Subject:Woodchips
Entries
Entry 7603
Ah say yuh kin [go] tuh de grave- yard an' git some graveyard dirt an' gun- powdah an' sprinkle it roun' dere place. An' if dey git [dirt] comin' from de head, dat takes 'em from de house; but if dey git it comin' tuh de house, dat brings yuh dere.
(Get what coming from the head?)
De dirt.
(What dirt?)
Ah say, tuh make a person move sometime yuh goes out dere an' git dat dirt an' sprinkle it roun' wit gunpowdah. Dat makes a person restless an' give 'em a mind tuh go, not tuh stay.
(You said something about nine days, didn't you?)
Yes, nine days aftah de party's buried. Yeah, nine days yuh go dere an' git it right out de chest. Den yuh kin go dere an' git it an' put it in a pile of chips. Put it in a pile of [wood] chips an' [if your victim] go dere an' rake dem chips up an' put 'em in de fire, yuh [the victim] liable tuh ketch afire an' burn tuh death. (If someone wants to do you that harm, they sprinkle this in the chips and you are liable to burn.)
Entry 7026
Fathah Graybeard. Yes sir, it's a tree grows an' have a beard jis' lak a man. Yo' go dere an' dig dat tree up an' git de very top of de roots. But chew cain't take it off from de end, yo' gotta go up in de - where it grow up in de big part of de tree. An' git de chips outa dat an' put in de whiskey. It'll make dem sick dey lak tuh kill demself.
(You put this root in the whiskey to make a man stop drinking?)
Yes sir.
(You get the root just as it goes into the trunk of the tree.)
[The graybeard tree in the southern states of the United States of America is the fringe tree (Chionanthus virginica), a small tree with clusters of white flowers. The dried root bark is used as an aperient and diuretic. Whether this is the Father Graybeard of the present rite I do not know.]