Subject:Vomit
Entries
Entry 12985
Take a little piece of this silk root or piece of swamp root and hold it in your mouth and chew it and swallow de juice, and if you is poisoned, it'll make you sick in your stomach and you'll have to vomit. If you start to vomitin', why they've done somepin to you.
Entry 937
This is one about a woman being tricked on account of another woman's husband. There was a married couple that had lived together happily for five years. Finally, they had a roomer come into the house, a girl about eighteen years old. She fell very much in love with the woman's husband, so much so that it caused a lot of trouble. This woman that was the wife went to see a cunjure woman and had this boarder tricked. She put her in a sleeping form and she slept for seven days and could not be awaked from that condition. So a hoodoo doctor was sent for in order that the spell might be removed. At the end of every seven days this woman would go into this sleeping spell and have to have the hoodoo doctor to remove it. Finally, one day she became very very sick, her stomach was swollen very badly. She began to vomit. Suddenly there were about a dozen live rats appear having come from the woman's stomach. Finally, the woman said, "If you promise to leave my husband alone, I'll have the spell removed." She had the spell removed. That happened several years ago down at Ladysmith, Virginia.
Entry 1133
If yo' think dat chew got something in yo', yo' know, poison; then if yo' take a dose of brimstone, it couldn't stay in yo' - yo'd have to throw it up. (What kind of poison do you mean?) Ah mean ordinary poison - ah don't mean drug poison. [He means cunjure or hoodoo poison, as drug poison and brimstone show. Since brimstone comes from the devil it is often used against his work.]
Entry 927
Two years ago - no more, ah was takin' so ah couldn't sleep at night and it went on dat way until finally my nights turned to days and my days turned tuh nights - jest went on around [days and nights were reversed]. (What do you mean by that? I couldn't quite understand you.) [To make her speak louder and repeat.] Well, ah couldn't sleep at night you know, and when ah'd see de daylight come you know, ah'd git scared, ah wouldn't know it was day. Ah hadn't been sleepin', ah hadn't closed mah eyes. And it would be day, but de minute that ah realize that it was day ah'd fall off into a deep sleep, and I would sleep from daylight until eight 'clock in de morning, but when ah'd wake up ah'd jest be fulla aches and pains, so much so that ah couldn't git up, so ah layed in bed till about ten 'clock and then at ten 'clock ah'd git up and git mah breakfast, and the minute ah'd git mah breakfast ah'd fall off tuh sleep agin. Well, it jest continue that Way tiil finally I fest give up to day-sleepin'. An' ah'd feel tuh mahself - ah feel jest like a snake do or something like that or frog or something other, but yet ah couldn't get mahself togethah. Natchurly ah couldn't work. Well, it went on like that tull ah begin to git sick inside - somepin jest jump jest like heart's beatin' and it worried me. And when ah layed down to sleep, somepin would jest go 'cross mah face like this [demonstrates] and ah'd jump and wake up, you know, and look under the pillahs. There would be nothing, ah could see nothin' you know. And sometimes ah would feel like feathers Was sticking intuh me - like de quills. Ah's take and pull dis cover off and there would be nothin', absolutely nothin' - could see nothin'. And so this continued tull finally ah became a wreck, and den dey said it was bad nerves and ah goes de hospital. De doctor pronounced it neuritis, ar-ritis, flamitary rheumatism, chronical rheumatism, muscular rheumatis, tubercular rheumatism and bone fever. Well, so then they stuck needles in mah arms - all in de shoulders, you know, and they Would hurt me tuh mah heart. And ah says, "THESE THINGS BEAT LIKE SOMEPIN LIKE HEARTS ALL OVER ME." Ah had a pocket right chere [demonstrates] - it's a little bit there now - jest like somethin' in there Would beat, beat.
(There was a pocket on your right side?)
Yes.
(Right about the waist.)
Jest like there was somethin' live in there. Well, ah takes sick at night and ah vomits turrible. It near kill me - green, pale, an' it near kill me. And ah jest kept up this thing and kept up this thing until finally one of the doctors says to me, says - these needles was hurtin' me so bad ah cried. They said, "Do those needles hurt chew like that?" Ah said, "Yes." Well the doctors said don't give her nuthin tuh rub and don't give her nuthin tuh gargle with. One little doctor was West Indian [a Negro] - dis Was at de Freedman's Hospital.
(Here in Washington?)
