WILLIS EASTER, 85, was born
near Nacogdoches, Texas, He
does not know the name of his
first maste. Frank Sparks
brought Willis to Bosqueville,
Texas, when he was two years
old. Willis believes firmly
in "conjureman" and ghosts,
and wears several charms for
protection against the former.

He lives in Waco, Texas.
"I's birthed below Nacogdoches, and dey tells me it am on March 19th, in 1852. My mammy had some kind of pgper what say dat. But I donft know my master, fcause when I*s two he done give me to
Marse Frank Sparks and he brung me to Bosqueville, Dat sizeable place
dem days. My maamy come fbout a month after, 'cause Marse Prank, he s«y
I1 s too much trouble without my mammy.
ttMammy de bes1 cook in de county and a master hand at spinninr
and weaving She made her own dye* Walnut and elm makes red dye and
walnut brown color, and shumake makes black color. When you wants yallow
color, git cedar moss out de brake*
WA11 de lint was picked by hand on our place. It a slow job to git
dat lint out de cotton and Ifs gone to sleep many a night, settin1 by de
fire, pickin* lint. In bad weather us sot by de fire and pick lint and
patch harness and shoes, or whittle out something, dishes and bowls and
troughs and traps and spoons.
«A11 us chillen weared lowel white duckin1, homemake, jes1 one
garment* It was de long shirt * Tou couldn*t tell gals from boys on de yard.
*1H twelve when us am freed and for awhile us lived on Marse Bob
Wortham's place, on ChaBc Bluff, on Horseshoe Bend* After de freedom wart
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dat old Brazos River done changeits course up !bove de bend, and move to
de west,
111 marries Nancy Clsrk in 1879, but no chilluns. Dere plenty deer
and bears and wild turkeys and antelopes here den, Deyfs sho1 fine eati nf
and wish I could stick a tooth in one now. I*s seed fifty antelope at a
waterin1 hole.
HDere plenty Indians, too. De Rangers had de time keepin1 dem back,
Dey come in bright of de moon and steals and kills df stock. Dere a ferry
•cross vie Brezos and Capt. Ross run it. He sho1 fit dem Indians.
i
MDera days everybody went hossback and de roads was jes1 trails and
bridges was poles 1 cross ;e creeks. One day us went to a weddin1. Dey sot
de dinner table out in de yard urder a big tree and de table was a big slab
of a tree on legs, Dey hod pewter plates and spoons and chiny bowls and
wooden dishes. Some de knives and forks was make out of bone. Dey had beef
and pork and turkey and come antelope,
"I knows !bout ghostes. First, I tells you a funny story. A old man
named Josh, he purty old nnd notionate. Every evenin1 he squat down under
a oak tree* Marse Smith, he slip up and hear Josh prayin, 'Oh, G-awd, please
take pore old Josh home with you,1 Next day, Marse Smith' wrop heself in a
sheet and git in de oak tree. Old Josh come 'long and pray, f0h, Gawd,
please come take pore old Josh home with you.1 Marse say from, top de tree,
fPoor Josh, Ifs come to take you home with me,1 Old Josh, he riz up and
seed dat white shape in de tree, and he yell, f0h, Lawd, not rigat now,
I hasn't git forgive for all my sins.* Old Josh, he jes' shakin1 and he
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dusts out dere faster den a wink. Dat broke up he prayin1 under dat tree.
"I never studied cunjurinr, but I knows dat scorripins and things dey
cunjures with *m powerful medicine. Dey uses hair and fingernails and tacks
nna dry insects and worms and bat wings and sech. Mammy allus tie 2. leather
string round de babies' necks when dey teethin19. to make dera have easy tinie.
She used a dry frog or pi>-ce nutmeg, too.
"Mammy allus tell me to keep from be in1 cunjure, I sing:
11 'Keep 'way from raef hoodoo and witch,
lead my path from de porehouse gate;
I pines for golden harps and sich,
Lawd, I1!! jes1 set down and wait.
Old Satan am a liar and conjurer, too -
If vom donft watch out, he'll cunjure you.1
HDem cunjuremen sho1 b?d« Dey make you have pneuraony and boils and "bad
luck, I carries me a jpck ail de time. It «m oe charm wrop in red flannel.
Don1t know what m in it. k bossroan, he fix it for me.
11 I sho1 can find water for de well. I got a li'l tree limb wh*t am like
a V. I driv de nail in de end of each branch and in de crotch. I t^kes hold
of each branch and if fen I walks over water in de bround, dat limb gwine turn
over in my h?nd till it points to de ground. Iffen money am buried, you can
find it de same way.
"Iffen you fills a shoe with rait and burns it, dat call luck to you.
I wears a dine on a string round de neck and one round de ankle. Dat to keep
any conjureman from sottin' de trick on me. Dat dime be bright iffen my
friends am true. It siio1 gwine git dark iffen dey does me wrong.
"For to male© a jack dat am sho1 good, git snakeroot and sassafras and
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a lifl lodestone and brimstone and asafoetida and resin and bluestone and gum
arable and a pod or two red pepperm Put dis in de red flannel bag, at midnight
on de dark of de moon, and it sho1 do de work.
MI kno^ed a ghost house. I sho1 did. Everybody knowed it0 a red brick
house in tfaco, on Thirteenth and Washington St. Dey calls it de Bell house.
It sho1 a fine, big house, bat folks couldnH use it. De white folks what o*vns
it, dey gits one nigger and 'nother to stay round and look after things, De
white folks wants me to stay dere. I goes. ^very Friday night dere am a rustlin1
sound, like murmur of treetops, all through dat house. De shutters rattles -
only dere ainft no shutters on dem windows, Jes1 plain as anything, I hears a
chair, rockin1, rockin1. Footsteps, soft as de breath, you could hear dem plain.
But I stays a1 id hunts and can't ^ind nobody nor nothin1 none of dem Friday nights.
ifDen come de Friday night on de las1 quarter de moon. Lonf; *bout midnight,
something lift me out de cot. I heared a li'l child sobbin1, and dat rocker git
started, and de shutters dey rattle softlike, and dat rustlin1, mournin' sound
all through dat house. I takes de lantern ind out in de hall I goes. Right by de
foot de stairs I seed a woman, bit as life, but she was thin and I seed right
through her. She jes1 walk on down dat hall and pay me no mind. She make de sound
like de beat in1 of wings, I jes1 froze. I couldn't move.
"Dat woman jes1 melted out de window at de end of de hallt pnd I left dat
place!
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EX-SLAVE STORIES