This web page is a supplement to my research into the folk-lore field work conducted among African-Americans by Harry M. Hyatt in the late 1930s. For a description of his work, see my introduction to Hyatt's five-volume collection of oral histories.
Hyatt did not attach the names of his informants to their statements, but some information about their identities and where they lived can be gleaned from his introduction and reminiscences in Volume One, and supplemented by internal references throughout the five volumes.
The information on this page is ***not complete*** and is being updated as i have free time. I am posting it on the web in this form for the benefit of those interested in hoodoo and also for the many people pursuing the subject of African-American genealogy, the latter because several people have expressed curiosity about whether their relatives were ever interviewed or mentioned by Harry M. Hyatt. If you have any data to ADD, it would be gratefully accepted and credited here. Primarily, if, you own a copy of Hyatt's 5-volume set and happen to run across names of individuals in their interviews or the magical works they describe, send them along to me and i will insert them in the appropriate place in the list.
SORTING SYSTEM
LOCATION
sample: Snow Hill, MD
If Hyatt gave a location, it is stated, with his
selected comments about the place, who his driver
and/or "contact man" was, and where the interviews
were conducted.
DATES
sample: February 22, 1937
Harry Hyatt's field work began March 12, 1936 and ended
February 28, 1940. Most dates given here are from Hyatt's
introduction in Volume One. Where dates are not given, there
is no dating information known, but i have interpolated some
approximate dates in [brackets]
INFORMANT NUMBER (AND NAME IF KNOWN)
sample: #106 - Mr. Melvin White (a cooper), husband of #105.
A number preceded by the hash-mark or pound-sign #
indicates an informant's number; when this number is
followed by [-], the hyphen in brackets indicates that part
or all of the name of the informant is not known. Informant
numbers run sequentially from #1 - #1,602. The names given
are taken from Hyatt's introduction, occasionally bolstered
by internal evidence i have gleaned from the informant's
interview.
ENTRY NUMBER
sample: (entry 22)
Entry numbers indicate the number of an
entry for a spell, charm, belief, or recipe. Entry numbers run
sequentially from (1) to (13,458),
and Hyatt organized them by topic, not by informant,
location, or cylinder recording number.
When an informant gave more than one entry, i place the entries in the order of their cylinder recording numbers, to approximate the way the interview actually was conducted.
INTERVIEWS WITH PROFESSIONALS (PAGE NUMBERS)
sample: pages 2222 - 2222
Page number citations most often refer to interviews with
professional root doctors, which were not entry-numbered but
are designated by page numbers.
CYLINDER RECORDING NUMBERS
sample: (cylinder 2222:2)
Cylinder recording numbers
run sequentially through several series of numbering
schemes. Cylinder numbers can be used to help date entries
and interviews.
Hyatt used two recording machines from 1936 - 1940, an Edison cylinder cutter, which he deemed unsatisfactory and soon replaced, and a Telediphone cylinder cutter, which proved reliable.
Edison cylinder transcriptions are marked ED and are not numbered, nor is the informant's regional speech pattern preserved. There were 85 Edison cylinder recordings. All are marked ED.
Telediphone cylinders were transcribed phonetically. They ran in five "series," A through E, and had numbers in their respective series, but they were also double-numbered sequentially, without reference to series, from [1] through [3016]. Thus a cylinder may be referred to as [1503] or as [B45 = 1503]. The cylinder number is generally given in two parts, separated by a colon -- e.g. [1130:7]. In this example, 1130 is the cylinder number and 7 indicates the 7th interview or section on that cylinder.
THE ROLE OF THE "CONTACT MAN"
I believe that very few, if any, interviews were conducted
with people whom Hyatt believed to be mentally ill or
blatantly drunk, and that the de-selection of such impaired
informants was the business of Hyatt's series of "contact
men," that is, his African American employees who
pre-interviewed and sometimes also chauffered Hyatt and the
candidates selected for recording. These "contact men" were,
over the course of four years, Jerry Williams, Mr. Maddox,
Mr. Gavin, "Carter", Edward Bufford Jr., Mack Berryhill (23 Feb 1915 - 23 Apr 1990), and
"Marshall" -- the latter two names possibly referring to one
person, namely Marshall "Mack" Berryhill. The work of these
"contact men" as gate-keepers and pre-interviewers was vital
to the success of Hyatt's project, and therefore worthy of
note in ths compilation.
New York City, NY
March 12, 1936 -
#1 - Julia [-], Alma Hyatt's household manager.
#2 - # 6 People brought in by Julia [-].
#7 - Mrs. [-] Baker, brought in by Julia [-].
#8 - #11 People brought in by Julia [-].
#12 - Samuel Forman, an old man.
Ocean City, MD
Ocean City contact man was Jerry Williams (#13); some of the
entries from this trip were not recorded by machine but
taken "by hand" on the streets of MD, probably in April, 1936.
In December, 1936, after having discarded the Edison machine,
Hyatt returned with the new recording device, the
Telediphone, and made a second interview with Jerry WIlliams
#13, his helper; hence this is the one "cylinder" recording
in this section.
April, 1936
#13 Jerry Williams, contact man, a relative of the deceased
root doctor George Jackson Dennis;
see also informants #102, #103, and #139, all in his
family; the most complete information is at #139.
"I had interviewed him that summer (1936) at Ocean City, Md."
(entry ?, [ED?])
Later, testing the new Telediphone at Snow Hill, MD (see below):
An account of George Jackson Dennis (originally told to Jerry
by his "grandmother aunt" (great-aunt)) of how George Jackson
cured Jerry's great-uncle Purnell Dennis of "live things"
which Purnell got when poisoned in milk by a woman named Bettie.
The spell involved a cathartic decoction taken orally, which
George Jackson sang to as it boiled. Although Purnell was cured
of this trick by his own brother, Jerry seems unaware of the
family connection or doesn't bother to mention it to Hyatt
in his interview.
(entry 3094, cylinder 1:1)
#14 [-] gives a crossroads story
(entry 349, cylinder [ED])
#15 - #30
#31 - [-] graveyard dirt in box under house; use sinner's dirt for
house protection
(entry 1318, cylinder [ED])
use dirt of deceased mother to stop her haunting her children
(entry 1307, cylinder [ED])
#32 - #35
Warrenton, VA
Spril, 1936
#36 - [-] discusses powdered serpents' heads
(entry 668, cylinder [ED])
Fredricksburg, VA
May, 1936
#37 - [-] "man on train"; was a Pullman Porter
encountered en route to Fredericksburg, VA.
(entry 2108)
#?? - [-] wet shoes at noon, carry back to river at Full Moon
to caue people to drown themselves.
(entry 5299, cylinder [ED])
#38 - #80 - unaccounted for; MD or VA
#81 - [-] French (Surname or nickname?)
#82
this sequence ends Hyatt's recording with the Ediphone and
cylinders marked [ED].
-----
XXXXX confusing -- i will check and rework this section!!!
Virginia (?): a man named Carter was the contact man
------
Snow Hill, MD
Hyatt began recording with the Telediphone, a much heavier
cylinder-cutting machine. Telediphone recordings have their
own numbering system for cylinders. (see above)
December 4, 1936 (cited in Introduction) or
December 14, 1936, Friday (cited on page 915) was the
date of the first test recording, cylinder 1:1, a brief
statement by Jerry Williams #13, the contact man. See
informant #13 for the specifics of what Jerry said.
#83 - [-] informant from Nansemond Co., Va.
gives recipe for goofer dust
(entry 666, cylinder 1:8)
black pepper in shoe keeps footprint from registering
(entry 1123, cylinder 2:22)
#84 - #85
#86 - Mr. [-] Douglas, relative of #87, #88, #89, and #92
#87 - Mr. John A. Douglas
#88 - Mrs. [-] Douglas, wife of #87
#89 - Mrs. Laura Mills, adult daughter of Mr. John A. Douglas
#87 and Mrs. [-] Douglas, #88.
#90 -
#91 - Miss [-] Steele.
#92 - Mr. [-] Douglas, a relative of #86, #87, #88, and #89
#93 - #98
St. James, MD
"A Negro settlement on Easter Shore, 5 miles from Pocomoke City, Md."
#99 - [-] informant tells of a woman he knows who for 25 years,
that is, since 1911, has sprinkled graveyard dirt toward
people to protect herself and ward off racial prejudice.
(entry 1316, by hand)
#100 - #101
#102 - Mr. Purnell Dennis, in his 70s, the great-uncle of Jerry
Williams #13, the brother of George Jackson Dennis,
the deceased root worker (mentioned in entry 3092 etc.), and
also related somehow (possibly through marriage) to Julia [-]
#1, the Hyatt family housekeeper. George Jackson Dennis and
Purnell Dennis were both born in slavery. Their owner was "John
Hugh Dennis, father of Samuel Dennis, the former [pre-1936]
Chief Justice of Baltimore." George Jackson Dennis died
circa 1900 (entries 3093, 3104). For more detailed family ties,
see informant #139.
#103 - Mrs. [-] Dennis, in her 70s, wife of Purnell Dennis #102
#104 - Mrs. [-] Ward ("elderly").
#105 - Mrs. [-] White, wife of Melvin White #106.
#106 - Mr. Melvin White (a cooper), husband of #105.
#107 - Albert White (15 year old son of #105 and #106).
#108 - George White (data is confused; he is related to #105-#109,
but #108 is elsewhere stated to be F. Milburne [Hyatt's typo?]).
#109 - Melvin White, Jr.; son of #105 and #106.
#110 - #124
Princess Anne, MD
#125 - Mr. [-] Maddox, a waiter in the town hotel who became a contact
man; brought in #127, #129, #130, #133, and possibly others in
Princess Anne.
"Two years before becoming the priest of her [informant
#825's] dream [in 1938], I had been seen as a spirit of some
sort in the dream of a man at Princess Anne, Md. I had
appeared to tell him where he could find a treasure. (For
the importance of dreams in treasure-hunting, see 418,
p.125.) I did show him treasure - I made him my contact man
for the town." (This note in Vol. 2, appended to the interview
with informant #825, would seem to refer to Mr. Maddox, as
he was the contact man in Princess Anne, MD.)
How a local conjure from Deal's island "specialized" in the "slobber"
from the mouth of a corpse and got Maddox to help him dig for corpse
slobber for use in luck-working tricks.
(entry 821, cylinder 24:7)
Tale of a conjure whose power came from his brother's skull and
who was also a travelling stage-magician and hypnotist.
(entry 820, cylinder 25:1)
A crossroads story
(entry 347, cylinder 38.1)
#126
#127 - George Tilmer or Tilman, born 1850; 86 years old in 1936
(entry 3102).
#128
#129 - Mr. J. Shrieve, the only white man interviewed
(entry 8).
#130 - Mr. Joshua Wilson, "age 65"
bury woman's nature at doorstep to keep other men away
(entry 1767, cylinder 34:1)
bury rival's urine at his own doorstep in dripping bottle;
keep him away from your woman: "crossing a man from a woman"
(entry 1768, cylinder 33:3)
Jack made from a magnet (loadstone?) and woman's hair, kept
by a man to forestall other men having sex with her
(entry 3095, cylinder 34.3)
all three entries relate to the work of the deceased root
doctor George Jackson Dennis [whom Wilson calls "Uncle", but
possibly as an honourific]; Wilson drove folks out to see Dennis).
See informant #139 for more on George Jackson Dennis.
#131 - #132
#133 - Joe Dorman
(entry 8221)
Baltimore, MD
Interviews were conducted in the church and in the home of
Rev. and Mrs. John Burke and the home of Mrs. [-] Williams, #139.
#134 - #138
#139 - Mrs. [-] Williams, widow of Elijah Williams, mother of contact
man and chauffeur Jerry Williams #13, and niece by marriage of the
deceased root worker George Jackson Dennis and his brother Purnell
Dennis #102.
History of George Jackson Dennis and his family:
George Jackson Dennis, Purnell Dennis #102, and their sister (who
married a Mr. Williams and was the mother of Elijah Williams) were born
in slavery at Cedar Hall farm near Pocomoke City, Md. Their owner was
"John Hugh Dennis, father of Samuel Dennis, the former [pre-1936]
Chief Justice of Baltimore." [Hyatt's "John Hugh Dennis" is probably
a mistranscription of "John Upshur Dennis." These Dennis slave owners
are descendents of Littleton Dennis Esq. (1728 - May 6, 1774). John
Upshur Dennis (April 10, 1793 - December 23, 1851), the father of
Samuel Dennis, owned 160 slaves in Worcester County, Maryland. See
www.visitworcester.org/african-american/slavery.html for pictures of
some Dennis family slaves and the veve-like wrought iron work that
they installed at the Dennis home to keep away evil spirits.] The
rootworker and former slave George Jackson Dennis was born circa 1830
and died circa 1900 at age 70, but "youngified" in appearance; he was
buried in Fairmount, Md. No children, no photographs extant in the
family; he was gifted and could read the Bible.
(entry 3092, cylinder 38.1)
A very long story about the 19th century root worker Zippy Tull. The
story begins with the enmity between Harriet Henderson and Emma
Henderson and how Harriet told Mrs. Williams' grandmother Liza [-] not
to give Emma any food. When Liza disobeyed and fed Emma, Harriet cut a
coffin-shaped piece out of Liza's underwear and took the measure of
her foot and put it in a graveyard. Liza fell sick in April, barking
like a dog. By August her husband James [-] decided to see the root
doctor Zippy Tull at Drummondtown, Virginia. James borrowed a horse
from the woman he worked for, Miss Liza Marle. Zippy Tull told him to
find the cloth, almost rotted (if it had rotted, Liza would have
died), and she would "do the balance." The cure worked; by September,
Liza was picking apples in the orchard. According to Mrs. Williams,
Zippy Tull was deceased by 1936. However, as with the Dennis family, a
lot can be found online about both the white Tull family and
descendants of the African American Tull slaves in the DelMarVa area.
There is no doubt in my mind that Zippy Tull existed, but her birth
name was probably something more formal or Biblical. I suspect it was
Ziporah. A far different account of Zippy Tull, painting her as a witch
who was much feared and who performed evil works of magic and poisoning,
appears in the journal of Etha Parsons Yohe (1875 - ?) of Parsonsburg,
Wicomico County, Maryland, which was online as of October 2003 at
http://members.tripod.com/~astral/yohe.html. In the extracted portion of
the journal, Etha, recalling events when she was 8 years old (that is,
in 1883) refers to Zippy Tull as "Old Zippy Tull," suggesting a birthdate
for her in 1830 or earlier, contemporaneous with George Jackson Dennis.
Drummundtown, VA, Zippy Tull's home town, is now known as Accomac, VA.
The Tull Farm Slave Quarter is still extant in Pocomoke City, MD.
(entry 3104, cylinder 38:2)
Circa 1896, Mrs. Williams' mother, name unknown, then 40 years old, walked
by a chimney and got a pain in her toe that led to paralysis, Doctor
Quinn (an MD) could not cure her, so Elijah Williams and Mrs. Williams walked
from Pocomoke to Fairmount to find Elijah's uncle, George Jackson Dennis.
He said the trick was done by a short woman of light colour who had
made a cut-tin effigy of Mrs. Williams' mother, with the foot cut off.
and laid it at the base of the chimney, where the victim stepped over it.