Yeah, and he says, "Now, ah'm goin' to put dis needle in here," he says, and he didn't hurt me and ah didn't cry, and he says, "and ah'm goin' to give you somethin' to rub with." Now, other doctors said ah shouldn't rub with nuthin, see. "Ah goin' to give you this linament to rub with and then you stop in the druggist and git you something to gargle yore throat with." And he says, "If there's a reaction, let me know." Well, ah remember that - that was the first encouragement ah had, and ah says, "Now, ah'm goin' do that. That night - see, ah's be 'sleep and somepin would work up and work up and choke me, but when ah'd wake up you know it would go back. And so, that night somepin got up heah and jest choked me turrible and I was so sleepy - ah got it out and put it on a piece of paper, and started off asleep and de second one came up. Well, it jest like to me ah was in daze condition, and den ah woke up like dat and ah felt purtty good and ah remembered dis, and ah went looked at it and it was black - it was large enough to choke me. And the other one was smaller. So when ah told de doctors about it, den they commence to jab in here - like to choke me all through de body. Dey [had] to quit, but however - then, I says, "Ah'm goin' take now - go to church fo' this and ah'm goin' tuh pray - ah'm gon'a pray to get well." Ah didn't want tuh die. Well, ah thought ah would die like ah was. So it went on that-a-way until ah moved - it happened so ah jest had to move. Ah would go on tuh de back porch and would sit there all de day long, and then go back and go lay down and go to sleep. If I would eat ah would go to sleep. But night come ah'd be jest like a bird, frog or snake - ah'd be up ready to go, see, go back and go to bed. Ah couldn't sleep, so ah moved. And gittin' worse and worse, move - bearin' on de heart all de time. An' ah was taken wit chills and the lady ah lived with she was thinkin' ah'd die, so when she would come upstairs she would call me, but when dat spell go way ah'd git up and go on down. So one day ah was laying, ah was sick and ah was layin' asleep, it was in the day and I was between sleep and awake, and a black man come - a jet black man and he come in, he come jest like dis [demonstrates].
(His - with his shoulder up to his head, sort of deformed.)
[This is a usual reference to a doctor's appearance - he is a jet black man and queer in manner or physique.] [See, Doctor in Index.] Yes, he was and he was very old and he had stubble gray whiskers - they weren't longer stubble and he was very black. He says to me, he says, "You're not sick [sick in a medical doctor's way]." He says, "Ah'm from Greenville, North Carolina, and I did it," he says, "and I am dead and I can't rest." He says, "You are a good woman," he says, "but ah did this to you for" - he called the name of the man and the name of the woman. And it was - dey done it diff'rent times.
(They did it together or separately?)
One didn't know what the other did. [My only example of this!]
(People that you knew?)
Oh, ah knew both. [We now have reached the only example of bewitched feathers in my collection of Negro folklore. The accompanying psychology is also interesting. Both I will discuss at the end of the story.] And he came back. So he says, "If you look in yore pillah," he says, "you'll find out what's the trouble with you." He says, "It is to set chew insane or to kill you or to make you have enemies all yore life." He says, "You won't be any good, you'll not be able to make a livin'." An' he says, "You git into them - if you don't, ah'll never be saved." I got up and jest took de pillah - "if dat isn't de queerest thing, ah don't believe it"-dis was a hard lump in mah pillah - why there's nothing to that" ''there isn't anything to that' - "nobody kin do nuthin like that," I says. So ah went down and ah says, "Mrs. Jones" - ah tole her, jest like ah'm tell' you, what occurred while ah was 'sleep. She says, "Miz, don't chew know when you go up[stairs] to sleep in dose spells, you know, ah'd call you befo' ah'd git to de top steps 'cause ah think you're dead." Ah said, "Well, do ah look that bad?" She says, "Come on peek, come on." An' she says, "Well, if ah was you, ah would look in there and see." And ah goes to work and takes this out and it was jest about that wide and it was like that and like that [demonstrates] an' de feathers in this thing [looked] jest like dey was born and glued - was a piece of yellah looking wood, imported wood, and it was jest like real feathers and de Way it was done, it was jest streaked through. Then these feathers was pushed down in there, but it had no head but it was de shape of a hen.
(This wood was a thick thing and the wood looked like feathers.)
