The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-03-05
THE BLACK ART .
Signs Of o Revival OF the Practice
Of Voodooism.
Di6eFeAt Methods In Vogue Of Casting
Spells and DeWttchlng-Need Of
Reform In the Old style
H00d0O. t-f

8ROaW ana D0WutC0108-N09O VI .
Rsfor1 In the Old style
Hoodos.
Modern occultism, or, to put 1t In
diplomatic costume, roccultisme mod
erne, Is becoming decidedly aggres-
sive, to say the least of it, if we are to
believe the Revue Illustree. Strange
as the news may appear, says the New
York Sun, it is nevertheless reported
that the black art is fourishing fend-
ishly both in Europe and America.
Casting spell upon an individual,
or, as they say on the Bowery, "hoodoo-
ing a fellow" has not, according to the
Revue, fallen into innocuous desuetude.
We all remember the scene depicted
by Alexandra Dumas in the Refine Mar
got, in which the performer of
Catherine Medicis plunges a golden
needle into the heart, or rather the
place where the heart ought to be, of q
little wax statuette modelled in the
image of King Charles TX. But the
m agicians of the present day have
brought modern impr ovements into the
art. They practice three kinds OF
hoodooism, according to the caprice of
the client and the degree of hatred
with which he is possessed. In one
they use toad, in another . doll, and
in third they operate d lesprit volaut,
or, in other words, they remove the
spirit and place it temporarily just
where they want it. ~.
Here are the prescriptions for the
three methods: You take toad, male
or female, according to the sex of the
person whom you wish to reach. You
baptize it as you would child, giving
it the full name of your enemy. While
you are committing this sacrilege, you
must endeavor to work yourself up into
a paroxysm of hatred toward your VIC
tim, and you must sandwich the sacra-
mental words with the most horrible
imprecations. Then you infict upon
the toad all the tortures that your inn
agination can suggest, for your enemy
is bound to suffer correspondingly. If
you take an eye out of the toad, your
enemy will lose an eye, etc. In Amer
ica, according to the Revue, the Black
Crooks have recourse to more sum-
mary expedient. They bury the toad
at the threshold of the residence of the
person selected for victim, with the
result that he dies as if suffocated.
The doll method is the most ancient
and the most classic. It requires wax
figure called mamie" resembling the
victim as much as possible. It is also
necessary to have some little objects
that belonged to the victim, or better
yet, one of his teeth, portions of his
You mix these things in with the wax
of the doll and baptize it. Then, just
like the poisoner of Catherine de
Medicis, you stick pin into the figure.
If at that moment your enemy is even
flirting with a young woman, he imme-
diately begins to suffer from palpita-
tion of the heart (naturally enough) If
he does not die from suffocation.
The proceeding resprit volant is
the latest improvement in this science,
and it is the child Of hypnotism. In
order to execute it you must have sub
ject whose astral body, which we are
told is of fluid nature, will abandon
the material body on your order and
transport itself toward your victimn. 1t
slips into his veins the poisons which
you have learned how to.volatilize. The
operation terminated, you return the
astral body to its carnal dwelling, and
you arouse the subject. The crime is
committed without anybody in the
world being able to accuse you, and
you are left alone with your conscience.
But the conscience of Black Crook is
particularly elastic.
Now, that is the way they work the
machine, and the Revue refuses to re-
veal the places where the ceremonies
readers into temptation. It is better,
it says, to let them believe that the bust
ness of casting spells belongs to the
domain of fables. But the surprising
thing about it is that men of learning
and apparently endowed with common
sense indulge in this kind of rubbish.
Witnesses well worthy of belief have
told extraordinary stories of certain
Col. de Rochas, stories that outdo the
widest inventions of the "Devil on
Two Sticks" Col. de Rochas, we are
told, has discovered q method Of sex
teriorizing the sensations of individ-
uals." Asmodeus used to put the souls
of Christians who died impenitent into
bottles; but NJ. de Rochas, more ingen-
ious than Asmodeus, concentrates and
dissolves in glass of water the sense
of enjoyment and Of suffering of sub
ject previously magnetized. If this
water is boiled, the subject writhes
like St. Laurent on his gridiron; and ii,
on the contrary, the water freezes, the
unfortunate victim becomes blizzardly
cold.
Like the story Of "Jack and the
Bean Stalk" all this may not be as true
as the Bible, but in these days of adj
vancement why shouldn't the black art
be reformed and rejuvenated just like
our own ever glorious city government
A PF1lrie Schooner.
A novel adaptation Of the house-boat
idea to overland pleasure has been
worked out by wealthy Kansan. Wits
his wife he started from his Kansas