He told Elijah to return to Pocomoke, dig up the effigy before sunrise
and bring it to him and he would "do the balance." Elijah found the
mutilated cut-tin effigy, took it to George Jackson, and his mother-in-law
was cured and lived another 10 years.
(entry 3093, cylinder 40:1)
#??? - [-] (# lost) tale of woman who consulted Aunt Dinah in Chattanooga, Tennessee;
to capture man, measure string around penis, bury in graveyard, dug up after
two days, gave back to client wrapped in red flannel and stuck with needles,
told her to hide it in the bed tick; man would stay with her and leave his wife
(entry 10237, cylinder 42:2)
Elizabeth City, NC
#182 - [-] gives a crossroads story
(entry 333, no cylinder number noted)
Wilmington, NC
Mr. [-] Gavin acted as contact man. Hyatt had met him through his
wife's housekeeper Julia [-] #1, who was Mr. Gavin's sister-in-law.
"I Interviewed in the Gavin home and had lunch there every day"
(page 902). Here Hyatt commenced the hiding of the microphone in
his "old black hat." Also "the dialect trouble began in Wilmington";
as he travelled farther south and eventually west, Hyatt and his
transcribers began having increasing difficulties understanding
their informants' speech. Burying the microphone under a hat
probably didn't help the clarity of the recordings, either!
#??? - Carrie Gavin, sister of Julia [-] #1
#??? - Mr. [-] Gavin, "her husband, first name unremembered,"
the Wilmington contact man
#198 - [-] probably a woman (says she cooked dinner);
She lived on Campbell Street in Wilmington, NC
("Twus my gate on Campbell Street where I lives at
right in Wilmington. At ten 'clock - I'm talkin'
about mah ownself, at what I know on Campbell Street.")
bluestone, sulphur, unspecified roots, victim's hair,
buried at gate; causes victim to have weakness and to
lay down every night at the same time; disposed of
by burning in fire; victim cured, but woman who fixed
it had to go to hospital to have her leg cut off.
(entry 929, cylinder104:3)
#199 - #201
#292 - [-]
bury a piece of someone's underwear in a gaveyard;
as it rots, they die.
(entry 4758, cylinder 108:2)
#293 - #213
#214 - [-]
break stick on mother's grave to stop her haunting
her children
(entry 1305, cylinder 205:4)
#215 - #223
February 12, 1937
#224 - Ethel Waters, born in Willard, NC, self-described as "a
wise woman" or healer. Excerpt from interview in Volume Two,
pages 1294 - 1295 Numbers Book 136-317; Cylinder 215.
(also entry 714, cylinder 215)
#225 - #228
#229 - Eddie [-] Surname unknown
#230 - #240
#241 - [-]
gives a crossroads story
(entry 363, cylinder 239.4)
nine grains of bluestone in each corner to keep out witches
(entry 488, 239:7)
graveyard dirt and mockingbird nest to bring back lost lover
(entry 7835, cylinder 164:4+85) [this number seems wrong]
#242 - #248
#249 - [-] Informant gave account of uncle who was institutionalized
in Goldsboro, NC, after 3 years of insanity at home, and who,
upon release, was cured by a rootworker from the "South" who
charged $25.00 and performed a spell involving graveyard dirt
in a buried threshold bottle, salty water from Wrightville
Sound, rocks, two dimes to be worn on the legs, and a belt
to be worn, The cure was effective.
(entry 896, cylinder 245:9. Location "Two miles on this side
of Hempstead, a place (Negro community) dey call Browntown."
#250 - #291
#292 - Lewis [-] Surname unknown; see page 300.
#293 - #313
#311 - Willie Jones
entry 893
#314 - #315
#316 - [-] a bootlegger who tells a long, sad story about his
"crazy" wife and his legal troubles; many root doctors
are named, because he consulted many, including one of the
Doctor Buzzards. Their uncrossing cures varied in style
and efficacy and will eventually be logged here.
(entry 3082, cylinder 244.1+85, hand transcription)
#317 - #345
#346 - Eugene Love, who bet his interview number, won $4.00 and
came back to split his winnings with Hyatt and get another
"lucky number." Hyatt therefore changed to recording the
interviewee's number *after* he or she left the room.
#347 - #360
February - April, 1937
Richmond, VA
From this point on, some people thought Hyatt was an FBI
agent, or "the law."
#361 - [-] discussion of goofer dust and graveyard dirt
(entry 664, cylinder 296:8)
#371
#372 - E. W. Lindsay, first professional root doctor interviewed;
his biography is in Volume One, page XXVIII, his interview is
in Volume Two, pages 943-8.
#375 - [-]
"a hopeful client" who believed Hyatt was a root doctor;
"NG" (no good)
#? - "Humpadee", a female root doctor.
#? - [-] King, who disappeared.
April 21, 1937
#385 - "Root Doctor" Johnson, a 65 year old man of mixed
Native American and African-American ethnicity, born in
Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and brought to Bristol, VA
when he was young. He carried in a sack of roots he had
freshly dug to show Hyatt.
Interview Volume Two pages 1620 -1624, cylinders [329:1 - 332:7]
#386 - #388
#389 - [-]
graveyard dirt in shoes and around home for protection
(entry 1313, cylinder 338:2)
#390
#391 - [-]
this person waited 5 hours (paid) to be interviewed, the
longest wait of all.
#392 - #405
#406 - [-]
graveyard dirt, salt, pepper, and sulphur keeps visitors off
(entry 9605, cylinder 361:5)
#407 - #437 unaccounted for; either Richmond VA or Elizabeth City, NC
Elizabeth City, NC
May, 1937
"Never in my life did I interview a black person in a white
person's home except my own (which includes my own hotels)"
etc. (Volume One, page XIX). This is an important note on
technique: Hyatt explains that except for five occasions
detailed, all interviews were conducted in the homes or
hotels of black people.
#438 - [-]
successive Moon phases: wear salt and Red pepper seeds in
your shoes on last quarter Waning Moon then, on the growing
of the New Moon the man you want will come to you
(entry 9586, cylinder 391:4)
goofer dust contains graveyard dirt; it gives you a lingering cough.
(entry 662, cylinder 558:5) [this cylinder number seems far wrong.]
#439 - #481 unaccounted for; either Elizabeth City NC or Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
May, 1937
Hyatt drove to Norfolk with [-] Carter, his new contact man, in
Carter's "family car" (co-owned with other family members).
#??? - Doctor Paul Bowles, professional root doctor
Interview Volume Two, pages 1733-38
#482 - Mrs. [-] Graham, former wife of Vander Graham
(entry 888).
#??? - Doctor Frank Harris
(entry 1958), Volume One, page 573.
#483 - #486
#487 - [-]
steal an Irish potato, wrap it in something, and carry it
in your pocket; as it ferments, the rheumatism will leave
(entry 1423, cylinder 518:6)
#488 - #493
#494 -
Berkly, VA ("near Norfolk, VA")
June, 1937
#494A - Mrs. Lenny [Lenora?] Griffin, professional root worker
resident in Berkly, VA; originally from Bertie Co., NC);
born in slavery; she would have to have been about 80 years
old at the time of the interview, for slavery ended when she
was about eight years old. Her first name -- probably short
for Lenore, Lenora, or something of that sort -- is given by her
in a story she tells on herself about events during the Civil War,
when she was a child. In the interview title, Hyatt calls her
"Madam" Griffin, but at the end of the interview he calls
her "Mrs. Griffin" -- and the latter was probably her actual
working name. Hyatt's propensity for calling root worker women
"Madam" is demonstrated elsewhere: he called Mrs. Myrtle Collins
"Madam Collins" even though she specifically told him she was
"not a madam" and her business card read "Myrtle Collins."
(Numbers Book 422-621; Cylinders 533:2 - 536:5.
Interview Volume Two, pages 1309-14.)
Charleston, SC
June 25, 1937
#495 - Mrs. [-] Clayborne, Carter's landlady in Charleston.
#??? - Carrie Clark [mentioned in introduction]
(entry 944)
#497 - [-] throw salt behind and curse to keep folks away
(entry 9447, cylinder 539:4)
#503 - "Toby" Cason, a root doctor who made tobies.
#504 - #508
#509 - "Doctor" Washington
says goofer dust is powdered insects
(entry 673, cylinder 570:3)
fairly lengthy interview on treasure hunting
can be found in Volume 1, pages 132 - 135
(entry 428, cylinder 570:5)
#510 - #512
#513 - Marcus Brown / William Brown / Peter Brown
This profession root doctor's several names were
explained by Hyatt as follows:
"[Many an athlete has worn No. 13 to defy superstition,
but what person except our informant has ever
named himself after a graveyard - after Marcus
Brown, the Negro cemetery in Charleston! But this
could have been a temporary act of daring -
induced by the spirits within - because I later
learned he was known to others as William or
Peter. Besides, I am almost certain it was he who
had the fight with Doctor Washington in the court
of the house where I was interviewing: "I must
add - to emphasize the danger - that Washington
had come to me in a treasure-seeking mood, having
taken a few drinks of moonshine whiskey from his
screw-top jar. After he left me, he and a doctor
waiting for me got into the altercation described
elsewhere" (quotation from p.134, line 35f.)
DOCTOR WASHINGTON OF CHARLESTON, pp.132-135, is
quite a story. At a later date, after another
fight between two doctors, I refer to the
Charleston fight (p.337, lines 5-17). [...]
The material of informant 513 was difficult,
badly recorded, and not completely transcribed;
these selections coming from cylinders 744-751.]"
New Moon bottle spell to get laid-off employee re-hired;
acpture spirit of boss in bottle with Devil's Shoe String
root, Horehound root, Dogwood Root, and liquid germicide;
pay graveyard spirits while working with it in a cemetary
for eleven hours, then use it to control the boss; when client
is re-hired, bury the bottle under client's front door steps;
this is good for 12 months and must be renewed on the New Moon.
(Vol. 2, p.1291, cylinders 744-751)
#514 - #517
#518 - Doctor [-] Nelson whom Hyatt called "important." He
began his professional career in Florence, South Carolina,
on April 3, 1909, when he officially became the student
of "a white man named Doctor Harris" to whom he paid
the fee of $60.00 for lessons. He then trained others
in turn, sending them as far away as Chicago and Kentucky,
while he himself had travelled and worked as far North
as New York. These men probably sold root tonics in
medicine shows as well as casting hoodoo spells for
clients while on the road. Dr. Nelson's age was not given,
but if he started at age 22 in 1909, he would have
been around the age of 50 in 1937, and he may have been
as old as 60 when he was interviewed. Hyatt asked Dr.
Nelson the perplexing question he asked many profesionals:
whether there is any such thing as an "initiation" in
hoodoo (as fancifully described by Zora Neale Hurston,
whose information Hyatt apparently distrusted as fictional).
Dr. Nelson said no, that he had received his understanding
of the work "from de Spirit. God give it to me, you
know." Thus, with the instructions he received from the
white Dr. Harris of Florence, SC, and his own guidance
from God and Spirit, Dr. Nelson had launched a rootwork
career that had spanned almost 30 years. Dr. Nelson
described how to go into the woods to dig "Indian
Potato" and make a decoction to rid clients of "live
things." Hyatt speculated that this plant was Jerusalem
Artichoke, but it could as well have been Jalap, from
the description Dr. Nelson gave, and its use as a laxative.
Dr. Nelson's office was at "No. 10 Antler Street" in
Charleston. Antler Drive still exists in North Charleston,
but the once wooded area has been renumbered. Among other
things, Dr. Nelson also noted that the original Doctor
Buzzard had been dead for "about ten years" (since 1927)
and that other practitioners were now using that name.
(Vol. 2, p.1599, cylinders 610:2-612:8)
#519 - Doctor [-] Maguin ("he pronounced it Mongain (?)") gave a
wash-water cure for a captured foot track
(entry 1221, cylinder 613.1
#520 - [-]
graveyard dirt tied "crosstownways" and penny throwed
"overboard" for protection
(entry 1315, cylinder 620:2)
#521 - #522
#523 - [-]
dirt from mother's grave sprinkled at door stops her
spirit from haunting her children
(entry 1306, cylinder 624:5)
#524 - #534
#??? - [-] devil's shoe string, salt, copper wire around waist
for protection
(entry 1832, cylinder 640:2)
June 28, 1937
#??? - [-], cylinder [646:5]
#535 - William Scott
Tale of a root doctor named Dr. Williams who told fortunes in coffee.
(entry 555, cylinder 649:1)
Beaufort, SC
[July], 1937
"Doctor Buzzard entry" (not numbered in Hyatt's introduction -- # to
be inserted here when I find it XXXXX).
#536 - 538 here or in Savannah GA
Savannah, GA
Interviews held at the house of Mrs. [-] Louis, where Carter the contact
man stayed.
[July], 1937
#539 - [-]
Sew up person's foot track dirt and throw it into
ebbing tide and they will go away and never return.
(entry 5783, cylinder 659:2)
#540 - #554 unaccounted for; Sannah GA, or Jacksonville FL
Jacksonville, FL
Interviews held in a black-owned hotel "under noisy hotel
conditions and during intense July heat"
[July], 1937
#555 - [-]
an informant who discussed goofer dust.
(entry 660, cylinder 691:18)
#556 - #589
#590 - [-]
Woman, "Agent for Curios". Hyatt wrote this about her:
"[Curios at the date of this interview was a legal term covering the
following articles: Lucky Candles, Get Together Powder, Never Part Oil,
Black Cat Ashes, Devil's Stone, Deadman's Bones and other merchandise
similarly labeled. The company or companies distributing these goods
through mail-order house or door-to-door agent stated in a circular,
"We make no preternatural claims on any of these products and sell them
all merely for curios." Our AGENT FOR CURIOS - an intelligent woman,
informant 590 - first explains her work and then I read the preceding
circular. This interview is interesting for three reasons: first, the
quite obvious one; second, the agent's faith in her products; and third,
at the very end, the remarkable story of her customer with heart trouble
-- a M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) and a R.D. (Root Doctor) being involved.
Unfortunately, the recording is bad here and there. As I explained in the
INTRODUCTION, my work in Jacksonville was done under noisy hotel conditions
and during intense July heat. The material is on cylinders 923-928.]"
The woman was an agent for the Keystone Company, the Lucky Heart Company,
and High Hat cosmetics. She was aware that these companies had recently
split apart (there had been a falling out among the partners) and that
her name had been given to each new company as a prospective agent.
(Her interview is in Vol.2, pp.1075 - 1076, cylinders 923-928)
#591 - #596
#597 - [-]
A man who said, "There nothing too low for some women to do"
and described how women wear raw liver in their menstrual pads all
morning and then cook the liver up with onions and feed it to their
men to capture them for life.
(entry 3880, cylinder 769:8)
#598 - #620 unaccounted for: Jacksonville FL or Washington DC
Washington, DC
July 29, 1937, Thursday
#621A - Rev. A. C. Foster
Nine alligator beans (unknown species) broken and thrown for
nine days at the doorstep of someone you wish to have move.
(entry 2255, cylinder 797:2)
#622 - 626
#627 - [-]
This interviewee was born in Washington, D.C. and had lived in
New York for a while. He (?) worked on behalf of clients and
also conducted spiritual meetings in his home thrice weekly.