And so when ah rubbed across there, you know, the feathers would come out and ah said, "Ah'm goin: take this and throw it in de stove." Ah took it down and showed it to her. "Oh," she says, "Ah never saw nuthin like that." She said, "You'd better look fer some more - ah would if ah were you." Ah goes back and ah gits de rooster. De rooster was three feathers fixed together in de shape of a rooster - red. The hen was a dominicker [Dominique] and then ah gits that. Then ah gits a piece of rope out about dat long [demonstratesl, heavy cord, about [that] long, and then ah gets jest a bunch of feathers tied round jest like this, jest tied around with a string, jest like you tie 'em to make a baby doll. Well, that would go in mah face and ah would brush it - keep me awake all night long jest torturing me. Well, then after it was quill, chicken quills and in the end of 'em was powders and dey Was corked up. It make Miz Jones sick and me too, when ah got [them] out, then - that was whut this man bring in. And the next was a snake about that long [demonstrates], jest wrapped with feathers, dis ole man did - paid and did de stuff fore dese people. And he was jest grapping in dere in de shape of a snake and everything. And the other one was a -
(This snake was about a foot long?)
About like that and this here one wasn't, and it was all in reality.
(This snake was only made of feathers?)
No - yes it was - it was all feathers - if you seen it in de pillah, you'd a thought it was feathers. Everything was made absolutely like feathers. (What was the other thing after you got the snake out? What was the other thing?) It was two snakes, a hen and a rooster, and quills, and it was about that long - supposed to be a coffin, ah reckon, and the other one was jest this - like what you'd jab to make babies laugh, string with feathers, but it was tied 'round, it was feathers. It was a bunch of feathers and these feathers would come into my face, would torment me. Now, jest like you tie this [demonstrates].
(Tie your handkerchief in a knot.)
Now you see you do that [demonstrates]. (Oh, you jingle the handkerchief up and down and - like you make a baby laugh, and that kept going over your face. And this was made of feathers, too.) Yes, all of feathers. An' ah'd git up and see nothin' you know. And when daylight would come ah would git scared, ah would say, "What is the matter with the sky - ah can't tell." And finally, ah say, "Why it's daylight." Well, now ah gits everything out and I shows it to Miz Jones and she wanta keep this thing like a hen and ah says, "No, ' ah say, "Ah'm ain't goin' keep it." Ah lays down agin and he comes right straight back. He says, "Now, you've got all ought [out] that was put in there." He says, "Now, the hen is a barnyard fowl - stays in de back - so you had a room in back - that was to keep you in there and to keep you down." You see, ah was a great worker and a lecturer. And he say, "They didn't mean you to go nowheres and you couldn't go nowheres, and when you would commence to talk you'd cackle - sound jest like cackling - or crowing like a rooster, you see." And you know, dis snake - he saysi, De snake was to make people hit at cha - pick at cha - and then you'd pick back at dem. And then they would say you weren't capable of doing the things that whut you were doing. De woman did that." That was to keep me from being president of a large club. And the man he did it because ah paid him the rent. And ah couldn't git further than the back porch - ah couldn't work - ah had to git on Emergency Relief - ah had to git on de Emergencies Relief, and ah would have died if ah did that. So then this old man, after ah gits all this out - dis ole man comes back again fer the last time, and here's whut he tole me to do with it. He says, "Now, you take all dese pillahs dat's on dis bed." So Miz Jones she got excited, it scared her - it made her sick and me too. That powder got out and got on us, got out dose quills and got on us. He says tuh me, "Yo' take dose pillahs" my two nice pillahs - "you take those pillahs and you burn dem up - the tick, the feathers and all." He says, "Yo' take those four dresses you wore de most around - de everyday dresses, and burn dem up. Take those two pair of shoes that you wore when you was in that house and burn them up." He says, "You know it's written that the wicked shall become stubbed on yore feet and shall be burned root and branches and the whole thing will go back to them. If you put it on water it will come back to you." [The preceding quotation and everything she says shows a woman with an agile mind - a qreat worker and a lecturer. Her words are a conflation - two or more passages thrown together: King James Version - (1)"The day cometh...all that do wickedly, shall be stubble [[not stubbed]]...shall burn them up...leave them neither root nor branch," Mal.1:4 -(2)'Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days," Eccl.11:1 - (3) her stubbed was suggested by stubble and "Dash thy foot against a stone," Mat.4:6 & Lk.4:11.] [As I stated previously, this story is the only certain example of bewitched feathers in my Negro-folklore-collecting experience (see Feathers in Index). Not even in Quincy, Illinois - where belief in bewitched feathers survived among persons of German descent - did I ever find a colored person interested in the matter. Similarly, I found bewitched animals rare among colored people, frequent among persons of German descent. The Reason? Racial? Economic? (For bewitched feathers in Adams County Illinois and Quincy the county seat, see FACI, 2ed., Nos.16255-16323, Pp.853-873; bewitched animals, Nos.16178-16254a, pp.834-85.)] [Since some general readers may be unfamiliar