A house divided amongst itself cannot stand:

so shall you crumble like the temple,

so shall you fall like wormwood,

so shall you come to ruin like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Push nine new needles and nine new pins into the bundle and douse it with vinegar. Powder it with asafoetida and bury it on their property where both will walk over it. If it can be concealed under the bed on the boards, that's even better.

MAKE THEM MAD

“Witches” have been causing madness for centuries, just like the conjurer. In many texts of southern footwork, hoodoo, folk magic, and conjure, there is likely a recipe to cause madness, and it will likely include a person's hair or underwear as an ingredient. One story I was told growing up was about a witch named Gussie Proffit who lived on a mountain outside of a small town in Virginia. She never caused anyone harm or otherwise aroused any suspicion until the river flooded and everyone's crops were ruined. The townsfolk blamed the woman, and a couple men vowed to burn her cabin down, which they did. Some of it still stood, but she was homeless now with no one but her pet toad.

A while passed, and those same men decided to go up to her old cabin and drink their asses off and destroy more things. Then a bad storm rolled in. Most of them were afraid and wanted to hightail it out of there, but one man, the presumed ringleader, made them stay and hold their ground. Once they were calmed down and had returned to their game of cards, a figure appeared in the doorway. It was the old woman and in her hand was her toad. A few words were exchanged between the men and witch. The head man said, “Now you're just gonna die” and charged after her. Before he could get to her, the toad jumped and morphed into this great big awful demon creature and picked up the man by the throat. The other two men, making brown, ran out of the cabin. Years later, the head man was never the same. He never came home. Folks would see him wandering the woods following a toad hopping along, muttering to himself with wide eyes, “I've been witched. I've been witched.” He went mad.

That's what these result in:

I was always told if you bury someone's hair or unwashed undergarments, it will drive them mad.

Stop their hair up in a bottle filled halfway with water and bury it at the roots of a tree on the north side.

Place their hair or photo in a snuff box with lye shavings (or limestone) and nine new needles. Toss this in the river to keep their mind wandering.

Powder the skin of a graveyard snake with graveyard dirt, crossroads dirt, railroad dirt, and white pepper. Scatter this where they'll walk over it.

Make a doll of the person that includes a personal concern of theirs. Once it is baptized, dip it by its feet into a bucket or cup so it's halfway underwater. Leave it.

Take a piece of the person's unwashed clothing and use it to make a bundle containing the following: graveyard dirt, mud dauber's nest, corrupted buttercup roots, nine pins, nine needles, nine open safety pins, black cohosh root, white pepper, and two bear's-bed roots that have been tied in an X. Boil this in a pot of water with nine slips of paper, each containing the first portion of Zechariah 12:4:

In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness.

Recite it until half the water has boiled off. Place it in a good size container and hide it somewhere on the property where they will walk by it. Leave the lid off. As the water evaporates, their mind will go.

TIE UP MONEY

The only time I will ever mess with someone's money or livelihood is when they try to mess with mine. That could be in the form of theft, betrayal, or tarnishing my name or business. The following two recipes are ones I personally use, for individuals or their business. They can not only bring someone down but also shut the doors of the business altogether.

Borrow a one-dollar bill from the person. On one side, write their name and birthday on all four ends. On the other side, write James 5:1–4:

1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

Fold the bill lengthwise away from you three times to thin their funds. Bind it with a black cord under nine knots. Bury it on their property.

In a jar place the person's photo and a dime acquired from them. Add devil's shoestring, alum, lemon, corrupted ginseng root, and graveyard dirt.⁵ Fill with equal parts beet juice and vinegar. Every day for thirteen days, roll the jar away from you, toward the doorway, fifteen times while praying James 5:1–4. Do this until the desired result is achieved, then bury it at a railroad track.

The path and work of the conjurer and witchdoctor is one that requires knowledge of two hands. As I said previously, one hand must know how to make up the roots, while the other needs to possess the power to destroy them. Never conjure something you cannot get rid of. As such, let's look at how roots are destroyed and Devils are sent running.

5 Corrupted roots have been twisted out of form. To corrupt a root such as ginseng, dig the root up yourself and bend it gently without breaking it. While you have it bent, wrap it in string or twine to hold it in place. Let it dry like this. Every day while it dries, rub the root and tell it what it's being remade for. This is done with roots to work the opposite natural effect of them. A “pure” ginseng root can attract strength and luck, while a corrupted one repels it.