The interview was mostly on spiritual topics, including how to
purify the altar with Holy Oil, Holy Incense, and Holy Water,
then light 7 candles laid out in the form of a cross, plus some
smaller votive candles. He told how to recite the 23rd Psalm
in four parts, facing in turn the East, West, North, and
South, and how to say the 91st Psalm "to keep out evil." He
described working with the Moon phases when setting lights
with incense, and how then to use one's powers of
concentration and a Bible verse to affect a third party on
behalf of a client. When asked by Hyatt about Zora Neale
Hurston style exotic initiations, he said that one would have
to be born gifted, "have to have someone to instruct you,
teach you," then, "after a meeting, after you accepted in a
class, [...] they [the teacher] will tell you, explain it to
you." In other words, he conducted no exotic ceremonies of
initation. He concluded by honestly telling Hyatt that not all
people who believe they have been hurt by magic have indeed
been cursed and that he, personally, did not believe in the
concept of Live Things In You.
(entry 2743, cylinder 802:5 - 803:2)
#639 - Dr. [-] SIms
A spiritual church member, formerly of New Orleans, he was
agreeable when Hyatt asked if Zora Neale Hurston's accounts
of exotic initiations in New Orleans were factual, but when
asked to describe such an initiation, he explained that
he taught his pupils to study certain portions of the Bible,
"and den ah write down to de Temple an' git a diploma and
give 'em, see. Den dey can use de Temple's name." In other
words, they were not given a Haitian style initiation as
described by Hurston, but were presented with a certificate
or diploma from a Spiritual Church. He named this as "St.
John's Temple" and said that "They have more white [members]
than they do colored." He also described his pictures of
saints, the use of Guinea Grains, Live Things in You, and in
anoher entry, how to use Holy Water to quell evil spirits.
(entry 2742, cylinder 827:8 - 829:9)
(entry 34, cylinder 828:13)
#640 - #649 unaccounted for; Washington, DC or Mobile, AL
New York City, NY
Hyatt returned home to New York City, NY for the autumn and winter.
Mobile, AL
Hyatt felt that the beliefs in this area were "strongly
influenced by New Orleans" -- that is, presumably there was
more than the average mention of candle-spells, saints,
altars, and other accoutrements of Catholic folk-magic. The
contact man and driver was Edward Bufford, Jr. (whom Hyatt
never told that he was a minister); interviews were held at
the home of Daisy Edwards.
February 26, 1938
#650 - [-]
informant said goofer dust is mud dauber wasp nest powder.
(entry 679, cylinder 844:2)
#651 - #654
#655 - [-]
A former herb shop owner, called "Root Seller" by Hyatt, who
mentioned that both black and white people believe in hoodoo.
This informant was once a truant Officer for a Catholic school,
and ran a "root store" that was "in Pinship ... down dere next
to Davis street."
(entry 12, cylinder 858:1)
#656 - [-]
gave a crossroads story
(entry 356, cylinder 937.3
#657 - #665
#666 - [-] said goofer dust contains graveyard dirt
(entry 663, cylinder 876:9)
#667 - #670
#671 - [-]
to get somebody to come to you, write name 7 times,
fold toward you, place under blue candle at 6:00 a.m, burn
candle straight through, after one hour, call name, after
2nd hour call name, after 3rd hour call name; they will come
(entry 2903, cylinder 885:5)
#678 - [-]
graveyard dirt, crawfishes, and snake dust with the
toenails and fingernails of victim to kill him slowly
(entry 6454, cylinder 901:4)
#679 - [-] [probably a woman as one spell is to rid yourself
of a mate who is holding you back in life ("is a knock
to you") but by the end of the spell, it is clear that
the one being dismissed is a husband]
gave salt and saltpeter bath as cure for tricks
(entry 1457, cylinder 905.2)
gave instructions for bathing downward from forehead
to floor with saltpeter and mates urine to cause him
to leave; noted that bathing upward would make him
come back; the used bathwater is kept sealed up for
nine days, then disposed of in a running stream
(entry 1718, cylinder 973:2) [out of sequence]
#680 - #690
#691 - [-]
bury clothes at doorstep so you can't be driven out
and place devil's shoe string powder over mantlepiece to
preserve sanity and keep your home
(entry 742, cylinder 920:5)
#692 - #713 unaccounted for; Mobile, AL or Vicksburg, MS
Vicksburg, MS
As in Mobile, AL, the beliefs in this area were "strongly
influenced by New Orleans." The contact man and driver was
Edward Bufford, Jr.
March 2, 1938
#714 - Miss C. [-],
cylinder [981:1]
#715 - #729
#730 - [-]
graveyard dirt sprinkled on person causes sleep
(entry 7168, cylinder 1000:11)
#731 - #737
#738 - [-]
said goofer dust is brick dust and charcoal
(entry 678, cylinder 1009:8). Note: the entry number
includes a typographical error; the informant is
listed as #538, which is impossible due to location
and cylinder number; i believe he or she was #738
#739 - 751
#752 - [-] daughter of a pastry cook who worked for The
"S. family" who were Jews who lived "on Cherry Street."
another woman who worked there was "Tuley S." who
hoodood the informant's mother. Mother was cured by a
Dr. Robey, using beef gall and dried cow manure
(entry 1202, cylinder 1029:2)
#753 - #754
#755 - [-]
sang root (ginseng root) kept in bottle of holy oil,
called "erectus root" -- used by a woman to anoint a man so
he will be able to get an erection and follow her
(entry 10236, cylinder 1032:11)
#756 - [-]
bury toe of stocking or piece of bloomers under
doorstep so man can't come see your wife and she can't
leave to go see him
(entry 10230, cylinder 1037:1)
#757 - #776
#777 - George Larkin, Volume One, page 270.
#778 - #782
New Orleans, LA
Edward Bufford, Jr. got Hyatt a taxi driver, Mack Berryhill,
to act as his contact man and chauffeur in New Orleans.
#783 - [-]
St. Raymond, green candles, Wednesday, Fridays, and
Saturdays, say prayers nine times (novena), for money
(entry 3042, cylinder 1086:10)
#784 -#812
#813? - Recordings here begin with
cylinder [1144:8]
#814 - [-]
fumigate self with Dragon's Blood resin, wash steps with
salt and own urine, for protection
(entry 6786, cylinder 1145:10)
Friday, March 11, 1938
#822 - [-]
A man, from his talk of attracting women to himself, and
also a person with quite a bit of astrological knowledge.
Any powder is goofer dust.
(entry 676, cylinder 1187:7)
Four examples of how to work with the New Moon in Air signs:
the first uses the Moon in Libra to draw a woman's love, the
second uses the Moon in Genmini to gain someone's friendship,
the third uses the Moon in Libra again, for justice or justified
death spells, and the fourth remove unwanted conditions or
people with river water gathered when the Moon is in Aquarius
-- after which the informant returns to Hyatt's original
question, how to draw a woman to you and hold her, for which he
recommends Myrrh, Aloeswood, and Cinnamon to perfume your bed.
(entry 12462, cylinder 1188:9)
#823 - #824
Saturday, March 12, 1938
Recorded "in the Patterson Hotel, a Negro hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana"
#825 (?) - [-] "A Consolidated-Minded Woman"
This is a woman with twelve toes and a "rainbow arm"
(deformed or bent like a rainbow) who is gifted in
dreams. She shocked and surprised Hyatt by revealing
to him that she had dreamed he was a priest -- something
he kept hidden from all his informants.
Her interview is in Vol.2, pp.1093-1097
The (?) beside her informant # is Hyatt's. He lists her as
Informant #825(?); cylinder A382:4-A388:9 = 1198-1203
The cylinder numbers accord with the informant number;
it is unclear why he appended the (?).
#826 - #827
#828 - [-]
salt and black pepper cleaning
entry 1459, cylinder 1214:4)
any powder is goofer dust
(entry 675, cylinder 1218:1)
#829 - #833
#834 - [-]
informant described rattlesnake dust mixed with
Moving Powder
(entry 667, cylinder 1130:7) (seems out of order or the
cylinder number is a typo and should be cylinder 1230:7)
#835 - #837
#838 -
(entry 7836, cylinder 1260:10)
#839 - 851
#852 - Charlie Wilson, aka Alfred.
March 16, 1938
Recorded in the Patterson Hotel.
#853 - [-], cylinder [1343:2]
#853 - #854
#855 - [-] throw that salt behind enemy and curse to keep them away
(entry 9448, cylinder 1350:2)
#856 -
#857 - [-] St. Jewel [Jule, Jude] is boss of all saints; when all
other saints have turned their backs on your; yellow candle
(entry 10204, cylinder 1364:9)
#858 - Lewis [-] Male. His mother was named Ida. He has a stepfater.
This story takes place when "I lived with mah mothah. I lived in
Castel [North Carolina]." The informant liked two girls in school
and wished to marry one. The aunt of the other hurt him, saying that
if he wouldn't marry Carrie (her niece), he would not marry at all.
She fixed his drink. He would "have spells right aroun' eight an'
nine o'clock at night." He would commence gittin' dizzy an' funny
an' sort of shakey." He went to a "country doctor," Dr. Williams,
to no avail. Dr. Williams suggested a hospital, but along came
"Ole Man Stuckey - he's dead, he's a white fellah called a faith
doctor" and "Mr. Stuckey [told Ida] somebody have put a spell on
[the informant]" and "recommended ole man Frank Bethe, [of] Dunn,
North Carolina, which is not quite a hunderd mile from here. [...]
He's a ole man who wears his pants backwards - de front part of his
pants is backward. Dat's a'showing, de sign dat he's a root doctor,
indiff'rent [diff'rent] from anybody else. Not all of 'em will do dat."
Five people made the trip to Dunn and Frank Bethe identified the
informant as the one who was "hot" (had been hurt) and also told his
stepfather how many punctures he'd had in his tires. Frank Bethe had three
rooms, and in the third, "he had a long bench an' a nice line of chairs
on the left-hand side." There were " big letters all around the wall
- F-R-A-N-K B-E-T-H-E, Frank Bethe." The family sat on the bench. They had
come at dusk, and as darkness fell, the room lit up without a lamp. Frank
then entered and truthfully accused one of the men in the party of
"talking slack" about his (Frank's) daughter, which he could not have
heard, as they were in the car passing through the field when it
happened. He berated them for their lack of "respect." He then sat
the informant in a chair, asked him if he could read, and told that he
could, gave him a book to read out loud. All members of the party then
fell asleep. The informant was awakened while the others snored, and Frank
Bethe told him that "a black woman [...] put a spell on yah [...] it's two
girls you was goin' with, one of them's daughter [niece] an' she jes' put
a spell on you." Bethe said, "I'm goin' fix it for you. [...] I'll fix what
I'm gon'a use." As far as payment went, he told the informant, "You jis'
take mah money an' carry it on the back of your house [in Castel], on the
east end, an' put it in a piece of paper - don't bury it - a piece of
newspaper an' wrap it up [...and...] I'll git it." Bethe put his hand over
(on) the informant's forehead and the light grew bright again, and he said,
"Well, I think ever'thing will be all right." Hyatt believed that this tale
indicated colusion between Mr. Stuckey the white "faith doctor" of Castel,
NC and Frank Bethe, the black conjure doctor of Dunn, NC.
#859 - #862
#863 - "The Unkus Man" so-called because he apparently tried
to tell Hyatt about the Nkisi ("Unkus"), Congolese deities
-- which Hyatt did not understand. (Thanks to Eoghan Craig
Ballard for bringing this to my attention!) He also told
Hyatt that much of his information came from books published
by "Doctor DeLong" of Chicago -- actually L. W. DeLaurence
of Chicago, whose most famous magical tome, "The Great Book
of Magic and Hindu Spirit Art" was cited by The Unkus Man as
"The Great Book of Magic -- Hindu Studies." The Unkus Man
apparently owned an early edition (pre-WW I) of DeLaurence's
book because he described its leather talisman case and parchment
talismans, which were not included in later editions. His
Interview is in Volume Two, pages 1296 - 1309.
(cylinders A568 - A574 = 1379 - 1385)
The Unkus Man mentioned a fellow root worker then in New Orleans,
"Jughead" Johnson, but Hyatt was unable to locate him.
The informant may be Jamaican. He references "The English
colony" and Jamaica was an English colony. He references
Logwood and Logwood grows in Jamaica. He references
Dibby-Dibby and Dibby-dibby is a Jamaican slang term that
has many meanings, one of which is "of no account or
worthless." Also, this is the man who bought books on
occultism and a scrying mirror from L. W. deLaurence in
Chicago -- and de Laurence sold extensively in Jamaica.
Plus, the man seems to worry about the legality of owning
books by de Laurence or working with Moses -- and it so
happens that the old grimoire called "The 6th and 7th Books
of Moses" -- which de Laurence sold -- was at one time
outlawed in Jamaica and was illegal to possess. To this day
i get phone calls from folks in Jamaica wanting me to ship
the book to their friends in the US who will hand-carry it
into Jamaica for them.
#864 - [-] "The Boy-Girl". It is unknown whether this
interviewee was an effeminate homosexual or an anatomical
intersexual, but Hyatt believed the latter. In social terms,
the "Boy-Girl" readily explained that he-she was a "freak"
as a result of his-her mother having been "fixed" (hoodood)
during pregnancy. He-she was 25 years old at the time of the
interview, lived with a "dago" (Italian) man, and was
unusually articulate about sexuality, inter-racial relations
in NOLA, and details of the "hustling" life. He-she was also
an excellent rootworker, having learned many tricks from a
grandmother, Henrietta Joseph, who practiced in the Girard
Park Drive area of New Orleans under the professional name
Madame Joseph. Unlike some of Hyatt's other informants, the
"Boy-Girl" was aware both of the sociological importance of
the interview and Hyatt's status as an outsider, and strove
to give explicated and enhanced replies to simple questions
so that Hyatt could understand. In addition to relating many
conjure tricks, the "Boy-Girl" spoke about the lives of
gay, lesbian, transsexual, and intersexed African-Americans
in the context of the times and provided a cross-cultural
linguistic exegesis on the terms "hustling," "sporting,"
"jazzing" and "throwing down white men." The latter, for
those whose curiosity is piqued, was a local term for a
criminal rootwork practice engaged in by teamed pairs of
African American prostitutes: one of them would jazz the
trick, while the other robbed his pockets and then ensured a
magically safe getaway for the pair by throwing holy water
stolen from a Catholic church on the victim so that he would
not be able to report them to the police. ("Holy water keeps
the law away. No man in high positions today can come where
holy water is and do evil.") The interview is in Volume Two,
pages 1675 - 1689. (cylinders A5574 - A5580:5 = 1390 - 1396)
#865 - #876
#877 - [-]
mix dirt from a sinner's grave with vinegar and water to
make mud, then dry it hard and cut into 4 small bricks; place
at front and back doors and both sides of the house for
protection.
(entry 1311, cylinder 1438:3)
#878 - #895?
Little Rock, AR
April or May, 1938
Hyatt mentions Albert Pike in introduction, Volume One, page
XXXIII.
#883 - [-]
St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Theresa
(entry 10205, cylinder 456:3)
#??? - [-]
informant tells how Aunt Caroline Dye cured her "crazy"
female cousin from Oil Trough, Arkansas at Newport, Arkansas,
in 1929 using Adam-and-Eve root and rattlesnake dust, plus
a turpentine face wash. Informant's number was lost by Hyatt.