with bewitched feathers, let me briefly describe them. The witchcraft spell cast upon a person is done with the feathers in the feather pillow or feather bed (feather-tick or feather mattress) on which the victim sleeps. These feathers on which the victim lies gradually weave themselves into a form: bat (animal), bird, butterfly, chicken, rooster, coffin, cross, flowers, shapes like parts of the human body, horseshoe, etc. Sometimes these forms are combined with foreign objects: piece of clothing, key, needle, ribbon, rope, spool, thread, etc. The most frequent form of all is the wreath (symbolic of the funeral wreath) - also known as a circular. This form occurs more often because the head lying on the pillow pushes feathers out into a circle. At times a person can hear, so it is said, the weaving in the pillow a ticking sound (No.16293, p.865) or music in the pillow (No.16263, p.855). As soon as the form being Woven is completed the victim dies. If you find a form uncompleted and burn it, the victim will recover. To demonstrate this belief further, I now quote two examples from FACI:]
["Now I am going to tell you a story that was told by one of my [school]
children. A baby [about 1931] was born in a family. Although it received the very best attention, it was not thriving. An old mother in the neighborhood entered the house one day and said, "There is a wreath in the baby's pillow." The mother wished to open the little pillow and take out the wreath, as had been suggested. The father scornfully laughed and forbade the mother's opening the pillow. From that moment the child grew more delicate and passed out. The old neighborhood mother entered the room and said, "Let me examine the pillow, ' which she did, and took from the pillow a perfectly formed wreath of feathers, all going in one direction. The center of the wreath was the size of the baby's head. The feathers forming the wreath were all going in one direction [see also 16277] like the down on a dress hat. I will draw you a diagram. I saw it. It was marvelous. [The informant's diagram of this wreath I have reproduced in this book.] Underneath the wreath it seemed to be flesh; like the flesh on a chicken's breast with large pores. It had no odor. Dead chicken flesh has an odor. The skin was moist as if alive. The feathers seemed to be growing. The old woman took the wreath out and burned it, and said if ever another child came to the house to give it a new pillow and it would thrive." (FACI, 2ed., No.1255, p.853; a picture of wreath drawn by informant being reproduced just before the Table of Contents.)l ["I knew a boy out here in the south part of Quincy years ago that was sick all the time. They done everything for him and try everything anyone would tell them, but it would not do him any good. Some of the neighbors thought he was bewitched, but the folks didn't. But at last they Went to looking in the bedtick and pillows to see if they could not find anything, and in one of the pillows they found a rooster all done but a little of its tail. If that tail had of been done, that boy would of died; but they took the rooster and put it in the stove to burn. and after that the bov got well." (FACI. 2ed. No.16289, p.863.)1 [To return to our informant, once again we meet an old routine - the doctor (M.D.) fails; the doctor (hoodoo) is called in. This time, however, there is an amazing difference both in doctor and doctor.] [My informant refrains from criticizing hospital doctors for their inability to cure her, though she considers them impersonal and uninvolved. Naturally, the West Indian, a man of her own race would appear in a better light; at least he permitted her to have something 'to rub and...to gargle with." But, when the woman says, "The doctors said, "Don't give her nuthin tuh rub and...tuh gargle with, '" do not believe her, though she is telling the truth from her changed point of view. After the colored doctor offered it to her, the white doctors by not offering it to her had forbidden it. This is a mere gripe. She knew the doctors had done everything medically possible; the real trouble was herself, spiritual - "Ah'm goin'...go to church fo' this and...ah'm goin' tuh pray to get well." She realizes death stared her in the face - "Ah didn't want tuh die." Two steps having been taken toward health, she then took a third - "It happened so ah jest had to move."] [Despite her changed attitude, she still refused to accept any blame for her condition - a man and woman separately would not have hoodooed her had she been all sweetness and light! She needed a scapegoat. Scapegoat also would permit her to satisfy those childhood beliefs and fears which had floated to the surface during her illness. Too intelligent to call in a hoodoo doctor, she summons the spirit of a dead hoodoo doctor. He appears not as master giving orders but as sinner seeking forgiveness - his eternal future depending upon her. She, of course, is the spirit of the dead hoodoo doctor. Thus disguised she saves the soul of a sinner (his - actually her own) and cures herself by forgiving him (finding the bewitched feathers). In forgiving him she forgives herself. If you don't forgive yourself neither God nor Church can do it for you - though either or both may smooth the way. This solution of my informant's is the brilliancy and power that comes with a dream. This is also my guess about what happened. Each reader is entitled to a similar guess.] [Washington, D. C., (629), 808:3.] [Time in hoodoo is very important and covers a wider field than it does in scientific medicine. So wide is time that many aspects of it cannot be given in this subsection - see Time in Index for a listing of separate time entries.]
