an' yo' put dem both in dat [sock].
Entry 8338
Kin do in de tree. Co'se now yo' kin take if yo' kin git a tintype photograph, yo' know, whut takes only dese li'le tencent tintypes, see. An' dat will do anything. An' if yo' wanta ruin a person wit it, yo' kin go right tuh a young pine, a young tree, an' yo' kin jes' take yore knife an' yo' cut chew a deep hole in dat tree, see. An' yo' drive yo' a li'le tack. Yo' tack dat tintype pichure upside down on dat tree, yo' see. Den, if yo' wanta, yo' kin tack sompin ovah it, yo' see. An' dat tree be drawin' [growing] up. An' yo' kin mess a man up, yo' see. Yo' kin lock 'is bowels or yo' kin jes' keep 'im....
Entry 8672
They put nine needles, nine pins, nine new tacks, nine loaves of sugah, a spoon of honey, a halfa spoon of drawin' powdah, a teaspoonful of John de Conkah Root Powdah [all in a bottle]. An' dey'll stop dat up fer nine day. [Afterwards, to perform the rite] they'll git to de door [their own door] an' dey'll knock three times, an' dey will call de person [your name] - wit yore name [written on a piece of paper] in dat bottle. Dey turn dat bottle upwards [upside down] [during the ceremony] an' dat's supposed to keep yo' wor- ried. An' dey call yo', whenevah dey wan' choo [want you] to come by knockin'.
[Preceding loaves = Zwmps of sugar.]
Entry 8776
[Late in turning on recording machine] put chew some cayenne peppah an' some steel dust in dat [lemon, see later] an' yo' sews it up an' throw it in de rivah. Now, if yo' can't git de lemon an' yo' wants tuh use a bottle, yo' gits dat bottle an' yo' git chew some war watah. Yo' puts dere name down up in dere. All right, yo' use dis cayenne peppah an' git chew nine tacks down up in dere vinegah. All right, yo' kin stop dat up an' throw 'em in de rivah.
Entry 9842
(Tell me how they make a person stay at home?)
Wit dere sock. Well, take dis sock an' put chure sugah an' yore cinnamon in dis sock, an' take yo' nine needles an' nine pins an' - fold yore sock an' put [in] dem nine needles an' nine pins. An' yo' use 'em all, gotta git 'em all in dere. See, dem eighteen sticks [sticking ob- jects] gotta be in dere. An' yo' take three tacks an' nail 'em down at de front of yore do', or eithah if yo' got a fiah hearth, yo' take a brick up an' yo' lay dat brick dere. Lay it dere an' put it on top dat. An' yo'll nevah git rid of 'em. Dat'll hold 'em.
Entry 9854
You can take brand-new tacks and you see, like you coming in here. You understand? And I wants you to stay here with me. See, what I mean? See, you ain't no wife of mine but I want you to stay with me. You take them brand-new tacks and you take fifteen tacks, from nine to fifteen tacks, and every time you leave out you drive them tacks down in there. Every time you leave out, you drive them tacks down in there. Do that about four days - say three or four days. And just leave them tacks there and as long as she walk over them tacks, you'll never leave there.
(I see. You use new tacks each day?)
Use brand-new tacks each day.
(Wouldn't I see them?)
If yo' see 'em, yo' wouldn't know what they is for. You'd just see the tacks down there.
(I see.) [This is a tacking-down rite.]
Entry 9856
Dey tell me yo' git - yo' go tuh de sto' an' yo' git chew a five-cent box of tacks, bran'-new tacks. An' yo' take one-a dese tacks outa dis box an' yo' put it on de woodwork - anywhere on de woodwork of de house, an' yo' drive dem. An' yo' say, "Ah'm drivin' mahself tuh stay heah jes' as long as ah wanta stay." An' de las' three drives yo' drive, say, "Ah drive it in In de Name of de Fathah de Son an' de Holy Ghost." Yo' kin stay right dere until yo' git ready tuh leave.
(No one can move you out of that house until you are ready.)
Yo' stay right dere long as yo' wanta.
Entry 9857
I have seen them use brass tacks to use in a house, see, after they move out - to keep anyone else from renting this house or from staying in the house. They make it with a sign of a cross. First, let it straight go up like this, and then they cross it like that. (Across like that. Well, where do they put those?) Puts 'em in the wall. (In the wall. Is that all they do?) That's all they do. [This is to cross up the house; tacks usually new.l new.]
Entry 11076
A woman's stockin', you kin take it an' git chew some de cinnamoa, de big cinnamon. Dey got de two kin', dey got de groun' cinnamon an' dey got de big cinnamon. Dey take de big cinnamon. (You mean the bark?) Yes. Take dat an' yo' git chew some graveyard dust, an' yo' git chew two tacks an yo' nail that. Yo' nail de heel part of de stockin'. Yo' nail de foot-part any- where yo' wanta nail it an' dey jis' be gone. Dey'll live about nine or ten days but dey cain't live no longer, yo' see. If it's both of them it's all right but de left-foot shoe [stocking] yo' must have.
Entry 11213
Take the dirt dauber and take dis man's name.
(Yes?)
And you write the man's name and you set this in the bottle, and when you puts this in the bottle...
(Now what do you put in the Bible?)
You puts - in de bottle!
(Oh, in a bottle. You put all this in a bottle?)
All this in a bottle. Well, I call a bottle a jar - one of these pickle jars - and put the vinegar in there with the man's name in there. That's the dauber dust. Then you takes this man's name and you just put the pin and the tacks and the needles in there. And then you put it in there, and every day at twelve o'clock you shake it up and call this man's name. Every day you do the same thing until the ninth day that you see that you get your wishes.
(What kind of wishes do you make?)
Well, the wishes that I would make, would be the bad destruction on him. That'd be bad luck for him to have. That's the bad wishes.
Entry 11363
It's just like if you go out and have a passage. You will take that and put it any place that will do, put it in a jar. Get nine needles and nine pins and nine tacks, and put them in there and stop that up, and it will cause you not to move your bowels. They won't move. They'll pass through your mouth and finally it will kill you.
Entry 12930
Ah learned about de new shingle from a house, sech as bad luck or like dat. Dey said dat if yo' have - jes' like dis building heah an' yo' ovah yondah somewhere. Git chew a new shingle an' bring it an' tack it on dis buildin', if yo' want anybody to leave out from dis buildin'. When yo' tack dat new shingle on dere, dey said it won't be long befo' someone will take sick in dat house, an' aftah dey take sick when dey git up, dey'll leave out. (You tack a new shingle on somebody's house.) [Waycross, Ga., (1159), 1935:4.