(entry 1092, cylinder 1460:13)
#891 - #896
#897 - [-]
informant gives recipe for goofer dust
(entry 665, cylinder 1468:12)
#898 - [-] An old man who had "been in the witchcraft business for 60 years;"
"Born in Louisiana -- raised in St. Louis, Missouri." Hyatt called him
"Divine Healer." He offered to do a trance reading for Hyatt, but Hyatt
refused (!), saying, "[This elderly man, informant 898, accepts hoodooism
because he says the Bible proves the existence of witchcraft. Some of
his experiences with the evil are described. I had had doctors tell me
about my business, but this old fellah's "meditation" -- I didn't want
him passing out in my presence. His estimation of the number of white
and colored believers in this mess, I discuss at the proper place in the
text. The two cylinders used are important beyond their number --
B12:6 - B13:5 = 1470 - 1471.]" Among others, this man said that he had
healed "Miss Alice W., in Prescott, Arkansas," and the wife of "David M.,"
for which "White folks given me a write-up" (newspaper article?). He also
cured an unnamed married woman in Warren, Arkansas. He did no bad work,
only spiritual work, for both "white and colored." He described how to
produce live things with snake blood in whiskey, and how to take them off
with an emetic root tea which would cause the victim to vomit them up.
(Vol. 2, pp. p.1057 - 1058 etc. cylinders B12:6-B13:5 = 1470 - 1471)
#899 - #902
#903 - [-]
graveyard dirt with saltpeter for protection of house
(entry 1319, cylinder 1475:4)
#904 - #913
May 18, 1938
#914 - Doctor [-] Cunningham.
"[Doctor Cunningham, Informant 914, had refused to
visit me, therefore I went to him at his request. He
is the only doctor I personally ever called on,
except for those few out in country districts like
Madam Griffin and Frank Harris - see INTRODUCTION.
My contact man Edward, our local automobile man and
I arrived with the equipment. A woman who opened
the door said the patient then with the doctor would
soon leave. I had expected a line of patients and a
long wait, but the doctor had a better trick waiting
for me. I do not remember the interview except for
three indications in the text: the departure of the
patient, the brief and truthful note the spirit
wrote to me before my very eyes, and the woman
calling out to the doctor during interview - this
latter a prearranged signal meaning; hers 'Is
everything all right,' and his 'Everything is O.K.'
Though the spirit-note you will read is true, the
spirit writer rather downgrades my intelligence and
experience." Little Rock, Ark., May 18, 1938 - 914
- Cunningham - doctor." Numbers Book 885-977. This
material is on cylinders B13:1-B22:5 = 1476-1480.]
Memphis, TN
May 24 or May 25, 1938 (Tuesday?)
#915 - [-]
says goofer dust comes from an "order house"
and is placed "in the mattress"
(entry 680, cylinder 1482:8)
(but in the introduction this informant number is assigned
to cylinder 1418:1; the numbers are not reconcilable
and one of them, probably 1418, must be a typographical error).
#916 - #919
#920 - [-], "The landlady at the Eureka Hotel."
#921 - #924
#925 - [-],
(entry 2281, cylinder 1502:1)
#926 - Mrs. Myrtle Collins / Madam Collins of 651 Stephens St. (now
Stephens Pl.), a professional root worker, was interviewed here
for the first time, cylinders [B45:19 - B51:1 = 1503 - 1509];
she was the only person interviewed twice. Her later interview
was as informant #1538 on cylinders [D96:1 - D110-2 = 2779 - 2793].
See Volume Two, pages 992-1024. Her business card appears in the
unnumbered pages at the end of Volume Two.
Myrtle Collins told Hyatt that she had studied spiritual work by
mail order and had received a diploma from the Rociscrucians
(AMORC) in San Jose, California ("de White Brothers"). She had
travelled to San Jose, and she bought herbs and other spiritual
supplies from the Rosicrucians, both in person and by mail. She
offered to teach rootwork for a fee and she described paying for
teachings and buying formulas from other root doctors (including
Doctor Cicero Reed, a white doctor of San Jose, California
(deceased by 1938), to whom she had paid $25.00 for the recipe for
a three-ingredient bath to restore men's lost nature.)
See "Notes on the Memphis hoodoo root worker Madam Myrtle Collins"
for further details and maps of her neighborhood.
#927 - #931
May 26, 1938 (Tuesday?)
#932 - [-], cylinder [1512:15]
#933 - #937
#938 - [-]
Graveyard dirt, sugar, and red pepper for protection
(entry 1314, cylinder 1517:13)
Working with the zodiacal signs and with the waxing and waning moon.
(entry 942. Vol. I, pg. 357, (cylinder #1518:8)
#939 - #951
#952 - [-]
cylinder [1538:10]
#953 - #958
#959 - [-]
A bath before gambling: bluestone, saltpeter, sugar, and your own urine;
bathe downward and say the Lord's Prayer three times [to cleanse], then
dress your playing cards with "any kind of oil that you believe in" [to
draw luck]; asked which oil, informant said Rose Oil from the drugstore.
(entry 1719 cylinder 1542:12)
#960 - [-]
Write names of 12 Apostles, pin them on you, and also write Psalm
70. Write them every time the moon changes. Take off the old one and put
on the new ones for protection.
(entry 10663, cylinder 1546:10)
#960 -
#963 - [-]
"Long rite missed by transcriber": woman wipes man with
new handkerchief, rolls it into a tube (phallus) ties a hard knot
in it, then unrolls and spreads under bed tick, kills his nature
(entry 10240, cylinder 1556:1)
#964
#965 - [-]
Graveyard dirt thrown on house to move people out
(entry 7638, cylinder 1557:1)
#966 -
#967 - [-] woman, 55-60 years old, born in Saltsville, NC, who says of herself:
"Now, ah'll tell yuh tuh show yuh dat ah kin know somepin. Ah were born in
dis world feet foremost. Ah wuz wrapped in a veil three times. [This means] yuh
talk tuh anyone in three tongues an' yuh kin sing ole-time songs, mah mothah said.
Mah parents an' both mah gran'parents said ah had plenty hair on me befo' dey had
dern [theirs]. Well, ah wuz born between de legs [of my mother] as a woman. Yes
sir, ah wuz born wit mah teeth. Ah'd [I had] it [them] pulled an' nevah shed a tooth
in mah life. Ah wuz de seventh chile outa seven daughtahs, born on de third day of
de new moon. An' yuh know, mahself as a virgin should be wise [a woman of
55-60 years old]. Ah kin rub [you] if anybody did anythin' tuh yuh an' it'll all go
away. Ah know ah wuz born tuh work [hoodoo]. No one taught me. Ah wuz born
in North Carolina, in Saltsville [lake?] where's dere nuthin but Geechees [ge'che,
singular]. Mah fathah wuz a full-blooded Geechee, mah mothah wuz a Amasha
woman, black Creek Indian, etc., etc." Hyatt added, "[This woman, quite eccentric, was a
professional worker and excellent. Unfortunately, except for the preceding account
and No.2328, p.652, I lost all of her material. She claimed to be a Geechee (gi'che,
word from Ogeechee, a dialect originally of Negro slaves on the Ogeechee River,
Georgia, formed of English and native African words. I found it difficult to
understand either the Geechee or the Gullah, the latter along the lowlands and
off-shore islands of South Carolina, Georgia and the northern coastal tip of
Florida. A black man I interviewed at Ocean City, Md., in 1926, he working for his
M.A. at Howard University, had spent several weeks in Charleston, S. Car. His
opinion to me was: Those people down there are not Americans, they are Africans.
I could scarcely understand a word they said.]"
(entry 7190, cylinder 1564:5)
#968 - #974
#975 - [-]
graveyard dirt and sulphur buried at crossroads in
cross form for protection
(entry 1317, cylinder 1578:11)
#976 - [-]
told a love spell; your own hair in printed newspaper
in your shoes.
(entry 6119, cylinder 1579:11)
#977 - [-]
while this man was being interviewed, the police
came in to throw Hyatt out. This almost brought the work to
a halt. See Volume One, page XXXIV. Hyatt was so shaken by
this experience that there were 539 informants before he
returned to Memphis with informant #1516. See Volume Two,
pages 1556-67 (Madam Wiley).
Hyatt took a trip to Canada.
New York City, NY
January 23, 1939
Hyatt sent a letter to Edward Bufford, Jr., contact man from
Mobile, AL. Bufford agreed to be his driver in FL.
"Numbers Book #11," containing the records about informants
#977-#1290 was later lost by Hyatt. Therefore information
about the period from February 10 through April 1, 1939 is
uncharacteristicly vague and sketchy.
St. Petersburg, FL
Hyatt stayed at the white-owned Vinoy Park Hotel and
conducted interviews at the black-owned Clark Hotel.
February 10, 1939
Hyatt began work but without good results
February 13, 1939
In testing the recording stylus, Hyatt commented
that the past few days had not gone well because
"the people here don't seem to know as much [about
hoodoo] as [in] some of the other places."
(cylinder 1677:9)
#978 - #1003
#1004 - [-] a rising tide trick: throw left foot print dirt
into ocean as tide is rising to draw them back, "when
the tide is going up."
(Entry 5782, cylinder 1620:3)
#1005 - [-] to become a witch, sell youself to the devil at the
crossroads at midnight on a young (newly waxing) Moon.
(entry 10496, cylinder 1621:2)
#1006 - Janey May [-] Surname unknown
#1007 - [-]
raw egg stirred into ginger ale, taken 3 times a
day to restore sexual potency
(entry 10234, cylinder 1628:11)
#1008 - John Bidgood
entry 849
#1009 - #1041
#1042 - [-]
don't play the numbers on the New Moon; you'll get only
unanticipated and low numbers; play on the Full Moon for
high number winnings.
(entry 958, Vol. 1, pg. 359, cylinder 1627:6)
get away spell: throw foot track in water
(entry 5778, cylinder 1687:2)
#1043 - 1045
#1046 - [-]
let the north wind blow graveyard dirt to
carry your troubles away
(entry 1323, cylinder 1701:6)
Palm Beach, FL
February 23, 1939
#1047 - #1052 (my approximation)
#???? - [-],
cylinder [1717:1]
St. Petersburg, FL
Februar 24, 1939 (my approximation)
#1053 [-]
Hyatt called this male professional root doctor "Publicity and
Healing" because "informant does say the lack of publicity for his
fellow workers causes suffering among persons who have been
hoodooed -- these latter not knowing where to find someone like
himself, qualified to remove spells."
described methods of working with the Moon, Mars, Jupiter,
eclipses, and the Zodiacal signs
(Vol. 2, p. 1243, cylinders C126:10-C134:6 = 1707:10-1714:6)
#1054 - #1057 (my approximation)
New York City, NY
Hyatt briefly returned home, then sent Edward Bufford, Jr.
ahead to Waycross, GA, where Bufford found two contact men
whose names and numbers were lost with "Numbers Book #11"
Waycross, GA
The Waycross collection began approximately March 2, 1939
and ran until around March 9 or 10 (about one week),
during which time approximately 100 root workers were
interviewed (about 12 - 15 per day).
At least some interviews conducted at the Cooper Hotel
(see note to cylinder 1855:1)
March 5, 1939 ("The date of this interview is March 5, 1939.")
PRofessional root doctor, Vol. 2, pp.1210-14
if a woman gets live things in her, she can menstruate
to death, whereas a man will defecate to death. Use of
Solomonic seals and astrological information for timing
with lunar Zodiac, from almanac, and from tides at river's
mouth. Spirits of L. L. Young and O. L. Young.
[Waycross, GA; Informant #1158; C320:3-C346:1 = 1091-1927]
#1061 - [-]
throw salt after person suspected of witchcraft
as they leave your house and if they are a witch, they
won't return
(entry 9446, cylinder 1720:5)
#1065 - [-]
if a witch is coming to you by night, put a handful
of sand by the bed and he will have to count every grain
and can't mess with you
(entry 10464, cylinder 1723:17)
#1066 - [-]
burn brimstone (sulphur), fat-lighter pine splinters,
buzzard feathers, and tar around your place to kill all poison
(entry 1152, cylinder 1724:7)
#1067 - [-]
to take off witchcraft, steal an Irish potato and carry it in
your pocket until it gets hard like a brick, then eat it
(entry 1424, cylinder 1728:7)
#1068 - [-]
after intercourse if a woman wipes herself (and/or the
man? -- unclear) with her soiled monthly period rag,
when he goes with another woman, "it'll fall" -- no
erection
(entry 3123, cylinder 1728:11)
#1069 -
#1071 - [-]
go to crossroads at midnight with your guitar, sell
yourself to the devil, don't be afraid of all sorts of devils
who will appear, and you will be able to become a musician;
informant says that he or she has never tried it, though
(entry 10512, cylinder 1731:5)
#1072 - [-] a woman who used Hyatt as a stand-in for her husband
in describing a trick ("just like you and I, your wife...")
wife's urine in bread for 9 mornings makes husband stay home
(entry 4120, cylinder 1733:5)
nail horseshoes over front and back doors and never be troubled
with witchcraft or evil spirits
(entry 1344, cylinder 1733:6)
#1073 - [-] probably a woman; refers to practitioner as "she"
gave her [?] mother's spell to carry foot track
of unwanted person to crossroad and throw it in
(entry 5428, cylinder 1733:11)
to cure asthma, catch a frog, hold his mouth open and breathe
into it three times; this transfers the asthma to the frog;
similar to asthma cure by informant 1166, also of Waycross
(entry 1282, cylinder 1735:7)
#1074 - [-]
to make someone stay in a house, get some of their clothes
and dust from around the house, bottle both together and
fasten the bottle (hidden) to the house; they won't leave;
this can be used to fix or dress a house to retain renters
(entry 4760, cylinder 1736:6)
powdered rattlesnake head as goofer dust
(entry 669, cylinder 1737:9)
fix a mockingbird egg and feed it to a pregnant woman in tea and
her child will be a tattletale; see #1149, also from Waycross
(entry 1391, cylinder 1740:1)
split a frog open and tie it on a person to stop spasms and fits
(entry 1265, cylinder 1740:5)
#1075 -
#1076 - [-] probably a man, due to type of spell.
take a live snail and kill it in alcohol to dry it
up, put this on hand, wipe woman's leg and she can't
have intercourse with another man
(entry 3638, cylinder 1742:11)
take a live frog and kill it in alcohol until it is
petrified and carry it in your pocket for good luck
socializing or getting and keeping a job
(entry 9970, cylinder 1743:5)
#1077 - [-] probably a woman, due to the nature of the trick.
if a woman's partner is running around and she wants to
break it up, she can steal the woman's dishrag and let a
live snail crawl on it, then let the man wipe himself with
that dishrag after sex with her and he can't have
connection with the other woman
(entry 3362, cylinder 1743:6)
#1078 - #1079
#1080 - [-]
put salt on a man to cut off his gambling luck
(entry 9498, cylinder 1749.) (1749. is correct, no other #)
#1081 - #1083
#1084 - [-]
mix cat hair and enemy hair in a bottle of vinegar,
shaken, placed under enemy's doorstep, enemy goes crazy
(entry 5836, cylinder 1752:11)
to cure impotence bathe downward with milk 9 mornings and
each day throw the used milk toward the rising sun
(entry 10261, cylinder 1753:5)
#1085 -
#1086 - [-] speech sounds like a woman; every spell begins with the
phrase "here's another one" and she [?] carefully restates some
dialect terms in mainstream English for Hyatt's sake (e.g. "a
small hoecake of bread which we say"); she only uses the word
"witchcraft," never "hoodoo" and she refers to an older root
doctor as an a "master craftman" in echo of Freemasonic
terminology.
to take off witchcraft, get a gourd and grind it up, then heat
in water with saltpeter, sulphur, and salt; bathe downward in
this and carry the used bath water to a river and throw it in
(entry 1303, cylinder 1754:2)
to turn back witchcraft, make a hoecake (bread) with 2 cups of
meal, a cup of salt, and your own chamber lye (urine); clear
a space on the hearth ashes, lay down a piece of homespun cloth,
pat out the hoecake, and let it dry, then turn it toward the fire
by lifting the edge of the cloth and flipping it, and when it burns
up, that turns the spell back on the person who sent it; this spell
was learned "from a ole master craftman"
(entry 1330, cylinder 1754:4)
to bring luck, protect from being witchcrafted, and also keep
away evil spirits, grind dirt dauber nest dirt with "sweet spices"
[kitchen spices] and sprinkle or throw the powder up into the air
(entry 1219, cylinder 1754:5)
#???? - [-],
(cylinder 1757:5)
#1089 - [-]
person says he or she has been lucky in cards after
peeing on own hands
(entry 3995, cylinder 1757:7)
#1093 - [-]
woman puts a man's hat bow in her own chamber-lye urine
and he goes crazy for her and can't quit her
(entry 4686, cylinder 1760:12)
kill and cook a bullbat (whippoorwill or nighthawk bird) and
feed to someone; they will die if not magically cured
(entry 10599, cylinder 1762:9)
kill snake, scorpion or spider and name for enemy,
turn dead animal over daily for 9 days calling enemy's
name, then parch animal dry, powder it, put the powder
in whiskey or tea and feed to enemy; nine days later they
get live things in them
(entry 6606, cylinder 1762:10)
#1094 -
#1095 - [-]
"[Go] to de fo'ks of de road 'bout twelve or one
a'clock in de night an' git some sand ... an' put it in a
bag ... an' put it ovah yore mantlepiece. Go tuh de
graveyard . ]... an' git some dirt an' sew it up wit dat. An'
dat'ud make yo' lucky -- good a jomo as yo' want."