Entry 979
I've been hurt once by a woman. Well, I wus poisoned in good fashion. I liked to died. I had Doctor A., a medical doctor and his medicine went against me, it didn't do me no good. And the erbs dat I kep' home, which I keep some now, you boil them and then taken some and put on the whiskey in the bottle. I jis' plumb blind, jis' broke out all the way. And that's whut got me on my foot. And I, see, I keep that tea.
(What else did you do?)
Jis' roots and teas: silk root, blacksnake root, and devil-shoestring root. You see, the first time you take de silk root, and you cut it inch long and you steep dat in overnighti water [water overnight] and put a cover over it. Well, it's bittah and you'll throw up everything in you. De stuff come out of you green as you ever seen, as green as grass you ever seen. De devil-shoestring and the blacksnake root you steep dem togethah and you drink that. Den when I got so I could walk I goes in the Woods, take my hatchet, I gits some cherry bark, red oak bark and dogwood root; and bathed [with] that - make a wash of this water you know and use it to wash with. And bathe right down, bathing that for nine morning: And den when you git ready to throw it away, you throw it to sunrise. ["This little fellow sold hands - a cripple" - note made when I did original transcription soon after collecting statement; happened in Wilmington, 1912, but remedy came from Scotch Hill,12 miles from Wilmington on the Newbern Road.]
Entry 1513
I've been hurt once [in 1912] by a woman. Well, I was poisoned in good fashion, I liked to die. I had Dr. A., a medical doctor, and his medicine went against me, it didn't do me no good. And the 'erbs that I kep home, which I keep some now, you boil them and then taken some and put on the whiskey in the bottle. I jis' plumb blin', jis' broke out all the way. And that's what got me my foot. And I - see, I keep that tea.
(What else do you do?)
Jis' roots and teas. Silkroots, blacksnake root and devil-shoestring root. You see, the first time you take de siZkroot - and you cut it a inch long and you steep dat in overnight water and put a cover over it. Well, it bitter, and it'll swell. You'll throw up ev'rything in you. De stuff come out of - green as you ever seen, as green as grass you ever seen. De devil-shoestring and the black- snake root you steep dem together and you drink that. Den, when I got so I could walk, I goes in the woods, take my hatchet. I gits some cherry bark, white oak bark and dogwood root, and bathed that - made a wash of this water, you know, and use it to wash with. And bathe right down, bathing that for nine mornings. And den, when you git ready to throw it away, you throw it to sunrise.
Entry 1530
Cut yo' a silver dime into fo' parts wit a file, if anybody have given you any poison or anything dataway. Yo' take an' cut de silver dime into fo' parts, an' yo' take yo' some fresh beef lard an' take de cow milk an' drink that, an' yo'll vomit everything that chew took - fight it right now, in about fifteen minutes everything will come up. (You just take the dust of the dime. You don't cut the dime all the way throughthen?) Yo cut dat dime all de way through see, because yo' goin' tuh swallow that silver.
(But you must cut the silver into four parts.)
Yo' cut into fo' parts an' den roundin' it so it won't irritate de entrails, makin' it very round so yo' won't have no sharp point on it atall. See. Take an' mix it with that milk, that cow milk, an' that fresh lard an' drink it down. Anything that chew take that won't kill yo' in de co'se of twenty minutes, it comes right back up.
(You don't use the dust?)
No, not de dust - dat's very dangerous, de dust. If de dust git into de intestines dataway, yo' understan', an' settle - why, yo' understan', yo' got'a file it aroun' an' make it small enough tuh swallow de same as a pill yo' know. Not de dust. [Sometimes the whole dime is swallowed - see Dime in Index.]