13

RUN, DEVIL, RUN

Now we venture into the realm of the witchdoctor. While the folk healer doctors the Devil out of the body, the witchdoctor doctors the Devils, or roots, out of the mind and spirit. If one is suspected of being cursed or doctored on, there are a few signs that can confirm it. Back in the day, the signs usually consisted of strange feelings or pains shooting through the body, swelling, loss of appetite, nightmares, insomnia, paranoia, and feeling like one is drowning or just an uneasiness about everything. Many folks also find themselves unable to leave their home for long periods of time.

REMOVE HAINTS AND PLAT-EYES

I do not joke when I say you don't know what's out there—what hides behind the lonesome headstone, or why those lights float through the trees in the woods.

In Jonesborough, back in the 1800s, they used public stock posts for minor offenses such as not paying debts owed to the court. The person would be locked in and their ears nailed to the wood and often cut off before being released. For worse crimes, like robbery or horse theft, the Washington County Court would set them to be hung just north of town in a hollow that, due to the frequency of this sentence, came to be known as Hangman's Hollow.⁶ Hundreds of folks were hung there. Hundreds left town with little to no ears to speak of. I have not found how many, if any, perished due to infection from their punishments, but I believe we can all take a good guess. Given the grim history of this place, I'd wager there are plenty of haints and plat-eyes lurking about. If you do have a haint or plat-eye, there are many ways to evict them from the property:

Take a used horseshoe and wrap it in red cloth. Walk around the home from top to bottom, back to front, with all doors open, while holding the horseshoe upside down and saying “Our Father,” then reciting Psalm 31:15–17:

15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.

17 Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Repeat this every day for nine days as the sun rises.

Take the herb false daisy, also called ghost chaser, and cut it up with sulfur, salt, black pepper, and gunpowder. Divide this into four parts and make each part into a hex bag, blessing each by reciting Psalm 31:15–17 three times. Set them in all four corners of the home, except for the last one nearest the front door. Pour a tall glass of whiskey and, with the hex bag, walk from top to bottom, back to front with the whiskey, calling for the spirit to come have a drink. Walk out the door and wait a bit before placing the hex bag next to it. Lead the spirit to the nearest crossroads and walk around in a big circle seven times. This will confuse it. Pour the whiskey out in the center of the crossroads and quickly walk back home without looking back. Keep the hex bags in their place, feeding them monthly with camphor oil or camphor chest rub.

Hang or carry a hex bag consisting of gunpowder, asafoetida, and sulfur. This will drive the spirit from the home, as they hate the smell it gives off.

Historically, folks would have a preacher come by and bless the home. They usually did so once a week over a period of time until the house was totally cleaned. They'd go through praying Scripture, anointing doorframes, marking crosses on all mirrors, doors, and windows; they would then verbally plead the blood of Christ against the spirit, praying that the blood cover the home and all those who resided there.

REMOVE EVIL SPIRITS FROM A PERSON, OBJECT, OR PLACE

Psalm 31:15–17 can also be used in the following works. These will remove and purge spirits from a person, item, or place.

Take some tar water and anoint every wall, window, door, doorframe, and corner with a cross using a horsehair brush. While doing this, say, “Horse find it out, tar send it out.” Work from top to bottom, back to front of the home. When you get to the front door, recite Psalm 31:15–17 three times (see page 204). Next, sprinkle cedar, salt, and black pepper through the house for further protection. This may need to be repeated, but if it is successful, then you will hear the house purging itself—creaking or popping sounds, knocks, sounds of things getting knocked off although nothing has moved—which usually last a couple days.

To chase a spirit from a person, take a bundle of false daisy and whip them with it all over while reciting Psalm 31:15–17. Pat them with the bundle from head to toe, doing three passes in total. Anoint them with olive oil while praying three Our Fathers, then have them stomp on the bushel twenty-one times. Take the bundle outside and burn it to ash, then discard the ashes in a cemetery.

If the one haunting has left some physical item behind that may be tethering them, place it in a hollowed potato and bind it together. Then bury the potato at their grave or a crossroads if the grave site is unknown.

REMOVE CURSES AND HEXES

Making roots is one thing. The tricky part is killing them—especially when they are made by others. Be diligent: crossed conditions will try to hold you back any way they can. Even if you don't have the energy to work it, do it anyway!

Go to a new grave on which grass has begun to grow. Take a handful of the grass and pay for it with nine pennies. Add this to a hex bag with new salt, baking soda, ant eggs, and black cat hair. Carry this with you until the bag feels grimy, at which point it has taken the poison and should be cast over the left shoulder into running water. Leave without looking back, no matter what you hear or feel. I've had a few clients tell me that when they used the bag I made them and they tossed it, they heard animal sounds or even a voice calling out their name. That's the root dying.