(entry 2039, cylinder 1764:6)
9 drops of toad frog blood in a half pint of whiskey
will cure a drunkard
(entry 9922, cylinder 1765:15)
to make a fellow unlucky, stick a needle in his
coattail, point down
(entry 9779, cylinder 1765:16)
#1096 -
#1097 - [-]
recipe for goofer dust with snake shed
(cylinder 1769:1)
buzzard grease rubbed on to cure rheumatism, also
allows witches to slip through a keyhole
(entry 1150, cylinder 1773:2)
#1098 - #1101
#1102 -
split open a live frog as a poultice for poison
(entry 9926, cylinder 1776:17)
#1102 -
#1103 -
#1104 - [-]
tie Adam and Eve Root, Queen Elizabeth Root, and
Five Finger Grass together and soak in whiskey seven days,
bathe or anoint yourself with this to reunite with lover
(entry 10629, cylinder 1778:1)
wash bald head with dog's milk to restore hair growth
(entry 1232, cylinder 1778:14)
#1105 - #1109
#1110 - [-] (apparently a man engaged in "runnin' a bad house" or
other illegal activities, as per the spells he gave)
sell yourself to the devil at the crossroads at midnight to
learn to pick guitar
(entry 10506, cylinder 1783:6)
to protect illegal ventures, get a new pincushion and 2 packs
of needles and stick the needles in everywhere, hang it over
the door; you won't get pulled (in); it you are, you'll get clear
(entry 9853 (1783:11)
throw the bloodhounds off your scent with graveyard dirt
(entry 7319, cylinder 1784:5)
#1111 - #1115 (my approximation)
March 3, 1939 (Friday)
#1116 - [-] Hyatt called her a "root doctor and woman, good")
unknown data at (cylinder 1787:3)
kill a bat, cut the heart out, sew it into a red silk
bag, and tie it to your left arm for gambling
luck; this is a variant of a German folk-magic spell
printed in "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" by John George Hohman;
see also informant #1134
(entry 10587, cylinder 1793:1)
sprinkle salt on a frog's head, shut him in a can, place
under a gambler's chair to make him or her lose (unusual
reversal of the general frog-torture for gambling luck)
(entry 9960, cylinder 1793:2)
#1117 -
#1118 - [-] Hyatt called her a "small-time root woman"
salt and saltpeter bath as cure for tricks
(entry 1458, cylinder 1796:1)
#1119 - #1120
#1121 - [-] may be a woman due to nature of spells and speech
tie a fresh chicken egg and hang over the door so child
will cut teeth without pain
(entry 1167, cylinder 1803:3)
to cure yellow jaundice, cook and eat an entire chicken
(entry 1159, cylinder 1803:5)
get 9 goldhead (goldeye) needles and stick them
in the ground at the front gate, five heads (eyes) up
and four down, and nothing in the world can harm you
(entry 9836, cylinder 1803:8)
#1122 - [-] probably a man as he describes the tricker as a man ("he")
to poison or hurt through the feet with rheumatism or dropsy,
get the enemy's shoes and fix them with his own excrement,
plus salt and red pepper
(entry 4401, cylinder 1803:1)
to run a "good business" in your home and attract customers,
get two horseshoes and buy new red cloth, new Red Devil lye, and
new salt at the store; cut the cloth in long strips and wrap the
horseshoes with it; put one horseshoe over the front door and one
over the back door; bury the Red Devil lye and salt at the doorsteps
(informant does not state, but usually these would be buried in their
store boxes); then circle the house just before dawn, sprinkling a
mixture of your own chamber lye (urine) in which is dissolved a handful
each of sugar and salt; (Hyatt calls this "perhaps the largest hand ever
wrapped in red" and was apparently unaware that this form of winding red
cloth, ribbon, or thread around a horseshoe is exactly the same as a Mexican
and Guatemalan package amulet hung on the wall for good luck and called
El Secreto de la Virtuousa Herradura (Secret of the Virtuous Horseshoe)
(entry 22518, cylinder 1804:11)
#1123 - #1124
#1125 - "The Laughing Doctor," "a woman of large size" who
was the landlady of the contact man Edward Bufford, Jr.
in Waycross. Hyatt described her as "an able person" much
given to laughter, hence the nickname he gave her. Her
lengthy interview was conducted on two separate days
and took a total of 24 cylinders to record; cylinders
C235:4 - C250:1 = 1816 - 1831 (part one) and
C384:1 - C392:5 = 1965 - 1973 (part two). The complete
interview Volume Two, on pages 1470 - 1500.
March 6, 1939 (Monday, informant # is my approximation)
#1126 - [-]
woman prepares a bath for man and swirls a snail around in it;
when he washes with the snail water he is fixed and can't go
with another woman outside her because "he will fall"
(entry 3692, cylinder 1832:9)
throw down salt and sweep out after unwanted person
(entry 9457, cylinder 1832:12)
#1127 - [-] Informant is a married woman, mentions "my husband"
and tells funny story of ex-friend who wanted her husband,
tried to take her foot track but got her own track by mistake,
threw it into running water, and 3 days later tried to drown
herself
(entry 5781, cylinder 1833:4)
#1128 - [-] probably a man due to the nature of the trick
get 3 hairs of a woman and 3 Camel brand cigarettes; thread
each hair into one of the cigarettes; smoke them on three
successive days; the woman will be "took in" (tricked for love)
(entry 6169, cylinder 1833:6)
#1129 - [-]
to move a family, find a big red ants' bed near their house, then
get crumbs from their cooking and carry them to the ants' bed
(entry 10650, cylinder 1835:3)
snail and earthworm "wax" (mucus) mixed and rubbed on woman causes
penis captivus if she has sex with another man; you'll catch him
(entry 10267, cylinder 1836:1)
#1130 - #1132
#1133 - [-] 3 to 6 brand new pins or needles fixed in bed to keep you
from resting or sleeping
(entry 9795, cylinder 1939:7)
#1134 - [-] probably a woman due to nature of tricks and wording used
cut the heart from a living bat, wrap it in red flannel, and tie it
under your right arm for luck; except for the substitution of red
flannel for red silk, this is a direct copy of a German folk-magic spell
printed in "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" by John George Hohman,
first published in German in Pennsylvania in 1820 and translated into English
in 1848; by the early 20th century this book was widely available in the
African-American community both in the South and the North through weekly ads
in the nationally-distributed black-owned Chicago Defender newspaper; note also
that although many informants in Waycross Georgia gave variants of this spell,
informant 1134 is the only one who gives it virtually "by the book;" others tie
the charm to the left arm or left wrist, carry it in the pocket, etc. See
informants #1116, #1136, #1159, #1166, #1167
(entry 10551, cylinder 1841:3)
to rule or command someone or drive them away, put Devil's Shoe String
and Adam and Eve Root over your door and let them walk under, then
tell (or think) what you want them to do
(entry 10616, cylinder 1842:1)
gambling mojo: bluestone, silver dime, alum
(entry 13000, cylinder 1842:9)
Devil's Shoe Strings around legs for breaking a trick;
informant's friend, a woman from "Fairfax [?]" cured by
Uncle Tom Williams, a root doctor from "Sappville [?]"
[Hyatt was unsure, hence his "[?]" but there is a town
called Sappville, GA,]
(entry 1208, cylinder 1843:1)
parch 9 wood lice (pill bugs, sow bugs) and rub them in the
seat of a man's britches and he won't mess with anyone else
(entry 10281, cylinder 1843:6)
#1135 - [-]
to keep the law away, use a tiny hammer and tack 18 straight
pins in a line at your front door and 7 at your back door
(entry 9852, cylinder 1844.11)
make a person move by putting a tablespoon of salt at
each outside corner and each inside room corner in house
(entry 9484, cylinder 1845:3)
to restore falled (prolapsed) uterus, have woman get dog feces
("they didn't specify a black dog" says informant, who perhaps
thought they ought to have?) and pour hot water and sit over
[not in] it to "a-stape" (steam-steap) herself; similar to
informant 1166 and retained afterbirth treatment with hen feathers
(entry 1130, cylinder 1846:2)
to get someone back, call their name 3 times at sunrise at a big
red ants' nest and tell the ants that you want the person back
(entry 10644, cylinder 1846:5)
#1136 - [-]
kill a bat, cut the heart out and dry it, then sew it into a rag
with salt, black pepper, and bluestone; keep it in your pocket
for gambling luck; this is a variant of a German folk-magic spell
printed in "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" by John George Hohman;
see also informant #1134
(entry 10595, cylinder 1850:5)
to cure rheumatism in the leg, carry an Irish potato in your
pocket until it shrivels to the size of a marble; as it shrinks,
so will your leg pain
(entry 1422, cylinder 1850:7)
#1137 -
#1138 - [-], Devil's Shoe Strings around legs protects from tricks;
tie nine knots, wear for nine days
(entry 1208, cylinder 1852:1)
#???? - [-], interview at the Cooper Hotel
(cylinder 1855:1)
#1139 - #1140
#1141 - [-] informant knew how to induce abortions; possibly female?
to learn to pick guitar or dance, go to the crossroads at midnight,
something will appear, imitate them, and you'll "sell yourself to
the devil for an infidel"
(entry 10523, cylinder 1855:09) (odd "09" there)
run a pin through the heart of a live bat, keep it in a bottle
of Hearts (Hoyt's) Cologne, rub hands with cologne before betting;
specifically used when playing the Georgia skin game
(entry 10597, cylinder 1857:3)
to cause a woman to bleed to death (from the vagina), get her
period blood and stop it up in a bottle, then hide the bottle in
a water pump or spigot where there is a continual flow of water; n
o medical doctor can cure her unless you empty out the bottle
(entry 3968, cylinder 1857:10)
ambiguous spell: cut neck of domestic animal (any species)
and insert hair of enemy; when that heals. "they say that long as
they go, say you'll go" (go away, go crazy, continue to live?)
(entry 5855, cylinder 1858:2)
two medical herbal remedies plus a trick in one entry: to
"miscarry a kid" [induce abortion] take ]ingest?] calomel powder,
bluestone [copperas, copper sulphate], nine buckshots [gunpowder
from nine shotgun shells?] and take pencil lead or your finger and
cause a miscarriage; to increase fertility and bring on a pregnancy,
boil together devil's shoestring, blackroot [black master, Culver's
physic, Leptandra], quinsy light [?], life everlasting [cudweed],
lowbush myrtle, redshank [red root pigweed or red paint blood root?],
and dog-tongue weed [horehound? deer's tongue?] and drink a wineglassful
of this tea three times a day; also put dog-tongue herb in the four
corners of people's houses to make them argue and fight; they will
quarrel as long as it is in the house
(entry 1234, cylinder 1858:6)
#1142 - [-]
to cure cataract or stye in eye, get nine needles in a bunch and stick
them over the door, walk in and out under them nine times per day for
nine days, then throw them away and you can see again
(entry 1400, cylinder 1860:1)
#1143 - [-]
long story: four years ago (1934) in Jacksonville, Florida,
a girl was sick; folks thought she was witchcrafted, but she had
tuberculosis, like the doctor said. Her mother, Delia [-]. had
carried her inland to a spring to be cured, to no avail. She could
not eat any food, not even peaches, but she could eat gruel soup.
The informant told Delia [-] that to attempt a remedy that had been
told by someone years before, but not yet tried by the informant:
draw blood from a dog (not enough to kill him) and get a hen egg; add
3 or 4 drops of dog blood to the egg and beat it, add 2 or 3 drops of
kerosene and one drop of turpentine and continue beating, pour in
half a pint of real good whiskey ("not moonshine") and give it to the
patient in doses (spoonsful). Outcome was not related by informant
(entry 1223, cylinder 1866:1)
#1144 -
#1145 - [-] a man, due to his self-description of how he used this trick
if you have been fixed to be impotent, urinate into a red ants' nest
("Ah've lost mah nature mahself dat way an' ah've gained it back dat way")
(entry 10271, cylinder 1869:6)
#1148 - [-]
to cure shingles, wash affected area with black cow's milk
(entry 1197, cylinder 1874:2)
to cure shingles, cut the hed off a black chicken and let it bleed on
the affected area; informant stated he or she had done this successfully
(entry 1163, cylinder 1874:3)
March 6, 1939 (my approximation)
cold, rainy weather, see informant #1157
#1149 - {-} A 28 year old [presumably male] bootlegger and
professional gambler (born c. 1911) who had been using roots
for 18 years (since c. 1921).
Cook a mockingbird egg and feed it to a man and he will
always tell lies and be untruthful; see #1074, also from Waycross
(entry 1391, cylinder 1740:1)
This man did not make his own hands, but, with his uncle,
consulted the same "root man" twice. The first time he
wanted help with the Bolito, an illegal policy-like lottery
game wih connections to Cuba. In the narrtive it is implied
that he was not looking for luck in winning but was working
as a gambler, possibly as a policy writer or runner for the
numbers racket). The root worker and his wife were located
in Florida. The doctor read palms and the couple seemingly
performed an act of prestidigitation with a live snake, after
which the doctor made up a root bag for gambling for $8.00;
a rite of circumambulation and recital of the 23rd Psalm set
it working. Later, due to the police giving him trouble over
his bootlegging and gambling activities, the man sought out
the same worker again and, for another $8.00" was given a
"law keep away" type hand, a jomo or "jomoo." Said the
informant, "During de time dey [the police] supposed to
travel dat beat, jes' roll mah jomoo an' dey'd pass on by
... ah tried it an' it worked."
