The Graveyard Dust Spell

folktale · United States · North American

In Hoodoo tradition, graveyard dust is among the most potent and dangerous conjure materials. The tale tells of a woman whose husband was stolen away by a rival through love magic. Desperate, she went to a rootworker who instructed her to go to a graveyard at midnight, find the grave of someone who had been a faithful spouse, and collect dust from the center of the grave. She had to leave a silver dime as payment, walk backward away from the grave, and never look back. The graveyard dust was then mixed with the husband's personal effects and buried under the doorstep. According to the story, t

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