Entry 1539
One time I was poisoned an' I taken with a pain in my stomic an' head- ache. Well, I taken real sick. I begin to throw up an' ev'rything I throw up was jis' as green as grass an' bitter as gall. Well, they sent fer de doctor. The doctor came. He give me a 'scription of doctor medicine. Well, I taken a dose of de medicine an' de medicine stayed in me I guess about two minutes. An' de medicine made me awfully sick, made me worser than I was. An' I threw it right back up. Well, we had twelve doctors[il!]. [Twelve doctors like every doctor in town is an exaggerated expression not mean to be taken literally - a hyperbole.] They didn't any do me any good. They did me worser instead of good. De medicine would do me worser all de time. So after that, they said, "Well, dere must be something to do." So I sent my sister to the store an' got a box of Squibbs soda an' a box of sulphur. I taken a teaspoonful of that. And that stayed in me. It gave me a little relief. After that I got nine silver dimes. I boiled them dimes good. Then I let the water cool. I drink nine swallows for nine mornin's. An' I improved an' began to get better. Then I got some Eve- an'-Adam [Adam-and-Eve] - that's a little roots. I boiled de Eve-an'-Adam an I drinked de tea of that an' I got better.
Entry 700
In some cases you kin take some dragon's blood and spirits of turpentine and a little silver and mix it all up together and make a pill out of it - kind of a ball. Give 'em one of them every half a hour from - until they have taken three, six or nine. When they have taken three or de first one, they will quiet down - three they will become normal and go to sleep. When they have taken the nine, they will sleep good for a while and then they will wake up and wanta vomit or go to the toilet. Then you take a little sweet milk, which I won't say what it is you put in it - something you use - jest one something that yo' put in that sweet milk and give 'em a drink of it. An' they no quicker then [than] swallow it then in the space of five or ten seconds they start vomiting. They bring it up. Well, now in the course of time these things are in yuh, de flesh has a tendency to bring alive that powder in de same form of the animal - hatch it out. And when it comes out of yo' it come out as though it were young antses or young Wasps jest hatched - have no use of they wings, they tender and all that.
Entry 704
I'll tell you about my own mother. My mother drank some water after a person had been at her home. Thirty minutes after this person had gone she was taken very ill. And her sister from the South was visiting her. The first thing she did was to put silver in hot water and give it to my mother to drink. Then she asked for a gourd what grow on a vine, and she opened this gourd and took the insides of the gourd out, and make tea and give it to my mother. As soon as she gave it to her she just vomit. In this, she vomit up, was live worms this man put in the water. People in the country have water buckets outside of the house with a top on. He goes out of the house and puts these worms in the bucket - he dried the worms and powdered them - and my mother came right on behind him and took a drink of water. The same man killed his mother-in-law. He didn't like her. He goes to the spring and brings a bucket of water back and asked her would she have a cool drink, something he had never done before. And she took a drink and was taken ill. All worked on her and nobody could do her any good. Just before she died she said to her daughter, "I've never swallowed what that man gave me." It was in her so she never could get it down.
Entry 964
Dere somepin did to mah sistah. She go fo' a ice cream sodee on a Friday night an' de othah girls dere didn't like her at all. So she went dere at night an' dey served her ice cream an' dey fixed her a saucer of it, an' after- wards she remembered dey speci'lly bring her saucerful. An' after- ward, purtty soon after she leave, de side of her laig all commence painin' her all de way up. An' purtty soon dey had taken an' carry her home, couldn't walk, where she got sick an' de doctah 'tended her [and could not help her]. An' dat laig had swole so, jes' to de knee - swole so dat it jes' be a bag of skin dere an' yo' see somepin like somepin wus crawlin' up an' down her laig. So mah father, he goes an' git him a ridge bass - a root worker, an' he looked at her an' he give her some tea, some kinda tea in a jar an' tole her she'd be all right in about eight or nine days. Didn't [give] her no 'tenshun an' she seem to be gittin' worse an' worse, an' in about a week an' a half he came dere - it wus in de mawnin', said, "Ah come tuh cure de girl." Father say, "Ah hope so - she didn't rest any last night an' she not restin' now." An' he give him three little tablets 'bout de size of an' aspirin tablet but they were black. He tole us, say, "Git the slop jar." She taken de three, an' in about five minutes time she commence gaggin' an' she gagged up a pure green frog: She re'lly did dere in de slop jar. Ah wus standin' right dere.