(entry 249, cylinder 1874:9)
#1150 - #1153
#1154 - [-]
burn black chicken feathers to drive away evil spirits
(entry 1175, cylinder 1892:4)
a new shingle will keep a witch or evil spirit away
(entry 10466, cylinder 1892:9)
#1157 - [-]
Tie 7 or 9 or any odd number of knots to cause a man to be
impotent with other woman. Hyatt commented on the fire in his hotel
room on this day: "Fire in grate cracks, a cold rainy day. ... That
fire in the grate cracked all day and I wore a long overcoat all day
while interviewing! The rosin in the pinewood did the cracking."
(entry 10245, cylinder 1928:4)
Mistletoe dressed with Hearts [Hoyt's] Cologne protects against enemies
(entry 1387, cylinder 1928:7)
March 6 - March 7, 1939
In the middle of the next root doctor's letnthy interview, Hyatt noted
the date; however, he spoke the informant's number wrong; it was
#1158, "Dr. Yousee" -- not #1156. Hyatt said:
(My cylinders ran out.) [This comment at end of cylinder.]
[He continues next day.]
(Testing the stylus, Waycross, Georgia, Tuesday, March 7, 1939.)
(Last night I sent No.1156 home before he had finished, because
I had run out of material, and told him to come back this morning.
Edward tells me that he is waiting outside and we shall begin with
the story about burying the egg - probably will have him tell it
over again. That means a continuation of No. 1156.)
#1158 - [-]
A professional male root doctor; Hyatt referred to him as
"Dr Yousee" because he often interjected "you see" into his
speech. Hyatt believed him to have been a preacher, because
he quoted scripture often. He worked with the spirits of
O. L. Young and L. L. Young (probably graveyard spirits). He
worked quite extensively with plants, and he also told Hyatt
that he ordered spiritual supplies from the Keystone
Company. He is given a full interview in Vol. 2 1171 - 1220
that runs from C320:3-C346:1 = 1091-1927 and two more of his
spells were broken out and used in other portions of HCWR.
Both of these latter entries utilize living plants.
To run an enemy off, put a green leaf in a bottle, then go where he
is and call his name; when he answers, stop up the bottle, carry it
to running water and throw it in; the green leaf is "to hold his voice"
(entry 10414, cylinder 1929:2)
Get roots from three sides of a fig tree, east, south, and north [not
from the west as that would "carry you down'] and carry it in your
pocketbook for luck and protection; some will say to add Hearts [Hoyt's]
Cologne, but that is not necessary; the fig roots are enough
(entry 1247, cylinder 1929:4)
#1159 - [-]
tie a knot in the bed rags after he get through with
them; he can't run out after no other woman
(entry 10239, cylinder 1934:3)
kill a bat, cut the heart out and dry it, then sew it into
pure red silk cloth and keep it in your pocket for gambling
luck; this is a variant of a German folk-magic spell
printed in "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" by John George Hohman;
see also informant #1134
(entry 10584, cylinder 1934:2)
#1160 -
#1161 - [-]
devil's shoe string and Hoyt's Cologne in gambling mojo
(entry 1829, cylinder 1936:8)
#1162 - [-]
mix black hen feathers with sulphur and bury under doorstep
for protection and to run off trouble and harm
(entry 1180, cylinder 1938:3)
#1163 - [-]
to cure a person who is poisoned and hopping like a frog,
capture a young buzzard from a nest and keep it in a secret
place, feed it and collect both its excrement and its
vomit; combine these in a cloth sack affixed to a belt for the
patient to wear; as the material hardens, the poison will
go into it and he will be cured
(entry 1154, cylinder 1941:3)
#1164 (my approximation)
March 8, 1939
#1165 - [-], "the Patient Doctor", a man with a wooden leg
who came 9 miles from the country to see Hyatt and waited
from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., thus his nickname, because he
was so patient. He stood up and acted out or demonstrated much
of his work, and his acting ability "impressed" Hyatt greatly.
to control, draw for love, or to harm use human hair, handkerchief,
hair from horse's tail, "Hearthorn cahlum" [Hoyt's Cologne], name
paper, gold-eye needle, blood from root worker's thumb, buried at
crossroad where victim walks;
to control woman's nature use handkerchief, spit, sexual fluid,
Mercury dime, wrapped, buried or hidden in floor crack
to end relationship with a woman, get lizard root (long black root
that grows straight down and looks like a lizard), wrap unwashed
menstrual piece or soiled underwear around it and tie with cotton
string, tying away, and abusing her name as you wrap, bury flat in
dirt where she will step over
to stop a woman from running around and keep peace in the home, use
scorpion root and her hair tied with nine knots in silk thread
to control a woman and keep her at home, stick two new gold-eye needles
into her incoming foot track, eye up so they cross like and X, then
surround the track with nine new straight pins driven straight down
to move someone, stick nine goldeye needles in the dirt point up where
the enemy will walk over
recurrent New Moon trick in well water to cause stomache pain, loss of
appetite, and vomiting
Described Volume One, page 969;
Interview Volume Two, pages 970 - 992,
cylinders C362:1 - C375:2a = 1943:1 - 1956.
#1166 - [-] seems to have been a literate female midwife who read
books on occultism, as evidenced by both spells and speech
kill a bat, cut the heart out, tie it up in silk cloth, and
tie a silk string to it; bind it to your left wrist for
gambling luck; this is a variant of a German folk-magic spell
printed in "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" by John George Hohman;
see also informant #1134 of Waycross, Ga., for a similar
reference to Hohman's book.
(entry 10589, cylinder 1959:1)
using a needle, pin, or nail, scratch the Psalm containing
the Hebrew letter Vau (vav) in a brand new tin pan and keep it
hidden to control someone. Hyatt was unclear, but this is an
adaptation of a Jewish spell from The Secrets of the Psalms by Godfrey Selig
This book was sold by Jewish mail order houses to African
American conjure workers from about 1910 oneard.
(entry 9783, cylinder 1959:8)
if a woman can't pass her afterbirth, set her over [not in]
a pan containing hot water and chicken feathers; similar to
treating a prolapsed uterus with dog feces as given by
informant 1135, who was also living in Waycross, Ga.
(entry 1179, cylinder 1960:7)
to restore nature, mop floors with diluted bluestone water, bathe
in sweet milk
(entry 3701, cylinder 1961:7)
to cure disease and take off witchcraft, catch a frog and have the
sick person spit three times and blow three times into the frog's
mouth, then throw the frog over the left shoulder and say the 23rd
Psalm; don't let the frog return toward the person; similar to asthma
cure by informant 1073, who was also living in Waycross, Ga.
(entry 1283, cylinder 1961:13)
#1167 - [-] take the heart from a live bat and sew it in new Sea Island
[cotton] cloth, making each stitch toward yourself; carry for luck;
this is a variant of a German folk-magic spell
printed in "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" by John George Hohman;
see also informant #1134, another resident of Waycross, Ga.
(entry 10582, cylinder 1964:2)
#1125 - [-] "The Laughing Doctor" part two (see above); her
second session sandwiched in between informants #1167 and #1168
cylinders C384:1 - C392:5 = 1965 - 1973
#1168 - [-]
run a person crazy by threading their hair in a
catfish's gill and turning the catfish loose n the water
(entry 5872, cylinder 1974:1)
another way to run a person crazy: make an upward slice in a
green growing oak tree, insert person's hair; when tree grows
over and heals itself, person goes crazy and the spell can;t
be undone because the hair is sealed in the tree
(entry 6241, cylinder 1974:3)
March 9 or 10 (my approximation)
#1169 - 1173 unaccounted for; probably Waycross, GA
Brunswick, GA
March 11, 1939 (Saturday)
#1174 - [-]
#1175 - #1182
March 13, 1939 (Monday)
#1183 - [-],
(entry 916)
#1184 - #1204
March 14, 1939 (Tuesday)
Hyatt found "the hotel more conducive" for interviewing; see
Volume One, page XXXVI.
#1205 - [-]
#1206 - [-] Informant well spoken and an organized thinker.
Told how to collect graveyard dirt from various spirits
(entry 1308, cylinder 2033:5)
Mentioned having read books on occultism
(entry xxx, cylinder 2034:2)
#1207 - #1211
#1213 - [-] An elderly ex-clergyman, born in Goldsboro, NC
but iving in Brunswick, GA. Hyatt called his interview
"Tomb of de Babe of Bethlehem" after one of the religious
spells he related. Hyatt also called him "long-winded" and
"sincere" -- and re-recorded over his cylinders, losing a portion
of the interview. The ex-clergyman did not do any sort of evil
work, but described it when Hyatt requested:
To make people move, that's jomoo work. That's the jomoo work[er]
that does that. He does that with snake charms. The snake charms
are made by workers who go to the woods, kill snakes, take three
drops of their blood and some of their bones, parch the mixture
to dust and sprinkle it under the doorstep or inside the rooms to
force people to move out. If a man has a wife and another fellow
wants her and he goes to a jomoo man, that will result in a court
case, due to the actions of "evil jomoo man" and his "poison dust."
In the old days this was called cunjure or cunjering.
There is a great deal more in this interview.
Interview Volume Two, pages 1325 - 1335,
cylinders C469:3 - C478:5 = 2050 - 2059.
#1214 - #1223
#1224 - [-]
Told a graveyard dirt spell to move people out
(entry 7897, cylinder 2030:3) (cylinder # out of order)
#1225 - #1229
Savannah, GA ???
March 18, 1939
#1230 - [-]
(cylinder C506 = 2087) In the introduction, Hyatt labelled
this as the first cylinder in Savannah, but there are
problems with the ordering of cylinders at #1224 (above), 1249,
and #1236 (below). The latter two are identified as interviewed
in Brunswick, not Savannah. This section requires more checking.
Hyatt may have misremembered.
Brunswick, GA
#1231 - #1235
#1236 - [-] male informant was a professional root doctor who swore
Hyatt to secrecy regarding tricks and methods.
(Vol.2, pp.1126-1127 -- where interview is said to have
taken place in Brunswick, not Savannah; this needs checking.
-- cylinders C509:7 - C519:1 = 2090:7 - 2100:1)
#1237 - #1240
March 20, 1939
#???? - [-]
(cylinder C519=2100)
#1249 - [-] [probably a man, due to subject matter and way it
it is described] Wrap from one to three right-side wings
of a bat in a packet and moisten with Hoyt's Cologne for
gambling luck -- interview is said to have
taken place in Brunswick, not Savannah
(entry 1717, cylinder 2123:7]
#1250 - #1251
Savannah, GA (second trip)
March 21, 1939
#1252 - [-]
(cylinder C543=2124)
#1253 - #1256
#1257 - [-] "A Woman of Substance," a 250 lb. female root
doctor. She was Edward Bufford's landlady in Savannah, GA.
Interview Volume Two, pages 1268 - 1276,
(cylinders C550:3 - C555:1 = 2131 - 2136)
#1258
#1259 - [-], cylinder [C558:1 = 2139]
#1260 - [-] carry salt in bag and sprinkle loose salt in tracks
of bossman to get a job
(entry 1260, cylinder 2140:4]
#1261 - [-] said that brick pepper and salt is goofer dust
(entry 677, cylinder 2144:5)
#1262 - #1263
#1264 - [-] graveyard dirt spell for the coercive return
of a lost lover
(entry 7819, cylinder 2145:11)
#1265
#1266 - [-] wipe black hen egg with wet new cloth, ball cloth up,
sew inside man's pillow, he can't go with another woman
(entry 10235, cylinder 2146:9)
#1267 - #1281
#???? - Edward Bufford, Jr.; "conversation";
(cylinder C594:1 = 2175:1)
New York City, NY
Hyatt briefly returned to his home in New York City, NY.
Florence, SC
Interviews were conducted at the home of Henry Tillins or
Timmins, aka H. L. Timmons. (The confusion was Hyatt's,
not his host's!)
March 31, 1939 (Friday)
#1282 - [-],
cylinder [C599=2194]
#1283 - (see #1293)
#1284 - #1285
#1286 [-] Cure snake dust poisoning through the feet with
graveyard dirt
(entry 1322, cylinder 2185:8)
#1287 - #1290
April 1, 1939
#1291 - Henry L. Tillins/Timmins/Timmons, at whose home the
interviews were being conducted
cylinder [C639=2220]
#1292 - [-]
get away spell: curse and sweep away foot tracks
(entry 5778, cylinder 2191:10)
#1293 - [-]
3 Devil's shoe strings, 9 shell shots, 1 lodestone
in a mojo bag for luck, dressed with perfume
(entry 1830, cylinder 2194:7)
#1294 - [-] how to use graveyard dirt to make someone sleep
(entry 7167, cylinder 2195:3)
#1295 - [-]
how to collect graveyard dirt
(entry 1309, cylinder 2196:5)
#1296 - #1305
#1306 - [-]
identified goofer dust as "graveyard clay"
(entry 661, cylinder 2211:1)
#1307 - #1311
#1312 - [-} "A Doctor at Ease" -- he was quite comfortable telling
Hyatt his tricks and assumed that Hyatt was interested in
learning. He gave hundreds of tricks in rapid succession
("Now you listen good, now") and often used the formula "By the
help of the Lord" in his petitions. At the end of his interview
he mentioned a local white conjure named Doctor Harris and he
also told Hyatt that "all" the Doctor Buzzards were now dead.
Hyatt pronounced him "pretty good" as an informant. He have
information on the use of Moon signs and Moon phases.
Vol. 2 pg. 1024 (cylinders C644:2-C655:2 = 2225-2236)
#???? - [-], funeral (end of "Doctor at Ease" or unnumbered person?)
(cylinder C655 = 2236)
April 6, 1939 (Wednesday)
#1313 - [-], the funeral is over,
(cylinder C655 = 2236)
Discussion of the numbers racket or Policy, a local name for
which was "the Cotton Exchange," see Volume One, page XXXVII.
(cylinder C708 = 2289) [must put on the web!]
#1314 - #1320
#1321 - [-] graveyard dirt, dirt dauber wasp nest, cooking salt,
and sulphur in a blown-out egg under house for protection
(entry 1218, cylinder 2265:7)
Sumter, SC
c. April- May, 1939
#1348 - [-] graveyard dirt for protection
(entry 1310, cylinder 2330:8)
#1349 - #1356
#1357 - [-] 65 year old man, rootworker, former medicine show performer.
Among many other things, he told how to create live things in a
victim with fried tadpoles in whiskey and also related how
he had seen "the old original Dr. Buzzard" (a "big, fat black
man") remove frogs from the legs of a Sumter resident named
Peter Blake. He is a coherent and well-spoken informant.
About him Hyatt wrote "[Informant 1357, like ZORRO later in
INTERVIEWS, was a former member of a two-man medicine show.
