told him that somebody had stole the
sweat-band out of his cap and less he got it back, something terrible
would happen. They say this man had been going with a 'oman and she had
stole his sweat-band. Well, he never did get it, so he died.

"I had a cousin named Alec Heard, and he had a wife named Anna Heard.
Anna stayed sick all der time almost; fer two years she complained. One
day a old conjurer came to der house and told Alec that Anna wuz
poisoned, but if he would give him $5.00 he would come back Sunday
morning and find the conjure. Alec wuz wise, so he bored a hole in the
kitchen floor so that he could jest peep through there to der back
steps. Sho nuff Sunday morning the nigger come back and as Alec watched
him he dug down in the gound a piece, then he took a ground puppy, threw
it in the hole and covered it up. All right, he started digging again
and all at onct he jumped up and cried: 'Here 'tis! I got it.' 'Got
what?' Alec said, running to the door with a piece of board. 'I got the
ground puppy dat wuz buried fer her.' Alec wuz so mad he jumped on that
man and beat him most to death. They say he did that all the time and
kept a lot of ground puppies fer that purpose." Continuing, she
explained that a ground puppy was a worm with two small horns. They are
dug up out of the ground, and there is a belief that you will die if one
barks at you.

Mrs. Avery related two ways in which you can keep from being conjured by
anyone.

"One thing I do every morning is ter sprinkle chamber-lye [HW: (urine)]
with salt and then throw it all around my door. They sho can't fix you
if you do this. Anudder thing, if you wear a silver dime around your
leg they can't fix you. The 'oman live next door says she done wore two
silver dimes around her leg for 18 years."

Next is a story of the Jack O'Lantern.

"Onct when I wuz a little girl a lot of us chillun used to slip off and
take walnuts from a old man. We picked a rainy night so nobody would see
us, but do you know it looked like a thousand Jack ma' Lanterns got in
behind us. They wuz all around us. I never will ferget my brother
telling me ter get out in the path and turn my pocket wrong side out. I
told him I didn't have no pocket but the one in my apron; he said,
'well, turn that one wrong side out.' Sho nuff we did and they scattered
then."

Closing the interview, Mrs. Avery remarked: "That's bout all I know; but
come back some time and maybe I'll think of something els