(End of 1429.)
(That story he told me about the envelope - throwing it up in the air and having it disappear - he said that the root doctor was old Doctor Harris down in Florence, S. Car.) [Fayetteville, N. Car., (1429), 2579:13.] [Folk Medicine I will divide into two subsections: (l) Principles of Healing, beginning here, and (2) Cure and Protection, which begins on page 410.] [A considerable amount of material about principles of healing, cures and protection has already been given. Here I would like to emphasize two things - folk cures about which we have heard little; and the fact that disease, sickness, pain, bad luck, everything in witchcraft and hoodoo is a spirit.] [The problems of health are many, difficult and expensive. It is unfortunate that they should also be encumbered with prejudice and superstition. Concerning the latter - believers in witchcraft, hoodoo and magic throw a halo about their heads, claiming as their authority the Bible, the Word of God: - (l)he [Manasseh] observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards (2 Ch.33:6) - (2) Saul had put away those that had faniliar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land (1 Sam.28:3)- (3) Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live (Ex.22:18).] [One informant expresses the attitude of witchcraft and hoodoo believers as well as the view of Biblical fundamentalists:]
Entry 1117
(You get this one drop of blood from that same bug [Betsy bug] from an old hollow tree.) Yes, from a ole rotten tree. You drop this blood - one drop into a cup of - into a halfa teacup of grease. Then you get a piece of saltpeter about as big as a red bean. Get a teacup of sweet milk. You see you mix that all up together. You give that to that person that has been tricked and poisoned. They wull throw it up.
Entry 1154
Now yo' take a buzzard, long [about] - yo' know dere's a time of de year dat de buzzards are nestin', if yo' kin git chew a buzzard alive an' carry him to some secret place where nobody knows nuthin about it. Well, yo' know a buzzard is a kinda funny thing. Yo' feed him diff'rent things an' some he vomit some an' some might come out de othah way. Well, yo' take some of both an' put it together an' put it in a sack of some sort to where yo' kin tie it. Maybe some of yore people long ago had some of these things did to 'em - de tricks yo' know, had 'em walkin' like a frog or hoppin'. Jest keep it, yo' know, where he [patient] kin sleep on it fo' several days an' he not knowin' anything about it. An' den yo' take it an' make him a belt of some sort where he kin wear it round his waist until dat stuff became hard - jest hard like a brick, hard jest like a brick. An' de thing dat dey have did to him dat causin' him tuh be dat way will go up in dat bag where dat stuff is.
(That is to cure him.)
Dat's tuh cure him.
Entry 1302
In case if a person is poisoned, swelled up bad, look like dey 'bout tuh bust and dey poisoned, sickly, swelled as large as a barrel, a hogshead barrel, yo' wants to go git chew a piece of saltpeter and put dat saltpeter in a half glass of water and yo' go an' git yo' some gourds, some green gourds, an' take de entrails out 'em an' boil 'em, and let 'em take a cupful of dat, an' all de worms and things in dere, will throw 'em up. Den yo' wanta release dose parties den - dose parties who did dat. When dey throw de worms up, dey take 'em an' put 'em in a bottle an' stop 'em up airtight and go to de river and throw it ovah yore shoulder. Well, den dem parties go an' jump in de rivah an' drown - kill demselves.
Entry 1612
Dey kin take yore chamber lye - jes' lak anybody go tuh work an' poison yo' or anything, yo' see. Well, yo' kin git some sweet milk, yo' see, an' honey, yo' understan', an' a lil' likker an' mix dat chamber lye - jes' a little, yo know - an' likker an' honey an' vinegar. Well, yo' take dat yo' see an' dat would make yo' vomit it up yo' see.
Entry 6762
You mean poison, hoodoo-like?
(Yes.)
Yo' git a teacup fulla sweet milk, halfa teacup of grease, piece of salt- petah about big as a red bean. [Magic of diminishing size.] (A red bean.) Piece of saltpetah about as big as a red bean. Yo' take all dat an' mix dat tuhgethah an' give it tuh yo' an' let yo' drink it. An' yo' vomit it up or eithah it'll kill it [the poison], kill it on de inside of yo'.
Entry 6817
Take guts from a grain [green] gourd and make a tea. Drink, and if hurt inside, you will vomit.