The old-fashioned medicine show, now for years illegal, was
a travelling person or persons, colored or white, giving a
free entertainment to promote the sale of a cure-all. These
performers -- depending on speed, surprise and suggestion --
never stayed, could not stay long anywhere. No wonder
informant advises me not to take too long tuh find de black
cat, but tuh ketch any cat and paint it black -- his
shoe-polish suggestion reminding me of OPERATION SHOE POLISH
in INTERVIEWS. How daring and effective an act can be at or
near the beginning of the show has already been described in
749, p.251. To start the show in this fashion was the work
of my informant, a magician. I must also include here a show
during which medicine was not sold, but private
consultations were offered afterward -- see POWER FROM
BROTHER'S SKULL, p.283. That whiskey quotation I consider
memorable. At least he explains why whiskey has a way of
disappearing from a bottle. His material is on cylinders
C795:1-C807 = 2376-2388.] (Vol. 2, page 1097, cylinders
C795:1 - C807 = 2376 - 2388.) (I would only note that
although the FDA sought to curtail medicine shows after
passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act 1906, such medicine
shows were still ongoing for years following; a number of
1920s - 30s Memphis musicians played in medicine shows when
not performing in town, and i am sure the same applied in
South Carolina.)
#1358 - #1372
#1373 - [-] a professional female doctor whom Hyatt called "Cautious Healer."
She made her own medicines. Hyatt remarked that she was "nervous"
and disturbed about being interviewed, and that she knew
"quite a lot of stuff but didn't want to tell it all today."
He also described her as "a huge fat woman, something like
Humpadee up at Richmond, Virginia. [Also the Laughing Doctor
at Waycross, Georgia]." She began wih a foot track death
spell; then gave a fidelity-controlling spell, protection
spell; house protection, breaking up a friendship; return of
estranged lover; undoing hoodooed nature; job getting;
crossroads ritual ("sellling yurself to the devil"); how
whirlwinds were created (a story she said she heard from a
man while she herself was in "Bronx Park, [Manhattan], New
York"); using a parched frog to "dwindle" and kill someone;
how to get rid of live things and fits by burning patient's
clothing (unusual live things cure); told of living in
Raleigh, North Carolina two years earlier (1937) and
attending a sick client in Wilmington, North Carolina; told
of a person with a "scrimp" (shrimp) in them as live thing
(unusual); an African-retention rite of nailing 9 nails in a
board, urinating on it and letting the sun rise on it to draw
a wandering family member or friend home ("that's slow
comin', but it'll come"); how to dream of the dead by means
of a handkerchief and urine; how to kill a man with his
measure and nine knots; how to run a man to the insane
asylum by stuffing his hat in a stove pipe; killing people
with menstrual blood; making a man financially compliant with
menstrual blood; using a graveyard egg to kill so a man; how
to cure alcoholism with Epsom Salts, Sage leaves, and
Spicewood (the latter purchased from New York, Washington,
or Philadelphia); how to use Snake sheds to make lightning
and Rain Frogs to throw thunder; described "an Italian Fish"
(a Squid) seen in New York; and how a woman can make a man
separate from herself by feeding him her boiled underwear-water,
thus killing his sexual interest in her, but causing him to
remain friendly. Her material is on cylinders
C850:1-C8854:8 = 2331-2335.] (Vol. 2, pages 1344 - 1351)
Note that these cylinder numbrs are far out of order. They
should logically fall around Informant #1349.)
#1374 - #1380
#1381 - [-] spell to force a murderer to confess by twisting 16
knots in his shirt
(entry 7395, cylinder 2453:6)
#1382 - #1386
#1387 - A male professional root doctor; Hyatt called him "Courtroom
Specialist" and noted, "[Perhaps I do this middle-aged man
an injustice, limit his talents by calling him a courtroom
specialist, but my reason for the label -- he is one of the
few doctors I met or heard about who actually attended
trials. The legendary Doctor Buzzard of Beaufort [Bu'fert],
South Carolina, never appeared before a judge; instead, he
sent a dressed animal to do the work -- so it is said. My
informant claimed no such ability; he merely dressed the
animal and turned it loose in the courtroom - so he
admitted. Our conversation ends with his account of the
amazing Doctor Buzzard -- read this, if nothing else. [For
Doctor Buzzard see p. 1414 and references there.] This
interview of informant 1387 fills cylinders C885:1-C902:4 =
2366-2383.] {This very long Interview runs in Vol.2,
pp.1423 - 1449 -- a full 18 cylinders or 27 jam-packed pages!}
To hurt someone put their hair in a bottle with 9 pins, 9
needles, their name name written 9 times, and Ammonia; bury
in a grave 6" deep calling your desire. To run a person
crazy catch a Pike or other fish, stuff their fair in its
mouth and turn it loose in the water. To send someone away
crazy, their hair, dog hair cat hair, horse tail hair folded
together and thrown into running water. For desire; head
hair, public hair, sugar, wrapped in chewing gum; or pull
out public hair and tie together with four 4" pieces of
Devil's Shoe String; carry in pocket. Bury person's picture
under the steps head down (or tack to step) to keep them
hanging around. Call absent person to you with silver dollar
in warm water, stand their picture upside down (head down)
and call them. Drive away with their photo, 9 matches, 9
pinches graveyard dirt, 9 pinches Sulphur, their name,
bundle and throw into running water. Call what you want on a
person by piercing their photograph with 9 pins at North,
West, and South portions (not to East); bury 6" deep in a
murdered an's grave and call your wish. Draw person in 9
days by dipping their picture in your urine 9 times and
calling their name. Kill within 9 days by shooting shotgun
shell loaded with a (silver) dime at picture of victim stuck
in forks of a Hickory tree at sunrise. Court case win with
any egg except from a Black hen, write prosecutor's name 9
times, with letter "J" on each name, break at crossroads at
3:00 am; winn court case by drawing a cross in a crossroads,
digging a 3" deep trench, burying prosecutor's name in 3" of
Salt, stamping on it . Uncrss client with Camphor, Cornmeal,
Salt rub-down, discard at crossroads at midnight. Attract
someone by burning your left shoe with Dragon's Blood and
Sulphur at a crossroads. Trouble a person with their name 9
times and the letter "J" on a black Hen's egg, placed at
crossroad; when it gets broken, their troubles begin.
Protecion with salt and ashes from burned old clothes in
shoes; with dime and stone from fish head in each shoe.
Protection dressing for feet with water from running stream
over which 119th Psalm is said, then mixed with Olive oil;
anoint feet; this also runs enemy crazy, like running
stream. Jinx-killer powder made from ashes from burning your
old clothes mixed with Salt. Cure live things with 14th
chapter of the Book of Job recited in a graveyard, switching
head and foot boards of grave, and asking spirit for help.
To control someone, burn your fingernail or toenail
clippings, reduce to powder, and feed to victim. Ruin
someone with their fingernail and toenail clippings plus
dirt from 3 graves; bury in a wicked grave. Use your
foot-scrapings or under-fingernail dirt in their food to
control them. Hot foot with their fingernails and toenails,
duirt they walked in, Black pepper, Salt, Dog hair, Cat
hair, thrown in running water at sunrise. Hot foot with
person's foot track, Dog manure, white Dog hair, Cat rump
hair, graveyard dirt, in a box with matches, (sulphur)
thrown into running water. Drive someone crazy with dirt
from 7 graves, Dragon;s Blood, Horse Hair, two kinds of Dog
hair (Fox Terrier and german Shepherd), place on victim's
clothing or where they will step over it. Use a long stick
to sound a grave, ask spirit to help you, then leave stick
for person to pick up to drive them insane; control someone
with similar stick or stone at the crossroads by staying up
all night and telling spirit what you want. Controllong
bottle spell: 9 needles, 9 nails, 9 pails head-for-tail, add
your urine; call them by shaking bottle, control them by
burying bottle in grave and calling on spirit to do the
work. Attract someone with Poke root boiled and dressed with
your urine and Hoyt's Cologne; tie their nature with a
salted snail; several ways to tie man's nature with cloth or
towel; atrtact and/or tie man's nature with dishcloth; you
can then place it in his left elbow-pit and rub it and you
can mock his impotence. Untie nature with stolen dishcloth.
Untie nature by each day for 9 days cooking a red onion,
salt, pepper, lard, and an egg, and rubbing up to the navel;
then steal a red onion and carry for luck until it wears
out. Break a couple up with man's name on Black Hen's egg 9
times, woman's name over it 9 times, letter "J" on each
name, and circles on ends of egg; make them fight and
quarrel with graveyard dirt and dog and cat hair thrown at
their door; break them up with dog and cat hair and letter
"J" on paper buried in graveyard, or with shotgun blast
packed with dog and cat hair and "bad" graveyard dirt; keep
husband asleep by hanging your underpants over his head, by
putting his left shoe in a basin of water under the bed or
by standing his shoes upside down, keep him away while lover
is in the house by standing lover's shoes upright against
the door; stick two people together like dogs by use of
dried dog's liver; eparate people who are stuck like dogs
(from hoodoo) by throwing water on them or by touching their
left feet with a needle; tie a man's nature with left-shoe
dust or hat-band sweat and a snail, tie a man's nature with
his hat-bow and body-measure; Rising-and-falling tidal water
for calm and "raging" insanity utilizes a hat bow, fragment
of grave headboard, and devil's shoe string, pegged into the
river bottom and allowed to float up and down. Blindness by
poisonous insect, parched, powdered, put in hat band or on
pillow; as they pass by cut their initials in the windowsill
and the mess gets in their eyes; Rattlesnake dust used
likewise; also dried and powdered Dog bitch milk. Hair
grower pomade made with Toad Frog grease scented with any
perfume. To return your luck at the New Year, bury a mirror
under the eaves wher rain will fall with a penny on each
corner, plus John the Conqueror Root, Adam and Eve Root, and
Dragon's Bood. Bring back luck with Salt and Sulphur in
face-washing water for 9 days. To make a person stay, take
their socks or stockings, fill with 9 pins, 9 needles, 9
nails, turn sole side up and hide it in the bed or in the
house; or wrap same around 3 dmall files and bury under the
steps; or using the same sock and files, draw a coffin in
the dirt in front of your door, then bury the sock and files
within the coffin-drawing and have them to walk over it; or
put their sock in Whiskey or Salt and place same in the
grave of one known to you and ask the spirit to make them
come to you. Cause someone to lose their teeth by feeding
them burned and powdered tooth of a dead person in candy or
food. Sicken a woman to death with her menstrual cloth in a
bottle with 9 pins, 9 needles, 9 nails, calling her name as
you add each item; add her name written 9 times on paper,
fill with water, bury 7" deep in a grave and tell the spirit
what you want done. make a woman feeble and homebound by
burying her menstrual cloth under the eaves where rain will
fall on it; if buried under a horse trough in a stable or
put in a Sweet Gum tree in the woods she will go crazy with
incurable abdominal pain. Drive someone crazy or to death in
9 days by boring a hole on the West side of a Sycamore,
Cypress, or Oak tree, putting in their personal concerns,
adding graveyard dirt, and tapping hole closed with a peg
from the same tree for 9 days. Use the diuretic plant called
Stone Grass [unknown species] to lock up urination or bowels
by placing some in a copper pipe with the pictim's urin and
stopping it up; same plant can also be used medicinally to
cure stopped urine. Court case: cut upward pointing stick
from near top of Willow tree, push it into a grave down to
the coffin 3 times, wipe off dirt with silk handkerchief; go
to court with stick as walking cane and handkerchief
perfumes with any scent; when they speak against you, wipe
your face with handkerchief and everyone will become sleepy
and unable to listen to opposing arguments; when you are
about to speak, take stick outside the court house and they
will wake back up and listen to you. To win in court wear
clothing inside out, carry Salt in right pocket, turn other
pockets inside out; or pray to jesus, saying as Jesus went
down to Jordan, i am going down to court today, and ask for
help, because God said, "This is my beloved son, I am well
pleased, hear ye him," so they will listen to you in court;
also carry Devil's Shoe String and chew it. To cause a house
to be struck by lightning, take a chip of wood from a
lightning-struck tree, plus chips from 3 different wooden
grave headboards, and a steel file, and throw them close to
the house; works best in Summer. Put lightning struck wood
behind a target and no one can hit it unless he has a piece
of lightning struck wood in his pocket. A thief can put
house residents into magical sleep in order to rob them if
he makes a cross of lightning struck wood and a wood stick
from a grave headboard, fist circumambulating the house,
then entering. Short account of hags riding and whipping
sleeping people in the old "antique" days. Call the spirts
at a fork in the road (crossroads) at 3:00 am, and offer
them salt in whiskey, which they like, and they will help
you; if you are scared of the crossroads, you can do this at
your own house. Boil a thief's handwriting to force him to
return stolen items. Ejaculate on a person's handwriting,
fold the paper toward you and hide it; they will always give
you a helping hand. To make a person fail in everything,
take a letter they wrote, burn off the four corners, mix ash
with burned black Horse tail hair, graveyard dirt, Dog hair
and Cat hair. To return a death spell to the sender after the
victim dies, take the clothes the victim wore at death, fold
them tight and place them in the coffin before the corpse is
buried; likewise, to return a death spell after the victim
has died, wash the corpse, save the wash water, put into a
bottle with 9 pins and 9 needles, cut a groove in the cork
to allow the water to slowly leak out; when it has finished
leaking the murderer will die, even if the police cannot
find him; or put a brand new open knife in the victim's left
hand before burial to kill the murderer; another way is to
get a 1 oz. bottle of Iodine, add 9 needles, 9 pins (laid
head-to-tail), and 9 drops of Black hen's blood, bury the
bottle with the murder victim and the murderer will die. To
make a murderer confess, turn the victim on his face before
burial; or take a needle that has been used to sew shrouds
and pass it through the dean personson;s clothes, calling
the murderer to come back. To stop dogs from tracking you,
rub the soles of your feet with Turpentine, Cow manure, or
Ammonia. A murderer can elude capture by going to the grave
of his victim, walking around it 3 times, and swtiching the
wooden headboard and footboard. Gambling luck: Toad Frog,
Dragon;s Blood, John the Conquer root, 3 pinches of dirt
from the grave of a businessman, whose spirit you talk to,
collected in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost at 12 noon or 12 midnight, wrap in chamois cloth, sew
all around, carry in left pocket; this breaks others' tricks
and brings luck. Gambling hand: Mercury (Quicksilver),
Lodestones, stone from the head of a Shad fish. Lodestones
keep away evil; different kinds: from Eagle's nest, from
Raven's head, and the one from the Eagle's nest is finest
for gambling. Gambling hand: pay 30 pennies for dirt from a
beggar's grave, head, chest, and foot. But needles and wrap
three of them with red thread into a cross shape, then sew
in chomois cloth; this charm can be sold for 50 cents each.
Business drawing sprinkle: Jasmine vine boiled, to which is
added Cinnamon Oil; bottle it and sprinkle around bulding;
alternatively, Cinnamon Oil and Sweet Fennel Oil in a quart
of water, stoppered. Business drawing and anti-jinx
sprinkle: Sulphur and Cinnamon in water; also burn Sulphur
to draw customers. Law keep away: Dragon's Blood, Flax Seed,
camphor, Salt, manure from a white Horse, graveyard dirt
from the foot of a grave; sprinkle around premises. Story of
a bootlegger whose house and Dog were fixed; she was forced
to move, and the Dog became a roamer. To overcome prosecutor
in a court case, bind to young Hickory bushes together, call
the accusor's name, and stamp down (do not cut down) the
bushes, then throw a pinch of Salt on them; throw Salt in
the direction of the prosecutor before leaving home for
court, invoking Lot's wife, who was turned into a pillar of
Salt because she looked back; mix Dirt Dauber nest with Love
powders, Salt, and Pepper, and sprinkle where the jurors
will walk, and when the janito's sweep up, they will throw
this out and the case will be thrown out ecause Dirt
Daubers, once the young are grown, they leave the nest and
never return. To make a man stay, mix Dirt Dauber nest,
Dragon's Blood, and Adam and Eve Root; carry in a bag; dirt
from an empty nest will cause him to favour you; dirt from a
full nest will cause him to love you (and have a family?).
