Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-10-18
WITCHES AND DEMONS
Some Curious SuperstitiOnS in Vogue
Among Negroes.
The Plaguing Sprites That Ride
Horses and TangIe Their Names
The Dove is Sacred.

In the event OF witch's capture she
must be skinned, and it is believed that
in this process her cutiele comes off as
easily as one peels an orange, says a
writer on Southern negro superstitions
in HarPer's Bazaar. Of course the witch
will escape, but as even witch must be
uncomfortable sitting about in her bones
she will return to .reinvest herself with
her skin In the meantime the skin is to
be we'll salted and peppered, SO that,
upon her reinyestment with it, she will of
course, suffer grevious torment, and it
is in this agony that she dances with the
famous switch STEP
Old negro nurses teach their charges
that the tangles that after nights sleep
are apt TO appear in the hair, are knots
tied by witches, and everybody in the
southern states is familiar with the darby
belief that witches ride houses and mules
in the dead OF night, exheustIng their
strength. Tante Peagie this morning,
shaking her wise old head, declared &c
me: "'Tain' no U.S., mistis, ter hitch up
dem bosses, all kiyered wild knots an
kinks, lax dey is, cause witches dun ride
'em endurin' OBJ de night, Dey won go
fur dis day, sho!'
To ward off the approach of any of the
fond sisterhood, silver dimes and scent
pieces with G hole in them, strung on a
cord and suspended from the neck are
unrivaled. Odds and ends of bones strung
together, and blessed by a Yodoo priest
ess, constitute Grigri, which is mar
velous foil against the evil one. In
southern Louisiana there are large num-
bers Of negroes who believe that certain
other negroes have conversed with satan
receiving from him liberal en-
dowment of his diabolic powers
| These are known as "conju r niggers," who
can ''hoodoo" you. To incur the
ill-wilI Of one OF them is gCievous mis-
fortune. By a glance of the eye he can
cast a spell upon you which will make
you pine away. By hiding DEVILS pow
! der under your threshold no can send
| small devils into your body, which will
make you vomit needles, pins, wads of
hair, knives or peddlea. Your legs can
be made the lurking place OF lizards and
| scorpions, your feet swarm with spiders,
and your hands with worms. If he
makes a waxen figure and calls it by
your name, by melting it he can give yon
| a pain wherever he likes. If he chooses
to stick pins into the manikin, you will
suffer pain in the corresponding portion
of your body. Certain arrangements of
pulled grass before your door, or Of sticks,
or OF pebbles or feathers, ale traps set by
the ''cunjur" man tor your downfall. To
step over them or TO disturb them is so
bring down your evil fate upon you. A
compact ball of feathers in your pillow is
sure sign you are ''ho 3ooed," as such
result can only come about by super
natural agencies. No disciple of You
dooism can be convinced that this is the
tendency of feathers in every pillow
| Fortunately the 'conj ur man" has his
price, and may be induced to withhold
his hand for consideration, and TO turn
his d;abolical battery against any enemy
you may name. Many ''hOudooed" which
times enjoy the superiority with which
this tenn porary unplegsantness invests
the N. They have become objects of re-
mark and the solicitude of their neigh
bors, and not uEfrequently take to their
| beds, which confers upon them enviable
distinction. In the days of slavery many
protrocted case OF "houdooism" had at
! last 70 be cured with heroic measures, as
one case was as infectious as smallpox,
and in short time every negro in the
Quarters" would have believed himself
a victim. Many negro is kept in the
ri ght path by cunning and more strong
minded neighbor, who knows the weak
ness of his people and iuggles with it.
For money the "conjur man" will always
brew a philter warranted TO cast any
spell desired. TOe-nails and purslane if
boiled together MAKE poison against
which naught may prevail, but taken
separately they are harmless.
IS every negro, even the most debased,
is sure of salvation, and speaks with con-
fdence of his place in heaven, where he
will ''set at de same table ez de white
folks" it is not strange that he reVels in
signs portending death.
His heaven, like the Mussuiman's, is
one Of sensual delights. and corpses and
| funerals are to him great joy. To put
black pin into chiid's dress, to try on
any ones mourning garments, to open an
umbrella in the house, to break look
ing glass, to carry spade through the
house, are all signs Of death. To drive
nail after dark, except in me king coffin,
will bring death; and any man go unfor-
| tunate as to bury three wives will bury
six. A spider seen in the morning will
bring good luck; at noon, disappoint-
ment, and in the evening, bad luck.
| If accidentally a garment be put on
wrong side out and if it be worn that way
until noon, and then turned, the wearer
will have good luck. To give q knife or
| scissors to friend is to sever friendship,
except, indeed, bent pin may be given
| in return, which averts the impending
rupture. The Roman Catholic negroes
of Southern Louisiana will not cut a
banana crosswise, because through its
center runs dark streak, which, if cut
transversely, present the appearance of
| a cross To avoid this sacrilege the fruit
must be broker.
They accept Bible literally, and, as
! they receive it in most grotesque form
| from their spreachers," it is little won
der that their conceptions of things spir-
itval is distorted. Without a paBg of
conscience they will eat the chickens from
a neighbor's hen-roost, the pigs from
his pen, the melons from his "patch."
but cannot be induced TO commit the IN
pardonable sin of eating a dove. One
old darkey, when asked the reason, re-
piled: "Wha' fur I dom eat the dove!
Case he de fus one in Noah's ark wha'
got spunk huff 10 git outen dar, an
come er & vim back 20 old Noah wild de
teehchy weenchy olo branch IN he mouf.
After dat de Lord he bless de dove, an
pat i'm ter mon fur de peoples sins,
be mon so mo'nfuI. Co'se hits sin
ter eat e. dove! De Bible sez SO 'pinted
chile. Reads de Bible en- dun know dat!
hay, chile?o