Robert Johnson and the Crossroads

Did Robert Johnson sell his soul to the devil at the crossroads?

In trying to answer this question it would best be to start with magic. Hoodoo magic is a blend of European, African and Native American rituals practiced mostly by poor uneducated people struggling to get by, especially in the rural South. In Hoodoo magic, the legendary crossroads is a place where a person could go to make a deal with the gods, spirits, or the devil. This crossroads ritual could be used to acquire a variety of skills, although gambling and musical ability seemed to be the most popular. To do this ritual, you bring the item you wish to master, it could be your banjo, guitar, fiddle, or in the case of gambling, your deck of cards, or dice and wait at the crossroads on three or nine specified nights or mornings. On your successive visits you may witness the mysterious appearances of a series of animals. On your last visit, a "big black man" will arrive. If you are not afraid and do not run away, he will ask to borrow the item you wish to learn. He will show you the proper way to use the item by using it himself. When he returns it to you, you will be a master of that item. There were also numerous ways to pay for this service, which included alcohol, sacrificed animals or a silver coin but the payment never included selling one's soul. This "pact with the devil" misconception evolved from a Christian viewpoint of how Hoodoo magic worked and their distain of the practice.

So how did this story about Johnson selling his soul get started? I could very well have been Mr. Johnson's familiarity of Hoodoo magic that started it all but he never claimed to have worked the crossroads ritual. However, another musician, a friend of Robert's, by the name of Tommy Johnson (no relation) did admit to conducting such a ritual. In fact Tommy Johnson's brother, spoke with the blues scholar David Evans about Tommy's sudden guitar playing skill and the story coincided with accounts of the crossroads ritual Could the names have been confused as the story was passed down through the years or was it through the efforts of a writer by the name of Robert Palmer? Palmer might have thought that Robert and not Tommy would make the better tale since Robert was much better known and considered a better talent than his contemporary and friend? After all, if someone had taken the trouble to sell his soul to be the best, he should be the best. Robert Johnson did write a song about the crossroads but this song was about hitchhiking and not selling his soul to the devil or a ritual involved in doing so, still it should be noted that many of Robert Johnson's songs did make reference to actual Hoodoo rituals

Robert Johnson was a gifted singer, guitarist and songwriter whose life story is wrapped in mystery and legend but it would appear that Robert Johnson did not sell his soul at the crossroads. Many of the personal recollections and stories written about the encounter are entirely fiction. But in defense of the event, Robert Johnson was familiar, as was many of his fellow bluesmen, with the common practice of Hoodoo magic and he was most certainly aware of the crossroads ritual, although this ritual did not involve the selling of souls or a pact with Satan. It is quite feasible that he did perform this ritual to gain a mastery over his instrument and knowledge of crafting a song for which a suitable payment would have been given, but definitely not his soul.