Conjuring and Conjure-Doctors in the Southern United States (Continued)

Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 9, No. 34 (Jul. - Sep., 1896), pp. 224-226
Published by: American Folklore Society
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224 7ournal of American Folk-Lore.
fine white linen and came down to the knees. All householders kept pigs,
and the schoolmaster, who boarded round, knew when hog-killing time was
reached in the different families, for none would have him till it was over."

CONJURING AND CONJURE-DOCTORS IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES

(continued). - Below will be found the remainder of the article on this sub-
ject, by Miss A. M. Bacon, copied from the "Southern Workman and
Hampton School Record," November and December, I895 :-
"When it is once decided that the sufferer from mysterious symptoms of
any kind has been conjured, there remains no hope except through the
conjure-doctor. He must be sent for at once, as delay is always dangerous
and often fatal. There are few settlements of colored people in which the
belief in conjuration is prevalent, in which there is not to be found some
person distinguished for his skill as a conjure-doctor. Of their personal
peculiarities it is not my part to speak. Of that you already have learned
through Miss Herron's paper, but their special methods of procedure when
summoned to cure disease, we must try to get some general idea from the
mass of testimony presented by the compositions.
"The conjure-doctor has five distinct services to render to his patient.
He must (i) tell him whether he is conjured or not, (2) he must find out
who conjured him, (3) he must search for and find the 'trick' and destroy
it, (4) he must cure the patient, (5) he will if the patient wishes turn back
the trick upon the one who made it. But as a rule before he does anything
for the patient he demands and receives a large fee. Should he find busi-
ness slack he will sometimes take it upon himself to secure patients by
visiting certain persons and telling them that they have been or are about
to be conjured, and often presenting irrefragable proofs in the shape of a
pin stuck in the north side of a distant tree, or a bottle dug up at a certain
designated spot in the yard, he exacts a payment of money for his services
in preventing the evil sure to follow if he is not engaged by a good-sized
retainer to prevent it. A conjure-doctor summoned to attend a case of
mysterious illness in a family will frequently begin his examination by
putting a small piece of silver into the mouth or hand of the sufferer. Should
the silver turn black, there is no doubt about the diagnosis. The silver
piece is not always tried; in some cases the very nature of the seizure
proclaims at once to the doctor that it is the work of conjurers. The next
step is to study the nature of the disease and search out and destroy the
trick by which it was caused. In one case the conjure doctor recognized
the disease by the trembling of the patient's fingers as he came in at the
door. The poison had not then taken much effect upon the patient, but
the conjure-doctor assured the sufferer that without attention it would kill
her. In another case the doctor informed his patient that the charm was
fixed to work with the moon and tides. When the tide was coming in he
would be worse, when going out he would be better. A case is mentioned
of a girl who had been suffering for a long time from a sore and swollen
foot, until at last a conjure doctor was called to her relief. 'As soon as
he saw the foot he said that she was conjured and that it was done by an