Entry 6901
Anything wrong, yo' kin take some sweet milk an' heat it real hot, an' put some red cayenne peppah in it an' put some red pod peppah in it. An' scrape some silvah off de dime an' put in de glass, an' put some gun- powdahs in it, an' yo' drink it. An' when yo' drink it, jis' makes yo' bu'st out in a big sweat an' den yo' kin vomit it up.
(This poison?)
Yeah.
Entry 7000
[One of these catfish-blood rites to make a person stop drinking whis- key tells us: de female catfish min'strates lak a woman evah munt - see p.1869, lines 11-20, v.3.] Well, yo' kin take a man dat drinkin' whiskey all de time, why yo' kin ketch a live catfish any time, an' yo' jis' cut 'im right 'crost 'is tail or somepin-lak or anythin'. An' den let de blood drop right down in a bottle an' puh [pour] de whiskey in it, an' shake it up an' give it tuh 'im, an' let 'im drink an' he'll vomit. If yo' keeps dat up fo' a while, an' evah time he drinks it'll make him sick an' prob'ly break 'im off from drinkin'. Evah time yo' do dat, it'll make him sick.
(I see.)
Entry 7009
Yo' kin take a catfish or use some of de slime offa his hide, or eithah cut 'im an' git somea his blood - maybe a teaspoonful an' put it in 'is drink an' git even wit 'im. Or, if yo' wanta stop 'em from drinkin', yo' see, well, yo' see, yo' don't use quite as much, jis' a li'le. Give him dat in a drink an' he'll nevah drink no mo'. Put it intuh whiskey an' let it stay in dere fo' prob'ly, well, twenty-fo' hours. Den yo' strain it if yo' see anythin'aroun' through it. An' if dey drinks dat whiskey wit dat fish blood in it, he'll go an' throw up [vomit] - he'll try tuh turn 'is insides out. Dat's worse den eatin' [too much]. An' dat's somepin yo' kin do [to stop a person from drinking].
[Record very indistinct here so last few lines cannot be transcribed.]
But [if] yo' don't use nuthin but de slime, dat's [to] stop yo' from drinkin'; but if yo' use dat dere catfish blood, it'll kill yo'.
(It'll kill you, but the slime will cure you from drinking.)
De slime will absolutely stop yo' from drinkin'. Dat make 'im heave up a li'le, but dat blood [will kill him].
Entry 7019
Yo' kin take a eelskin, take an' ketch a eel. Take his skin an' let it git dry, an' yo' take dat eelskin aftah it git dry an' pound it up, an' put it in whiskey an' give it tuh 'im. Well, now when he drink dat, he might drink a halfa pint of it. It'll make him so sick until he'll jis' vomit till he 'bout th die. Well, dat'll break 'im from drinkin' whiskey.
Entry 7022
Says git a eelskin an' soak it in whiskey, about a pint of whiskey. Take dat eelskin an' soak it in dat whiskey fo' 'bout three days, an' den yo take dat eelskin out. An' jis' lak he be drinkin' an' come in an' eat suppah or sompin, yo' give 'im dat an' it make him purtty sick- heave a lot. But it will break 'im up from drinkin' whiskey.
Entry 7029
He's drink, he don' know whut he's eatin', an' dey say if he eat a bit of dat, he won' drink no mo'. Well, now, when yo' clean de fish, yo' know, an' yo' will take de entrails out an' if he drunk anyhow, an' if he eat any of 'em, an' dey say dat makes 'im sick, he'll vomit an' he'll turn against likkah.
Entry 11048
Take dat an' dry it out.
(This manure from a black frizzly chicken?)
Yassuh, yo' kin dry it out an' go tuh anybody's house an' if dey cookin' or anything, an' sprinkle dat intuh dey food, dat will upset dere stomach an' con- tinually keeps 'em heavin' all de time. Yo' kin turn right round an' take de gizzard of a [any] chicken an' put down dat throwin' up. Anytime a person put frizzly stuff [ma- nure] into yore food, yo' nevah got no appetite fo' anything yo' eat, yo' throw it up.
Entry 1548
Lak when yo' come tuh mah house an' ah got anything against yo', if ah wanta hurt yo', ah'll fix somepin an' yo' eat dat an' yo' gits sick. So dis man, yo' know, he drunk some whiskey at a woman's house an' on de way tuh curin' him, somebody got a dime, a silver dime, an' took dat silver dime an' scraped it. An' den he got some gunpowder an' he got sweet milk an' mix it together an' give it to 'im. An' he puked dat stuff up.