Eggs

“Git chew a fresh yard aig an’ tie it in his right han’ an’ bury him on his face.” That was how a New Orleans informant said a murdered man could bring his killer back (Hyatt 113 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1566).

The hen’s egg is everywhere in Hyatt. It drew sickness out, soaked up tricks, showed an enemy’s face, carried a name to the river, and burst on a roof to break a household apart.

What it is

The informants were particular about the egg. It should be a fresh “yard aig”, from a hen running loose, and often a black hen’s egg.

The egg worked in a few clear ways:

• As a sponge – drawing poison, sickness or a planted trick into itself.
• As a mirror – broken open to show who had done the work.
• As a body – written with a name, then buried, drowned, rotted or burst so that the named person suffered the same.

Drawing out and cleansing

In Hyatt the egg cleansed by drawing from one place. A fresh black hen’s egg was rubbed three times over a baby’s swollen navel and buried under the doorstep to carry the swelling away (Hyatt 1166 · Brunswick, Ga. · informant 1175). A black chicken’s egg broken over a snakebite and bound tight drew the poison (Hyatt 1168 · Wilson, N. Car. · informant 1463).

A Norfolk informant had a sharper use. If someone bit you, you broke a black hen’s egg and rubbed it on the bite: “When this place gets well your teeth gon’a fall out.” (Hyatt 1193 · Norfolk, Va. · informant 492)

The house could be cleansed too. A Brunswick informant buried a fresh egg sharp end up in the middle of the steps and covered it with salt, against any roots put down: “Dat fresh aig an’ salt sucks it all up.” (Hyatt 1171 · Brunswick, Ga. · informant 1240)

The egg that shows the enemy

In Waycross an egg was held up to the light, then broken the long way to keep the yolk whole. The yolk went in a glass and was read through a magnifying glass (Hyatt 571 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1097).

The dead were made to show their killers in the same way. In Memphis an egg was put in a murdered man’s hand after looking into his eye (Hyatt 97 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 1523).

Eggs in tricks

Most of all, the egg carried a name. The variations were many:

• Running a person off – the name written nine times over a hen’s egg, thrown in the river with a wish (Hyatt 1848 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 920).
• Keeping a woman away – her name written three times, the egg put unbroken in a glass and buried under a tree in your own yard (Hyatt 569 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 549).
• Breaking up a house – an egg rolled in graveyard dust and thrown on the roof at midnight to drive the people out within a day (Hyatt 9261 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 560).
• Death – a coffin drawn on the egg, the egg buried, then dressed with sulphur and black pepper until it burst on the ninth day (Hyatt 1798 · St. Petersburg, Fla. · informant 1055).
• Love – his name and hers written on the egg in blood from the right index finger, then buried under the steps (Hyatt 3840 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1088).
• Trade – three hen’s eggs smashed on the roof of a house to bring men in with money (Hyatt 2453 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1433).

Eggs buried and found

An egg under the steps could also be the trick itself. A Sumter woman told how a root doctor came between twelve and one on a Sunday night and laid an egg under her steps (Hyatt 1849 · Sumter, S. Car. · informant 1353). A St. Petersburg man put an egg in urine under the front steps when his woman was “doin’ bad things” (Hyatt 4038 · St. Petersburg, Fla. · informant 1018).

Eggs were payment as well. A Fayetteville informant took half a dozen eggs or whiskey to a grave to pay the dead (Hyatt 1312 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1441).

In their own words

“yo’ kin see de streets an’ de shape of de person, de way dey goin’.”

(Hyatt 571 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1097)

“yo’ write dere name dis way nine times all ovah de aig”

(Hyatt 1848 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 920)

“it will bust. He’ll be a daid man.”

(Hyatt 1798 · St. Petersburg, Fla. · informant 1055)

How it’s worked today

The full-body egg cleansing now common in hoodoo, where an egg is passed over the whole body and then broken into water and read, owes much to Mexican curanderismo. In Hyatt, the egg drew from one place.

The older Southern uses carry on: names written on eggs, eggs buried under steps, eggs thrown in running water or burst against a house, and the egg-and-salt guard at the door.

Learn the work

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Source: Harry Middleton Hyatt, Hoodoo – Conjuration – Witchcraft – Rootwork, 5 vols., 1970-1978. Numbers refer to Hyatt’s own item numbers; the town and informant number follow. Written by Hoodoo Witch in our own words, with short quotations from Hyatt’s informants for reference.