Ashes from burned female public hair mixed with Love powder,
served in milk or soft drink holds a man. Goofer is greyard
dirt mixed with dust from a poisonous insect. Imerfectly
related job security or Boss Fix spell with Devi's Shoe
String, John the Conqueror Root, Eve and Adam Root, St. John
Root (St. John's Wort), and John Peace root, which gows in
the woods and looks like Garlic. Mix those with perhume, use
on your hands, talk to boss while also having Devil's Shoe
String piece in mouth, look him in the eye.
Plus about 50-60 more i don't have time for right now, and
concluding with tales of various people calling themselves
Dr. Buzzard, including that the first Doctor Buzzard was a
White man: He was ovah there. Ah know him from 1908.
[We talk while my machine was stopped, and then.]
(And he was the real Doctor Buzzard?)
De - he de real Doctor Buzzard.
(At Florence?)
Yessuh.
(I talked with one of the men that worked for Harrison.) [Harris.]
Yeah, he was de real Doctor Buzzard - in Florence, yo' know.
(He was a white man?)
[He had said this while machine stopped.]
A white man - a white man lived three mile outa Florence.
Have you talked with many white people who do this kind of work?
Round in this part of the country? Doing this sort of thing? Root
working and things of that sort?)
A good many, a good many. A good many won't tell it, yo' know.
(End of 1387.)
[For Doctor Buzzard, see also p.891, especially the amazing story in
No. 3069; and p. 1255, line 7.]
(cylinders C885:1-C902:4 = 2366-2383) Note that cylinders
are again out of order.
Fayetteville, NC
c. May - June 1939
#1391 - [-] an informant who told about goofering for love
(entry 659, cylinder 2496:8)
#1392 - 1394
#1395 - [-] a "root doctor" who discussed goofer dust
(entry 657, cylinder 2506:12)
#1396 - [-]
using the wing of a bullbat (whippoorwill) to bring
confusion to a household (bullbats fly erratically)
(entry 10600, cylinder 2514:3)
discussed goofer dust as snake heads
(entry 670, cylinder 2532:4) (this c. number seems wrong;
bury cloth man wiped self with under eaves to keep him home
(entry 10233, cylinder 2977:13) (this c. number seems wrong;
either that or the informant # is wrong or out of order)
#1397 - [-]
graveyard dirt, red pepper powder, sulphur powder,
and table salt in a packet in shoe protects from jinxing
(entry 9604, cylinder 2515:5)
#1398 - #1399
#1400 - [-]
#1401
#1402 - [-]
tear the front out of dress and bury, kill woman's nature
(entry 10231, cylinder 2524:1)
#1403 - #1411
#1412 - [-]
gave a foot-track spell to keep the police away
(entry 2224, cylinder 2539:5)
#1413 - [-]
told a story about a preacher who used goofer dust
(entry 658, cylinder 2541:1)
#1414
#1415 - [-]
gave crossroads stories, which Hyatt broke into two parts
(entry 340, cylinder 2528:3)
(entry 354, cylinder 2547:3)
#1416 - #1424
#1425 - [-]
dime at ankle plus graveyard dirt, red pepper, and sulphur
in your shoes protects from tricks
(entry 1321, cylinder 2570:10)
#1426 - [-] (Probably a woman, based on the spells given)
to see the future husband, place three unlighted
matches in each of a pair of his shoes, cross the
shoes like a letter "t" and then sleep on them to
divine through a dream if he will marry you
(entry 591, cylinder 2572;13)
wipe man after sex with handkerchief 3 times upward, then
place handkerchief on floor overnight, pick it up in morning;
do this nine nights (27 upward wipes), then hide handkerchief;
man cannot have other women, but she can have other men
(entry 10238, cylinder 2459:1) (this c. number wrong or out of order)
#1427 - #1430
#1431 - [-] 79 year old male (born circa 1860), known as a "See-er,"
born gifted; nicknamed "Dad" due to his age. He referred to
hoodoo as "witchcraft" or "'craft work" and described hands-on
methods to break up 'craft work. Interview at Vol. 2, pg.1048,
cylinder C1001:1-C1008:1 = 2482-2489. (this c. number wrong or out of order)
#1432 - #1437
#1438 - [-] gave a crossroads story
(entry 341, cylinder 2581:1)
Wilson, NC
c. May - June 1939
#1455 - [-] A man who told how women capture men by feeding them
menstrual blood in coffee or mollasses bread.
(entry 3881, cylinder 2645:5.]
#1456 - 1466
#1467 - [-] put graveyard dirt on the wound where a person bit you
and their teeth will rot out
(entry 1320, cylinder 2651:14)
#1468 - #1496
#1497 - [-]
(entry 877, cylinder 2665:13)
#1498
#1499 - [-] waning moon spell: "Take de snail an' put it on a corn,
an' jes' rub it on de corn when de moon's a shrinkin', an' dat
corn will leave dat foot."
(entry 1563, cylinder 2667:22.)
#1500 - #1505
#1506 - [-] "... take your old shoes and burn 'em so no one kin jomo
work yo'. Yo' always have good luck at chure home."
(entry 1505, cylinder 2673:9)
#1507 - [-] recipe for goofer dust
(entry 671, cylinder 2675:6)
#1513 - [-]
graveyard dirt from over the heart of a sinner's grave, red pepper,
sulphur, salt; sew into red flannel, lay it away in the east corner
of the yard -- that will drive someone away. To cure the condition,
the victim would make a tea of the same ingredients and drink it.
The same mixture thrown into a well kill live things that were put
there by a root doctor to harm anyone drinking from the well.
(entry 705, cylinder 2679:13)
Memphis, TN (second trip)
Interviews were conducted at the home of Mrs. [-] Jones. Hyatt's driver,
Edward Bufford, Jr., stayed at her house too.
October 24, 1939
#1516 - first recording in this location began with this informant #
#1517 - 1531
October 30, 1939 (Monday)
#1532 - [-] A 50 year old woman, professional rootworker. Hyatt wrote of her:
[Informant 1532 says, "Ah wus troubled an' worried ovah life." What
she means, her allegory of the three rooms will illustrate. Eventually,
realizing that she could "Go no further than God have given power tuh
go," a new choice is made in the forks-of-the-road parable. She then
reenforces her lesson to me by telling "de sweetest story most evah heard."]
["Memphis, Tenn., Mon., Oct. 30, 1939 - 1532 - woman 50 - professional -
fair to good [[later I raised her rating]] - [[brought by]] new man &
Chicken" - Numbers Book 1516-1557. The new man is unremembered but Chicken
is a small-time hand-maker or root doctor. Ready Money, another professional
worker, who always had a little "ready money" on hand, first appears two
numbers later, 1534. For these nicknames given to doctors, see pp.293-294
and Doctor in Index. The material is on cylinders D61:3 - D65:3 = 2744 - 2750.]
This woman gave Hyatt one unusual recipe that Myrtle Collins #926/#1538
also gave him (and charged him $10.00 for). #1532's version was not
as structurally sound or as well presented as Collins' but the presumption
is that they knew one another. The recipe involves a bath in Baking
Soda, powdered Mustard, and another mineral (Salt in the case of #1532;
Saltpeter in the case of Mrs. Collins #926/#1538).
See Volume Two, pages 992-1024.
#1533 -
#1534 - [-] A man, professional rootworker, nicknamed "Ready Money" [See notes to #1532:
"Ready Money, another professional worker, who always had a little "ready money"
on hand, first appears two numbers later, 1534."]
#1535 - 1537
#1538 - Mrs. Myrtle Collins / Madam Collins of 651 Stephens St. (now
Stephens Pl.), a professional root worker, was interviewed here
for the second time (cylinders [D96:1 - D110-2 = 2779 - 2793)
She was the only person interviewed twice and given two
informant #s.
Her earlier interview was as informant #926;
(cylinders B45:19 - B51:1 = 1503 - 1509])
See the entry at #926 for further details.
See Volume Two, pages 992-1024.
See "Notes on the Memphis hoodoo root worker Madam Myrtle Collins"
for further details and maps of her neighborhood.
While in Memphis, Hyatt learned of the WPA work, then ongoing,
of interviewing African-Americans. He discussed this on
(cylinder 2786:5) See Volume One, page ????? XXX
#1543 - [-]
write enemy's name on a piece of paper and soak it in chamber
lye urine until dissolved, then throw on porch in the dead of '
night and cause the enemy to move out
(entry 4179, cylinder 2993:3) [possibly cylinder number is out of order]
#1547 - [-]
(entry 1733, cylinder 2808:2)
#1548 - #1551
#1552 - [-] "to determine whether he should visit me, this
elderly rootman - informant 1552 - consulted his Jack-ball.
Fortunately for me the spirit of this fetish had sense enough
to answer that I could be trusted" (my introductory comment
for JACK-BALL MAN interview not yet paginated, which contains
the rite)" -- Hyatt's notes to informant #825
#1553 - #1557
After leaving Memphis in November 1939, Hyatt probably spent the Holidays
at home in NYC.
New Orleans, LA (second trip)
This begins the "E-series" numbering of the recordings.
February 14, 1940 (Wednesday)
Hyatt stayed at the Hotel Saint Charles and recorded interviews
at the Patterson Hotel which "had moved down the street" since
his first visit and was now a "transient hotel." There was a
lot of reverberation in the rooms, making recording conditions
"just about impossible."
#1558 - [-], the wife of "Pegleg," who had been interviewed in
New Orleans two years earlier, was the first interviewee
in New Orleans on this trip.
(cylinder E1 = 2833)
#1559 - [-] The "Gifted Medium," a Catholic woman who repeatedly
used the phrase "according to a form" and gave many, many
spells employing saints as well as regular hoodoo tricks.
She distinguished between working with saints or "medium
work" (her specialties) and "hoodoo work [where] they have
cards [for fortune telling] ... diff'rent kinda herbs an'
roots an' things of de sort, an' people brings ole
underclothes or ole stockin's or ole forms of things" --
but she was very well versed in hoodoo nonetheless. She
called hoodoo "contact work" because it utilizes physical
magical links (contacts) to the parties. She called the
usual method of re-tipping candles and burning them upside
down, "butting the light." She gave two harmful spells for
work with doll babies, one of which included a coffin burial
rite. She also described in detail the practices and the
distinctive garments worn by members of the Spiritualist
churches in New Orleans and told how to work by the Moon.
Vol. 2, pg. 962. (cylinders E6:7-E19:3 = 2839-2852)
#1560 - #1561
February 15, 1940 (Thursday)
#1562 - [-], "a man who worked at the Crackerjack Drug Store"
and talked about "powders," hence in Hyatt's terms "NG"
(no good). A missed opportunity to gather information
about urban-style hoodoo.
#1563 - [-]
(cylinder E6:2 = 2839)
#1564 - 1565
#1566 - [-] said that any powder is goofer dust!
(entry 674, cylinder 2871:7)
#1567
February 19, 1940 (Monday)
The weather was "horrible." Recording was conducted in the
Patterson Hotel. Hyatt caught a cold and had a fever.
#1568 - [-]
(cylinder E45 = 2878)
#1569 - #1574
Algiers, LA
A man named Marshall was hired as a chauffeur and contact
man. This man is also referred to as Mack, and so i
consider it likely that Marshall is the proper first name
of "Mack" Berryhill, the taxi driver whom he had hired the
first time he was in NOLA, two years earlier) He picked
Hyatt up in New Orleans every morning and took the ferry
with him across the river to Algiers.
February 21, 1940 (Wednesday)
It was Hyatt's birthday. His wife phoned him. He still had a
cold and fever and was seeing a doctor. Recordings were made at
the Eagle Eye Hall, 1700 Nunez Street, Algiers, La.
#1575 - [-] first recording of the day
#1576 -
#1577 - [-] gambling hand: blacksnake root, devil's shoe
string, John the Conqueror, cinnamon, Van Van perfume,
silver dime, in chamois cloth
(entry 1831, cylinder 2905:5)
#1578 -
February 22, 1940 (Thursday)
The sun came out for the first time since Hyatt had arrived.
#1579 - [-], first recording of the day
(cylinder E75 = 2908)
#1580 - #1583
#1584 - [-] "Small-Time Worker" -- a elderly woman.
Saint John's Water, Marie Baptists, and Marie Laveau.
[Algiers, La., (1584), 2955:1; elderly woman, small-time worker, who
could remember people filling bottles with St. John's water. She
also gave the information in margin-title Marie Baptists and Marie
LeVeau.]
(cylinder 2955:1)
February 23, 1940 (Friday)
#1585 - [-] A 60 year old woman who wore sunglasses
Hyatt called her "Dark Lady, Dark Glasses, Dark
Deeds." In his introduction to her interview, he
wrote: "[Dark glasses wore this dark lady who
recounted dark deeds. They were the large,
old-fashioned, inexpensive colored glasses - very
dark indeed. She also had tied about her head a
kerchief to complete the disguise. Did I see her as
she appeared before patients in the consultation
room? For dark glasses and kerchief, see my
concluding comment; for dark deed, read. This
elderly woman, informant 1585, filled cylinders
E122:11 - E132:1 = 2955:11 - 2965:1. For location
and description of Algiers, see ALGIERS in
INTRODUCTION.]"
At the end of the interview transcription,
Hyatt described this informant as "Woman, 60
[years old] - excellent - colored eyeglasses"
(End of 1585.)" He also mentioned her sun glasses
while testing his equipment the next day, February 24.
recorded on cylinders E122:11-E132:1 = 2955 - 2965
(Her interview is in Vol. 2, pp. 1059 - 1075,
cylinders 2955 - 2965)
#1586 - [-] As this interview was conducted, a "colored
funeral" comprising 2,000 marchers went by, playing
Chopin's Funeral March.
#1587 -
February 24, 1940 (Saturday)
"Testing the stylus [of Telediphone], Algiers, Louisiana,
Saturday, February 24, 1940. One woman who came here
yesterday, No. 1585, wore sun glasses and had a handkerchief
tied around her head in sort of a disguise. Next 1588."
#1588 -
#1589 - Mrs. [-] Murray; Hyatt called her "Madam"
Murray, but she clearly refers to herself as
"Mrs." Murray.
(Her interview is in Vol. 2, pp. page 1276 - 1289,
cylinders E1245:1 - E1252:2 = 2827:1 - 2834:2)
#1590 - #1597
February 27, 1940 (Tuesday)
"We are having our old difficulty again -- great crowds of
people rushing in but none of them really knowing anything."
#1598 - [-] ("actually #1597A") First recording of the day
#1599 - Mack / Marshall; Hyatt's chauffeur in New Orleans.
the use of May water to remove "burdens" (troubles).
(entry 986, cylinder 2915:1)
February 28, 1940 (Wednesday) (Leap Year Day)
The day began with cylinder E183:1 = 3016
#1600 - 1601
#1602 - [-] gave a graveyard dirt, egg yolk, and black candle
spell to move someone out.
(entry 10161, cylinder 3024:1)
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