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 Folk-Lore Scrap-Book. 225

old man who wanted to marry her, and that it was done at church one night.
Then he said, "I will try to cure you in the name of the Lord." Then he
asked her for a pin and scratched her foot on the side and got some blood
and he rubbed some cream on it and said, " God bless her," and he called
her name, and the next morning this girl, who had been ill for nine months,
walked out of doors without crutch or cane.' In another case in which a
bright silver piece held in the patient's hand had turned perfectly black in
five minutes, the patient was cupped three times. In each case the cupping
horn came away filled with live lizards, frogs, and snakes that had had
their abode in her. Later she was bathed in an infusion of mullein and
moss made with boiling water in a tub. After the bath the water was
thrown toward the sunset and this line repeated: 'As the sun sets in the
west so should the works of the Devil end in judgment.' This treatment
did her good and she recovered rapidly. Another doctor sawed a tree in
the middle and put the patient through it four times. He then cupped
him and buried the things that came out of him under a tree at sunset.
Still another doctor would begin his treatment by making the patient
swallow a small piece of silver. He said the conjuration would stick to
the silver and his medicine would cure the person conjured. Another
practitioner arrived when sent for with a bottle filled with herbs, roots, and
leaves; with these he made a tea which acted as an emetic, and the patient
threw up a variety of reptiles. Again a conjure-doctor came and chewed
some roots and did a great many other things. In one light case of tricking
the patient was merely given some roots to carry in his pocket and some-
thing to rub with.
" Either after or before the cure of the
patient is well under way, the
doctor will make an effort to find the 'trick' or 'conjure,' and to identify
the miscreant who has caused the trouble. He may be able to tell imme-
diately and without visiting the spot, just where the cause of the trouble is
buried. An instance is given of an old man who was visited by a woman
who lived twelve miles away was able to tell the patient after one look at
her sore foot exactly the spot in her own yard where, if she would dig, she
would find a large black bottle, containing a mixture, placed there by one
of her neighbors to trick her. She went home, dug and found it was as he
said. In other cases the detection of the trick seems to be more difficult
and the doctor is obliged to have recourse to cards or other means of
obtaining the truth. One of our writers tells us of a conjure-doctor who,
on visiting a patient, cut his cards and told her that she was poisoned by a
woman who wanted her place, and that the conjure bottle was under the
sill of her door. Every time she stepped over the sill one drop of the
poison dried up, and when the last drop dried she would die. The conjure-
doctors seemed to have an objection to name the enemy who had cast the
spell. In some cases they would simply undertake to describe him; in
other cases a more complicated device was resorted to: 'They would find
a bundle of roots under the doorstep or floor. After they had found the
roots they would ask for a flatiron. They would take the iron and a
VOL. . - NO. 33. I5

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226 yournal of American Folk-Lore.
piece of brown paper and draw the image of the person who put the roots
there.
"After the enemy has been identified the conjure-doctor may be of fur-
ther use in securing revenge for the injured person. There are many
instances cited where the charm has been turned against the one who sent
it. This the conjure-doctor may do by a variety of devices, some of which
easily commend themselves to the ignorant minds with which he deals. It
is said that if any one tricks you and you discover the trick and put that
into the fire, you burn your enemy, or if you throw it into the running
water you drown him. One instance is given of a conjure laid down in
the path of a young man. He saw it in time, picked it up with two sticks,
carried it into the house, and put it in the fire. This took great effect
upon the old man 'who danced, and ran, and hollowed, and jumped, and
did a little of everything, but still the bundle burned,' until at last the old
man acknowledged everything he had done. Another of our writers tells
us that, 'If the composition used in conjuring can be found and given to
the conjure-doctor, he will throw the charm from the person conjured to
the one who did it. This affects him so strongly that he will come to the
house and ask for something. If he gets it his charm will return, if not it
will end on himself.' One writer cites the case of a man who had been
made lame by a lizard in his leg who was told by a conjure-doctor what to
do, and as a result his enemy went about as long as he lived with that
lizard in his leg.
" And now for the ounce of prevention that is worth the pound of cure
in conjuration as in other things. Silver in the shoe or hung around the
neck seems to be the most universal counter-charm. A horseshoe nailed
over the door or even hidden under the sill will keep out conjurers' spells
as well as hags and witches. A smooth stone in the shoe was recommended
in one case, in another case a goose quill filled with quicksilver worn below
the knee. In one case where a man had been under the care of a conjure-
doctor and recovered, the doctor would not allow him to visit unless he
wore a silver coin in his shoe and a silver ring on his right hand."

NOTES AND QUERIES.

SUPERSTITIONSOF GEORGIA, NO. 2.- Among negroes of the lower and
untutored class, curious superstitions are always current, some of them,
doubtless, survivals of belief brought over from Africa by their ancestors.
For instance, in a certain city of this State there is a market in the drug-
shops for the fore feet of moles. These are supposed to assist teething,
and for that purpose are hung as amulets about the neck of colored chil-
dren. A story is current in negro folk-lore that the mole was once a young
lady, very vain and idle. She made acquaintance with a witch, who offered
to furnish her with the most beautiful and the most silky dress in the world
on condition that she would consent to the exaction of a price that was to

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